Hunger Games

"May the odds be ever in your favor"

Directed by Gary Ross

2012

Viewed March 2012

The Hunger Games takes place in Panem, a future post apocalyptic U.S.A. The country is divided into 12 districts. There was once an uprising against the Capitol that the districts serve and to remind the districts of their place the Capitol enacted the Hunger Games. Every year one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 17 from each district is chosen (some volunteer, but most are drawn in a lottery) to fight to the death in a televised event. Basically reality tv gone bad. The last person standing is given riches and fame. The story follows Katniss Everdeen from District 12 who volunteers to take the place of her younger sister whose name was chosen in the lottery. She sneaks out of the district and into the forest to hunt and therefore is very good with a bow and arrow. She is taken to the Capitol along with Peeta Mellark, the male tribute, where they are trained and then thrown into the arena. I am a huge fan of the Hunger Games book trilogy and therefore I was very excited to see the film. This film covers the first book and I think that they did an amazing job adapting it to the screen. I was worried that the PG-13 rating would take away from some of the brutality and fear that was in the book, but it really didn't. I haven't read the books in awhile so I don't know how closely it followed as far as the little details go, but it definitely followed the main plot points. There were things that were cut that I understand because of time constraints and they aren't necessarily missed in the movie. I have heard that if you haven't read the books that there are things that you don't get in the movie, but I think that they did a really good job of using the commentators of the Hunger Games as a way of explaining things (such as "those aren't normal bees, they're Tracker Jackers, here is what they do and where they come from" etc.) I also am now a huge Jennifer Lawrence fan. A



Safe House

Directed by Daniel Espinosa

2012

Viewed March 2012

Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds) is a young CIA agent in charge of a safe house in Cape Town, South Africa. He has spent an uneventful year being the "housekeeper" for the safe house and wants to move on to bigger and better things but is told that he doesn't have enough field experience. Meanwhile rogue agent Tobin Frost (Densel Washington) is in Cape Town trying to sell some information and ends up in a situation that causes him to surrender himself at the U.S Embassy. He ends up being brought to Weston's safe house which is breached causing Weston to take Frost on the run. The color and the frantic pace of this film reminded me of a Tony Scott film. There was action after action after action which kept the plot moving along really well. I really have grown to like Ryan Reynolds, and Denzel Washington is always fun to watch. B

Breaking Dawn

So, there is absolutely no way that I can review this in an objective manner. I started reading the Twilight books before the first movie came out, and I was highly disgusted. Edward is a controlling, overbearing creep. It scares me that women and girls all over are so taken by Edward that they want a man just like him. Really? You think it’s ok for your man to meddle in your relationships with other men out of jealousy? You think it’s ok for him to tell you what to do and how to do it and who to hang out with and who to talk to and not talk to? You think its ok for him to spy on you all the time? Ick. Edward is emotionally abusive and emotional abuse is abuse even if it is not accompanied by physical abuse. I am going to spoil the movie for those who have not seen it, so if you don’t want to know this stuff before seeing the movie, then you’ve been warned.




Here is the entire movie. Bella and Edward are getting married. Bella is the most sullen, unhappy bride I’ve ever seen. She doesn’t want anything to do with the planning or the dress, and frankly, she doesn’t seem like she even wants to be in the wedding. So she gets dressed all sullen, and she walks down the aisle all sullen, and she says her vows all sullen, but then they kiss and the world falls away and it’s just the two of them entwined in all their love. Ew. During the rehearsal Edward tells Bella that he has a surprise for her and takes her to Jacob who is hiding creepily in some trees. Bella gives Jacob a hug and you can tell that she hasn’t let go of her feelings for him (OMG, why did you just agree to get married when you’re SOOOO young AND you don’t really know what you want AND you don’t really know who you want, AND you have to hide your husband’s true identity from all your friends and family!!!!) So then Edward takes Bella on their honeymoon to some remote island that his family owns. They have the most unhappy looking sex that is so violent that Edward shreds the pillows and breaks the headboard etc. and leaves bruises on Bella’s body. HE LEAVES BRUISES ON BELLA’S BODY…. And, the icing on that little cake is… BELLA BEGS FOR MORE. He feels bad and doesn’t want to hurt her but she pretty much begs and pleads for him to have more sex with her. Ok, let me just say, I get it that some people get freaky in bed. But remember, this movie is aimed for teenage girls. Then while they are still on their honeymoon, Bella feels weird and is like oh my period is a day late and then takes a test and finds that she’s pregnant. (omg, do these movie makers even know how the human body works?) So Edward takes Bella to his parent’s house where he HIDES her so that her family doesn’t know where she is or that she’s pregnant with his vampire spawn. She spends all of her pregnant time on the phone with her dad telling him that she’s in various different locations of the world and doesn’t know when she’ll be home. The baby grows and since it’s part vampire it feeds on all of Bella’s blood and breaks her ribs with it’s kicks. Bella turns into a walking heap of bones because the baby is so ravaging her body. Then the Cullens decide oh hey, the baby wants blood, and has Bella drink all this human blood. Ew. Then the baby starts to kill Bella and Edward has to chew it out of her womb and Bella dies to Edward turns her into a vampire. The icing on the cake is the baby’s hideous name: Renesme. (a hybrid of their mom’s names, Rene and Esme). I’m not even grading this movie because it’s too ridiculous.

Big Miracle (100th post!)

Directed by Ken Kwapis

2012

Viewed February 2012

Adam Carlson is a reporter from Anchorage, Alaska who is covering some stories in a small Alaskan town for a few weeks. On one of his last nights there, Adam discovers three California grey whales trapped in the ice. Adam quickly tapes a short segment on the whales and then news reaches his Greenpeace volunteer ex girlfriend who immediately starts to rally for the whales. The news ends up going national and eventually international as everyone gets involved to help free these whales before the hole in the ice freezes over and they drown. When I first saw the preview for this movie, I was not sold, it just looked cheesy and boring. I was pleasantly surprised though and it turned out to be a really good, uplifting movie. It's based on a true story so I asked my mom if she remembers it happening. She didn't though (probably since she had three kids under 8 when it happened and doesn't remember a lot from the 80s...)... Anyways, it has a great mix of humor and excitement and there were also a few tears. I highly recommend this movie! A

The Vow

" I vow to love you, and no matter what challenges might carry us apart, we will always find a way back to each other."

Directed by Michael Sucsy

2012

Viewed February 2012

This is a wonderfully sappy love story about love overcoming all odds, even memory loss. Paige and Leo are very happily married and decide that it's about time to start trying for a baby. On their way home one night they end up in a car accident and Paige is thrown from the car (Never unbuckle your seat belt even if its just to give your husband a kiss! You shouldn't be making out at every stop sign!) and ends up in a coma. When she comes to she can't remember anything about her time with Leo and doesn't even know who he is. She thinks that she is still engaged to someone else (who has a really fun time pissing Leo off by flirting with Paige) and she doesn't remember why she got so angry with her parents that she hadn't spoken to them in years. Leo goes out of his way to try and win Paige back and make her refall in love with him. This was a decent chick movie and apparantly it is based on a real story (there's even a picture of the real couple at the end!). I loved all of the sappy love quotes that were in it. I usually love Rachel McAdams who plays Paige, but I found her to be kind of a jerk. I understand that she lost her memory, but she is shown proof of her love for Leo and their marriage, yet she is so self absorbed that she doesn't even care how hurt Leo is about all of this, all she is thinking about is herself. I know it may have been weird or awkward not knowing him but knowing that you're supposed to be in love with him, but I felt like she could've been a little bit more compassionate. Her parents were very cookie cutter rigid rich people who think that Leo is a bottom feeder and therefore does everything in their power to keep Paige away from him, so that was really unoriginal. It did make for a good date movie though. B-

Contagion

Directed by Steven Soderbergh

2011

Viewed February 2012

This film follows a deadly virus as it ravages the human population. The CDC and World Health Organization research and try to find a way to stop it as well as try to figure out where and how it started and how it was spread. I found it to be really interesting. I don’t know if this is a real picture of how epidemiologists work, but it was really fascinating how they figure out how fast it spreads or how many people one infected person can infect etc. It also said a lot about society and how scared people in large crowds are a force to be reckoned with. The moral of this story is: wash your hands with soap and warm water, don’t touch your face, and anyone anywhere could be carrying a deadly disease and you’ll never know it until they give it to you and you die…. B

Abduction

Directed by John Singleton

2011

Viewed February 2012

16 year old Nathan is doing a sociology project about abducted children when he finds his face on a website for lost kids. He contacts the site which is run by some Russian mob guys and they come looking for him. The CIA gets involved and also comes after him. Nathan finds out that his “parents” were really agents who were protecting him and they pretty much get killed in front of his face. Nathan takes off with his neighbor Karen and is on the run from the mobsters and CIA.



This is a pretty generic big brother is watching type movie. The mobsters tap into the CIA’s systems while the CIA is using traffic cameras and surveillance cameras to track Nathan and Karen. There are some decent chase scenes and it definitely keeps the movie moving. It’s refreshing to see Taylor Lautner with an expression on his face that isn’t pouty jealousy (like in the Twilight series), although he doesn’t have a very large range of expressions…. C+

The Grey

“Once more into the fray. Into the last good fight I’ll ever know. Live and die on this day. Live and die on this day.”

Directed by Jon Carnahan

2012

Viewed February 2012

This movie follows a group of Alaskan oil drillers who’s plane crashes in the Alaskan wilderness. There are seven survivors and they have to try and find a town or some sort of shelter before freezing to death or being attacked by wolves. It sounds really dumb, and I definitely was not expecting much, but I really did end up enjoying it. The biggest complaint that I have is that they are in the Alaskan wilderness in the middle of a blizzard, they all have a hoodie and a parka on, but none of them are wearing their hoods. They all have hats, but I know that when I’m super cold I put on my hat AND my hood for optimum warmth, plus the hood keeps blowing snow off of your neck… There also were plenty of parts that made me jump (even some that you could see coming, but it still made me jump… lame.) and it was just an entertaining movie. B- 

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Directed by Stephen Daldry

2012

Viewed January 2012

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this movie. It has gotten such mixed reviews, but the preview was amazing, so I had high hopes. I am pleased to report that this is one of the better movies that I’ve seen in awhile. It follows nine year old Oskar Schell (who was tested for asperger’s and reports that the results were not definitive) who’s father frequently sends him on little treasure hunts throughout New York City. Oskar’s father is in the World Trade Center on 9/11 and dies after leaving many messages on the answering machine. Messages that only Oskar has listened to. Oskar finds a key in with his father’s belongings and believes that if he finds the lock that it opens he will find one last message from his father. He eventually gets help from a mute old man who is renting a room from his grandmother and they help each other on a road to emotional healing. I loved Thomas Horn who played Oskar, he was absolutely amazing. He wasn’t even an actor before this movie, the director saw him win on a kid’s edition of Jeopardy and asked him to audition. I also loved Max Von Sydow who is not in the movie for a whole lot of time, and never speaks, but relays so much emotion just through his face. Amazing. If you see this movie be sure to bring tissues, both Bobby and I cried (I cried through basically the whole movie). A

Mr. Popper's Penguins

Directed by Mark Waters

2011

Viewed January 21, 2012

This is yet another adaptation of a book that I loved when I was younger. I was not expecting a whole lot from this movie since Jim Carrey's middle name is "butt jokes". I also was a bit upset at the beginning of the film since it follows Tom Popper the rich businessman and not Mr. Popper the poor house painter. I ended up really liking it. As I said, it follows Tom Popper, rich businessman trying to close a deal on the sale of a building for his firm to tear down and rebuild as something else. Tom has two kids with his ex wife, a son and a daughter, who he barely has a relationship with because he is simply too busy. Tom's life is interrupted when his father passes away and sends him a penguin. Tom tries to return the penguin but is sent 5 more penguins instead. He has to keep the penguins in line in a condo (or loft maybe? I'm not sure which qualifies as which) that doesn't allow pets. His kids fall in love with the penguins and so did I. They were simply adorable and so much fun to watch. This is a pretty predictable film, and there were a few poop jokes and fart jokes, but overall I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it. Definitely a good one to watch with older kids, if you can get pass the couple of bodily function jokes. B+

The Adventures of TIntin

"Failed. There are plenty of others willing to call you a failure. A fool. A loser. A hopeless souse. Don't you ever say it of yourself. You send out the wrong signal, that is what people pick up. Don't you understand? You care about something, you fight for it. You hit a wall, you push through it. There's something you need to know about failure, Tintin. You can never let it defeat you."

Directed by Steven Spielberg

2011

Viewed January 2012

I loved the Tintin books when I was growing up. My mom would take us to the library every week and every week one of us would inevitably come home with a Tintin book or two. For those not familiar with Tintin, he is a reporter with a dog named Snowy who comes along on his adventures. Together they solve many a mystery and very often unknowingly stumble right in the middle of trouble. This movie is a pretty perfect adaptation of the books. It is a combination of a few of the books, but it has all of the elements of the Tintin world including the dimwitted police officers Thompson and Thomson, action and adventure, Captain Haddock, the smartest little white dog, Snowy, and even minor characters such as Mrs Finch and Bianca Castiafiore. The storyline is that Tintin purchases a model ship that holds part of a secret map to a treasure. Tintin is kidnapped and brought onto a ship headed to steal another part of the map. He meets the ship's captain, Haddock, who is also being held against his will by his first mate and mutinous crew as well as the mastermind Professor Sakharine. Tintin, Snowy and Haddock need to escape the ship and reach the ship's destination first to stop the theft. This movie is jam packed with action and I really really loved the animation. It really was this nerd girl's Tintin dreams come true...A

Contraband

Directed by Baltasar Kormakur

2012

Viewed January 14, 2012

This is a pretty generic heist movie. Chris Farraday used to be a smuggler of all things illegal and has gotten out of that scene to focus on his wife and two young sons. His brother in law, Andy,  went on a drug run and ended up having to dump the drugs so as not to get caught by customs. Tim Briggs, who had sent Andy for the drugs wants $700,000 to replace the drugs, and he wants it quickly. Farraday sets up a run for some counterfeit money to make up for Andy's mistake. While he's gone Briggs makes good and sure to scare Farraday's family to make sure that he gets his money. This movie was pretty predictable, and as always, Mark Wahlberg (who plays Farraday) has the same expression on his face that he does in every other movie he's ever made. Briggs, played by Giovanni Ribisi is a generic unimaginitive thug. Ribisi needs to stop trying to play villians because he's not good at it. They had to give him facial hair and tattoos to make him look "scary". I did like Ben Foster as Farraday's best friend. I've always been a huge Ben Foster fan. I was entertained and Contraband was fun to watch and see how they pulled off their heist, so I think that I'll go with a C+

Crazy, Stupid, Love

"I'm going to help you rediscover your manhood. Do you have any idea where you could have lost it?"

Directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa

2011

Rated PG-13

Viewed January 2012

Middle aged husband Cal Weaver is blindsided when his wife, Emily, asks for a divorce. Emily reveals that she already had an affair and felt as though she was going through a mid life crisis. Cal moves out and spends his nights at the bar where he is noticed by Jacob who takes it upon himself to help Cal with his love life. The movie also follows a storyline involving Cal's son Robbie who is in love with the babysitter, Jessica. Unfortunately, Jessica is in love with Cal and does not appreciate Robbie's confessions of love. There's also another storyline involving Hannah who finds herself dating a really boring guy. This movie is definitely one of my new favorite romantic comedies. It is sweet and funny and, at times, heartbreaking. I love that it believes that when you find your soulmate you never give up on them and that true love is real even when there are bumps along the way. A