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

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Directed by: Rupert Wyatt

2011

Viewed August 2011

What to say about this movie other than that it is awesome. Let's start with the story line. Will Rodman (James Franco) is searching for a cure to Alzheimer's and is testing his cure on chimps. He finally thinks he's ready for human trials when the ape goes out of control and his project is shut down and all of the apes are put down. Will finds a baby chimp and takes him home to his sickly father. Will and his father (played superbly by John Lithgow) raise "Caesar" who has increased intelligence due to the testing that Will had done on him. Caesar gets into some trouble with the neighbors and has to be taken away... Caesar is smart enough to know the apes that he's with are being mistreated... I don't want to give the whole movie away... The apes in this movie were filmed using the same motion capture technology as Gollum in Lord of the Rings and you very often forget that they are computer generated. This film makes you think a lot about making sure to buy products that are free of animal testing, as well as making you think twice about visiting the monkeys at the zoo. A

Judging a Movie by its Trailer

Here are some reviews for some previews of upcoming movies!

The Father of Invention
Stars: Kevin Spacey, Heather Graham, Camila Belle, Johnny Knoxville
What it seems to be about: Kevin Spacey invents a really popular contraption that people accidentally stick their finger into a hole and it cuts their finger off. He ends up in jail and ten years later gets out and has to reinvent himself.
Comes out: October 2011
Worth Seeing?: Looks sort of lame. 

Fright Night
Stars: Colin Farrell, Anton Yelchin, Toni Collette, Christopher Mintz-Plasse 
What it seems to be about: Colin Farrell moves in next door for Anton Yelchin and his mom (Toni Collette) and students start disappearing from school because Colin Farrell is a vampire. Anton Yelchin investigates.
Comes Out: August 19, 2011
Worth Seeing?: Yes! It looks good! Sort of like Disturbia, but better because it doesn't have Shia LeBeouf...

Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil
Stars: A bunch of nobodies
What it seems to be about: A bunch of hot peeps go to the cabin where they run into some rednecks who "kidnap" their friend (who really got hurt, and they were trying to help her), then the hot peeps start trying to attack the rednecks but keep getting killed by their own stupidity. The rest of the hot peeps group think the rednecks are mass murderers.
Comes out: August 2011
Worth Seeing?: Maybe wait for the DVD, it looks like one of those so stupid that it's awesome movies.

Warrior
Stars: Nick Nolte, Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Morrison
What it seems to be about: Two brothers, one a family man the other a war hero, enter a mixed martial arts tournament and end up fighting each other for the title.
Comes out: September 2011
Worth Seeing?: Yes! It looks amazing! Plus Tom Hardy is awesome. 



 

Megamind

"All men must choose between two paths. Good is the path of honor, heroism, and nobility. Evil... well, it's just cooler."

Directed by Tom McGrath

2010

Viewed August 2011

I'm on a huge animated movie kick.... I love them! Megamind (Will Ferrell) is a super villain hell bent on taking over Metro City but is constantly thwarted by Metro Man (Brad Pitt), who has been his rival since infant hood (probably not a real word, but I'm using it any way). Megamind always kidnaps reporter Roxanne Ritchi (Tina Fey) and Metro Man always saves her. Megamind finally beats Metro Man and goes on a crime spree, but then realizes how empty his life is without a hero to battle. Megamind is super funny (he often mispronounces words in a hilarious way since he's from another planet, among other things) and has a great message about how bad may be fun, but it isn't good. Will Ferrell's voice had a tendency to get on my nerves, I felt like he was yelling at me for most of the movie, but other than that, this was a great movie! B+

The Smurfs

Directed by Raja Gosnell

2011

Viewed July 2011

The Smurfs are very blue. And a little creepy when the camera pans in really close and their little faces fill the entire screen. They're also in trouble and need the help of Patrick and Grace Winslow. The Smurfs and their enemy Gargamel (Hank Azaria)  are sucked into a portal that sends them to New York City. They end up in the home of Patrick and Grace (Neil Patrick Harris and Jayma Mays). Patrick is very skeptical and annoyed, but his wife thinks they're adorable and wants to help them. Patrick gets a promotion at work and has to impress his psycho boss, and of course the Smurfs get in the way. The Smurfs is pretty generic, but I still enjoyed it. I went to it with a 9 year old who has a short attention span and it kept his attention really well. I also appreciated that it was not full of butt and fart jokes. C+