Movie reviews

Movie Reviews this week looks at the charming biographical drama An Education.
It stars the lovely Carey Mulligan (Bleak House) as Jenny, a very bright sixth former, on her way to studying English at Oxford, currently studying her A levels during 1961.
She is pushed by her well meaning father Jack, played with a great deal of melancholy by Alfred Molina (Dr. Octavius in Spider-man 2), and her supportive mother Marjorie, played by Cara Seymour (Hotel Rwanda), you can tell immediately from his demeanor that this is a little biographical if not the entire movie, there is a scene that gives an idea of how far things have changed where Jenny’s boyfriend drives up to a black family waiting on the pavement playfully picks up one of the kids and takes them into an apartment, on returning Jenny asks how he knows those “Negroes“?.

As Jenny goes home one day after a cello lesson, a mysterious stranger David played by Peter Saarsgard (Jarhead), offers her a lift, well in fact he offers her cello a lift, saying he is worried such a lovely instrument would be damaged in the rain, and he wouldn’t want her to jump in the car with a complete stranger, so she can walk while he drives. As a flirtatious teenager surprised at the attention she agrees, and after a short while walking and talking she enters the car and is dropped promptly at her front door.

He is charming enough, and soon he starts to stop outside of her school, and the inevitable romance commences, at first viewers may be a little perturbed why an older man would want to date a young school girl, but after sometime you do realise David does genuinely care for her. Surprisingly seeing he so well cultured, Jenny’s father agrees to the liaison, then of course it is 1961, and he sees his daughter’s options are either excelling academically and going to Oxford, or meeting a very wealthy and cultured individual, and being looked after, as he puts it “He wouldn’t want you if you were thick“.

David somehow manages to convince Jack to allow him to take his daughter on weekend trips, along with his friend Danny played by Dominic Cooper (The History Boys), and his girlfriend Helen played the gorgeous Rosamund Pike (Surrogates, there is a sarcastic scene where all four of them are in Oxford, and Danny mentions the dread of having to suffer for three years here, where Helen agrees, when in actuality Rosamund Pike did go to Oxford), and even to Paris.

Jenny after sometime sees the rigmarole of going to school and studying hard only to find a boring job and be in it for the rest of her life, as too depressing and she confronts her headmistress played by Emma Thompson (I am Legend), after it is found that she is dating an older man; that could interfere with her education. She states during this confrontation that her stance of leading a studious and boring life to get into Oxford only to enter into a studious and boring job for the rest of her life has to be justified, for future students who may have the same questions.

An Education is a brilliant and well made movie, and you can see immediately why it has Oscar nominations protruding throughout, especially for it’s main character Jenny played by Carey Mulligan.
Movie Reviews is constantly updated with excellent reviews of great movies that are a must see.

–
Posted By Mr D Stevens to Movie reviews on 3/07/2010 04:12:00 AM

Filed under: 3 | No Comments »

Movie Reviews this week looks at the enjoyable teen fantasy Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant. Regardless of the strange title of this movie, it follows in the vein of Twilight, as a few teen fantasy movies have tried to emulate since the massive success of Twilight and it’s sequel New Moon.

Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant stars Chris Massoglia as Darren Shan, a well meaning, high achieving teenager, pleasing his parents, and doing well at school, however his best friend Steve played by Josh Hutcherson (Robin William’s son in RV) is regarded as bad company for Darren notably by his parents, and he is given an ultimatum after getting in trouble on account of Steve, to never see him again. As with any typical teenager feeling the need to rebel (there is a funny sequence where his father tells him, what is expected of him, college, job, family, repeatedly in that order, until Darren sees himself repeating those words to his own child).

While the two friends are hanging out, a mysterious limo drives by and out of it comes a flyer for a circus show, entitled Cirque Du Freak, hence the title of the movie, Steve as typical as the antagonist in a movie challenges Darren to come with him and attend it. It turns out Steve has a fascination for vampires, while Darren on the other hand has a fascination for spiders. On attending the Cirque Du Freak show, where a parade of circus freaks are shown for the audience’s amusement, notably a woman who can regenerate limbs, Corma Limbs played by Jane Krakowski (absolutely hilarious in 30 Rock), and Evra the snake boy, played amusingly by Patrick Fugit, as well as a monkey girl, Rebecca played by the adorable Jessica Carlson, there is a lovely scene where Darren asks her what her “freakishness” is, and she states bluntly she is a monkey girl, pauses for effect and states she has a tail, and stares at him for any hint at ridicule.

While watching one of the performances of a certain Larten Crepsley played charmingly by John C. Reilley (Step Brothers), Steve recognises him from one of his vampire books, and assures Darren he is a vampire, interestingly Larten overhears the two boys and gives them a warning not to spread mindless gossip. Darren on the other hand is fascinated by Larten’s spider, and after the show, breaks into his room and steals it; but not before finding Steve pleading with Larten to make him a vampire whilst hidden in the same room. Larten and his friend Gavner Purl played by Willem Dafoe (Spiderman) refuses, and after Larten tests his blood, he quickly spits it out and says Steve has bad blood. It turns out that there are two types of vampires, that have chosen different paths, the Vampaneze who prefer feeding and killing humans, and the others who do not, but prefer to hypnotize them, then feed on them.

Darren takes Larten’s spider, and the next day at school, while Steve assumes he is talking to his locker, Steve opens Darren’s bag and reveals the spider, which eventually bites Steve. With Steve facing imminent death, Darren goes back to the Cirque Du Freak and asks Larten if he has an antidote for the spider’s bite.

A mysterious character called Mr Tiny played by Michael Cerveris (he has one of those faces that seem strangely familiar but not quite sure where), who has the power to bring people back to life, has been looking forward for a conflict between the Vampaneze and the others for sometime, and he sees it in the destiny of the two boys, he would like Darren to join the Vampaneze, but Larten on finding about this, realises that there might be more to the boy than meets the eye, he tests his blood, and agrees to make him a half-vampire, i.e. being able to go out in the sun, and do his errands for him, however Larten’s girlfriend Madame Truska played by Salma Hayek (From Dusk Till Dawn [for a second recalling From Dusk Till Dawn one would expect her to be one of the vampires, but here she is a member of the Cirque Du Freak as a fortune-telling bearded lady]), urges Larten not to turn Darren into a vampire, after having a premonition. Darren initially reluctant finally agrees to this in order to save his friend’s life. Larten then tells him he can no longer stay with his family and so he must die (or at least give the impression he is dead).

Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant is an enjoyable fantasy movie with numerous characters that should be developed even more in a sequel or two, and even though the name might emit tales of horror it is a more a teen romantic fantasy than anything else.

Movie Reviews is constantly updated with outstanding reviews of good movies that are a must see.

–
Posted By Mr D Stevens to Movie reviews on 2/22/2010 06:32:00 AM

Filed under: Uncategorized | No Comments »

Movie Reviews this week looks at the romantic drama Veronica Decides to Die. This is a very well made movie, starring the lovely Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) as a young woman Veronica Deklava, in an excellent job, with a great family behind her, who simply decides she wants to commit suicide, she is tired of the route her life is going towards, and is expecting to continue in her job until she meets a man, they get married, later on he has an affair, they have an argument, she forgives him, it happens again, but this time she is too tired to bother to confront him about it - this is how she sees how her life will pan out.

She types a suicide letter for her parents, and takes an overdose of several pills, fortunately for her she doesn’t die, but as expected is taken to a psychiatric treatment centre, paid for by her parents, which is headed by Dr. Blake played by David Thewlis (The Big Lebowski, he looks surprisingly similar to David Wenham, Dillios in 300).

When she awakes, Veronika is disappointed her attempt to commit suicide did not succeed, and is dreading having to see her parents and having to explain to them the possible motives behind this suicide attempt; or indeed to deal with the world at large (she works at a bank that is well known in her local community, and an investigative journalist finds out she made a suicide attempt and tracks her down to the treatment centre in order to make a scoop), when she still has the same feelings towards her existence.

Matters are further complicated when she is told the dosage of pills she has taken has caused her to have a heart attack, that resulted in an aneurysm that is getting bigger, and even though her suicide attempt failed, she doesn’t have long to live, and there is no way of treating it.

Veronika begins to contemplate on what she would like to do seeing she has a very short time left, at first she is nonchalant on the idea of doing anything while she waits to die, until she meets a fellow psychiatric patient Edward played by Jonathan Tucker (The Black Donnellys), who Blake has been trying for some time to get him to communicate with the people around him (he simply does not talk, and seems to live in a dream world existence, watching nature, insects, and just spending time alone), Blake would consider this his crowning achievement if he can break through Edward’s problem.

It turns out that Blake finds out Veronica used to play the piano when she was a child, and strategically places a piano in a place where she cannot miss it. One day she walks past it, possibly feeling bored, she at first tries out the keys of the piano with some random taps, then plays a lovely classical tune, which enchants Edward (who was listening nearby), she notices him watching her playing the piano, and the attraction builds (still with Edward not speaking a word).

As Veronica begins to fall for Edward, it then begins to dawn on her the enormity of what she is going to miss.

Veronica Decides to Die is a very interesting drama, and this movie has solid acting throughout.

Movie Reviews is constantly updated with outstanding reviews of good movies that are a must see.

–
Posted By Blogger to Movie reviews on 2/18/2010 05:40:00 AM

Filed under: 3 | No Comments »

Movie Reviews this week looks at the dark drama As Good As Dead. This is a very surreal movie starring Cary Elwes (Liar Liar) and the much loved Andie Macdowell (Four Weddings and a Funeral) as Ethan Belfrage and Helen Kalahan respectively, it also stars the stalwart Brian Cox (X-Men 2) as Reverend Kalahan.

We join the movie as Reverend Kalahan preaches to his congregation, at first glance it seems just like a normal church service, with the preacher speaking to his congregation about becoming shepherds, but as the camera pans across the audience and the surroundings in the church, you notice Swastikas, and Nazi symbols, not to mention some of the congregation could easily be taken for Neo-Nazis. As Kalahan continues to preach, it pans to his wife, who is looking on admirably, as Kalahan speaks; a member of the congregation gets up, as if the words of Kalahan had triggered something in him, we find out later that he went off and killed several immigrants in a bus, in an unprovoked rampage before shooting himself.

We move forward several years, to Ethan who is entertaining his lovely daughter Sarah played by the adorable Emma Kantor; before being whisked away by her mother Kate, played by Nicole Ansari-Cox. Ethan is facing some problems with his landlord who is trying to evict him, so he can build a new lucrative residential property, but Ethan is determined not to move, and he is prepared for any tactic his landlord will try. Soon after the initial confrontation with his landlord he is paid a visit by two men, he assumes they are with his landlord and doesn’t open the door, they come back later and trap Ethan in his flat. They proceed to torture him, while asking him to confess, he desperately tells them he doesn’t know what they are talking about, all the while he assumes that his landlord had sent them to force him to relinquish his flat, but it turns out Kalahan, the preacher at the beginning had been killed, soon after the unprovoked rampage by a member of his flock, and these two men; one Jake played by Matt Dallas (The Indian) and the other Aaron (played brilliantly even down to the Southern accent) by Frank Whaley (Swimming with Sharks); are out for revenge, ordered so by Helen, who joins all of them later on.

Ethan is adamant he doesn’t know what they are talking about and despite their torture he doesn’t deviate from his story, the audience will no doubt feel this is a case of mistaken identity that is about to go horribly wrong, especially when Ethan’s lovely next door neighbour Amy played by Jess Weixler is equally bundled in to the shenanigans, and is used as a guinea pig to get Ethan to confess to all that his torturers would like him to confess to, while frighteningly for Ethan his wife and daughter are wondering why he hasn’t showed up and may just come to his flat to investigate.

As Good As Dead is a very dark movie, and many will be impressed by the acting abilities of all involved.

Movie Reviews is constantly updated with outstanding reviews of good movies you don’t want to miss.

–
Posted By Blogger to Movie reviews on 2/07/2010 06:13:00 AM

Filed under: 3 | No Comments »

Movie Reviews this week looks at the wonderful festive movie a Dog named Christmas.

It stars an endearing young man with special needs, Todd played wonderfully by Noel Fisher (Final Destination 2), he has a thing for helping injured animals, and we join the movie as Todd helps a wounded mammal, while being looked upon by a certain dog, who we shall soon get to know a little bit about later on.

Todd goes home to his farm, run by his parents George and Mary Ann McCray, played by the stalwart Bruce Greenwood (Star Trek 2009), and Linda Emond (Law and Order: Special Victims Unit) respectively. They run a farm, where George tends to the cows, and Mary tends to the horses, all their children except Todd have left home, but since Todd is special in more ways than one, the parents are extremely protective of Todd.

Todd happens to find out about a local dog shelter that is offering their dogs to a home till Christmas, where upon they can return the dog, Todd excitedly tells his parents about it, only for George to dismiss it, despite Todd’s protests. It turns out George has some issues he hasn’t quite got round to dealing with yet. He is a veteran of the Vietnam War, and he is still heart broken over losing his beloved dog; he found and took a liking too while in Vietnam. He is aware that the dog shelter run by Hailey, played by the lovely Carrie Ruscheinsky, really would like the adopters, to not just have the dog over Christmas but permanently adopt them too, he want to show Todd that the world isn’t as easy going as the warm and affectionate manner the family treats him and he is used to at home (and you can tell the family is affectionate when they all get together for a Christmas meal, and delivering of presents), and he tells Mary that it is about time he starts to learn this.

Eventually after much persuading by Mary he gives in, but is adamant that Todd returns the dog on December the 26th, which he constantly reminds him of, a lesson he hopes to teach Todd about sticking to his word. Todd goes to the dog shelter and after browsing through most of the dogs, he settles on a dog that has just been brought in the previous day, as luck would have it, it turns out it was the same dog watching him while he looked after the injured mammal, Hailey tells him the dog hasn’t been named yet, so Todd names him Christmas. Christmas is already trained and Todd can’t wait to show the rest of his family the interesting tricks it can do. However there is the inevitable confrontation that faces Todd on having to let go of Christmas after December 25th, or can he possibly convince his immovable father otherwise?

A Dog named Christmas is a lovely family movie, that is endearing and charming at all angles, not just for dog lovers.

Movie Reviews is constantly updated with reviews of great movies, and latest releases that are a must see.

–
Posted By Blogger to Movie reviews on 1/30/2010 03:29:00 AM

Filed under: 3 | No Comments »

Movie Reviews this week looks at the drama The Men Who Stare At Goats. The title of this movie itself is intriguing as it doesn’t give a clue what the movie is about.

It stars Ewan McGregor (the younger Obi Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace) as Bob Wilton, a journalist whose wife has just left him for his boss, he is feeling sorry for himself, and contemplates going to Iraq on a hunch after finding out about some psychic division of the U.S. military, he hopes to write about this that will get him recognition, and that doing this will stand him in good stead with his wife, and maybe she can see that he is doing something of major importance, so he can initiate a reconciliation with her. Whilst in Iraq he comes across Lyn Cassady played by the stalwart George Clooney (Ocean’s Eleven, Up In The Air). At first glance with the stories Lyn tells Bob, the audience just as Bob, begins to wonder about the mental well being of Lyn.

Lyn constantly refers to himself as being a Jedi, while Bob dismisses it as absurd (I am sure the irony of Ewan McGregor playing a Jedi in the last three Star Wars movies is not lost on the audience). After a while you realise Lyn did indeed work for a special branch of the U.S. military called New Earth Army, led by the charismatic Bill Django played by the legendary Jeff Bridges (Star Man), Bill soon after the Vietnam war tried various aspects of the hippy lifestyle, and is recruited to lead the New Earth Army, where amongst other things the students were taught remote viewing: Being able to tell the exact location of where someone is just by thinking about them, Lyn reveals the military kept goats in an abandoned medical centre, which were used to train soldiers on how to dress a wound, he also reveals his psychic ability was tested on goats, hence the name of the movie.

The New Earth Army had Lyn as its star pupil, and one of Bill’s ingenuous techniques was to get his pupils to dance, and even say a little prayer to the Earth for eating its produce, these new age techniques, were found to be a little irritating to one of the other recruits Larry Hooper played by the dependable Kevin Spacey (The Usual Suspects), who has plans to launch a coup to take over the New Earth Army, not to mention being a little jealous of Lyn for his impressive psychic abilities.

Whilst in Iraq there is a little bit of reality for Bob, when on a journey with Lyn, their car breaks down in the desert, and as luck would have it someone comes along to pick them up, but they are taken as hostages instead, while Lyn calmly states nothing is going to happen to them, at this point the audience will no doubt be wondering just as Bob is, if Lyn has blurred the line between reality and fantasy.

This is an intriguing movie, and you are left wondering just how much of this story does the author himself believe as true. The opening credits does state most of the story in the movie is truer than you would believe, it is an interesting point of view, and regardless of its veracity it is compelling to watch.

Movie Reviews is constantly updated with reviews of great movies you do not want to miss.

–
Posted By Blogger to Movie reviews on 1/24/2010 10:32:00 AM

Filed under: 3 | No Comments »

Movie Reviews this week looks at the sci-fi blockbuster Star Trek.
Not a lot of information had been released about this movie except that it tells the story when Spock and Captain James T. Kirk first meet.

At first many assumed this movie laid the background story for the Star Trek series, but after a while you realise this is not quite straight forward, as with the Star Trek universe, with worm holes, black holes, and time travel, anything is possible.

We join the movie when the U.S.S (United Star Ship) Kelvin is attacked by a ruthless Romulan, Captain Nero (at first his features look distinctly like that of Eric Bana [Troy] even with the heavy makeup and surprise surprise, it is him), he demands the captain of the U.S.S Kelvin comes aboard, the Captain Robau played by Faran Tahir (24, the patient with the inoperable brain tumor in Grey’s Anatomy) duly complies in the hope of saving his crew, seeing that whatever weapon Nero has on this Romulan ship is more advanced than anything he has seen before.

When his shuttle arrives, he is asked if he knows Ambassador Spock (with a 3D holographic image of Leonard Nimoy circling), he says he is unfamiliar with that name, despite his protests he doesn’t stop Nero from his attack.

We next see our young protagonist on an amazing joy ride with a vintage car he has stolen, while being chased by a cop, the cop eventually catches up with him and when asked his name, he states boldly “My name is James Tiberius Kirk“.

Several years later the young Kirk is now a young man played by Chris Pine (Smoking Aces) but still a rebel, he comes into a bar containing many Starfleet cadets, and hits on one lovely cadet, Uhura played by the gorgeous Zoe Saldana, a fight ensues, until Captain Pike played by Bruce Greenwood (National Treasure: Book of secrets) puts a stop to it, he encourages Kirk to join Starfleet based on his impressive academic scores, you are not sure if Kirk is in the frame of mind to take his advice, but inevitably he does.

While at Starfleet he makes friends with Dr. McCoy aka Bones played by Karl Urban (The Chronicles of Riddick, with an uncanny mannerism with the original Dr. McCoy played by DeForest Kelly), and Kirk eventually meets a young Spock played by the very talented Zachary Quinto (much better known as Sylar, and who strangely looks eerily like a young Leonard Nimoy), after Kirk breaks Spock’s simulated test which no one had even beaten; a Starship being attacked by a number Klingons’ birds of prey and the Captain must decide on a course of action when facing certain death, Spock cites Kirk in front of the Starfleet command for cheating, and that the purpose of the test Kirk passed was to accept death and learn fear, however Kirk is adamant that he did not cheat but since he saved the crew he states he duly passed the test. This first altercation sets the scene for the relationship between Kirk and Spock for the rest of the movie, while the ruthless Romulan Nero seeks revenge on a young Spock.

Star Trek is a superb science fiction action movie, and fans of the series will be impressed by the depth of character portrayed in the cast re-enacting characteristics of the beloved original series, from Hikaru Sulu played by John Cho (Harold and Kumar escape from Guantanamo Bay), and a very impressive Anton Yelchin (Terminator: Salvation) who plays Chekov complete with his Russian accent, the well loved Scotty is played by Simon Pegg (How to make friends and alienate people, Shaun of the dead) with an equally impressive Scottish accent, not to forget that the legendary Leonard Nimoy himself is also in this movie.

Movie Reviews is constantly updated with carefully selected reviews of great movies that are a must see.

–
Posted By Blogger to Movie reviews on 1/20/2010 01:22:00 AM

Filed under: 3 | No Comments »

This the fourth installment of this well loved science fiction drama.
We join the movie finding Marcus Wright played by Sam Worthington (Hart’s war) about to be put to death in a Federal penitentiary, but not before he signs his body over to Cybernet (the precursor to Skynet) headed by Dr. Serena Kogan played by Helena Bonham Carter (Fight Club).

We next see him in the year 2013 where he wakes up as if from a long dream, and happens to come across Kyle Reese played by Anton Yelchin (Star Trek), who lets him know that there is serious danger about in the form of various types of machines, terminators, special machine bikes, as well as harvesters, taking humans to some kind of prison, and even underwater machines. This is where we also meet John Connor with the war with the machines well underway. He is already a highly ranked commander in “The Resistance”, and the pockets of humanity listening to his broadcasts are already slowing turning their allegiance to him, especially when one of the generals of the Resistance General Ashdown played by the veteran Michael Ironside (Total Recall) has found a new weapon that could turn the war for humanity; by disabling a machine by some kind of electromagnetic pulse however he is bent on winning the war regardless of the human cost. He has given use of the weapon to John Connor and a test outing seems to show that the weapon works.

Unfortunately Kyle Reese is captured along with his quiet associate Star played pretty well by the adorable Jadagrace, and they are placed in a harvester headed to one of Skynet’s headquarters, but Marcus escapes. He runs into a female Resistance fighter, Blair Williams who eventually takes him to John Connor, but not before he saves her from some savages, there is a lovely scene where she says she is cold and would like to lie down next to him, she lays her head on his chest and says she hasn’t heard a heartbeat in a while, and says his heartbeat is strong really strong, however something very strange is revealed that makes for edge of the seat excitement. Marcus tells John that Kyle Reese has been captured and is headed to Skynet’s headquarters, knowing what John already knows of the future, he is adamant to save Kyle regardless of the commands of his superiors which is going to lead to the inevitable confrontation that could divide the entire Resistance.

It stars Christian Bale (Batman Begins) as our eponymous hero, and the gorgeous Moon Bloodgood (that name alone just sounds like she belongs in science fiction [it wouldn't be out of place in one of the Twilight saga], however the name isn’t American Indian but Dutch and Korean) as Blair Williams, her character is very similar to that of Jessie Flores played by Stephanie Jacobsen in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

We also get to see a terminator that looks frightening just like Arnold Schwarzenegger, the audience may do a double take if it is really him. Schwarzenegger’s trademark phrase is repeated by none other than John Connor in a scene that is nostalgic for the fans.

The movie is as exciting as the previous sequels, with some great scenes and hopefully more sequels are in the pipeline.

–
Posted By Blogger to Movie reviews on 1/13/2010 07:28:00 AM

Filed under: 3 | No Comments »

This is a lovely holiday season movie, starring the lovely Resse Witherspoon (playing a far different character these days than the affectionate and effervescing young lady in Legally Blonde) as Kate and the hyperactive Vince Vaughn (The Wedding Crashers) as Brad, a couple who would rather spend Christmas vacationing in Fiji than with their families, in fact they make it a ritual during the holidays to go on vacation but to lie to their families that they are involved in a worthy cause (usually charity) that can justify their exclusion during any holiday event.

Over the years their lies about inoculating babies in Burma, or doing some other charity work has always helped them avoid their families for Christmas, but on this particular time as they are waiting at the airport, it turns out all flights have been cancelled because of a bad fog, and a TV crew happens to be interviewing passengers on how they feel about their flights being cancelled during the holiday period, they so happen to come upon Brad and Kate, much to their embarrassment as their phones soon afterwards start ringing; with their respected families saying they have seen them on TV.

Brad and Kate now see they have no choice but to visit all four of their families (Brad’s mum and dad played by the stalwart Robert Duvall [The GodFather] as Howard and Sissy Spacek [JFK] as Paula, since they are divorced) and Kate’s families (her mum and dad, played by the dependable Jon Voight [Midnight Cowboy] as Creighton and Mary Steenburgen [In The Electric Mist] as Marilyn, who are equally divorced) hence the name Four Christmases.

The first visit is to the home of Brad’s father, it turns out his brothers Denver and Dallas played by Jon Favreau (The Break-Up) and Tim McGraw, are UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) type cage fighters (except there are not professional but only upload their fights on youtube), and no sooner are they re-acquainted does Brad finds himself in some bone crunching wrestling moves, it turns out this is the norm, and that Brad’s real name is Orlando, which Kate didn’t know, she takes him to one side to ask why he didn’t feel comfortable with her after three years of a relationship, to reveal this bit about himself, he says he changed his name because he didn’t like it, and didn’t see a problem. It also turns out that there is a $10 limit to the presents that should be bought for the children, however Brad was unaware of this and bought an Xbox for one of his nephews, while the other nephew has to make do with a torch light, much to the father’s embarrassment.

The visit to Kate’s family also reveals some of her fears, that for some time the kids around the neighbourhood avoided her because they thought she had cooties, calling her “Cootie Kate“, and her passive aggressive older sister Courtney played by the endearing Kristin Chenoweth (RV) reveals these embarrassing secrets.

The visits amongst Brad’s and Kate’s respective families shows that the couple are not as close to each other as they thought, especially during a game where the partner has to guess what card the other half is holding, without giving out the name, and this prompts Kate especially to reconsider if they are true and comfortable with each other to spend the rest of their lives together.

It is a warm festive movie, the whole family will enjoy.

–
Posted By Blogger to Movie reviews on 1/11/2010 03:39:00 AM

Filed under: 3 | No Comments »

This is a very powerful war related drama detailing some of the emotional turmoil that are not touched on when dealing with war, starring Jake Gyllenhaal (Donnie Darko) and Tobey Maguire (Spiderman) as Tommy and Capt. Sam Cahill respectively, two brothers with Sam a respected member of the army and about to be deployed to Afghanistan, while Tommy is the brother frequently involved with clashes with the law.

We join the movie as Sam leaves for Afghanistan, but not before collecting his brother Tommy from his most recent stint in prison. It turns out Sam is the pride and joy of their father Hank (played by the veteran Sam Shepard [Stealth]) unlike Tommy, who their father regards as a constant disappointment. The relationship between Tommy and their father is elaborated during a birthday meal at Sam’s place, prepared by his wife Grace, played by the gorgeous Natalie Portman (still the wonderful actress that first graced our screens in Leon), Tommy tells Grace that the meal is very good, to which his father says “Compared to what…jail“?

Soon after being deployed to Afghanistan, Sam’s helicopter is shot down, and the dreaded news is brought to Grace. That same night, Tommy true to form so far, comes to the house drunk, having brought back the keys of Sam’s car, as Sam told him to use it whenever he wanted before he left for Afghanistan, only to be told the sad news.

The news of Sam’s death brings a change to Tommy, and he tries to make up the gap of a father figure Sam’s daughters Maggie and Isabelle, played by Taylor Geare and the wonderfully talented Bailee Madison (Phoebe in Wonderland), when Tommy first came to the house before Sam was deployed to Afghanistan, Isabelle opens the door and tells him that their mother doesn’t like him (which she can overhear, and gently scolds her not to say such things, but to be fair Tommy takes it in his stride), but after a while the two girls cannot get enough of their uncle, as he does all the things they like, ice skating, snowball fights, much to the delight of Grace, and it becomes apparent that there is an attraction between Tommy and Grace, but the morality of taking such a relationship further seeing Sam has just been lost in Afghanistan is a stumbling block that neither Grace nor Tommy may be willing to confront, but this is one of the interesting parts of the movie.

For whatever reason Tommy does enjoy coming to pay Grace a visit (and his father does seem to have taken a change towards him, seeing his most treasured son is lost), and uses the opportunity to fix the kitchen, and play with his nieces, but the audience wonders if some spark may happen between the two.

The stellar cast bring out the conflicting emotions well on screen, from the torn brother, and lonely wife, the movie is exciting on how the various conflicting emotions all pans out, as well as the subject matter that is hardly given any preferential treatment when dealing with the war genre.

–
Posted By Blogger to Movie reviews on 1/09/2010 03:03:00 AM

Filed under: 3 | No Comments »