08.10.13

The movie is actually 3 unique stories released as one film. Each storyrepresents a different "idea" so to speak. Without going into detailper story, each is crafted extremely well in all aspects of true film.Granted, this is a foreign movie, so it is subtitled (the version Isaw) but this does not distract to the acting in the slightest. Theacting in "Cut" stood out most to me as the crazy slowly fell apartthroughout his hostage taking ordeal. "Box" was a cinematography 101class of how to show style, scenery, and environment to hold theattention to an otherwise fairly bland plot. The startling subjectmatter of "Dumplings" not only may revolt some viewers, but is also thebest of the three to draw you into the story and round it out withquality acting that is very subtle. I suggest you go in blind to thisone, as I did, the payoff is quite good. Enjoy. 6.3/10 (original titleSaam Gaang Yi)

08.09.13

I knew I was in trouble when the credits began. "Girls Gone Wild" is all this movie screams out, and that is about the extent of it. This movie caters to teens who believe that drinking, drugging and screwing are what life is all about(spring break forever). So after the boobs bouncing around wears off it attempts to have a plot in between music video cut scenes. That is all this was, a long-ass pathetic music video. Some really annoying chicks rob a restaurant for cash to go to spring break. So they go, party it up, get into trouble and get bailed out by some thug named "Alien". Yep, they somehow drugged James Franco in taking part in this movie. Granted, he was the only part worth seeing at all (you can get GGW movies at your leisure). Well, of course the spring break doesn't last forever as reality starts to creep in, and is shown off in a very anti-climactic ending. So there really isn't much to go into, just overall repetitive scenes and music. A lame attempt at drama here and there. 4.3/10(without Franco, much worse)

08.08.13

The game developing process. What goes into it? What are the stresses
that one may endure? This documentary takes a fairly in depth look at
the lives of 3 particular games being developed, and the personal lives
of those creating it(Fez,Super Meat Boy and Braid). Focusing more on
the positive and negative aspects of how the process effects the people
involved is what draws you in. There is no acting, action, etc. just
the real life drama that goes into deadlines, marketing, and all things
aside from what code to put on what page. The presentation may not be
for all viewers but it definitely is interesting to see where a person
can snap, or reap the rewards of years of hard work even when others
wrote them off as crazy. I was personally drawn into the inner
conflicts that were shown to real feel the real life emotions. Must see
for gamers, that is for sure, but also for a casual viewer, I believe
that it is something interesting to see just what goes on day by day
(they seem to keep hours like me). 6.4/10

08.05.13

Going in, I wasn't aware this was a found footage film. Well, now you know it is so on with the movie. This takes place during WWII as a Russian platoon stumbles across a secret German lab. I will say stumble, since how they happen upon it is part of the plot. Anyways, in this lab a whacked out doctor/scientist, whatever he is, creates really bizarre soldiers out of anything and everything for the war effort. The script, acting, scenery, editing, etc. all are basically terrible. I really still am unsure if this was emulating a comedy, or was attempting to be serious. It did have a sort of Troma feel to it, which I very much respect, but didn't hit the humor level to fall into that category. The gore is there for the fans, and some is actually done well to make ya cringe. Just a bit too few and far between for my tastes. Overall, even with a low score, the creations alone are worth seeing even if the movie without them would be horrendous. Enjoy at your own discretion, completely up to you. 4.1/10

07.02.13

Movie review:Summer blockbuster season rolls on. I am pretty sure most of you know this is the story of Superman (DC comics). If you have seen previous movies, this movie somewhat combines Superman 1 and 2 together into its own stand alone movie. In a far out galaxy, a planet that has been depleting its resources is doomed to implode and the only chance for the race survival is in one natural born child, Kal-El (Henry Cavill/Superman) At the brink of the planets destruction, Jor-El (Russel Crowe/Supermans father) devises a way to send his son to Earth in hopes to save the human race and keep the legacy of Krypton alive. In a coup, General Zod (Michael Shannon)kills Kal-El in his own hopes to lead the people of Krypton to salvation, but instead is imprisoned and sent off into a dark land for all eternity. But not before Kal-El can send Superman off to Earth. Here we follow Cal (Clark as most of you know him by) as he must adjust to life on Earth along with the power and responsibility of possessing it. The movie spends an exorbitant amount of time showing the trials of being a superhero. That being said, it is done very well in script and acting. Throughout the course of this, Lois Lane (Amy Adams) character is introduced and is set on finding out who Clark really is. This of course leads to the romantic involvement that was destined to occur. If this sounds like a romantic drama, it pretty much is. But of course, Zod(and his counterparts) comes after Kal (Clark) to retrieve the DNA data from his now destroyed civilization which will lead to the action and summer blockbuster worthiness of this film. On the drop of a hat, the movie shifts the serious undertones the first hour or so had, and turns into a free for all of special effects and explosions that may make Michael Bay take notice (ala Zack Snyder). I do believe the drama and completely contrived romance was a bit long and drawn out. But the way this movie dismissed it completely to obliterate the city was more of a distraction in the storytelling to me. Sure it looked and sounded great in the theater (twice already this year to a theater? not sure what is going on with me) but overall the balance of drama and action just was not handled very well. I also believe with the sheer amount of material they tried to cram into the 2 hours and 20 minutes, they did the best they could. All the pieces were in place to deliver an epic story, but it fell just a little bit short in the presentation. Overall, I did like the movie, and would recommend it. I would be failing if I did not mention the obvious correlation of Kryptons demise being compared to what we have been doing to our own planet. Sit back and enjoy it for what it is worth, solid acting (heck, Kevin Costner was Clarks dad) and story for one half, complete mayhem in the form of action and destruction in the second half and with that being known in advance, I believe you will like this movie. 7.6/10 IMDB 7.9 Thank you Ali  and Jayden for a nice movie night and also a big thanks to the dude who gave us free passes on the way into the theater to make this a nice and cheap night out.