A MIT student, desperate to earn money for Harvard Med School, joins an exclusive “club” that spends their weekends in Vegas counting cards and winning at black jack.
I went into this movie expecting an Ocean’s 11esque type movie. The young geniuses taking down the big bad casinos for the greater good of education…yeah not so. Not only is this not a young version of Ocean’s 11. It’s not even a fresh version of The Sting. The plot is slow and predictable and about an hour into it you will find yourself somewhat bored. Kevin Spacey was great as the devious professor but totally underused.
** Rentable
Rated PG-13 (for thematic elements)
Monday, March 31, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Horton Hears A Who
Movie version of the classic Dr. Suess childrens book of the same title. This film is the 3rd Dr. Suess book to be made into a movie, the others being forgettable live action versions of "The Grinch That Stole Christmas" and "The Cat In The Hat". This time it's done 100% CGI, and Dr. Suess is made for computer animation. Blue Sky Animation Studios, the same studio that made the Ice Age movies (you'll get a trailer for "Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs") does a wonderful job with the sets, textures, character design and overall look of the film. The first view of "Whoville" caused one person next to me to say out loud "I want to go to Whoville!". It looks amazing. The animation is some of the best 3D animation you'll ever see. There's great usage of what animators call "squash and stretch", which basically means that the characters bodies and limbs squash and stretch to really exaggerate the movement, something used heavily in traditional 2D animation and starting to come into it's own in 3D.
It looked great, but now on to the most important part, story. It's evident that this was a 15 page book stretched into 90 minutes. That's not to say you won't be entertained the complete 90 minutes, but the strongest points are the beginning and ending. The middle kind of loses the heart of the movie, partly because the use of a great narrators voice disappears after the first 5 minutes...and returns for the final 5 minutes. Had that element been included more steadily, the heart of the story could've somewhat remained. There are also two scenes that, to me, take you out of the movie. Both are funny scenes but don't seem to fit. One is a weird morph into anime/japanimation world, and the other an odd musical number at the end. The voice cast, including Jim Carrey and Steve Carrell, do a great job, especially Carrell. All in all a worthy effort by Blue Sky. It looks amazing but once again, the story doesn't reach the "Pixar-level".
*** out of 4
It looked great, but now on to the most important part, story. It's evident that this was a 15 page book stretched into 90 minutes. That's not to say you won't be entertained the complete 90 minutes, but the strongest points are the beginning and ending. The middle kind of loses the heart of the movie, partly because the use of a great narrators voice disappears after the first 5 minutes...and returns for the final 5 minutes. Had that element been included more steadily, the heart of the story could've somewhat remained. There are also two scenes that, to me, take you out of the movie. Both are funny scenes but don't seem to fit. One is a weird morph into anime/japanimation world, and the other an odd musical number at the end. The voice cast, including Jim Carrey and Steve Carrell, do a great job, especially Carrell. All in all a worthy effort by Blue Sky. It looks amazing but once again, the story doesn't reach the "Pixar-level".
*** out of 4
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
The Other Boleyn Girl
King Henry the Eighth finds himself with out a male heir and a Queen who can no longer bare children. Enter the Boleyn Family. With two young girls that just might please the King, their Uncle takes every opportunity to put them in the middle of the Royal Court.
This movie was actually very entertaining, however completely and totally historically inaccurate. The film makers obviously didn't take the tour at the Tower of London, where the local Beef Eater guards tell the story of Anne Boleyn daily. Nevertheless it is a fun fictorical (that's a new word I made-up) drama. Two sisters battling for the affections of a King that according the Catholic Church isn't available, beheadings, babies, war. Doesn't it sound romantic?
** 1/2 Rentable
Rated PG-13 (Sexual Content and some beheadings)
This movie was actually very entertaining, however completely and totally historically inaccurate. The film makers obviously didn't take the tour at the Tower of London, where the local Beef Eater guards tell the story of Anne Boleyn daily. Nevertheless it is a fun fictorical (that's a new word I made-up) drama. Two sisters battling for the affections of a King that according the Catholic Church isn't available, beheadings, babies, war. Doesn't it sound romantic?
** 1/2 Rentable
Rated PG-13 (Sexual Content and some beheadings)
Vantage Point
The President of the United States is shot at a peace conference in Spain. The Secret Service, amidst the chaos, have a limited amount of time to catch the culprits.
OK so this movie is such a fun and great concept. It is the same 12 minutes told over and over again from 5 or 6 characters points of view. Very fast paced, action packed, and fun to watch. The last 20 minutes of the movie however are so horrid they ruin the movie altogether. The dialogue is campy, the story just ends, and it all tries to come together in a Crash meets Die Hard sort of way that just makes this movie unbearable! I guess if you can look past the ending it might be worth watching.
** Rentable
Rated PG-13 (violence)
OK so this movie is such a fun and great concept. It is the same 12 minutes told over and over again from 5 or 6 characters points of view. Very fast paced, action packed, and fun to watch. The last 20 minutes of the movie however are so horrid they ruin the movie altogether. The dialogue is campy, the story just ends, and it all tries to come together in a Crash meets Die Hard sort of way that just makes this movie unbearable! I guess if you can look past the ending it might be worth watching.
** Rentable
Rated PG-13 (violence)
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