Movie Reviews

I adored this book by Audrey Niffenegger. It's one of those reads that I just didn't want to end and when it did, I missed the characters. It's obvious, though, especially after watching the movie, that the story is about the characters much more than the plot. It's just not possible to develop these lovely and complex characters in a 2-hour movie like they deserve to be. Although the time-travel thing is interesting, the movie brings to the forefront that the plot is a bit lacking. If you're interested in this love story, I would highly recommend the book... the movie... eh. The Score: **

I LOVE me some Sci-Fi. Call me a dork, it's OK. I even took a Sci-Fi film class in college, and I have to say it was one of my favorites. I got to write a paper on The Terminator movies, for gosh sakes!

Surrogates had the potential to be really cool... and it almost got there. While chasing the bad guy, Bruce Willis' character realizes the downfall of humanity though vanity and greed - living their lives attached to their more attractive surrogates and moving through the world with just the right amount of anonymity and without the burden of consequence. I think this flick could have used a bit more development of Brucey's character, but overall, I enjoyed it. The Score: ***1/2

I also love me some Apocalypse movies with a bit of religion thrown in. The Book of Eli did not disappoint. 30 years after a nuclear war, Denzel Washington's character is on a mission to protect one thing... The Book. This film also explores humanity, but in the opposite way than Surrogates. Instead of answering the question: What happens when we can have/do whatever we want?, The Book of Eli explores the question: What happens we there's nothing left - when we are in survival mode? It's interesting what becomes valuable in a world where everything we know no longer exists. Good stuff... and a great twist at the end. Oh, and Denzel kicks some serious ass. The Score: ****1/2
On a side note: I hope The Making Of... is on the DVD. I caught it on HBO, and it proves Denzel is even more of a badass than I thought!

 

Alright, so don't yell at me, but I don't watch The Office. I know, I know, I'm missing out. However, I think Ricky Gervais is freaking hilarious! I love British humor, especially when you can understand what they're saying (sometimes a problem on the BBC). What would happen if you were the only person in the world who could lie... and everyone believed you? I can think of a few things I'd do - but this movie hilariously and satirically pushes that idea to the limit. Funny, cute, thought provoking. The Score: ****

 

When Paul grabbed this movie at BlockBuster, I thought... space, future, creepy... awesome. Just recently (I'd say in the last 4 years) I have started to really like twisted horror movies. I'm pretty sure this started with Saw - the original.  Anyway, so I was thinking Pandorum would be sort-of Mission to Mars-esque plus horror... but turns out it was more like Alien(s)... but not as good. It was indeed creepy, and definitely had a solid plot (pretty good twist at the end too), but I felt the middle of the movie dragged on a bit, making me want more of an epic conclusion. And it definitely could have been scarier. Overall, OK. The Score: ***