Kingsmen: The Secret Service

A great mixture of comedy and action, that is what Kingsmen: Secret Service is for the 129 minute length of the film. With unknown to pop culture actor Taron Egerton leading the way as Gary "Eggsy" Unwin as a rebel with a knack for getting in trouble but skills that only a trained eye could really see. He soon meets up with Harry Hart (Colin Firth), who is a special agent in England's own special agency called Kingsmen. With the most skilled agents in the world and the most high tech gear, the Kingsmen are out to rid the world of any type of evil. Speaking of evil, the antagonist is portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson who plays a character called Valentine who has a secret plan to have every human on planet earth kill each other by using his universal sim card to launch a chemical reaction in the brain to make people violent. His urge is to rid the world of people so climate change may actually slow down. After a rigorous training program, and after our main character doesn't even make the cut, an unfortunate set of events begin to take place for him to be the hero of the day.

Picture of Colin Firth and Taron Egerton. Original

Even with a conventional theme for a movie, Kingsmen certainly separates itself from other spy/action movies just based on the sheer wit that is put into it. It shows the training of the agents and allows you to see the growth of our main character throughout the film. Colin Firth does a good job of acting as a leader in the film even though it can be seen as a silly movie. The fight scenes were shot incredibly well and keep you locked in the whole time. Samuel L. Jackson adds enough style to the movie to make you almost want to cheer for the antagonist throughout the film. It has enough of a punch for your typical "Transformer" fan to like, while having enough experienced and honest actors to make any film fan appreciate. I give Kingsmen a 8/10/

Source of Inspiration #5

For my 5th and final source of inspiration I wanted to have a picture of one of my favorite actors that had the same exact colors of my blog as well. As you can obviously see the colors of this posters are pretty much like the colors you are looking at right now, and I know i mentioned in an earlier post how my blue and white x-box controller influenced the color as well. After i noticed this poster on my wall, I figured why not just include this guy too. Joe Pesci is one of my favorite actors, the poster is blue and white, how perfect, right? I didn't have much inspiration before but this definitely helped out. Keeping the simple blue and white themed with a little bit of a background that was inspired by my hometown Roxy movie theater seemed to hit the nail on the head after I was lying and bed and looked up at the great Joe Pesci.

I love Joe Pesci because his characters are pretty much the most pissed off characters I have ever witnessed in movie history. Since Goodfellas is one of my favorite movies, i had this poster hanging in my room and it added even more of a reason to make it blue and white. I even had a little Joe Pesci voice in my head say, "Do it, ya schmuck." It still adds enough when it comes to the contrast between the text and background on a more serious note. It is not too flashy, doesn't distract you from the movie reviews, and I think it is more of an easy color to look at.  

Source of Inspiration #4

When it comes to the font of my page I realized that I shouldn't make it to stylish because the main reason for me to write reviews is to have you actual pay attention to the review. I didn't think it was really necessary for me to have a fancy type of font that made you take a double take of certain words or have any type of font that would make you squint your eyes for you to see what the words actually were. I stuck with the fairly generic font and the size of the font for the blog. When I found out we needed sources of inspiration I actually just saw North Hall and that it was remotely close for what my font size and style needed to be. The North Hall font, and pretty much the whole building is the generic of the generic.

I really didn't think the font needed to serve much of a purpose on my page, I wanted to get the certain readers' attention grabbed by having them actually paying attention of what I have to say by the use of the pictures and some of the youtube videos that I uploaded to give them a short preview of what the movie I reviewed may be like. It is not special but it is there serving its purpose, the other font options didn't seem to appealing to me and I didn't even learn how to change the font in html until a classmate showed us in class for the instruction project. But nonetheless this is the font I chose, and this is the picture that inspired me to keep it original.

Source of Inspiration #3

Even though it may be tough to see from the picture below, the Roxy movie theater in my hometown in Lock Haven is still the most unique movie theater that I have been in even to this day, that is why I tried to dedicate my background to this specific carpet that is in this building. It is almost the exact same pattern, and the reason I chose the pattern background is because of this theater. It is an old theater that is easily apart of my childhood since 95% of the movies I have seen are from this room right here. It is an old theater, it is not your typical commercial theater that has 12 movie screens and sells popcorn for 12 dollars. It is cheaper and only has three screens. The picture below is the main room which is unlike any other theater room that I have been in.

Originally from http://www.heartofpa.com/play/roxy-theater/

 

It is the only theater that I have been in that has a balcony and the unique architecture adds to art of the room. On both sides of the theater the walls are painted with old Italian art that involves anything from angels to a naked women eating an apple. It remains the most open theater room ive been in, it doubles in size of most and has really high ceilings. It is the theater that made me fall in love with movies, it has character and has an old homie type of feel to it. This is why I chose the patterns in my background for my blog, it all comes from the Roxy in Lock Haven, PA.

Spectre

Daniel Craig as James Bond. Original

With Daniel Craig appearing in his 4th Bond film, and Spectre being the 24th installment of the James Bond cinema franchise. One thing that is not going for this movie is that it is living in the shadow of the Bond film before, Skyfall. I believed Skyfall was definitely a top 5 Bond film if not top 3. So, the new rendition of the Bond films had some big shoes to fill. It came close, but not completely. Overall, this is a solid Bond film. It contains all the elementary elements of a Bond film when it comes to chase sequences and fight scenes. When it comes to being a good Bond film was it good? Yes. Was it the best Bond Daniel Craig has been in? I think you have to say no. What I think makes the difference is how good the villain is.

The main villain of this movie is played by Christoph Waltz, who was so perfectly evil in Inglorious Bastards plays the character Blofeld, a mastermind of crime who runs an illuminati type of business in the world. Bond starts to unravel the pieces of the puzzle and trying to get to the seed of what is going on. While Bond's employer MI6 is still threating to end the spying 007 program. Bond comes into save the day by eventually solving the crime. with a few twists and turns along the way. But what I realize is that with movies like these, and all the superhero films coming out. The movie is only as good as the villain is.

One of the best movies that has come out this century is the Dark Knight, and you know you love this movie for how Heath Ledger just absolutely owned the part of the Joker. This is why you went to see that movie, your attracted to how weird it is. Unless it is some masterful twist to a movie, or just amazing acting, your attracted to the creepiness of the villain. The main characters in adventure/action films have been winning forever. Sometimes we want to see a deep and dark villain that intrigues us. This Bond really doesn't give us that which is why I give it a 7/10.

Source of Inspiration 2

I chose this as one of my inspiration posts because I though I needed a picture that kind of summed up how I actually felt about movies. The quote by the famous director Martin Scorsese shows and proves how movies are much more than movies. Much of the time movies mold peoples childhoods, change how we think about the world, and actually change our terminology when it comes to talking in day to day life. You know you always end up quoting movies with your friends that make you life, you know the end of an emotional movie sometimes touches a nerve. When it comes to shaping childhood, don't even get me started when it comes to Lion King, that movie still carries over into my day to day life in some ways.

This is why I actually wanted to do movie reviews for my blog posts. I didn't just want to review some of the films and give you what I thought about it based on how well the storyline was constructed, or how well the cinematography was in the film. Yes, films do need these systematic elements to be a good and complete film for the viewer. But the emotion of the story, or the one liners in a comedy, are what we really take away from the film. You always hear people talking about how that one moment in a scene made you feel, you don't talk about how upset you were by the lighting of a certain scene when you sit around with your friends. Your left with the emotion of the film.

So, with my reviews I tried to actually describe how the movie might make you feel in some regards. I wanted to kind of flesh out the moral side of the story, and what the underlying causes are of the film so you can have an opportunity to dig deeper into it. Some movies change the way you think, change your philosophy of life and they all serve as memories. There are all much more than "just a movie," there are something that can change your outlook on life and most certainly have a direct influence.

"Source of Inspiration #1"

The majority of my posts will now rely on what inspired me to design my page the way it is. My page may not seem like the most advanced when it comes to the design parts of it but nonetheless, I didn't want to take away from it was just supposed to be a blog about movie reviews. Anyways, you will notice that the background of my page is blue, and when I was actually creating this page I had in mind that I had to make these types of posts. When I was actually just creating the page I looked down next to me and I actually ended up seeing the exact image below this paragraph and decided to use that for my color.

Now, I love my Xbox One and I actually praise this controller for sticking it out with me. I'm sure you're wondering "What kind of moron are you to say that this controller stuck it out with you?" Ill just say that such games like Madden, FIFA, NBA 2K16 have all left me with games that I have lost. Sometimes, those losses result in the throwing of a controller across your living room out of anger. Yeah, I should probably learn how to not do that for the sake of my future children. This guy has survived, he's been through so much and he still works to this day. So for that, I dedicate this post to my blue controller. The blue background is dedicated to you my friend.

Inside Out

Retrieved from Retreived From

Inside Out proves that Pixar just proves itself again at being a factory of making memorable movies that so many people love. Inside Out really takes the cake as far as animated movies go in the past several years. It contains all elements that make a movie, drama, comedy, action, and even adventure. It is relentless in making you keep your eyes on the screen and it dazzles you with creativity. The characters to the right are representations of human moods, and the main characters live inside the brain of a young girl named Riley (Kaitlyn Dias). It gives quite a theoretical version of the processes that your brain goes through and how it dictates how you act.

The main emotions that live inside of her mind are Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black) and Disgust (Mindy Kaling). They all try to play their part of keeping her acting normal and sane while dealing with the rough emotional roller coaster of moving into a new neighborhood and house. As Joy tries to keep Riley from feeling sad she tries to keep Sadness away from any doing in the headquarters of her brain. This leads to Sadness feeling like she should do more and as events unfold it is Sadness and Joy by themselves in the "lost world" of her brain where such things as dead memories and make believe friends go. Sorry, don't want to give up too many spoilers due to this movie being so good.

All in all the film does relay a message of how even things we try to avoid, such as sadness, need to be in our lives by way of being able to learn from them. This movie is the definition of heartwarming, I was on the verge of tears at the very end but I was watching it with a girl I just started hanging out with so I decided to choke them down and wait to sob at a movie another time. The creativity and hilarity of this movie makes me watch again and again. The casting was flawless in terms of who played who. It was directed and written by Pete Doctor and I give Inside Out 8.5 out of 10 stars. One of the best films of 2015.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

 

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty takes steps towards fulfilling a classic adventure story while leaving its own stamp of uniqueness with its' use of imagery and motivational sayings used throughout the film. After watching this movie it seems like they got the whole dialogue off of a motivational poster

that hangs in someone's office wall. Even so The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty still seems to hit home with its unconventional storyline and some of the transitions that some of the movie goes through from scene to scene catch the eye. If anything, the movie is just flat out fun to watch and leaves you with a heartwarming ending that puts it under a family type movie while also being an adult like movie.

Ben Stiller as Walter Mitty. Retreived From Popsugar.com

 

 

This movie can be watched by anybody at any age and that is why I liked it so much. Walter Mitty who was casted as Ben Stiller seems to be the perfect fit between nice guy who finally climbs over the wall of fear in his mind and decides to finally leave his life to an extent that many people reach just by simply doing. What I really admire about this movie is how as the story line evolves the main character Walter Mitty evolves with it as well. In the beginning he is too nervous to even leave a wink on a dating site of an office crush and by the end he finally asks her out on a date to his sisters' play, (of course she says yes). The story line and Walter Mitty's life run parallel to each other and as Ben Stiller directed and starred in the movie, he allows you to become attached to Walter Mitty, who is in every scene of this movie.

 

The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty is an overall heartwarming movie but fails to keep the storyline as ambitious with the imagery used in the movie. It stars Ben Stiller, Kristen Wiig, Sean Penn and Adam Scott and I give it 7 out of 10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Broken Flowers

Broken Flowers follows the life of Don Johnston (Bill Murray) who seems to lead a very bland life until he receives a letter in the mail from one of his ex-girlfriends that their 18 year old son has gone out to try and find out who his father is. The letter he received was anonymous so Don Johnston's neighbor Winston (Jeffrey Wright) is a man full of positive energy and has a true passion for crime novels. Winston takes this as an opportunity to take his knowledge of crime novels and try to solve one of his own. Once Winston gives him directions to ex girlfriends houses and phone numbers, Don hits the road.

The movie uses the search of his ex- girlfriends as a story filler for and give Bill Murrays character a little more of a background. Each girlfriend reveals just a little bit about Don Johnston but each one still leaves you with questioning how he ended up with her and at the same time it adds a little mystery to Dons character. He soon meets an ex-girlfriend Sherry (Julie Delpy), who calls him a prick after he asks if she has a son or not. This leads to her current boyfriend punching Don in the face which leads to a black eye and a trip back home with no answers. Once he finally gets home he buys a young man who was on an adventure to find something which Don takes as a clue that this was his kid. Don confesses that he is the kids father, and the homeless kid runs away from him calling him crazy which leaves Don standing in the middle of a road with a state of confusion. Roll credits.

Broken Flowers is not your typical Hollywood hit, but I do actually wish there were more movies like this one. Bill Murray is the human form of melancholy in this movie, and as the storyline seems a little bland compared to todays summer hit standards, what makes this movie is the casting of Bill Murray and the themes that come along with the film if you watch closely. That's what makes this movie better than others, it has certain themes of colors throughout and leaves you with something to talk about. You could watch this movie with a friend and talk about it for a week trying to put together the clues of the film while trying to fill in the unanswered questions. That is what this movie does that modern movies don't do now, Broken Flowers goes beyond just being a movie. Your allowed to fill in some of the story line for yourself cause there is no definite answer throughout the entire film. That is the artistic element comes in.

Broken Flowers was released in 2005, it was directed and written by Jim Jarmusch. It stars Bill Murray, Julie Deply, Sharon Stone, Jeffrey Wright and Jessica Lange. I give this film a 7 out of 10. Do yourself a favor and watch the movie more than once to appreciate it.

Hannibal

Hannibal is fun to watch just because of one actor, Anthony Hopkins. There are some roles that become pinnacle roles for actors throughout their career. Ray Liotta will always be remembered as Henry Hill in Goodfellas, Sean Connery will always be remembered as James Bond and many more examples. Anthony Hopkins will always be remembered as Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter. If anything you may just watch this movie specifically for his acting and how uncomfortable he makes you feel during the whole film. It is always fun to watch when you can actually be done watching a movie and you can actually have a part of his acting stick with you once the movie is already over, but that enough is not enough to make me really like the Ridley Scott's Hannibal.

http://geekandsundry.com/hannibal-lecter-franchises-books-movies-tv-thomas-harris/

Yes, Anthony Hopkins is the main star of the whole film but that is all it really boils down to. When you go and watch these types of movies, you want to see a big majority of Hannibal Lecter, that is what you pay your ticket for. Throughout the movie he doesn't make much of an appearance until later, we got a short catch up of some characters to get the exposition going but there's no Hannibal. Ridley Scott does a good job with using iconic camera shots when it introduces some characters in the movie that give you a general feel for what that character might be like. The dialogue almost seemed very corny at times with some of Hannibal Lecter's actually being about eating people, he makes it subtle in the movie but it almost seems like when he is talking to some people he just says, "Hey, if you listen really closely to my dialogue I actually eat people and throw a couple puns in from time to time." The camera work definitely adds to the movie, it uses a lot of shaky type camera shots during violent scenes to add a little more ominous feeling. Overall I give this movie a 5/10. It is directed by Ridley Scott and Stars Anthony Hopkins, Julianne Moore, Ray Liotta, and Gary Oldman.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Welp, with Halloween right around the corner I thought I could do a little theme of horror movie for one week, ya know, to make my blog seem topical and modern. So the movie I chose to review was The Rocky Horror Picture Show which is an musical that dabbles into the genre of horror movies. Rather, it makes fun of horror movies. Once the movie starts you are just pulled into its silliness and it takes you into its world of silliness and really doesnt let go. The movie introduces you to the cornyness (if that's a word) right in the beginning with the song between  Susan Surandons character, and Barry Bostwick. If you cringe at the thought of movies that are setup as musicals then you may not be a fan of this film. I actually found the numbers to be quite entertaining with the atmosphere that the movie brings to you.

Tim Curry on Rocky Horror Picture Show. Retrieved From

The movie is definitely led by the main character  Dr. Frank-N-Furter who is portrayed by Tim Curry. He plays a transsexual alien from the planet Transylvania who creates a human life form out of his experiment. As you can tell by the picture to the right the movie's theme is musical and horror but it also has its share of sexual innuendo throughout it. It is not a movie you watch with your whole family in the room, unless you want to fill the room with awkwardness. The movie doesnt shy away from from being what it really is, it doesnt start with a silly tone and then give up, this movie stays on pace with its uniqueness which I really admired.

Sometimes the movie did get a little long in terms of the singing, there were a couple parts where I thought "end it already," but other than that I remember this movie for sticking to its tone. About 98% of the movie is shot in the same house which adds to the creepiness. Overally, I did actually like this movie when I thought I was going to hate it. It is a cult classic now since it was released in 1975. The over dramtic acting seemed to be on puropse to add to the satire that the movie is to horror movies. It is daring and pushes the gas pedal throughout the whole movie. The Rocky Horror Picture show was directed by Jim Sharman and stars Tim Curry, Susan Surandon, Barry Bostwick and Patricia Quinn. I give this film a 6 out of 10.

 

 

References



http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073629/

The Book of Life

As I continue on with movie reviews I decided to just make it a complete week with family friendly movies. This week I did The Book of Life, which was a very visually striking movie but that is about it. It takes place as a story told in a Mexican town where to young men are fighting over one women who is supposed to be the love of their life. The movie, to me, had some things that didn't make much sense. For instance, since the movie took place in Mexico, you would think that the two men who are fighting over their love would have a Spanish speaking accent. Nope, only one did. One of the characters were voiced by Diego Luna and the other was Channing Tatum! So we had one character who fit properly into the story while the other just talked with a normal American accent. The story style was very conventional and predictable with a couple jokes tossed in. If you love movies that are fun to watch in terms of the colors and setting this movie may be for you. For me, the visual element only lasted long, the story gets dragged on and is fairly simplistic.

 

The one thing I will say about the past two movies I have reviewed. (Lego Movie and Book of Life), both hold a common theme of having the main characters think for themselves. Which is something Lego Movie really hits home with making that almost the whole theme while Book of Life hints at it for about one minute of the movie. Many things get built up in the film that end up never really coming full circle. Book of Life stars Channing Tatum, Zoe Saldana, and Diego Luna. It is directed by Jorge Gutierrez and produced by Guillermo Del Toro. I give this movie a 5 out of 10.

 

 

Poster for The Book of Life

 







The Lego Movie

Picture Courtesy of Shadow binders.

For starters, I just want to say that it doesnt matter what age you are, you will enjoy this movie. I figured, "Oh, Lego Movie, this is probably meant for 7-10 year olds but I will give it a shot anyway." I ended up loving this movie. Mostly for the creativity because there is something happening the whole time the film is on screen. It is fast paced film with the right

amount of wit in it so you can actually still see what is going on. It is kind of relentless when it comes to things moving, but more importantly it is relentless when it comes to the jokes. I thought this movie was actually really funny. Real funny, not the actual type of funny where it is so stupid you begin to laugh but it has jokes in the dialogue that could actually be used in a stand up comedy set. For all the amount of moving parts and the creativeness of each character, this movie seemed like it should take twenty years to make.

Lego Movie is more than just a silly movie as well. It actually had a deeper meaning to it that could actually be adult like. The movie follow the character Emmit (Voiced by Chis Pratt), who just goes along with society like a sheep. He never really has an original thought of his own, and is basically the exact opposite of a unique human being. The movie is almost a metaphor for how to be unique and think for yourself. It kind of makes fun of society and how people just go with the flow instead of having there own point of views. Emmit finally meets Lucy (Voiced by Elizabeth Banks) who tells Emmit his the special one who can stop evil Lord Business (Will Ferrell) from basically destroying the city.

It is your typical adventure movie when it comes storytelling of a movie, but the graphics, dialogue and wit make this a great movie. It even has a twist at the ending that is definitely a surprise to most viewers. After all the jokes and silliness it actually has a heart warming ending thast gives the movie a great conclusions that sticks with you even after you walk out of the movie theater. Lego Movie stars, Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Morgan Freeman, Will Ferrell, Liam Neeson and Will Arnett as Batman. I give Lego Movie an 8 out of 10

 

Beasts of No Nation

Idris Elba in Beasts of No Nation.

In a Netflix movie debut, Beasts of No Nation goes all out with brutality and violence. Do yourself a favor and don't eat anything red while watching this movie, like raviolis or something like that. Beasts of No Nation follows a young boy named Agu who lives in a worn torn part of Africa that never really gets specified. The very beginning of the film shows their way of life, how it is a struggle for money and most of their neighborhood lives in poverty. The beginning shows Agu as a nice boy who does common things to try and make some money for his family, during the first half hour of the film, he is a normal boy. As he continues to live on in an essential war zone, governmental figures show up and take over their village, many of them accuse people who are still in the village as rebels and shoot them dead on the spot. Agu who is played by Abraham Attah finally runs away from all the gun fire, with his father and brother dead, and disconnected from his mother. As Agu is running he is found by a rebel group who is run by a man they repeatedly call Commandent. The movie has some celebrity weight as famous British actor Idris Elba plays the rebellion leader, which essential gives Agu a new way of life.

Much of the film is filmed outside and is uses many shots that appeal to the eye of the viewer to make it a pleasure walking. The screen is filled up with great shots of the outdoors in almost every scene. The emotional impact of the film comes from the little kids who keep getting recruited by the rebellious army. You get a desperate feeling from Agu as his character slowly turns into this monster. It is more than just him becoming angry and killing people like the others around him, I think the movies message is that his anger is really pent up from missing his mother. The movie doesn't lighten up on the violence either, I have watched a lot of movies that you think are violent but this movie left me with some scenes that dropped my jaw and say, "Oh My God!." Which eventually led my roommate in the room to see what was going on.

Overall, I liked this film very much. You could say that some of it was definitely influenced from the movie 12 Years A Slave, but to me, the violence is what this movie needed. It shows the growth of the character Agu, and the violent scenes alone gives you something to talk about with your friends weeks after you watch it. And for that I give this movie an 8 out of 10.

American Sniper

American Sniper is Clint Eastwood returning to his directional roots as he follows the life of Chris Kyle, a sniper with the most recorded kills as a sniper in U.S. Military history. He joins the Navy Seals and fights in many battles during the Iraq war. He I often regarded as the "Legend," in real life and also many times during the film. Bradley Cooper leads the movie playing Chris Kyle and gives one of his best performences as a man affected by what he has seen while fighting. The film bounces back and forth from Kyle's home life to his struggles in dealing with the war mentally.

"American Sniper" movie poster. Original

Likes
I love American Sniper as an overally film based on the fact that it is the best movie to show what a soldier may actually go through concerning PTSD. It showed how the stress of the war carries into his home life and how it affects his family. It packs an emotional punch because there are some scenes that show Chris Kyle actually showing a sign of relief that he didn't have to take out a small child carrying an RPG. It is more than just a war movie, it shows how Chris Kyle was an actual human being and not just seemed to be an invincible human being that some war movies try to present.

Dislikes
Even though my dislike for this movie is on a small scale, one thing I did dislike was how some parts of the movie were very hollywood type ending. Chris Kyle made a shot from 2100 yards away, that is not the hollywood part that I am talking about, because that did in fact happen. What I disliked about the movie was almost like a chase scene between him and enemy sniper Mustafa. According to History vs. Hollywood, Chris Kyle only mentioned the name of Mustafa once in his book while the 2100 yard shot was made to take out a man with an RPG. It seems like they had to create a hollywood type of chase between bad and good while just re-enactng scenes from the book shouldve just worked just as well.

Overall, I give American Sniper a 8/10. It is a great salute to those who have served our country and sacrificed more than I could even imagine. It goes beyond being just people shooting at each other for two hours, in has depth, and it gives you emotion while keeping the realities of the war. It is directed by Clint Eastwood and stars, Bradley Cooper (Chris Kyle), and Sienna Miller (Tayla Kyle).


References Used:
http://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/american-sniper/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2179136/

The Martian

Matt Damon in The Martian

The Martian is the newest movie from the veteran director Ridley Scott. You may know Scott's movies from The Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, and Alien. His latest movie starts on a mission on Mars which a team of astronauts is collecting data samples for a team of scientists. Things soon go down hill as a storm races in on the barren planet and Matt Damon's character, Mark Watney, is left alone the planet as his team leaves due to the storm. He is left to find ways to make food for himself from the artificial living areas that Nasa has left on Mars from previous missions.

Visually, the movie is striking and one that should actually be watched in a movie theater and not on a television set at home. Many people try to stay critical to the facts behind a movie, and The Martian seems to give you every fact you need if you need to survive on Mars. I thought watching this movie that the storyline was rather predictable, but a solid one. Many people want to see problems happen and have the character overcome more and more obstacles, and I think it misses what could of been a more climactic ending. In the end, if your in the mood for an action film, this hits the spot sometimes, but not nearly as much as Ridley Scott's old films. The Martian co-starred Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels, and Michael Pena. Solid story line, visually striking, and good acting. I give the film a 7/10.

Her

Her may seem like a silly movie when you first hear what it is about but the movie packs a punch when it comes to romance and drama. Joaquin Phoenix really is the force behind Her stealing the show with a performance not many actors I know would be able to pull off. The film is set in the future in Los Angeles, the date is not specified but what you do take notice is how the technology in this certain time and place is taking over everything. A new system called the OS 1 is an artificial intelligence system that makes you feel like an actual human being is in the room. Joaquins' character, Theodore, has just gone through a divorce with what he thought was the love of his life and has fallen into a level of depression. When Theodore finally buys the OS 1, he eventually falls in love with the voice behind it, Samantha (Scarlett Johansson). They lead a type of romance that normal people would, except for the fact that she isn't a person and eventually they fall into the ins and outs of a modern day relationship.

Hearing about the movie, I always thought there was no way this could be appealing or make sense. It is the first movie that I have seen to pull off an emotional adventure that really only involves the emotions of one human being. It is very main character drive, and when that can be pulled off they usually turn out great. The chemistry, photography, and the dialogue are what makes this film more than just watchable. What I thought the films real goal was to not make Samantha just a computer, but have her actual hit you with a type of emotion through her words which they achieve. It is directed and written by Spike Jonze and also stars Amy Adams and Chris Pratt. I give Her a 7/10.


Jaoquin Phoenix in Her. From http://www.blastr.com/2014-2-19/futurist-says-her-may-become-reality-sooner-we-think

The Book Thief

The Book Thief  follows a young girl named Liesel Meminger (Sophie Nelisse) in 1938 Germany. It follows her emotional roller coaster of being adopted by two parents living in the middle of Nazi Germany rule. Hans Hubermann (Geoffrey Rush), Rosa Hubermann (Emily Watson) give one of the better performances between two parents that I have seen. Geoffrey Rush plays the heart-warming father that you cling to the entire film based on his forgiveness of that actions of Liesel, while her mother tends to be the tough on young Liesel. The movie does create many beautiful scenes showing the times of Germany under Nazi rule. It gives a great feel of what Germany may have been like with the use of the sets involved from the old stone roads, just to the way the characters dressed. As the movie moves on with good pace, a young Jewish man shows up to the doorstep of the Huberman's home. We get a little story filler as Hans informs as that the father of the young Jewish man saved his life during World War I. The rising action of the movie is when the protection of that young Jewish man gets tougher and tougher as Nazi officers start to search basements looking for any captives.

PIcture of Geoffrey Rush in The Book Thief

This film does a very good job of helping you fall in love with the characters as their go through their troubles, which I think is the strongest point of the movie. It is powered by the actual emotions of young Liesel who is an innocent girl who falls in love with books as her main motivator to keep going on. The use of a narrator for the film, who we figure out to be death himself speaking adds an emotional level to the film, you almost cling to the narrators voice periodically through the movie for the clarity that it brings to the movie and is definitely a nice touch to a good film.

I give this movie a 6.5 out of 10.

Movie Review: Birdman

Birdman, if you do not like movies that leave you with questions unanswered they you may not be in favor of this movie. Birdman follows our main character Riggan Thompson (Michael Keaton), who was a huge celebrity for his blockbuster hit movies Birdman 1-3. After going through the stages of being a celebrity he decided to write, direct, and star in a deep philosophical/romantic play "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love". It seems as the film goes on that our main character has a mental disorder. He has an inner monologue that you presume is the voice while making the movie Birdman. He is followed by this voice that tells him to go back to what he had in Hollywood instead of trying to become relevant again by being considered "artsy". He is constantly nagged about the society that Hollywood has built, which according to Mike Shiner (Edward Norton) his co-star in the production is basically the product of bullshit. Riggan is troubled not only by the voice in his head but by his troubled daughter, his ex-wife, getting money around for the play, and earning the respect of others in the theater world as he tries to do a complete 180 on his career.

Now, the truly special thing about this movie is the cinematography. There aren't many cuts in the entire movie, the movie looks like it is entirely filmed in one shot, which I think is personally an amazing spectacle to watch. Instead of cut to one angle with actor saying his lines, then cutting back to another angle for the actor to say his lines, the camera actually stays with the characters as they walk and talk. It gives you a much more personal feel for a movie, the movie seems to take over about the course of three or four days but the film makes you feel like the timetable of the movie was only 2 hours long. Judging college students, many people that I have asked about this movie kind of hated it, if your not into the technicality of how a movie is shot or written you may not be a big fan. It was the winner of Best Picture at the Oscars in 2014 and is directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu. It stars Michael Keaton, Zack Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Naomi Watts, and Emma Stone. If you love the action packed blockbusters this film may not be for you, but at the end of it all I give this movie an 8 out of 10. A must watch in my opinion.

My Blog

      My blog is going to be about the review of movies, not new movies that are going to come out this year, I am going to try and review old and new movies. I chose the review of movies to be my blog bit because it has been something I have loved since I was a little kid. I don't just love movies because it gives you a reason to lay on the couch and do nothing but watch your television, I love the way movies are put together. I like to review movies not to critique them in some way, but to actually talk about the movie since some movies leave you questioning what you just watched. Movies can go from a hundred robots shooting guns at each other to the most plain philosophical theme. 

       

     So the blog topic might seem kind of boring but I will relate the movie back to a college student point of view. I'll talk about what I think a stereotypical college kid would think of the movie I last watched and give a rating from 1-10 based on whether I think a kid my age would actually like the movie.