These next posts are from movies/shows that I have watched over the course of a month. This is due to the fact that July was the craziest month ever for me (probably shouldn't have even started the blog that month). I went on a trip to Seattle the second week of July, a wedding the third weekend, another wedding the fourth weekend, was packing the whole time in-between for my move to an apartment as well as working 3x/week, then went to the hospital for three days, and finally am moving into my apartment tomorrow. This didn't mean I stopped watching movies or shows, just not as many. I watched them while I packed, was in the hospital with nothing else to do, was on an airplane, and in-between writing reports for work. You think I would've watched more than 10 movies a week at that rate, but alas, I was so busy I did not.
I have a lot of reviews to catch up on writing in the next week, as well as many movies to be watched, as usual. I will be without internet for about 3 days, so this may give me the chance to use my television to watch some more movies (or court tv like I watched in the hospital; or SHARK WEEK for the first time) and write reviews for the blog on paper with pen in-between my unpacking (oh noesssss what will I do without teh internets???...j/k).
This is what I have watched from July 12th through August 9th so far (more to come):
Chuck Seasons 1-3, Californication Seasons 2-3 (I will review all three however), Interview With The Vampire, Pawn Stars Season 1, Lie to Me Season 1, High Anxiety, The Tale of Despereaux, The Promotion, Planet 51, Alice in Wonderland (animated Disney version), My So-Called Life, Silent Movie, Lethal Weapon, Rebecca, Dave Chappelle: Killin' Them Softly, Sons of Anarchy Season 1, Bruce and Lloyd's Out of Control, The Jetson's Movie, Toy Story 3, and Castle Season 1.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Friday, August 6, 2010
Additional Posts You May See From This Blog
In addition to the movie reviews that I will be writing, I will be also be:
Reviewing movie websites
Reviewing movie related webcomics
Posting favorite movie related webcomics
Discussing exciting upcoming releases
Discussing favorite movies, actors, and actresses
Discussing movie related terms
Writing stories from my experience at a movie theater
Discussing the Oscars
Discussing movie related products
Taking requests for movies to watch (except horror movies)
Movie/television discount and reward programs
And much more!
Reviewing movie websites
Reviewing movie related webcomics
Posting favorite movie related webcomics
Discussing exciting upcoming releases
Discussing favorite movies, actors, and actresses
Discussing movie related terms
Writing stories from my experience at a movie theater
Discussing the Oscars
Discussing movie related products
Taking requests for movies to watch (except horror movies)
Movie/television discount and reward programs
And much more!
Explanation of Reviews
As I said before, my reviews are not “top-notch” and in depth as many you may see. I am just starting to write reviews, therefore I may not know what to include. I did take a movie history course in college; however this does not mean that I know everything about movies.
My reviews may be longer or shorter than others. I base my reviews on my opinion, they may or may not provide explanation of the plot, may or may not include spoilers (although I will try to write “spoiler alert” at the beginning of the post if they do), and may include personal stories within them.
I try to do my best to use correct spelling and grammar and somewhat edit the entries, but other than that they are not meant to be award-winning essays. This is written for my own fun, to see how often I can actually watch 10 movies/tv shows a week, and for whoever else wants to enjoy reading as I watch 10 movies/tv shows a week.
My reviews may be longer or shorter than others. I base my reviews on my opinion, they may or may not provide explanation of the plot, may or may not include spoilers (although I will try to write “spoiler alert” at the beginning of the post if they do), and may include personal stories within them.
I try to do my best to use correct spelling and grammar and somewhat edit the entries, but other than that they are not meant to be award-winning essays. This is written for my own fun, to see how often I can actually watch 10 movies/tv shows a week, and for whoever else wants to enjoy reading as I watch 10 movies/tv shows a week.
Explanation of Ratings
I base my ratings on a five star scale. I use half stars as well (that’s one thing I don’t like about Netflix, they won’t allow me to use half stars). If you’re reading this blog I should assume you already know this rating scale:
.5 stars (lowest rating) = Terrible movie; poorly written, poorly directed, or poor acting
1 star = Don’t bother watching it
1.5 stars = Bad movie, hard to watch
2 stars = Bad movie but mostly watchable
2.5 stars = Pretty decent movie, passable
3 stars = Okay movie
3.5 stars = Pretty good movie
4 stars = Good movie, go see it
4.5 stars = Great movie, see it now
5 stars (highest rating) = Excellent movie, one that should be seen by all, great script, great cast, and amazingly directed
This blog is written based on my opinion. Others may rate movies differently.
.5 stars (lowest rating) = Terrible movie; poorly written, poorly directed, or poor acting
1 star = Don’t bother watching it
1.5 stars = Bad movie, hard to watch
2 stars = Bad movie but mostly watchable
2.5 stars = Pretty decent movie, passable
3 stars = Okay movie
3.5 stars = Pretty good movie
4 stars = Good movie, go see it
4.5 stars = Great movie, see it now
5 stars (highest rating) = Excellent movie, one that should be seen by all, great script, great cast, and amazingly directed
This blog is written based on my opinion. Others may rate movies differently.
Wasting Away (aka "Aaah! Zombies!!!") (2007)
Review:
Hollywood goes through phases. Currently we are seeing movies in the categories of superheroes, vampires, and zombies. Out of the three, my favorite happens to be zombies. More recent zombie flicks are comedic and this one is included. Wasting Away is a low-budget zombie film which won Audience Choice Award at Screamfest in 2007. It is about four friends (two girls and two guys) who accidentally turn into zombies when toxic waste is mixed into their icecream. Not thinking much of the green color of the icecream, they all eat it anyways. They feel like they are still humans (in fact, super humans), walking and talking normally; however the outside world can sees them as zombies, where their waves and yells for help are only heard as moans and seen as stiff movements. All of the shots from the zombie’s perspective are shot in color and all of the shots from everyone else’s perspective are shot in black and white. The entire movie, the zombies think that the humans are the ones who were infected because they have gone mad enough to shoot at each other. This movie has a hilarious script and creative plot which make it a good film despite the low budget. It releases on dvd on September 28th.
A trailer can be seen on Level33Entertainment’s youtube account at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtV3N9zRrJs
Rating: 3 stars
Despicable Me (2010)
Review:
I am a sucker for animated films. I have been waiting for this film since I found out about it and the actors and actresses involved.
I love stories about villains who are trying to be the best villain they can be but have hero qualities. I also love dark humor. These aspects can be found in Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Igor, and Despicable Me. Gru (voiced by Steve Carell), who used to be the best villain, was out-villained by another who stole a pyramid in Egypt. Gru is then denied a bank loan from the Bank of Evil because he is getting to be old and less on top of his game. So, he tries to steal the moon by adopting three girls who sell cookies door to door. He uses them to try and capture a shrink ray from the evil villain who stole the pyramid.
Other notable voices in the movie include Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Julie Andrews, Will Arnett, and Kristen Wiig. The inventions in the movie are creative, the script was excellent, and the jokes were hilarious. In addition, the vehicles and houses of the characters were creative (and also had a little bit of dark humor as well). Gru does not have a problem freezing everyone to get to the front of a coffee line and steal someone’s purchase or tell someone he’s going to kill their dog, then laugh about it. The timing of the lines was great. The character’s shapes and sizes also added to the humor and were used creatively in the plot and dialogue.
I cannot forget about the minions. The most advertised part of the movie. The yellow minions were in the movie and resembled the voices of the aliens from Toy Story. It is easy to think that this is a Disney film; however Disney is more cutesy/family friendly than this movie. But it looks and feels as intelligently done as a Pixar script. Anyhow, I was worried that they would be annoying and distract from the movie, but I was wrong. They were creatively used and were their own characters. I would say they were a great addition to the film and made me smile multiple times.
Overall, what I liked is that the trailer did not give everything away. All that I knew was that the movie had Steve Carell as a funny looking evil guy and a pyramid getting stolen. That’s all it took for me to want to watch it and I was not disappointed. It was a great film from start to finish with a wonderful ending and lots of baby seal kicking humor.
Rating: 4.5 stars
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1323594/
I am a sucker for animated films. I have been waiting for this film since I found out about it and the actors and actresses involved.
I love stories about villains who are trying to be the best villain they can be but have hero qualities. I also love dark humor. These aspects can be found in Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Igor, and Despicable Me. Gru (voiced by Steve Carell), who used to be the best villain, was out-villained by another who stole a pyramid in Egypt. Gru is then denied a bank loan from the Bank of Evil because he is getting to be old and less on top of his game. So, he tries to steal the moon by adopting three girls who sell cookies door to door. He uses them to try and capture a shrink ray from the evil villain who stole the pyramid.
Other notable voices in the movie include Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Julie Andrews, Will Arnett, and Kristen Wiig. The inventions in the movie are creative, the script was excellent, and the jokes were hilarious. In addition, the vehicles and houses of the characters were creative (and also had a little bit of dark humor as well). Gru does not have a problem freezing everyone to get to the front of a coffee line and steal someone’s purchase or tell someone he’s going to kill their dog, then laugh about it. The timing of the lines was great. The character’s shapes and sizes also added to the humor and were used creatively in the plot and dialogue.
I cannot forget about the minions. The most advertised part of the movie. The yellow minions were in the movie and resembled the voices of the aliens from Toy Story. It is easy to think that this is a Disney film; however Disney is more cutesy/family friendly than this movie. But it looks and feels as intelligently done as a Pixar script. Anyhow, I was worried that they would be annoying and distract from the movie, but I was wrong. They were creatively used and were their own characters. I would say they were a great addition to the film and made me smile multiple times.
Overall, what I liked is that the trailer did not give everything away. All that I knew was that the movie had Steve Carell as a funny looking evil guy and a pyramid getting stolen. That’s all it took for me to want to watch it and I was not disappointed. It was a great film from start to finish with a wonderful ending and lots of baby seal kicking humor.
Rating: 4.5 stars
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1323594/
Date Night (2010)
Review:
Many of us have been in relationships where we get to know the other person so well for years and feel comfortable with the other person. So comfortable that we feel as if we are having the same conversations, eating at the same restaurants, and participating in the same routines. The movie Date Night is about one of these couples (Steve Carell and Tina Fey) who is married with kids and afraid that they are playing the same boring roles. Once they see their friends getting a divorce for that very reason, they dress up and plan an exciting date at a fancy restaurant. When there are no tables open, the husband decides to take someone else’s reservation only to find out that the people whose reservation they took are thieves who stole from a mob boss in the city. Carell and Fey are are followed throughout the city by the cops who work for the mob boss and end up trying to clear their names by playing the role of the thieves. The script is excellent as we see the couple switch from roles as husband and wife (acting terrified) to thieves and detectives (but still within their husband/wife personalities).
The movie starts off a little cheesy with the couple stating that clinging empty wine glasses causes bad luck (which they then do in a zoomed camera shot) but ends with a touching line from Steve Carell that I hope to hear one day. Mark Wahlber also plays an excellent role in the movie.
Rating: 3.5 stars
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1279935/
Many of us have been in relationships where we get to know the other person so well for years and feel comfortable with the other person. So comfortable that we feel as if we are having the same conversations, eating at the same restaurants, and participating in the same routines. The movie Date Night is about one of these couples (Steve Carell and Tina Fey) who is married with kids and afraid that they are playing the same boring roles. Once they see their friends getting a divorce for that very reason, they dress up and plan an exciting date at a fancy restaurant. When there are no tables open, the husband decides to take someone else’s reservation only to find out that the people whose reservation they took are thieves who stole from a mob boss in the city. Carell and Fey are are followed throughout the city by the cops who work for the mob boss and end up trying to clear their names by playing the role of the thieves. The script is excellent as we see the couple switch from roles as husband and wife (acting terrified) to thieves and detectives (but still within their husband/wife personalities).
The movie starts off a little cheesy with the couple stating that clinging empty wine glasses causes bad luck (which they then do in a zoomed camera shot) but ends with a touching line from Steve Carell that I hope to hear one day. Mark Wahlber also plays an excellent role in the movie.
Rating: 3.5 stars
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1279935/
My One and Only (2009)
Review:
Renee Zellweger is one of my favorite actresses. She was also in Cold Mountain and Chicago, which are excellent movies as well as My One and Only. She plays a strong, independent female character in all of these films.
My One and Only is about Zellweger’s character who is a rich woman whose husband cheats on her. She takes a significant amount of money as well as buys a car to leave the city with her two children. She travels wherever she can find someone (generally a man who had loved her in the past) to provide room and board. Each of these men have a flaw causing her to leave tot he next city/man. Each time she moves she has less and less money remaining. However, she keeps her head up and doesn’t let anything stop her from living and providing for herself and family.
I would definitely love to see more films where Zellweger plays the role of a strong, independent woman in the future as each of her roles have been unique so far in their own ways.
Rating: 3.5 stars
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185431/
Renee Zellweger is one of my favorite actresses. She was also in Cold Mountain and Chicago, which are excellent movies as well as My One and Only. She plays a strong, independent female character in all of these films.
My One and Only is about Zellweger’s character who is a rich woman whose husband cheats on her. She takes a significant amount of money as well as buys a car to leave the city with her two children. She travels wherever she can find someone (generally a man who had loved her in the past) to provide room and board. Each of these men have a flaw causing her to leave tot he next city/man. Each time she moves she has less and less money remaining. However, she keeps her head up and doesn’t let anything stop her from living and providing for herself and family.
I would definitely love to see more films where Zellweger plays the role of a strong, independent woman in the future as each of her roles have been unique so far in their own ways.
Rating: 3.5 stars
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185431/
The A-Team (2010)
Review:
For starters I want to note that I have never seen the A-Team television series. Therefore I am unfamiliar with the characters and how well the movie and characters connect with the television show. I do know that it is based off of the 1980’s television series. At first I wasn’t sure if I wanted to see this film, it is hard to tell whether summer blockbusters will live up to their hype or not. I like to go into movies with low expectations when I can. I have been disappointed before. However, I had been told by multiple people that this movie was good. It was. Not only was it a great comedy with a fun script and familiar actors (Bradley Cooper, Jessica Biel, and Liam Neeson) it also provided almost non-stop explosive action. The number of ways in which the A-Team insanely yet creatively used weapons to destroy their enemies was highly entertaining. Each character had his or her own unique hilarious personality that worked together with the other and made for a great movie.
Rating: 3.5 stars
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0429493/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0429493/
Currently Watching July 5th - 12th
Each week I will try to write a list of what I will most likely be watching.
Here is a list of what I will be watching and reviewing this first week:
Despicable Me, The Ghost Writer, The A-Team, Wasting Away, Shutter Island, Birdy the Mighty Decode, Twilight/New Moon, Date Night, My One and Only, and Toy Story 3.
Here is a list of what I will be watching and reviewing this first week:
Despicable Me, The Ghost Writer, The A-Team, Wasting Away, Shutter Island, Birdy the Mighty Decode, Twilight/New Moon, Date Night, My One and Only, and Toy Story 3.
How I Got to Watching so Many Movies
When I was young, I was definitely encouraged to be active. I was involved in many different after school activities. I had no time for watching television or movies. Even when I did have some time, it was taken up with homework or writing.
Once I got to college I had much more time. I started buying more movies, holding movie nights at my apartment, renting movies, and watching movies/tv shows while I did my homework. I used to walk around video rental stores for hours just looking at dvds and making lists of movies I wanted to see. My friends started to come along too and we would walk around chatting about movies, movie cases, and some even played a game with me involving dvds around the store.
I tended to raid the Family Video because they had great deals. I would rent 15 movies a week because that was the maximum at that location. Each time I moved I found a new video store to raid and knew all the best deals. Many of the employees at each store knew me by name and would chat with me about movies.
Eventually I got Netflix and was able to start rating movies that I had seen. That didn't stop me from renting movies from the store. I rated movies during class and eventually got to the point where Netflix only had 8 movies to recommend to me (now it's back up to 90). Netflix discs didn't seem to come fast enough and I didn't always like watching movies instantly on my computer. I enjoyed the comfort of my television and a dvd in a dvd player. But that got to be expensive and my Blockbuster rewards were running out. Luckily Netflix instant cue and Hulu kept getting better and better and I was able to borrow dvds from friends.
Of course dvds weren't the only way I watched movies. I worked for a movie theater my sophomore year of college up until when I graduated. I mostly worked summers and breaks, but my last year I worked there during the school year. I was able to see movies before they came out and I usually went to see one movie a week. I made a lot of good friends at the theater, started getting better at knowing actors/actresses and pop culture, started watching the Oscars, and learned a lot about the behind the scenes of movies. It was then that I truly became a movie snob.
Originally, I wrote this blog on Tumblr. However, Blogger seems to be easier to use and customize, so I switched. Many of the first posts on this blog, including this one, were written a month ago.
Now, I'm by no means a good reviewer. I don't know as much as those who have studied the field (even though I did take a film history course). I am writing these for fun and they are my opinion. Please enjoy as I start writing 10 reviews a week.
Once I got to college I had much more time. I started buying more movies, holding movie nights at my apartment, renting movies, and watching movies/tv shows while I did my homework. I used to walk around video rental stores for hours just looking at dvds and making lists of movies I wanted to see. My friends started to come along too and we would walk around chatting about movies, movie cases, and some even played a game with me involving dvds around the store.
I tended to raid the Family Video because they had great deals. I would rent 15 movies a week because that was the maximum at that location. Each time I moved I found a new video store to raid and knew all the best deals. Many of the employees at each store knew me by name and would chat with me about movies.
Eventually I got Netflix and was able to start rating movies that I had seen. That didn't stop me from renting movies from the store. I rated movies during class and eventually got to the point where Netflix only had 8 movies to recommend to me (now it's back up to 90). Netflix discs didn't seem to come fast enough and I didn't always like watching movies instantly on my computer. I enjoyed the comfort of my television and a dvd in a dvd player. But that got to be expensive and my Blockbuster rewards were running out. Luckily Netflix instant cue and Hulu kept getting better and better and I was able to borrow dvds from friends.
Of course dvds weren't the only way I watched movies. I worked for a movie theater my sophomore year of college up until when I graduated. I mostly worked summers and breaks, but my last year I worked there during the school year. I was able to see movies before they came out and I usually went to see one movie a week. I made a lot of good friends at the theater, started getting better at knowing actors/actresses and pop culture, started watching the Oscars, and learned a lot about the behind the scenes of movies. It was then that I truly became a movie snob.
Originally, I wrote this blog on Tumblr. However, Blogger seems to be easier to use and customize, so I switched. Many of the first posts on this blog, including this one, were written a month ago.
Now, I'm by no means a good reviewer. I don't know as much as those who have studied the field (even though I did take a film history course). I am writing these for fun and they are my opinion. Please enjoy as I start writing 10 reviews a week.
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