The Hunchback of Notre Dame

1996 - 2/5

For what it was, I did like it, but compared to other Disney movies, this one was not unique. It fails to stand out amongst the many great Disney movies I love so much. It just didn’t have the true Disney classic feel to it.

I can’t be 100% sure about the following but it seemed as if there were some religious undertones. I’m pretty sure I didn’t catch all of them but something seemed to point me in that direction.

Because it’s Disney you know you’re not going to get anything but amazing animation. The voices were okay; I didn’t feel much depth or emotion from any of the characters.

Maybe I haven’t seen a Disney movie in a while, but it seemed as if there were a lot of songs. Some were catchy but most were not.

Before I watched the movie, I thought I’d like the message it’s trying to send but I found how it ended a bit unexpected. It made me question the underlying message and whether or not this was a movie intended for a younger audience.

I found that the only part, and I mean only part that I laughed was the old man that was trapped in a cage and then became free only to trip into a wooden shackle (which for the life of me, I can’t figure out what it’s called).

Fried Green Tomatoes

1991 – 2.5/5

Likes:
-It makes you cry one minute, laugh the next, then cry again.
-It was a heartfelt story
-Kathy Bates as Evelyn Couch was amazing (as usual).
-Jessica Tandy was so convincing as Ninny Threadgoode.
-I liked how the movie flowed from the present day storyline to the story being told by Ninny.

Dislikes:
-The Robin Hood-like part was unnecessary.
-The movie was overly feministic which made some parts ridiculous.
-I found it odd that Idgie ‘aged’ while Ruth did not.

Slumdog Millionaire

2008 – 4.7/5

I will start out by saying that I LOVED this movie. It was so creative and well directed. There were some really cool camera angles, cool transitions between scenes and I absolutely LOVED how the subtitles were in the empty spaces rather than the bottom. It also had a great soundtrack so I bought that.

The acting by everyone was so much better than I had expected. Everyone felt as if they were truly the person they were trying to portray.

The storyline was great. I really liked how they told the story through flashbacks as each question was asked during the show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.

Inception

2010 – 2/5

I’ve been meaning to see this since it came out but never got around to it till now. And now that I’ve seen it, I don’t think it’s as great as people have made it out to be. Although it was 2.5 hours long, it didn’t feel that long (maybe because I watched it in 2 parts).

I think I liked what the plot was supposed to be rather than what it actually turned out to be. The execution is where it lost me. I thought it was a bit boring even with the explosions and action sequences. Some of the effects were cool and well done.

The acting was superb. You can always count on LD and JGL. I liked Ellen Page more than I thought I would and I also really liked Tom Hardy. Like I said, I don’t have any problems with the acting, it’s the characters themselves that I didn’t like. None of the characters had any depth to them so I didn’t care if they died. I didn’t care for Cobb and his issues.

Random things I want to mention:
-I liked the idea of the totem, however, it didn’t come up a whole lot in the movie itself.
-If the flight attendant was in on the plan, then why wouldn’t she have put the drug in Fischer’s drink?
-Maybe I didn’t catch this, but wouldn’t have Cobb’s children aged?
-There wasn’t much tension in the movie; it guess what I’m trying to say is that it wasn’t a ‘nail bitter’.
-The script was dull.
-At times this movie reminded me of Goldeneye and Spiderman.
-The plot wasn’t as complex as it was made out to be; or intended to be.

Scarface

1983 - 1.9/5

I watched almost 2 hours of this movie, and had it on mute for another half hour, but I plan on watching the rest later.

I can’t say that it was a bad movie, but one I didn’t find entertaining.

The movie didn’t have 100% of my attention so I would flow in and out of the storyline every couple of minutes, but I was able to piece everything together.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (American Version)

2011 – 0/5

Ever since I saw the original version I’ve wanted to read the books. I finally got around to reading the first book and once I finished, I really wanted to re-watch the movie. Although I was trying to avoid watching the American version, a few people told me it’s worth watching. So instead of re-watching the original Swedish version, I decided to watch this one.

I watched about 13 minutes of this movie then skipped ahead 10 minutes. I watched another 7 minutes and turned it off entirely.

First of all, why would you make an American remake with characters who have accents? And just because the story takes place in Sweden isn’t a valid answer because in that case a remake should never had been made. That leads me to my second question being: why was a remake even made?

My first impression of Lisbeth was that she was a hollow character and she didn’t seem as bad-ass as in the Swedish version. The only thing that I have to say about Blomkvist was that he was super boring.

The Dictator

2012 - 1/5

I really liked Borat and I didn’t like Bruno, so I’m 50/50 when it comes to Sacha Baron Cohen movies. Borat was a very original movie whereas this one isn’t because you have an idea of what to expect. And you know that his movies are going to be vulgar and offensive.

As for this movie itself:
If you don’t know what the plot is, its SBC as General Aladeen the ruler of Wadiya and the UN is trying to change his country from a dictatorship to a democracy. It wasn’t the greatest plot ever, but I have to admit that it never got boring. I was happy that this movie was only 84 minutes long because it did not need to be any longer.

The jokes that are obvious and ones you’d expect so I didn’t laugh a lot during this movie.
I didn’t find it to be a laugh out loud movie. There are a lot of one-liners that are forgettable.

When it comes to SBC, he does well with these roles, but it’s nothing outstanding. You pretty much get what you expect from Anna Farris, so there isn’t much else to say about that.

As for the things I liked:
The soundtrack of the movie was different. There was one Dr. Dre song that was made into a General Aladeen version.
SBC really gets into character and I give him props for that.

I got to see a screening of this movie for free, which I’m happy about because I would not have paid to see this movie. Would I watch it again? No. Would I recommend it to anyone? No.

Conviction

2010 - 1.2/5

It had a wonderful story (mainly because it was based on a true story) and the acting was good, but it was just a 'whatever' movie.

Captain America

2011 – 2.2/5

This would be the second movie in a row I’ve watched with a HOT male lead.

Likes:
-Seeing a skinny/smaller version of Chris Evans was cool, but at times it seemed a bit off.
-Chris Evans himself did a great job as Steve/Captain America.
-Stanley Tucci was amazing in his role even though he wasn’t in it the entire movie.
-The character Colonel Chester Phillips was made for Tommy Lee Jones.
-There were a couple one-liners, but none were hilarious.
-A shirtless, buff Chris Evans

Dislikes:
-I’m not entirely sure why but the name “Steve” bothered me. I didn’t think it suited Chris Evans or the character.
-The character building part (of Steve) was a bit dragged out and didn’t need to be as long as it was.
-Some of the weapons/vehicles were absurdly unrealistic for a movie set in the 1940s.
-The villain (Red Skull) was cheesy; although Hugo Weaving did a good job.
-There wasn’t much character development aside from Steve.
-I hoped that for the (few) actions scenes in the movie, there would be more of a threat towards Captain America, but he seemed invincible so it those parts weren’t as captivating as they could have been.
-Honestly, it seemed overly patriotic for my liking and way to ‘Go America Go’ for my liking.

The Lucky One

2012 - 2/5

The girl in my gives this movie a 4/5, but when it comes down to it, this movie does not deserve a 4.

Chick flick: absolutely.
Cliché: of course.
Zac Efron: even hotter than before.

Let me start out by saying that if you’ve seen the trailer, you’ve pretty much seen the movie (I feel as if I’ve said that a lot in my reviews lately). The trailer tells you exactly what to expect; you know what will happen and you know what the acting is going to be like. So if you’re expecting anything other than what you saw in the trailer, you will be disappointed. This is a movie based on a book written by Nicholas Sparks, so again, you just know what to expect from that regard. I personally enjoyed this movie (for reasons other than Zac Efron).

I think I made my point earlier that there really isn’t much more to the plot other than what’s seen from the trailer, BUT, if that did seem interesting for you, then you might like it. The storyline is as follows: Logan is a Marine stationed in Iraq. One day he comes across a picture of a girl and he feels that it has become something like a lucky charm for him. He decides that if he makes it back to the US he will find this girl and thank her for being his ‘guardian angel’. I thought the storyline was interesting and it was nice to see on screen, but I will say that it felt a bit slow during the first half but rushed in the second.

As for the acting, I will say that at times it was hard to buy the chemistry between Logan (Zac Efron) and Beth (Taylor Schilling). That could have been because Taylor Schilling looked older than Zac Efron and I don’t think they fully clicked. I think it would be fair to say that Zac Efron did an amazing job as Logan. He didn’t have a whole lot of dialogue, but when he spoke it had a bit more of an impact. His body language and facial expressions are what really sold it for me.

I defiantly think it’s worth mentioning that Blythe Danner as Beth’s mom did a wonderful job! I haven’t seen too many movies with her in it, but I was able to tell right away that I liked her in everything I’ve seen her in.

I don’t think this review will be complete unless I mention the number of times I said “He’s hot” (‘he’ being ZE) throughout the movie: 24.

Lastly, I haven’t read the book yet, but I did order it. I have read reviews on IMDB and people have said that the book is different, so I’m curious as to how it ends.
I actually didn’t get the cover with Efron on it because I liked the cover art before it became a movie. I also figured that once I buy the movie, I’d have the cover with Efron on it ;) :P.
UPDATE: I have read the book and it is different from the movie. It still has the same plot, but the situations and interactions between characters are a different. I can say that I hated the book.
Check out my GoodReads account for a review of the book:
http://www.goodreads.com/5ally5
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Mom’s review: 
-The story was good.
-Zac Efron was very emotional (=good). He acted very well.
-The grandma was very excited her granddaughter liked Logan.
-Logan’s interactions with Beth’s son Ben was nice (dancing, playing instruments).
-My favourite aspect of this movie would have had to been that Logan seemed to know how to interact with his dog, Beth, Ben, Ellie and Keith.

 

Pixar Movie Tag