A Year In Review : 2012

Just to recap, here's a list of movies with a 2012 release date I saw: 
(in the order I saw them)

The Dictator

The Lucky One

The Hunger Games

21 Jump Street

Gone

One For the Money

Snow White & the Huntsman

Marvel’s The Avengers

Brave

Wanderlust

People Like Us

The Bourne Legacy

The Dark Knight Rises

Ted

Magic Mike

A Thousand Words

Seven Psychopaths

Wreck It Ralph

The Flight

Skyfall

Argo

Premium Rush

This Is 40

This Means War

Jack Reacher

Django Unchained

Silver Linings Playbook

The Paperboy

Whip It

2009 – 2.3/5

-I wanted to see a movie that would be fun.

-I had no idea that Drew Barrymore directed this movie! Well done.

-I think that Drew Barrymore and Ellen Page make a good pair. I thought that there would be more interaction between the 2; that Page would be the main character and Barrymore would be a secondary character, but that wasn’t the case. Page was the main character, but there were a few characters that could have been considered secondary characters.

-This movie was the perfect fit for Ellen Page. She truly belonged in this movie. It couldn’t have been casted any better.

-Nice treat to have Kristin Wiig in it. She didn’t have a huge role, but I thought she fit very well.

-I also love Daniel Stern. I think Bliss’s family was very well cast.

-The movie didn’t have an amazing screenplay, but it worked with what the movie was. One of my favourite line that was said “Great. Celebrate meritocracy”.

This Means War

2012 – 0.5/5

-I had no idea it was filmed in Vancouver. It was nice to see VPL, BS and HMV (btw, lol at that).

-The sound effects during the fight scenes were bad enough that I feel as if I need to mention them. They were a lot louder than they needed to be and frankly, we all know a real punch/slap/kick doesn’t sound like that.

-The only actor that was believable as the character was Tom Hardy.

-It was sooo cheesy.

-Tom Hardy and Chris Pine are good looking, so that’s the only reason this movie didn’t get a 0/5.

-As for Reese Witherspoon, she’s starting to look old.

-I think the idea behind this movie was an attempt to please both genders: a romantic comedy for the ladies and action for the guys.

SPOILERS (not that it matters because you shouldn’t watch this movie):

-How is being British a ‘flaw’ considering Lauren said she likes Tuck’s accent?

-The very last scene was stupid. The words that came out of FDR (and btw, wtf kind of name is that?) made me want to punch him so badly (when he said that he had slept with Tuck’s [ex]wife before they even met).

-Lauren should not have ended up with either guy.

This Is 40

2012 - 1/5

Defiantly not Judd Apatow’s best work. Not by a long shot.

You know when you get into a fight and you start to get a headache? Ya, so by the end of this movie, I had a headache because of all the fighting. I wouldn’t have minded as much had it been balanced out with enough comedy, but that wasn’t the case. In my eyes, the movie was advertised as ‘the sort-of-sequel’ to Knocked Up, so it was fair to assume that this movie would be a comedy. But that’s not what I got. I wouldn’t even be able to tell you what genre I’d categorize this as.

Just before the 2 hour mark, I turned to my friend and said that this was a very long movie. Even at that point, I saw no end in sight because it seemed as if nothing was getting resolved. It doesn’t follow the typical movie scheme, so it was hard to tell where this movie was going. My friend pointed out that it probably seemed longer than it was (although it was long) because all the fights were repetitive. Even when a fight was semi-resolved, it would come up again. It was pretty much the same fight over and over again.

I was expecting this movie to be more centered around the family (the mom, dad and kids) and for it to have a small cameo by Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl. Instead, I got a movie that was full of random characters that didn’t belong, which lead to random events/situations that didn’t need to be in the movie.

The weird thing is that I thought most of the comedy came from the secondary characters and their one-liners. That’s unfortunate because Paul Rudd is one of the funniest actors in Hollywood, but his character was kind of dull. He plays that role so well, and that’s pretty much the same role he’s played in every movie, but the screenplay for this movie wasn’t as good. The only other characters I actually really liked were Melissa McCarthy (as Catherine) and Chris O’Dowd (as Ronnie).

Overall, I would not recommend watching this movie. It didn’t have any memorable lines in the dialogue or moments that you would look back on and enjoy. It’s very unfortunate because I’m a fan of Judd Apatow. If this is any indication of what his movies to be will resemble, then I’m worried.

Last thing I want to mention is that if you do decide to see this movie, make sure to keep watching as the credits start to roll. If Apatow didn’t add that very last part, I would have left the movie a very grumpy person.

***SPOILER ALERT***
-It was annoying that both Pete and Debbie had issues with their dad’s. Near the end, when they both said that they’re not the ones with problems, it’s their fathers. That seemed like a cop-out; a simple ‘resolution’ to end the movie.

-There were a couple of awkward moments that didn’t need to happen (Pete asking Debbie to take a look at his ass and Debbie giving Pete head).

-It’s mentioned once by Debbie (Leslie Mann) that her and Pete (Paul Rudd) need to see a therapist. Further into the movie, when a fight is about to break out, Debbie states that the therapist told them not to argue, but to talk things out without taking shots at each other. That ‘argument’ had to be one of the dumbest parts of the movie.

-The storyline surrounding Sadi’s boy crush was unnecessary, but at the same time, McCarthy wouldn’t have been in it, and she was hilarious. I got the most laughs with her scenes.

-I love Jason Segel. I think he can be very funny and I love how his characters are never really characters; it just seems like he’s portraying himself (if that makes sense). I bring this up because I don’t think he should have been in this movie at all! There was absolutely no rhyme or reason for him to have a role… even a small one.

-Speaking of people who didn’t belong, I don’t think Megan Fox (as Desi) and Charlyne Yi (as Jodi) should have been in the movie. The whole situation with Debbie’s store and the theft of money was pointless (it turns out that Desi is an escort and Jodi is high as a kite). It had no place in the movie, other than having Megan Fox in the movie. Her role was completely unnecessary. I rolled my eyes during the scene in which Desi and Debbie go clubbing and run into NHL players.

Premium Rush

2012 - 1.1/5

I wanted to watch a movie that would not require much thought. From the get go, I had put this movie in the ‘mindless movie’ category and now that I’ve seen it, I know I wasn’t wrong.

Likes:
-I liked the camera angles when it seemed as if you were going along with the rider (you see what the biker sees).

-I didn’t mind the narration in the beginning. JGL has a good voice and it suited a voice over. I also liked how it didn’t happen through the entire movie – it was a select few parts.

-I liked how a map of Wilee’s ‘to and from’ location was drawn out. It was a nice visual.

-This movie got straight to the point in the first 10 minutes. I hate it when movies like this drag it out for longer than it needs to be. Everything was spelled out for the viewer with as much time as needed and it moved on and that worked for me.

-It doesn’t go forward in chronological order. Usually movies like this destroy that concept, but I actually think this movie did a good job. Some flashbacks weren’t necessary, but they weren’t too long.

-JGL a great actor and I like watching him on screen. I have a feeling he only signed up for this movie because he was genuinely interested in bikes… rather than be in it just for the money (because lets face it, it did come out a week after The Dark Knight Rises).

-I thought this movie would be all about bike tricks and cool moves (?), but it only happened in one scene. I liked how the director tried to away from the idea that he should just throw in cool bike tricks to make the movie seem ‘cool’.


Dislikes:
-First 20 minutes were really good, but after that the tone changed and the characters seemed a bit whinny.

-I f**king HATE how movies like this always have a girl that 2 guys are competing for. It’s such a stupid thing to add. Things like this always make the movie worse.

-The script was TERRIBLE!

-What was with Bobby Monday’s voice as the movie went on?

-The plot was advertised as a ‘chase movie’ and that’s what you get. The reason as to why Bobby Monday was chasing Wilee and why Wilee was trying to get the package to the right person was just plain stupid.

-In the first 20 minutes I actually cared about Wilee and his wellbeing, but as the movie went on, it was trying to get you to care about Nima and her situation, but I didn’t.

Argo

2012 – 4/5

The day I saw this movie: December 13, 2012.
The day I wrote the review: January 8, 2013.

It has taken me almost a month to write this review, and within the last couple of days I was wondering as to why that was. What it comes down to, is that I wanted to write a review that was as good as the movie itself. I kept putting it off because I felt like it would take a lot of time to write. I guess I had the idea that I’d have to analyze every aspect thoroughly in order to write a review that truly got what was in my head, out in text.

When I first heard about this movie; a [based on a] true story about American’s being taken hostage by Iranians in the late 1970s, with the main story surrounding the 6 that escaped and took refuge in the Canadian Embassy(?), it immediately went to the top of my to-see list and stayed there till the day I saw it.

This movie had a trio of actors (Alan Arkin, John Goodman and Bryan Cranston) that have been at the top of the game for the last decade or so. That alone makes it worth watching. They are all such incredible actors, and it’s movies like this that really makes them shine. It was a movie rich with character and the actors were perfect.

The cherry on top however, is that not only is Ben Affleck the main character in this movie, he directed it as well. Since Affleck started his directing career, he has earned the right to be at the top. And lets face it, with every movie, he’s gotten better and better (although I will admit that I liked The Town a tad bit more than this movie, and Gone Baby Gone finishing off the list).

I really want to write a review that is free of politics that exists between Iran and America. But this entire movie is pretty much the poster child of the dislike for each country for the other. I’m going to throw this out there, and this shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, but this movie does a have huge bias. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not making any attempt to justify what the Iranians did, but lets face it, it is a movie that came out of Hollywood, USA.

A few points I wanted to mention:

-At first I didn’t know what I thought of the cartoon drawings (at the beginning of the movie) that explained how the situation came to be, but once the drawings for the fake movie ‘Argo’ were shown, I felt as if it did tie into the movie.

-There were a lot of close ups of Affleck’s face and usually I’m not a fan of that. In this case, I did like it because I think it added to the movies intensity and Affleck’s character. To me it showed how he had to keep a straight face and his emotions in check during such a stressful situation.

-This movie had a subtly great script. The dialogue wasn’t something that really stands out, but once you take a minute to look back, you realize that it had a solid screenplay (my favourite line being “You can Argo fuck yourself!”).

-There is a Locked Up Abroad episode on the National Geographic Channel based on this ordeal. Check it out!

Rango

2011 – 0.2/5

It started off really strong (which I wasn’t expecting), but it hit its peak very quickly (within 10 minutes), took a nose dive down, and leveled off after that. When it first started, it seemed very promising, and I guess I wasn’t expecting the storyline to turn out the way it did; it was lackluster.

I never fully understood why the turtle mayor was holding water back from his community (other than to ‘control the water, is to control the people’), but there wasn’t much substance to it. That’s all there was to the storyline and I found it to be a too thin for my liking. It wasn’t truly memorable, aside from having a plot that has been down MANY times over. For a movie that was intended to be watched by kids, I thought it had a few dark aspects that shouldn’t have been added.

As for the characters, I felt as if all of them weren’t well rounded. None of the characters were ones you feel in love with right away. I really liked Rango in the first 10 minutes before he created who he wanted the townsfolk to think he was…but once that happened, I thought “oh, it’s going to be one of those movies”. Unless I missed it, I don’t think the movie explained why the girl lizard froze every now and then; it was stupid.

I didn’t mind the voiceovers for all the characters: Johnny Depp as Rango was pretty good. I was expecting the voice to be the same voice that JD had in the Pirates movies. There were times in which his voice would go in and out of that voice.

Things I liked:
-The animation of Rango was really good. I didn’t care for the other characters/background.
-I thought the reference to Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas was cute.

This movie does not have the full package and I have to say that I am surprised that this movie won the Best Animated Feature in 2012, but then again, when you take a look at the competition it probably was the best pick.

Skyfall

2012 - 3/5

When it comes to the Bond movies, I’ve only seen 4 of the 23 before Skyfall (Goldeneye. The Living Daylights. Casino Royale. Quantam of Solace). So I can’t say that I know my Bond movies; so for what it’s worth [in your opinion], this is my review. I heard that this movie has a few throwbacks to previous Bond movies, but I’ll admit that I didn’t catch any of them.

Usually when I’m watching a movie, I write down things that stood out to me: the dialogue, certain scenes, something I thought, ect, but for this movie I didn’t write a whole lot down. I had written that I liked the fight that took place between Bond and the Assassin in the building (the one that was silhouetted), and I loved how part of the movie was set in Turkey and Shanghai (which made for great some shots). Aside from that, I really had nothing else written down, and I’m not sure what to make of it because the movie was almost 2.5 hours long. Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy the movie, but for the sake of transparency, action flicks aren’t my cup of tea.

I felt as if this movie had a dark tone to it and it was present throughout the entire movie. I wasn’t expecting that, but it drew me into the plot a bit more. There really wasn’t much to the plot other than someone hacking into MI6 and taking information that threatened the safety of several agents and a bit more about the villain who did that (but I’m on the fence about whether or not that could be considered a spoiler, so I’ll leave it out). I found that there was a fair amount of fighting (which was well choreographed) and action, but the main aspect of this movie was its characters.

I had heard the song 'Skyfall' by Adele when the trailer came out and I can’t say I was a fan. When the song started playing during the movie, I immediately loved it. I mentioned earlier that the movie had a darker tone, and hearing this song at the beginning, defiantly helped set that tone. I can now say I’m a fan of the song.

I am going to have to talk about the acting, and there were a lot of relevant characters, so here’s my short blurb on each:

-Daniel Craig is great as James Bond. I really liked how this movie addressed that he was aging and he wasn’t necessarily at the top of his game, but lets face it, the guy will still get the job done. Craig’s appearance and demeanor make him so stealthy and cunning and such a great fit for this character.

-I had always liked Judi Dench as M, and I don’t think there could have been a better actress for this character. I really liked the relationship that M had with Bond. You could tell that each cared for the other, even with all their bickering.

-The only other movie I’ve seen with Javier Bardem in it was No Country For Old Men. There’s no question that the guy is a great villain. I do think that his character was slightly over the top in this movie: if ‘dark eccentricity’ existed, Silva would have been it.

-I really liked Eve and her relationship with Bond. It was nice seeing a woman in a Bond movie that was apart of the action too and not just a Bond girl. Naomie Harris didn’t have a huge role, but the scenes she was added into worked well in the movie.

-I liked Q; the character and the actor who portrayed him. I thought it was cool that a movie like this incorporated the characteristics of the younger generation nowadays. It was nice to see a tech-savvy character that had nothing to do with stupid gadgets.

-I liked how the Bond girl in this movie didn’t have a huge role and whatever scene she was in, wasn’t cheesy. At the same time, the ‘relationship’ between her and Bond was very forced.

Overall, it was an entertaining movie: it had a simple plot, it had great acting and good characters, but I'm not in any hurry to see it again any time soon.

***SPOILER ALERT***
-As I said earlier, the connection between Bond and the Bond girl was very forced and I bring this up again because I wanted to say that when she was killed, Bond seemed to get over it very quickly.
-Did anyone else find it a bit ironic that Bond slept with a chick that was caught in the sex-trafficking world?

-I liked that Silva’s motivation was revenge; it wasn’t something cheesy or unrelated to the other characters. His role wasn’t created just for the sake of fitting a villain into the plot.

Flight

2012 - 0.4/5

First things first: I am not a fan of Denzel Washington. Never really cared for any of the movies he was in as the lead. So why did I watch this? It seemed better than the other options at the time (Life of Pi, Red Dawn, Rise of the Guardians, Silver Linings Playbook and Twilight). In retrospect, I probably should have watched nothing, but I had a free ticket, so this was my choice.
(added 1/17/13: I probably should have watched Silver Linings Playbook).

I want to say that I knew what I was getting myself into with this movie; I knew it was a drama, and the only ‘action’ would be the plane crash itself. I was fine with that because the trailer made it seems as if it would be an intense movie in which Whip Whitaker (Denzel Washington) would have to defend himself.

I understand that when there is loss of life in something like a plane crash, people want answers as to why it happened and they especially want to hold someone accountable. And again, that’s what the direction I thought this movie was going in. Instead, what I got was a movie about a drunk that needed a line of coke to function (DW did play that part well).

For a movie that is supposed to be character driven, I really didn’t care what happened to Whip either way at the end (more on that in the spoiler section below). It’s easy to say that Whip wasn’t a character that I could relate to. What a good movie would have done, was to take an unrelatable character and make the audience care about him and his alcoholism. That did not happen in this movie.

It’s pretty sad that my favourite character in this movie was a character that only had 2 scenes that were about 5 minutes long. John Goodman had the best introduction of all characters and he was the highlight of this movie. I loved his character and I wish he was in the movie more.

A few points I just want to touch on:
-The nudity was unnecessary and it had no real purpose towards the plot at all:

1) Having a naked chick walk around a hotel room for 2 minutes does not imply any sort of relationship.

2) The guy that Nicole got heroin from was working on a porn movie and offered her a role (which was never brought up again, so why did it need to be in the movie in the first place?).

-The movie never touched on why Whip was an alcoholic (did it have something to do with his dad?).

-The movie was a lot longer than it needed to be; a lot of things could have been left out, and it wouldn’t have changed the movie in any way. 

Lets just say that the plane wasn’t the only thing that crashed in this movie.

***SPOILER ALERT***
Near the end, when Whip is asked the question if he thinks that (insert flight attendants name) drank the 2 bottles of vodka, I didn’t care whether or not he told the truth. If he said yes, he thinks she drank them, I wouldn’t have cared, and I also didn’t care that he actually owned up to it and said he drank them. I felt no attachment to that character whatsoever, and that sucks for the movie considering it had over 2 hours for it to convince me that I want to be on Whip’s side and care about his well-being.

The part in which the door to the adjacent room in Whip's hotel was somehow unlocked/open was never explained. And there would never be that much alcohol in a mini bar. I couldn't tell if it was a set-up or something totally random and by chance.

I think that the very last scene with Whip and his son was overkill. I think it should have ended after Whip’s spiel to other inmates at the AA meeting (which was pretty cheesy: “even though I’m behind bars, I feel free”).

Is it not a bit weird that a black man that is considered a ‘hero’ still ends up in prison?

Wreck It Ralph

2012 – 4.9/5

Before I get into my review I would like to say that I was blindsided by the short. I had no idea there would be a short for a Disney movie. – as in, not Disney Pixar. The short was super cute, and I’ll say that I had a smile on my face the entire time.

Yes, this review is on the long side, so if you don’t feel like reading the entire thing, here is my super short review: HIGH SCORE!

In all honesty, I thought that Fix It Felix Jr. was a game that existed back in the day – and that 2012 was its 30th year anniversary. I was very excited about that, but little did I know, Disney had created the game for this movie. Clearly, I’m not an expert gamer… or a gamer of any level or status.

When it came to video games, I had only played Nintendo, but usually just watched my older brother play arcade games. It wasn’t until the Nintendo 64 came out that I thought of video games to be a fun pastime. For the most part, I was never good (aside from N64’s Mario Kart and 007). As a kid that grew up in the 90’s I was quite excited that Disney created a movie that has to do with old school video games in today’s world. I was worried that I wouldn’t catch the majority of the references to the video game characters, but I found that I was able to pick out more than I thought!

For those of you who may not know what the movie is about, I’ll sum it up. This movie takes place in an arcade and Ralph is considered the ‘bad guy’ in one of the arcade games called Fix it Felix Jr. He wrecks a building and the ‘hero’ Felix jumps around fixing the windows. At the end of the day, all the buildings inhabitants praise Felix for his good work, while Ralph spends his nights alone and excluded. Ralph wants to prove to the characters in his game that he can be a good guy, so he “goes turbo” in order to earn a hero’s medal in a different game to gain some ‘wreck-ognition’ (I’m not that smart to come up with that, but I couldn’t not add it) ;).

Before I go any further with this review I want to clear up a few things:

1) To “go turbo” means to jump from your game to another. This is bad because if you die in game that is not your own, you actually die. While I’m on the subject of going turbo, I would like to mention that I read a few reviews that said that people didn’t understand what that meant and the movie should have explained it earlier. I’m not sure why, but I actually knew that ‘going turbo’ had a similar meaning to ‘going rouge’, so that wasn’t an issue for me.

2) Because Ralph is considered the villain in his game, he will never have the opportunity to get a medal, hence why he has to leave his game to obtain a medal from a different game.

3) When Ralph goes turbo, he goes to Game Central Station, which is a train station that is actually a multiple electrical outlet (picture below) in the arcade; and that is how the characters can go from one game to another. I LOVED that. I thought that that was one of the most clever things in this movie. I will never look at one of those things the same. :)
I also really liked the airport-like security while trying to go to a different game and how you can’t bring certain things (cherries) back. I absolutely love it when a movie integrates everyday things with a twist that fits into the movie and isn’t forced. This aspect of this movie had to be one of my favourite things and there was a lot of them: Nesquick sand as quicksand, the Nintendo controller as the safe lock and the Nintendo password (up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, start) as the safe combination (what a great throwback).

When Ralph goes turbo, he really only goes to 2 different games (Hero’s Duty and Sugar Rush) with the majority in the latter. Going into this movie, I was hoping that Ralph would interact with more characters and go to different games, but now having seen the movie, I wouldn’t change a thing. Although I loved Street Fighters, I don’t think Ryu or any other video game character would have fit into this movie any better than they already were.

It is an animated movie, but that doesn’t mean it can’t have a great screenplay ("I'm not a glitch. I'm just pixelated" - Vanellope). I liked how Ralph commented on how violent video games are nowadays and how Felix comments on the quality of the animation. Although I forget who said ‘your Candyness’ (as in ‘your highness’) to King Candy, I thought that was pretty witty too.

As for the voiceover actors, I thought they were superbly casted. I don’t think I’ve loved a voiceover for another [animated] movie since Finding Nemo. John C Reilly as Ralph was the best of them all. He has a knack for voiceovers; it also helps that I see a resemblance between Ralph and JCR. I remember that a long time ago I heard Sarah Silverman’s voice and did not like it. But Silverman as Vanellope von Schweetz was perfect! I had no idea who was doing the voice for Felix, but once I found out who it was (Jack McBrayer), again, I thought perfect. Jane Lynch as Sgt. Calhoun was great; it’s a voice you hear and immediately, you know she means business. I don’t know what else to say about the voiceover actors in this movie… I’m actually at a loss for words. Everyone was excellent.

It’s not easy to make the viewer care about more than one character, and it’s probably harder to do so in an animated movie. But this movie does it so well. You really feel for Ralph and his desire to be seen in a good light. And even though Vanellope was annoying at the start, she grew on you too. Ralph and Vanellope made a great pair because they were both outcasts and they both were trying to gain the acceptance of others – and I for one, felt a connection to both of them. I was very interested in Felix and Sgt Calhoun’s stories. As secondary characters, there was enough time spent on each so the viewer didn’t feel as if they were added for the sake of being filler characters.

Random’s:
-I loved the music during Hero’s Duty (and the music during the rest of the movie – very fitting).
-I liked how Sour Bill had a sour personality.

This movie never dragged at any point; everything added was relevant and the story moved forward at a good pace. This has to be one of the most entertaining movies I’ve seen in a while. I cannot wait to buy this and watch it again. I’m sure I’ll love it just as much and I’ll probably pick up on more of the little details and other video game references. It’s a great movie for viewers of all ages.

The Sitter

2011 – 1/5

Before I wrote this review, I went onto IMDB and read some reviews to get an idea of what other people thought of this movie. When I read reviews on IMDB I have a tendency to sort them by the “Love/Hate” option. I like to read the reviews of people who gave this movie a really good rating then read the reviews of people who gave it a really bad rating.

So why am I mentioning this in MY review? Well, its mainly because I wanted to point out that I agreed with more of the negative ratings. Yes, I know this movie wasn’t meant to be nominated for an Oscar, but when you break it down to the basics, there really isn’t much in terms of entertainment value either.

Overall, it seemed like a movie that was put together by Jonah Hill having a few ideas in his head and wanting to put them into a movie (for example, an adopted kid that likes to blow things up, a car chase in a mini van, and him gaining ‘street cred’ with some black folks). It just seems as if he gave a list of things he wanted in the film to the director and expected a story out of it. Basically this movie was a bunch of situations and characters thrown in with a story created around that.

On a good note, I did like Jonah Hill. I think he has great comedic timing and his dialogue wasn’t that bad. Also, a thumbs up for Sam Rockwell. The movie also had good music, but most of the scenes it was added in didn’t really need to be there.

The Adventures of Tintin

2011 – 4/5

I was in the mood to see a movie that didn’t have a complicated plot. Something simple and light, but something that would be good. I settled for The Adventures of Tintin. I did watch the cartoon as a child; can’t say it was my favourite, but it was entertaining. Now that I’ve seen the movie, I can say that yes, this was a simple, good movie. I really enjoyed it.

Aside from the cute animated intro, the first thing I want to mention is that before the first minute of the movie was up, I was already in love with the motion capture/CGI animation; it was stellar. When it comes to animated flicks, Disney Pixar is usually way ahead of the game – but, boy did Columbia and Paramount step it up. At times it felt as if I was seeing real people on screen and not something that was created by a computer. That blew me away.

It had a great plot in which Tintin goes on an adventure to find treasure. It wasn’t complicated so if you tuned out, you are able to figure out what’s going on in a matter of second – not that you’d want to tune out because it was a great movie. I liked how the movie moved forward. The plot had a good way of going forward with each situation moving into the next so smoothly. There were some transitions between scenes that were nothing short of amazing and very well done.

I have been a fan of Jamie Bell since I saw him in Billy Elliot and I had no idea he was doing the voice of Tintin, but I loved it. I think his voice suited the character. I also really liked the Capitan Haddick too. I thought he added a lot of comedy into the movie that was relevant to what was happening; it wasn’t comedy thrown in for the sake of it, it tied into the plot. I also liked Simon Pegg’s voice over as one of the Thompson twins; those characters were funny too. I thought Daniel Craig’s voice suited Sakharine/Red Rackham, but it wasn’t one that stood out among the other characters.

This has to be one of my favourite Steven Spielberg films. I typically do not like watching any movie in 3D, but this is a movie I regret not seeing in theatres, in 3D. Considering the end of of this movie suggested that there will be a sequel, I will for sure see it in 3D in theatres. Although I have access to see this movie at any time on Netflix, I plan on buying this movie.

Seven Pshychopaths

2012 – 2.4/5

Before I saw the neon green movie poster for this movie, I did not know it existed. The title sounded interesting enough for me to look into a bit further, and once I found out that Christopher Walken was in it, I was sold! (I have what my friend calls “CWB” – Christopher Walken Bias).

I wanted to go into this movie blind, so I decided I wouldn’t watch the trailer. I don’t even think I read the synopsis, but I remember seeing that it was listed as a comedy, which I wasn’t expecting. I had heard from a few people that it was good, so that made me what to see it even more. What was even more intriguing were the pictures I saw while trying to find an image to add to this review.

I had really hoped that I wasn’t hyping myself up for this movie, but I don’t think I did. I went in with no expectations and came out not knowing how I felt about it. At times, it felt as if the movie didn’t know where it was going and it just kept trucking on because it had to (especially with certain characters and situations that needed some sort of closure). The first half of the movie was really good and I was enjoying it. At the half way mark, the movie hit its peak and became very dry and slow.

I’m not to sure what I thought about the movie; more so, I’m not sure how to convey what I feel about the movie. I guess the first thing I’ll bring is up that I don’t agree with it’s genre listing. I don’t think it’s a comedy. There were funny bits here and there, but it wasn’t a comedy – at least not the typical type of comedy. There were tidbits of dark comedy, but that’s about it.

I can’t say that this movie had a great script, but there were a few parts of the dialogue that stood out: I really liked the conversation about Ghandi’s saying: “an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind”. It was just funny and original. I really liked Hans and the little things he’d say like “It’s their blood. It’s his puke”. The very last conversation between Marty and Zachariah was pretty good too.

The actors were a big reason as to why I wanted to see this movie. Again, I have the CWB, so I’ll keep it short and say that Walken was so believable as Hans. Sam Rockwell did a great job too, and I liked the mysterious vibe that surrounded him. I liked Colin Farrell a lot more than I thought I would. The roles I’ve seen him in are usually the-manly-man, but with this movie, his character was somewhat helpless, and I loved it. he did a great job with the role. Last person I want to mention is Woody Harrelson. The role of Charlie was probably created with him in mind (Actually it wasn’t. It was supposed to go to Mickey Rourke). But wow, even with my CWB, I cannot deny that Woody Harrelson stole the show.

Yes, I realize that I have given this movie an overall positive review, but when it comes to numbers, 2.4 is the highest I can go.

A Thousand Words

2012 - 0/5

-The situations he got into were really forced.
-The only thing I liked about this movie was the relationship Jack had with his mom.
-Overall, it was stupid.

The Dead Zone

1983 – 0.9/5

I want to begin this review by saying that I had no interest in watching this movie until a friend said that it was worth watching. She didn’t really need to sell me on it because I’m a big fan of Christopher Walken and that alone made me decide to watch it. So I’ll cut to the chase: Was it a good movie? Ya, it was okay. Would I watch it again? I highly doubt it.

The highlight of this movie wasn’t the plot or the script – it was Christopher Walken as Johnny Smith. He played the part very well. He was the only thing in this movie that drew me in a little, which resulted in me watching the entire thing. When he flinched, I felt as if it was real. Nobody else really had a big role that’s worth mentioning.

One other thing I did like about this movie was that it had good transitions between Johnny Smith and what he was seeing when he touched someone. It wasn’t jumpy or choppy; the editing was smooth between scenes.

I wouldn’t really consider this a thriller. It wasn’t the type of movie that you had to pay attention to every minute of it to get what’s going on. It lacked any ability to enthrall you and hold you attention the entire time. It was good for a movie that came out in the early 80s, but as someone who is watching it in 2012, I can say that I’ve seen much better.

The Way

2010 - 2.5/5

I really don’t know what to say about this movie other than: I liked it.

Kudos to Emilio Estevez’s directing and Martin Sheen’s acting. Both underrated people in the world of Hollywood film.

Watching this movie makes me want to go to Spain even more… and possibly go on the pilgrimage route of Santiago de Compostela/ El Camino.

Favourite quote:
Daniel: You don't choose a life, dad. You live one.

Dinner for Schmucks

2010 - 1.2/5

-The mouse intro was cool. I thought the “Mouse’ter-Pieces” were cute.

-Steve Carell’s character, Barry was pretty much if Murphy’s Law was a person. Everything that could go wrong, went wrong. And this made the movie a little bit more unique and different from others.

-Paul Rudd has such natural talent with this type of character, but it seemed a bit wasted in this movie. He was the perfect actor for this role, but it wasn’t his best.

-I didn’t know that Zack Galifianakis was in this movie. I think he complimented Steve Carell’s character a lot.

-I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought, but that doesn’t mean that it was good.

-I, in all honesty thought that this would be a terrible movie, but like I said, I enjoyed it. I got a few laughs out of it and I didn’t think it was a waste of time.

Jeff, Who Lives At Home

2011 - 0.5/5

I really don’t know what to make of this movie. It wasn’t bad or anything, but it wasn’t good either. I am going to make the assumption that this was an independent flick, and for what it was, it was fine, but I don’t think it added anything to what already exists.

I had no idea this movie existed until I saw it on Netflix. The only reason I decided to watch this movie was because Jason Segel was in it, and I like Ed Helms too – had no idea Susan Sarandon was in it (the actors/actresses were the only reason I gave this movie a 0.5 instead of a 0). The relationship between JS and EH did seem genuine so I bought that they were brothers. I think everyone did a good job as the characters they were supposed to be, but like the plot, there wasn’t much to it.

The one thing that made it lose a couple points in my books was the odd camera work. It could have gone without the random close-ups. I don’t think I’d recommend people watch this movie unless they’re in the mood for a melodramatic film, and even then, it really wasn’t something mention-worthy.

Repo! The Genetic Opera

2008 - 5/5

I really wanted to watch a scary movie on Halloween and I tried to watch American Psycho and Halloween (2007), but both were so boring so I turned them off. I took a look at my movies and the moment my eyes saw Repo! I knew what I’d watch.

I have never been a fan of musicals and I’ve been to an Opera once and although it was nice, can’t say I’d go to one again. I’m not sure what I expected in terms of a Rock Opera, but after having seen the movie (more than once), I can say that I loved it.

Considering this wouldn’t be the type of movie I’d be eager to see, I don’t remember why I really wanted to see it when it first came out. It could have been because the storyline was so intriguing. To think that a Repo-Man would be sent to reposes an organ was new to me. There was a lot of gore, but at the same time it was tastefully done, so I noticed it in more of an artsy way than slasher’ish.

I liked the songs and how it was incorporated into the dialogue as well as how the songs were mixed in with the plot on a more direct level than most musicals are. The song Zydrate Anatomy was my favourite, and by the end of the movie I was ready to buy the soundtrack, but the CD wasn’t available in Canada, so I just downloaded a few songs off iTunes.

As for the acting, I think everyone, and yes, I mean Paris Hilton as well, did a great job. All the voices were unique and each character was well rounded. Everyone’s voices were really good and my favourites had to be The Grave Robber and Blind Mag.

I LOVED the graphic novel drawings used to illustrate the back story. It was a very creative and unique way to do that. The movie flowed in and out of them very well.

I remember that the first time I watched it in the theatres, I really had to go to pee about 15 minutes in, but I didn’t go because I didn’t want to miss a thing.

I can’t say that this movie is for everyone and I’d be selective with regards to whom I’d recommend it to, but it was a solid movie all around. Worth watching if you have an idea of what you’re getting yourself into.

Love & Other Drugs

2010 – 2.3/5

I want to start this review by saying that I intend on writing a comparative review for the following movies: Love & Other Drugs (L&OD), Friends With Benefits (FWB), and No Strings Attached (NSA). So I won’t be comparing L&OD to the other 2 in this review; but once I do, I’ll add a link HERE.

I really like Jake Gyllenhall. I don’t think I’ve seen a movie of his I didn’t like. Anne Hathaway is a good actress as well, so I was hoping this wouldn’t be a typical, overly cheesy, chick flick. The plot wasn’t exactly new or fresh – not by a long shot. But was it entertaining? Ya, I think so.

The movie moved at a good speed. What needed to happen happened and there wasn’t much filler for the sake of making it a longer movie; everything necessary was covered. Even the supporting cast had relevant, funny roles. The dialogue was probably my favourite part. It was actually witty, funny and entertaining.

There was one part I disliked and that was when Maggie (Hathaway) was freaking out. You could tell she was acting there and it felt a bit forced, but I was able to look over that and move on.

Jake Gyllenhall (and his ass) were fine!

Bottom line: I enjoyed this movie a lot more than I expected to (but for the record, I wasn’t expecting much).

No Strings Attached

2011 – 0/5

I was originally going to give this movie a 0.5/5 because I like Natalie Portman, but this movie was just horrible. The only times I laughed was because whatever I was seeing was just sooo bad! At the hour mark, it was a lot longer than it should have been.

This movie SUCKED. Avoid.

Hugo

2011 – 1.5/5

I wasn’t too sure where this movie was going. Especially when it was doing a quick recap of the first movies ever made. By the end, it was an okay storyline, but nothing superb.

I really enjoyed the acting by everyone, and Sacha Baron Cohen was my favourite. I really liked the cinematography and how well this movie was put together.

Stolen

2009 - 1/5

Mildly entertaining. I liked how the movie jumped back and forth between 1958 and the present day. More importantly I really liked some of the transitions between scenes. The acting was fine, the plot was interesting, but overall, there was nothing new added that would make this movie stand out among the many others like it.

Real Time

2008 - 1/5

This movie was not horrible; but I can't give it anything higher than a 1. It was a Canadian movie and it showed. I'm happy it wasn't long because it didn't need to be. Jay B did fine with the role - I like the guy and I think he can act. Randy Quaid did a fine job with his character as well. The plot was good, but not amazing. I probably wouldn't recommend this to people mainly because there really wasn't a lot of substance - it just was.

Young Adult

2011 – 1.7/5

Point form review it is!

-It has Charlize Theron – It can’t be bad! Right?
-The intro was so long and whenever the cassette player was rewound made it feel even more dragged out.
-Two minutes in and how many product placement items did I see? Who produced this movie?
-The plot is interesting enough that I want to see what happens.
-I really liked Patton Oswalt in this. I really liked his character Matt Freehauf and the chemistry he had with Mavis (Theron).
-There was a lot of build up to nothing.
-It was a plain movie. It wasn’t complicated or cheesy for the sake of it. It just was.

Magic Mike

2012 - 0/5

It was a very slow movie. I want to say that all the good parts were in the trailer, but even that wasn’t that good. I feel as if a bait-and-switch happened. From the trailer I was promised an exciting movie about male strippers. I got a movie that had as much female nudity as male – figure that one out! The time spent on stage wasn’t nearly as much as it should have been. I think this movie played down what it really was. I think all the drama was added to make it something more than a stripper movie but none of the pieces fit the puzzle.

It had a choppy plot with no direction. There wasn’t any depth to it, meaning that I didn’t care what happened to any of the characters. It was hard to ‘root’ for anyone in this movie because there really wasn’t anything to root for. Case in point (SPOILER ALERT), had the Kid died from an overdose, I wouldn’t have cared; if anything, that would have made the movie better. Mike (Channing Tatum) kept saying he was an entrepreneur, but that never amounted to anything.

The one thing that really bothered me about this movie was Cody Horn as Brooke. That girl cannot act. She was the worst part about this movie. Although I could tell she was trying to be emotional at times, she just sucked. The look on her face was pathetic and everything she did seemed forced.

This movie in a nutshell:
-Boring plot
-Underdeveloped characters
-Dialogue that fails to hold any interest.

No amount of shirtless-Channing Tatum could save this movie. And I usually love my shirtless Channing Tatum!

Ted

2012 – 1.5/5

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I can tell if I like a movie within the first 20 minutes and I did not like this movie in the first 20 minutes. I got to the point that I started flipping through flyers while watching this.

The only reservation I had going into this movie was Mark Walhberg as John. He looks way older than 35 and him and Mila Kunis don’t make a good couple. The role of John should have been casted differently.

Anyone I had talked to that had seen this movie said it was funny. I was told that if I like Family Guy humor, I will like this movie. And I do like Family Guy. I will also say that this was the typical Family Guy comedy, but a bit more over the top. I would like to add that I didn’t laugh once throughout this entire movie.

It was a little weird having Ted’s voice sound exactly like Peter Griffiths. I can’t say I got used to it by the end. Speaking of voices, Walhberg’s Boston ‘accent’ sucked. It just sounded so bad.

I thought the issues that Lori (Mila Kunis) had with her boss was stupid and added in but didn’t really amount to anything. Donny, the creepy dad and son duo seemed thrown into the movie to add more turmoil, but it was just dumb.

Can you email me for the rest of the movie so I can move it to the trash bin? What a disappointment – thumbs down.

Oh wait! So you’re probably wondering why I gave it a 1.5 instead of a 0 if I didn’t like this movie. Well, the reason why it got 1.5/5 was because of Mila Kunis and because Ted looked really good. The animation for Ted was very well done, and that’s a big reason I actually watched the movie.

Beauty & the Beast

1991 – 4.9/5

Loved this movie. Defiantly in my Top 5 Favourite Disney movies. I wanted to hug the movie.

Watch this awesome video: Beauty & the Beat:

The Cabin in the Woods

2011 - ?/5

Chris Hemsworth is waaaay hotter with shorter hair! Then throw Jesse Williams into the mix leads to :D

The special effects were cool. The editing between scenes was well done.

Aside from what I’ve already said, I really don’t know what to make of this and I am at a loss for words.

25th Hour

2002 - 0/5

I bought this movie a long time ago thinking that I’d like it because I like Edward Norton. I was wrong. Not only did I not like this movie, I hated it! I knew it was supposed to be Brogan’s last 24 hours of freedom before he goes to prison for 7 years and I thought it would be interesting. Again, wrong. When Brogan was ranting to himself in the mirror for 5+ minutes, I just couldn’t take it anymore and turned it off. This movie was boring beyond repair. There could be nothing in this movie to pull it back from tipping over the edge.

Eagle Eye

2008 – 0.7/5

Yes, there are several parts of this movie that are highly unrealistic, but I just wanted to turn my brain off. Some ‘lady’ over the phone controlling lights, fire alarms, electric wires, construction equipment was cool to see, but again, unrealistic. It was pretty dumb that a computer was behind all this. Although most aspects of this movie were questionable, it didn’t really ruin anything for me. My favourite scene had to be when Agent Thomas Morgan (Thornton) was chasing Jerry (Labeouf) and Rachael (Monaghan) in the baggage area.

Shia Lebouf is as cocky as ever. It shows beyond his portrayal as the character. At the end of the day, he is a dam good actor because he draws you into the character. Most of his characters are like this one: he has the same look on his face with the same little bit of shiny spit on the middle of his bottom lip.

I like Billy Bob Thornton in this type of role. He suits a ‘demanding’ person. I don’t know anything about Michelle Monaghan, but she did an okay job with her character.

I was in the mood to watch a mindless action movie and that’s what I got. It was kind of a mix between Wanted and The Bourne Trilogy, but not as good as either.

The Dark Knight Rises

2012 – 2.9/5

***SPOILERS***

This is probably going to sound weird but I don’t have a lot to say about this movie. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it. I’m stuck in between, hence the 2.9/5 rating.

This is going to have to be a semi-point form review.

The very first scene is one plane dragging the other in mid air and that was VERY cool. I had never seen that happen in any other movie and it just looked very cool.

I’m not one to care for superhero-movie-gadget’s which is probably why I didn’t find the vehicles that Batman used cool (the Bat and his motorcycle), but the effects in general were done very well. I’m glad that this movie was 2D; I don’t think 3D would have added anything.

Every single police officer in Gotham going underground and getting stuck for 3 months was just absurd and stupid.

It was established right at the start that Bruce Wayne/Batman was off his game and has been for a while. I liked that he was mentally broken down. You never see superhero’s that down and out. I have never seen a superhero that crushed. I liked Christian Bale more in this movie than I did in The Dark Knight. Maybe because his Batman voice annoyed me less.

I loved Alfred every time he was on screen. His lines were probably my favourite.

Anne Hathaway was sly and it suited her more than I thought it would. I wasn’t a fan of who I thought Selina Kyle/Catwoman would be from the trailer, but she turned out to be more cunning than what the trailer shows.

I became a fan of Tom Hardy after having watched Warrior. I thought he was jacked up enough for that movie, but boy did he get bigger for this role. I can’t say that I didn’t like Bane, but I didn’t really love him either. I know this will sound odd, because he was one of the major characters in this movie, but for me, he was just there. I hated his voice and I went in and out of understanding what he was saying the entire movie. I didn’t like the mask on his face, although it did remind me of Scorpion and Sub-Zero’s mask from Mortal Kombat (which for the record, I loved).

It may be obvious considering I added a picture of Joseph Gordon Levitt in this blog, but he was my favourite character by far. At the end when he said his birth name was Robin, I got all giddy. I had never liked Robin as a child, but I would LOVE to see JGL be in a movie as Robin. He is an incredible actor and I think that he would do a great job as a superhero! It literally brings a smile to my face when I think of JGL as Robin :D.

It was a good movie, just not one that cared for. Nothing lost, nothing gained.

The Bourne Legacy

2012 – 1/5

I was a bit apprehensive going into this movie. The Bourne Trilogy is one of the very few movie series I actually like and although I try not to go into any movie with any expectations, I couldn’t help it. The Bourne Identity, Supremacy and Ultimatum were all very solid movies, so the idea of a 4th movie seemed a bit iffy to me. I was unsure how the director would be able to create a movie that would have the same vibe and intensity as the first 3. I was skeptical with regards to how the director would build on the previous movies and whether or not The Bourne Legacy would could uphold the expectations I had.

I think I’ll start this review with the things I liked about it, and why it got a 1, rather than a 0.

When I first heard that Matt Damon would not be the main character in this movie, that worried me because I thought that Jeremy Renner would be replacing Damon as Jason Bourne. When I found out that Renner wasn’t replacing Damon as Bourne and that he was a ‘new’ character, I was still worried because Damon wouldn’t be in it. Needless to say, I didn’t have any issues with his acting. Renner’s acting was great as usual. If I could have picked anyone to come into the Bourne series, it would have been him. I think Renner has proved himself as a good actor, especially in action-flicks. So, Renner wasn’t the weakest link in this movie – in fact, he was the strongest. I will also add here that I really liked Edward Norton’s performance as well (I don’t really care to expand on that).

Second thing I liked about this movie, which I’ll admit, can be considered a minute detail, but a detail I liked nevertheless was that part of it was set in the Philippines. The viewer got to see a country that Jason Bourne hadn’t been to. Don’t get me wrong, I loved seeing the European countries, Russia, India, ect, but seeing a different setting was cool.

So if the only things I liked about this movie was Renner/Renner’s acting, Norton, and the setting, well, I think it’s obvious what I didn’t like: the rest of the movie. And this really sucks because I really wanted to like this movie.

When it comes to the plot, I’d have to say that it was a bit simple (yet very jumbled) compared to Identity, Supremacy and Ultimatum. It was slow-paced, again, compared to the other 3 because there was a lot more talking than action. The storyline wasn’t as interesting as the trilogy that came before it.

Right from the beginning, this movie wasn’t captivating. It was boring. Aaron Cross (Renner) was in a cold mountainous area and as he was trekking through I kept thinking “so what’s the point of this”. And who knows how long later when you’re told the point, it means nothing to you. All that time was spent to show the audience that Cross beat the record by 2 days and that he’s that good. And correct me if I’m wrong, but it seemed as if it wasn’t Bourne’s record, it was that guy in the cabin; so does that imply that Cross isn’t as good as Bourne? Rhetorical question. Of course Cross isn’t. I think the Cross character was over done – I really didn’t see him as much of a threat compared to Bourne.

This takes me to the part that bugged me the most about this movie; so even if Cross is that good, he was only able to do it because he had to take 2 pills every couple of hours. Jason Bourne did not need to take pills to be as awesome as he was. So what it comes down to is Cross would suck without taking the pills. And this is supposed to be the next Jason Bourne? Bullshit! So what we have here is some guy that’s addicted to pills as our new super spy. And I say ‘addicted’ because he WAS!. When Cross first meet up with Dr Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz) he was freaking out like an addict in need of a his/her next fix. So there we have it, our next Jason Bourne is a druggie – what a legacy.

A few other points I want to make:
-I did not like the script. The conversations were boring and didn’t have an impact on the viewer.
-The action was dull and it’s not like this movie had a lot of it.
-There were several parts in which intense music was added but was completely unnecessary. I think it had the opposite effect it was supposed to have.
-The love story was forced and seemed so typical and cheesy. There was no chemistry between Cross and Dr Shearing as characters or Renner and Weisz as actors.
-When flashbacks were added in TBI, TBS and TBU, eventually the viewer got to know why, but in TBL, they were never explained or expanded on. This also made it longer than it should have been.

I haven’t seen the movie Limitless, but from what I’ve gathered it’s about some guy that takes a pill and gets enhanced abilities. I bring this up because, in all honesty I think that The Bourne Legacy should be renamed to Limitless 2 and have nothing to do with the other Bourne movies. As far as I’m concerned, the Bourne series ended at Ultimatum.

I know I’ve made a lot of comparisons to Identity, Supremacy and Ultimatum, but I can’t help it. There was a lot of mystery, tension and intensity in each of those movies. They all started out fast and ended with Bourne coming out on top. The Bourne Legacy had none of that. When I heard the ‘Bourne theme song’ at the end of TBL, I died inside. This movie didn’t deserve to end with that music we have all come to love.

If this movie wasn’t a part of the Bourne installment, then my review would have been a lot different. I still probably wouldn’t have liked it, but it would have been different. There had to be some expectations being a Bourne movie, and frankly it falls short.

The Bourne Trilogy

The Bourne Ultimatum 

2007 – 3.6/5

Going into this movie, I have to admit that I didn’t remember a single thing that happened. I remembered a lot more of the first 2, but couldn’t even remember anything that happened in this since I first saw it back in 2007. I decided that I wouldn’t even read the synopsis on the back and once the movie was over, I was happy I didn’t. Although the description on the back never gives anything away, I just didn’t want to know anything.

Again, like the first and second, it had great car chases and well choreographed fights. The pace of this movie, as well as TBI and TBS were fantastic. There was never a slow moment in any of the movies.

***SPOILER ALERT***
I was blindsided when at 1:20 minutes in, you realize that what has happened up until then was occurring during the second movie. It seems like a very hard task to do such a thing but I think it made TBU blend into TBS better.

The Bourne Supremacy 

2004 – 3.8/5

It starts off with Jason and Maria in the middle of the night and Bourne is still struggling with his past and the fact that he still can’t put all the pieces of the puzzle together. Although he is still sorting through his past, it seems as if he’s laid low and been able to hide pretty well. With the killing of 2 CIA agents, the pot gets stirred again because Bourne is being blamed.

Again, like the first he doesn’t really know why people are after him and this time, a Russian mob (?) is after him too! This movie sends chills down your spine. I will say that I liked this a bit more than the first and that rarely happens. The fight scenes in this on were a bit more up-close, but still very good and the car chases were pretty good too.

Although Julia Stiles was in the first one, she had a bigger role in this. I think this was her best role ever. The character suited her and she suited the character. Very well done.

The Bourne Identity

2002 – 3.7/5

Right from the get-go we’re intrigued because Matt Damon doesn’t even know who he is. We only know as much as he does and we’re learning more as the movie goes along. These types of movies always seem to remain suspenseful because you really can’t guess what would happen next. Damon doesn’t know who is running from and why, so he is surprised just as much as the viewer. This movie defiantly keeps you on your toes.

This is a very action-packed movie. There are some really good-looking fight scenes and it had a lot of them; each of them being different from the one before. The fight with the second assassin was really good. It had a good car chase down narrow streets packed with cars and on-coming traffic. – some really good camera angles from within other cars during the chase. Good music that went along with what was on screen.

Clive Owen looks like a creeper and this movie is probably the only time I’ve ever liked him. Also because he had a small role.

I really liked the addition of Maria. It was nice that Bourne had someone on his side because I was rooting for him so it was nice to see that someone in the movie was in his corner.

I had never been much of a fan of Matt Damon before this movie, but dam, he was amazing as Jason Bourne! Great performance.

I loved how it ended.