Review of Get Him to the Greek. This year's The Hangover, only better.

Get Him to the Greek is a spiritual sequel to the surprisingly funny and heartfelt comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall, with just about all of the original cast and crew in tow. The biggest draw to the film was obviously the two leads, Jonah Hill and Russel Brand. And while Brand plays the same character as he did in the first film, Hill has been swapped to a lowly music producer but still a huge fan of Infant Sorrow, as in the first film. Brand was born to play his role in the film, completely nailing the caricature of a strung out, down on his luck rock star. He makes a great switch from the supporting role to the leading role, keeping the same humor everybody came to love without getting annoying or boring. But Brand wouldn't be able to get by without a little help from his friends. If it weren't for the stylish cinematography or the snappy dialogue, Get Him to the Greek would have been a total flop. I won't spoil too much of the fun for you but rest assured, Get Him to the Greek will be one of the most fun films to be released in the year 2010. I give it four subtle Beatles homages out of five. 4/5

Change?!

Evening all! As you'll obviously see, my blog has been reconstructed in a way. Just about everything is in it's same place, but I thought that since We're nearing the one year anniversary of my reviews, I figured that the black and white was pretty boring. Nothing else is being changed, just the look and feel of the blog has been improved!

Review of Inception. It's a paradox.

Inception, written and directed by the acclaimed Christopher Nolan, and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Ellen Page, is a completely mind blowing and amazing experience. The first forty five minutes or so are part espionage thriller, and the last two hours are contained within the mind, making it a sci-fi thriller. At first it came across my mind that this had a little too much to do with The Matrix, but this is actually much better and the only similarity they share is going under through a machine to go to the dream world. Nolan, who loves to add twists and turns to his plots, certainly has room to play here, with a few things you wouldn't expect thrown in here or there. Christopher Nolan definitely took his time with this one, it took him eight years to write it. Well, his hard work and dedication have paid off because this is his best film yet. Some may argue the The Dark Knight is better, but that would only be so because they couldn't understand the depth to this film. Although the trailers seem mysterious and any and all plot details were kept under wraps during production, it's actually a very simple, easy to follow tale of lost love, subconscious theft, and paradoxes. Also not without an underlying theme and meaning behind it, and I dare you to find it. The acting is phenomenal on DiCaprio's part, you can tell he was working hard on this one. I personally think he's great in every role, but I'm not going to let that get in the way of judgement. All of the supporting actors a great as well, boasting the likes of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ken Wantabe, and Tom Hardy, they all fit so well into their respective roles and they communicate so well with each other with some of the best dialouge ever written in a summer blockbuster.
The Verdict:
You must see Inception, one of the greatest summer blockbusters ever made, and it looks fantastic. Low-gravity shots, sideways rain, slow-motion scenes. They're all perfect additions to the mind-bending extravaganza that is Inception. Nolan is one of the greatest filmmakers of this generation. I give it five kicks ouit out of five. 5/5

Review of Crash. A day in the life.

Crash, directed by Paul Haggis and starring a bunch of A-list actors, is an amazing ensamble piece that tells a tale of friendship, family, love, hate, or pretty much any other emotion you can think of. The story is based off of chain reactions, in which each character is affected in their own personal way. The story is much better than the film Babel, which puts the viewer under the impression that the story is based off of chain reactions, but is really just four stories told together in one film. Crash is told in a much better fashion, with much more believable characters and better division between the stories. Also, the film is much more relevant to life as a whole than most films, discussing racial intolerances, faith, and after pitting the characters in difficult situations, showing how good may or may not triumph over evil. Believe me, this film is no amusement park ride, rather a brutal picture of reality and a testament to what people feel. The acting, although there were not any stand-out performances, was great. Realistic, that's all they needed to be. Also, the score adds a surreal overtone to the whole experience.
The Verdict:
By now, you've got to be certain that I'll give this film a high score, and I will. It's hard to explain this film, it's very surreal, unlike any other before it. Five out of five.

Review of The Book of Eli. The case of the mistaken indentity film.

The Book of Eli directed by The Hughes Brothers and starring Denzel Washington, as about a man who has his dedicated his entire life to relocating the last Bible on earth to a safe place. Although it sounds boring on paper, and I gave you a terrible synopsis, but it transferred much better to the screen. The setting is a post-apocalyptic wasteland in which Washington attempts to travel to the west. The post-apocalyptic setting is a bit worn, but the Hughes Brothers do what they do best and apply it to this situation. What they do is this: Violence, gore, and style, all mixed together beautifully in films like Menace II Society and From Hell, works just as well here. Although they do borrow a little from previous films of the same genre, they make it their own here and a mistake that can easily be forgiven. One problem I did have with the film was not the film itself but they way it was marketed. A high-octane thriller that is so one-dimensional it's just like every other film out there. That is definitely not the case, because the Hughes Brothers make action all their own. Sure, they make it look unrealistic, but that comes with the genre. The acting is done well by all of the supporters, but the big draw is obviously Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman. Oldman, playing the antagonist, does a fairly good job as the bad guy, a role he doesn't choose very often. Washington does a great job doing what he was hired to do. Be a bad ass. Plain and simple. He plays the role with so much emotion and grit that it would be hard not to sympathize with any problems he had in the film. His relationship with the main female, Mila Kunis, seemed a bit false and they rushed from being unfriendly to friendly. The film also gets very religious and Christian-faith oriented in the last fifteen minutes or so, so two things could come from this film for non-Christians. Either they'll dismiss whatever massage may be presented to them, or they might take something from the experience. It's up to you.
The Verdict:
Typical action film, no way. Typical post-apocalyptic story, no way. Typical Hughes Brothers neo-noir film style, definitely. I give The Book of Eli five cats for dinner out of five. 5/5

Review of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. If you work for a living, why do you kill yourself working?

It's been a long time coming. I've been so looking forward top seeing this film after such a long break from Westerns, and I am a big Western fan, I've just been to afraid to admit it until I saw The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. This film is many things, so the best way to put it is as if it were a human body. A chase to 200,00 dollars in gold with a partnership that has more backstabbing than Benedict Arnold's evening stroll against another man who is just as good a marksman as these two are. The Good is Clint Eastwood, The Bad is Lee Van Cleef, and The Ugly is Eli Wallach. This fact is obviously shown in the beginning and the end as the screen pauses on each character and gives them their title. It's a really cool addition to the film and adds a little flair to all of the excitement. So all of that would be the body itself and the blood and organs. But what runs through the veins is what really matters. If it were just a simple race to the finish ti would be no good. Instead, this movie throws in Civil War battles, an army of two taking out five in in five minutes, and so many other amazing things that it would take me days to count them all. That's the adrenaline. This film definitely packs a big punch with it's intimidating time of three hours and four minutes, but I loved every second of it. That's the brain and the muscle of the whole film. But it's where the heart lies where this film is at it's best. The fantastic direction and acting pull this film together with excellent performances by all three leads and believable performances by all the supporters as well, this may be Sergio Leone's masterpiece. His form of direction and his ability to engross the audience in his film with all of the style that he does it in with this film is unforgettable.
The Verdict:
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly will go down in histiory as one of the greatest Westerns ever made, and one of the best films ever made. This film is near perfect, I can't pick out any flaw to it. But if I do I'll let you know. I give The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly five cigar chomping, squinty-eyed bounty hunters out for the deal of a lifetime out of five. 5/5

Second Opinion: Every Pixar Movie Ever Made.

Time for another second opinion! This time it's a film studio's entire collection that I promoted as the best films ever made. I'm just going to say what I need to say. I was wrong. I let nostalgia get the better of me and my judgement was a tad bit clouded. Although not completley clouded. I did knock Every Pixar Movie Ever Made from the list but I replaced it with Toy Story 3 in my #3 spot. All of the Pixar films are still fantastic but I wanted to get off my chest the fact that I was wrong.