She says:

“In Your Face Epic.”

If you like movies with dragons, gold, kings and temptresses, you will enjoy this film.  Robert Zemeckis has created a film that is interesting and beautiful to watch.  Similar to many of his previous films, it carries with it a strong message about humanity.

Please go see this movie, you will not regret it.

He says: 

“All Hail King Zemeckis!!!!”

The future of filmmaking is here.  I’d like to see your local electronics store try to sell you a “3D” home theater system…no way!  This kind of viewing experience can only exist on a big screen with big sound, anything less shouldn’t be acceptable.      Only a seasoned veteran with a few trips around the “groundbreaking block” can pull off this sort of project.  Believe you me, you will see an influx of these types of films, but few will measure up to BEOWULF’s greatness and mastery.

Genres:     Action/Adventure, Science Fiction/Fantasy and Animation
Running Time:     1 hr. 53 min.
Release Date:     November 16, 2007 (wide)
MPAA Rating:     PG-13 for intense sequences of violence including disturbing images, some sexual material and nudity.
Distributors:    
Warner Bros. Pictures International, Paramount Pictures
Production Co.:    
ImageMovers
Studios:    
Warner Bros. Pictures, Paramount Pictures
Financiers:    
Shangri-La Entertainment
Produced in:     United States

She says: “No Interest for Young Woman.” 

I wasn’t sure what this movie was about walking into the theatre and to be honest I’m still not sure what the movie was about after walking out of the theatre.  I know this is the kind of film that I am suppose to say is “exceptionally well paced and the execution was typical of the Coen brothers”, but I feel it was a bit slow.  Obviously my movie partner loved the film and afterwards kept raving about its depth and complexities.  I listened and kept quiet as to prevent myself from looking clueless, but truly I was.  

I will admit that this film did set a mood and the characters were well developed, but the ending was unexpected and unrevealing.  Who knows maybe that was the beauty of the film, I’m not sure.  Next time my partner picks a movie I’ll remember to keep a chisel handy to help chip away those layers that prevent me from seeing the deeper meaning.

He says: “Coen brother magic!”

 My back hurt soon after watching this film and I couldn’t realize why.   Aswell, the muscle in between my thumb and index finger was also throbbing, I thought to myself… “did I catch influenza?”…   Soon after I came to the revelation that the pain was due to me tensing up throughout the whole film, to the point when I finally relaxed my muscles, it was too late!  The film’s tension, intimidation and all out message of good and evil, affected me so much…it physically hurt me! 

 NOW THATS FILMMAKING!
 

Logline:     Set in West Texas, a man on the run with a suitcase full of money is pursued by a number of individuals.
Genres:     Drama, Thriller, Western and Adaptation
Running Time:     2 hrs. 2 min.
Release Date:     November 9th, 2007 (limited)
MPAA Rating:     R for strong graphic violence and some language.
Distributors:    
Paramount Vantage, Miramax Films
Production Co.:    
Mike Zoss Productions, Scott Rudin Productions
Studios:    
Paramount Vantage, Miramax Films
Filming Locations:    
Texas, USA
Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
Marfa, Texas, USA
Produced in:     United States
 

He says : “American Classic”

American Gangster is an American classic destined for top 10 lists throughout decades to come. Ridley Scott brings us an extremely well executed crime saga for a new generation. Two of my favorite actors hit the screen and I never turned away, and always believed. Truely a great piece of storytelling and performance, one for the ages! Not since “Heat” and “Good Fellas” have I seen such a believable gangster film, thank God for these random masterpieces that are released here and there, they restore my hope for the death and annihilation of fluff and irrelevant.

She says:  “Classy… but same old!”

Logline:     Based on the true life story of Frank Lucas, a once powerful heroin kingpin in Harlem.
Genres:     Drama, Thriller, Crime/Gangster and Biopic
Running Time:     2 hrs. 37 min.
Release Date:     November 2nd, 2007 (wide)
MPAA Rating:     R for violence, pervasive drug content and language, nudity and sexuality.
Distributors:    
Universal Pictures Distribution
Production Co.:    
Imagine Entertainment, Scott Free Productions, Relativity Media
Studios:    
Universal Pictures
Filming Locations:    
New York, New York, USA
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Thailand
Produced in:     United States

SHE SAYS: Should have been called “When will this movie end”…

I think there is definite lack of tight storytelling these days and this movie was a great example of that. It’s not that it was confusing or complicated, but the storyline was not all that interesting, however I must admit watching Captain Jack Sparrow fly over the cuckoo’s nest in Davy Jones Locker was pretty funny.  Aside from the interesting hallucinations of Captain Sparrow, there was also an element of surprise at the beginning of the movie, when it felt as if I was watching “Pirates – The musical.”  When actors start breaking out in song you definitely feel a bit surprised, I know I did.

I can’t exactly pinpoint what contributed to my falling asleep during this movie but what I can tell you is that I waited a whole 168 minutes for it to just end.  Maybe I was tired from my long work week or maybe this movie was just too long and lacked the originality that would have kept me awake a little longer.  At World’s End is filled with a lot of stuff we’ve already seen, although it was pretty interesting and original last year when I was watching Dead Man’s Chest, it became pretty mundane this time around.  Don’t get me wrong I didn’t fall asleep throughout the entire movie, just the boring parts.

Reviewed by Natalie Gendron. 

HE SAYS:  Packed with visual treasures!

Ok, lets get real for a minute.  I didn’t watch this film so I can get my fill of intellectual stimulant.  I wanted to see “swash buckling” (is that a real word?) pirates go at it and Keith Richards is in it for Pete’s sakes, and delivers a great performance!  The opening scene was extremely powerful, well crafted, and went well with all the amazing action scenes. The whole film seemed to be in good hands, Gore Verbinski seemed to understand the film’s material and it’s purpose.

The creature design in this film is amazing.  The corral reef ship and its fishy crew being a massive favorite of mine.  This film is a visual treat from top to bottom, and full of laughs.  Johnny Depp’s talents aside.  Geoffrey Rush as Captain Barbossa stole the show in a big way, he holds the screen like no other and becomes a likeable character despite his sketchy ways.   My eyes were wide open for this one.  I didn’t wanted to miss the visual mastery from scene to scene.  Nothing better than a talented director with free reign and no budget constraints to wip up an amazing piece of showmanship.  I will concede that the plot was a bit involved and packed full, possibly a bit too full for the attention span of the average “Dancing with the Stars” audience.

But who cares! It’s pirates people!  I felt like a kid watching this film again, instead now we have state of the art visual effects and an A-list cast.  Don’t you dare complain, at least the pirates aren’t crying like little babies (Spiderman Style)…  This is real rough and tumble kind of stuff, the reason why all the young kids pretend they’re pirates and bonk each other on the head with their fake swords.

Reviewed by Yorgo Karakostas.
 

Starring:       Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom, Geoffrey Rush, Keira Knightley
Directed by:     Gore Verbinski
Produced by:     Bruce Hendricks, Mike Stenson, Chad Oman
    

Also Known As:     
Pirates of the Caribbean 3
Pirates of the Caribbean III
Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End
Production Status:     Released
Logline:     Elizabeth is captured by the notorious pirate Sao-Feng as Captain Barbossa and Will Turner alliance for one last decisive battle.
Genres:     Action/Adventure, Adaptation and Sequel
Running Time:     2 hr. 45 min.
Release Date:     May 24th (select theaters), May 25th, 2007 (wide)
MPAA Rating:     PG-13 for intense sequences of action/adventure violence and some frightening images.
Distributors:     
Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
Production Co.:     
Jerry Bruckheimer Films
Studios:     
Walt Disney Pictures
Filming Locations:     
Caribbean Islands
Los Angeles
Utah
Produced in:     United States

HE SAYS: 300 Stars out of 10

HE RATES: MUST SEE

The extravagantly dark visual genius of Frank Miller is once again superbly translated to the screen in an epic way. One of the most beautiful gore films I’ve ever seen. The blood poured off the screen like it was coming from a fruitful red fountain. Yet I never got bored or disgusted because of the gorgeous visuals. Historical accuracy aside, the plot was very well developed and contained within the films purpose. The main Spartan facts were dead on some classic lines from history were delivered as expected. On a more personal note, being Greek myself I can say that this film is a Greek person’s dream come true.

Overacting matched the over-compensated and fantastic camera angles and lighting. The performances weren’t annoying, but very theatrical in a trained Shakespearean way. I found the fabricated set to have a soul and grit, something that SinCity didn’t have and was a bit of a distraction for me. This film empowered me to forget the technical process and submerged myself in the scenes. Watching this film seemed a bit of a long dream sequence, Zack Snyder stuck to his bag of tricks and kept using the throughout the whole film. I’ve never seen more slow motion in a film in my entire life, beating out any Mel Gibson film!

I would call this glorious filmmaking for a story about glory and sacrifice. An instant classic that will resonate for years to come and will have other films copy, reference, compare and be inadequate next to it’s greatness. Such like the Spartans versus their opponents. I’m going to see this one again! Attention Hollywood executives, NO SEQUEL, they are all dead already, all 300 of them…leave this one alone. PLEASE!

Reviewed by Yorgo Karakostas.

SHE SAYS: BLOODY BUT BEAUTIFUL

SHE RATES: MUST SEE

I have been waiting with anticipation for “300” since I first saw its preview months ago. Being a big fan of the movie Sin City, I was excited that another graphic novel by Frank Miller was going to be recreated to fit the big screen. Although this movie is quite different from Sin City, it still manages to maintain the artistic allure found within Frank Miller’s graphic novels. Despite the violent nature of the movie, the many scenes involving blood and decapitation, and the creepy creatures that reside within the Persian army, this movie is absolutely beautiful to watch, as twisted as that sounds. I am not just talking about the 300 Spartans with abs made out of steel, although that was quite beautiful as well. Instead I’m thinking artistic beauty, where you feel as though you are watching a painting come to life. The gritty colour and the slow and fast shot sequences in addition to the costumes and methodical music, all add to this idea of beauty.

The story is quite simple, especially for those history buffs that are already familiar with the Battle of Thermopylae. 300 Spartans fight against a Persian army, which consisted of millions. The odds were stacked against the Spartans but they continued to fight and follow King Leonidas to their ultimate death. Some may see this as a loss, but for the Spartans they viewed this as a victory because they died with honor, which is the most commendable way of dying.

It is a war story, but most importantly it is a story about courage, fighting for your beliefs and fighting for something even greater than the present. It’s unbelievable to imagine that this story really happened, and because you know it’s true it makes it that much more exciting to watch.

Reviewed by Natalie Gendron.

HE SAYS: “a directing smoking ace…”

He rates: EXCELLENT SEE

Joe Carnahan is one of the most explosive new talents in the Hollywood directing circuit. SMOKING ACES represents his artistic free reign coupled with a big budget (finally). The result is a really cool and stylish film with a lot to offer. Maybe a bit too much though, there’s a tonne of talking heads in this film explaining back-story until you are blue in the face. A film like this would be fine if we weren’t so bombarded by mainstream cookie-cutter crap all the time. Alas we live in a different world, a world where we don’t like to think in a movie theater. Even if you weren’t paying much attention to the plot, the action scenes and sheer originality of the film makes up for it. It is totally hip and has a perverse underground humor that is carried throughout the story, which I enjoyed but I can see how some won’t.

Visually the film is extraordinary and edgy. The action is first rate and totally raw. The ensemble of characters works well and because they are so different, I didn’t lose interest in any of them. Typically with this kind of writing style, the dialogue can seem pretty stagy and phony but I didn’t have any beefs with any performances and thought the casting was bang on.

Something different on the screen is always welcome in my books, especially when it involves Las Vegas, hookers, drugs, gun fights, assassins, one liners and frontal nudity. ROCK ON! Although the story unfolds in a complicated way, when you dissect it and simplify what is happening, in hindsight, it’s a great story. If this film were made again I would want to see more of the back-story rather than have it dictated to me by a fast-talking actor. Lets give Joe a break, he just came off developing MI3 for almost two years until he jumped ship. He obviously had a creative time bomb ready to explode inside of him, unfortunately the way things are going it looks like it’ll also bomb in the box office. Shame really. Originality and creativity should be rewarded and embraced, especially when it still has a commercial edge to it.

Reviewed by Yorgo Karakostas

SHE SAYS: “needed coles notes to watch this thing…”

She rates: GOOD SEE

After watching this movie all I can say is what a mess, and I am not just talking about the remains that were left over from the guy who sat on a chainsaw. This is quite the movie, with lots of dialog, explanations and cast members. Thankfully Buddy Israel (the guy that half the cast wants to kill and the other half wants to protect) doesn’t move and stays in his Las Vegas penthouse for the entire movie. If this weren’t the case I most definitely would have needed Coles Notes and I am not sure they even make those for movies.

I am just warning everyone that for the first half hour, there is so much expository information that is being released that you find yourself drifting off to never never land. Soon after though the real action begins and you slowly start to understand that amongst all this chaos, the plot is actually quite simple; mostly everyone wants to kill buddy. Come to think of it the title of the movie could have been “Kill Buddy”, you definitely get a feel for Joe Carnahan’s directing style, which is very similar to Tarantino. He uses the dark humor, the offbeat colorful characters, cartoon style violence and let’s not forget the drugs and high-class prostitutes.

Although Smokin Aces was not quite smokin for me, it was entertaining nevertheless. Yes there were moments of utter confusion but overall I think the visual montage of mayhem was fun to watch. I haven’t seen much of Carnahan’s past work but I believe that he will pleasantly surprise us in the future with something much greater than this, hopefully something with a tighter less complicated plot.

Reviewed by Natalie Gendron

Director: Joe Carnahan

Cast: Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Peter Berg, Andy Garcia, Ray Liotta, Alicia Keys, Ryan Reynolds, Jeremy Piven

Genre: Action/Comedy/Crime

Runtime: 109 min

MPAA Rating R – for strong bloody violence, pervasive language, some nudity and drug use.

She says:  “A good story that got butchered” 

She Rates: Don’t See

I was really curious to see if Justin Timberlake could bring “sexy back” to the movies, unfortunately I was wrong, not even Justin could make this movie easy to watch.  Although I must admit he was one of the best things about it.  He played his part well and was one of the few characters I could actually tolerate.    

“Alpha Dog” is about a group of shady young teenagers that live in the rich neighborhoods around L.A.  The leader or “Alpha Dog” of the group is a drug dealer named Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch).  He controls the drug scene in these posh neighborhoods with the help of his father (Bruce Willis).  Everything appears to be fun and games until he is double-crossed by Jake, a complete whack job character.  In retaliation Johnny and his friends spontaneously kidnap Jake’s younger brother.  

Sounds like a great story doesn’t it?  I mean it had so much potential considering it was based on a true story.  So what happened?  Where did the movie go wrong?  First off, this movie had a high dosage of the “cheese factor” component.  I mean come on, Sharon Stone in a fat suit, how could you really take that scene seriously.  I remember at one point in the movie, Yorgo turned to me and said, “Are these scenes meant to be this funny.”  The truth is I don’t think they were, but the entire theater including us were in hysterics.  Everything was made out to be a little too obvious, thereby making it quite cheesy and painful to watch.  However I do admit that some parts almost sucked me, especially those pertaining to the kidnapped boy.  I really thought things were looking up during the car scene towards the end of the movie, not for the boy of course but for the audience.  I thought this is where it’s going to get good, but unfortunately it only got worse.  I just didn’t feel strongly enough about the characters to feel any kind of empathy for them.  There were moments during the movie in which real meaningful dialog could have been useful in creating this sort of compassion for the characters but those moments were filled with useless chatter.

This amazing story was overshadowed not only by the “cheese factor” but also by silly house parties, spoiled rich kids trying to talk smack and the overabundance of boobs and sex.  Yes I know that sometimes all of this can make for a really good movie, but in this case there was just too much of it.  After a while you feel as though you are watching an after school special about rich kids with too much time on their hands.  This movie could have definitely been at least half an hour shorter.  Maybe they should have made it into a mini-series, the next “Laguna Beach”.

My advice to everyone: Wait until it comes on DVD and than rent it.

Reviewed by Natalie Gendron.

He Says: “Butchered?  This story didn’t even make the chopping block!”

He Rates: Don’t See

First off, please…pretty please!  All you filmmakers out there who decide to cast Mr. Timberlake in their next film, (who wasn’t bad at all actually) remember that the theater will be filled with N’Sync fans.  With all the Tom foolery, young girls running up and down the theater aisles, cell-phones ringing and side conversations going, I was just about to lose my mind in there.  And if all that weren’t enough, I had little brats kicking the back of my chair and giggling at the film when I had no clue what was so funny.  Grow up you little runts!  All but the second last complaint had devastating results for the film.  What was intended to be a serious moment was totally annihilated by adolescence.  Near the end of it all I couldn’t tell if the film was trying to be serious or not.  Elements of the story that had no point even being in the script were emphasized and it made watching this film really difficult.  I tried to give it a chance, I really did, but I feel elements that should have been utilized were totally passed by, and it really frustrated me.

Relationships flushed down the toilet, replaced instead with over the top, unrealistic dialogue in an obvious attempt to capture the youth mentality of 1999.  Kids don’t talk like that now, never mind in the 90s!  I truly believe the downfall of this project was the editing.  The pacing was awkward and stretched, scene-by-scene I was saying “ok I get it, move on!”  This minimal impact most likely had to due with the fact that (for some reason), this film was pre-occupied on the lifestyle of the characters, rather then developing characters for us to give a crap.  Speaking of crap:

There is a scene in the film where a psycho over actor takes a real big poop on the carpet of his adversary, take a look at that big steaming log of poop and you pretty much know how this film will be.  The actor who pooped also squeezed out a brown log in the form of a ridiculous portrayal, even to the teenyboppers who were sending text messages to their boyfriends found it comedic. There was even a scene where the over-acting strung out brother turned into the California version of Bruce Lee (on crack) and beat the crap out of martial art teenagers at a house party.  It was bonkers!  No, I’m not kidding!  I’m not even sure these young actors had lines, it was “F-this, F-that, ok lets F…etc”  I thought for a minute I was watching a bad re-enactment of teenagers goofing around in their parents basement on “youtube”.  

Kudos to the editor who dreamed up the trailer packages for this film, it sold me big time but I was totally disappointed and I hope one day in the future this true story will be revisited and given its chance to shine.

Directed by: Nick Cassavetes
Written by: Nick Cassavetes
Genre: Crime/drama
MPAA: Rated R for pervasive drug use and language, strong violence, sexuality and nudity.
Runtime: USA:122 min / USA:117 min (Sundance Film Festival)
Produced by Matthew Barry …. co-producer Robert Geringer …. executive producer Marina Grasic …. executive producer Nancy Green-Keyes …. co-producer Andreas Grosch …. executive producer Brad Jensen …. associate producer Avram ‘Butch’ Kaplan …. executive producer Sidney Kimmel …. producer Jan Körbelin …. executive producer Steve Markoff …. executive producer Bruce McNall …. executive producer Chuck Pacheco …. producer Andreas Schmid …. executive producer

Cast: Bruce Willis, Matthew Barry, Emile Hirsche, Justin Timberlake, Sharon Stone

HE SAYS—“A new age classic and a relevant masterpiece.”

HE RATES—MUST SEE

“Children of Men” is a new age classic and a relevant masterpiece of modern cinema.  Certainly, if nothing else, a clinic in visual story telling that had me glued to the screen.  We have been bombarded with such crap in the past 20 years that when a true piece of mastery is released, the regular movie watcher, such as my colleague over here, doesn’t know what they saw.  They will say silly things like, I want to read the book, or I need to see it again to catch everything I missed or they will like it for reasons they made up because they know it got good reviews. Come on people, “book” “shmook”, the director didn’t even read it. 

Q: And you didn’t read the P.D. James novel?

A: I was very clear of the movie I wanted to do. I didn’t want to second-guess myself or sidetrack. So I asked [co-screenwriter] Tim Sexton to bring the book and rescue the stuff that would be relevant for the movie we were trying to do. It wasn’t about, “Oh, I have this, I don’t want to touch the book.” No, actually, I was very keen to find whatever would help our story, as long as it was the movie I [desired to do].

This film stays far away from the “spoon-feed” tactic of exposition.  It has you asking questions the whole way through, the way a good film should.  God forbid we have to put 2 and 2 together sometimes and figure stuff out on our own. Read the writing on the wall, no seriously, read it when watching the film.  It paints the picture of a broader world we can only imagine; the filmmakers do a great job in adding scope to a localized story and a hero’s journey.  Never are we given direct answers to society’s problem, only speculation through the media and hearsay and I’m not just talking about the film here folks.  To portray the world anyway else would be a lie, similar to the ones you are bombarded with on a regular basis through the media. 

Cuaron is a director who realizes the originality and power of the cinematic medium.  He throws us in scenes with a style all his own, mixed with stunning and elaborate sequence shots that last the whole scene.  To the trained eye, I was mesmerized, to facilitate a story with such tactics is pure brilliance and a true testament to Alfonso Cuaron’s understanding of the film language.  This script does not have obvious holes in it, we are introduced to the story at the perfect time and the film concludes as it started, perfect.  Any more and it would have seriously upset me.  Back to the visuals, I haven’t seen such groundbreaking imagery in a film since… uh…um…I just haven’t seen it, truly amazing and yet very discrete.  Look at the visual credits list and you’ll realize a lot of computer power was used to make this film but you would never notice it within the spectacular scenes.  The wondering, curious camera is one of my favorite attributes to this film.  With a simple tracking shot we are filled in on lifetime events, local government brainwashing tactics and the latest and greatest euthanasia pill.  The film has a necessity to be violent although it never completely grosses you out, instead it shocks you with it’s realism and captivates you with the intensity of the moments.

Clive Owen and his co-stars are very low key, and let the film speak for itself.  A great choice from a smart cast and not surprising considering the experience and know how from the group of talents.  The story line is an important one.  A true reflection of where we could be headed, and it’s honestly not that far-fetched.  In that respect this film should frighten you, wake you up and force you to think outside of the box. The best film of 2006 and has greatness that will be hard to surpass for 2007.

Reviewed by Yorgo Karakostas.

SHE SAYS: “Great film, but I wanted to read the book first…”

SHE RATES: Excellent SEE

 Imagine a world without children, a world where for the past 18 years woman can no longer reproduce.  What a brilliant way for civilization to not only end but suffer a slow and painful death.  Alfonso Cuaron with his extraordinary visual mastery was able to convey a world not only plagued by infertility but also despair and paranoia.  He created a distorted and exaggerated version of the world we live in today.  Where mass media elicits terror in the people, pharmaceutical companies capitalize on disaster and disease and where people kill people for causes that they believe are just.   

Although I think this movie is an “excellent see”, I found the story to be somewhat convoluted because of the limited background information given.  I truly enjoyed the concept and wanted to know more about it, call it women’s curiosity.  I wanted to know what caused women to become infertile.  I wanted more details about the human project and I wanted to know why the immigrants had become such a huge threat to England.  Many of my questions were left unanswered and for this reason I should probably go see the movie again.  Another element that has left me perplexed, is the title, what does it mean?  Maybe if I read the P.D. James novel in which the movie was adapted from I might gain some more insight.

Despite some obvious holes in the movie, what I did really enjoy was that amongst all this “end of the world” stuff, there is also a story there about self-discovery, love and hope.  The main character Theo (Clive Owen), a former human rights activist has lost his will to fight for his beliefs.  It is when he meets Kee (Clair-Hope Ashitey), a young African girl that is eight months pregnant that he remembers what it’s like to care about something again.  This movie offers humanity a promise of hope.  That despite everything we still have a chance to survive as long as we persevere and always remember that one person can make a positive difference.  

I’m thinking that after watching this movie I may join an activist group myself.  Considering the warm weather we’ve been experiencing this winter, how does Greenpeace sound?

Reviewed by Natalie Gendron.

Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Writer: Alfonso Cuarón
Stars: Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Claire-Hope Ashitey, Pam Ferris, Danny Huston, Peter Mullan, Charlie Hunnam
Genre: Drama, Science Fiction
Length: 109 minutes
Country: USA
Directed by: Alfonso Cuaron
Producer: Marc Abraham, Eric Newman, Hilary Shor, Iain Smith, Tony Smith
Executive producer: Armyan Bernstein, Thomas A. Bliss
MPAA: Rated R for strong violence, language, some drug use and brief nudity.
Runtime: 109 min
Genre: Adventure / Drama / Sci-Fi / Thriller (more)