Monday, July 30, 2007

Movie Review: Hairspray

*** MIGTH CONTAIN SPOILERS! ***

Featuring: John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Amanda Bynes, James Marsden, Queen Latifah, Brittany Snow, Zac Efron, Nikki Blonsky

Genre: musical, comedy
Plot: overweight teenage dreams about becoming a TV star

Acting: not sure Travolta was a good choice to impersonate a feminine character, he takes it too much over the top

Drama: bad diet and racism

Action: I’m sure they used tons of energy with those dancing routines

Funny: it is in places but the humor feels kinda forced often enough

Visuals: I’ll never understand why overweight women insist on wearing sleeveless tops

Soundtrack: wonderful just like the stage musical

Comments: Travolta tries to steal the show but it doesn’t quite work out. Pfeiffer is too skinny. Walken is absolutely charming. Bynes is cute as a doll but I would have liked to see more acting from her and not just sitting like a doll, some more singing would have been nice too. I didn’t know Marsden could sing and he does it well. Too bad he spends most of the time smiling like an idiot. Latifah seemed to be made for that part. Snow was annoying as the part required. Can’t say much about Efron since I haven’t seen him before but he was cute. Blonsky is also new to me. She’s got a great voice that’s for sure.

Rating: 3/5

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Movie Review: Transformers

*** MIGTH CONTAIN SPOILERS! ***

Featuring: Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, Jon Voight, John Turturro

Genre: action, sci fi

Plot: aliens looking like huge robots hidden under vehicle appearance come to fight with each others on Earth

Acting: LaBeouf wasn’t so bad, Turturo was annoying as always

Drama: when your car is not a Porshe that sure is a drama

Action: the robots fight a lot

Funny: again the robots are… sort of

Visuals: good CGI

Soundtrack: errr… I’m sure there was one

Comments: It would have helped if I had watched the cartoons first to know which robot is which. The little meowing bad guy was funny. And I would have liked to have the yellow car. Not much else to say… you can imagine why. It’s a kid movie.

Rating: 3/5

Saturday, July 7, 2007

Movie Review: Evan Almighty

*** MIGTH CONTAIN SPOILERS! ***

Featuring: Steve Carell, Morgan Freeman, Lauren Graham, John Goodman

Genre: comedy

Plot: God asks a congressman, of all people, to build a huge ark to save a couple of hundreds of people who wouldn’t have been there in the first place if it hadn’t been for that ark

Acting: Morgan Freeman was good as ever

Drama: a fashion dilemma?

Action: ark ride

Funny: the animals were and a few of Carell’s reactions

Visuals: the ark the flood and the ride

Soundtrack: oldies but not bad just cheesy

Comments: I’m one of the few people who found The 40 Years Virgin to be a waste of my time and I also don’t like Jim Carrey at all so I had no hopes to like this movie. The only reason I saw it was because of Morgan Freeman, which by the way gets way too little screen time. Like with most sequels this one goes bigger too, unfortunately the plot doesn’t exactly hold in many places. Can you actually imagine all the windows being open in Washington for the birds to fly in when all the offices there are actually running on air conditioning? And if I was the wife I would have had him committed long before that. Really, we need a more modern God who keeps up with the advances of our society or we’re all doomed.

Rating: 3/5

Friday, July 6, 2007

Movie Review: Live Free or Die Hard

*** MIGTH CONTAIN SPOILERS! ***

Featuring: Bruce Willis, Timothy Olyphant, Justin Long, Maggie Q

Genre: action, thriller

Plot: greedy terrorists attacks the whole country this time

Acting: not totally convincing, Willis keeps his pensive-amused grin and while it’s amusing to see it it doesn’t always fit the situation

Drama: US seemingly under attack, McClane’s daughter gets abducted… you choose

Action: quite a lot though somehow not as much as in the previous movies… is Willis getting a tad old?

Funny: the dialog is in places… the hacker is just annoying… and the daughter can kick ass, yeah!

Visuals: some of the stunts are impressive

Soundtrack: didn’t notice it

Comments: The longest a character lives the writers just seem to run out of ideas. So first there was a tower building, then an airport followed by a city and now it’s the whole country. Wanna bet the world is next if there ever is a fifth one? McClane hasn’t changed much except for the lack of hair and slightly bigger look, he’s still like a dog with a bone when confronted with a tough situation. We realize he hadn’t made up with his wife, of course since after 12 years Bonnie Bedelia couldn’t possibly look like she’s 20 again, he doesn’t get along well with his daughter, who he obviously taught her defense classes at some point, and he’s apparently surpassed by the today’s world. While pairing him with someone worked more or less in the third movie, pairing him with a weaker one, the hacker doesn’t have much of a back bone and he’s just a whiny kid who would like to be someone but is not ready for it yet, doesn’t exactly work and I pity the kid if the daughter really makes up her mind to ever hook up with him. There are a couple of déjà vu scenes like Willis on top of a plane or Maggie Q’s version of the Terminator bitch who just won’t die. The poor thing gets killed again like she did in X-Men 2, and since I mentioned that I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if the hacker was someone like Stanley aka Hugh Jackman in Swordfish. Would that have kicked ass or what? One in all it’s not really a bad movie, but the first sequel was my favorite of all and compared to that there’s too much tech and less action in it. Along with Terminator Die Hard is probably one of the few series whose first sequel is better than the original. Haven’t decided yet if I’m hoping for a fifth one. Probably not.

Rating: 3/5

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Movie Review: Ratatouille

*** MIGTH CONTAIN SPOILERS! ***

Featuring: Patton Oswalt, Ian Holm, Lou Romano, Brian Dennehy, Peter Sohn, Peter O'Toole, Brad Garrett, Janeane Garofalo

Genre: animation, comedy

Plot: a rat develops kitchen skills

Acting: from the animation point of view it’s very well done and believable; the voices aren’t bad either

Drama: it’s a rat’s life

Action: that part is fun too

Funny: plenty of it

Visuals: I liked the camera moves and the characters and settings are well done

Soundtrack: quite nice

Comments: It’s been a while since I truly liked an animated movie or any other movie for that matter. Kids will love it but it should amuse adults quite a lot too. I’m insisting on the fun part but also on the visuals and although I’d rather not eat in a restaurant ran by rats they were cute too.

Rating: 4/5