UNCERTAINTY Movie Review

Uncertainty will be released to theaters on November 13th, 2009 (limited). UNCERTAINTY stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Lynn Collins, Olivia Thirlby, Assumpta Serna, Madeline Lee, and directed by David Siegel and Scott McGehee. If you are planning to go see the movie, here are a few reviews from around the web to help you make up your mind.

Huffington Post
We make millions of decisions everyday, any one of which might prove to be the linchpin of some unexpected outcome that changes everything forever. Life is full of those moments which, upon reflection, make you think: what if...? Or: if only...? Read More

Cinema Viewfinder
Something of a dilemma exists between Kate Montero (Lynn Collins) and Bobby Thompson (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Standing on the Brooklyn Bridge on the morning of July 4th, they resolve to decide what to do about their predicament by flipping a coin. Read More

Slash Film
Uncertainty has a brilliant set-up: After it is discovered that Kate (Lynn Collins) is pregnant, the young couple finds themselves uncertain about their future. With a magical flip of a coin, the story is split into two alternative realities, showing two vastly different directions their immediate future could take ala Sliding Doors. I am certain that the film never lives up to the magical promises of the plot synopsis, and was baffled at the lack of explanation of why both stories differed so greatly. Read More

Uncertainty Synopsis: What if? A couple at a crossroads in their relationship, facing, one fateful July 4, the seemingly simple decision between a family barbecue or dim sum in Chinatown. Splitting the tale in two, exploring what happens as the couple follow both options and the consequences of making a choice--or not.

You can watch the trailer below.

PIRATE RADIO Movie Review

Pirate Radio will be released to theaters this Friday November 13. The movie stars Bill Nighy, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kenneth Branagh, Nick Frost, Rhys Ifans, Gemma Arterton, Emma Thompson, January Jones, Jack Davenport, and directed by Richard Curtis.

Washington Post
In town to introduce a preview screening of "Pirate Radio," writer-director Richard Curtis ("Love Actually") described his comedy about a boatload of renegade DJs who broadcast rock-and-roll from a ship anchored off the coast of England in the mid-1960s as only "partly true." Read More.

Blog Critics
I remember the first time I watched a Richard Curtis film. I was 14 years old and I sat down with my grandma to watch a little film called Four Weddings and a Funeral which then went on to receive a Best Picture nod. I have always been just as interested in who made a movie as much as I was interested in the final product. Read more.

Film School Rejects
If you know me personally, or read anything I write, you know that I worship the 1960s and the music of the time. I grew up behind the seat belt of my dad’s Chevy Silverado, driving around town with the Oldies station blaring out songs about Brown Sugar tasting so good, My Guitar Gently weeping, and People Trying to put down my father’s generation. I fell in love with grinding guitars, amps that never worked quite right, and the homemade sound of just trying to be louder and more soulful than the guys who were just on stage. Read more.

Read the synopsis and watch the trailer below.

Pirate Radio Synopsis: THE BOAT THAT ROCKED is an ensemble comedy, where the romance is between the young people of the 60s, and pop music. It's about a band of DJs that captivate Britain, playing the music that defines a generation and standing up to a government that, incomprehensibly, prefers jazz.

In 1966 – British pop music's finest era – the BBC played just 2 hours of rock and roll every week. But pirate radio played rock and pop from the high seas 24 hours a day. And 25 million people – over half the population of Britain – listened to the pirates every single day.

Read more

THE MESSENGER Movie Review

The Messenger will be released to theaters on Friday November 13, 2009 and stars Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson, Samantha Morton, Jena Malone, Eamonn Walker, and directed by Oren Moverman. If you are planning to go see the movie, here are a few reviews from around the web to help you make up your mind.

The Washington Post
In modern warfare, which is more powerful: The IED or the NOK? That's the question posed by "The Messenger," a drama about a young army officer assigned to deliver death notices to soldiers' next of kin ("NOKs" in military parlance) while home recovering from injuries -- both physical and psychological -- that he suffered because of an Iraqi improvised explosive device. Read More.

Screen Crave
This is it, with The Messenger in theaters, the time for possible Oscar films has begun! First time director and co-writer Oren Moverman shows us how to make a movie with his debut film, which is as subtle and beautiful as it is poignant and dramatic. From an amazing script, to beautiful performances he has unknowingly made himself Oscar-bait. Read More.

The Canadian Press
It's an unenviable task, making films about the war on terror for audiences that don't want to sit through dramatizations of the same bad news they get for real out of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Less enviable is the task the key characters are charged with in "The Messenger": Providing word to people back home that a loved one has died in action.
After Kathryn Bigelow served up the first great Iraq War film with this year's "The Hurt Locker," Oren Moverman delivers a moderately engaging homefront counterpart on "The Messenger," a story that strays about without finding its centre. Read More.

The Messenger Synopsis: In his most powerful performance to date, Ben Foster stars as Will Montgomery, a U.S. Army officer who has just returned home from a tour in Iraq and is assigned to the Army’s Casualty Notification service. Partnered with fellow officer Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson) to bear the bad news to the loved ones of fallen soldiers, Will faces the challenge of completing his mission while seeking to find comfort and healing back on the home front. When he finds himself drawn to Olivia (Samantha Morton), to whom he has just delivered the news of her husband's death, Will’s emotional detachment begins to dissolve and the film reveals itself as a surprising, humorous, moving and very human portrait of grief, friendship and survival.

You can watch the trailer below

DARE Movie Review

Dare will be released to theaters on November 13, 2009 (limited). The movie stars Emmy Rossum, Zach Gilford, Ashley Springer, Ana Gasteyer, Alan Cumming, Sandra Bernhard, Rooney Mara and directed by Adam Salky. If you are planning to go see the movie, here are a few reviews from around the web to help you make up your mind.

CinemaBlend.com
Dare, for a movie about teenagers in their last semester of high school, is a deeper movie than you’d expect. The film, directed by Adam Salky, is broken up into three parts with each part focusing on one of three teens.
Read More

Variety
Essentially the anti-"High School Musical," "Dare" rejects the notion of senior year as a time when greeting-card emotions come true, portraying it instead as a randy petri dish for sexual experimentation. Focusing on three drama students who do a bit too much extracurricular bonding, this "Cruel Intentions"-style cesspool of teenage hanky-panky may be more scandalous than its chaste Disney counterpart...Read More.

The Los Angeles Independent
Dustin Hoffman’s mother/daughter fixation in “The Graduate,” Christian Slater’s avenging slayer in “Heathers,” and Alicia Silverstone’s quintessential Beverly Hills princess in “Clueless” — there have been some indelible cinematic examples of adolescent confusion.Read More

Dare Synopsis:Three very different teenagers discover that, even in the safe world of a suburban prep school, no one is who she or he appears to be.

Dare is in theaters now. Watch the trailer below.

2012 Movie Review

2012 will be released to theaters on November 13, 2009. The movie starring John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and directed by Roland Emmerich. If you are planning to go see the movie, here are a few reviews from around the web to help you make up your mind.

Read more

THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS Movie Review

THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS will be released to theaters today Friday November 6, 2009. The movie is starring George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Ewan McGregor, Kevin Spacey, and directed by Grant Heslov. If you are planning to go see the movie, here are a few reviews from around the web to help you make up your mind.

SILive.com
Our country is currently enmeshed in two wars that enjoy something less than unanimous support among the populace. Politically, we’re divided, with symbols of authority like the military held in only medium esteem by many. Given that, it’s sort of shocking that the new comedy film "The Men Who Stare at Goats," about a truly wacky experimental U.S. military unit, should exist in a vacuum, removed from current events and the tension they’ve created. Read More

Entertainment Weekly
In The Men Who Stare at Goats, George Clooney, as one of the founders of a crackpot U.S. military unit, wears a mustache that makes him look like Dennis Farina, and he does his best to act cool, calm, and collected — which sets him in marked contrast to all the flakes and hysterics around him. Read More

Huffington Post
The key question about The Men Who Stare at Goats is not whether it is true (though it allegedly is).
The key question is whether it will make you laugh.
No allegedly about it - it will. Read More

The Men Who Stare at Goats Synopsis: Reporter Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) is in search of his next big story when he encounters Lyn Cassady (Academy Award® winner George Clooney), a shadowy figure who claims to be part of an experimental U.S. military unit. According to Cassady, the New Earth Army is changing the way wars are fought. A legion of "Warrior Monks" with unparalleled psychic powers can read the enemy's thoughts, pass through solid walls and even kill a goat simply by staring at it. When the programme's founder, Bill Django (Oscar® nominee Jeff Bridges), goes missing, Cassady's mission is to find him in this quirky dark comedy, inspired by a real story.

The Men Who Stare at Goats will be released to theaters on November 6, 2009. (Watch the trailer here and check out more pictures here)

THE INFORMANT! Movie Review

Yesterday, I had an opportunity to watch the new Matt Damon movie The Informant and I want to share my review of the movie.

The Informant is a true story of one highest ranking corporate whistleblower in US history, Mark Whitacre (played by Matt Damon) who out of the blue reached out to the FBI to reveal one of the biggest price fixing scandal that has ever faced the country.

The scandal concerns the biggest manufacturers of the key ingredients in food who are colluding to decide the price of their products therefore insuring fat profits for themselves. However what starts out as a story of David trying to bring down a Goliath quickly turns into a story of a David trying to steal money from Goliath while taking down Goliath. Oh and David is also a big fat liar.

The criminal part of the story is wildly entertaining if you happen to be into corporate intrigue and have a strong grasp of the economic system. However, if you are like the friend who watched the movie with me, you will find your eyes glazing as the discussions of production levels and prices are pretty prevalent in the movie. Plus the scam perpetrated by Mark Whitacre to extort money from his employer is slightly complicated to understand if you don't really follow the world of finance. Basically, it was too complicated for the average movie watcher and could have been more dumbed down in my opinion.

The part of the story that was far more interesting and more accessible to all was the part where we see Mark Whitacre lying to everyone and I mean everyone. No one is safe from his lying, not even himself as he starts to believe his own BS. Throughout the movie, there is just this weird feeling that we have as we watch the character weave this tale of deception. At times, we feel bad for him as we really think that he is simply delusional and at other times, you just cannot believe how unbelievably stupid he is. It's like watching Michael from 'The Office' for almost 2 hours straight. It's sometimes funny but mostly it's just cringe-worthy.

Did I like The Informant? Yes, I loved it. Mostly because I am into corporate/finance/business intrigue stories where the characters are flawed (in this case, really flawed). However, I think that it is definitely not for everyone, especially if you are not into corporate/finance/business intrigue stories where the characters are flawed (OK, I am really repeating myself but you try naming that genre in three words or less).
___________________________________________________________

Title: The Informant

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Producer: George Clooney, Jeff Skoll, Michael London

Cast: Matt Damon, Scott Bakula, Joel McHale, Melanie Lynskey, Thomas F. Wilson

Synopsis: What was Mark Whitacre thinking? A rising star at agri-industry giant Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Whitacre suddenly turns whistleblower. Even as he exposes his company's multi-national price-fixing conspiracy to the FBI, Whitacre envisions himself being hailed as a hero of the common man and handed a promotion. But before all that can happen, the FBI needs evidence, so Whitacre eagerly agrees to wear a wire and carry a hidden tape recorder in his briefcase, imagining himself as a kind of de facto secret agent. Unfortunately for the FBI, their lead witness hasn't been quite so forthcoming about helping himself to the corporate coffers. Whitacre's ever-changing account frustrates the agents and threatens the case against ADM as it becomes almost impossible to decipher what is real and what is the product of Whitacre's rambling imagination. Based on the true story of the highest-ranking corporate whistleblower in U.S. history.

Watch the The Informant trailer.

Review: PUSH (2009)

It was a strange weekend. I went to see PUSH starring Dakota Fanning, Chris Evans, Camilla Belle, Djimon Hounsou, Maggie Siff, and directed by Paul McGuigan. I have to say that I am on the fence about this movie.

Let me first tell you what I expected to see. I expected PUSH to be a regular sci-fi action movie with cool special effects and an accessible plotline to follow.

What I got was a regular sci-fi action movie with cool special effects and an accessible plotline to follow.

So what was my problem you might ask? Well, this almost never happens to me. It usually goes one way or another. Either the movie is even a bigger stinker than I expected (Transporter 3) or it really exceeds my expectations (Taken).

It is rare that a movie lives up to what I expect of it and when my expectations are already low, it is kind of sad that said movie does nothing more than meet them.

So what is my beef with the movie?

The overall flow of the movie was choppy.

The story had very few highs and very very long lows.

The characters were piecemealed together but you can tell some of the actors tried hard to make this look good. (Trying being the operating word here)

The premise was interesting but the execution was flawed to say the least.

All and all, don't waste your money at the movies for this one. Wait for it on HBO or Showtime and Tivo that puppy. It will make a saturday afternoon go faster.

Review: TAKEN (2009)

I know this is a little bit late but I absolutely had to share my thoughts on TAKEN starring Liam Neeson and Maggie Grace.

If you like Jason Bourne, then picture this.

Jason Bourne is about 20 years now. His daughter that he loves more than anything in the world has just been kidnapped. Do you see it? Yes? No? If you are having some difficutly picturing this, then TAKEN is the movie to see because that is basically the premise of the movie. Hell that is how I would have pitched the movie.

I never thought of Liam Neeson as an action star but I was clearly wrong as he is amazing as the super spy dad kicking some ass and taking names.

Two things in my opinion make this movie awesome. The story and the director.

First, the story of Taken is clearly smarter and more thought out than usual. Luc Besson and Robert Kamen didn't put in the usual fluff you would expect in this kind of movie. There was a certain degree of authenticity that was just refreshing. I don't want to give anything away but the dinner scene with Liam and the couple says it all.

Second, the director Pierre Morel, the brilliant eye behind the visual entertaining phenomena District B13 really put the magic touch on this movie as well. The action sequences are less about special effects than they are about crazy physical stunts and bone crushing fights.

All and all, a must see.