Joe’s Review: Bolt (in 3-D)

For those of you who haven’t had a chance to check out Bolt yet, I highly recommend you do.  If you have the chance to see it in Disney Digital 3-D, go out there and check it out for sure.  Bolt has to be one of the better movies that I’ve seen this holiday season.  While the numbers have not favored the film at the box office (its sitting at 66.9 M as I write this) those do not do the film justice.  This might have something to do with the bias towards Pixar films when it comes to CG movies, but don’t let that deter you.

Bolt is the story of a dog who actually thinks he is a superhero.  He believes that his goal in life is to defend his person, Penny (Miley Cyrus), and will do anything for her.  To help him believe this, the producers of the show have immersed Bolt in this lifestyle, making him believe he actually has super powers and is a hero.  Penny truly loves Bolt, and wants only the best for him.  However, the show is suffering from falling ratings, and to try to draw people, they add a cliffhanger into their latest episode.  Unfortunately for Bolt, he really believes that Penny is still in danger, and breaks out in order to try to rescue her.

During his search, Bolt ends up in a packing box and is shipped across the country unknowingly.  On his journey  back to rescue Penny, he befriends a few other creatures: Mittens, a declawed and abandoned housecat living in New York, and Rhino, a hamster who wants nothing more than to help his hero, Bolt, on his journey.  Throughout their adventure, Bolt discovers the truth behind who he really is, and faces many obstacles in getting back to his person, Penny.

To find out more, check out the movie!  I’d like to comment on the 3-D part, because I saw it.  It’s pretty traditional in that you need to use glasses in order to see the 3-D, but it was done very well.  There are objects flying out at you, and it really does immerse you in the action quite a bit.  What was even better is that there were trailers in 3-D, which were excellent.  I know that watching a movie in 3-D costs more, but if it’s available, as I said before, you should definitely check it out.  It really gives a new perspective on how you can watch movies, and makes you see what theatres can still offer that you can’t get at home.  The experience is worth the extra cost.

Bolt is a great family movie, and I enjoyed the characters of Bolt and Rhino tremendously.  John Travolta does an excellent job, and Miley wasn’t even that annoying (even though I can’t stand her voice).  Disney did an incredible job on animation, they might actually be catching up to Pixar!  The only thing this movie could have used was a short beforehand, but I’m not going to complain.  I haven’t genuinely laughed this hard during a movie for a while.. and it was one that the girl and I actually enjoyed together!

Rating:

- This is not a film to miss.  See it in 3-D!

If this stirring review doesn’t inspire you… maybe this clip will!

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Joe’s Review: Saw V

Yep, I saw this movie a couple weeks ago and am just now getting to review it.  I admit that I am not usually a fan of horror movies, but I have enjoyed the Saw films that I’ve seen.  I still cringe when I think of some of the traps, as the movies have just gotten bloodier and bloodier, but I appreciate the fact that Saw is not your typical slasher film.  As a guest said this weekend after seeing it: “I like that it makes you think.  It’s not a regular halloween movie.”

The latest incarnation of Saw takes a look at the history behind Jigsaw, and how all the people who have helped him with hs traps have come together.  It starts with a Jigsaw like trap, where a man is bound in a room.  Jigsaw’s tape begins to play, letting us know that this trapped man is responsible for taking a life, but got out of jail on a technicality.  Now, this man is forced to crush his own hands, which he used to take a life, in order to save his own.  If he does not, then he will be sliced in two by the blade that is swinging on top of him.  He proceeds to crush his hands, but the blade does not stop, and he is sliced in two.  Before he dies, he takes a look to his right, and sees someone watching him…..

The story then shifts back to the events of the second and third film.  We see Detective Hoffman enter the room where Jigsaw died, and shoots Jeff Reinhart in self defense.  There is a tape waiting for him, which tells him that his curiousity will be the end of him, that he should find solace in the room where he is now trapped.  Not one to listen to Jigsaw, Hoffman finds his way out of the room, but is attacked by a man in a pig mask.  When he awakens, he finds himself trapped with a glass box over his head, which begins to fill with water….

And that all happens within the first 20 minutes.  It’s definitely a thinking movie, and if you’re kind of turned off by that, there is a back story with plenty of traps and Jigsaw puzzles that the people who are trapped must solve.  The movie also follows Hoffman as he tries to figure out who is taking over for Jigsaw.

Personally, I enjoyed this movie.  Like the guest said, it really did make you think, and it had all the traps to go with it as well.  Seeing as its the 5th movie in the series, I wasn’t expecting too much, and so I wasn’t disappointed.  The pace of the movie was good, and the traps remind you of why the movie is called Saw.  After you read this review, it’s likely that your local theatre won’t have this film anymore, but if you have a chance and you want to see a bloody interesting film, go check it out!  They’ve already been greenlighted for 6 and 7 as well, so we can expect more to come next Halloween!

Like the tag line says: You Won’t Believe How it Ends!

Rating:

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Joe’s Review: Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist

Finally!  The guy who runs a movie blog manages to make it out and see a movie.  This past weekend, I headed out (after a very early morning), to go check out Nick and Norah’s infinite Playlist.  I have to admit, this was the movie I really wanted to see last weekend, so I was very happy I actually did!  What really drew me to want to see it so bad was the “b-day” scene. lol.

The Infinite Playlist stars Michael Cera as Nick, a high school student and member of a Queercore band called The Jerk Offs.  His girlfriend, Tris, recently broke up with him, and he’s having a lot of trouble dealing with it.  He makes up mix cds, sending them to her.  Tris, however, is not interested at all, and just throws them away whenever she gets them.  Norah, on the other hand, is a huge fan of the mixes… and usually grabs them to put on her iPod.

The basic plot of the movie is that Nick, Norah, Tris, and many of their friends are scouring the New York Club scene, hoping to catch one of their favorite bands, White Fluffy.  The problem is… they don’t know where White Fluffy will play, and have to rely on clues they find and messages on the radio to guide them.  Along the way, Nick and Norah find out a lot about each other, all the while trying to find Norah’s friend, who gets extremely drunk and runs away from the guys who are supposed to take her home.

I was very pleased after watching this movie.  I missed some parts (ugh!) because I got some phone calls and text messages while I was in the theatre, but overall, it was a humorous, enjoyable movie.  Nothing too serious in terms of a message or anything.  It was a movie for teens… but different in that it didn’t involve something going wrong at school.  I liked how the movie was really based around a lot of indie bands…I might have to check out the soundtrack to find out what some of these bands can do!

The acting was also very good.  I’ve always enjoyed Michael Cera’s characters.  He seems to play them all the same way, but makes each role his own.  Kat Dennings was pretty good as well.  I enjoyed her in this role.  She’s moved on a lot since being the daughter of the woman Steve Carell is trying to get with in The 40-Year Old Virgin!

I’d give Nick and Norah a 7.5 out of 10.  Check it out if you get a chance.  It disappointed at the box office, but it won’t disappoint you!

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Jenn’s Review: Swing Vote

Barack? McCain?

What if the future president of America rested squarely on one lone, individual vote? So is the question presented in Swing Vote, starring familiar names such as Kevin Costner, Kelsey Grammer, and George Lopez. The movie begins with the viewers looking into the daily life of Molly Johnson, a highly intelligent grade school girl living in the small town of Texaco, New Mexico, with her underachieving and lazy father, Bud. She cooks, she cleans, she even drives! On election day, Molly expresses the importance of the voting to Bud — which is no doubt a message to the movie patron as well, stating that it is the American civic duty. Bud replies with a smart aleck comeback, which gathered chuckles from the other four people in the movie theater.

Although promising his daughter he would vote, Bud screws up big time. After in-sourcing and many acts of laziness cause Bud to be laid off from his job at the Egg Factory, he decides that getting smashed would be the best way to retaliate. When Molly finds Bud unfit to vote, she decides to take matters into her own hands. However, while sneakily attempting to vote in Bud’s place, an error with the voting machine occurs, and Molly frantically rushes out to return to the smelly trailer in which she and Bud reside.

Life continues on as normal for Bud and Molly. The presidential election is at a standstill, being split completely down the middle. The error of the voting machine was discovered, and with the election riding on the sole county of Texaco, a confused Bud is given a chance to recast his ballot. Both presidential candidates scurry to win his vote, abandoning everything they stand for in the process. The rest of the movie conveys themes of family, humanity, and love all with a touch of humor involved. Who will Bud vote for? I can’t spoil that for you! Seriously!

I thought the movie was decent, although not amazing. Its humor and serious undertones will always leave you captivated. However, it was trying a bit hard — attempting to touch upon all the serious controversies in our modern society today with silly jokes in order to make the tone of the movie continuously light. It will definitely rejuvenate your spirit and have your patriotism at an all time high upon leaving the theater. I give it one thumb up and one thumb down… looks like my review needs a swing vote of its own!

Swing your butt on down to see Swing Vote!

pleasure blogging with you!
~Jenn

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Joe’s Review: The Dark Knight

I’m sure that you guys have read tons of reviews of The Dark Knight. Yes, I should have had mine up earlier, but I guess I’m not supposed to provide opinions on movies before they come out because of the privilege I have of seeing them before they come out. But back to the reviews. Do I agree with the majority of them? Let’s sum up what they mainly say:

• The Dark Knight is awesome.
• Heath Ledger did an incredible job as the Joker.
• This is the best movie of the summer so far.

Uhhh.. YEAH. Those words definitely sum up what I thought of The Dark Knight. Honestly, it was a really incredible movie, very well done. DC comics has a definite hit in this movie, and it made the numbers that Iron Man put up look like nothing. Yes, The Dark Knight has set record after record, and I really feel that it deserves it.

This film picks up where Batman Begins left off. Gotham City, once overrun by crime, is starting to get some sense of order. With the help of Batman, the Mayor, Lieutenant Gordon, and the new D.A. Harvey Dent, the war against crime has an end that everyone can see. The mob’s money is being tracked, Batman is bringing people to Justice, and Dent is putting them away for good. Everything seems to be working out just fine, until a crazy guy who just goes by “The Joker” begins starting his own havoc. He doesn’t even seem to have any goal, he just wants to cause crime.

In steps Batman. He’s never faced an enemy like the Joker before, and has to use all his resources, and bring himself to the edge of his own morals to decide what to do.

I really really don’t want to spoil this for anyone, so I’m sorry if the synopsis I have there is a little lacking. What I can say is.. this movie is definitely worth seeing. There’s going to be a lot of talk about who is the better Joker, which one will really make more money, and which Batman movie is the best, but I’m not going to go there right now. I will definitely encourage you to make the trip out to go see it. The dark vision that Christopher Nolan was going for really worked. What this new franchise is providing is a deeper look into “who is Batman?”

Not everyone will agree with me, but for a character actor, Christian Bale really does Batman well. I’ve enjoyed his performances in the past two films, and I do hope that he continues in the franchise. I’m also going to say that I think Heath Ledger had a wonderful performance, and is deserving of all the talk of a potential post-mortum Academy nomination. You may not agree with me on that point either, but I would like to hear why, because I think he did a fanatastic job. It was scary how good that performance was.

If you’ve seen the movie, what do you think?

Rating:

- Best movie of 2008 so far!

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Joe’s Review: The Hulk (2008)

For anyone who thinks that this movie even closely resembles the debacle that was the previous incarnation of The Hulk, I’m going to dispel that right now. The Incredible Hulk was quite decent. If I had to describe the movie in one word, I’d have to go with: LOUD. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a movie quite as loud as this… well maybe I have, but it was definitely way up there. Every roar, smash, and gunshot in the movie was deafening. Did that make the movie good? Read on!

Since he was first irradiated by gamma radiation and became The Hulk, Bruce Banner (A capable Edward Norton) has been declared an enemy of the United States Military. He was considered to have stolen military secrets, something the army wants back so they can use what happened to him as a weapon. However, Banner wants no part of this, and is doing his best to stay out of the whole situation. He has escaped to South America, doing odd jobs in a local bottling factory. In his spare time, he communicates with “Mr. Blue” under an alias to try to find a cure for his situation. Despite all of “Mr. Blue’s” help, their efforts are in vain. Everything they tried ends up failing.

However, after Dr. Banner sends a sample of his blood to “Mr. Blue”, a solution is found. Unfortunately for Banner, the US military is on to his location after a mishap with his blood ending up in an energy drink in the US. The US sends their best to trap Banner and bring him back, but they fail as The Hulk emerges. With Banner gone again, the military is left with just some traces, and a lot of questions as to what they have to face.

The story actually is more complicated than that, but you’ll have to see the movie to know what happens. I really enjoyed what they did with the story, and I personally think it works really well.

Now lets talk cast. Edward Norton as Bruce Banner/The Hulk really worked in my opinion. He really seemed to make the character his own, and in my personal opinion, was very much more believable as Bruce Banner than Eric Bana was. No offense to Eric, but I think Norton really just did it better. Now as for the heroine, I think Liv Tyler was adequate, but for some reason I kept seeing someone else in the role. I kept thinking Anne Hathaway… but that might be because they looked really similar in this movie. Also, the fact that I recently saw The Strangers made Liv Tyler a bit of strange choice. It’s a sharp contrast in the type of movie.

Overall, I’m going to say that I enjoyed The Hulk. Yes, Iron Man was a better movie, but nevertheless, the Hulk was enjoyable. I guess that does say that this prediction was wrong with the gross. The combination of action and development in the story worked for me. I’ll have to say that the volume (loudness) did detract from the movie for me, but that could be location specific so I’m not going to hold it against the film. I

Now that you have my ranking (below)… what did you think? Like or Hate it? Did you like the Green Man when he was angry?

‘m going to give it:

Rating:

- See it if you get a chance!

Click Here for SMASHING Hulk Gear!

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Joe’s Review: What Happens in Vegas

You are probably pretty familiar with this saying. If you’re familiar with that, then you’ll probably be familiar with the plot of the latest Cameron Diaz/Ashton Kutcher film. The quick, dirty review for What Happens in Vegas is exactly that: You’ll get what you expected. Don’t expect more, don’t expect any less. It’s not a winner , per se, but I’d say that you come out even on this.

What Happens in Vegas pairs together Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz as two complete opposites. One, Jack Fuller, is a playful, lazy, never gets it done type of guy. He can’t even cut it in his dad’s own company, and ends up getting fired. On the other hand, Diaz plays Joy McNally, an overachieving, don’t be spontaneous gal. Unfortunately for her, she is too over the top for her fiancee, and he ends up dumping her. These two, along with their best friends, decide that the best way to get over all that’s just happened to them is to pack up and head to Vegas!

After a mix-up at their hotel, the pair end up having a wild night, which ends up in the two of them being married. Realizing that this is probably a mistake, the two agree that they probably shouldn’t be married, and will get it annulled. Jack doesn’t exactly use the best words when describing how he sees it, and the two get into a huge argument at the casino. As they are about to both leave, Fuller uses a quarter that Joy gave him to play slots. He hits it big. $3 Million Big. All of a sudden, the two are competing for the money that each thinks is rightfully theirs. Taking it to court, they are sentenced to “be married” for 6 months, with the results of the marriage determining what happens to the money.

You can pretty much get the picture as to what happens next. Neither one of them like each other to start, and plan on making the other fail. Their friends try to help them get the other to break… and so on and so on. Try to guess what the ending is.

I have to say that there were some very likable characters in the cast. It DID have me laughing out loud at some points, and it wasn’t absolutely horrible. Predictable, as I mentioned, but not horrible. A positive for me was Rob Corddry, who I also really enjoyed in Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay. He’s been playing some really nice roles, roles that fit his character perfectly!

Overall, I’m not going to say that I’d recommend this movie to everyone. Like I said, it’s going to be exactly what you expect it to be, so keep that in mind if you’re headed out to see it. For my final rating, see below!

Rating:

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Joe’s Review: Iron Man

Wow. That’s one word to describe Iron Man, and it was the one word that was running through my mind after seeing the movie. To put it shortly, I thought it was an incredible film, and if you haven’t seen it, you should!

If you’ve been living under a rock, then you don’t know about Iron Man. Based on a comic, it’s about Tony Stark(played by a very capable Robert Downey Jr.), a genius, and owner of Stark Industries, the world’s premier weapons developer and manufacturer. Stark lives a high profile lifestyle, with many women, drinks, and generally having a lot of fun. He’s kept in check by his personal assistant, Pepper Potts (Gwenyth Paltrow), Obidaiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), and Jim Rhodes (Terrance Howard).

So what is our conflict? Well, Stark is somewhere in the Middle East, demonstrating his new Jericho missile to potential buyers. On his way back to the base, his convoy of Humvees gets attacked, and he is kidnapped by terrorists. After he regains consciousness, Stark discovers that he has been saved from deadly shrapnel, and is being held captive in order to assemble Jericho missles for the terrorists. Not interested in doing that, Stark instead works on his own project to escape, a suit of armor powered by a mini arc-reactor, a Stark creation.

After his return, he continues to work on further developing the suit of armor, as well as his arc reactor. However, after seeing the devastation that his weapons can cause, Stark decides that he will no longer create weapons that may end up in the hands of terrorists. Instead, he will use his technology to create a more peaceful world. Despite his efforts, Stark soon realizes that there are many against him in his crusade… and he must fight to achieve this goal…

No spoilers here, per usual, although if you’ve read the comic books, you already have a pretty decent idea of what is going to happen. As I’ve said before, I enjoyed this film very much. It had great special effects, a great lead actor, and was very true to the Iron Man story.

One thing I’ll disagree with some people on is the performance of Gwenyth Paltrow as Pepper Potts. I thought she was capable at the role, and I enjoyed her performance. It wasn’t Oscar-worthy or anything like that, but it was good. She played the role very well! There are some differences of opinion over at Random Ramblings of a Demented Doorknob. Of course, my opinion is the only one that matters, so…

Overall, I’d highly suggest that you see this. It definitely opened up the summer movie blockbuster season with a bang, and I’m hoping the rest of the season will deliver. We’ve got a ton of options, so lets get out there and see em! If you’ve seen Iron Man, what did you think? My final rating is below:

Rating:

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