The Hangover

Twists and turns makes this movie a sure-fire hit.

The Hangover is the kind of movie you watch when you feel like you want to know what can happen in one night, all the consequences and joys, all the love and hate, just anything that can happen all in one night. The Hangover, featuring Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and Zach G., is a funny take on what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

Strangely enough, this comedy is actually pretty mature at times, not influenced by pointless cursing or sex scenes like most teenage comedy garbage. It’s a far better fim, more polished, and more work definetely went into it. The screenplay and plot is what shines the most in the film, including a beautiful cast with great acting from everyone. At times, especially the first 30 minutes, the movie was quite dull and really not funny, and those times are where the film can be frowned upon.

But in all reality, no one can watch this film and honestly say they didn’t have a good laugh druing or after the film.

Although it’s no masterpiece, it’s not a pile of trash or anything but those means either. It’s just an overall positive film with some shortcomings that could have been more costly than they actually were. If your a lover of comedy films, or just a lover of films in general, due yourself a favor and at least rent this movie, becuase I guarentee you’ll have a good laugh later.
Scores:

• Sound: 7/10
• Acting: 10/10
• Action: 8/10
• Story: 10/10
• Humor: 9/10
• Visuals: 7/10
• Unique Taste: 6/10
• Tilt: 8/10
• Lasting Appeal: 8/10

Overall Score:   73/90     81%  (Good)

The Twilight Saga: New Moon

The teen sensation New Moon  get’s a massive step down from it’s first outing Twilight, as the love tween-love posed starts Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson go at it again. Let’s start from the very beginning on the film.

The film begins with Bella (Stewart) and Edward (Pattinson) go to Bella’s eighteenth birthday party, held at Edwards “mansion”, with all his bloodsucker family members there. What they didn’t expect to happen was Bella’s cutting herself accidentally with paper and thus bleeding, setting off an alarm in one of the vampire’s minds, making them want to attack. The First thing I didn’t like about this movie was how less photogenic it appears to be when compared to the first film. A lot of the nice lighting ffects and shady gloom was taken out of this film, maybe to give it a more up-lifitng feel? Well, this doesn’t work. The film’s plot was meant to be dark and gloomy, but I think the actors and directors tried their best to divert from such a gloomy persona, and that was their first of many mistakes.

Another aspect of the film that went wrong was the acting. Of couse, Stewart and Pattinson put on a remarkable performance, but putting them aside leaves the film with a bittersweet cast that just barely proves to be satisfying enough. One of the most famous actors, and one that many critics expected to be very promising, was Taylor Lautner himself, and hey, he even got his own spot on the poster! Great! So that means he’s a new “major” character right? Yes! That means he’s a good actor, right? No. Sadly enough, Taylor Lautner puts on a mediocre performance that falls short of OK. He seems like the kind of actor that should just stick to television performances or maybe even being recruited to Disney Channel (becuase we all know Miley Cyrus is such a good actress right?).  The rest of cast leaves more to be said, but I want this review to be as short as possible.

Overall, I’m going to sum up more of the film. The plot is derived from a good book, and the plot is good as well, but the variations from the book cannot be avoided, and although sometimes for the better, there are just some things you can’t leave out. The acting could have been loads better, but at the same time, Stewart and Pattinson save the film with their graceful performances…but with such little chemistry together in the film, you can’t help but realize that without enough Cullen, the movie series is going down the drain, and this movie had nowhere near enough Cullen. The mood of the film leaves more to be desired, with a movie that tries too hard not be gloomy.  Overall, the movie really was a disappointment, it could have been loads better, but at the same time, it couldn’t have been any worse. This movie is for die-hard fans, I mean, DIE-HARD ONLY. If you didn’t read the book, or if your not a regular Twilight/New Moon fanatic, I suggest not seeing this movie.

• Sound: 5/10
• Acting: 3/10
• Action: 4.5/10
• Story: 6/10
• Humor: 4/10
• Visuals: 3/10
• Unique Taste: 3/10
• Tilt: 2/10
• Lasting Appeal: 7/10

Overall Score:     37.5/90    =    41%  (Bad)

Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince

                             

It’s been too long since I wrote a review.

Harry Potter has always had a record of being one of the most famous, fan obsessed, and critically acclaimed Film Franchises of all time, and this new installment into the Harry Potter Universe, Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince, is not a failure, not at the slightest. In fact, I would go as far as to say that this is one the best movie of the whole series, and let me tell you why.

Harry Potter movies have been known for having stunning special effects that leave you in awe after every scene. There are crazy things in the world of Harry Potter, and I don’t imagine it to be very easy to render and create special effects for these films, and it totally evident that a lot of effort went into not only the acting, special effects, and story, but everything in between as well. The special effects in this movie are the best yet, with realistic renders that are just too awesome to even comprehend. And to think that there’s more to the movie than it’s special effects, the effects alone garners the movie a four-star rating in my book. but the acting is simply superb.

All old cast have been returned in this installment, not one actor was replaced, and that’s the way I like it. the actors did a splendid job of portraying they’re HP characters, it was a great show, really it was. Daniel Radcliffe did a splendid job as Harry, Emma Watson great at doing Hermoine, and Rupert Grint couldn’t have been bettwer as Ron. Another thing that I loved about this movie was it’s strong focus on the relationships found in the Harry Potter universe.

The movie is based soley on Harry and Dumbeldore trying to destroy the horcrux that Voldemort sealed a part of his soul into, but there are many different twists and turns in this movie that will just keep you glued to the screen the entire time. The relationships are humorous and pleasing to watch, at the best, but the movie really shined when the darker side of the film showed it’s gruesome face.

Althought there were many laughs on the way, this was darkest, and saddest movie from the whole entire series. The movie relies heavily on the corruption that Tom Riddle leaves behind at Hogwarts, and the dark secrets that he passed away. I’m not going to reveal too much in this review, but the movie can’t get any darker than what it has already achieved. Of course, manny say that it is the lighting, and that’s definetely a contributor, but the movie has a dark plotline that can really get to you, and it also brings back horrible memories from Albus, Harry, and the newly added character, Slughorn. All these memories have a vast effect on the turning poin of the story, and if you haven’t already read the book, I suggest you don’t read it before the movie. the movie is vastly different from the book, and very the same at the same time. It contains a multitude of references from the book, more than any movie has shown, but at the same time, it is it’s own movie in itself, rather than an adaption if you ask me, which in this case is very good.

If you have alread read the book, then you already know about the gruesome ending. Although that it wasn’t the happiest moment in the Harry Potter series, I think that the movie portrayed the moment beautifully without any flaws at all. The production values for this moviem although not suprising, were wxtremely high. Too much effort was put into this movie, I can’t believe they finished it in time, but I’m glad that they did. There was one part, though, that they left out. A huge part. So huge, that it wasprobably my only real letdown for the movie, and I can’t beleive that they had the audacity to not include it.

Overall, the movie was simply wonderful. There were many laughs on the way, but the delightfully dark mood of the movie captures the book’s mood very well. It doesn’t matter if your a fan of Harry Potteror not. If you love great movies, your going to adore this one. It was simply spectactular. Except for that one part that was missing, the movie was just amazing. A legend to behold.

• Sound: 9/10
• Acting: 9/10
• Action: 10/10
• Story: 10/10
• Humor: 9.5/10
• Visuals: 10/10
• Unique Taste: 9/10
• Tilt: 8.5/10
• Lasting Appeal: 10/10

Overall Score: 85/90  =  94% (Outstanding)