I recently saw the movie Vacancy. I rate this movie 4.5 out of 5!
My short review: Scary, exciting, some funny parts. I liked it because it seemed like something that could happen in real life and the reactions from the cast were that of a real life situation.
Here’s the description from Yahoo Movies
When David (Luke Wilson) and Amy Fox’s (Kate Beckinsale) car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, they are forced to spend the night at the only motel around, with only the TV to entertain them… until they discover that the low-budget slasher movies they’re watching were all filmed in the very room they’re sitting in. With hidden cameras now aimed at them… trapping them in rooms, crawlspaces,..
IMDB Info
Official Site
The Plot
As a baby, orphan ‘Buddy’ ends up in Santas bag one Christmas Eve. Once he’s discovered at the North Pole he’s accepted into the elven land as one of their own. The only problem is he’s human and soon out weighs all the elves. He finally discovers that his real father is out there in a land called New York City so Buddy decides to go on an adventure to find his real dad.
I thought the movie was pretty funny for the holidays. Buddy is a nice cheerful elf and does not fit in with the other NYC people very well, but he does make friends through out his journey. Sometimes the humor was dry, but most of the time I found it funny. Many jokes were directed towards adults, but there was some good kid humor as well. It’s a movie the entire family can enjoy. I’ll definately be watching it once yearly around the holiday season.
Things I Learned From This Movie
- candy is good for any meal
- people in New York City can be pretty rude
- Santa is a little unorganized
- an elf would be an awesome friend
My Rating: 4 out of 5
Final Thoughts
Definately a movie to own that’s good for the whole family. Rent it for the holiday season.
Movie Details
Elf (2003)
Starring: Katie Asner, Jon Favreau, Kyle Gass, Will Ferrell, Edward Asner
Directed by: Jon Favreau
Links
Official Site
What’s goin’ on!
A lof of people claim tha this movie sucks, but maybe they weren’t in a relationship. The movie had some good points that made you think about your marriage and go “yeah! that’s happened to me[us] at times!” Ben (Bruce Willis) and Katie Jordan (Michelle Pfeiffer) separate for the summer to independently evaluate their 15-year marriage. While doinig this they keep it from their kids and their friends until they’ve decided on the fate of their relationship. Luckily for them the kids are sent off to summer camp. While seperated they look at how they’ve each changed and the strengths and weakness of their marriage on their own, together, and with friends. After looking to friends for guidence they come to realize that they have to ultimately decide themselves on what they want to do. Marriage counselling was tried, they try to live life alone, and also to work it out with eachother. Nothing seems to work becuase there is tension between each other or one person is having a bad day when they give ‘us’ another try.
The movie is played out well, but a lot of important things are shortened in the movie making it lack that real life feeling. Even so, it gives a little insight into somebody else’s life with relationship problems. They have children and I’m glad to see that they weren’t thinking “Oh what about the kids! Oh no!” becuase they really need to focus on eachother for this to work.
Things I Learned From This Movie
- Men can cry
- Love is lust in disguise. Lust fades, love is life long friendship and companionship
- It takes two people to make a relationship work
- A divorce isn’t final until the papers are signed, even if another house is purchased
- You can still be friends even if the marriage isn’t working
- Chow Fun’s has great food!
Continue reading ‘The Story of Us Movie Review (1999)’
The Plot
This is a story about two marines who are assigned to protect two Navajo indians during combat, The Navajos are code talkers that use their native language to talk code during transmission to the other marine code talkers. John Woo is known for the special effects in his movie and the battle scenes are great. Things blow up, gun fire zinging by, people running and dying and vehicles exploding, this made it feel like I was right there in the battle. The acting was great but the movie seemed to be all about the battle within Enders (Nicholas Cage) and the decisions he’s made in the past. There’s also a very weak love scene between Enders and a nurse. It was fine in the beginning but it carried on throughout the movie and made little sense to why it continued. I thought the movie was supposed to be about the Navajo code talkers and since that wasn’t the focus of the movie I’m giving it a 3 out of 5.
Things I Learned From This Movie
- Navajo Indians were code talkers during WWII
- When a person gets really upset they become INVINCIBLE!
- A hero is a person who lives longer
- In a war you go back to save a friend, you’ll die
- if you don’t go back and save your friend, you’re a coward
- Mines are a terrible thing to waste (haha, get it?)
My Rating: 3 out of 5
Final Thoughts
This is a good movie to rent. Surround sound will make you feel like part of the action. I have seen this once and will probably not see it again.
Movie Details
Windtalkers (2002)
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Adam Beach, Christian Slater
Directed by John Woo
Links
Windtalkers Site
The Plot
Gore almighty! The movie is based in the future (2001) where the prison system is ran differently. Riki has been sent to prison for taking out a drug lord that was responsible for the death of his girlfriend. Once he gets to jail he finds out that everybody is out to get kill him. Why? I’m not 100% sure but I think it’s to prove how tough prison system is. The prison has corrupt guards and the prison is ran with a chain of command where one inmate in each of the four main cells is the leader under the control of the warden who doesn’t appear until the end of the film. While the warden is gone his 2nd in command tries to act harsh and not only is he missing an eyeball, he uses his fake eye as a breath mint holder. After a lot of deaths Riki comes to find out the truth about who really runs the drug ring responsible for his lovers death and oh no Riki can’t have that so he goes on a rampage to avenge her death. All throughout the movie there’s a lot of kung-fu action and a lot of gore. I was impressed with the creativity, the bloodshed, and the martial arts. One of my favorite scenes is when Riki is fighting the tough cell leader, gets his forearm sliced, and Riki shows how much of a bad ass he is by grabbing his tendons - one with his hand - one with his teeth. He ties them together and BAM he’s ready to kick some more butt.
Things I Learned From This Movie
- with enough force you can punch through walls and people
- prisoners get about 10 minutes to shower OR go to the bathroom OR wash their clothes
- even though ‘Riki’ is kind of a kids name, Riki-Oh is one tough guy. It’s proven when he is buried alive.
- if you’re beat in a match you can still have the last laugh by disemboweling yourself and choking your opponent with your guts
- nails to the head and eyes won’t kill you
- prison gauds are corrupt
- you can be buried alive for 7 days with only air, and when you’re unburied you can immediately beat the crap out of everybody.
Continue reading ‘Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky Movie Review (1991)’
The Plot
David Gale is a professor at a Texas college. He’s also an anti-death penalty activst who ends up on death row for the murder of his friend/collegue. A lot of things happen to David Gale when he’s at the top of his game. He’s accused of rape, gets divorced, loses touch with his family, and he ends up on death row. He and his collegue love political debates, they love to fight against the death penalty, but when Gale has no where to go and ends up in jail the only thing left for him to do is claim he’s innocent. Unfortunately there’s no proof of his innocense and there’s where a sexy journalist is on the job! What will she uncover if anything? You have to see this movie to find out.
Things I Learned From This Movie
- girls are evil
- scary things happen during rainy nights
- journalists are better than cops
- alcoholism can lead to frequent black outs
- your word isn’t good enough, you need proof
My Rating: 5 out of 5
Final Thoughts
This is a good movie that makes you think. You should own this DVD.
Movie Details
The Life of David Gale
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Kate Winslet, See more
Director: Alan Parker
Rated: R Not for sale to persons under age 18.
DVD Release Date: December 28, 2004
Links
The Life of David Gale
The Plot
Here’s my short take on the movie… There’s a guy with a wife and teenage daughter. He’s an old hostage negotiator turned desk-bound police chief in a suburb and his family relationship is on the rocks. The suburbs are safe and not much crime happens. That is until three mischievous teenagers decide to follow a rich (and corrupt) accountant to their home way up in the hills. The kids take the family hostage but they didn’t know the accountant had to make an information drop for some rich evil guys. These bad guys see the chief on TV so they take HIS family hostage and forces the chef to either rescue the rich family or recover a disk for them. The movie was tense with some drama and the past catching up to the chief and there was some good action scenes and sup rises. A lot of the movie was predictable but I wasn’t expecting it to end the way it did.
Things I Learned From This Movie
- wealth always comes at a price
- going from an action packed negotiator to a police chef in a boring suburb will make you sad
- tell a little kid that he’s an action star in a video game and he’ll get a little too much into the role
- never do criminal activities with a strange guy you met two weeks ago
- everybody drives an SUV in the burbs, including the police
- having your wife and kid kidnapped and held at gun point will fix your ‘on the rocks’ problems and make you a tighter group
- when somebody says “wait in the car” it never happens
- Tuesday is usually low crime Tuesday
- during a hostage situation that lasts hours, nobody ever needs to drink or eat anything
- teenagers aren’t very good kidnappers
My Rating: 3 out of 5
Final Thoughts
It’s a renter for a Sunday afternoon.
Movie Details
Hostage (2005)
Cast: Bruce Willis, Kevin Pollak, Jonathan Tucker, Ben Foster, Jimmy Bennett, Michelle Horn, Marshall Allman, Serena Scott Thomas, Rumer Willis
Director: Florent Emilio Siri
MPAA Rating: R For strong graphic violence, language and some drug use
Links
http://www.miramax.com/hostage/
The Incredibles
MPAA Rating: R
Starring: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Samuel Jackson, and some other people
Director: Brad Bird
My Rating 5 out of 5
The Plot and my thought
The Incredibles are the award-winning Pixar team’s superhero family. It starts in a time where Superheros are sought after for their abilities to save the day, however some things happen that cause all Superheros to go into hiding. Bob Parr is forced into retirement and him and his super family try to blend in during their daily activities while living in suburbia. His Superhero wife is a stay at home mom now raising three kids while Bob works for an insurance company. The tough part is they miss the crime fighting days, and they all have talents they’re not allowed to use. That is… until Bob aka Mr. Incredible takes on a secret mission by an anonymous! Hilarity and mayhem ensue!
I enjoyed the movie from start to finish. It’s truely a flick that’s fun for the entire family.
Things I Learned From This Movie
- People will sue for just about anything
- If you can lift a train easily, a smaller rock statue can be heavy, what?
- The safety of the world has a monitary value
- There are only superheros in the USA
- Superheros can get fat and out of shape
- Don’t pick on nerds, they will come back and try to kill you
- There are no mexican superheros, just black and white.
Offical Site
The Incredibles
Things I Learned From This Movie