Movies

The Mist (2007)

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Summary

A freak storm unleashes a species of bloodthirsty creatures on a small town, where a small band of citizens hole up in a supermarket and fight for their lives.

-IMDB.com

Review

Yup, that summary just about covers the entire movie. That was technically what the entire movie was about. But it was absolutely terrifying. There was a lot of blood and it was extremely gruesome. It was R so it does fit its rating. This is definitely not a movie for people under the age of 15/16. Also if you are squeamish with blood don’t watch it, and the same with spiders. I hate spiders and I didn’t remember then in the book and there was a huge sections with spiders, and now I am even more scared. The blood in this movie was not terribly realistic but when you are captured in the movie it does not make a difference.

I had to watch this on a Macbook computer screen because I was so scared I would not be able to make it. I made it through the movie, but I think I am now regretting it. I dream about it now. I am fine reading it, but this movie was  just really creepy.

The ending was also really terribly sad. I cried and I was depressed a few days after the movie.

It does stay quite close to the book, but there are a few things which are different, like the ending and a few other moments.

There is no sex in this movie or romance of any sort. But there is a lot of cursing. Many 4 letter words were used, but I may have been doing the same thing in their situation. It was really realistic.

It was a really well done movie and it was acted really well but do be careful.

Warning: Trailer does contain some frightening images for younger children. 

HAWAII FIVE-0 (2010-) (SEASON 1 AND 2)

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Hawaii Five-0

Hawaii Five-0 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Starring

Daniel Dae Kim – Chin Ho Kelly
Alex O’Loughlin – Steve McGarrett
Grace Park – Kono Kalakaua
Scott Caan – Danny ‘Danno’ Williams
Masi Oka – Dr. Max Bergman
Taylor Wily – Kamekona

Review

With all of the action, romance, ‘bro-mance’, comedy, amazing actors,and great shots, you just cannot like this show, you have to LOVE it. Hawaii Five-0, based off the 1968 Hawaii Five-O, is the new tv detective drama. It has everything which a tv show must have now a days to stay afloat. But the added bonus is that it is set in Hawaii (thus the title) and the luscious shots of the Hawaiian islands really add to the effect.

After a commercial segment, it will usually start with the camera panning over the island, showing people surfing, or just showing different parts of he island and since it is filmed in HD, you really feel like you are there. The shots are amazing and each episode you don’t know what to expect. Some times they will be by the water, other times they will be in the grassy jungle, and other time they will be in the city or the small towns. There is a lot of variety as to where each episode is shot.

I find that the acting is really great in this show. The fight scenes are realistic (many hours of training), the deaths are realistic and the actors really portray how they feel when certain things happen. They also have a great cast of characters all of whom, in my opinion, work together really well and act like a team. You sometimes see tv shows where the cast doesn’t seem to blend, but this show, they are really close, on and off the set (or so I can tell from the interviews with the cast).

I really like how they have Grace Park as part of the team. It is nice to see a woman there kicking some real butt. She knows how to fire a gun, is good with computers, is smart, and knows how to be part of the team and really is good at dealing with people when they go bad🙂. When time comes, she can really throw a punch or negotiate and stall time to save those around her.

Alex O’Loughlin plays Steve McGarrett who is a naval intelligence officer. He has a strong will and will stop at nothing to get the killer of his father and solve the mysteries surrounding his mother and fathers death. He has an unethical way of dealing with people by hanging them off a building, or throwing them into a shark cage. They may not be by the book, but it does have an effect and it gets the answers which are needed. This then pools over to Danny.

Danny, or Danno as his daughter likes to call him, is played by Scott Caan. Danny is the go by the books person but after a while Steves methods start rubbing off on him. He decides to tie a guy to the front of the car and go for a ‘little’ drive. This then sparks a conversation of how Danny would not let Steve do anything like that. Thus this new type of relationship kind of begins. Danny has a daughter Grace and wants to do everything to protect her but wants to be able to go and see her and stay alive. He is divorced but still has a amiable relationship with his ex, Rachel.

Daniel Dae Kim plays Chin Ho Kelly. Chin had some issues with the police that he had taken some money, which he claimed he had not. Even though he had some rough patches he was always trusted by the team and did everything which he could to help out and protect his cousin Kono.

There are many threads through this tv show. Some are about Chin and Kono and their family, some of it is about Danny and his family issues, but it all started with Steve and his father, the mystery and the name ‘Shelburn’ runs through most of the tv show.

The team is like a small family and they protect each other every step of the way.

The story line is really interesting and each season ends with a question or with a huge cliff hanger. Season 2, which just finished, ended with a HUGE cliff hanger and I am flipping out as one of the characters life is in jeopardy.

So go out to your local library and get season one and we have to wait for Season 2 to come out on DVD in September and Season 3 will begin on tv then as well.

This really is an amazing show and a definite watch.

Enjoy.

Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)

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Starring

Kristen Stewart – Snow White
Chris Hemsworth – The Huntsman
Charlize Theron – Ravenna
Sam Clafin – William

Summary

Definitely not your average retelling of the classic Snow White fairy tale, Snow White and the Huntsman is a dark, action-fantasy film that’s based more on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale than the well-known Disney version of the story. It features intriguing concepts, impressive special effects, and some disappointingly lackluster acting. The essence of the “Snow White” story is preserved in this recounting: the queen’s beautiful daughter Snow White, who is heir to the throne, is displaced and persecuted by an evil stepmother after her mother dies. Here, the evil stepmother Ravenna possesses a disturbing power to maintain her own perpetual youth by stealing youthfulness from the hearts of the young and beautiful, but her magic mirror warns that Snow White’s innocence and purity as she comes of age will destroy Ravenna’s chance at immortality. When Snow White escapes from the castle prison, Ravenna hires a downtrodden Huntsman to bring her back so that Ravenna can steal her youth and achieve personal immortality. But Snow White runs into a dark and sinister forest where mushrooms disperse hallucinogenic spores, trees come to life, flocks of bats spring from inanimate objects, and dwarves lurk in the shadows. The roles of the seven dwarves and the Huntsman in this version of the story prove to be quite different from the original, but what remain steadfast are Snow White’s inner strength and absolute goodness, and her stepmother’s innate evilness. This film is full of fascinating imagery that’s brought to life through powerful special effects, great costuming, and captivating cinematography–the scenes in the dark forest and the fairy-filled wilderness beyond are reason enough to see it. Unfortunately, the story moves a bit slowly and the acting by Kristen Stewart (Snow White) and Chris Hemsworth (Huntsman) is rather stoical and passionless and lacks chemistry, though Charlize Theron does stand out as a particularly disturbing Ravenna.

-From Amazon.com by Tami Horiuchi

Review

Well, if you want the classic story of Snow White, this really is not it. But if you want the plot of Snow White with a little bit of Hollywood mixed in, then this is the movie for you.

It follows Snow White’s story with a bit of extra, umph, put into it.

I thought Kristen was a very good actor to put as Snow White. She played the part quite well and I was impressed as I feel that this character fit her well. I thought she was going to be too, Kristen Stewart, and she did have a few of those moments, but otherwise she was really good.  Chris was a good part as the Huntsman as he was this big, burly guy, who was a little unsure. He acted the part of the Huntsman really well. They also let him keep his natural accent which was really great. Charlize I also thought played her role well. I had never heard of her and when I first saw her in the first scene she was in, I was skeptical that it would work. She is an extremely beautiful actress and I just felt it was not going to work at all. But when the time came for her to be evil, she was really good. She has one of those types of faces that can be extremely gentle and the next can make you cower with fear.

The CGI’s were also really good. My favorite part of the entire movie was in the Sanctuary. The colors were vibrant and it was just so beautiful. I thought that that was the best but you have to see it to see for yourselves.

The movie did have many good moments with the acting and the CGI’s, but it also did have some bad moments. The ending was really weak in my opinion. It was building and building and building, and then it just, bang, it was terrible. I also thought that there was going to be more romance between Snow White and the Huntsman but nothing really ever happened. There was also so many un-answered questions so hopefully there will be a sequel as there could be a follow-up movie to answer some questions and show the love between Snow White and the Huntsman.

I also disliked how they gave Kristen Stewart a fake British accent. She kept slipping in and out of it and I feel that that was a bad idea on the directors part.

Overall I believe that this is a good movie to see. Maybe not worth buying, but something to go and see once or twice at the movie theater or borrowing it from your local library.

Hope that you enjoy.

The Avengers (2012)

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Starring

Rober Downey Jr – Iron Man/ Tony Stark
Chris Evans – Steve Rogers/ Captain America
Mark Ruffalo – Bruce Banner/ The Hulk
Chris Hemsworth – Thor
Scarlett Johansson – Natasha Romanoff/ Black Widow
Jeremy Renner – Clint Barton/ Hawkeye
Tom Hiddleston – Loki

Summary

Blasphemy? Perhaps. But the best thing about what may be the most rousing and well-crafted superhero movie since The Dark Knight is not the boffo action scenes that culminate in a New York City-destroying finale that rivals Michael Bay’s obliteration of the Chicago skyline in Transformers: Dark of the Moon. No, the real appeal of The Avengers comes from the quiet moments among a group of decidedly unquiet humans, extra-humans, mutants, and demigods. In no particular order those are Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), S.H.I.E.L.D. world-government commander Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), and indispensable functionary Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg). That’s a superstar lineup both in and out of character, and The Avengersbrilliantly integrates the cast of ensemble egos into a story that snaps and crackles–not to mention smashes, trashes, and destroys–at breakneck pace, never sacrificing visual dazzle or hard-earned story dynamics. Writer-director Joss Whedon is no slouch when it comes to being a comic geek and he handles the heavy duty reins with efficient panache. The effects are of course spectacular. They include a monstrous flying aircraft carrier that is home base to S.H.I.E.L.D. and Nick Fury’s Avenger Initiative; Tony Stark’s gleaming skyscraper in midtown Manhattan; off-world scenes of malignant evil; as well as blindingly apocalyptic fights and the above-mentioned showdown that leaves New York a virtual ruin. Yet it’s the deeply personal conversations and confrontations among the very reluctant team of Avengers that makes the movie pop. Full of humor, snappy dialogue, and little asides that include inside jokes, eye rolls, and personal grudge matches, the script makes these superhumans real beings with sincere passion or feelings of disillusionment. The conviction of the actors as they fully commit to their clever lines gives credibility to what comes off as more than simple banter, even during the more incredible moments among them (of which are many). The plot involves the appearance of Loki, disgraced villain and brother of Thor, who was also a key player in his eponymous movie. Loki has come to Earth to retrieve the Tesseract, a blue-glowing energy cube that is valuable beyond compare to forces good and evil throughout the universe. As Loki, Tom Hiddleston is supremely, yea gloriously appealing as the brilliantly wicked regal charmer who captures minds from S.H.I.E.L.D. and attempts to conquer Earth with the hideous army at his command. To say he is foiled is an understatement. His face-off with the Hulk is one of the giddiest moments in a movie filled with lightheaded mayhem, and is a perfect example of Whedon’s throwaway approach to translating the mythic mystique of the Marvel comics universe. Though at times deadly serious (as deadly serious as an outrageous superhero destructo/fight-fest movie can be, that is), The Avengers is best when it lightens up and lets the fun fly alongside the powerhouse punches. By the way, a single blink-and-you’ll-miss-it powerhouse punch is another moment that makes Hulk the most loveable underdog of a smashing green rage monster ever. That spirit of fun and pure adventure makes The Avengers the greatest kind of escapist Hollywood fantasy $250 million can buy. A blockbuster in the most literal sense.

– From Amazon.com by Ted Fry

Review

I was excited for this movie was soon as it was announced as I had just finished the movie Thor and I was ready to find out what happened next. So I was so pumped for this movie (also because I love Chris Hemsworth) and could not wait for it to come out. So I decided to go on opening weekend. I was lucky to get the movie showing which I wanted to go to as the movie theatre was beyond full. There was almost standing room only.

But the lights dimmed, the final trailers ended, and the beginning of the movie started. I was beyond excited.

Then the movie started. From the beginning until the end there was nothing but action. But not blood or anything like that – it was all comic violence. But it was extremely exciting.

The Marvel character’s in this movie were Hawkeye, Black Widow, Iron Man, The Hulk, Thor, and Loki. I have to say, the actors which they got to play each character were incredibly believable to be able to be these super heroes.  The movie overall did an amazing job portraying these Super Hero’s and them saving the world from evil 🙂

I was also extremely impressed with the graphics in this. As you can tell from all of the trailers, there was a lot of city destruction and it was all computer graphics (obviously.) Also an interesting fact was the fly over of the military planes which you see were actually computer generated as the government would not do a military fly over as they did not support the idea of S.H.I.E.L.D and its role in the movie. The government has done flyovers in many movies like Transformers, and upcoming Battleship (which I am also excited for), but they said no to this one (phooey 🙂 ). But don’t worry, with the amazing technology which we have now, it did not affect the movie one bit.

The story line was definitely entertaining. It would definitely help though if the viewer has previously seen Thor as it explains what is happening, and Captain America. I had only seen Thor but it was still understandable. It was just that they made some references to the other movies so it would have been good to see the other ones too.

You walk into this movie thinking that all it was, was going to be action. But actually there was a lot of humor in it. I was laughing so much watching this movie as it did have some funny parts, well actually hilarious parts.

So overall this was a very impressive movie, acting and graphics wise. It tied all of the Marvel characters together and I believe that this is going to be one of the biggest movies of all time – if it is not already. On the rate it is going, it probably will or has already passed Titanic (sorry James.)

So I really hope that you all enjoy this movie. Tell me what you thought of it and what you disliked. I personally could not find anything bad about this movie, and it may be my all time favorite movie right now.

Hope that you love it as much as I did.

For some reason none of the trailers will actually work with this post. But I am sure that you can google it and find some good ones.

 

Cowboys and Aliens (2011)

 in Interesting / Movies by

Starring
Daniel Craig – Jake Lonergan
Harrison Ford – Woodrow Dolarhyde
Olivia Wilde – Ella Swenson

Summary

“The Old West.. where a lone cowboy leads an uprising against a terror from beyond our world. 1873. Arizona Territory. A stranger with no memory of his past stumbles into the hard desert town of Absolution. The only hint to his history is a mysterious shackle that encircles one wrist. What he discovers is that the people of Absolution don’t welcome strangers, and nobody makes a move on its streets unless ordered to do so by the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde (Ford). It’s a town that lives in fear. But Absolution is about to experience fear it can scarcely comprehend as the desolate city is attacked by marauders from the sky. Screaming down with breathtaking velocity and blinding lights to abduct the helpless one by one, these monsters challenge everything the residents have ever known. Now, the stranger they rejected is their only hope for salvation. As this gunslinger slowly starts to remember who he is and where he’s been, he realizes he holds a secret that could give the town a fighting chance against the alien force. With the help of the elusive traveler Ella (Olivia Wilde), he pulls together a posse comprised of former opponents-townsfolk, Dolarhyde and his boys, outlaws and Apache warriors-all in danger of annihilation. United against a common enemy, they will prepare for an epic showdown for survival.”

– Amazon.com

Review

This was quite a strange movie. It was a mix of Transformers, G.I. Joe, John Wayne Westerns, Indiana Jones, and many other movies put together. If you just mash up some of your favorite sci-fi, action, romance movies, then you get Cowboys and Aliens. Don’t get me wrong, it was done very well and the settings were great, and the way they created the story line was very creative, but it was quite predictable. There were a few parts which made you jump and there were a few parts which you did not expect, but most of it was something you have probably seen in some other movie.

The acting in the movie was really good and what added to it was the fact that they had great actors. Anything which has Harrison Ford and/or Daniel Craig in it is going to be great.

I definitely would recommend this movie but it is for a more mature audience. I would say ok for 15 or 16 year old. No one under that age should see it because there is some bad language, shooting, creepy aliens, and some sensuality. Otherwise this was a very good movie. I would give it 4 out of 5 stars.

But what do you think?