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Showing posts from December, 2013

Walking with Dinosaurs (2013)

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My younger son wanted to see this, and he was counting the days to see this film, so we went and saw the film.  I wasn't expecting anything great, but I did want to see my youngest happy so off we went.  The thing is that I had read all the reviews saying that the film was weak and predictable.  I have two boys one older and one younger who also attended, and both enjoyed the film , but not as much as my youngest.  I like to see things through my boys eyes.  It gives me a different perspective, and I enjoyed the movie a bit more seeing it as my boys see it. Now that being said is this a good film?  It depends on who is the audience.  I feel the film is better suited to younger audience's then older ones, and that's not it's problem.  Some of the visuals in this film are really stunning.  The story is predictable, but the film has a moral, and for its younger audience its okay.  The moral is that we win by sticking together.  It also educates its audience with the n

Journey to Planet X (2012)

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I am always interested in movies about making movies.  Maybe it's because I want to see how others suffer for their art, or maybe it's just plain curiosity. But after watching ten minutes of " Journey to Planet X "  I got hooked. The film is about Eric Swain and Troy Bernier who are scientists by day and amateur filmmakers by night. In the film we see their work from the past and it is very amateur like, but the work has heart. It's Swain's and Bernier's can do attitude which is refreshing and inspiring.  In the film they are making a more ambitious short entitled "Planet X"and the documentary is all about how they do it.  All the good and the bad of filmmaking is seen in this making of film, and middle way through the film you find yourself rooting for these guys. The documentary goes through the whole process of our two hero's making their film from preproduction to post, and we get to see how the actual film develops.  Both Eric and

An Affair of the Heart (2012)

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Rick Springfield is a unique musician.  In this documentary we are shown Rick Springfield and his fans.  The problem with the documentary is that I enjoyed seeing Rick Springfield perform, and even listening to his devoted fans, but the film doesn't know what it wants to be.  A fandom film explaining why his fans love him, and go out of there way and see him, or that of the artist himself. I really took away the hard work Springfield puts into his concerts and his performances.  He really is a working mans musician.  He seems like a really ordinary person who had fame thrust upon him, and then disappeared for awhile.  Springfield still produces new material, and tours heavily, but it's the fans that the filmmakers seem to be interested in and yet they do a poor job at getting into the heart of that.  The filmmakers focus on only a handful of fans, and don't really get to the heart of why Springfield is so popular with them.  We do see how hard Springfield works, but I

What to Expect when Expecting (2012)

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Okay it's the holidays and you want a feel good flick, or you just want to laugh out loud with others.  Then sit back and watch " What to Expect when Expecting ".  Going into this film I totally thought "chick flick", but hold on there buddy there is some stuff in here that isn't all that bad.  First off I have to say Chris Rock steals the movie for me.  What part is scripted and what parts are all Rock is to be debated, but honestly he made me laugh, and he was quite good in it.  Could it be Rock is softening with age?  He still retains his humor in this film, but he lets some zingers out that make you laugh out loud. The ensemble cast is pretty good, and Jenifer Lopez who gives a beautiful performance in the film.  I swear she had me welling up tears at the end, but I won't swear to it.  I also have to say that Ms Lopez looks so beautiful, and she seems to really put her heart and soul into her performance.  The cast does a good job at showing t

Cabin In the Woods (2012)

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  Okay I have to get this off my chest.  I finally saw the movie " Cabin in the Woods ", and I have to say I was very interested in seeing it, but it totally let me down in the end.  The movie has great production value, and even some interesting casting.   Especially Richard Jenkins , who I think should have gotten the academy award for his performance in "The Visitor ", but I digress.  Even putting in Bradley Whitford in this film doesn't help it.  I do like the scenes between Whitley and Jenkins, but again putting A list actors in a B type movie does not help it.   It does make it memorable, but only because the actors are really good, and you can see that their having fun with their performances. It's a typical teenagers or in this case college roommate's and friends weekend away from civilization when things go horrible wrong.  The twist to this is this, and this is a SPOILER ALERT.  The victims are part of a test and they are nothing but lab

Peter O'Toole

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   It seems that this week a few well known entertainment celebrities have passed on.  For this one I wanted to celebrate Mr. O'Toole's work, and try to persuade some readers to see some of his work that the critics have failed to talk about.  Most of the news agencies have all done tributes to this great actor, but they always forget other works that need to be talked about and I'm here to remind others that there is a a number of Mr. O'Toole's films that need to be seen.  So let's start with the first. Of course there is " Lawrence of Arabia" , a film directed by none other then the famous director David Lean.   Not only is O'Toole's performance brilliant, but the film is epic in scope.  Alone for the photography the film is an interesting piece of cinema.   His performance is outstanding, and watching it one feels for his character.  But let's go on to other movies that O'Toole was in that aren't mentioned, but should be.