Toy Story 3

Toy Story 3
Previous to Toy Story 3 Pixar has opened the box office as the #1 movie every (10 of them). This streak has to come to an end and Pixar has to produce a “bad” movie sooner or later and Toy Story 3 had me a little worried, to be honest. I love Pixar movies especially the Toy Story series so I approached Toy Story 3 tentatively. I was concerned that Toy Story 3 would not live up to the quality or entertainment level of the previous 2 and it would tarnish the trilogy completely.

Thankfully all my worries were washed away very quickly upon the opening of the movie. The movie shortly follows the toys life with Andy as he grows up until he is college aged and moving out. With Andy’s cleaning out of his room before his move to college, his old toys end up donated at Sunnybrook and in the Caterpillar room with the younger, destructive kids at the daycare. After a few days of rough treatment and beatings they are finally convinced that Woody was right and they need to get back to Andy.

The movie keeps much of the old crew (even Slinky, whose voiced actor passed away in 2000—they found a replacement that fits very well) and introduces some new very funny characters that end up adding a ton to the story and fun. The movie provoked many emotions and had the same feel as later 2. I left the theater 100% satisfied and wanting to watch it again ASAP. This is a definite don’t miss and will hopefully close out the Toy Story saga with a bang (baring they don’t make a Toy Story 4; but they are working on a Toy Story short film that will be released with Cars 2).

Overall Rating: 9 out of 10

Get Him to the Greek

Apatow production strikes again with their release of the newest comedy, Get Him to the Greek, which continues Forgetting Sarah Marshall’s story line of rock star Aldous Snow (played by Russell Brand). Jonah Hill (playing Aaron Green) also stars in Get Him to the Greek but picking up as a character that works in the music business under his boss Sergio (played by Sean ‘P. Diddy’ Combs). The movie uses the same type of humor that are seen in all previous Apatow movies, but keeps it interesting with the new story line but with a few familiar characters.
Aldous Snow is the only person who plays the same role finds himself in the downward fall of his career after producing a racist album leading to his divorce of his wife, return to alcoholism and drugs and finally his fall from stardom. Upon Sergio deciding that a 10th anniversary concert of Aldous live at the Greek theater in LA would boost revenue Aaron Green is then sent to pick him up and bring him the Greek. Then enters pandemonium, which may remind you of the Hangover slightly. Ultimately the movie highlights Aaron Green and Aldous Snow’s growing relationship from fan/rocker to friends.
I found myself laughing frequently at most jokes with few exceptions. P. Diddy provided a hilarious twist to the cast surprising me with his comic ability and Brand did what he does best, act crazy but being a riot at the same time. To top it all of I actually found Jonah Hill funny at times, not annoying or stupid (although he was annoying and stupid sometimes, just not throughout the whole movie), which was a pleasant surprise. All in all this entire movie was pretty funny and had some memorable moments that will surely cause you to leave the theater talking and laughing about.


Overall Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Avatar

With all the hype around “Avatar”, I’m here to set the record straight. Expectations have run high because of “Avatar’s” record-breaking $300 million plus budget and the likes of a big name director James Cameron who was involved in “Titanic”, “Aliens” and “Terminator,” all highly touted science fiction movies.

“Avatar’s” plot is nothing special, original, or anything to get excited about. Imagine a twisted “Pocahontas”/”Fern Gully” with a paraplegic man, Jake Sully, who controls a body of a Na'vi (the natives to the planet), created by scientists called Avatars, to infiltrate the Na'vi clan and get them to leave so the precious metals at the base of it can be harvested. But along the way Sully falls in love with the Na'vi’s way of life and coincidentally, the chief’s daughter. Then, when diplomacy fails and the human military gets involved, Sully needs to take up a side and decides who matters the most to him.

Cameron’s “Avatar” has very impressive CG, much like that of “District 9” but this is expected when $300 million is put into it. The plot is weak and the 3D effects weren’t necessary and didn’t add much; I’d rather have seen it in 2D. Also, the movie runs 2½ hours and dragged at times, not moving the plot forward much at all, although the plot wasn’t completely awful - but I could have been much better. The character’s half CG-ed, half-live acting was without a doubt the strongest point of the movie, intermixing and functioning very well together. A close second to the CG was the cinematography, which at times, was breathtaking. This winter blockbuster failed to live up to all the hype and attention paid to it. Although it was a solid movie, I expected more and because it’s only in 3D, be prepared to spend and extra $3-4 for the glasses.


Overall Rating: 7.5 out of 10

This Is It

June 25, 2009 the world was shocked as Michael Jackson passed away from a cardiac arrest, leaving the world with Michael Jackson fever. Leading up to MJ’s “This Is It” last string of 50 concerts hundreds of hours of practice and prep was recorded, piece it together and you have “This Is It”. The movie gives you a look behind the scene at Michael Jackson, his back up dancers and singers and a close to perfect view of what MJ had in store for all of his fans. A set that has never been seen before, with tons of special effects and glitz and glamour all cooked up and micro managed my Mr. Jackson himself. This view of Michael Jackson is a very special one, him saving his voice and not singing his heart out, him not entirely dancing an entire scene out and leaving his entire heart on the stage, but still putting it out there. This movie shows all that Michael put into his profession of entertainment, all he put into his work for his fans, wanting to give them the best they’d ever seen. Entirely making sure this was it. Even if you aren’t the biggest MJ fan in the world (unless you absolutely hate him), this is a movie you should consider viewing to see Michael’s amazing talent put into practice and all the hard work and ideas he used and how he effected others with his amazing gifts. “This Is It” is a definite view, without a doubt.





Over All Rating: 8 out of 10

Where the Wild Things Are

We’ve seen book to movie adaptations all the time in Hollywood, some good (“Lord of the Rings”), some not so good (“The Cat in the Hat”). The only thing about “Where the Wild Things Are” is that it isn’t a 500+ page book where you have to figure out what should be cut, no, “Where the Wild Things Are” consists of 48 pages (less than half of those containing writing) so the plot for the movie had to be tweaked and twisted, for this I was rather impressed with the story that the writers came up with (Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers; Jonze also directed). In the book Max, a single kid (as far as we know) puts on his wolf outfit and raises a ruckus, his mom then sends him to his room with no supper. From his room a forest grows until his entire room is engulfed and a personal boat for him appears where he travels for years on the sea to the land of the wild things. There he uses his magic trick by staring at them in their eyes and telling them, “BE STILL” he is then crowned king. His first decree is for a rumpus to occur and after that he decides he misses home and those who love him. He leaves for food and love from his mother.

The movie takes some liberties as it goes into more detail as to how he gets to the land of the wild things, the stories of the wild things and they’re background (more in depth; as they have names in the movie and are just known as the wild things in the book). Along with this more of the landscape is shown theatrically and most importantly what Max does with the Wild Things once in control is expanded in a different but in a fun way; much in a way you would assume a boy of Max’s age would want to do with the power he has. The cinematography was a beautiful throughout the vast regions of the world of the Wild Things, from the desert to the forest the world that Max explores and encounters throughout his stay making it one of the strongest aspects of this feature. The vibe and way he interacts with the Wild Things is perfect; the main positive aspect of this is that I felt the main theme of the book coming through in the movie as well. But the movie wasn’t all-good I found the movie overly depressing to be classified a “family/children’s movie” (this fact has been much discussed), the movie was very dark as Max doesn’t live a very happy home life and in the land of the Wild Things I found it over all very strange the way some of the movie was carried out, such as how the movie transitioned from one part of the plot to the next (granted they were going off little from the book) and the way the movie ends doesn’t give closer to how the family ends up. I left the movie theater very confused as to whether or not I enjoyed this movie, I knew for sure it wasn’t what I was expecting when I entered the theater but that was okay. Over all I thought the movies positives out weighed the negatives as a whole and was fairly entertained. But definitely would not recommend taking young children to view this or anyone looking to see a mainstream movie. This movie is worth a matinee viewing and maybe full price weekend viewing if you’re interested enough, but don’t expect too much out of this movie.






Over all Rating: 7 out of 10

Zombieland

Zombie apocalypse, human population plummeting and undead rising, the basic premise of every zombie movie not a big surprise “Zombieland” followed suit as well. But unlike other zombie movies before it, “Zombieland” takes a more humorous look 4 people trying to make it through everyday life, enjoying the little things while they’re at it. This action-comedy contains the talents of Tallahassee-Woody Harrelson (“Cheers”), Columbus-Jesse Eisenburg (“Adventureland”), Wichita-Emma Stone (“Superbad”) and Little Rock-Abigail Breslin (“Little Miss Sunshine”)-each being named after where they came from. Tallahassee and Columbus start off in Texas, traveling together. The duo, of Harrelson and Eisenburg, work very well together playing off each other’s personality and balancing the other out perfectly. Harrelson’s character being the crazy shoot ‘em up and Eisenburg the more apprehensive but can still, barely, get the job done way of surviving, added to a decent dose of clumsiness. Columbus working to get back home to see if his family has survived and Tallahassee who is just in search of an ever-elusive Twinkie. They are later joined by Wichita and Little Rock who are trying to make their way to a theme park in Cali. The four-some fight, disagree, laugh, travel and most importantly kill zombies together, all while enjoying the little things.
The comedy that runs throughout the movie is something that has not yet been seen mixed with zombies using American comedy (the closest thing to it being “Shaun of the Dead” which uses British humor). The actors and the characters that they play all tie in very well together allowing for humorous interaction and a revival of Harrelson’s career, showing the movie world that he still has funny left in him. Along with rising comedy younglings Eisenburg and Stone have weird interaction with the gender roles almost flipped in the way that they act. Judging from previews you wouldn’t think much of this movie but it’s definitely worth a watch and I guarantee that going into this movie with an open mind you will find yourself laughing, remember you got to enjoy the little things.



Over all rating: 7 out of 10

3Deeeeeeeeeeeeee

I’m sure we’ve all seen Toy Story (1 and 2), Pixar’s first full-length megahit movie. Well Buzz, Woody and the gang are all back in theaters for 2 weeks (1 week left) but now in 3-D! If you have seen a 3-D movie before Toy Story you may not be super impressed since Toy Story was not originally made for 3-D but still looks pretty solid. The movie itself is not changed and remains the classic it was in ’95 when first released. So even if you’ve seen Toy Story 1 and 2 even if recently it’s well worth your money (price of one ticket for two movies) along with your first look at Toy Story 3 (set to be released 6/18/10). With the same solid movie--being one of Pixar’s best, if not the best--in 3-D and is only around for one more week (although may be released on DVD in 3-D). So get there while you can, take the kids, go with a date or just go by yourself and enjoy one of Pixar’s best in 3-D.


Overall Rating: 9 out of 10
3-D Rating: 8 out of 10