Well, the second tape has been released and it's not pretty. If you thought the first one was bad, wait till you hear this one. Not only does he admit to hitting his ex (he's currently under investigation for domestic violence, and here's clear-cut proof), he threatens to kill her...twice! You seriously won't believe your ears.
Read User's Comments(0)
You know that feeling when you go to sleep…and the next thing you remember, you’re waking up? It feels like no time has passed, the hours separating you from the real world and dream world blurring together. That’s what the movie Inception is like. Mimicking the feeling of a dream itself, to me, Inception is a dream. In my own mind, I couldn’t possibly have imagined a more stunning, mind-blowing movie to catapult us out of the movie-rut we’ve been in the majority of this summer. But Inception is more than just the best movie of the summer…so far, it’s the best movie of the year.
Inception introduces us to a world where technology for dream invasion exists, and when it comes to dream invasion, Dom Cobbs (Leonardo DiCaprio) is the best out there. Cobbs is a skilled extractor: it’s his job to enter the dreams and steal the information he needs from the person’s subconscious. His skill has made him one of the go-to guys in the world of corporate espionage, but has also taken away the life he knew and loved. Now, he has a chance to get it all back, with one last job…Cobbs, along with his team of experts, have to achieve the seemingly impossible: Inception. Instead of stealing an idea, they need to plant one in the subject’s mind.
I went into Inception under two levels. I was both buzzing with excitement, but also a little fearful that I wouldn’t understand what was going on. After reading countless reviews saying how amazing…but also how confusing, the film is, I went in ready to concentrate as if I were going to be tested afterwards. I’ll tell you this: believe the hype! Inception is everything you hoped it would be and more…and just as confusing as they say. Anyone who leaves the theater claiming to have understood it is either lying or superhuman. But that’s part of the fun of Nolan’s films. Like The Prestige and Memento, you take in more and more after each subsequent viewing. Even when you think you got everything the film had to offer, you see it again and there are more secrets and intricacies that freshly take hold in your mind.
However Inception is more than a story filled with twist and turns – it displays greatness in its every aspect. Forget 3D. If you want to see real imagery that pops, see Inception. The special effects, sound and cinematography were so phenomenal that that alone is worthy of the ticket price. Leonardo DiCaprio was incredible, proving he really doesn’t know how to give anything other than a perfect performance. Likewise, Ellen Page and Joseph Gordon-Levitt were fantastic as well playing the two other main members of Cobbs’s team. The person who impressed me the most though (other than Dicaprio) was Marion Cotillard. She blended beauty, cunning, sexy and scary seamlessly…all the ingredients for the perfect femme fatale.
Inception gives new meaning to the phrase “on the edge of your seat.” For the last 45 minutes of the film I was practically hyperventilating, and you could see and hear everyone else in the theater responding the same way. It toyed with your nerves, emotions, and way of thinking. It even had me excited to go to sleep and dream (I’m not even kidding) in the hopes of remembering what my dream was about and what my dreamscape looked like. I know I didn’t take it all in the first time around…and because of that, I can’t wait to see it again.
Rating: A
Sometimes, you just need an increased dose of cuteness in your life. Thankfully, I have the perfect movie to quench your craving: Despicable Me. Steve Carell is the voice of Gru, who, intent on obtaining the title of “world’s greatest villain”, decides to plan the ultimate heist: to steal the moon. Then three little orphaned girls make their way into his life, proving to be his biggest challenge yet.
This animated film more than surpassed my expectations. I went in expecting a cute, funny kids movie and I left having experienced a cuter, funnier, movie than I ever could have imagined. Packed with the likes of Russell Brand, Julie Andrews, Jason Segel, Will Arnett and Kristin Wiig contributing their voices alongside Steve Carell, the entire cast was fantastic. To top it off, it was legitimately funny. Not just “funny for little kids” funny…my friend and I were cracking up. It had me laughing a million times more than Grown Ups did.
What surprised me the most though, was how infectious its charm was. I know a lot of people (myself included) wanted to see the film based off that one adorable little dark-haired girl in the trailer who screams “IT’S SO FLUFFY!!” when she gleefully receives a stuffed unicorn. The movie was worth seeing for her alone. Then add those super cute little yellow “minions”, Steve Carell’s hilarious accent, wonderful animation, and you have a heartwarming film that is impossible not to love.
Rating: A
Can Mel Gibson really be anymore unlikable? Its almost like he’s deliberately trying to make it so that his fan base drops even lower than its already at. For the past week now news reports regarding an outbust of profanities Gibson unleashed on Oksana Grigorieva, his ex-girlfriend and mother of their 8-month old daughter, have been circulating around, shocking everyone with his incredibly vulgar and hateful use of language, including “the N word” and saying she looks like “a fucking pig in heat” along with countless other pleasantries…
“You go around sashaying in your tight clothes. I won’t stand for that anymore,” Gibson tells his ex. And believe me, it gets much, much worse. Before now, these comments were heard only from a newscaster or read online. Now, the tape has been released, showing the world just how off his rocker the Braveheart star really is. In a part of the argument that has not yet been released online, he even goes on to say: “I am going to come and burn the f**king house down… but you will blow me first.” In 2006, Gibson was pulled over for speeding, and then arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. While the cop was handcuffing him, Gibson became extremely belligerent and made some anti-semetic comments (to a jewish cop, might I add), marking the beginning of his downfall. Now he’s at it again with the racist remarks. I’ve refused to see a Mel Gibson movie since his anti-semetic rant in 2006, and to me, this tape just further proves that he has no remorse, and is really just a despicable human being. Listen to it for yourselves:
Eager to impress his boss in order to get a promotion that’s right at his fingertips, Tim (Paul Rudd) is on the quest to find the perfect person to bring to his boss’s dinner party. But it’s not just any regular dinner party. It’s a “dinner for idiots” where everyone competes to see who can bring the most ridiculous guest…which Tim finds in Barry (Steve Carell).
If the story seems somewhat contrived, thats because it is. But that aside for a moment, the storyline made for some pretty hysterical moments. Once the words “Ladies and Gentleman, dinner is served” were uttered, I knew I was in for a treat. And like the title might imply, you would like that the majority of this movie would take place at said dinner, right? Wrong. I wish it had. But 90% of the movie dealt with Tim trying to deal with Barry and all the ridiculous shit he was getting him into due to his extreme idiocy (we’re talking a level of idiocy that at some points I found it difficult to like his character). All that was fine, and even very funny…if you are a fan of those comedies where everything just keeps going from bad to worse. I don’t mean that sarcastically…some people truly love these kind of films. I always wish I had, but the thing is, when I watch movies like that, I just get insanely frustrated. Like I felt physical pain while watching, at some points having to restrain myself from trying to take my pain out on someone, anyone, just to release some frustration. But the theater was in hysterics, so that might be more of a personal flaw than a fault on the movie’s part, I don’t know. More annoying to me than the series of events that unfolded were the main character, Tim’s, reactions to them. He acted in ways that at some points put him on the same stupidity level as Steve Carell’s character, no easy feat. It got the point where I thought to myself: “No promotion is worth this sort of torture” and found it hard to believe that Tim didn’t feel the same way.
Now that I’ve finally released that frustration thats been laying dormant in me since seeing the film…I actually liked the movie, and recommend it. There are a lot of good laughs and Steve Carell and Paul Rudd are at the top of their game. Zach Galifianakis is great too, but isn’t in the film as much as I would have liked and only really has the same one running joke the whole movie. I thought the movie had more potential than the end result yielded, this is true. But seeing Steve Carell with his “mousterpieces,” Zach Galifinakis with his “mind control” and the hilarious group of other “schmucks” at the end dinner scene is really too good to pass up, frustration or not.
Rating: B-
When I sat down to write this review, I made a vow to myself that I would be objective and not let my Twi-hard status influence anything. I need to be straight up: I was one of those girls…you know the one, the girl updating her Facebook status something “Eclipse” related seemingly every other minute and dressed in a “Team Jacob” t-shirt to show where her alliance stands. I went in already knowing that this wasn’t a movie I could hate; that no matter what, I would find some redeeming qualities once the credits stopped rolling. The real question is: is this a movie that everyone else will hate, the way some despise Twilight and New Moon? If you just hate the franchise in general, then the answer is obvious “yes.” But, if you’re a fan of the first two movies, and especially if you’re a fan of the books, I would find it hard to believe if you left the theater anything but blown away.
In this third installment, Bella once again faces danger in the form of Victoria, a vampire who is out for revenge against her. Victoria, who we saw in the first two films, has taken it a step further this time: she has put together an army of newborn vampires to attack Bella and the Cullen clan. All the while, Bella is faced with the decision that has split fans for as long as these books have been around: whether to choose her vampire boyfriend Edward Cullen or werewolf best friend Jacob Black.
Don’t bother comparing the three films; The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is far and away the best of the series in pretty much every aspect. Visually, Eclipse ran circles around the other two faster than a vampire and werewolf combined. We were treated to some sweeping cinematography and just overall superior production value. So if you hated the cheap, blue-tinted look of the first film…don’t worry, you wouldn’t find any of that here. The acting has gotten better all around; Kristen Stewart played with her hair less and stopped awkwardly biting her lip every other second, which was a welcome change. I still don’t think she can act to save her life, but what can you do? Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner have grown as well, getting better with each movie. I do however think the direction for the character of Jacob was misguided much of the time; he was portrayed as angry more times than not, rarely giving us a chance to see how much warmth the character truly possesses.
Now let’s get to the important stuff: the screenplay. It started off a little slow, the first 15 minutes dragged a bit. However, once the movie found its pace, it flowed seamlessly, combining the action and romance effortlessly and very effectively. Having finished re-reading the book a few days before seeing the film, I went into the film with the events of the book very fresh in my head, so all fans can rest assured when I say: your favorite scene is in the movie, as are most likely all the other scenes you’ve been hoping to see on the big screen.
This one doesn’t take itself as seriously as the others, acknowledging things such as Taylor Lautner’s constant shirtlessness (yes girls, its just as impressive as it was in New Moon) and the overall soap opera/drama-y nature of the story. Eclipse is a great summer blockbuster that I think most people will enjoy…from the crazy fans who have read the books countless times, to those who are just fans of the movies, to even the boyfriends that will inevitably be dragged to the film…there’s something in it for everyone!
Rating: B+
An ensemble cast like Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Rob Schneider, David Spade and Kevin James is hard to resist. And if I’m viewing the glass as half-full, I can say that I left their film enlightened; this new release, Grown Ups, taught us a very valuable lesson: no matter how many hilarious stars you pack into one film, if you don’t have a plot…it can only do so much to stay afloat.
The “plot”: after their beloved middle school basketball coach passes away, a group of 5 once-best-friends reunite after many years for the funeral and a weekend getaway at a lake house. So what exactly happens in the film? What’s the objective? Goal? Conflict? I don’t really have those answers for you. What I can tell you though, is that despite this absolute oversight in the film, when it was funny…it was laugh-out-loud funny. The trailer had me cracking up at every moment, and, as usual, hosts most of the funniest parts of the film. The film still has some additional fun moments (my favorite involving a game called “Arrow Roulette”), and of course, more gross-out humor than was necessary. The key with a movie like this is to have realistic expectations going in, which unfortunately, I didn’t have. The laughs in the trailer combined with the cast had me ready for one of the funniest comedies of the summer…when, in reality, I got a funny movie that was just another of this summers many disappointments.
All in all, it’s not Billy Madison or Happy Gilmore by any stretch of the imagination. Chris Rock was vastly underused, and after a while of just watching the friends make fun of each other it started to drag. Thanks to some great cameos and the expected chemistry between the “grown ups”, it wasn’t a bust. Therefore my overall consensus is one of indifference: if you think you’ll like it and this is your type of comedy, you can give it a try. If you weren’t crazy about the trailer, definitely don’t see it. Either way, your life will not change much.
Rating: C+
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)