Fifty Shades Of Grey Review

I actually thought it was an O.K movie. I read the book and it was really bad, so I was not expecting much from this going in. I thought the acting was pretty decent. Jamie Dornan was good as Grey, since the character is actually a pretty stiff character most of the time. I also liked that they actually added a little bit more depth to Grey with what happened during his early childhood. Dakota Johnson was actually great as Anastasia, and is actually realistic and not just a horny girl like in the book. There is very little chemistry between the two, but that´s the point. They´re complete opposites. They are not supposed to fit together.  I also liked that the film does not focus on the sex. It tries to focus on the relationship between the characters with Anastasia wanting a regular relationship without the BDSM and Grey trying to please her while trying to keep his lifestyle the same.

Visually I thought the film was very well shot. Each shot looked really slick and had really great lighting. The aerial scenes were the visual highlight though. Very nicely done in that department.

The music was another highlight. I really enjoyed the soundtrack, and I personally thought that the songs fit the scenes pretty well. They really fit the respective tone of each scene.

The much awaited sex scenes are basically going to disappoint everyone. Instead of being really graphic, they decided to approach them on a more intimate level. I think this was the best way to go because otherwise it would have been ridiculous and hilarious just like in the book.

The script is where I had a ton of problems. They thought it was a good idea to take a lot of the lines from the book and just put them into the movie. Most of these lines were just cringe worthy. It was awful whenever one of these lines was spoken. A positive note is that at least they try to play these cringe worthy scenes for laughs. You can tell that everyone involved knows how ridiculous the whole story is, so they poke fun at it a lot.

The film also has some pretty weird editing. For example there is one scene where Anastasia tells Christian that it was nice knowing him. You would think that she is finally over with him for a while at least. 1 minute later (literally) they´re having sex in her room. You can tell that there´s stuff missing there. It´s also a much longer movie than I expected it to be, and there are a lot of scenes that could have been cut. There are also characters that don´t really seem to do much in the film. They show up just because they´re in the book but are not utilized enough in the movie to justify their appearance.

All in all the movie was just O.K. It has good acting, good music, it looks really good visually, and takes all the ridiculous elements from the books and has some fun with them. On the other hand the editing seems really off, and the script can be really cringe worthy at times. I do think that even if you end up liking it or hating it... it is an interesting watch. 3/5

The Counselor Review

The Counselor is a new thriller directed by Ridley Scott. It stars Michael Fassbender, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Javier Bardem, and Brad Pitt. The only way I could explain the plot of this movie is by saying that a lawyer gets involved in drug trafficking and well... shit happens I guess (?)

The truth is this movie is really bad. The problem is the screenplay. It sucks completely. It was written by Cormac Mccarthy who has written a ton of very famous novels, but he obviously doesn't know how to write a movie. I had no idea as to what was going on in this movie. You know nothing about the characters, you don't know what their involvement in the story is. The movie is filled with dialogue, and I really don't mind that if it was actually interesting. Every one here is constantly using metaphors, and the conversation drag for way too long. It was simply boring, and even worse since I had no idea what was happening. For example: When shit hits the fan I never really got why, I just knew that something bad happened and now everyone was in danger. The movie doesn't flow, and all the scenes feels disjointed. Characters walk in and out of scenes and you never really know the importance of any scene. Plus the movie has some really weird scenes (like a girl having sex with a car). The only good things are the performances (except for Cameron Diaz who is really weird here), and a couple of cool action scenes.

The Counselor is one of the worst movies I have seen this year. It is a shame since it is filled with a talented cast and director. It makes no sense and it was really boring throughout. The Counselor gets a 1/5

Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa Review

Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa is a new comedy from the Jackass guys. It stars Johnny Knoxville and he plays the grandpa character from the Jackass show and movies. Unlike the other Jackass films this movie actually has a plot to it. The grandpa has to take his grandson over to his dad because his mother just got thrown into jail. The film is a hidden camera comedy, and they prank people in every single stop they make on the way.

This movie is probably my favorite comedy of the year. I love Jackass but I wasn't sure if a whole movie just based on the grandpa character would work. Boy did it work. What makes this movie so funny are the reactions. Johnny Knoxville pulls off some really insane stuff here, and the reactions are priceless. It's also really funny how much stuff he gets away with just because people think he is an old dude. Something that I loved is how well Knoxville can make peoples gears grind. You can see so many emotions in their faces while he is doing weird and even illegal stuff. There is also a kid in this movie and he is great. He also messes with people perfectly, and you can tell this kid really knows how to improvise. The story segments also surprised due to how sweet the story actually ends up being.

Definitely check this movie out, it is hilarious and made me laugh until it hurt. Seeing people's reactions to all the stuff Knoxville does is simply awesome and I loved every single second of this movie. Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa gets a 4.5/5

Prisoners Review

Prisoners is a new thriller starring Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Terrence Howard, Maria Bello, Viola Davis, Melissa Leo, and Paul Dano. The plot focuses on the abduction of two girls and the resulting search to find them. WOW, this movie was amazing from start to finish and hit me pretty hard too. It wouldn't surprise me if this got an Oscar nomination this year.

We have seen child abduction films before, but what makes this film so different is just how real it feels. Hugh Jackman plays one of the two fathers. His character is agressive throughout the film and Jackman pulls it off perfectly. You can see that he is so desperate to find his girl that he will do absolutely anything, no matter what. Terrence Howard plays the other dad. He is more of a calm character and tends to think about morality and ethics before taking any action. Viola Davis plays one of the mothers, and her character portrays the more quiet sadness while Maria Bello plays the louder type of sadness. Every emotion that a parent could ever feel in this type of situation is represented perfectly here. Anger, confusion, desperation, sadness, etc. It is all here. As for Jake Gyllenhaal he plays Detective Loki (weird name). He has basically solved every single case in his career, and you can see how much of a toll this one is taking on him. His scenes with Hugh Jackman are the best since their personalities and ideas are so different. The movie is very dialogue heavy, but it is written so well that I was never bored watching this. Mix that with the acting in this movie and DAMN.

It is hard to watch at times since it feels so real, and some of the violence is pretty brutal. I actually even ended up thinking about what it would be like if I had kids. Yeah, this movie is that good. It is a long movie but it never feels dragged out and every single scene matters. Prisoners is one of my favorite movies of the year and I definitely recommend it to anyone. Prisoners gets a 5/5

Top 5 Super Hero Movies Of 2013

2013 is almost over, and that means that all of the super hero movies have been released. We got 5 of those this year and I enjoyed all of them. What I'm going to do is to rank them all.

5. Kick-Ass 2: My least favorite super hero movie of the year was Kick-Ass 2. I really enjoyed this one, but not to the same degree as the first one. Some of the action scenes went the shaky cam route, and the jokes weren't quite as funny. There was no scene in which I went "That was better here than in the first". It is still a really fun movie though.

4. The Wolverine: The Wolverine is a really different super hero movie. It wasn't a huge effects filled blockbuster. Instead it was more of a character study. You get to know more of the character of Wolverine and how he actually feels about being who he is, and I liked that the film went this route because it actually works. This movie would have been a bit higher on the list, but the finale doesn't fit the tone set by the movie. The finale was your usual big super hero battle, and while it was enjoyable it just felt extremely out of place.

3. Thor: The Dark World: The last one to come out this year was the new Thor movie. The action scenes were awesome, it was really funny (except for Kat Dennings), and it advanced the Marvel Cinematic Universe. My problem was the villain. He was uninteresting and you never felt that Thor was in any danger against this guy. That is really the only problem I have with the movie though.

2. Iron Man 3: Yeah I know a lot of people have a lot of problems with the big twist in this movie, but I actually rolled with it and ended up loving every single second of this movie. It was funny as hell, the action sequences were terrific, and seeing 42 armors at the same time is really awesome. I also loved that Tony is basically having to start from scratch in this movie and has tu use his intellect to get out of situations without his armor.  I would have liked if the film did advance the Marvel Cinematic Universe in some way or another, but this was really more of a stand alone movie.

1. Man Of Steel: I LOVED THIS MOVIE. What I wanted out of this movie was to finally see Superman kicking ass, and man did I get that. The final fight in this movie was simply amazing and unbelievable. A lot of people say this movie had no character development, but I really don't mind that. We are getting sequels and there's going to be more time for character development there. This movie was made to show the world that Superman is a really kick ass character, and it delivered. There are some moments in this film that fans hated because they felt out of character, but I loved this scenes because they work for the type of story they are trying to tell and they didn't feel forced at all. Man Of Steel is my favorite super hero movie of 2013.

Thor: The Dark World Review

Thor: The Dark World is the new film set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and it stars Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, and Anthony Hopkins. The basic premise is that the Dark Elves have returned and they are being led by Malekith. Malekith wants to use a weapon called the Aether to consume all of the nine realms into darkness (that includes earth too). If anyone that reads this knows me then you'll know that I am a pretty huge geek, specially when it comes to Marvel. Obviously I was geeking out waiting for this movie, and it actually was even better than what I imagined. 

The cast is great. Chris Hemsworth owns the role of Thor, and while his character has grown ever since Thor and The Avengers you can still feel the big ego this guy has. He plays the part perfectly and never makes Thor more serious than he needs to be. Natalie Portman is (obviously) fantastic too. Her scenes with Hemsworth were very cool because they actually interacted like a regular couple would. She is even mad at him because he never visited her while he was in New York during the events of The Avengers. Tom Hiddleston is without a doubt the best part of this movie though. He just owns the role of Loki and you never know if you can trust this guy or not. Loki is also humanized, and you actually feel for the dude during the movie. Anthony Hopkins is perfect too. I don't ever think that you'll hear me say Anthony Hopkins didn't do a good job in a movie. The story itself flows well and never gets too complicated which was something I was worried about during the beginning of the movie. One problem I do have though is with the villain Malekith, played by Christopher Eccleston (who does a good job aswell). The villain really isn't interesting at all. You never really know him at all. You only know that he wants to plunge the universe into darkness and that's it. He is actually the most uninteresting villain of the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far. 

The action is spectacular in this movie. It is shot extremely well and I think that has something to do with director Alan Taylor who has directed various Game Of Thrones episodes. He really knows how to make all of the action in this movie feel big and epic. The visual effects were amazing and the final battle was simply FANTASTIC. The humour in this movie is also great just like in all Marvel movies. The other cool thing about this movie is the way in which it'll connect to upcoming MCU movies. The mid-credits scene got me extremely excited for what's to come, and a scene half-way through the movie is probably my favorite scene of the year. Thor: The Dark World is one of the best MCU movies yet, and it got me pumped for what's to come. Thor: The Dark World gets a 4.5/5

Carrie Review

Carrie is based on the Stephen King book of the same name. It stars Chloe Moretz and Julianne Moore, and it follows a girl named Carrie who is bullied in school and finds out she has telekinetic powers. The film is supposed to be a horror movie but unfortunately it is not scary at all. I had heard a lot of bad stuff about this movie, but it isn't as bad as people say. It's not good but it really isn't that bad.

Chloe Moretz does a good job as Carrie. Her character is always bullied, and you'll find yourself rooting for this girl throughout the movie. Julianne Moore plays her mother. She is extremely religious to the point that everything is a sin. Her character is supposed to be creepy, but her dialogue actually made me want to laugh. She gives a good performance but her dialogue is so over the top and I simply didn't buy it. She is creepy when she starts to cut herself, and the way they show it is pretty disturbing. Props to that. The bullies here are also extreme. They even try to kill Carrie, and I doubt real bullies would ever try that. The bullies are also cliche, but at least there were a couple of the "popular kids" who were nice to Carrie. The CGI was pretty bad, and the climatic scene were Carrie goes nuts felt way too short which is a shame since I was actually enjoying it.

Carrie is a film that you just won't remember after a day or two. It isn't too bad, but it isn't good either. Maybe if the dialogue was better, and some scenes didn't make me want to laugh this would have been a good one. Carrie gets a 2.5/5