Eagle Eye

What happens when the government tries to get intelligence on everyone to try and weed out terrorists and people who plan to do evil unto us? This is the general idea behind the movie Eagle Eye. Eagle Eye is a super computer designed to find people who plan to conspire against the America. All the events of the movie start off with our war on terror and hunting out the people in the world who try to create another attack on America.

Shia Lebouf plays the slacker Jerry Shaw who works at a copy store and just coasts through life till he finds out his twin brother has been killed in an accident. Shia’s performance in this movie is one that I thought would never come. Finally, a role where Shia has to be a mature adult in a role that suits him and his teen angst well.

Michelle Monaghan plays Rachel Holloman, a single mother who does everything she can to help her trumpet-playing son be the best he can. This drive pushes her scum ex-husband away and puts him on a train to play with his school at the white house.

These two characters get a phone call one night by a mysterious female who tells them that if they do not comply with her that they will die. Not something they want to happen, obviously. Jerry comes back from his brother’s funeral to find a weapons cache in his apartment with the FBI about to break in. At first neither Jerry nor Rachel believe that this is actually happening to them, but if they want to survive, they need to work together to find out what is really going on with this mysterious caller.

The dialogue in this movie is very well executed since each line is to help the story move along in a fast pace. The camera works well as it stays close to the action giving the viewer almost the kind of “Holy crap! I’m right there” feeling. Billy Bob Thornton makes a special cameo as the hard ass Agent Thomas Morgan who is determined to catch Jerry Shaw, convinced he is a terrorist.

Each character is well rounded and is only enhanced with the actor’s talent. As the story unravels, the viewer is never bored since each scene brings another piece to the puzzle of what really is going on behind all the scenes. Each part of the puzzle is laid out in the beginning but only truly cones to fruition at the very end of the movie.

This movie plays on our instinctual urges of what would happen if our lives were threatened by an unknown source? Would you obey and go along with what the voice tells you even if it goes against your morals? Or would you disobey and have the possibility of dying an intense death? These questions are all to frequent reminders during this movie to punch the point of creating the connection to the characters.

All in all this movie was very enjoyable and with the ever increasing cost of movie ticket prices, it is very difficult to find movies that are clearly worth the price of them. Though this year, the movie selection has been a very good crop with Eagle Eye entering itself into the mix. Overall, I'd have to give this movie a 6.5 out of 10

Lakeview Terrace

With a movie like Lakeveiw Terrace, star Samuel L. Jackson plays an officer for the LAPD who gets a new couple to move in next door. This new couple is an inter-racial couple who are new homeowners and excited and happy to be in their new beautiful house. Unfortunately, Abel, played by Jackson, does not approve of the inter-racial couple and attempts to get the new couple to leave.

This movie sounded to myself as a great thriller drama but once the movie started it just drug on. The characters are so two dimensional that the names of any other character except for Abel are forgotten. The entire focus of the movie is spent in astonishment because you are not sure whether to believe that there can be a person who is so against the couple while enlisted to “protect and serve”.

At no point in this movie are there any twists or surprises. Although it is absurd the corruptness of someone who is suppose to keep us safe can be. Abel’s character just takes his job way to seriously and even makes his home a type of jail. Abel’s kids are so fed up with his rules that they contemplate running away to their Aunt’s house. The whole house has floodlights surrounding the whole thing, while the large fence keeps everyone at bay.

The couple on the other hand, goes through a great deal when they move into their new house. One of Abel’s lights shines right into their bedroom window and keeps them up all night. When they try to plant privacy trees, Abel comes home and tries to cut them all down because they are growing onto his property. Amidst all this, we find out that the wife has become pregnant.
Though, none of this is enough to keep my focus off of how poorly this movie was. The characters were not drawn out enough, the dialogue was bland and had to tone at all, and finally it had no depth at all. It was just the couple going against a guy who was so set against white people that he is driven crazy by his own racism.

All in all, this movie sucked. It was the first time I honestly finished watching the movie and thought that I would walk out and ask for my money back for this atrocity of a movie. I give this 2 shits out of 10.