Push

How is it that a movie that looks like it's going to be a sequel of a terrible movie can come out and actually a pretty good movie? Well this is exactly what Push is able to succeed in doing. At first glance the movie looks like it's going to be a sequel to Jumper, a terrible movie that tries to show off as many "cool" special effects and places that they can physically can. Although, once you get into the movie you realize that this is not only it's own movie and has nothing to do with Jumper, but it pulls off it's own storyline better than Jumper ever could have.

Imagine a world where people with powers are controlled by a government group called Division. Super humans are put into groups of similar powered people, i.e. Movers are Telekenetic, Sniffers can smell or touch an object and know where it's been, Watchers can see the future (but it's constantly changing), Shadows who conceal objects, Screamers who... well, scream and break things, and Pushers who can get into your brain and make you do things.

The story follows Dakota Fanning as Cassie Holmes, a second generation Watcher (meaning her mother was a watcher also), who runs into Chris Evans, aka Nick, who is a second generation Mover. Though Nick is terrible with his powers since he rarely uses them, Cassie and Nick set off to find a suitcase with six million dollars in it when things turn sour once they find that the future changes and shows them all dead.

The movie does a very good job at not having the abilities take over the film. The abilities are very well used and only used to enhance the scene rather than to control the scene. One scene in particular jumps out, Nick walks into a restaurant and draws two guns, but not with his hands. He uses his abilities and floats them five feet above himself to give the appearance that he came unarmed.
As sad as it is to say, the major draw back from this movie was the fact that Jumper came out first. This movie wasn't a brilliant masterpiece but it was a lot of fun to watch. Dakota Fanning has matured a lot but still seemed to hold something back from finding true greatness in her character. While the special effects were actually on par with this movie it's hard for me to say that this movie is worth the price of a theater ticket.

I would have to say that if your interested in a movie to have on for just a fun time I would recommend Push. The story may have some holes, and it may not be the best super hero movie out there. It definitely does well for starting a story from the middle and doesn't keep you wondering about the past or the history of the characters.

Basically, if it's a rainy day, and you want something to amuse yourself, pick up Push because if worse comes to worse, this movie won't make you hate yourself. Rating for this movie? Wasn't spectacular but it wasn't terrible so 5.5 out of 10

Funny People

Judd Apatow finally shows the true range of his brilliance with his newest movie Funny People starring Seth Rogan and Adam Sandler. Upon first seeing the trailer, I believed that this movie was going to be all laughs just like his other movies but this time focus on the lives of comedians. Boy was I in for a special treat! This movie was much more serious than Apatow's other films but still has a great amount of comedy to lighten the mood and make sure the movie doesn't go to far into the drama.

The movie centers around George Simmons (played by Sandler) who use to be a great comedian and actor, but recently, just found out that he has a type of lukemia and will probably die soon. What does he do? Goes back up on stage and does more stand up. His first show he bumps Ira Right/Weiner's (Rogan) set back. After the show George asks Ira to write jokes for him and thus begins the apprenticeship of George and Ira.

The whole movie is centered around three themes which are Love, Death, and the apprenticing of George and Ira. While many of these themes can be very depressing and turn Georges life into a dark place where one can only wonder if this is was ever suppose to have comedy in it.

I truely was blown away by the fact the Apatow could really write and direct a movie that was so serious that I was sucked in. The characters are so completely believeable and played so well by the actors that no matter who you are, you'll find someone in this movie to see bits and pieces of yourself in them.

This movie was so up and above my expectations of Apatow that I'm almost speechless, and was speechless afterr the movie. There are so many cameo's in this movie of actual comedians like Sarah Silverman, Andy Dick, Dave Attell, Ray Romano, and so many more that just throws laughs right at you.

This movie clearly deserves a 7.5 out of 10.

Dead Snow

Let me start this off by saying I'm not going to use any of the actors names because I don't know how to type them with a keyboard (it's a Norwegian film).

Ok, well for all you horror genre fans like me out there. Here comes the best zombie movie I have seen since the remake of Dawn of the Dead. This twist on this zombie tale? They are Nazi zombies that were frozen in the snow.

The movie centers around 7 medical students, well 8 but the first one dies before the opening credits. Didn't anyone teach you not to go wondering around alone when your in a horror film? Well either way, these kids are all on Easter Break and heading to their friends cabin to hang out and have fun. First night there, a creepy old man wanders in and tells the kids about the history of the land. But being normal people, they just laugh it off and continue on their marry way till everything just blows up in their face.

This film was spectacular, simply put I loved every minute of this film and I am very critical of my zombie movies. The soundtrack was German heavy music and played along with the atmosphere of the film. The theme song is a fantastic choice with "Peter and the Wolf".

I can't really speak to much on the acting since it was a German film, it was shown to me using dubbs. I know, upsetting, but the movie was amazing. These zombies are a new breed of zombies that we haven't seen and the closest thing we can come to is Land of the Dead zombies but that doesn't come quite close enough. These zombies were freakishly fast, could climb trees, use weapons... Ridiculous!

There is one scene in familiar that stands out to me and it centers around the death of one of the female characters. It's a first person shot which was fantasically done with all the effects. Which leads me to the effects. Normal zombies have a great deal of decay showing, but since these have been in the snow frozen for all these years, that haven't decayed much which brings more fear into these mindless madmen.

Overall, this film kept me laughing, scared of zombies once more, and showed that truely brilliant shots have yet to be shown to the public. THis film gets a 9.5 out of 10.

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen

Ok, before I even get into the review, let me just say that if, no... correction, When you go see this movie be prepared for one of the most amped up, epic movies ever to hit the screen.

Micheal Bay has turned what started out as a movie to promote toys into something that well has turned into it's own cult following and this second movie only solidifies the fact that only Micheal Bay with his infamous explosions should be the only one to touch this franchise.

First off lets start out by saying that in the first movie we only see a handful of transformers and what we saw in that movie was epic enough to be the iceberg that sank the Titanic. This second movie takes everything that was good in the first and gives it that extra push to become something absolutely breath taking. We see at least a hundred or more transformers from both Autobot and Decepticon sides.

The movie takes place two years after the previous movie and Sam (Labouf) is heading off to college leaving everyone behind. This includes the amazing Megan Fox (I would never leave someone like that back at home alone), Bumblebee, and the Autobots. The Autobots have joined forces with the government and started to hunt down any and all Decepticons that come to Earth.

When Sam goes to leave though, he grabs the clothes he wore when the Autobots first came and finds that a piece of the cube had been attached to him. When he touches it, things go bananas for him and he starts to see Cybertronian writting everywhere, much like his relative that found Megatron.

Ok, enough of the plot because I don't want to give much away, but the simple fact remains that everything in this movie was amped up and become a movie that has very few faults in it. The acting especially shines here, even though you don't get much acting out of normal action movies this one just brings everything it has and you really begin to want certain characters to live and others to.... well, fade into the sunset.

The only thing I can say that might be remotely negative is about the Twins. These two autobots are basically the Jar Jar Binks of transformers but in a better way. They talk just about as much as Jar Jar did and at first I really was upset with them but the more I saw them the more I realized that these were just two more characters in this universe that fit perfectly. Think about it. Don't you have that one friend that you invite because you know they'll complain if you don't? That's the Twins.

Even with them though this movie is astounding and I sat there and was just thinking to myself that I had mothing bad to say about this movie. It was Epic in the most simplist of terms, I'm still speechless. Easily 10 out of 10, without even thinking about it, this movie deserves it.

Update

Hey Guys, Sorry that I haven't had many updates lately, I got fired from my job as a grill cook. I went to the beach and let them know ahead of time that I wasn't coming in and they fired me. First shift I didn't come to and I told them and they fired me.

Oh well, I got free advanced tickets to Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen so I'll definitely start this back up again once I start working at Best Buy. But meantime I'll write up my review of Micheal Bay's Transformers 2 Revenge of the Fallen which will be up June 24th since I'm seeing it on the 23rd.

Adventureland

Greg Mottola comes back for his next movie since Superbad for a movie that could be called Superbad 2 since this feels just like the first. Our main character James Brennon, played Jesse Eisenberg, has just graduated from college and is planning on moving to New York City for Graduate school when his parents drop the news that they are not making as much money and needs to work at the local amusement park to save up money for school.

Adventureland, run by Bobby and his wife Paulette, played by Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig, hire Brennan after a long arduous look for a job. The characters that work in this park are the outsiders of your typical school group. Think Freaks and Geeks but a movie instead of your television series. This is where the movie really starts to roll and get the hook of this film.

The first we meet is Tommy Frigo, played by Matt Bush, who was Brennan’s friend from the fourth grade who constantly punches him in the balls. But Joel, played by Martin Star, becomes Brennan’s new best friend who went to college for Russian Literature and Slavic Languages, but is truly the nerd of all nerds but is also Brennan’s voice of reason. Ryan Reynolds plays the opposite of Joel as your typical cool mechanic that is a musician, Mike Connell. Connell is very much Brennan’s devil to Joel’s angel.

Kristen Stewart plays Em, Brennan’s love interest once she saves him from getting stabbed by a knife. While Joel thinks that Em is the best person Connell pushes Brennan more towards Lisa P, Margarita Levieva, the popular, hot dancer.

Brennan is very much like Michael Cera’s character but much later, pushing the thought that Mottola writes himself into these movies. Jesse Eisenberg really plays a great version of Cera’s character as a believe-able fish out of water virgin nerd. The romance between Stewart and Eisenberg is very well played and actually takes center stage to this movie.

Breaking your typical roles as the girl being timid, Stewart plays a very sexual being while Eisenberg is the virgin. This movie is very much a movie that wants to be an indie movie but only plays to the trend of making indie movies popular. The sound track to this movie is straight out of the 80’s, given it’s set in 1987, but this movie is riddled with some of the best, and worst music, of the time period. Amadeus is played the most throughout this movie and was joked about in the movie but also references Judas Priest and the crazy fads of the 1980’s.

If you’re not interested in watching the new Fast and Furious movie, and enjoyed Superbad, Freaks and Geeks, and Undeclared this movie is definitely a movie you’d enjoy. Though, keep in mind, this movie’s comedy is much more subtle than that of Superbad, I would highly recommend this movie. Overall, this movie is brilliant and gets a 8.5 out of 10.

The Haunting in Connecticut

Relatively new director, Peter Cornwell, bring us a based on a true story horror film cleverly named “The Haunting in Connecticut”. The Haunting in Connecticut follows the true story of the Campbell family when they first move up to a house in Connecticut so that Matt, the eldest son, can live closer to the hospital for his cancer treatment. The story takes place in 1987 when Sara and Matt are on their way home from a treatment center and run into a very old house for rent. The rent is so cheap that Sara begins to question.

The movie takes off from this point but isn’t so much of a new horror film but more of a “jump out of the closet” shocker film. Although, the director stops short in every scare, each scary moment could be seen from miles away. The graphics look beautiful but they end up short-lived because of the lacking in the actual terrifying way.

Strangely enough, you’ll get more fear from Virginia Madsen’s performance as the mother from her god-awful acting. Every scene she’s in, and she is in way to many, you wish that she would just stop acting. Though the true savior of the movie is, obviously, Kyle Gallner, who plays Matt Campbell.

Campbell’s performance as a teen with cancer is nothing short of enjoyable. You route for him to get rid of the sickness while battling his own demons living in this house. Although, when you move into a house, and you choose bedrooms are you really going to give the sick boy the basement to live in? Not to mention creepy factor with the strange doors and the brick walls. To me, that just doesn’t seem like a logical choice.

The movie can pretty much be split into three parts. First is the obvious introduction to the plot and the characters. Second comes all the horror and scare, but remember they stop short of actually terrifying. Then, thirdly, comes the rest of the plot. All of the horror comes about a half hour in to maybe an hour in. After we find out what’s truly going on with this house and it’s “occupants” all the horror is finally over.

With very few decent horror films coming out one would hope and assume that this based on a true story would be terrifying. A real jump out of your seats and keep the lights on movie. But with a PG-13 rating and a director who just didn’t really seem to want to show any real horror, it just drops off as an ordinary horror film. It’s an enjoyable movie to watch but is most definitely not a movie you want to hold your plans and run out to see this movie. I don't know what to say else about this movie, it was entertaining but didn't keep it's drive so it earned 5 out of 10.