2012

I'm just going to get right to it, 2012 is one of the MOST EPIC movies I have seen in my entire life. It's so big, so intense, and so chaotic that it was almost to much to watch. This movie is a pure adrenaline rush. Yet, what I liked about it the most is among all of the chaos, death, and destruction, at it's core 2012 is a human story. Jackson Curtis is a divorced father who doesn't get a lot of time to spend with his kids, but looks forward to their annual vacation at Yellowstone National Park. While he's there he and his kids discover that a portion of the park has been restricted to the public. Curiosity gets the best them and they decide to cross the line and continue hiking. Almost immediately they are surrounded by Army personnel asking them why they were in the area, they don't get into any real trouble, but are told that they cant be there. Someone in the park witnessed this and asked Jackson what did those army guys say to him. Turns out this person was aware of the Army's presence in Yellowstone. He was a conspiracy theorist and also knew why they were studying the park. He tells Jackson about the whole Mayans thing that we all have heard about by now. When Jackson and his kids arrive back home in LA the s**t hits the fan. Now Jackson's only mission in however long he has on this Earth is to make sure his family survives the planets horrible fate. What follows is some of the biggest, scariest, just plain intense sequences ever put to film. This is the movie director Roland Emmerich has always wanted to make, seeing as a few of his past movies are Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow, but those films are reruns of The Magic School Bus compared to this movie. While I'm on the subject of Emmerich, whats his deal with destroying the Earth in movies? Anyway, forget those movies because you ain't seen nothing yet. I can't say this enough, 2012 is epic on a scale that I've have only seen in one other movie, and that movie is Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. It doesn't reach the epic heights of LOTR, but it get pretty damn close. Like I said earlier what makes this movie work so well isn't the big of it, but the small of it, the heart. If the film didn't take the time it did to connect us to these characters it would have just been a big movie with no lasting impact, but because I really cared about Jackson and his family, everything happening around them was so hard to watch because just like Jackson the only thing I wanted was for them to survive, because if it were me I wouldn't give up no matter how insurmountable the odds may have seemed. I would try until the was no more breath left in my body, and then keeping trying for about two minutes after that. It's a story of human hope, and how we as humans are our best in the face of adversity, even when faced with something as harrowing as the end of the world.

5 out of 5

I gotta start seeing some bad movies, I feel like I've been giving out to many good scores lately, whens the next Twilight movie coming out? Leave a comment and let me know what you thought about this movie, or if you follow me on twitter or facebook let me know there.

one luv, Toinne.

The Princess and the Frog

There is a list of Disney movies that hold a special place in our hearts. Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Aladdin and now The Princess and the Frog can be added to that list. I gotta be honest, I was skeptical about this one, I was wondering if Disney would be able to recreate what I consider to be the golden age of Disney films. Those movies had a magic about them that couldn't be explained, but was felt worldwide, and The Princess and the Frog has that same magic. The setting is jazz era New Orleans which works in favor of the film in every way. The jazzy southern tunes of the film really give it a life of it's own and set it apart from the classics, while at the same time earning it's place to stand aside them. Disney returns to it's roots with a vengeance, when Toy Story was released in 1995 it was the beginning of the end for films like this, but nostalgia is a funny thing, and can help leap some of the best ideas. The Princess and the Frog is like a trip back to the early 1990's and is a dream come true for anyone who has ever enjoyed the films I mentioned earlier. Disney is back in full form and I hope they can continue this tradition and teach a new generation of moviegoers what the Disney's films of my day taught me. That magic is real, and it exist inside of all of us.

5 out of 5

Agree or Disagree? Leave a comment and let me know what you thought about this movie or if you follow me on twitter or facebook, let me know there.

one luv, Toinne

Up In The Air

In a modern Hollywood where everything is explosions, aliens, car crashes, secret agent babysitters, pirates, superheros, sight gags, fart jokes, brooding vampires and shirtless werewolves. It's refreshing to see an adult film with adult themes made for adults. Up In The Air is the story of Ryan Bingham, a man who has nothing in the world to weigh him down. No real home to speak of, barely a connection with his family, no wife, no kids, and none of this bothers him. In fact, he loves his life and the choices he has made, making his job that much more easy to do. He works at an agency that is hired to fire people. When companies are downsizing they call Ryan's company to do their dirty work for them, and given the recent state of the economy, business is booming for Ryan's company. You would think a guy like Ryan has a cynical the world is against me attitude, but on the contrary Ryan is a pretty decent guy who loves people, and life in general, but he doesn't have a preconceived notions of where he should be or what he should be doing with his life. He does what he does not because he likes it, but because he's good at it, he enters a persons life on one of the worst days of their lives, and helps them find a way to get through it with a encounter that may only last for about fifteen minutes. George Clooney gives a great performance in this film. Anyone else might have played Ryan cynical, because at times his dialouge is, but Clooney gives Ryan a sense of complacency that just makes him a regular guy like the rest of us. About some of those themes I mentioned earlier. Loneliness, relationships, losing your job, whats expected of us in life are just some of the themes this film touched on. It handles and examines these things that were fear or cherish in life with such elegance and grace its almost mesmerizing, in such a way that when the film was over, it took me a second to realize it. And even after I realized the film was over I still sat there watching the credits roll taking in what I had just saw. It takes a great film to make me do that, and Up In The Air is certainly a great film.

5 out of 5

Agree or Disagree? Leave a comment and let me know what you thought about this movie, or if you follow me on twitter or facebook let me know there.

one luv, Toinne.

Black Dynamite

Forget Shaft. Forget Dolemite. Forget Coffy. Black Dynamite is the greatest blaxploitation film ever made. The reason for this is because it takes all of the crazy elements from those movies made back in the 70's and 80's and puts them all into one movie. If you saw the trailer for this movie you would first think it was a parody of these film, when actually its and homage, a tribute to a genre of film that has a huge cult following to this day. In true blaxploitation fashion the film is grainy, the color is off, the directing is bad, and the actors can't act, except it's all done on purpose. There are so many things that could've gone wrong with this movie, but they got it right, they got it so right. From boom mics being left in shots, to actors suddenly becoming out of focus, to the jive turkey talk and way over the top action, they got it right. Starring Michael Jai White as the title character this film is apparently a labor of love made by people who love this genre of film and just wanted to make a movie in tribute to those films. If this was just an attack on those movies this movie could have been stupid and offensive, but Black Dynamite is quite possibly the most entertaining film I've ever seen. You may not have even heard of this movie before reading this review, but I'm telling you now, find it and see it, you will not be disappointed.

4 out of 5

Agree or Disagree? Leave a comment and let me know what you think about this movie, or if you follow me on twitter or facebook let me know there.

Sherlock Holmes

Completely awesome from start to finish. That's all you need to know.

5 out of 5

one luv, Toinne

I Am So There

If you watch SNL then I'm sure you are too.

The trailer for MacGruber

Video Games - E3 2010 - Movies and TV

The 2010 Oscar Noms

It's my favorite time of the year. It's Oscar season! For the first time since some time in the 1940's there are ten noms for best picture this year. Every other category still has five, but like it said in an earlier post, 2009 was a great year for movies. It was hard for me to pick just five in my best of list, and you might notice that some of my picks are in the Best Picture category. Here's the list of nominees for Best Picture.

Avatar

The Blind Side

District 9

An Education

The Hurt Locker

Inglorious Basterds

Precious: Based on the novel 'Push' by 'Sapphire'

A Serious Man

Up

Up in the Air

That is a tough list to choose from. Having seen all of the movies on the list except for The Blind Side, A Serious Man, and An Education (I've never even heard of that one) I gotta say this is a great list. If I had to choose though I would have to go with Quentin Tarantino's masterpiece Inglorious Basterds. I know that may surprise some of you thinking I would have chose Avatar, but James Cameron is nominated in the Best Director category, and he deserves it more than any director has ever deserved and Oscar. Most likely Avatar will win for both though. Later I will be posting the noms for some of the other categories, I just wanted to get the big one out of the way. What are your thoughts on the Oscar noms? Let me know in the comment box, or if you follow me on twitter or facebook let me know there.

one luv, Toinne