While Pixar movies in general depict quite the environment filled with colors, hues and images you would only expect to see in a doctor’s office waiting room poster, “Up� really sets the standard. All Pixar movies preceding...
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While Pixar movies in general depict quite the environment filled with colors, hues and images you would only expect to see in a doctor’s office waiting room poster, “Up� really sets the standard. All Pixar movies preceding “Up� always dealt with the amazing or fantastic, either giving life to everyday things such as toys, bugs and cars or adding a certain twist to an already explored world, such as that of superheroes. While “Up� can be argued to fall into either category, at its core it is about nothing more than a man and a woman. Though it is completely understandable that things like the house being lifted by thousands of balloons was to distract you from such.

Without spoiling too much, “Up� takes a route definitely explored by children’s movies in the past (death) and taking it from a different perspective. We’ve seen how emotionally scarring it is to have a parent die, but what if that perspective was shifted from child to adult? Although I came into the movie knowing the exact details of its setup, main character Clark’s montage from his childhood to elderly years still brought a tear to my eye. Having such a powerful setup from the get-go of the movie definitely helps get you to relate to Clark pre-grumpy-old-man as well as helps viewers eliminate skepticism once we finally see the house lift off for the first time.

As we begin to wander into the realm of adventure, we are introduced to scout Russell and dog Doug. While Russell and Clark form for quite the duo, Doug just seems to be there for comic relief more than anything else. As the movie progresses, Russell and Clark’s personal storylines begin to intertwine, while Doug continues to just be there with a separate storyline with a loose connection to the other two only near the movie’s conclusion. Most of the dog-centric scenes seemed aimed especially at the younger viewers, but they helped move the plot along as well as gave more insight into the lurking villain, so I guess they’re not all that bad.

Just the idea of a house floating in the sky via balloons is so Pixar. By this film, you would expect them to begin running out of outlandish visuals to roll with, but thankfully that has yet to be the case. As expected, Pixar has again succeeded in taking such a ridiculous concept and creating a beautifully written story from it.

Coming from a non-fan of the series, I can gladly say that Star Trek was an excellent movie that could be enjoyed by both mainstream audiences as well as hardcore fans of the series (then again, you always have the anal hardcore fans that hate...
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Coming from a non-fan of the series, I can gladly say that Star Trek was an excellent movie that could be enjoyed by both mainstream audiences as well as hardcore fans of the series (then again, you always have the anal hardcore fans that hate anything new, so maybe I should just say "regular fans").

The story plays off as your basic science fiction story, which is a much welcome addition in a time when even action movies are trying to add a hint of "smartness" to their script. This isn't to say that the movie is basic in a bad way; it's Star Trek, so you know some kind of technical gooblah will be going down.

The movie itself is set up in a way that if you were to take yourself out of the viewing experience, you could clearly see that each scene has at least some kind of purpose. You start off with the opening scene, giving a brief backstory of the heroes. The following scenes are dedicated to giving the spotlight to each of the main crewmembers. I was not disappointed to see that every main character had at least one chance to shine. Following is your standard climax and resolution.

Though, I say "standard" in the most positive way possible.

Today's recent films have all been trying to come off as witty or smart in some way or another, so it is such a breath of fresh air to see a movie that keeps itself in the realm it knows best: science fiction. And I must say that even when limiting yourself to what you know best, if it is done good enough, then even the standard can come off as a pretty sweet movie. The more bizarre alien designs are kept as background characters, while the more humanoid characters are your spotlight, with the special effects at an all time high and the boring technical speak at a minimum making for an overall great movie.

At the least, I would say that seeing this movie has made me interested in checking out the basics of the series as a whole and that if I were to nitpick anything in the film, it would be that the main cast is too good looking. Seriously, if the original series maintained a cast that good-looking, I doubt it would have as much of a stigma as it did.

What you really have to take into account when watching this film is that it's an adaptation of the source material, and not a downright copying of it. With that said, the film was actually pretty decent and was nowhere near as bad as certain...
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What you really have to take into account when watching this film is that it's an adaptation of the source material, and not a downright copying of it. With that said, the film was actually pretty decent and was nowhere near as bad as certain other film adaptations out there.

I will say, however, that the film could have gone in a much better direction than it did. The only real reason I'm hoping for a sequel is to give them another shot at actually pulling off something that fans and non-fans alike can watch. Perhaps if something along the lines of the upcoming Star Trek film was done in which the ads went out of their way to tell viewers to "forget everything" previously associated with the series, I'd respect this movie more, but as it is now, it's decent. Nothing great, but nothing that incredibly horrible.

Regardless of whether it's well done or not, practically everyone can enjoy a monster movie. It can either be one of those movies where "it's so good that it's bad" or it can be a genuinely good movie all around. Thank goodness...
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Regardless of whether it's well done or not, practically everyone can enjoy a monster movie. It can either be one of those movies where "it's so good that it's bad" or it can be a genuinely good movie all around. Thank goodness "Cloverfield" is the latter.

Without spoiling too much, "Cloverfield" is your typical monster movie but slightly updated to be on par with everyone's expectations of a "good movie." As everyone escapes from the madness caused by an unknown monster, one man makes the stupid decision to go back and rescue his ex-girlfriend who's stuck in another building. Not wanting him to go it alone, his friends and brother accompany him. If it weren't for the crazy Blair Witch"-ey perspective of the entire movie, I would say that this was a horrible movie.

Normally, I would say that giving the plot the back seat in favor for some kind of movie quirk would be a bad choice, but take in mind that this is a monster movie - it's allowed to do that kind of stuff. With the movie composed entirely of footage from a camera carried around by one of the main characters (the Napoleon Dynamite-esque character from ABC's B rate sitcom "Carpoolers"), it allows for a more intimate feel, letting you literally follow the characters around and form a close bond with at least a few of them even though you know their demise is inevitable. It also serves as a good excuse to leave the audience in the dark about the monster. Though really, I think the less we know about a monster, the better it is - fearing the unknown makes for a different feeling entirely from fearing something that has a complete back story.

One slight downside with the camera perspective quirk, though, is that it may make some viewers a bit queasy, as one movie worker mentioned to the audience I was in before the movie started. I personally got used to it after a while, though.

The movie also does a good job of pacing, balancing all the devastation done by the monster with scenes where the main characters are taking shelter and trying to figure out what to do next. They even go as far as bringing some comic relief into these scenes, courtesy of the cowardly camera man. The best comic relief scene for me was when the characters hint at the type of world this monster attack is taking place in, acknowledging two other movies (and in turn, two cultural icons) that took place in New York.

Like all devastation movies, though, this movie has some things that are just so out there even when considering the type of movie it is. In particular, I'm talking about when one of the main characters' legs gets crushed, yet upon being freed, she can run even faster than the portly camera man. Also, the general concept of the characters being able to run pretty well regardless of all the wear and tear they've gone through is a bit out there. I would have liked at least a short scene where one of the characters breaks down, tired of running for so long. But I guess one could say that the movie stretching the limits of its human characters and not delving that deeply into the psyche of its characters is expected (and maybe even welcome) in a monster movie.

All in all, "Cloverfield" actually lives up to all its hype, putting monster movies back into the limelight. A definite watch and a definite buy once it comes out on DVD.

"Juno" is an incredibly awkward movie, though considering what the movie's plot is, it's definitely fitting.

As I'm sure all the hype for the movie has already mentioned, "Juno" is centered on a sixteen year old...
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"Juno" is an incredibly awkward movie, though considering what the movie's plot is, it's definitely fitting.

As I'm sure all the hype for the movie has already mentioned, "Juno" is centered on a sixteen year old struggling with the difficulties of being pregnant. With that in mind, one would assume that the movie would focus on predictable plot points: choosing whether abortion should be considered, taking in mind the two teenagers involved with the birth, the reactions of their parents... stuff like that. But like all "mainstream indie"� movies, "Juno"� decides to give all those the backseat in favor of something unexpected.

I think that's when "Juno" went from "the best movie of 2007" to "just pretty good" for me.

The movie tends to jump between the major plot of making sure that the adoptive parents are living up to what they are expected to be to what I expected to be the major plot of Juno trying to deal with her relationship with her casual friend (and father of the to be born child) Bleaker. The first plot makes a point of showing how different the goals of both parents are and how that will change how Juno's child will be raised. On the other hand, there's the campy little story between Juno and Bleaker, the two hormonal teenagers whose rash decision was what started the movie in the first place. While both little story arcs are interesting enough, the first ends rather strangely, as if the writer was telling the audience "That's life. Accept it!" while the second seems to compensate for that by trying to create the cheesy ending that everyone was expecting. Maybe if they were to stick to one theme or the other, I would have liked it better.

As for the actual character for whom the movie is named after, imagine the one overly surly kid in your class... except cuter. Some may think that her lines are way too "mature" and overly witty when considering her age, but I don't find a problem with it. I mean, haven't cartoons featuring kids as the main characters been doing the same thing for years?

In conclusion, "Juno" is a pretty decent movie, but don't let the trailers and other hype out there mislead you. It's definitely nothing you would have imagined it to be.

"Order of the Phoenix," although an enjoyable enough movie, could have been much better if they fleshed out the scenes more instead of providing a quick glimpse of something without much supporting background information or commentary....
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"Order of the Phoenix," although an enjoyable enough movie, could have been much better if they fleshed out the scenes more instead of providing a quick glimpse of something without much supporting background information or commentary. To make an analogy, this fifth HP movie is like comparing a paragraph to bullet points; both share the same information, but the latter does not go into as much depth, only providing a general idea.

The general plot is that the Ministry of Magic is preventing the public from believing the horrible turn of events that happened in the previous movie, in particular the death of student Cedric Diggory. However, the movie chooses to bundle this entire plot into one person, Dolores Umbridge, and focused exclusively on her and her various decrees passed in order to keep the peace. While one could say that that is the major plot of the story, it seemed like a bad move to shove all the other side plots aside for the sake of the major one, especially since even the main plot wasn't that well supported and molded. It would have been better if they were to keep with the same template of the other movies: portraying the school year at the wizarding school of Hogwarts and eventually delve further and further into the plot.

Others, me included, also mention that the movie seemed much shorter than the previous ones, or at the least, that they wanted to see more developed. The numerous uses of flashbacks further illustrates how short the movie was (if said flashbacks weren't there). Instead of providing smooth transitions into each scene, "Order of the Phoenix" tends to jump from scene to scene, without taking much down time in the form of school classes, or fire-side chats in the dorm rooms. The film seemed almost as eager to move to the next scene as HP fans were to see this film. Some additional scenes to at least flesh out everything that has happened so far would have been appreciated.

Another point I must bring up is Kreacher the house elf. Word on the street says that he was kept on Rowling's suggestion, who said that his not being there would make it pretty difficult for some loose ends to be fully tied when the seventh and final movie finally comes about. But the way he was treated in the movie was such that it seemed like he was merely inserted there at the last minute and not given any role of any importance but to just be there. As for Dobby, the other house elf, his role in the movie of discovering the Room of Requirement has again been taken over by Neville. Apparently the two are interchangeable in that sense. And as long as I'm talking about characters, newcomer to the series Luna "Loony" Lovegood could have done so much more, but like the movies plot was merely okay with what she was given to work with.

In a nutshell, "Order of the Phoenix" could have used more plot development and "down time" to serve as transitions between every action oriented scene. Sure, it's an enjoyable movie, but I've grown to expect more than "enjoyable" from the HP movie series.

I gave into all the hype of this movie and decided to see it opening day. I just saw the previous movie only a few hours beforehand, and was expecting something epic. And I guess I was not let down in terms of that. But in comparison to the second...
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I gave into all the hype of this movie and decided to see it opening day. I just saw the previous movie only a few hours beforehand, and was expecting something epic. And I guess I was not let down in terms of that. But in comparison to the second (and even the first) Pirates movie, this third installment was only okay.

The movie opens with a dramatic scene showing all the people (innocents mostly) being hanged for crimes of helping a pirate, or being one themselves. They even went as far as hanging a child. With such a sad tone set, I would have expected the ending to be just as sad. I mean, isn't this movie supposed to explain why all the pirates died out? By the end of the movie, you were given the impression that there were still some pirates out there and that they would continue existing in this world for some time. But the movie does not even do a good job of making a point of that and instead focuses more on the relationship between Will and Elizabeth. Most say the end of the movie is sad because of what happens between those two, but I really don't see what is so sad about that. I mean sure, it's sad, but it was not the same sad I was looking for when the movie began.

As for all you Jack fangirls, don't worry, he gets quite the amount of screen time as well as some random scenes with only him in them. I didn't particularly enjoy (much less get) those scenes, but I'm sure the Jack fanbase was pleased.

The movie also relies on some elements of magic and legend, which went way over my head and only felt that it dragged the movie on. It also tends to divide the entire movie into smaller stories, each with a little objective of their own, dragging the movie even longer. The hour-ish long fight also took away from the movie. That is one of the bigger factors I do not like about some action movies. Their fight scenes take up close to a third of the movie. Was it really that necessary to include the entire battle into the movie? I say they should have put it in the DVD release as an extended scene to save the rest of us the time.

Did I say this movies' plot was to explain why the pirates died out? I do not even think the movie did that. And if they did, I must have blinked during the fight scene or something. I'm sure a fan of the movies can find and explain the movie's plot much better than I could. The movie is more of a string of fight scenes put together with some dialogue inserted at some points to transition between each one.

One thing I actually enjoyed from the movie was that each of the three protagonists had a clear objective of their own to finish by the end of the movie. So, you won't be disappointed in terms of character development, I guess.

If you are a fan of the past two series, then I'm sure you will not be disappointed with this movie. It is the casual fans that I am most worried about. If you fall in that category and have seen the past two movies, then I suggest this as a rental only. That way, you can at least do something else in the comfort of your own home while watching this near three hour long film.

As a modern day version of the movie Hitchcock's Rear Window, Disturbia does a good job of balancing the elements of thriller and some bits of comedy. Not having seen that many thrillers myself, I'm not sure how the movie stands against other...
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As a modern day version of the movie Hitchcock's Rear Window, Disturbia does a good job of balancing the elements of thriller and some bits of comedy. Not having seen that many thrillers myself, I'm not sure how the movie stands against other thriller movies. Regardless, the movie is at least worth seeing once.

Not knowing the entire story, I figured the movie would go in one of two directions: 1) the idea of a killer being in the neighborhood was nothing more than a figment of the main character's imagination (being cooped up in your house will do that to you) or 2) the threat is real, but nobody will believe the main character due to his reputation which he put upon himself. The movie does a good job of leaving you in the dark about which path it will take until the very end. Though, at one point, the movie does try to persuade you into thinking it's the first option, when the expected killer talks about how a heightened sense of paranoia has came about in this post 9/11 world. Then again, he's the bad guy, so that's what you'd expect him to say.

The slight pinch of introducing some teenage drama and mischief serves well in keeping the movie from being too serious and gives a small window into Kale's life. Though I'm on the fence as to whether the whole romantic thing was really necessary or not. I guess it gives some kind of hope that the ending will end happily. Aaron Yoo also does a good job as the comic relief guy, and as another user has said, steals every scene he's in. I mean once the movie ended, his character was the only name I remembered without looking at a list online.

As for how scary the movie is, the way the scenes were put makes the viewer aware of anything that's going to happen a couple seconds before it actually happens. For example, when the expected killer isn't seen for some time, chances are he'll pop out sooner than later. It doesn't really take away from the movie, though.

My only major problem with the movie was the amount of blatant product placement (Coke, Xbox 360, PSP, Apple/iTunes...). To me, it just makes the movie that much less timeless.

I'd probably buy (or at least rent) this movie once it comes to DVD, even though I'm aware of all its twists and turns. Though I'm skeptical as to whether this movie will be timeless and make a name for itself among the other famous movies out there.

This is definitely the worst of the three Spidey movies. As predicted, the addition of two more bad guys than called for brought the plot down severely, which is a real shame since I was really hoping that all the hype wasn't for nothing.
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This is definitely the worst of the three Spidey movies. As predicted, the addition of two more bad guys than called for brought the plot down severely, which is a real shame since I was really hoping that all the hype wasn't for nothing.

In the third Spidey installment, Peter Parker has to deal with his inner demons, his love life, his relation with the city as its defender, and his relation with his buddy, who's one of the three baddies he faces off against. That's quite a lot of things on his plate to finish in just one movie. So naturally, the plot has to jump around from one thing to another a little too quickly, causing some of the things intended to be real tear-jerkers to end up as well... nothing special.

Of the three baddies in the film, the sandman seemed to be the most out of place. He was merely used as a minor example in the sewer fight scene to demonstrate how "revenge is like a poison" to the newly emo-fied Parker. But the movie does a much better job of demonstrating that same point with the fight with long time friend, Harry, who was (to my surprise) my favorite bad guy in the movie. His strong bond with our favorite neighborhood Spider-Man was done so well that I was disappointed when it was overshadowed by the other two villains. If Harry was the only villain in the movie, then the movie may have been able to match its predecessors. I mean, the writers even made a point of bringing the trilogy full circle with a funeral scene at the end to reflect the one in the first movie. But instead, all that is tossed in with the other side-plots and mixed together to make a mediocre second sequel.

As for fan favorite Venom, the (not first, not second, but...) third villain in the movie, his role was almost as bad as the sandman's. If it wasn't for the fact that he and Spidey both suffered from the control of the alien (that's right, an alien is introduced to the movie) symbiote, then he would have been just as out of place as sandman. Like Harry, Venom could have easily bettered the movie if he were the only villain in the movie. If the movie really made a point of contrasting how Peter eventually learns to fight back against the symbiote, with how Eddie, who competes against Peter as photographer for the city paper, willingly embraces the symbiote's dark powers, then the movie could have easily matched the past two movies.

My hope for Spider-Man 3 was for the loose ends with Harry's revenge to be completely tied up and for the appearance of Venom to be held off until the next movie, with a cliffhanger ending showing a little glimpse of him, similar to what the trailer for the third movie did. Heck, they could have settled with two villains (Harry and Venom) and still create a movie better than this one. Instead, we viewers are left with this jumbled up bag that seems more like a "made-for-TV" movie than an actual one.

What I especially found strange in this movie was that it had a lot more humor in it than the previous two movies. By the time the French waiter started with his antics, I began to get a little suspicious. Perhaps the excess humor is being used to cover up everything wrong with the film? Regardless, it's just something that really stood out for me that I found a little strange; I like the humor in my action movies at a minimum and only used to try and ease the gloomy mood in a scene.

This movie had the potential of becoming just as good as the first two Spidey flicks, but decided to fill its plate to the brim by assuming that three movies would be their limit and that they had to cram in as much things as possible. I could imagine that conversation now: "Okay, we've gotta tie those loose ends with Harry, give into the fanboys and include Venom, and throw in a random third bad guy because... well Spider-Man 3 with only two bad guys doesn't make sense, does it?" Well, one bad guy in the second film didn't make it any worse, so why not continue with the pattern in the third one?

Don't get me wrong, though, the movie wasn't completely awful. As previously mentioned, it does a good job of handling Harry and Peter's friendship that you really feel for Peter when you realize that he has to fight his best buddy. And umm... as always, the fight scenes were well done and fun to watch. My only gripe with the last fight scene was that I found it hard to believe that a news reporter and a huge crowd of people would simply gape at the entire fight even when ol' Spidey looked like he was about to lose. You'd think that the possibility of a villain laying your city to ruin would be initiative for you to start packing your bags and booking a flight to the next state over. If the crowd showed more support for their city's protector, then maybe I would have been more understanding.

Consensus? This movie is definitely a rental for most, unless you're hardcore and want to finish your DVD collection.

With the franchise being resurrected through the new actions cartoon, a movie was the logical next step. After watching the movie, I was very confused as to why so many newspapers gave it such a bad review. Sure, there were some plot-holes, but...
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With the franchise being resurrected through the new actions cartoon, a movie was the logical next step. After watching the movie, I was very confused as to why so many newspapers gave it such a bad review. Sure, there were some plot-holes, but that's expected when making a story like this.

The average plot of the story is about an immortal man who tries to make peace with his siblings, and have all of them give up their immortality along with him, only to have them strongly refuse resulting in a huge battle. This does a great job of mirroring the relationship of Winters (the immortal guy) with the turtles. And amazingly enough, they're actually acting like teenagers with the proper amount of angst, rivalry, and inappropriate jokes. Sadly, the bulk of this is with Raphael and Leonardo, but at least Donnie and Mikey get a few lines in edge-wise.

As for the graphics, I really enjoyed them. The art style reminded me of the doodles some of my classmates would draw of people with lanky bodies and huge semi-anime eyes. It works, though, and makes the tough guys look tough, and the girls cute looking. I especially like how the turtles jumped around in the air, stopping at the peak of their jump slightly longer than expected to make it look that much cooler. Small details like the shine in Leo and Raph's weapons and the hair movements are a nice touch, as well.

As for the voices, they all match and don't sound off at all. I especially like Karai's slight accent. It makes it that much more eerie when she hints at the return of her master (and a sequel movie).

Consensus? The movie was good enough to get me back into the series at least for a while.