Wreck It Ralph 3D

So for my first new review in almost 4 years (wow I feel old) I will be reviewing the great Disney film "Wreck It Ralph" which just came out on blu ray. As a gamer, this movie naturally appealed to me. I was hooked within the first 5 minutes.

The concept of video game characters interacting "after work" brought a fun atmosphere to the film. Seeing different game worlds in beautiful animation kept things fresh visually. You sympathize for Ralph immediately, not wanting to be the bad guy for once. The relationship between Ralph and Vanellope is very sweet, particularly the scene where Ralph is teaching her to race. This film is great for any age. Parents should appreciate references to their childhood and there are plenty of cute jokes for the kids to enjoy too.

I would definitely recommend this movie. It is a very fun ride, and not one you should miss.

 Final Grade: A


 I will try and do reviews on a more consistent basis, as in more than once every 4 years. Stay tuned kids.

Review of the week: Pixar's UP

It's official, Pixar has kept UP their streak with another fantastic film. 10/10, no other film company can boast that, not even close. Pixar continues to make fantastic films accessible to both children and adults, and UP might be the best yet, which is saying a lot with such classics as The Incredibles and Wall-E on their resume. UP tells the story of elderly gentlemen Carl Fredrickson and his journey to Paradise Falls, a place he dreamed about visiting as a child.

Carl has become one of my favorite Pixar characters. Voiced by Ed Asner, Carl is a sweet man who wants to fulfill his dreams. Accompanied by equally sweet and innocent Wilderness Scout, Russell, the to have an adventure of a lifetime.

The story in UP is both equally touching and hilarious, pulling at your heartstrings one moment and your funny bone another, without warning. Pixar has perfected their story-telling style in the past decade or so and knows which buttons to press.

Not only is UP emotionally engrossing but it is also visually stunning. Everything from the character design to the environments are simply breathtaking to look at. Each person, place, and thing has their own distinct personality and charm that is impossible not to love. The 3-D element is a nice touch, but this masterpiece would be just as tantalizing in the normal format as well.

All in all, UP is simply a movie everyone can enjoy, regardless of age. Pixar has another fantastic movie under their belt, and I look forward to many more great films from this prestigious studio.


Final Grade: A+

Brand new review: The Watchmen

Well it's been awhile since I have written a review, and I thought it would be appropriate to start back in with this great new film, The Watchmen. I am a huge fan of the graphic novel, and I have read it several times. I was, as I am sure most readers were, skeptical on how the Watchmen's complex narrative and characters were going to be transitioned onto the silver screen. I was pleasantly surprised. For the most part, the film was faithful to its source material, except for a bit or two at the end. There were some less important subplots left out, but from what I understand many of those will be resurrected in the Director's Cut of the film, bringing the film into over 4 hour territory. The Watchmen is very long as is, clocking in at about 2 hours and 37 minutes.

Visually, this movie is very impressive. Director Zack Snyder certainly knows how to create a gorgeous atmosphere, as we know from his previous film, 300. There is a particularly great segment during the opening credits, explaining the Minutemen (the original group of masked avengers) and the early days of the Watchmen. It is one of my favorite opening credit scenes ever. It really captured the mood of the time with Bob Dylan's "The Times are A-Changing" playing in the backround.

The actor's even do a good job, especially Jackie Earl Haley as Rorschach. Every one of my friends who has seen it has said that he is their favorite character. I really though the film noir-ness he brought to the film with his journal and ominous voice over carried over very well from the graphic novel.

Overall, this is definitely an epic film that I would recommend to everyone, as well as reading the graphic novel. Visually stimulating, your eyes will think its thanksgiving with all the brilliant images that it is experiencing.

Rating: B+

Quick recap of last week's movies

I did not get a chance to write reviews last week due to being busy with schoolwork, but now I am back, and am prepared to review once again. Last weekend I viewed both Pride and Glory, and Saw V, two violent movies, but one definitely triumphed over the other.

First I will touch upon the long-delayed Police tale Pride and Glory, staring Edward Norton and Colin Farrell. The two play brothers-in-law ( Farrell is married to Norton's sister in the film) who are also cops, and in conventional form, one is good and one is inevitably bad. Edward Norton is trying to figure out who killed a group of four fellow police officers in the line of duty while Farrell is trying to get to the killer before ol' bro-in-law does. The plot is by no means original, but it is extremely entertaining none-the-less. The acting is top notch, especially the two leads, but all around is solid. Besides a plot hole or two, there's not really much negative to say. If I had to put a solid negative thing about this film, I think I would say it is a little bit too long, clocking it at 2 hours and 13 minutes. Personally that didn't bother me, but it may cause restlessness for some.

Grade: B+

I will next discuss the disappointment that is Saw V. I am a huge fan of the series, and this is the first one that has, in my eyes, been truly bad. I cannot say much about the plot without giving it away, except it was definitely lacking in this year's addition to this overly gruesome franchise. Hopefully they can redeem themselves with the inevitable sequel next year, though I'm not entirely sure which direction they could take it.

Grade: D

Max Payne

Video game movies have never been great. They are often predictable and don't usually translate well into film. Max Payne is no exception. Let me just get the pun out of the way and mention it is Payneful to watch. I'm not trying to be cute, it really is painful to watch. For being based off of a M-rated action video game, there is surprisingly little gunplay until almost the last 10 or so minutes of this tame PG-13 film. The plot is completely predicatable, cliched, and does not explain several of whom you might think are key characters. The acting was overall pretty poor. Even Mark Wahlberg was stiff and non-convincing. Even more out of place than the poorly developed character of Mila Kunis, is Ludacris, unbelievable as an Internal Affairs cop. The signature gameplay of bullet time from the video games is only slightly transparent in this movie in 3 brief shots, one where he dives through a door, another where he dives backwards and shoots a bad guy above and behind him, and a slo-mo shot from his pistol. The only thing that saves this movie from a total fail, is the visual style, while often inconsistent, it blended decently to detract from the god-awful plot and even worse acting.



My rating: D

Body of Lies

The latest project of Ridley Scott, Body of Lies, is the story of a CIA agent Scott Ferris (Leonardo Di Caprio) and his handler in Virginia (Russell Crowe) attempting to find and take down a known terrorist in the Middle East. While this idea has been done in several different manners in the past few years (Don Cheadle's Traitor, and George Clooney's Syriana just to name a few), this movie does not suffer from a feeling of deja vu. Both Di Caprio and Crowe are excellent in this thriller CIA tale. Crowe is looking rough, gaining 60 pounds for the role of the corpulent CIA agent.
While the film is not extremely long by today's standards (clocking in around 2 hours and 8 minutes), it did seem to drag on a bit. Other than that, the film is enjoyable and intense. I recommend a viewing.


My rating: B

How to Lose Friends and Alienate People

Let me start off by saying that I am a huge Simon Pegg fan. He is one of the most brilliant comedians of his time. I am afraid though, that after his solid performance, however, there is not much left positive to say about his newest film, How to Lose Friends and Alienate People. Aside from Pegg, the movie was largely unfunny, getting a few laughs here or there, but all together a pretty poor attempt at a satirical look into the life of an entertainment journalist. Along with Pegg, the film stars Kirsten Dundst, who, in my opinion, isn't a very good actress, and a disappointing Jeff Briges, who wasn't really right for the role as the Senior Editor of Sharpe's magazine, and didn't get very much screen time otherwise. I'm not positive, but it really seemed like Megan Fox was playing herself, which is unfortunate because she created a pretty unintelligent picture of herself if that is the case. I really wanted to like this film because of my loyalty to Simon Pegg, but I just couldn't bring myself to enjoy it. It just simply wasn't all that funny (aside from the occasional laugh from Pegg).


My rating: C-

As always feel free to comment on this site or email me at atn5022@psu.edu if you have any questions or comments