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The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

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So what do we have here, Peter Jackson directing another epic story from J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit. I for one never read the book, but read all Lord of the Rings story and I find it fascinating. However Peter Jackson is familiarized with the story as he is former director of Peter Jackson and he also keeps Elijah Wood, Orlando Bloom, Ian McKellen and  Ian Holm (sorry if I missed somebody) from the former trilogy of Lord of the Rings. From this collaboration only a movie as good or even better than Lord of the Rings can get.
The Trailer indicates that beside fun the characters are creating a lot of mysterious and thrilling moments. From what I could peek out is that the story is told to Frodo by Bilbo in great detail so it's like a framed movie. As I know(could be wrong though), The Hobbit was written before Lord of the Rings so is not a framed story, however I think that the whole movie is set to be linked with Lord of the Rings even if the action within has it's action before the great Frodo's adventure.
I just can't wait for the new adventure to begin, enjoy the trailer.

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Puss in Boots

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Trough the whole movie I was caught by the story. The writing crew did a great job. But the main image that got stuck on my mind was the image of the boots... oh... the boots were just great. I could wear those boots for ever and ever again.
What surprised me was the appearance of "Kitty Soft paws", a sexy kitten with a black mind and without claws. I don't remember seeing her in any of the trailers I watched, so I was pleasantly surprised.
I'm not good with voices, sincerely I can see a men act and speak but when it's the voice of Antonio Banderas it's hard to rate the voice interpretation.
I think that both voices, Antonio Banderas' and Salma Hayek's were suited for their characters, and they got the applause they deserved.
Anyhow, Antonio Banderas is already a classic for the Puss in Boots voice as he stared for his voice in Shrek, on the other hand, Salma Hayek is at her debut with voice acting in the movie Puss in Boots.
The greatest influence in this movie was brought by the experienced director Chris Miller. I think that a guy with such an experience is entitled to direct this animation. What I really expect is to see the sequel.



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The Rum Diary

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I don't want to spoil this movie. I want it to offer you the same as it offered me, a wonderful and enjoyable evening.
Instead of giving snaps from the movie I want to say something about Deep (in this movie of course). He is great, from the morning to the evening he is great. His acting is improving on the course of the movie. Even though I hail him for the role he played in Pirates of the Caribbean, honestly he made the movie by himself. This happens with "The Rum Diary" too.
The movie is based on the novel with the same name from Hunter S. Thompson (yes, he is the same writer who wrote "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", also starring Johnny Deep). It can be seen as a resemblance between this movie and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by removing drugs and adding alcohol and removing Las Vegas and adding Puerto Rico.The movie is full of funny quotes and scenes, I for one laughed my heart out. And I recommend Bruce Robinson's movie to everyone.
Enjoy the trailer.

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Melancholia

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Kirsten Dunst is naked, Lars von Trier is again sick and thus, together, they made a beautiful movie.
The movie has two parts and they are both created in Lars unique style. You've probably read that the movie is about a planet that destroys the earth (Armageddon in the Scandinavian style). The movie has a few threads so it's easy to watch and understand, because the pace is slow.
There are some key scenes to watch in during the movie and that attracted me mostly. One in which Justine sees the planet; she is patient at first, but I think the scene has one of the biggest influence through the movie. Another scene is when she is found making a nude tan at the planet's light by her sister. Somehow, Justine gets her energy from the planet cause the scene really troubles me, and one of the most unexpected scenes is when Michael notices that the planet is not just a "fly by" and it's actually coming back. He is later found dead by Clair his wife.
If the world should ever end and catch me alive I would like to have the same ending like the characters in this movie had.

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Limitless

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Have you ever thought about having superpowers? Do you know that we all have superpowers?
Our brain is our superpower and how we use it depends only on us. We can train to use our brain to 100%, or we can take pills to use it. However such overcharging of brain activity is dangerous for our body and life. Like anything we can buy using it to full power over a long period is exhausting and weakening the product. The same happens with our brain, if we use it to 100% over a long period of time it can break and we can loose our control.
Same thing happens to our main character.
The movie tackles the deepest of our human questions what if I use 100% of my body? The answer is exhaustion. Now the movie is not teaching us how to use our 100% of our brain is about a cynical world in which we are just slaves to the one who use it to 100%, but they are not trained to do this they use the brain due to a pill, which like an pill has great side effects. Let's get back to the movie shall we? The main character is a lazy son-of-a-bitch that it's trying his buts out in order to make a living and write a novel. Everything in his life is arranged until his girl-friend leaves him. Now since he has nobody to take care of him(he doesn't receive part of her money) he decides to go out and find a job, but he meets an old buddy in fact wasn't such an old buddy he was mos likely the brother of her ex-wife(so you can see why I called him a son-of-a-bitch), at this point in his life his life changes. That buddy gives him the pill, so he finishes the novel and wins loads of money... yeah if it was that easy. He runs out of pills so he gets back to his buddy, but finds him dead, he calls for the ambulance and you know the time that an ambulance needs to come for a call... he searches for the pills and finds them. Of course he hides them and takes them away. You can guess the reason for his buddy death? The pills of course. The rest of the movie should be for you to view>:).
The crew of this movie really does it. Neil Burger the director knows a little about the world of the movie, assassins, murders, evil guys, good guys. The scenario is familiar killing everybody else so he does a great work the story blends with the real world witch doesn't know about the mere existence of the pill.
Just to make the movie great we introduce to you the main actor, Bradly Cooper a star from the big and lousy Hollywood. He does a great piece of acting and blends with the rest of the crew. Most of them all he's handsome enough to be an artist who writers novels. A great pick for this movie he is.
Another great piece of add for this movie... interesting how to pick the cast in oder for peoples to see the movie, I only watched it for... Robert De Niro. All my respect to his work, I felt in love with his acting since Taxi Driver. He is great, he is phenomenal, and I don't think I am here to judge his work. So I will like you to evaluate it.

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Fright Night

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I expected a horror movie for such a long time, and what I expect is to get me scarred. Fright Night indeed scared me.
At the beginning, I only seen some corpses and said to myself 'What a rubbish'. I wanted to leave, but I said what the heck I paid money to see the movie let's see if they worthed.
One thing that change the whole perspective of the movie was Colin Farrel. He is represented as the hot neighbor who will steal your girlfriend and your mother if he could. In fact he is a thirsty vampire who will turn your house into pieces in order to drink your blood and protect his species. I think Colin was a good choice for the role, he is the one who can keep the temperature of the room cold if he wants to. I am only seeing Colin as the actor to play in all kind of 'keep your temper' roles. Even when he smokes his cigarette or drink his beer he keeps his temper and acts naturally.
You really get scared and you need to keep yourself on the chair beacuse it induces fear into your bones.
For the main actor Anton Yelchin I have only words of praise. He kept his temper in many situations and acted cleanly through the movie. He also stared in Star Trek and Terminator Salvation. And yes Jerry is a terrible name for an vampire.
Craig Gillespie is the one who is directing this movie. He is not well known but he did a great job in remaking this classic movie.
Altogether you can go and be scared at this movie.




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Sherlock Holmes

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It's a great and enjoyable adventure with a little bit of everything. It's a great movie directed by Guy Richie. I don't know why, but I like this director's movies; RockNRolla is a movie that just doesn't get out of my mind and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels also.
Now talking about Sherlock the great detective, the kind of person who comes up with conclusions even from your smell, or your clothes' smell. He is ingenious and he truely deserves the say "Good work Sherlock". The fictional detective was created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and he soon became the most famous fictive detective of our times. Surprisingly or not, the movie is not based on one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories. The writer prepared the famous detective for saving England.
The story is good, special effects are great and lot of work has been done inducting the viewer into the specific times. I was really impressed by the final battle that took place on the London Bridge scaffolding. The detective rose up to his name and solved the magical puzzle set up by Lord Blackwood, who meant to destroy the England House of Lords and the House of Commons.
Robert Downey Jr. is a one of the most respected actors in Hollywood, he also played in Zodiac and Iron Man. He is the one that carries this movie along, his interpretation of the obsessed detective is absolutely fabulous. You need lots of nerves to play in imaginary playgrounds and notice every detail of them.
Jude Law is not as remarkable as Robert, but he is worthy of appreciations in some scenes. I remember the look on his face when Sherlock tells him a lot of intimate details about his wife, and I really felt his anger in that scene.
All in all, Guy Ritchie has done, as before, a great job. And he also brought the Sherlock Holmes sequel into post production. As for me, I am dying to see the sequel.

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Contagion

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The movie will hit the theater in September. The film is produced and directed by the experienced director Steven Soderbergh who is known for the Ocean's series, Traffic and Che. In my opinion, he can handle this kind of movie. The movie is all about a deadly disease that is transmitted through simple contact, and a team of doctors gathered from all over the world is assembled to find the cure. And from what you can spot out off the trailer, Thomas Emhoff's (Matt Damon) wife dies because of this disease and the result of it is that a team of doctors tries to save the world.
The movie has everything it's needed to make it great. Good story, bunch of stars: Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, an experienced director and a good title.
Enjoy the trailer.

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The Adjustment Bureau

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Do you think that somebody controls the world? Do you think that there are some forces guiding the development of the world? Do you think that there is someone there to provide a controlled development of our society? Have you ever thought that we are just some pieces in a big puzzle and somebody calmly rules us?
This movie is all about that. The daily adjustments that are made in our life in order to miss an important meeting so that we could fail our business. The adjustments needed to add a little control in the planet's life and in our society life.
The movie is already described in the introduction and the story is fascinating and that is just because the unseen people from "The adjustment Bureau" are seen by the ones who doesn't have to see them, only because an adjustment agent doesn't do his job right.
Everything goes along a love story between David Norris and Elise Sellas, who are kept apart for the sake of United states, David being a future president, but only if he doesn't get involved in a relationship with Elise. However, the complex story is a not to tell in a few lines, you need to see the movie with your own eyes.
Both Matt Damon and Emily Blunt are playing their characters as instructed by George Nolfi, who makes his debut with this movie as a director. My very own personal opinion is that he made a great debut with this fantasy inspired movie. He made a great deal of work taking Philip Dick's short story and expanding it into this screenplay. The brain melting idea of creating this bigger force, which controls the world by making this small adjustments, for things to work as they should, is just a great come up. You need to see the movie to really understand how things really work.

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London Boulevard

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The director and writer Wiliam Monahan created a twisted movie based on the novel of Ken Bruen. Together with Colin Farrel, he created a cold blood gangster movie. What surprised me from the beginning of the movie was the lack of smiling on Colin Farrel's face. In fact, the only time he laughs, is at his friend's funeral.
From the beginning, the viewer is induced in a cool transition that captivates him and prepares him for the story to come. Mitchel is a former prisoner who is released again on the ruthless streets of London. He has a good criminal reputation so he is haunted by some big criminals in order to do their job. However, he looks pretty decided to being a good guy life and to give up on his life of crime. But the trick is that nothing goes the way it's planned.

Colin Farrel is making a terrific acting. He is a piece in the puzzle. I can't think of a better actor who could be the lead role of this movie. He is cold when he needs to be, he is warm and acts like it, he is very confident in every aspect of his playing. He turned into a great actor and you can clearly see this.

Another thing I want to say is about the former Pirates of Caribbean star, Keira Knightley, who is playing Charlotte, a cinema star, who hires Mitchel for keeping paparazzi away from her. She is doing a great job even if she appears in very few but essential scenes and she does it with great grace and confidence.
The movie has everything a gangster movie needs, brutal deaths, lack of humanity and mercy and most of all, the element of surprise, which is present all around the movie thanks to it's great director, Wiliam Monahan.
I challenge you to see this movie no telling the very last important scene, but I will spoil something... you won't know what hit you after the last scene.



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The Woman in Black

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Daniel Radcliffe will start in a new novel based movie, called The Woman in Black. The first adaptation of Susan Hill's book was made by Herbert Wise in 1989, with Adrian Rawlins in the lead role.

However the movie stars Harry Potter's main character, Daniel Radcliffe on his real name, and, considering his fans, he should maintain at least the same level of acting. He has the advantage of already playing in a book based movies. The trailer presents a mystery, a horror movie.

The movie has a promising story, that focuses on a young solicitor, Arthur Kipps, who is invited at the funerals of Mrs Alice Drablow, a lonely and isolated widow, who lived alone in Eeel Marsh House. A house haunted by a woman called Jennet, who gave her son to the Drablows and never revealed her true identity to him. She actually is the Woman in Black that appears until Arthur Kipps settles the affair. However, it is rumored that seeing the Woman in Black meant that a death of a child would follow.

After the main character returns to London, he marries Stella and has a child. He sees the Woman in Black again bringing the death of his child and after ten month his wife perishes saying that the Woman in Black has had her vengeance.

Enjoy the trailer.



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Rango

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A very attractive animation featuring Rango, the lizard.
So, as you could find out from the above line, Rango is a lizard. More than that, he's a lizard who got lost in the dessert (actually, he was lost by his owner). An alone lizard in the dessert. A very likely dying lizard in the dessert. However, he's one of the cutest and lonely lizards from out there. For me, the movie was a must see. The theater was full and they were very much entertained. Rango is a bad-ass sheriff who is there to fight for the rights of his fellows. A hero who fights against the system even if the system is the one who puts him there. He is the law, and he makes order without concerning about his job. The domestic lizard Rango faces the evil and malefic dessert. He embarks a quest to get water into the town. As the movie progresses, he gets up for the job and done it affecting the local mayor who is stopping water for control and for prospecting the land. Rango's adventure gets a happy ending by making the job done.
But the lizard...he's goin' to die.
The story takes you in a unique universe of th wild west. It has all the western characters, farmers, bad boys, saloon, gold diggers. The atmosphere is intense, because the village in which Rango enters is lacking a sheriff. Rango, who is a terrarium chameleon, has to make a name for himself. He is used to acting because he exercises with his toy fish. After being introduced in the Dirt town by the Beans, he scares away the bad guys ruled by Bad Bill, of course, with some help from a red tailed hawk and an accidentally collapsed water tower. Afterwards, he became the sheriff of Dirt town. He is put to investigate the lack of water reserves. In his adventure, he defeats remarkable foes like Balthazar, the leader of moles and other subterranean creatures, Rattlesnake Jake, who is the greatest terror for Dirt citizens. He finally resolves the puzzle, finding that the city Mayor is a landowner who really wants to buy all the land in order to build a city.
The story and the hook-ups are beautifully inserted in this western-like animation. Johnny Depp is one of the guarantees of the fact that you will enjoy the movie. He collaborated well with Gore Verbinski, who also directed the first three Pirates of Caribbean movies, and with Graham King, the producer.
Altogether, this is a great animation with great details, thanks to the animation crew and a well build story. Enjoy your watching.

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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2

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I just wonder what Harry Potter didn't have. Maybe I was to excited about seeing this movie. At an 'overall' level I was dis-hearted.
The movie didn't impress me with anything. Of course, it has all the magic stuff that the other parts had, but what the hell, it doesn't have the touch of a maestro. I just laughed at how stupid it looks when Ron kissed Hermione; I wanted maybe more, I wanted an epic and glossy kiss, and even if I'm not a real director, what I want from a movie is entertainment, something that this movie has not.
I don't know how a battle between wizards should look, but even Dragon Age has better mage fighting than Harry Potter. Nothing spectacular, just a great deja vu and expectancy. As a viewer, I want the the movie to keep me connected to the action, to make me feel that I don't want to leave the cinema until it ends. I think that the movie deserved a better acting, a better directing and a better created story. The movie has no pace.
I lived my adolescence with this series and more than anything I'm upset that the series ended. I loved the main characters Harry, Ron and Hermione and I'll always be their dedicated fan.
In this movie Harry Potter, the key character of the story is played by . Honestly, I'we seen him perform better along the series, but he's a grown up man now and he was only a child in other series. I don't know if he knew back in 2001 when he joined the series that he will earn £60 millions; now he knows it, and I further think that he will be very influenced by this amount of money throughout his career. I am eager to think that his acting career is the work of his mother, who is an casting agent.
Hermione Granger hasn't got the quality of what she has shown in previous movies. We are all used to her being a dork kid, who always has the answers, but she is decisive in escaping the Wizarding Bank Gringotts. However, Emma Watson is playing it plain and smooth, she is confident in her acting skills and she really induces strong feelings in others acting by her side. The series made her rich but with a modest sum of £10 milion, more than enough to get her up on high heels. This movie completed a milestone in Emma Watson carrer.
Ron Weasley, is one of the key characters in this last act. He surprises Hermione with his hidden wisdom and courage. However the two of them should have been more romantic in their only kiss, for it is decisive in opening the Chamber of Secrets for finding the basilik tooth. Rupert Grint is a strong actor, he also played in other movies while he played in Harry Potter, but that didn't stopped him from playing the role with all his hearth.
As an overview, I found the movie worth seeing only if you are a great fan and want to see the ending of the story. I was not an ignorant of the movie, for I have seen all parts at the time of their appearance and also I reviewed all of them before this one last part. So I wasn't introduced in the world of Harry Potter just now, but for a long time ago. I have to congratulate everybody for making the movie possible and for resolving the conflicts in it.
The director, David Yates, done a good job but he could have increased the pace a little, in order to make the movie more spectacular; in the same idea, the attack of Valdemort's adepts should have been a little more intense and the movie should have concentrated a lot more on the battles betwen Valdemort's troops and the wizards at the school. I don't think that the movie is a bad one, I only think that it lacks polishes in some aspects to make the audience less bored.
However, it is an epic end for the Harry Potter novel writen by J.K. Rowling. She really created an intense introduction in the fantastic world of wizards and spells. She created the world of wizards and she was involved in most of the scenes created by the studios. Great work everybody.

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Rio

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Entertainment is the key word of this movie.
Carlos Saldanha, Earl Richey Jones and Todd Jones created one perfect happy ending story. Even if kids are the targeted audience for this movie, I was expecting something different in comparison to Ice Age, or Robots but I received the same good jokes and good joy. I really like the work of Carlos Saldanha, he knows how to make animation become good work. He considers that the creation of the Rio animation was build around working hard and having hard fun. He likes creating movies for kids that are enjoyed by the grown ups too, so that both parents and kids to walk into the theater and have fun.
The Rio movie is created around a colorful skeet, you can see the color in characters and environment but also in music, because samba is a very specific dance that brings out the colors of Rio de Janeiro peoples during their famous festival. The scenario is build around rescuing the Azore Parrot species.
'Azore meaning blue'
Blue is the color of the sky. Often the sky means escape, but you can't escape into the sky if you don't know how to fly. So, our main character doesn't know how to fly, and keeps coming up with the explanation that ostriches don't fly; as a surprise to himself, he finds out at the end that he's not an ostrich and he can fly.
Jesse Eisenberg is the voice of the main character, Blu. He also stared in The Social Network as Mark Zuckerberg. He was really up to this interpretation. He considered playing Blu as being a cute and sweet character, raised in Minnesota and brought to Rio de Janeiro, fact that cused him such a huge change of culture. He was helped alot by the director, Carlos Saldanha, who is from Brazil. Also, during his interpretation, he felt the same emotions just like the character. So when Blu was put up to the flight situation, Jesse had to take part in playing the feelings of the bird, mostly after seeing what the animators had done in that specific scene.
The movie also contains lots of emotional breakthrough because of the relationship bounded between Blu and Linda and afterwards between Blu and Jewel. From here we can get to the other star of the movie, Anne Hathaway. She is also known for The Devil Wears Prada, Alice in Wonderland, and Love and other Drugs.
She stated:
'Singing has always been something that I've loved to do. I never thought about doing professionally; I always felt more drawn to acting. But, who knows? I mean, I’m doing things that I never, ever, ever thought I would do in front of a lot of people as well, and so anything is possible.'
The director Carlos Saldanha succeeds with this movie to bring out the fantasy and colors of Rio de Janiero culture. Most of the credit goes also to the animation crew who outdid themselves in bringing the idea of the movie on the big screen. They did such a great job.
In my opinion, this story wants to send more than just an adventure. As a parrot owner, I felt a strange feeling and an inner struggle that was convincing me to free my own pets. Most of this birds are caught by poachers and the way they are caught and the way they are sold it's very well described in the movie and makes you wonder if your pet had the same experience.
Altogether, the movie is excellent. Even as a grown up you will enjoy it. Even if your good mood is lost somewhere at work or at home, no problem amigos! This movie will bring it back to you in a jiffy.

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True Grit

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Revenge is one of the most common things which can be seen in action movies, and True Grit is among this type of movies. On top of all that, what should highly be appreciated is the fact that it tries to reinvent a genre.
The story is well built around the revenge of Mattie Ross. She is a stubborn girl who has enough money to hire a tough U.S. Marshal, who would help her track her father. At the beginning, Rooster Cogburn is not willing to accept her offer, but he accepts it eventually. The toughest part for the two of them is represented by the Indian Nations lands that are surrounded by "get back or die" signs. On their way, a bounty hunter, LaBoeuf, aids them in order to catch Tom Chaney, who is also the killer of Mattie's father. Their adventure is thrilling and has everything you want to see in a good western.
The movie is a remake of the one in 1969, which starred the famous John Wayne. The same role is now played by Jeff Bridges, who also starred in The Big Lebowski, Iron Man and TRON: Legacy. I think he was an inspired decision, because he really impersonates a "true grit" hero. Altogether, he is charming, he sounds like his mouth is full of marbles every time he speaks like a real all-day drunk man. After completing this movie he stated:

'I'm hoping this will revive the western'
The Coens make a good western display it contains everything for a success story. The remake of True Grit and the way they see it makes it exemplary. They created more intrigue making Rooster Cogburn one eye drunk man and they even make you sense the smell of his breath. All characters speak with formal diction; this is Coens' little joke that the formal talk merely decorates the savage moral incoherence of the west. You cannot see a 14 years old girl, adventuring on the Indian Territory to revenge her father as an everyday scenario. The Coens recreated the western: if in the beginning the westerns were only for good actors to get in shape, now they were replaced by romance comedy that are much more entertaining, where actors put their cowboy hats only to fool around. Just for reinventing the western and bringing it to a new threshold, this movie must be seen.
Mattie is interpreted by Haille Steinfeld - she is good at impersonating a fourteen-year-old girl in pigtails, who is stubborn and desperately wants to revenge her father's death. Mattie is the kind of character that can really impress you. This makes her one of the characters that must be watched in this movie.
One thing I didn't like about the movie in general (I have nothing personal with it though, is the role of LaBoeuf, who I consider being there when he shouldn't be. I didn't react as his decisions; he didn't impress me with his intelligence or his skills. And Matt Damon doesn't even fit in the character's skin. My personal point of view is that he is intended to be the annoying part of the movie.
However when I went to the cinema, in its early penning days the movie theater was empty so I would rather think that the western is not so well appreciated by the movie communities. All in all, as a genre lover, I recommend this movie to everyone who wants to see it.





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Memento

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A movie that keeps you awake and wondering for days. The short-term memory loss was exploited in many movies, but Memento is by far one of the best. Christopher Nolan, also known for directing Inception, The Dark Knight and Batman Begins, exploits the illness of his main character, Leonard Shelby, in a proper way.
The rewind effect of the movie is strange at first and makes you feel like you will never understand the movie as a whole. It's a movie that has no storytelling, for you can't retell it from the beginning to the end, but from the end to the beginning. As the main story line, Leonard Shelby looks for the killer and rapist of his wife, in order to revenge her. In the wake of the events, the movie begins with his revenge, but as the movie progresses, you can actually see that Leonard is only a tool for other people's murders and revenges. He creates a sort of puzzle by taking pictures of the persons he meets and taking notes of their character as he gets to know them. In fact, at the end of the movie, you remain with a big doubt if he really killed the right person.
Guy Pearce is the lead role in this story and he does it right. Everything he does is in his way of thinking the movie. He really perfectly impersonates a short-term memory loss illness person. The way he handles the transition scenes, when he forgets what he talks about, and the desperation he shows when he really need to note something down, it makes you feel pity for the main character.
I liked how Leonard Shelby organizes things in order to find what he seeks. He also creates a perfect puzzle and seems in doubt about his own feelings in his early search. However, he decides to kill the one who raped his wife.
Christopher Nolan has received an Oscar nomination for this movie. He makes the narrative structure of this movie run in reverse with small flashback sequences. The film's events unfold in two separate, alternating narratives, one in color and the other in black and white. The black-and-white sections are told in chronological order and the color sequences are in reverse order. The director induces the audience into the same confusion as the main character. At the same time, medical experts have cited Memento as one of the most realistic and accurate depictions of anterograde amnesia. So, the director did a great job with this movie! Also, he directed Inception, another movie that resemble in genre with the same type of psychological turn of events.
After watching the movie I tried and wanted to see if I had a short-term memory loss; it's hard to see things backwards but it's worth trying, it's like you will have control upon the future.
Watching this movie can get interesting; however, you need to watch it twice to really understand it. Memento really rises itself at the same level of a high budget movie.

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Biutiful

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You need to lose your life in order to see how "biutiful" it is. Alejandro González Iñárritu captures this in a beautiful way in his film. The movie concentrates on Uxbal, a single father of two, who needs to put order in his life before he dies. He is actively involved in the life of  Barcelona's underground crimes.
Uxbal is interpreted by Javier Bardem who is well known for his appearances in Mar Adentro(The sea inside), Love in Time of Cholera and no Country for Old Men. He loves heavy metal music and he portraits himself as a worker not an actor. His interpretation in Biutiful is very profound, sending to the audience his feelings and keeping you in front of the screen up to end of the movie. He knows when to be desperate and acts like that. He knows when to be rough, he knows when and how to be aggressive and as the main character of this movie he was the perfect chose.
The Mexican and Spanish co-production was shot in Barcelona and took nearly 3 years of hard working to accomplish it, since the beginnings of the writing process. The director was absolutely spectacular by carrying the audience from one corner to another in order to create his magic piece of art. He takes the naturalism to extreme and thus creates a bonding with the audience at a certain point of the movie that didn't break until the end.
The movie is captivating in every sense. It presents an insight of corruption in Barcelona, involving African people who were selling cheap things for tourists and Chinese people working for their living and having as a house the basement of a warehouse. You can see the suffering of Uxbal when those Chinese people die because he bought the cheapest heaters; this is one of the most thrilling scenes in the movie. Even if Uxbal is diagnosed with cancer, he cares for his family as nothing happened and he's like a starving wolf with a starving family. He creates his own black labor empire just for his own survival. He bribes cops for African people, he finds labor for Chinese people in a construction site. The movie is complex and has lots of threads but the main things it underlines are: make peace with yourself before you die, leave your affairs clean and take care of the family you love. Altogether, the movie faces the viewer with death in such a way that no movie that I've ever seen does.
It's a "must see movie" from which you can learn a lot and a movie about which you can create references. It's an example of living art, the art of loving people.

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Pirates of Caribbean: On Strange Tides

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I eagerly awaited this movie. For it I prepared myself with all Pirates of the Caribbean movies. I watched them and I loved them.
The movie director Rob Marshall has done a good job. But he forgot one thing that 'This is the day you will always remember as the day you almost caught Captain Jack Sparrow!' and this is a movie where the captain escapes twice, I mean how can you forget such a thing. That's a minus for the movie.
There is to much of SF in this movie. Captain Blackbeard is some kind of magician when he's on his ship, he knows it and he acts like it. I like the way he inspires fear to all around him even to the audience. The movie theater went mute at his first appearance. I liked the way Rob Marshall inspires fear in that scene. I think is a memorable scene and can only be compared with the scene where Elizabeth Swann exits Barbossa room on Black Pearl in the first movie of the series.
The movie keeps the arrogant manner in which Jack Sparow treats his friends or enemies. And also keeps it's funny rhythm and jokes of Jack Sparrow, Captain Jack Sparrow. The main character is one of the best pirates in the Caribbean seas, but he's without a ship and a crew and I think this is suited for a Captain acting like Jack Sparrow. I can only say that Depp is playing the role of Jack Sparrow and Captain Jack Sparrow is a wannabe pirate. Most likely Barbossa is a real pirate captain, he behaves like one. Also one important thing about Jack Sparrow is that he avoids commitments. We can talk hours about Jack and his adventures.
One pleasant presence is the one of Angelica Malon played by Penélope Cruz. She is the ex-girlfriend of Jack Sparrow also the most probably the only woman for witch Jack has feelings as discovered by Gibbs. She doesn't really fit in this movie, she isn't the type of actress that let's go on the stage, she is to romantic for a pirate movie.
The story continues from the las episode At world's end when Jack embarks on a quest for finding The Fountain of Youth. After Jack escapes from Barbossa and his Englishmen soldiers he finds himself captured on Blackbeard ship. Where he tries an unsuccessful mutiny only to find the power of Blackbeard. Everyone embarks on the same quest The Spanish, The English led by Barbossa and The Pirates led by Blackbeard.
To clarify things Barbossa embarks on this quest only to kill Blackbeard who captured The Black Pearl and made him lose a leg, Spanish embark only to destroy the fountain, Blackbeard and his daughter Angelica want to get rid of a premonition that said an crippled men will kill Blackbeard and Jack is working alone to get his ship back from Blackbeard and gain immortality.
The fights are not so spectacular but they are filled with lots of funny moments.
I won't tell who succeeds on their quest I will let you see the movie.

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Alice in Wonderland

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I am a great, great fan of both Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. They worked great together in some masterpieces of our time like, Edward Scissorhands, Corpse Bride, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sleepy Hollow and Ed Wood. And they are great even when they don't work together like Pirates of the Caribbean(Johnny Depp) and Batman(Tim Burton).
Depp brings a great contribution to Tim Burton's dark creative visions to life in films ranging from animation to horror. Johnny never choses a role based on the possible success of the movie, he has chosen roles which he found interesting. Most of the roles that Johnny Depp played under Tim Burton direction represented one of Burton's personality, a certain pattern or a conflict inside his ego. Mad Hatter is a rather important character in Alice in Wonderland, he is crazy, wacky but most important he meets Alice when she shows up in Wonderland. He loves having tea parties with his best friend, the March Hare, and the Dormouse.
Alice in Wonderland has won 2 Oscars, Best Achievement in Art direction and Best Achievement in Costume Design. Even though it must be appreciated by the press and the critics the movie is very criticized and poorly rated. Why do I like Alice in Wonderland?
First of all is a different view of the same story that is told in many ways.This kind of morbid horrifying thing is an excellent view for older folks and the one's who appreciate art, not for little child's for which the story told by their parents or read in the books should be the best way to get in the Wonderland world.
I must add that Tim Burtons direction and experience with horror movies is a great benefit to the movie view. I don't really recommend it to children's, I can't recommend any of Tim Burton movies to children's, even if I was a child when I saw many of his movies. The movie bears Burton's fingerprint. You can see it in the decorations, costumes and story. You can even smell the movie. The movie sends both smiley's and fear. The felling that you have when you see this movie is making it a great one.
Third is Johnny Depp acting is unique every time he plays a character in some movie you have to see him. He is funny, he is enjoyable, he is great, he is a monster, he is whatever you like. Seeing movies with Depp is a relaxing thing to do on a daily basis. His role The Mad Hatter is just great because Johnny Depp is not just a pretty face. He really explored the tragedy of The Mad Hatter. We all know that he's essentially insane, sad and confused about the world around him and Depp succeeds bringing that in front of the audience throughout the movie.
Mia Wasikowska a native Australian is playing her first important character. The character suffers a Tim Burton adaptation, Alice is no longer the precocious girl we're using to seeing and hearing about in popular culture. She's an adult dealing with some serious challenges regarding her future. Waskiowsca used her own interpretation of that struggle to make her version of the character truly unique. Alice is at this time in her life where lot of people experience something that she's going through. She is very stressed and feels that she doesn't belong in her family so the story is about reconnecting her with her own beliefs. She reread the books in order to have an adult version of the story in mind and see the difference between reading them as a young girl.
Mia states that she loved working with Tim Burton:
'Tim’s really trusting as a director so from the minute that you know you’re cast, you just feel a lot of trust and freedom and collaboration as well, which is sort of all you can ask for.'
Helena Bonham Carter career is in a closer relationship with both Tim Burton and Jhonny Depp as she starred in Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Big Fish, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and eventually in Alice in Wonderland. She also stared in Fight Club and Harry Potter series playing as Bellatrix Lestrange and got an Oscar for her interpretation in supporting role for The Kings Speech. She tackled a wide range of characters. She’s been the sweet optimistic girl, the careless free-spirit, and the beautiful sex symbol. In Alice she stars as the frightening villain, which makes you wonder if there’s a specific type of role she gravitates towards more than the other. 2009 sets her in The Times top 10 British Actresses of all time.
She joined the cast in Alice in Wonderland as The Red Queen, the sole tormentor of Wonderland, who's been prophesied to fall from power at the hands of Alice. She's a caricature in ever sense of the word, but Carter has fun with it and makes her enjoyable to watch. She' a one woman show.  For this movie she wears a lot of makeup she also puts a bald cap on witch was rigorously painted and then the cream of the crop is the giant wig. An excellent play for Helena which was frightening enough to scary most of the child's.
The movie needs lots of attention to be seen. It's a like for the movie and a great movie to re-watch after a while.

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There will be Blood

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A movie that keeps you connected for it's entire length. A multiple layered piece of artistic work. It includes all things that make a good movie. The director, Paul Thomas Anderson, creates a perfect mix of family, greed and religion as seen in the early days of oil prospecting.
Paul Thomas Anderson depicts a perfect atmosphere of short breathtaking shots and scenes of great intensity that surprise the violent way of doing business. The movie star Daniel Day-Lewis, plays his character Daniel Plainview in a theatrical way, very much resembling with Bill the Butcher from Gangs of New York. His role is a very well played one; as a salesman he had to be a showman in order to sell, the way he used his "son" to manipulate the landowners being emblematic.
Daniel Day-Lewis prepares himself for his roles in such a manner that the audience is likely to be impressed. He began to study so much his character that he became a "Plainview" in his real life, 24/7. For the Plainview character Daniel's family was with him all the time, nearly went crazy with this role and having Plainview around all the time, the kids thought it was a laugh at the end to have this different bloke as their dad. Daniel stated that:
"My wife is amazingly tolerant. I knew that from the word go. She just believes, like I do, that if you are attempting anything of creative nature, no rules apply"
The hardest thing for Daniel Day-Lewis is to get out of his character after his work has succeeded. You may ask if this is the key to success? To train yourself and enter your character's life 24/7? I say he already answered that question by receiving an Oscar for this perfect impersonation of Plainview.
The Oil machine he creates is cruel and doesn't care about humans or humanity at all. He only cares about making money and attaining profit, like any corporation nowadays. The importance of profit for Mr. Plainview is causing his loneliness and avoidance, even his "son" giving up and fleeing to create his own oil company. The end finds him dead drunk, killing an inoffensive false prophet with a bowling pin.
The movie is a must to watch for the art it represents. It doesn't have a strong story to tell and you often get bored of the common drilling actions that the movie presents. The character worth watching is Daniel Plainview, who creates the magic; he is "la piece de resistance" of this movie. Even when he drinks whisky he makes it with style.

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Black Swan

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One of the most anticipated movie I wanted to see, especially for Darren Aronofsky as he is an eccentric and overwhelming director. Aronofsky created a masterpiece and thus he deserves all the praise in the world.
The movie has a strong psychological effect. The transformation of a white swan into the most astonishing Black Swan. Nina was a beautiful ballet dancer, with a strong character and perfect moves, just what a white swan needs. Due to her inability to let go her emotions and feelings, she thinks she lost the lead role in Swan Lake theater play. That is until she met Lilly, who triggers the transformation. Lilly was the kind of dancer with strong attitude and charisma, something that Nina didn't have.Thomas, the director of the play introduces Lily and Nina and by doing so, he created a competition worth watching between the two.
Natalie Portman is at her best in this movie. From what I read, she took ballet lessons for this role. She is in the spotlight right now. This role has brought her an Oscar and world's appreciation. "What for?" you might ask. I can tell you for what, the movie touched me deep inside my soul; Nina the lead role actress created a great atmosphere and made you watch the movie with great emotions.
As I said, the movie has everything from horror to love scenes. Mila Kunis and Natalie Portman together, sharing the bed, was indeed an unexpected turn of events. Aronofsky made0 sure to surprise you with the evolution of his characters. Creating a Black Swan out of a White Swan is the main focus of the movie.
The ending was a great set-up. Nothing to tell more, but go see this movie. It worth every penny.

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No Strings Attached

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From the executive producer of EuroTrip and the producer of Up in the Air (for whitch he had an Oscar nomination), Ivan Reitman, comes a new comedy called No Strings Attached. With notable names in the cast, like Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher. The team between Ivan Reitman and Natalie Portman is crucial and one of the best of this movie.The director surprises the audience with this strictly physical relationship between a guy and girl.
This romantic comedy is great, funny to watch and gives you lots of ideas and reasons of thinking. The main catch is the relationship between Emma and Adam, which know each other since childhood. They met again now and they have one sort of secret physical relationship. Meanwhile, Adam is haunted by his father's marriage with his ex-girlfriend and by his father's career influence over his. One of the scene is when Emma comes with Adam at his father engagement "party" where Emma has some rough discussions with his father. However, they maintain the relationship physical until they realize that they love each other and can't live one without the other. Emma is the one who doesn't let her feelings go wild.
Natalie Portman is fit to act in this movie. I remember seeing the movie only for Natalie Portman which I think it's a great actress. However Natalie never played such a "bold" movie role before. She never showed her skin before maybe only in Black Swan( for which she got The Oscar award). She plays her role very well and induces you her feelings and her emotions regarding her relationship with Adam.
Ashton Kutcher is the one with problems and he can't control his feelings for Emma. He plays the role very well, from the movie you realize even from his look that he is in love with Emma. He wants more than a physical relationship and Ashton shows that very well in his role.
The dramatic turn-ups are well thought by Ivan Reitman, making them funny and unexpected.
What's really interesting is that the movie was written by a woman. It's a thing to see the characters evolution as the story unfolds. That's what surprises me a lot since I didn't have high expectations from the movie. At first sight the movie seems to be another teen movie.
It's a great film to watch with your girlfriend or family.

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The Green Mile

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In the year of 1999, The Green Mile was released under the signature of the same director and screenwriter who directed The Shawshank Redemption, namely Frank Darabount. The movie is an adaptation after Stephen King's novel with the same name, with a typically King story and a very consistently high-powered supporting cast. It is a 188 minutes drama, with some strong violent scenes and nonetheless it delivers a Biblical allegory, with stupendous performances from some of America's most beloved. It is not difficult to understand that everything Tom Hanks  (Paul Edgecomb in the movie)  touches becomes a work of art. In supporting this statement, we can easily think about Saving Private Ryan and Apollo 13. Perhaps, one of the most imposing figures in the whole movie is that of Michael Clark Duncan, a very imposing black man, acting the role of a convict, imprisoned for the brutal rape and murder of two little girls. Even if Duncan never played this kind of roles before (one can remember him better from bouncers and football players roles), in Darabount's film we can discover him able of showing great emotional rage and subtle talent for much deeper roles.
The year of the movie is 1935 but the year of the storytelling is 1999, the present. This means, the film tells its story in flashbacks by Paul Edgecomb (Hanks), a former upstanding guard who oversees the death row in the Louisiana State Penitentiary. His acting is very humanistic, receiving his inmates as human beings and treating them as so until the execution. The same case with Paul's colleagues (David Morse, Jeffrey DeMunn, Barry Peppe ) who are generally easygoing fellas disposed to show human and respectful treatment toward the inmates. There is an exception though, in the character of Percy Wetmore (Doug Hutchison). Not only that he is mean and evil-minded, he is also the governor's nephew, so he cannot be fired and he love playing with the prisoners' dignity. But when a very dangerous convict has arrived, Billy the Kid, played by Sam Rockwell, Percy disgraces himself in very different way, including his inability to stop the criminal from an almost deadly attack on one of the guards. When the same criminal attacked him, through the bars, he got so scared that he pissed on himself. In order for Paul and his colleagues to keep the silence, they made a deal: if Percy will be in front at the next execution, he'll be gone to another place, a better job he's been offered.
Everything seemed to work properly in the penitentiary, under Edgecomb's professional management. This until a new convict has arrived: John Coffey. Despite his imposing figure and his enormity, and the fact that he was sentenced to death for raping and killing two little girls, the giant seemed harmful: he was gentle as a lamb, afraid of the dark and occasionally burst into tears.
The Green Mile is a real/supernatural drama in which we can feel the echoes of The Shawahank Redemption. We can look at it's inner meanings and we can find a lots of. The figure of Christ in the person of Coffey is inevitably considered. He is on the edge of his life, condemned for a crime he didn't commit, accepting his situation, in order to change something in the world. For he says : “He killed them with their love. That's how it is, every day, all over the world.” He got tired of being sent by the Good , acting like a saint but never receiving a feedback. 
What again must be mentioned is the attention Darabount payed in what's concerning the visuals and the exact attention for the detail, from the costumes to the lights. The music, which was released on 14th of December, 1999, by Warner Bros, containing primarily instrumental tracks from the music score by Thomas Newman, had also the awaited effect. Somehow it managed to connect the scenes, it worked as an editor. The genuine of the drama was also an effect of the stupendous performing of the cast. The behavior of the guards, in front with Hanks, was irreproachable , exactly the one expected by the public. In the same tone, the prisoners acted incredibly real. There was not a single moment of irrationality in the construction of their parts; genuine acting again. Interesting to put down on paper is how Frank Darabount played with the camera. He focused on every character's face, those close-ups, like he was trying to paint each of the characters' story.
With all these considered, I can't say that The Green Mile has no issues. In what I'm concerned, it could be a little bit shortened. It's true that the movie has the capacity to keep you connected, but though, the three hours could have been made only two and a half. Maybe that's the reason for which the character, Edgecomb, says in the end of the film : “But God, sometimes, the Green Mile seems so long”. And if all along the movie, some of the features were left to the field of unknown, maybe it would have been better to remain so, without their revealing in the end of the film, with the old Paul Edgecomb (played by Dabbs Greer), relating his story to his friend, Elaine. With this little detail and some other, maybe it would have achieved the glory of The Shawshank Redemption. But even so, Frank Darabout did a great job.

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Hotel Rwanda

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I watched it over the weekend and I came to believe that it's a great movie. Signed by Terry George and Keir Pearson and inspired from the life of Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager who made himself useful for the tutsi during their struggle against hutu militia in Rwanda.
Beside Jean Reno there is no great name in the cast, even Jean Reno has a small part in the story. However the collective group of actors with the main character in front, Don Cheadle made a great movie.
When you see this movie you can actually feel all the pressure on the tutsi people. The movie sets you in the tutsi place, causing you to feel all the pain and suffering. Both the two hours are keeping you breathless and scared. The movie transmits all the emotions of the main character upon the viewers.
I won't tell the story of it here, watch it, it's a great 2 hour movie that makes you feel every action in it.
Great work for Terry and Keir who wrote it.