The Shining Review

I loved The Shining. That's basically to be expected at this point. This movie is an adaptation of a popular Steven King book, and while it veers off from the book it is still fantastic storytelling. The frights from the creepy twins, redrum, and "Here's Johnny!" never fail to make my skin crawl. I would highly recommend this movie to anyone who likes Horror/Thriller movies or anyone who loves a good story. Jack Nicholson's performance as Jack Torrance is one the greatest I have ever seen. Nicholson never fails to amaze me with how much he gets into his characters. He genuinely scares me and I have to admit this movie made me watch with the lights on. The atmosphere of this movie was perfect with the freezing winter at a hotel being the perfect locale for the story. Stanley Kubrick takes King's story and perfectly translates it into film. The Shining is easily one of the greatest movies I've ever seen if not of all time. The Shining is not for the faint of heart, but anyone interested in fantastic film work and lighting, a riveting creepy performance by Nicholson, or a great story should see this.

The Godfather Movie Review

The Godfather is a movie about New York mob bosses in the 1940’s. It follows the transition of power from father to son in the Corleone family and the circumstances surrounding that. I labeled this movie as a Loss of Innocence film.

The Godfather is one of those movies that everyone knows – it’s alluded to in movies and TV shows on a regular basis. And when I watched the movie over the weekend, I understood why – Michael’s transition from innocent college kid to manipulative mob boss is remarkable, and Al Pacino plays to part incredibly well. As each event unfolds within the story, Michael gets a little bit more serious and manipulative; Pacino nailed this, even down to his speech. But part of what makes the film so good is the contrast between Michael and Vito – as Michael is slowly losing his innocence and becoming more like his father, Vino is slowly regaining his innocence as he gets closer and closer to his death. This contrast shows not only the transition of power, but the fact that Michael is the son that is most like his father and therefore the best person to take over the “family business.”

I gave this movie 4.5 stars out of 5. It’s one of those movies that I thought I would build up in my head from all the hype, and then watch it and be disappointed. But the movie surpassed my expectations and is one of the better movies I have seen.

-Caroline

Some places are like people: some shine and some don't

The Shining portrays the story of a man, Jack, who takes his family to an abandoned, haunted hotel in the attempts to write a new novel. Along with his wife Wendy and schizophrenic son Danny, they arrive at the Overlook Hotel in the hopes of Jack writing his novel in the serenity of the mountains. As Jack arrives at the hotel to scope out his new home, the manager informs him that Overlook is haunted by the murders of a woman and her two daughters. Jack promptly states that this will not be a problem, but back at the house Danny’s “shining” Tony seems to imply there’s something else in store. One day as Danny cruises down the narrow hotel halls; Tony begins to take over muttering the iconic word: “redrum”. Wendy goes to the study to check on Jack to find him passed out in front of his typewriter. She looks at his pages to find that he has not been writing a novel at all, but the phrase "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," or rather: an unstable boy. She finds out alcoholic Jack has been transformed into a homicidal maniac with an axe to grind.

The Shining was everything I was promised. After hearing reference after reference to this classic, once it was suggested I finally decided to watch it. It was not the kind of movie that would leave you quaking in your sheets, but the kind that will give you chills as you read the words, “redrum” on the mirror of Wendy’s vanity. With the help of the musical score, I knew exactly what every scene was going to entail. It was just when the horror would occur that kept me on my toes. This movie is not about ghosts and hauntings but about the constant fear of going insane and discovering the only monster you should fear is yourself. I give this a solid 4.7/5 naked old ladies. 

The Shining

            The Shining follows Jack Torrance and his family, who are the winter caretakers of the Overlook Hotel, a very secluded summer resort in Colorado.  It’s very confusing, but basically Jack’s kid has the shining, basically a telepathic communication ability, and he sees many things, mostly regarding the former winter caretaker murdering his family and himself.  Jack goes crazy in the hotel for some unexplained reason and tries to kill his family because a ghost bartender or a hallucination told him to.  There are so many unexplained things in this movie, but it was still very well made.  Suspense in almost used constantly once the story gets going, many times leading to nothing at all.  Jack Nicholson does a fantastic job playing someone who goes crazy.  The major theme in this movie is Man VS. Himself.  Jack has an internal battle as he sees ghosts or hallucinates or something—he has to fight going crazy.  His son has inner turmoil because of the shining, and goes between being normal and crazy.  Although this film is confusing, it is well done. I would give it a 4.5 out of 5.

The Shining

Not going to lie, I got pretty excited when the first movie listed for this week’s review choices was The Conjuring, and the fact that it didn’t make the cut was disappointing, but I went for what I thought would be the next best thing.

I have to say, The Shining was better than I expected it to be. While it is not one of my favorite movies, there were many parts to appreciate and others…not so much. I was afraid I would be surrounded by bad acting aside from Jack Nicholson, who, once again, had an excellent performance, especially considering the scene at the hotel with the corporate employees felt tasteless, as well as the mother’s acting early on. However, acting only improved, and kudos the child actors who were certainly on their game. But that’s not all!

The Shining was particularly heavy on one theme: Man vs. Himself. I think that’s pretty obvious. There’s a whole lot of mental struggling in this movie. At first I thought the music was out of sync with the actions of the characters, but I realized that it seemed fitting because it matched the mental state of each of the characters that particular scene was focusing on. Even if it looked temporarily happy on the outside, the music was dark because of the struggle of Danny and Tony, Wendy and her (what used to be) irrational fear of Jack’s potential abuse, or Jack and his desperate need for both attention and isolation together. Anything that had to do with the characters or their connection to the shining was a mental struggle, and they were internal in that character specifically. Jack Nicholson and the rest of the cast (but mostly Nicholson), portrayed the mental decay in such a successful way that the performances were what kept me interested. The movie opens with Jack in a suit having a discussion about near success in his future, and yet Jack’s last lines go a little something like “Wyaghahnyaghahgygh” while he limps and angrily flails an axe until he has nothing left in him. You can see the insanity in his face quite clearly actually.

I said I thought it was much better than I expected it to be for a reason. Considering this movie was released in 1980, I thought it would be safe to assume it would fall short in some areas of production from movies today, but this movie was on par with many films of today. I was extremely impressed with cinematography. It looked gorgeous at the beginning with the scenic shots, but at the same time conveyed the isolation they were going for. I was especially impressed with the first tricycle scene in the hallway. The fact that it was one continuous shot would still be challenging to pull of today, and the lack of shaky cam made the journey at Danny’s level feel like a really great scene.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t scared. It was a little predictable, and they never quite built up enough angst, because they were too busy building up the angst of the characters on screen instead of the people in the audience. I want to avoid saying cliché in this case because it definitely has been an inspiration to a lot of scary movies for today, and considering the reputation of horror movies today it hasn’t been done as well since, but even though they were setting the stage for the genre, it still had places to go yet, and there were ways to improve. It also did not help that they tried to distract attention away from what would be considered the “main” storyline, of many. I’m all for complex stories, but they have to been done well, and that means not to go overboard with it too. The Shining raised a lot of questions, and although I was able to create my own answers to the questions, instead of feeling like I had any support to my theories, it felt like it was all just rampant speculation, and that I could be flat out wrong. Overall I’d give this movie a 3.5/5 because it was decent and intriguing at least, and certainly has become iconic (and I never find it nice to bash an iconic movie, not to say that my rating was generous, but, eh). The questions posed in the movie felt like they were meant to have answers but instead were just left hanging, and there were too many of them. But the biggest question I have is still: Who was Dodd?

Kevin Spacey gets a limp and reads some posters: A review of The Usual Suspects By "Sam Hayes"

So this is technically my second viewing of this movie, but "The Usual Suspects" is one of those movies you have to watch multiple times anyways. The reason for this is that only in the final shots of the movie, is one truly able to understand what has happened, therefore prompting a second viewing to pick up small clues which allow the viewer a greater understanding of the film.
The premise of the film is that 5 men are wrongly accused of the same crime, but while being held, form a plan based on a job one of them has been given. Over the course of the movie, it becomes apparent that the whole plot has been orchestrated by the mythical crime boss "Keyser Soze". From there on out, the story unravels in what seems to be a very linear fashion, until the film hits you with information at the end that prompt a rewind. Once you realize what actually happened, you have to go back through the film and watch for all the little clues in the story line/visuals that show how the scene may be truth, fiction, or a combination of the two.
Really the main reason to watch this is for the amazing twists, which is why i won't say any more about the story, however, the movie also displays wonderful performances by it's actors. Even more than the rest, Kevin Spacey does a fantastic job in his role as Verbal Kint, the dumb cripple who narrates the events.
All in all, I give "The Usual Suspects" 5 broken coffee mugs out of 5 due to it's superb acting, deep writing, and wonderful ability to be more enjoyable the second time through.

Alone in the wildnerness

TOOO MUCH HOMEWORK. honestly i shouldnt have watched this movie, i couldve gotten a lot of other stuff done. Im gonna try to make this quick.  I had the complete wrong idea of this movie. I thought it was like some survival of the fittest action packed type movie, lol i was wrong. This movie is about a guy who lives and survives in the alaskan wilderness by choice. The movie shows you what he does to survive, like making all these different utensils and stuff. The movie is VERY relaxed and peaceul, mainly because it makes alaska look like a wonderland. This move kind of reminds me of walden, the guy who left society to be alone and meditate on his thoughts.

I guess this would be individual vs. society even though no one is agiainst him i guess you could say hes against everyone because he does not want to  be with them. Overall a chill and laid back movie. 3.5 out of 5

Beowulf

Beowulf is about a Medieval warrior of the Geats named Beowulf, who is called upon by King Hrothgar, king of the Danes, to help with his demon problem. A demon named Grendel is haunting and disturbing his castle, and no one else in the Geat's kingdom can defeat him. Beowulf comes in and slays the beast, proving himself as a great warrior and worthy future king. Until Grendel's mother shows up. The rest of the plot consists of Beowulf fighting Grendel's mother, as well as him becoming king of the Geats and his death.

The main theme of Beowulf is Good vs. Evil. Beowulf, the good guy, has to defeat Grendel and his mother, the bad guys. Pretty simple conflict here. Good eventually conquers evil.

As you may know, we read Beowulf in English class. So is the same as the book? For the most part, it is. However, I do not think that Angelina Jolie would be depicted as Grendel's mother. But overall, this movie was pretty good. I loved Anthony Hopkins' performance and Ray Winstone played Beowulf well. I think the director made the story into a great modern day film adaptation.

8/10.

Troll Hunter

This was a freaking WEIRD movie; yet very interesting nonetheless. I was not a fan of the style of filming. The style was very much like cloverfield-- shaky handheld camera. This was supposed to be a documentary about trolls obviously. The trolls were almost humorously portrayed with big noses and three heads. However I did think the acting was pretty good. Once I opened up to the idea of trolls and stopped being to judgmental of the "cheesiness" nature of the film I did end up enjoying it. How it ended up on Dr. Everson's top 5 movies of all time is beyond me.

3.78 out of 5 troll farts

HEEEEERE'S JONNY!'s review of The Shining

     The Shining is the most fantastic horror/thriller movie I have ever had the pleasure to view. From the very beginning the premise of the film is laid before your eyes, this is beautifully done with the tour of the hotel. Stanley Kubrik shows the viewer his canvas in full detail before he ever has any events take place there. The blank slate he puts before us make minds race with a million ideas and from that point on I was gushing with anticipation. Now, the Overlook hotel is most undeniably haunted, but that is not where the eerie feeling created by this movie comes from. The scariest part of The Shining comes from Jack Nicholson's fantastic performance when we see his psychological transformation.
     The Shining was made in 1980 and therefore is clearly different than any modern day horror that you can watch. Kubrik didn't rely on extremely graphic images to shock his audience into fear, there is a certain factor of gore present but that is not this movies strength. The grim of the movie is Jack Torrance's complete decay of psychological being. Jack loses all morals throughout the story, we see this everyday, average, sound man driven insane by the isolation of the Overlook hotel. Another horrifying aspect is Jack's son, Danny's connection to the previous horrors that have taken hold in the Overlook. Even in the start of the movie Danny's 'imaginary' friend Tony gives him visions of a flood of blood that is to come from his transition to the hotel.
     Every character is driven insane by the madness of the Overlook. Jack's insanity is the films focus but it is clear that Wendy is affected in the climax of the film, Danny has a moment when he is possessed by Ton. Even Dick Hallorann felt something because of his link to Danny and the Overlook through the shining. Unfortunately Mr. Hallorann's feelings were ended abruptly via an axe... to the chest. All of these chaos leads up to an awesome ending consisting of a brilliantly shot chase scene. This final scene is immensely powerful and will leave you on your seat the entire time.
     With the direction of Stanley Kubrik and Jack Nicholson's talented eye brows there was no way that this movie could have been a bad pick. I give The Shining 9 lipsticks out of 10, super solid; a must see.

Alone In the Wilderness

This weekend I watched the movie Alone In the Wilderness which tells a brief summary of Dick Proenneke's stay in the Alaskan wilderness. He set out to live by himself in the wilderness for a year and ended up doing it for much more than one. All of the film from this movie is from Proenneke's 16mm camera. The film tells of how he built his cabin, how he survived, and all the things he saw while in the wilderness.
The film may come off as something that only Dr. Eeverson (no clue how to spell) would like but, that is not true. The movie quickly captivates the viewer by the amazing shots of the Alaskan landscape. Spruce trees next to lakes and snow topped mountains all around. After the viewer is captivated Proenneke's interesting personality takes over. He simply tells what he is doing and how. That alone caught my attention enough. The amazing thing to me is that this man knew how to do so many things well. Not only could he successfully film all the landscape and wildlife around him, but he could also build his own log cabin and survive on his own. This movie shows off the beauty of the wilderness and the many talents of Proenneke. At one point in the movie he carves a wooden spoon out of a log in less than an hour. This movie truly impresses me because of how well it was put together. Proenneke would show some film and commentate exactly what was happening right down to the finest detail. He was able to do this even though he was out there for years, he remembers every part of it. This movie makes me want to drop everything and go live by myself in the middle of no where.
I would highly recommend watching this film it captivated me through so many aspects and I'm sure anyone could find some interests within this movie. Whether it be exploration, wildlife, or wood working skills.
I see this movie falling under the theme of individual vs. society, not directly though. The whole point in going out to Alaska to do this was because it was not touched by humans. Proenneke said at one point that it had not been "ruined" by mankind. He is the one person who is trying to live with nature, not separate himself from it. He is different from society. I would give this movie a 7.5/10.

The Usual Suspects

  This is a movie about high IQ set up and killing. Roger Kint is the real Keyser that all the people fears and think that is not real. He accuses Keaton to be the Keyser and set up the entire plot of getting the five of them together in order to get rid of the only person that knows his look. Keaton has considers Kint to be his friend at some place, and Kint says that Keaton is the person that let them in to this big mess. But, as the film goes on, the only survivor says that he knows who is actually Keyser. After his portrait has been fax to the police station, the real Keyser, Kint has already shows off his real identity of being Keyser.
  I like this movie because of the plot and audience has been fooled by Kint for the entire time. Keyser is an unreliable narrator and he makes up the entire story so fast that he could get himself out of trouble. By this movie I understand that sometimes truth is no use. Like the officer, he finds out that Kint is the real Keyser, but he can do nothing about it. Since Keyser has such huge power, just like what he said: "My guess, u will never hear from him again."Keyser has the ability to hide off or become another person.
  Rated 9.7/10

The Usual suspects

The Usual suspects

Directed by Bryan Singer

Review by Aurora, Wang Yi

            When I first time search the name of this movie, I feel this maybe a little better than Platoon or The shining because it is not a bloody movie at least. After I watch this movie, I know this movie is the beginning of the suspense film period.

            In the film, the biggest problem is what can you trust. The answer is you can trust the police. The detail becomes really important on the way to find the truth. At the beginning of the movie, it is the scene of sea at night. That predict that everything start from the sea.

            At the end, when I know Kint makes all the things happened, I think his name Verbal Kint maybe one of the hints. “Verbal” means that Kint tells the story and “Kint” is similar as the word “king”. So Kint is the king hide behind all the false. One interesting thing is that there is no cripple on the poster. Is that also a hint?

            For this movie, I will give 5/5.

oh no what's happening something bad's going to happen...HE PICKED UP LIPSTICK

Oh, The Shining. Where do I start? At the beginning, I guess...

So Jack, Wendy, and Danny are all in the car. Jack Torrance has this perpetual evil scowl on his face for some reason, Danny is an emotionless husk, and Wendy seems completely oblivious to everything. That definitely makes sense. Jack takes the job where he stays in this remote, isolated hotel for five months during the winter, despite all of the warnings about how isolated and lonely it gets. Doesn't even consider the rest of his family. Sounds about right.

As the family explores the hotel, they meet the head chef, who has a private conversation with Danny about people who have a "shine" to them, which means they can see things other people can't. That would explain why Danny keeps on having disturbing visions, but it wouldn't really explain Tony so ehhhh I'm not so sure about that one. At least there is theoretically an explanation as to why Danny is so distant all the time, but they really ought to have made a better case for why Danny acts the way he does, because he doesn't seem like he should be that distant, based on the way he talks and behaves.

As Jack reverts more and more to his abusive ways, we see that Wendy really does know something's up, as she starts to show concern about things. 45 minutes into the movie. Wendy seems either stupid or badly written for the first 45 minutes of the movie, and then she actually starts to act in a reasonable manner.

At this point, weird things start to happen. Weird things that come completely out of nowhere and are never explained. For example:

• Jack sees miniature versions of Wendy and Danny in the scale model of the hedge maze while Wendy and Danny are in the real hedge maze. Not explained.
• Danny sees red water (blood?) flooding the hall with the elevator.
• Jack makes out with a naked woman in the bathroom of room 237. Then suddenly she is an old woman with skin problems. Not explained.

After a while, Jack is told by the ghost of the hotel's caretaker that he actually is the caretaker of the hotel, and he is the one who murdered his family a long time ago. So OK I'll guess I'll just take that. He becomes increasingly evil and tries to murder his family, but Wendy and Danny manage to escape from him. As Wendy is escaping:

• She sees the same flooding that Danny saw, but she doesn't shine or anything, so it must be real? She is later seen on her merry way escaping from the hotel, though, so I guess there weren't any actual implications of that happening.
• She sees the bartender guy and some person in an animal suit. Not explained.

Eventually, Wendy escapes from the hotel with Danny, and Jack dies out in the cold. He later becomes one of the people in the hotel's pictures, which is zoomed in on as calming jazz music plays, completely conflicting with the tone right before that happens.

Let's not forget about those musical cues! Movie soundtracks are supposed to enhance the tone of each scene without sticking out, but I found myself constantly wondering why the music was the way it was. Almost every time the music implied rising tension or had a sudden scare chord, there was nothing special happening. Except for THE DAY OF THE WEEK CHANGING

WEDNESDAY

All in all, this movie is a collection of mildly stressful scenes that don't come together to make a coherent story. If the story was coherent, maybe I could try and guess what was coming next, and maybe even feel fear for what was going to happen to the characters. But I didn't. Nothing happened. How is a movie supposed to be scary when I'm just wondering what's going on the whole time?

I give this movie a 1.75 out of 5 stars. It actually did have tension at a lot of points, so it gets three quarters of a star for that.

It's a Wonderful Life

  This week we are assigned to watch a movie on the top-five lists of Mr. Salkil and Dr. Everson and I decide to go with It’s a Wonderful Life by Frank Capra.  That film basically talks about how an angel helps a compassionate but despairingly frustrated businessman who once tried to commit suicide, by showing what life would have been like if he never existed.

  Technically, It's a Wonderful Life is impressive. A huge, 300-yard long representation of Bedford Falls' main street was constructed, with over 80 stores and buildings, and 20 transplanted oak trees.  This remarkable work puts individual and group interests in tension.  Objected the opportunities for individualist enterprise that are the stock in trade of American cinematic heroism, George is pulled towards communal effort and self-effacement. 

  Whether you view this film in the middle of the summer or at Christmas’ Eve, Capra's greatest movie represents one of the most outstanding and joyful experiences any movie-lover can dream about.

Wendy... LIGHT of my LIFE

Nothing makes me giddy like a little school girl more than Jack Nicholson in The Shining. As an avid Stephen King fan, it brings me immense joy to see his novels brought to life on the big screen and even more so when such a deed is done at the hands of some of my favorite actors of all time. The Shining is a cultivation of all that a scary movie should be, it begins with the Torrance family who become the caretakers of an old abandoned hotel for the winter. Jack Torrance, the family patriarch and provider is a writer in the midst of his big writing project when things begin to go a bit shady as he is convinced by one of the ghosts of the hotel to murder his entire family. Danny Torrance, son of Jack and Wendy, must protect himself and his mother through use of his gift which Jack calls "The Shining" that allows him to see visions and communicate with the spirits of the hotel. With help of "The Shining", Danny is able to successfully free himself and his mother, Wendy, from Jack's possessed clutches in the end.
Ok first of all I love this movie mucho mucho and Jack Nicholson (Jack)'s descent into insanity is outstandingly portrayed. Obviously the screenplay stayed very true to the novel as both were written by Stephen King himself and the story is fantastic on its own. Director Stanley Kubrick (also famous for directing A Clockwork Orange) is known for his unique dramatic style which added the perfect amount of flare to the film. I really have no complaints because, for me, this movie is all that a scary movie should be and has therefore set a standard among all films of the horror/thriller genre today.
I give The Shining a 5 out of 5 redrum's.

The Shining

     The Shining is a movie about a man and his family watching a hotel for the winter.  The man eventually goes crazy and tries to kill his family.  It was not terrible but nothing special.  Even though it was somewhat slow in the beginning, it still managed to keep my attention.  Also, the music helped set the scene a lot, especially when the man, Jack, is chasing his son, Danny, through the maze at the end.  I also thought that Jack Nicholson did a tremendous job in this role.  There were also some things that I did not like about the movie.  While the music was good toward the end, in the beginning it sort of made you think something big was going to happen, then let you down when nothing did.  Also, many things were not explain.  For example, the two girls that Danny sees sometimes, the torrent of blood that the man's wife, Wendy, sees at the end, the skeletons Wendy sees rotting, and the picture of Jack at the in from the 1920's.  I did not really understand these things and would have liked to have them explained more.  I also thought the cook coming back was weird because he died immediately and did not do anything.  The ending was also very abrupt and it seemed like they ran out of money and had to end it quickly; I just thought the ending was not very good and did not have a ton of closure.
     The main themes it encompasses are Man vs himself and the Battle.  It shows man vs himself because Jack is struggling in his mind and eventually goes mad.  He goes crazy then tries to murder his family.  It shows the battle because it shows Jack chasing his wife and sin around trying to kill them, but it is also shown through Danny and the people he sees and his "imaginary friend" Tony.  He fights to try to get them to leave him alone.  Overall, I would give this movie a 2.5 out of 5.  If the ending had more closure and explained more things, then it would be a little higher.

Mansome

What makes a guy handsome? What makes a guy mansome? If you want to know, Mansome is just the right documentary for you to watch. Comically narrated yet factual in its discoveries, Mansome is so strange that it's entertaining.
For example, one of the aspects of manhood that the documentary touches on is obsession with facial hair. The film then goes on to follow a man in a world's best beard competition and see how it is extremely important to him. Yes. This is real. In fact, one of the most interesting parts about this documentary is that viewers are amazed that any of this stuff could be real because it is all so weird. In this way, the film is extremely engaging and definitely holds viewers' attention.
Also, because it is continually narrated by Will Arnett and Jason Bateman with excerpts from Zach Galifinakis, viewers will hear the occasional funny commentary which also helps keeps viewers engaged, especially after watching weirdo after weirdo for over an hour.
When it comes down to the core though, the documentary asks an interesting question in regard to a society that is obsessed with male grooming such as men waxing their eyebrows or getting extreme wigs created for themselves (as shown in the film): what does it really mean to be a modern man? Even though the answer is somewhat goofy and made to be funny, one really does have to consider how manhood is changing from what it used to be.
Because of this, I would give this a 2.8/5 beards. It's funny and somewhat interesting but the strangeness factor is a little much. I would recommend this to people who are really bored and want to laugh at weirdos. 

Josh Duhamel makes this movie good

Looking for the perfect terrible chick flick where the girl cries, the boy makes her feel better, and they end up together in the end? Watch Safe Haven!
While the movie is extremely cheesy, Josh Duhamel is a very fine looking gentleman and every girl in the world wishes she could be as gorgeous as Julianne Hough. So if almost everything else about this movie is terribly corny, I would say that the character selection for a chick flick like this is perfect as both the main characters are widely known for being attractive.
However, the movie proves somewhat boring as Hough--known as Katie in the film--comes to a small town, doesn't want to get close with anyone, but ends up falling in love with the guy whose wife died and has two little kids. Please be a little more predictable. Furthermore, the lines seemed to have been written by a 13 year old girl dreaming of love as shown through the drama spilling from every single character.
But...sometimes this is the exact kind of movie that you feel like watching. And by "you," I mean females. Males...you are honestly very weird if you liked this...someone had to say it. Something about chick flicks give people guilty satisfaction and I won't be the one to deny it. For that reason, Safe Haven receives a 4/10.

The Clique Movie: AKA my middle school years summed up into a book series...

Massie Block is the alpha of a quartet of pre-pubescent girls who call themselves 'The Pretty Committee". The movie begins with Massie's mother and father, the Blocks, informing her that their old college friends, the Lyons, will be moving into the guest house of their New York mansion. Massie proceeds to throw a temper tantrum as the van of Lyons pulls up to the house. Claire Lyons, the Lyons 13 year old daughter, single handedly turns the Pretty Committee against Massie and turns OCD (Octavian Country Day[yeah I'm not sure either..]) upside down. 

So this movie is indeed so bad that it did not even make it onto rotten tomatoes.  By telling you it was directed and produced by Tyra Banks should give you an indication of just how horrible it truly is...In middle school I read the book series, The Clique, so I thought I might enjoy this movie. The very first word in this film was Massie, one of the movie's main characters screaming 'EHMAGAWD" which is teenage girl for "Oh my God". From that moment on the film went down hill. Though I thoroughly enjoyed this movie as a whole; it was the quality that was bad. 

So entertainment wise this movie was great but quality wise....I'd rather eat a pinecone. I would rate this movie a solid 2.5 out of 5 juicy couture sweat suits.

Will Smiff makes a wiff

     After Earth could have been much worse, unfortunately it was tremendously terrible and a rough viewing experience. It was a true shame to see the world's beloved Will Smith in such a boring, and drone role. I wished to take this movie seriously because I remember that the movie had a wonderful ad campaign, now I know this was a ruse. The first problem I had with the film was apparent from the beginning; the costumes were horrendous. Jayden Smith, our hero, wears the same "life suit" through the whole movie, hugging him awkwardly close and looking completely impractical. That was a consistant theme, the sets were equally tacky, they never felt realistic and you could always tell that you were staring at a make believe set.
     Luckily the acting wasn't terrible throughout. Both Will and Jayden had decent performances as far as their acting was concerned. The issue was with the screenplay they were assigned... Utter poopoo. Will Smith's character is stuck within the downed ship throughout the entire film. Not to mention that him and Jayden have some stupid slight accent that was umbelievably forced and pointless. So many aspects let this movie down, at every turn there was another let down. For all of this disappointment I must give it a .375 Smiffs out of 5.

Scuse me... you dropped your cheese: a review of "Battlefield Earth" by sam hayes

So I tried to watch Battlefield earth without any bias from any previous review or comments on the movie I had seen, but right away it killed any hope of being good. The title screen, the first thing any single viewer will see, is a terrible bright neon green pukestain of sci-font tragedy. And then there's the acting. Oh God the acting. The wise old man tells his tribe that the God's abandoned them because they got greedy, but I'm pretty sure it's due to the middle school level acting in this barrel of wooden planks. From here on out you begin to realize that these seemingly pre-historic people are actually just post-alien invasion people who lost all technology through the ages. Then a couple humans get captured but the spunky main character has to go giving hope to everyone and turning the movie into a campy cheese-fest. So basically they break out of the prison and do some things and eventually not only kill the aliens on earth, but they also destroy the alien's home planet.

The acting proves to be terrible throughout the film. It's like they filmed it and decided "yeah we can have a bunch of b-lists and John Travolta... that'll do right? No? We need more? Ok just go to home depot and get some wooden planks" cause that's just about how bad this acting was. I'm not even sure it's a real critique, but the way they cut from scene to scene looks like they asked windows for their powerpoint slide changes. It also looks like they ran out of effects budget because the lasers look like crayon and the explosions look like they came out of a junky iphone app.. The camera must have been on a tripod that lost a leg because in half the shots you're looking up the noses of the actors from an angle.

Yeah, so this movie was incredibly campy and cheesy and completely deserves it's terrible rating. I give it -2 wooden planks out of 5.

Also you have to see an alien female use her extremely long cgi tongue to lick john travolta... that's why it's below a 0.

The Last Airbender Review

Sigh. I suppose it is good that I found a movie that accurately portrays a bad movie considering that was what we were supposed to be watching, but seeing something that could have had potential go down the drain in a fashion that was not entertaining only left me grumbling to myself about every nitpicky detail that went wrong. It does not help being a fan of the serious this movie is based on, but there are certainly plenty of points to address from the point of view of a fan and a more objective movie critic.

I suppose if there were to be themes addressed in this movie they would probably be individual versus society and good versus evil, simply because those themes are overarching in the original series. Themes are hardly developed in the film, aside from taking the core concept of the books and making them three dimensional, this live action film has no development. The antagonists that we are supposed to be given fade into the background to flashy fight scenes that are not even choreographed to look realistic. Aang is supposed to be struggling against society, but his consistent lack of emotion throughout the film throws away one of the only things the film could have had going for it…that they already took from a great piece of work. The themes flop, it was all a CGI and environmental camera shot party, and the overuse of those aspects emphasized the flaws they had in them as well.

Let’s compare this to the show. First of all, they took an entire season and crunched it down into under two hours. In the show, we have some major personality developments, and as we see characters growing, we begin to care about them. The movie rushes everything, and takes away any personality that was in the show. All the humor was sucked dry alongside the nonchalant attitude of Aang so that way they could keep the film moving at a brisk pace, and even if emotion was trying to be portrayed, the child actors in the movie fell short. Even though voice acting is quite different from acting, the superb performances from child actors in the show are crucial to how it works, and I could not see them being anyone else, which made me cringe all the more at the movie.

Continuity flaws are everywhere in this film. If it’s broken down scene by scene, there would probably be at least one in each scene. And, please, do not butcher the pronunciation of the protagonists’ names and key phrases of the universe and then say you want to trace it back to its Asian roots. I’m talking to you, Shyamalan. Especially if you then fail to stay true to the existing Asian martial arts that are actually used by each bending tribe in the show, which, I might add, Studio Mir spent time studying to animate proper technique and form. Instead it’s either flashy combinations of moves that derive from different styles, or straight up brawling that almost resembles a UFC match. Also, it would be cool if the Asian architecture influence would have been as strong as it was in the show too, which was not intended to be entirely Asian in the first place, but influenced by other cultures across four different nations.

With all the crucial information removed by M. Night Shyamalan or the writers, in addition to the choppy pacing and random scenes they attempted to add which, apparently, they shouldn’t have had time for, a lot of pieces of the movie did not line up, and even as someone with knowledge of the show I had to find myself using knowledge I knew from that, and stretching it to something that could almost work in the Avatar universe through inference. They did not have time to fit a whole book in one movie, and did not execute it well. It’s also kind of amusing that there’s no resolution at all and failure to introduce key characters due to the fact that they thought they would be getting at least two more movies. But, alas, if a rampant fan with a camcorder and any budget at all could easily make a more quality film, then I would not let the films continue either. This barely gets a 1 out of 5 elements from me: good thing I had a new episode of The Legend of Korra to watch after that monstrosity.