Disney Nature: Oceans

SAY HELLO TO OUR LITTLE FRINDS! My Rating: ***1/2 - Good

Narrated by Pierce Brosnan, "Oceans" is a visually stunning documentary of a world existing inside of a liquid covering 3/4 of planet Earth. You see it not as some boring documentary (discovery channel *cough cough*)where you watch animals go through everyday life. But it seems as if it is a collection of stories. Stories that have characters, events, and one big blue setting. The main factor contributing to this feeling is the beautiful soundtrack that fits the mood of whatever situation the creature that is being talked about is in. If the creature was just born, it's all nice and peaceful music. But once you see a hungry shark looking for some fish, "Jaws" comes back to you. Either the camera men got the spectacular footage of this film by coincidence or they just knew where to look because the cinematography is so amazing that it seems like you are watching a film entirely made of special affects but then you stare in awe as you remind yourself that it's all REAL. One thing about the film is that, if you have seen enough movies, the music and events and many other things remind you of other films. When I saw a whale swimming half above the water with its fins popping in and out of the surface of the water, it reminded me of the ending sequence to "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" where the "Kraken" comes and devours the ship with its tentacles flailing everywhere. Also, there was music that I either recognized or sounded similar to other movies to me. I think there was one part where the music sounded almost "congruent" so to speak(yes I know that is a math term) as the music of a battle sequence in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix". With all of this great music, the movie uses it to give you the full feel of the ocean. Both it's danger and it's beauty. However, it IS a documentary and I am not a real documentary person but I must give the film credit. But, it still may be just a wee bit boring at some points, and you hear the same voice over and over and over and over throughout the whole film but that wasn't a HUGE problem. Unfortunately, I did have a big yawn towards the end but that also was not a HUGE problem. So overall, there was great narration almost as if Morgan Freeman was narrating it, spectacular visuals, great music, and, simply put, the best documentary I have ever seen(although I must admit I have not seen very many documentaries). It doesn't give you the satisfaction of any regular yet excellent movie but maybe that's because it's not really a movie, it's more like an experience that takes you through a world that exists right under you boat and shows the real complexity and beauty of the creatures who's homes we are destroying with our trash. And you can't help but wonder how the existence of all these complex creatures was possible. But, there is no doubt that it's a beautiful film that has a message that's both green And blue.

Starring: Pierce Brosnan Directors: Jaques Perrin
(many of the animals of the ocean) Lancelot Perrin

The Fantastic Mr. Fox

"THE FANTASTIC MR. FOX"? SAY IT AIN'T SO MY FRIENDS. My Rating: ** - Fair



I have never seen a movie with stop-motion animation before so this film was a first for me. The film producers obviously knew that stop-motion was not a very fun way to watch a film and they were smart and hired the biggest actors for this movie like George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, and Owen Wilson as well as developing an interesting and clever script. However, the film still had it's flaws. The plot is about a fox (George Clooney) who would steal chickens and other goods from three different farmers for a living. But one day, his girlfriend(Meryl Streep) gets pregnant and she makes him promise to find some other line of work. So, twelve "Fox Years" later, the film shows you that Mr. Fox is a newspaper column writer and he is married to Mrs. Fox and they have a son named "Ash". But, Mr. Fox is tired of this boring work and finally decides to forgo his promise and try and steal three main goods from three big, ugly, and super-rich farmers. Soon the farmers get mad and retaliate and it's just one big adventure. The problem with the plot is that (yes I know it's a kid's film based on a kid's book and that these types of movies are just like that sometimes) sometimes it feels like there is no point to the story. The film also does feel a little tiresome but it manages to keep your interest. Acting is absolutely great in this movie and there is no issue on that but the movie still just seems very weird a lot of the time and you just can't really connect with the movie. At the end you feel that it just wasn't all that great. The dialogue is however well written and clever but that just didn't bring it all of the way. But I still have to give props to the producers for trying to use a style of movie making that isn't often used outside of the "Wallace & Gromit" series. Or, as "Star Trek" would say, they are "boldly going where no movie has gone before". And it was a good attempt and maybe in the future there will be triumphant stop-motion movies but for now, we will just say this one wasn't all that fantastic.

Starring: George Clooney Director: Wes Anderson
Meryl Streep
Jason Schwartzman
Bill Murray
Owen Wilson
Willam Defoe

The Soloist

JAMIE FOXX ISN'T FLYIN' SOLO NO MO. My Rating: *** - Decent

Jamie Foxx(upper left) was not an actor who crossed my mind very much. But after watching "The Soloist", you get a glimpse of his talent. As for Robert Downey Jr.(upper right), if you haven't heard of him, this film and definitely "Iron Man" are good places to start. After watching this film, I looked up some info on the true story behind this film and found a video that was a news cast that helps you compare the movie and the amazing true story. The plot is about a homeless man named Nathaniel Anthony Ayers Jr.(Jamie Foxx) who is an extremely talented musician who at one point went to the Julliard music school and had a great career ahead of him until it was all destroyed by the mental illness "Paranoid Schizophrenia" and he soon returned home and then ran away to be out on the streets. On the other end of the line, there is a journalist named Steve Lopez(Robert Downey Jr.) who is on an endless journey to find a decent story as something to write about for his column in the newspaper. One day he meets Mr. Ayers and he finds his situation and story very interesting and soon begins to write articles about him. But just "doing his job" quickly turns into him trying to help him out which quickly turns into One of Mr. Lopez's first meaningful friendships. The actors who would portray these complex characters were well chosen. Jamie Foxx leads you to believe he really is mentally ill when he sometimes talks in fast chatter about random things...mainly music since is also obsessed with Beethoven. Mr. Downey Jr. also does an excellent job. He seems to be your average everyday journalist. So the acting is obviously no issue. The movie does feel a little boring at times though and your attention may start to drift away but it manages to pull you back just in the nick of time before you stop paying attention. But it still is mostly interesting. At 123 minutes, it does feel slow but in the end you are happy to have heard this remarkable story. With one sharp turn to the next, you see homeless people (who were actually hired to play themselves in this movie) in dark areas and shelters who are part of riots and then you see Nathaniel playing his exquisite violin music everywhere from outside to inside, homeless shelters to the outside world, and from hollow street tunnels all the way to Walt Disney concert hall which seems like Mr. Ayers's church. Overall, great acting, story, and actors but is a little boring and uncomfortable in some parts but ultimately is a story worth telling.

Starring: Robert Downey Jr. Director: Joe Wright
Jamie Foxx
Catherine Keener

Clash of the Titans

THE CLASH BEGINS! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! My Rating: ***1/2 - Good

The remake of 1981's "Clash of the Titans" has finally arrived. With great special affects as its strongest point, you can obviously tell that it could have been done better. The plot is set in ancient Greek Mythology and a boy named Perseus was found as a baby adrift at sea inside a coffin with his mother. The fisherman who found him raised him along with his wife. It was during a time when mortals were beginning to question the Greek gods and a war is started. One day, Perseus's whole family is killed by Hades for no real reason other than the fact that he was angry. So, Perseus is rescued by soldiers and is taken to the city of Argos where Hades crashes a party and threatens to release the Kraken, a giant sea creature made by Hades's own flesh that was once used to kill the Titans long ago unless they sacrifice Andromeda, princess of Argos. So, Perseus finds out he is the son of Zeus and he and some soldiers from Argos set out on a quest to find the Fates who are supposed to be able to see the future and figure out how to defeat the Kraken before it's too late. This journey has the perfect set-up for some great special affects. Fortunately, it was used perfectly. The special affects were just astounding and I can only imagine how good it is in 3-D. You get to see many things from Greek mythology that are purely made of special affects and it is just pure amazing. The acting in this movie is also good. Sam Worthington(Perseus) as I can already tell is on his way to being a big-time actor. He almost did as good a job in this film as he did with his starring role in "Avatar". The movie is a little slow sometimes though and is just not very interesting. And it's weird because during his quest he has all of these battles that he struggles to win but then towards the end, he seems to take out creatures ten times the size of ones earlier in the film with barely a struggle. But overall, the acting is good, the story is good, the special affects are amazing but sometimes the movie loses it's pace a little and how much you like it is somewhat effected by whether or not you like fantasy/action movies. But I guess I have more of a tolerance for movies like this than most people.

Starring: Sam Worthington Director: Louis Leterrier
Gemma Arterton
Liam Neeson
Ralph Fiennes
Danny Houston
Alexa Davalos

Fanboys

I SALUTE YOU DIE-HARD STAR WARS FANS!...AND, WELL, THESE GUYS TOO. My Rating: **** - Great

Who knew that one group of George Lucas fans would go so far just to see a movie? Well, in the new film "Fanboys", you see that these fans are die-hard ones in this very funny and interesting story. The plot is about a group of friends who are big Star Wars fans and when one of the friends, Linus(Chris Marquette) gets cancer and has about 4 months to live, they decide to do something they had been talking about doing since the 5th grade...go to the Skywalker Ranch(George Lucas's office and film headquarters) and try to steal Episode one(the film takes place in late 1998 about 6 months before the release of "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace"). So basically they go on this wild road trip that slowly turns into a crazy and unforgettable adventure that they referred to as their "Death Star". There are many parts that are actually funny and don't need to be seriously nasty just to get a laugh out of you. The acting is pretty good for the most part. They all seem like recent college graduates who are Star Wars fans but sometimes their performance is not enough to suck you into the movie. The very funny and well-built story line carry on through most of the movie and you get to see them get into a brawl with some "Star Trek" fans and one of them tries to call time-out and you see them get signaled to pull-over but the driver ends up pressing a "hyper-speed" button built into his car and go super-fast and crash into a billboard and the hole is the shape of Darth Vader's helmet and the rear lights of the van look like his eyes. But, even after all of that, towards the end it tends to focus on the deeper pieces of the film and it's almost like they are putting a cherry on top of a giant mound of ice-cream. Overall, the movie is funny and well-rounded and especially Star Wars fans like me along with everyone else, should watch this and probably will become fanboys of "Fanboys".

Starring: Sam Huntington Director: Kyle Newman
Chris Marquette
Dan Fogler
Jay Brauchel
Kristin Bell