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The Ghost Writer - B
Roman Polanski directs this political thriller about a Tony Blair-esque politician (played by Pierce Brosnan) caught up in a scandal regarding some of his decisions while in office. His initial ghost writer (writing his memoires) dies under suspicious circumstances and the un-named writer (Ewan McGregor) is brought on to finish the job. Little does he know he's about to uncover deeper misgivings about the whole situation. He gets caught up in the tornado himself and follows his research to find the truth. I, unlike many others, found this movie to be entertaining, and happily complex enough for my liking, but a little to try-hard. Critics seem to love how taut the script is, the black comedy style of filmmaking and the clever acting; yet I couldn't help being let down to a certain point. I did enjoy the movie, but not as much as it seems the world did.
Story (10) - 8
Genre (10) - 7.5
Characters (5) - 4
Believability (5) - 4
Filmmaking (10) - 7.5
Enjoyment (10) - 8
The Ghost Writer - 3.9 out of 5 yukes
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Catfish - B
A documentary that follows Nev Schulman and his online friendship with the family of an 11 year old artist named from Michigan named Abby. Nev, a photographer strikes a romance with Abby's sister completely online and devoid of human contact. As the story unfolds however, Nev finds out that you can't always trust what you can't see. The question I kept asking myself is, "is this real?". They do a great job of keeping you in measurable suspense throughout the movie, and it almost comes across as a beautiful lead-up to a B horror movie. Some say it's a farce; I say it's a movie that begs the question of our society, "how much trust are we putting in our online interactions, and at what point will they let us down causing our social fabric to crumble?" A bit too close to home, but again, still worth a watch.
Story (10) - 7.5
Genre (10) - 7
Characters (5) - 3.5
Believability (5) - 4.5
Filmmaking (10) - 8
Enjoyment (10) - 7.5
Catfish - 3.8 out of 5 yukes
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Exit Through the Gift Shop - B
Another documentary that makes you wonder if it's real or not. An expose on the outsider art of graffiti artists based in Los Angeles. Thierry Guetta (or Mr. Brainwash), is a pretty terrible filmmaker that just loves filming anything. He gets caught up in the whirlwind of street art and just starts filming. Guetta, who has no clue as to the first thing about filmmaking, convinces the artists that he's making a documentary of them.... duh duh duh... the film leads you to believe he isn't... but he kinda is. Just before he makes his crappy version of a documentary, he has a chance encounter with the notorious street artist Banksy, and strikes a friendship with the artistic genius. Once Banksy gets a chance to watch the film, he convinces Guetta to follow his artistry instead of his filmmaking dreams. Guetta becomes a street artist, and through hype and copycatting famous styles, he becomes one of the biggest street art sensations in LA. I enjoyed how the movie turned into an inquisition regarding society's willingness to follow the hype machine. Reese Roper of FIF once sang these lyrics:
"The packaging is nice, we're building it to sell,
Call all your people in Hollywood and Nashville,
It's one in a million, in fact we broke the dye,
It's all of the hype that your money can buy."
Story (10) - 7.5
Genre (10) - 7
Characters (5) - 4
Believability (5) - 4
Filmmaking (10) - 8
Enjoyment (10) - 7.5
Exit Through the Gift Shop - 3.8 out of 5 yukes
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Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawntreader - B
This movie is exactly what it sells itself to be. It's the third movie in the Chronicles series, where the kids have grown up and they're banking on the fact that their audience has too. Lucy and Edmund are the only returning children; joined by their insufferable cousin Eustace on a trip back to Narnia. They meet up with now King Caspian and the crew of the Dawntreader who set out to rescue slaves sacrificed to the "dark mist" (LOST anyone?). On their journey they must find the seven swords of the seven lost lords ... and '6 geese a laying... and... 5 golden rings'. Anyone else have a problem with them finding each sword exactly in the first place they look? It's a disconnected adaptation of the book, and seems really forced. I had fun watching it for 3 reasons...
1. The CGI is pretty good, and battle scenes are cool
2. I like Simon Pegg as the voice of Reepicheep (the fighting mouse)
3. Aslan is AWESOME
It's a better film than it's predecessor and will probably lead to another sequel. Watch it if only because Narnia is a wonderful place to be explored.
Story (10) - 7.5
Genre (10) - 7.5
Characters (5) - 3.5
Believability (5) - 3
Filmmaking (10) - 8
Enjoyment (10) - 7
Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawntreader - 3.65 out of 5 yukes
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Due Date - D
I was wholly unimpressed with this film. In a poor re-hashing of the classic Plains, Trains and Automobiles, Peter Highman (Robert Downey Jr.) is a stressed-out father-to-be forced to ride across the country with actor Ethan Tremblay (Zach Galifianakis) to get home in time for the birth of his child. That's enough a synopsis for you to understand what's going on. The movie kind of lost me when you hear sounds of Ethan masturbating in the car while Peter is sleeping. It definitely lost me when Peter wakes up to find Ethan's dog is also masturbating in the backseat. The vulgarity of the movie is exactly that, and if you don't like me saying those things in a review you probably shouldn't see this movie. I can count on one hand how many times I laughed during the movie and was kind of sad that I spent money to see the movie in theaters. If you go see it and your opinion differs from mine, trust me, I won't judge you. But this movie was just not for me, and I can venture a guess that it probably isn't for most of you either.
Story (10) - 4
Genre (10) - 5
Characters (5) - 2.5
Believability (5) - 1.5
Filmmaking (10) - 4
Enjoyment (10) - 4.5
Due Date - 2.15 out of 5 yukes
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