Movie Review:-Everybody’s Fine

Movie Review:-Everybody’s Fine

Everybody’s Fine stars Robert De Niro as a retired gentleman in his 60’s who recently lost his wife. He is expecting his four adult children to spend the weekend at his house. He cuts his lawn, cleans the house, buys a new bbq to grill the big steaks he bought to go along with an expensive bottle of wine he purchased. Then he checks the answering machine – his two daughters have called to confirm that they and their two brothers were all too busy to go to his house that weekend. So Frank Goode, against the wishes of his doctor, sets out on a cross-country journey to visit his diverse and successful children and get the update as to what is going on in their lives.

He begins in New York, where David is an artist living in an apartment above the gallery that displays his art. Then there is the beautiful Amy (Kate Beckinsale), an advertising executive who lives in a beautiful house in a Chicago suburb with her husband and young son. Robert (Sam Rockwell) is a musician in an orchestra and lives in Denver. Finally, Frank makes his way to Las Vegas where Rosie (Drew Barrymore) is a professional dancer living in a beautiful apartment that overlooks Sin City.

As Frank’s journey unfolds, he learns more about his children and probably about himself. I get the feeling the kids learned a bit about their pops too. It is certainly an eye-opening and emotional experience for everyone involved.

That is the basic story of Everybody’s Fine. I have to say the first 45 minutes of the movie moved at a slow pace and I was really wondering where this film was going. I didn’t know much about the story and the trailer seemed to indicate that it was going to be a comedy. Based on some of De Niro’s past endeavors – the Focker movies, Analyze This and That, Showtime, Stardust – that is what I was expecting. However, Everybody’s Fine ended up being a rather serious and heartfelt tearjerker. I felt quite emotional at the end of the movie

as De Niro’s character tried to connect with his children and showed them that the old man had a thing or two up his sleeve. I absolutely loved the last 30 minutes. His analysis of each of his children kind of came out of left field. It was a very heart-warming moment.

With that being said, I am pretty sure that Everybody’s Fine is not a movie everyone will enjoy. The “New Moon” crowd and the “Ninja Assassin” group are sure to see it as nothing more than an excessively sentimental melodrama. For me, I really liked how the family and family values came to a head at the end of the movie. I liked how Frank Goode accepted his children despite any shortcomings he might have discovered. This movie made me smile despite the fact that it had no humans falling in love with vampires and then cheating on them with werewolves. Maybe it would have been nice if there were a ninja or two. Nevertheless, it was a nice change for De Niro to play what I thought was a pretty suitable and subtle role for him. Like everybody in the movie, my summary of this movie is it’s just fine. (8 out of 10)

Theatrical Review:-New Moon

Theatrical Review:-New Moon
New Moon is one of those movies for which the plot is almost superfluous. If you are a fan of Twilight, you more or less know it. If you are not, you probably do not care.  However, for form's sake, I will sum it up.

New Moon comes in as the second installment in the Twilight, the Stephanie Meyer series. It is about a love affair between a vampire, Edward Cullen, played by Robert Pattinson and a human high school student, Bella, Kristen Stewart.  In the first movie, she discovered Cullen's secret that he is a vampire; and they fell in love.  In this installment, after she gets a paper cut at a birthday party and Cullen's vampire-family almost kills her, he goes into self-imposed exile, breaks her heart, and leaves her with the super-built-up Jacob Black, Taylor Lautner, with 26 added pounds of muscle that he put on trying to reprise his role from the first movie. He turns out to be a werewolf -- the natural enemy of the vampire.

As Bella pines for Edward, she keeps the love-struck Jacob around because, (a) he is totally into her, and (b) she has discovered that adrenaline rushes give her a psychic connection to Edwards. She likes doing dangerous things like cliff diving and racing dirt-bikes.  In the meantime, angry vampress, Victoria (from the first movie) makes recurring raids on the town trying to find and kill Bella. She is chased by the werewolf pack while Cullen decides that if she dies he will kill himself.

Finally something happens to make him think she died, and she actually almost does. Things come to a head as she tries to stop him from killing himself like Romen as he does not want to live without her.  It is meant to be very romantic in a decidedly gothic sort of way, and I suppose it is.

So how is it?  Well, it delivers the male cheesecake.  It delivers the pining heroine.  It delivers the moody, rainy Washington State.  It delivers bear-sized werewolves who chase down super-fast vampires.  It delivers product placement when, again, Cullen drives a domestic Volvo instead of a bad-boy's hot-rod.  Judging from its numbers, it satisfied the legions of Twilight fans and who am I to tell them they are wrong?

Before we get to spoiler territory and commentary, let me weigh in with this.  It appears that the problem with Twilight and New Moon (in particular) is not that it is bad.  It is not stupid or artless.  There is a scene where the super fast wolves are chasing the vampire, who is also super fast). We see them moving at normal sprinting speeds at the same time a bird seen from overhead moves with a wing-flap every few seconds.  Then it speeds up to 'real-time' with a kinetic blur of motion.  This is very good stuff, but there is a battle at the end where two super-fast vampires fight each other; we get sort of a into-and-out-of-bullet-time battle in which Cullen (who is a tough, if average vampire) gets to fight a bad-ass personal guardian of vampire aristocracy who, rightly, dominates him. The movie also gets that right; and after watching a lot of these types of things, that is not necessarily an easy thing to do.

If you are a fan, the problem with Twilight is that it is hugely self-indulgent. Bella mistreats her friends, but they all still love her.  The vampires, rather than being dark and dangerous, are all sparkly.  The love affair is painfully chaste with each of them pining for the other in a whirlwind of angst. Is it coincidence that the class lecture is Romeo and Juliet -- of course not.  How far does the movie have to go in order to ensure that two sets of monsters will battle over Bella's heart -- even as both vie for the right to stand guard over her -- not very far at all.  So far, this is a series that caters lovingly to its protagonist -- who, it is alleged, is a stand-in for author, Stephanie Meyer; and to my eye, seems like one.


Bella is the luckiest girl in the world. Her father is bewildered by her angst and depression, but never loses his patience with her. When she demands no presents for her birthday, of course she is showered with gifts.  When she decides after a lengthy exile to sit at the lunch table with the un-cool kids -- the uber-cool kids, the Cullens, have left town -- they immediately accept her back; and she gets a date instantly, although she does not necessarily want one. The poor kid who asked her out gets taken to an action flick since she wants an adrenaline rush and winds up throwing up in the bathroom ... before being almost mauled by Jacob.
The movie plays like a drama-laden, 14-year-old's dream relationship and seems to me as all desert and no dinner.  In my mind, it does nothing to earn any loyalty to its protagonist.  She has everything, and yet she is perpetually miserable -- so let's talk about spoilers.

Spoilers
The movie sets up a love triangle between Jacob who wants Bella and Bella, who wants Cullen. Cullen, wants Bella but is afraid he or his family will kill her -- after all, she is full of tasty blood.  Jacob and Cullen, also being mortal vampire/werewolf enemies, hate each other on the principal of ... I guess ... racism.  Or, possibly Jacob hates the Cullens because vegetarian vampires or not, their kind kill people, and presumably even the noble Cullen-clan has slipped up once in a while.

On the other hand, the movie tells us that sometimes werewolves accidentally kill people too; so maybe we are just back to monsterism.  I can not be sure.

The key thing is that Bella uses Jacob.  It is true that eventually she does tell him there is no chance, but she doesn't want him to stop wanting her because she is selfish. In one sense, this discussion has integrity; she lays out for him that she plans to string him along, and if he is okay with that, she likes it because, let's face it, he doesn't have a chance -- her true love is Edwards.

However, on the other hand, I think we, as the audience, are expected to identify with Bella over this decision. After all, she's the heroine. The movie doesn't seem to find her Edwards-left-me nightmares overly dramatic. When Jacob stops returning her calls, not because he's had it with her--but because he's afraid he might hurt her in his wolf form--and she goes looking for him--I think we as the audience are expected to want to see them together.

Instead, this dynamic, confession made Bella the predator in the relationship. She knows he is infatuated with her; knows that she can use him to dull the pain of Edwards having left; knows it will eventually hurt him more and seeks him out relentlessly. Having her acknowledge that she is selfish is one thing, but having her perspective on being selfish be, essentially, validated by the movie is something else.  For me, it was one step of self-indulgence too far.  If the author, and director, and so on, actually does have contempt for the behavior of the protagonist, they certainly do not show it. I believe, since the appeal of Twilight is predicated on the protagonist being wanted and loved by all and the headaches that brings, I simply believe the various authorial voices find this situation to be due Bella.

This left a bad taste in my mouth.
End Spoilers
I have a hard time rating this movie because I didn't very much like its take on the subject matter of vampires and werewolves, but I did like how it brought it to us.  I did not like the main character, but I appreciated her performance.  I haven't read the books, but it seems that the creators of the film did a good job with the material.  However, in the end, despite a somewhat slow middle, it held my attention all the way through.  For that, I think I have to give it the benefit of the doubt.

Movie Review: 'Paranormal Activity'

 Movie Review: 'Paranormal Activity' 

Paranormal Activity arrives with a hail of hype the likes of which hasn’t been seen since The Blair Witch Project. Released in limited cinemas over a month ago in the States, the camcorder phenomenon stirred up such a scare that expectant audiences around the country demanded it be shown in their city through an innovative online voting system.

Of course the question you have to ask yourself is whether this is all just creative marketing or justified praise for a genuinely scary cinema sensation. Well let’s answer it this way: if Jaws made people frightened of the water and Blair Witch put people off rambling in the woods, then Paranormal Activity will make you terrified of what’s happening in your own home after you’ve gone to sleep. In other words: be afraid, be very afraid.

The simple premise sees “engaged to be engaged” couple Katie and Micah (movie debutantes Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat) move into a plush new home only to become increasingly convinced there may be an otherworldly presence already there. In order to prove their suspicions, Micah buys a high-def video camera and sets it up at the foot of their bed to document the strange nightly goings-on. But this only seems to trigger an escalation in the paranormal activity and things soon go from bad to worse for the unfortunate pair.

An exercise in edge-of-your-seat tension and escalating terror, Paranormal’s zippy 85-minute runtime starts with an overwhelming sense of foreboding and constantly keeps building its scares from there until it reaches a gasp-inducing, fingers-over-the-eyes, blood-chilling conclusion. Employing old-school, simplistic spook house tricks (you know what they say, the old ones are the best), savvy creator and first-time feature-filmer Oren Peli keeps this sense of expectant dread growing by carefully intensifying the night hauntings. He keeps you guessing as to when the big concluding night will come to release us – you’ve got to endure through fear to earn the cathartic release. Even then, it might not be the ending you were hoping for.

Deserving of the hype and praise that is being heaped on it, Paranormal Activity only lets itself down in its last dying generic moments (shave off literally 10 seconds and you have the perfect open-to-discussion ending. Exactly like The Bourne Ultimatum actually…). This tiny misstep aside though, it is undoubtedly the type of “proper” scary movie (as in it will stay with you long after the film has finished, no doubt affecting your own sleep pattern) that delivers 100 per cent on an audience level and demands to be viscerally experienced in a darkened room alongside a peer group of equally scared strangers.

MOVIE REVIEW: Law Abiding Citizen

 MOVIE REVIEW: Law Abiding Citizen

SCOTTISH beefcake Gerard Butler has had enough of being the housewife’s bit of rough.
The 300 star is desperate to show he can stretch his acting muscles just as much as his biceps with his latest film Law Abiding Citizen.
But despite being an enjoyable action thriller, the film falls disappointingly short of being the slick, polished suspense movie it wants to be and Butler plays the same cheeky, loveable rogue he starred as in recent rom-com duds such as The Ugly Truth and PS. I Love You.

 Clyde Shelton (Butler) is an honest, upstanding family man and Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx) is an ambitious young prosecutor working for a safer Philadelphia.
When Clyde’s wife and young daughter are brutally murdered, Nick is assigned to the case.
On the verge of sentencing, Nick sensationally cuts a deal with one of the killers, sparing him from death row.

A decade later, the man who got away with murder is found dead.
 Clyde coolly admits his guilt before issuing a warning to Nick - either fix the flawed justice system that failed his family or key players in the trial will pay the price.
Nick now finds himself in a desperate race against time as a series of elaborate assassinations target the ranks of the city’s criminal justice system.

Only he can stop the killings and to do so, he must outwit a brilliant adversary who always seems to be one step ahead.
The tension is kept cranked up high as one by one legal professionals fall like flies in unexpected, and unncessarily messy, ways.

 All the blood soaked signs point to the imprisoned Clyde, but with our anti-hero locked in solitary confinement and no communication allowed with the outside world, any evidence suggesting his guilt remains fatally flawed.
The film undeniably has its fair share of thrills, but I couldn’t help feeling like Alice falling through the gaping great holes in the plot.

So many questions are either unanswered or underdeveloped. Why is Clyde such a master assassin? How did he manage to carry out the killings without being noticed?
By the end of the film we know nothing more about the vigilante prisoner than when it started, leaving you feeling numb and underwhelmed by the final silly twist in the tale.

The audience is expected to take too much for granted and some ludicrous philosophy about good guys turning psycho if they are pushed hard enough is far-fetched and frankly trite.
Oscar-winning Foxx holds his own but looks slightly uncomfortable as the flash lawyer, even bored, while Butler relishes getting his hands bloody and steals the best lines.
However, neither A-listers play to their full potential and what could have been an explosive stick of cinematic dynamite, ends up being a rather damp, soggy squib.

Good for a night in with a pizza and a DVD, but I suggest wasting your credit crunched cash on watching something with a little more bite.
 

Law Abiding Citizen (18) is released in cinemas on Friday.

MOVIE REVIEW: Law Abiding Citizen 

Movie Review: The Blind Side

Movie Review: The Blind Side

Though much attention was given to the latest installment of the Twilight series this weekend at the box office, John Lee Hankcock’s “The Blind Side” was another stellar choice for movie-goers. At the theatre I chose, “The Blind Side” was playing on two screens, to “New Moon” on three, and it was money well spent. The movie is based on the non-fiction football book of similar title by author Michael Lewis. It is the story of NFL player, Michael Oher’s difficult upbringing and surprising twist of fate, as he is taken in by a wealthy white family, who scoops him out of the hand of poverty and a bad neighborhood, to root him on to football stardom and success in life.

But all this kid needed was a little help; he was no charity case, he had a heart of gold and the protection instincts of a mother lion, and he was built to be a football star, from birth.
Sandra Bullock plays his adoptive mother, LeAnn Touhy, in what will arguably be called the best performance of her career, thus far. She is a force to be reckoned with on-screen, laced with Southern charm and Christian hospitality.

Tim McGraw also co-stars as Mr. Touhy, and serves his role well; the couple is enjoyable to watch go through their (privileged) daily lives. In what certainly could have taken a nose dive into greeting-card-sappy sentimentality, this film takes the high road; and every viewer benefits from that choice. Michael is played by actor Quinton Aaron, and he brings a surprising amount of depth to the role of a teenaged formerly-homeless student-athlete. However, beyond the love felt in this well-to-do family, and the obvious goodness of Michael Oher, the real treat of the film is the lessons the Touhy family learns from the addition of this kid to their clan. “The Blind Side” is an uplifting film that finds just the right balance between raw emotion and predictable football-hero movie. Two thumbs way up from this reviewer.

Want posters  click here on this below...