Movie Reviews By Movie Reviews Pro

Taking Woodstock

Rating:

Movie: Taking Woodstock (2009)

Studio : Film in Focus

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 110 min

Website : Taking Woodstock

Trailer :http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xa3i5g

Review:

As a lifelong fan of Woodstock-era artists like The Who and Jimi Hendrix, I looked forward to this movie, an uncharacteristically lighthearted affair from director Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain). It’s inspired by the true story of Elliot Tiber (renamed Jake Teichberg in the film), a New York City interior designer who organized the iconic festival in order to save his parents’ failing motel.

One of the things I enjoyed about this movie was its focus on the work that went into putting on the festival. Amazingly, we don’t see any concert footage or meet any actors called on to play Hendrix or Joplin. It has a documentary-like feel in such scenes as when we see Teichberg (played by Demetri Martin) riding on the back of a cop’s motorcycle in order to get into the actual concert or when we see Max Yasgur (well-played by Eugene Levy) agreeing to let the promoters hold the concert on his land while offering them some of his farm-made chocolate milk. The film is at its best when we’re among the fans and we’re seeing the show put together. We meet some colorful characters during the journey, including Liev Schreiber as a transvestite security guard and Dan Fogler as the leader of a postmodern thespian troupe that lives in Teichberg’s parents’ barn and manages to cause a ruckus among Bethel’s more conservative types, who feared the hippies would destroy the town.

The film also includes some interludes involving Teichberg’s tumultuous relationship with his mother (Imelda Staunton), who kavetches throughout the film, while his father is more accepting and drinks beer with the hippies. While Staunton has some good one-liners, this part of the story feels underdeveloped, and the final scene doesn’t have the emotional impact for which it seems to be reaching. It feels secondary to the festival. Still, I enjoyed the film on the basis of the realistic crowd shots, the likable Teichberg, the vibrant supporting cast, and that groovy soundtrack.

-Craig Wynne

Comedy, In Theaters, Music Comedy, Music, Taking Woodstock

Inglourious Basterds

Rating:

Movie: Inglourious Basterds (2009)

Studio : Universal

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 153 min

Website : inglouriousbasterds-movie.com

Trailer :http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9zcxu

Review:

While it will certainly not win any Oscars, Quentin Tarantino’s, Inglorious Bastards, entertains for the full 2 hours and 33 minutes. The film is divided into five chapters, which at first seem mutually exclusive, but begin to tie together towards the middle of the movie.

Though it is a war movie, there are very little gunfights. The classic “Tarantino violence,” mostly comes from the scalpings of dead Germans, body mutilations, and one overly gruesome execution by baseball bat, though none of it is comedic as usual. Tarantino also uses a series of flashbacks in order to fill the audience in on plot holes, which works very effectively and is also very entertaining. Seeing as how the rest of the movie is filled in by scheming, plotting, and a pestering German war hero, it is difficult to understand how the movie went by as quickly as it did.

The reason for this however, is that Tarantino was able to create an intricate plot with many captivating characters. The story is an alternate history of World War II, beginning with a young girl named Shosanna Dreyfus (Melanie Laurent), who witnesses the murder of her family, but narrowly escapes. She flees to Paris, where she forges a new identity as French theatre owner. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Bradd Pitt), creates a group of Jewish American soldiers, known by the enemy as “the Basterds,” who are trained to commit quick and shocking attacks on German soldiers.

When a young German war hero, Fredrick Zoller (Daniel Bruhl)—who has had a film made about him, starring him—falls in love with Shosanna, he moves to have the highly anticipated premier of his film at her theatre. With Hitler and the entire high command set to attend, both Shosanna and Aldo create separate plots for their assassinations.

This film is unlike any World War II movie ever made, however, it does have many flaws. While Bruhl’s character, Zoller, is supposed to be annoying to Shosanna, he did a better job of annoying me. Additionally, Bridget von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger), an actress/double agent, who is supposed to help Raines carry out his mission—but ends up hindering it instead—seems almost completely unnecessary. “Basterds,” is not to be a Tarantino classic, but it is certainly worth seeing, even if it is just to see Pitt speak Italian in a Southern accent.

-Stephen Fox

Action, Drama, In Theaters, War Action, Drama, Quentin Tarantino, War

In the Loop

Rating:

Movie: In the Loop (2009)

Studio : BBC Films

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 106 min

Website : intheloopmovie.co.uk/

Trailer :http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9n24e

Review:

Politics has two faces: on the one hand, there are the smiling buffoons dedicated to convincing the rest of us that they know what they are talking about and on the other, there are the conniving and plotting backroom sleazebags who tell the buffoons what to do. Such is the premise of the blisteringly funny and abrasive British comedy, In the Loop.
Ostensibly a fictional tale about the build-up to an obviously unjustified war (read Iraq), In the Loop refuses to trade in the gentle barbs that blight so many recent political satires, preferring instead to strap its main protagonists down and go to work on them with a blowtorch of righteous indignation. (That blowtorch, by the way, is delivered via some of the most obscene and inventive dialogue to play out on the big screen since Tarantino first hit the scene.)

The action starts off in London just as the drum beat of war is gathering pace. Hopping back and forth across the Atlantic more often than Jason Bourne armed with his frequent flyer miles, In the Loop follows the main characters through committee meetings and conference calls with a handheld camera style that gives a constant sense of urgency and chaos to the rapidly unfolding proceedings.

The multi-layered script is made all the more impressive when you consider the huge variety of characters in the movie. Some of the more memorable characters include a cool and collected – but ultimately cowardly – Colin Powell-like US General (played by the mighty James Gandolfini), and an unforgettably x-rated-ranting British prime ministerial press chief. All are equally convincing in both their comical value as well as in their chilling indifference to the implications of their actions.

You don’t need to know anything about politics to enjoy this movie. You don’t even have to worry about it being left or right wing propaganda. All you have to do is strap yourself in for 106 minutes of sheer, unadulterated comedy excellence as you laugh your ass off at the state of how we organize our political world. In the Loop makes clear that it is not so much a question of lies versus truth, but rather it is a question of heavily armed lunatics running the asylum. In this regard, In the Loop is a worthy and equally scathing successor to Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove.

-Paul Meade

Comedy Comedy

It Might Get Loud

Rating:

Movie: It Might Get Loud (2009)

Studio : Steel Curtain Pictures

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 95min

Website : sonyclassics.com/itmightgetloud

Trailer :http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9wjhd

Review:

On January 23, 2008, David Guggenheim gathered three rock icons from different generations and brought them into one warehouse for a discussion and jam session: Jimmy Page, U2’s The Edge, and Jack White. Together, they share their love of an instrument that they have based their fame on: the electric guitar.

Despite what the trailer may say, do not believe it! What you are seeing is hardly a documentary on the electric guitar. You get some remarks on electric guitars and how each of them was a part of their life, but this is not so much a documentary on the instrument as it is a history of how these three men came into the electric guitar and what brought them into becoming the artists they are. The furthest the film goes is remarking on what musical influence each person found that helped mentor them into finding the sound they wanted.

As you can imagine even with such a misleading premise, having three very influential guitarists discuss their past and their methodology with the instrument, coupled with some great music, still makes for an entertaining documentary (at least, if you like rock, which I do).

It seems that there might have been a plan to starkly contrast each of them since it begins with a stark difference in how The Edge engineers his sounds together through a sound lab versus Jack White’s “use it until you break it” methodology, but it seems to break down along the way into what I said before. This breakdown is actually welcome since you can feel this genuine fraternity between these three men, right down to an unplugged jam session during the credits that you almost have to hesitate applauding to.

So as an electric guitar documentary? A solid B-flat. As a documentary of three guitar greats and some of their music as well as influences? Plug yourself in and remember: it might get awesome.

-Donald Lee

Documentary, Music Documentary, Music