Movie Reviews By Movie Reviews Pro

(500) Days of Summer

Rating:

Movie: (500) Days of Summer (2009)

Studio : Fox Searchlight Pictures

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 95min

Website : foxsearchlight.com/500daysofsummer

Trailer :http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9q55j

Review:

(500) Days of Summer is the story of Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and his year-and-a-half on again/off again relationship with Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel). Tom, a greeting card writer, falls head over heels for Summer, a new administrator at the same greeting card company, and is convinced that she is the one he’s been waiting for all of his life. We’re told that Tom believes that he’ll never be truly happy until he finds “the one”—hence the importance of discovering Summer Finn—and he’s carried this belief with him his entire life because of 80’s British pop music and a misreading of the film The Graduate. Summer, on the other hand, doesn’t really believe in love, at least not the kind of love Tom believes in, but insists on taking Tom on a ride that he and audiences will never forget.
Audiences also will have a hard time forgetting the performances by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel. Gordon-Levitt’s Tom, wonderfully balanced with charm and sympathy, paired with Deschanel’s free-spirited and whimsical Summer makes their repartee so much fun to watch. They execute their parts so well, it’s really difficult to imagine anyone else playing these characters.

This script, by neophytes Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, has Best Original Screenplay written all over it. It’s a combination of the best of the youthful, hip, music-induced flicks Garden State and Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist with the originality and freshness of Little Miss Sunshine. The “author’s note” at the beginning of the film implies that the author did, in fact, live this story. And there’s just enough realism in the script to believe that, perhaps, he did.

With such a splendid cast and such a solid script in place, Marc Webb could have just phoned in the direction. However, for his first major motion picture, this music video director decided to not let his considerable visual acumen go to waste. And though he uses every trick in the book—animation, split-screen screen, infectious music—it doesn’t feel overwrought.
Webb’s Los Angeles backdrop is the real winner here, and thanks to Webb, anybody under 40 who doesn’t want to visit L.A. after this film doesn’t have a pulse.

-Sam Henderson

Comedy, Drama, Romance 500 days of summer, Comedy, Drama, Romance

Ponyo

Rating:

Movie: Ponyo (2009)

Studio : Studio Ghibli

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 103min

Website : disney.go.com/disneypictures/ponyo

Trailer :http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9nxls

Review:

Ponyo is the name of a fish that escapes to the world of men and befriends a young boy, Sosuke, who lives in a harbor town. Ponyo’s father disagrees with her interacting with the world of man and tries to stop her, and what results is a sort of modern fairy tale of young love.

It seems that after Studio Gibli mastered the use of integrating cgi into animation, Ponyo returns to an emphasis on hand-drawn cel animation. You can tell the difference from the unpolished feel of the art that makes it feel more homey and even enhances the storybook feel in certain parts.

I applaud the effort, but at the same time it feels like the animators have been out of touch with this medium for quite some time. While there are some amazing scenes that I am impressed at, a lot of the basic animation is, well… really basic! There is almost no consideration for integrating the characters with their backgrounds, and this difference becomes distracting. I may sound like I am being harsh on Miyazaki’s vision here, but compare this film to his earlier work like, say, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and you can tell that the same crack team that made such a detailed and interactive world is not there this time around.

For a story there really is not much of a tale here, either. There is a dramatic push in the film for some sort of climax, and it never really gets there. That’s fine that a film of this nature should have no sense of emergency, but the “danger” inherent in the story seems tacked on. Add this with an ending that feels rushed and you have one of the weaker films of the Miyazaki legacy.

Still, this may just be a stepping stone for him to return to those days in the past. His approach may have even been the encouragement behind Disney’s work on their newly anticipated film The Frog Princess, which touts a return to hand-drawn cel animation and so far looks visually stunning. In the meantime, I look forward to seeing Miyazaki’s next project in the hopes that he really pushes his vision back into this old medium.

-Donald Lee

Adventure, Animation, Family, Fantasy Adventure, Animation, Family, Fantasy, Hayao Miyazaki, ponyo

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Rating:

Movie: G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)

Studio : Paramount Pictures

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 118min

Website : gijoemovie.com

Trailer :http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xa0ryb

Review:

And so comes one of the most anticipated movies of the year, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Having been a fan of the cartoons and the action figures as a kid, I was excited to see this movie. As I watched, that excitement dwindled.

This movie seems to want to do for the cartoons what Phantom Menace did for the Star Wars movies. At the beginning of the film, we see two Special Op soldiers, Duke and Ripcord, being recruited for the G.I. Joe unit led by General Hawk. Their current mission seems to involve the retrieval of four nuclear warheads from the evil Cobras, before they destroy world landmarks, although this plot element unfolded in such a slapdash manner that I had a hard time grasping the logic of why the Joes would even be involved in this mission.

No matter: you don’t watch a movie like this for the story, which seems to be mostly background material so that the makers can create explosions and dogfights for the blockbuster action crowd. That being said, the movie is well-made on a technical level, but the special effects don’t make up for a lack of story. I love an action movie best when well-drawn characters who are fighting for something at stake. For most of the movie, I didn’t care whether the Joes retrieved these warheads because the makers didn’t take the time to make characters we could root for (the cartoons, campy as they were, actually had stories and distinguishing differences between characters).

The movie began to grow on me in the last hour, as some of the backstories involving Storm Shadow, a troubled ninja, and Barroness, Duke’s ex-fiance gone Cobra, engaged my interest. Marlon Wayans also provides some good comic relief as Ripcord as he jive-talks and takes pratfalls in a robotic suit of armor, but these things don’t bring the movie up to the level.

The ending all but tells us that there will be a sequel in the future. If and when it comes out, I’ll probably end up watching it on someone else’s Netflix subscription with a group of friends and a case of beer. If you must see this movie, I recommend that you learn from my mistake and save it for that particular forum.

-Craig Wynne

Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller Action, Adventure, gi joe, sci-fi

The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard

Rating:

Movie: The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard (2009)

Studio : Gary Sanchez Productions

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 90min

Website : None available

Trailer :http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9wjeq

Review:

The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard is a briskly paced, vulgar comedy that’s sure to offend. If you’re the right mindset, it’ll also entertain. I do urge conservative, PC-types to stay away from this movie, as there are quite a few moments that border (or more accurately, embrace) bad taste.

Jeremy Piven plays Don Ready, the charismatic leader of a sales team who travels to different car dealerships in order to help move their merchandise. At the beginning of the film, we’re introduced to Selleck Motors, a failing dealership that employs characters like Dick, a World War II veteran who spouts racial and homophobic epithets as if they were second nature, and Teddy Jang, who falls victim to Dick’s prejudices in an uncomfortable but hilarious scene. The owner, Ben Selleck, hires Ready’s team to help them move 200 cars over the Fourth of July weekend.

Piven’s sales team is the backbone of the movie. His staff includes Babs, a vixen who becomes infatuated with Selleck’s 10-year-old son, who looks like he’s 30 thanks to a genetic disorder. This infatuation provides some of the movie’s funniest moments. Ving Rhames brings a lot of his dry humor to the table as Jibby, a 42-year-old man who’s had a lot of sexual experiences, but has never “made love” to a woman (it’s only natural that he’ll find it in the movie). David Koechner fumes more and more as Selleck makes repeated passes at him.

In addition to providing laughs, the quick movie actually makes the sales process looks exciting. There is a virtuoso sequence as we watch the salespeople in action, using underhanded techniques such as the “Nigerian buyback” and there’s a sexually charged scene involving Babs and a male customer that must be seen to be believed. The reason I mention this is I sold luggage in a department store every summer while I was in college, and I found the job boring and the customers annoying, and I approached the job like it was something I “had” to do in order to make spending money. Had I seen this movie while in college, I may not have fallen in love with the job, but I may have been inspired to work a little harder at the process of “selling,” as opposed to just “making the sale.” All I can say is this movie sold me.

-Craig Wynne

Comedy Comedy