First Five Movies

Okay here we go. I realized after my post last night that I actually saw another movie in there by myself, so Forgetting Sarah Marshall will also be included in this group of reviews. Hope you guys like what I've got to say and I'm looking forward to some feedback. On to the movies.

"21"
Seen on: April 13, 2008
At: San Mateo Century 12
With: Jill

Great movie. I really enjoyed this one. Kevin Spacey is great in it as is Larry Fishburn. Plus I enjoyed Kate Bosworth as well. Basically if you don't know already its the story of an MIT student trying to make money for Med school. He gets recruited by Spacey's character into a group that goes to Vegas on weekends and counts cards at the blackjack table. He starts off just trying to make $300,000 to pay for Med school, but we all know that isn't gonna be it. The movie is fairly dark, but that isn't real surprising since a lot of it takes place in Vegas. The characters work well together and Spacey is always a pretty good "bad" guy. The plot is fairly straight forward. Learn the system, work the system, don't get caught by the system. There's also a little bit of a love story that I didn't really feel was necessary. And you get an idea of what the characters have to sacrifice to make their plan work. I enjoyed, see it if you get a chance.

"The Ruins"
Seen on: April 13, 2008
At: San Mateo Century 12
With: Jill

We chose between this and Leatherheads. Basically we ended up in this movie because we just missed Leatherheads and would've had to wait too long for the next showing. This movie was not what I was expecting and really should have been called "The Vine." Sure the majority of the movie takes place on top of some old Ruins, but its the Vine that grows on the ruins that is the problem here. Pretty gory. Pretty dumb. Not a whole lot of good acting. I also thought it would be a little bit scary, but it wasn't really. Sure there were a couple parts where you weren't positive what was going to happen, but it wasn't real hard to figure out and it wasn't as scary as it could've been. Don't go see it in the theater that's for sure. Maybe rent it if you like hokey movies that are trying to be scary. But even then I'd say its pushing it.

"Forgetting Sarah Marshall"
Seen on: April 28, 2008 again May 19, 2008
At: San Mateo Century 12 and Tanforan Century 20
With: Myself and Jill

After seeing this movie I decided I needed to fly to Hawaii and find Mila Kunis. She is adorable in this movie. Luckily, I was warned ahead of time by Collin about the full frontal male nudity in the film, which made it less of a shock. I still could've done without it, but it worked I suppose. One of the guys from Knocked Up plays the main character and does a good job of it. He writes music for tv shows and is also working on a rock opera about vampires. He plays one of the song while in a bar in Hawaii and its a pretty funny scene. There's also a part where he plays the theme from the Muppet Show on the piano that killed me. Its funny. Its pretty entertaining. And in my opinion its even sort of a chick flick. Pretty cute. The ending is also pretty predictable but I won't ruin it for you. If you like going to movies go see it, but you can easily wait for the DVD if you don't want to spend ten bucks at the theater.

"Iron Man"
Seen on: May 2, 2008
At: San Mateo Century 12
With: Jill

I didn't even have to drag Jill to this one. She wanted to see it. And those of you who know me know I love movies based on comic books. This was no exception. Robert Downey Jr. plays tony Stark, a weapons inventor I guess you would call him. Basically the story is him getting kidnapped by a terrorist group in Afghanistan. They want him to make them one of his most recent weapons. He doesn't want to do it and comes up with something else instead. The movie takes off from there. It's got some cool cars although only one of them really gets driven. Plus they ruined my favorite car of the group without even starting it. Jeff Bridges does a good job as the bad guy. Terrence Howard did a good job in his role as Stark's military handler. And although I'm not a huge fan of hers, I though Gwyneth Paltrow was good as well. The story is basically the origin of Iron Man which is a good way to develop the character for the sequels. Aside from all the obvious action, this movie also has some funny moments. Definitely one to see on the big screen. I enjoyed it.

"Made of Honor"
Seen on: May 18, 2008
At: San Mateo Century 12
With: Jill

I told Jill I'd go see this with her, but only because I wanted to see it too. Of course I was one of like three guys in a theater of about 25 people. That was a little awkward. I like Patrick Dempsey. And I thought Michelle Monaghan was the one bright spot in Ben Stiller's "Heartbreak Kid." They had good chemistry on screen. Tiny shorts guy was hilarious. Jill loved Kevin McKidd as the Scotsman. Honestly, this is a total chick flick. It had some funny parts but is pretty ridiculous and sappy. It was cute and I enjoyed it. But, I think if you want to see it, you can wait til it comes out on DVD. Seeing it in the theater doesn't really at anything to it and if you're a guy you won't have to sit in a theater full of women feeling a little awkward laughing at certain things like I did. Oh the plot for those that don't know. Dempsey is a man whore and Monaghan is his best friend. She goes off to Scotland for six weeks for work and he realizes he's in love with her. He plans to tell her when she gets back and of course she's engaged to McKidd upon her return. She of course asks him to be her Made of Honor and he proceeds to try to break up the marriage from within.

So there you have it. My first attempt at actually using this blog for what I want it to be. Let me know what you think. I know it isn't a typical review where you get critiques on film style and camera angles and how the movies were shot. But I think this type of review is more user friendly. Most people are trying to figure out whether they'll like a movie or not before they go see it. They really don't care about all that other stuff. If there's anything you'd all like to see me do different in the future, let me know and I'll see what I can do.

The Point of My Blog

Okay. So I've had an account on here for a while but never took the time to set up my blog. Mostly that was due to the fact that I could never come up with an idea as to what the point of this thing should be. I think I finally came up with something. I've been toying with the idea of somehow figuring out how to become a movie critic. Most of those who know me know that I love movies. I have to admit I like going to the theater more than sitting at home watching movies, but that isn't always feasible since I'm still a college student. Plus I don't always have people to go to the movies with. Luckily I got over the awkwardness of going to the movies by myself. And, also luckily, though more for myself, I've found a movie buddy again in my friend Jill from high school who I recently reconnected with. She and I have seen four movies together in about two months. So the point of my blog, to go along with my desire to somehow figure out how to become a movie critic, is to provide whoever cares to read this thing, with reviews of movies I see. I'm trying to decide if I should review movies I see on DVD, or if I should just stick to movies I see in the theater. If you have an opinion or suggestion let me know. Also, as I write these reviews, if there are things you'd like to see added or taken out, let me know that too. I'm trying to figure out what people like to see from their critic, so criticism and suggestions are welcome. For now, what I'm planning on doing is similar to what I've done on my blog on my myspace account. That means I'll list the movie, who I saw it with, where I saw it, when I saw it, a basic rundown of the plot without giving too much away, what I liked, what I disliked, and then general conclusions for each movie. I'm also trying to decide if I want to grade movies and if I should include the genres of the movies. So, I guess that's it for now. I'm tired and have to study for finals so I'm gonna crash. The first four reviews I'll put up are the movies I've seen with Jill--21, The Ruins, Iron Man, and Made of Honor. So look for those in the coming days.