Film Review: The Losers

I didn't know a film could be this..confusing. By that I mean this: this is both the best and worst 2010 film so far

In this ensemble film, five members of an elite US Army group are sent on a mission that ends up with them learning it's a mission designed to kill them. However, they suvive and are now out..for revenge!!!

Violence and bad acting. These are the main ingredients of which The Losers is comprised of. These Losers do get a couple of nice bits on the action side, really showing off some great things this film could be doing. On the other hand, the atrotcous acting makes you wonder where all the good things went. Add to that a story that's confusing and maddening, it's easy to see why this film isn't a loser..but it is a fumble.

Rating: 6.7 out of 10 or B-

SYS

Blu-Ray Review: Pirate Radio

What do you do when you combine British rock with British "pirates"? You get the best soundtrack ever, but a middling film overall.

Carl is sent to live on his godfather's (Bill Nighy) ship. There, a series of events lead to the near dismantly of the ships "Pirate Radio". Now, he and the crew are gonna preserve rock..whether the British government like it or not!

The cast is a nice assortmant, but the film itself is a jumbled mess. True, the soundtrack is kickin and is all on my iPod right now (I'm actually listening to Stay With Me Baby right now)! Still, even Philip Seymour Hoffman can't save this mess, that's already sinking well before the climax. But hey, at least the music's there, right?

Rating: 6.0 out of 10 or C

SYS

Film Review: Letters To God

As gooey as carmel, this christian film is really just..oozey. And not in a good way.

Tyler is a small boy diagnosed with cancer. He soons starts sending letters to God himself as a way to see if his life wil lget better. The letters change a depress and alcholic mailman who soon changes the community forever...

Like Facing The Giants, the film goes for your heart and never lets go. Toruble is, like those films, you get tired of it's tugging after a while. Honestly, the film is boring and never has much tension for a film about a cnacer-stricken child. You wish some kind of conflict of any sort would hop right in..but it never does. The film just sticks in your mind for 3 seconds..before being forgotten forever.

Rating: 5.5 out of 10 or C-

SYS

Film Review: The Lightning Thief

The Lightning Thief is a film that's at odd with itself. The book series it's based on is one of the funniest ever. I am one of the biggest fans of the series, owning all the books and anticipating the movie. The cast seemed to be in place..so what went wrong?

The story is that Percy Jackson has never fit in..until he learns he's the son of Poseidon. He soon goes to a camp for Half-Bloods (sons of god and humans). Along with his friends Grover and Annabeth, he has to get a precious God artifact and Percy's mom.

The trouble with the film is that the books mainly took place in Percy's mind, so humorous comparisions and descriptions would come. Percy and his pals were also younger and funnier. The film just never wnats to be what the book was: a comedic/action book. The film just wants to be an action pic.

The gigantic amount of things cut from the book is daunting. Among the most disturbing things cut are Krono's (the books main villain) and The Prophecy which would become the main thread of the books. The fact that this and important characters like Ares were cut makes me think sequels would only get worse.

Although casting was terrific, the film has bad visuals and too much cutting. I suppose it's fine for the casual film fan, for a fan of the books though it's an abomination.

Rating: 6.0 out of 10 or C
SYS

Film Review: Extrodinary Measures

It's hard to say anything bad about a film like this. But I'm afraid, unlike The Blind Sid,e Measures is much too sappy to be liked. And that's quite a shame, as it does have moments of genuis.

Brendan Fraser plays a man who's children are dying fast, one before he even turns 10. However, that father soon meets a Proffesor (Harrison Ford) who may have the key to curing his kids...

Both fo these guys are great actors (Brendan is fantastic, making you wonder why no one else notices him), but the story is very cliche'. There won't be a single teardrop on ya when you leave, though there may be thoughts as to why you didn't like it. I think it just boils down to the simple fact that the danger dosen't seem real and, in the end, it's just one long Hallmark special.

Rating: 6.1 out of 10 or C+

SYS

FIlm Review: Leap Year

You know a film is bad when Amy Adams is cliche. This film smacks of "They hate each other...but they don't!"-isms that have been trotted out over and over again to the point where even women are ignoring these types of films. And for a guy like me it's just plain garbage.

Anna (Amy Adams) travels to Dublin, Ireland on Leap Day to propose to her boyfriend because legend says he can't refuse on that day. In Ireland, she befriends a man named Declan (Mathew Goode) who annoys here, but is also charming to her. They soon develops feelings for each other..but what about Anna's proposal?

The single thing that keeps this dreck a-float is Amy Adams. Like Anna Farris, she should be doing much juicier roles than this rom-com stuff. She is spectacular here and can be found funny and likeable. The rest of the cast, though, sleepwalk through the film and her boyfriend dosen't seem to show much emotion ever.

The film like the cast can be described as this: A little charming, but really mediocore overall.

Rating: 5.2 out of 10 or C-

SYS

Blu-Ray Review: G-Force

G-Force is the defenition of harmless. Unlike alvin and The Chipmunks 2, this film dosen't have any really stupid moments. It is dumb as a whole, but you never want to gauge your eyes out.

The government has secretly been making animals (like moles and Guina Pigs) into secret agents. Now it's up to their top agents Darwin, Blaster and Juarez to stop an evil CEO from taking over the world.

G-Force may look like Beverly Hills Chihuahua, but it's actually some kind of action film. Hey, this IS Jerry Bruckheimer we're talking about. Sure, there's plenty of fart gags t ogo around (always cringed at them I did), but there is a finale that looked alright, though like the film itself is nothing real special.

The cast is ok, although as usual Nicolas Cage is brilliant. You barely recognoize the guy. Sam Rockwell sure sounds lfat here despite being grand in Moon (wish he'd get an Oscar for that film). Penelope Cruz..this is how you follow your Oscar? Wow. Tracy Morgan is decent as Blaster, though he's just a rodent version of his 30 Rock personality.

This film is alright for the kiddies, but besides some fine voicing and and OK action, the film as a whole can even become anooying. But I guess, compared to a certain recent Squekquel, that's perfectly ok.

Rating: 5.8 out of 10 or C-

SYS

Film Review: Old Dogs

Old Dogs is an odd puppy. By that, I mean it's just plain, flat out strange. I feel like the filmmakers were given a choice: Tone down a new Wild Hog's like film or get out. The makers took the first option and ran with it. What we get is a very jumbled up picture that you sincerely wish had been just better and much funnier.

The film is about Dan (Robin Williams) and Charlie (John Travolta) who learn that Dan's one night wife had kids. So Dan has a big problem, especially when you count that Dan also has a big sports franchise to handle! What will happen next??

I think we all see the end coming 40 miles away. In fact, during the previews you know how this will turn out. But that can be overlooked. After all, we knew how Transformers 2 and Up would turn out. Yet their great films. Why isn't this that great then? BEcause not a soul is really funny here.

Seth Green..Robin Williams..Justing Long...how did this not end up being uproarious. They spoiled everything good in the TV spots, that's why. Unlike, Wild Hogs, surprises are not left unturned. I liked Wild Hogs, but I was bewildered by this obvious cash-in. Too much filthy toilet humour is here, though I did like when John Travolta met the kids and when Seth Green serenades a gorilla.

Stupidity makes money in Hollywood it seems. This isn't the worst film of the year, but it's certainly not very good and one to avoid altogether. See Fox or Christmas Carol or Blind Side instead.

Rating: C- or 5.7 out of 10

SYS

Film Review: Fantastic Mr. Fox

Wes Anderson isn't exactly Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson or even Mike Judge. He has a following, but it isn't as big as Judge's. And he hasn't made any large films in the recent years that garnered $300 million dollars at the box office. He has made The Life Aquatic with Bill Murray, but it didn't make much cash or Oscars overall. Wes seems to have a fondness for animation if we're to go by some of the sequences in The Life Aquatic that were animated. His friend Henry Sellick directed those (and Coraline and the Nightmare Before Christmas), but here he comes forward as some kind of mad scientist in his lab. The result? A brilliant fare and one much better than expected.

In this film, Mr. Fox is having a mid-life crisis. He really wants to live it up soon. So he moves into a condo (or a tree) and decides to go pilfering, much to his wife's dismay. She figures he has enough troubles at home, like their only son who needs attention. However, when 3 angry farmers try to destroy the forest in search of Mr. Fox, all the critters realize Mr. Fox may be their only hope in surviving the onccoming war.

Now, admit it, that's not some ordinary film. This has to be one of the most mature films ever created, even surpassing Up, I freely admit. That is a plus. Also, the cast gigantic with the likes of George Clooney, Merryl Streep, William Dafoe and Jason Shwartzman in there. They all sound like their having fun and I think filming their voices outside in barns and underground helped get some authenticy in their voice work.



The biggest hurdles is the animation, but you get used to it after a while, tough goodness knows why they couldn't have spent a few bucks more and gotten better stuff.

The whole film feels like you are really in this forest because they all have nice qualities to their voices that makes you know them better. Since the actors are very talented, you get a sense of charisma, power or envy in their voices that makes them feel like realy people, something only Aardman and PIXAR seem to have cornered on the animation market before.

There are a few nitpicks though. For insatance, a few plot holes pop up now and then and it's very anooying that characters can't cuss. They just say cuss like "What the cuss?" You feel like Wes Anderson wants to make this a little more racy, yet the studio told him to stay put where he was.



This is, however, something that makes me realize the lgeacy that Wes Anderson has on cinema. He really makes great films that have real situations and now he's even transversed genre's to get into animation. He's broken barriers that we may not have even known were there.

Fantastic Mr. FOx is one of the year's best and really shows what animation has done this year. I take my hat off to Wes Anderson and Co. for coming thiiiiiiiiiss close to topping PIXAR in quality. Highly reccomended.

Rating: 9.2 out of 10 or A

SYS

Blu-Ray Review: Harry Potter 6

Now this was a really boring flick. It's hard to compare it to Twilight, since in it's original November 2008 date it would have been come out before Twilight, but man it seems all the romance in this film has come form Twilight!

The story this time around, is that Harry Potter and Dumbledore have to stop Voldemort soon. They leanr of a powerful secret that may help them...or destroy them. Meanwhile, love abounds as 45 minutes are spent trying to get all the boys and girls together.

This film may be 159 minutes, but it still feels short. There is never any realy ending it just...ends. I felt at the end like we needed a little more meat. There is some good acting here as well by Michael Gambon and Jim Broadbent and Dnaiel Radcliffe, but a few others stink without a trace.

This franchise is one of the greatest in history, so one average installment can be forgiven. I am excited for the Deathly Hallows films next year and in 2011, but for now, this weak adventure just dosen't seem to represent what Harry Potter really means.

Rating: C+ or 6.1 out of 10

SYS

Film Review: Michael Jackson's This Is It

Michael Jackson is a genuis, but it must be said that this film dosen't give what we the audience nor even the great MJ himself would've wnated. We get to only peek at something...something brilliant. There should've been more to this than what we get.

Unless you've been on Mars for the past 6 months, than you haven't heard of Michael Jackson dying. This was going to be his last concert, but his passing stopped it dead in it's tracks. Now his last few hours are on film for the world to see.

As I said above, this film probably could've been so much more. Yet, it feels like your getting only the whipped cream of a chocolate cake. Cream is fine, but you really want the nice tasty stuff. Don't get me wrong, some of the musical numbers in here like Billie Jean are must see's for anyone. But really, this could've been so much more that it isn't. Wish it could have been so much more that it isn't.

Rating: B- or 6.9 out of 10

SYS