17:40 |
Halloween is still a few
weeks away, but the studios are rolling out the thematic material a little
early. A reinterpretation of "Frankenstein" for kids is
complemented by the horror-movie-of-the-week and a number of films that delve
into more realistic terrors. Tim Burton reworks his 1984 live action
short into the 3D, black-and-white, animated "Frankenweenie,"
a timely Halloween-themed kid’s flick. Young lad Victor Frankenstein (Charlie
Tahan) is so completely crushed by the death of his dog Sparky that he
decides to do what most kids probably wish they could do when their pets are
sent to “a farm”: he resurrects him! Inspired by a wacko teacher (Martin
Landau) and a hometown brimming in its own brand of otherworldliness,
Victor succeeds in bringing his beloved canine back to life. Now if only he can
find a way to keep the reanimation a secret from his parents (Catherine O'Hara
and Martin Short) and classmates… Our review concludes the film as
perhaps the most purely satisfying, enjoyable and wonderfully over-the-top
climax to any Tim Burton movie since 'Beetlejuice’.
Ratings – 7.5/10
Pros – movie never fail to
delight the eye
Cons - not
a lot of positive messages shown in the movie
03:45 |
“Won't Back Down” follows two mothers, played by Davis
and Maggie Gyllenhaal, struggling with the inner-city public school
system in which they are deeply involved. Davis plays a teacher deeply
impassioned about her job, while Gyllenhaal portrays a single mother who
persuades parents around her for change while also tending bar and selling
cars. “The Wire” star Lance Reddick shows up as head of a school
board, while Rosie Perez, Ving Rhames, Bill Nunn, and Marianne
Jean-Baptiste round out the supporting cast.
From the footage shown, director Daniel Barnz (“Beastly”)
is obviously going for a brisk, feel-good classroom drama, somewhere between “Mr.
Holland's Opus” and the slightly broad tone of “North Country,” but
it'll require a look at the final product to see if it all gels together
effectively. Both Davis and Gyllenhaal are clearly having fun with their roles
though, so if nothing else the two actresses will make for a compelling watch
overall.
Ratings – 7.5/10
Pros – great story, inspired by true events
Cons – too much talking
21:45 |
Bait is another thrilling movie brought to you by Kimble
Randall, where it contains gory, intense and entertaining scenes. The story
mainly focuses in a sleepy beach community, where shoppers at an underground
supermarket are terrorized by a crazed bandit when the unimaginable occurs: A
monstrous freak tsunami swallows the town. Now trapped, with rushing water
threatening to entomb them in a watery grave the survivors discover they are
not alone. The tsunami has brought unwanted visitors from the depths. Not only
must they overcome the threat of drowning and the predator within their midst,
but a threat far more deadly and far more bloodthirsty— hungry great white
sharks. People who’re trapped must find their way out from the mini mart. Will
everyone make it? Watch the movie to find out ;)
Ratings – 6.5/10
Pros – quite entertaining
Cons – actors are not very well known
07:32 |
Butter, a movie by Jim Field Smith,
is a
story about what it means to win at all costs and against all odds. It blends
social commentary, outrageous comedy and heartfelt drama in telling the story
of the ambitious Laura Pickler (Jennifer Garner), the self-anointed First Lady
of Butter Carving. Refusing to accept that her husband (Ty Burrell) wants to
step down after his 15-year run as the “Iowa State Butter Carving Champion,”
and therefore end the Pickler family’s reign in the spotlight, Laura takes a
stab at the title herself. But her bid for glory is complicated when two
unlikely contestants enter the race – one, her husband’s hard-living mistress
(Olivia Wilde), and the other a 10-year-old foster child named Destiny (Yara
Shahidi). Enlisting the help of her high school sweetheart, Boyd (Hugh
Jackman), Laura will stop at nothing to be crowned champion, even if it means
resorting to sabotage. Overall, it is quite a trendy movie for drama lovers.
Ratings
– 6.5/10
Pros
– great actors and story line
Cons
– contain some deep vocabularies difficult to understand
05:46 |
As the story continues after the
first Taken movie showed in 2009, Taken 2 have again successfully deliver an
excellent sequel that attempted to drive the audience thrills. This time with a
more non-stop action, explosive fight scenes and great acting by Liam Neeson,
the movie never failed to impress me.
The plot of the story is that the
father of the kidnapper from the original Taken wants revenge for the death of
his son, so he plots to capture and kill Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson)
while he's in Istanbul on a business trip. Unfortunately, Bryan's daughter, Kim
(Maggie Grace),
and ex-wife Lenore (Famke Jannsen)
also turn up and become targets, too. This time Bryan and Lenore are taken, and
Bryan employs Kim for a little outside help. Bryan escapes with Kim, but Lenore
is moved to another location, and Bryan must use all his skills to find her
again. Unfortunately, he's walking right into a trap. As an overall, Taken 2 is a good, solid, and one of
the greatest action movie of the year I’ve seen so far.
Ratings – 9/10
Pros - sympathetic characters and
a more anti-revenge stance
Cons – contain several brutal
scenes
10:02 |
In The Dark Knight Rises, Batman's (Christian Bale) enemy, Bane (Tom Hardy), is basically trying to blow the city up with an atomic bomb, just as usual in any other action/superhero movies. However, the storyline in this film is very well-written and developed and thus, meaning it's not your average superhero movie. Anne Hathaway makes her appearance in this movie as the infamous Catwoman and even though Batman and Catwoman started off with the wrong foot, they eventually worked together in order to take Bane and his lackeys down, along with the help of Gotham City's law enforcers.
One factor which makes this film extraordinary aside from it's storyline, would be its plot twists. Some events unravelled as the story progresses are unpredictable, even though disappointingly the ending which will not be spoiled may be predictable to some. On the contrary, some dialogue scenes may be quite lengthy and boring to some. The Combat and fighting scenes in The Dark Knight Rises are less exaggerated as how it usually is in action films, and considering the awesome storyline and plot twists, it really shows that much effort was put into making this film.
Rating - 8.5/10
Pros - Good acting, unpredictable plot twists and story progression
Cons - Few/several lengthy dialogue scenes may be boring to some, Rather predictable ending
03:40 |
Life
as we know it, is a really cute movie suitable enough for grown ups. The main
story is that the baby's parents die and their two friends Katherine Heigl and
Josh Duhamel, have to take care of the baby and at the end of the movie they
realize that they were perfect for each other. The rest of the movie will
fascinate you, as it’ll surely make you laugh and cry with joy. Overall, the
movie has positive messages about family and career balance, the sacrifices you
make for unconditional friendship, and the importance of teamwork among
parents. That said, there are some iffier messages earlier in the film about
the way you handle sexual relationships and what attributes make women
attractive to men. Enjoy folks!
Ratings
– 8.5/10
Pros
– lots of positive messages
Cons – contain some inappropriate language
03:30 |
The Vow is a movie based on the novel written by Nicholas Sparks.
Sweet and romantic, casted by the very famous two actors, Channing Tatum and
Rachel McAdams. The story highlights the topic of relationships and marriage to
be discussed between parents and teens in a positive light, which is
refreshing. It’s a very good movie to go see especially for girls. There are
some language and sensual scenes, but nothing older kids shouldn't be able to
watch. In regards to the scene showing a man's bare bottom, it is extremely
brief, and the context of the scene when you see it is pretty hilarious. It’s
not sexual or anything like that at all.
Ratings – 7/10
Pros – shows a good role model of a man
Cons – absence of climax
07:57 |
Loopers is an exciting as well as a thrilling action movie
which is casted by two famous actors, Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon Levitt. The story starts out with Joe, a gun-for-hire called a looper
who kills criminals dispatched from 30 years into the future. His life of crime
has given him the opportunity to indulge in selfish pleasures such as sex,
drugs and money. All loopers, however, must kill their future selves to
"close the loop," and Joe's older self escapes. Joe then learns that
his older self is trying to kill one of three children who could possibly be a
crime lord in the future. While he waits for the older Joe, the younger Joe
finds a family farm with one of the three kids, and ends up with the joint duty
of protecting the family and killing his future self. The technology and
special effects used in this movie has successfully captivated our eyes. It’s a
smart and sexy futuristic crime thriller that will be remembered for
generations to come.
Ratings – 9/10
Pros – unique story line
Cons – quite gory, so not really
suitable for children to watch
03:58 |
Superhero fanboys and fangirls all over the world will by
psyched by this movie: Marvel’s “The Avengers” released in the big screen not
too long ago. This movie is unlike other superhero movies simply because of one
thing, the appearance of multiple superheroes fighting together against the
villains to save the world. Superheroes who made their appearance in this movie
are Ironman, Captain America, The Incredible Hulk, Black Widow, Thor, and
Hawkeye, assembled together as a team called the Avengers Initiative by Nick Fury
to stop Loki, Thor's half-brother's plan to invade the earth. Not to mention,
all superheroes and Loki feature top of the list movie actors such as Robert
Downey Jr. and Scarlett Johansson. All those heroes combined together? We're
talking about some serious power here.
While this movie is very entertaining in terms of the
action, it is also humorous and funny. Some scenes in this movie just made the
whole cinema theatre burst into laughter. High-octane superhero action meet funny
wacky moments and impressive special computer effects and graphics? Marvel’s
The Avengers easily scored high in many movie reviews all over the net, and the
story here is just the same as pretty much anywhere else.
Rating – 8/10
Pros – Exciting fighting action, Funny scenes, Good computer
graphics and special effects.
Cons – May have been better if including relevant villain to
each superhero such as Abomination to Hulk and Whiplash to Ironman
23:53 |
Step up 4: Miami Heat is the right movie for those of you
who love drama, especially dancing. It is the continuation of the previous step
up collections, this time with a more inspiring, energetic and brilliant
choreographies, plus the new actors Kathryn McCormick and Ryan Guzman,
including some people from the show of So
You Think You Can Dance. Although, the storyline is just so-so, the flash
mob choreos, settings of the place in Miami and the songs were catchy and
amazing. Mild
language and social drinking happened often in the movie, but other than that,
this movie was pretty clean and suitable enough for young children to watch. I
personally love the way they dance like a robot, I think its really awesome
that some people can actually do it. Overall, the movie is entertaining enough.
Ratings
– 6.5/10
Pros
– great choreography
Cons
– just a satisfactory story line
03:03 |
The Notebook is another love story where the objective of
the movie is to show that love can lasts forever. It shows a sweet depiction of two people from
different social classes falling in love. They break up though they are still
in love and your heart breaks along with theirs. Then the story becomes about
their journey to find someone else they can love or to find each other again.
It contain blends of happy and sad moments, so we would suggest you to prepare
a tissue box J. In my opinion, Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams were
both quite matching enough to play their respective roles and I love the part
of their scene where Ryan took Rachel to see swans on the lakes and end up
kissing in the rain. I think that is the sweetest part in any romantic movie.
Plus, the movie also shows how vintage people dress up, and helps me to follow
their fashion sense as well.
Ratings
– 7/10
Pros
– good setting of the movie
Cons
– contain quite a lot of adult content
08:10 |
Shutter
Island is a movie directed by the famous Martin Scorsese, and is also stars
Leonardo DiCaprio as the lead main actor. Shutter Island is known to be an
island just off the Boston harbours which house Ashecliffe Hospital, a mental hospital for the criminally insane
people. This movie is quite intensifying to watch as it features
a creepy setting, and sometimes it took place in a dark and mysterious type of
place which add up to the tension. The scary feeling you get from watching this
ios defferent compared when watching a horror movie, and this sense of
curiousity is what makes the audience wonder what would happen next. Shutter
island also have a twist in the ending which renders most of the audience to
question what is the true ending of the movie. I will not mention of what the
meaning of the ending is, as it might spoil you, the reader, if you have not
watch the movie.
Ratings –
7/10
Pros – great storyline and unexpected ending
Cons – the setting only took place at one spot
07:38 |
Here’s another movie we would like to dedicate to all you
reviewers to watch. The Artist, a silent yet entertaining and delightful masterpiece
which we guarantee that you’ll have fun. The movie focuses on characters' gestures and
expressions, the musical score, and occasional title cards to tell its story of
fame, fortune, and friendship. But We can all appreciate that this movie
is exquisitely done. With a lovely story, sensational actors (Berenice Bejo,
Jean Dujardin), and beautiful choreography. You’ll laugh, or maybe cry. But
most importantly, you will be entertained! In my opinion, with no sound and
black and white screen, the movie shows the uniqueness and it seems like you’re
coming back to the vintage era, the choreography they show was fabulous and
very much lively. Overall, the movie is upbeat and suitable for any age,
especially to those who are passionate about cinema, it’s a must-see.
Ratings – 8.5/10
Pros – Perfection in every scenes
Cons – Some people might not fully understand each and every
scene as it is a silent movie.
07:18 |
For those who loves thriller, this is the perfect movie for
you. Urban legends, a classic horror movie released in 1998, is a story of an
anonymous killer wandering on campus using a bunch of urban legends myths to
murder college students. It is guaranteed to give you chills on the spine as it
shows an intense and emotionally convulsive scene. Actors in this movie include
Alicia Witt, Rebecca Gayheart and many more. What I like about this movie is
that it shows a good scares, plot and gore to satisfy any horror fans. I would
recommend it for teens who are legally enough to watch these types of movies
due to graphic violence, language and adult content. Overall, the movie is
reprehensible and quite endearing. You might also want to check out other
related urban legend movie collections such as the Urban legends: The final
Cut, Urban legends: Bloody Mary.
Ratings – 7/10
Pros – Great suspense and plot
Cons – Not suitable for underages
07:01 |
500 Days of Summer is an American drama movie
where it consists of several characters, Joseph Gordon Levitt (Tom) and Zooey
Deschanel (Summer) being the two main characters where they became couples. The
film is really refreshing nowadays as it portrays a relationship that is more
realistic and less cliché compared to most other movies. It’s funny, unique and
true to life. Well it seems to me like that because both the couples seems to
be silly at times, because it’s an unusual love story, there’s something more
than your usual romantic comedy. It could be because of the exquisite music or
its beautiful cinematography. And its true to life as well because the movie
taught you a lesson that everyone you meet along the way, whether just passing through or
sticking around for awhile, has a purpose. In the end nothing lasts forever,
relationships begin, relationships end.
Ratings
– 9/10
Pros
– realistic and less cliché story
Cons
– too much talking
00:04 |
01:33 |
Welcome to our Movie Review Blog! We are students from Macquarie University who created this blog as
part of our isys100 assignment. Since we are big movie fans, we have thought of
creating this topic. This blog will feature pictures, movie trailers,
information and personal reviews, including ratings in regards of the movie
that we have watched. The objective of this blog is to guide and provide you
with more information about the movie that you might consider to watch, and it
also recommends whether it’s good or bad. The movies are sorted from the old to
the newest, and will going to cover mostly of these three following genres,
which are dramas, thriller and action. So feel free to take a look at our posts,
hope you’ll find our reviews pretty much helpful. Enjoy!
And by the way, below is a picture roughly of what our blog looks like. =D
And by the way, below is a picture roughly of what our blog looks like. =D
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