Wednesday 12 December 2012

There Are 5 Best Websites To Watch Free Movies Online

Watching free movies online? That too legally? If you have a good internet connection then you can watch HD quality movies online without any issues. Instead of downloading them you can watch them online. You don't have to worry about finding a good torrent online, start to download them, and wait for some hours to watch them.

In this article we have mentioned some 5+ best websites to watch free movies online. Just search for your favorite movie there and if it is available, you can watch them right away. In this list I found YouTube and Crackle to be more impressive. You can also check out other websites, they contain hundreds of free good movies. You have to register on all these sites to watch the movies. You can also check out their trailers before watching.


1. YouTube Movies

YouTube is a popular video sharing website owned by Google. It allows billions of people to discover, watch and share originally-created videos. YouTube has a section called "Movies" you can watch hundreds of good movies online.

2. IMDb

IMDb is a popular and authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content. You can find good number of full-length movies here.

3. Bigflix

Bigflix is India's premier movies on demand service offering 1000+ movies in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Punjabi and many other Indian languages. You can find some good free movies here.

4. Hulu Movies

Hulu is a website and over-the-top subscription service offering ad-supported on-demand streaming videos. Using Hulu Movies you can watch trailers, movies, and documentaries free online. You can stream instantly on your computer.

5. Veoh

Veoh is a premier watch movies online provider that you and your whole family are sure to love. Veoh is an Internet television company based in San Diego, California.

Thursday 6 December 2012

You Can Watch The Latest Movies Directly Online

If you enjoy watching movies and you do not want to miss your favorite TV series, you must be happy finding out that you can watch your favorite movies directly on your iPhone or iPad. Now, users have the possibility to watch any movie they want, free streamed directly on their devices with the help of the right Cydia apps. As you may imagine, for this, you need to jailbreak your device first in order to have access over Cydia. Cydia download Store is a great source for useful apps and tweaks and you will find almost anything you want here. Here is a top 5 best Cydia apps for movies in order to make things easier for you. All you need to do is to choose one of these apps and download it on your device. Then, you will be able to watch the latest movies directly on your device with less effort and in less time.


1. The iPlayApp is a valuable source for great movies, streamed movies free of charge. You get to watch the latest movies, and in the same time, you will be able to keep in touch with the latest titles revealed, news and trailers. Moreover, you have the possibility to select movies from different categories.

2. VideoTube app is a free app, which acts as a host for valuable movie links to other websites that host the movie itself. All you have to do is to select the movie you want to watch on VideoTube and you will be directed to the site containing the movie. All this, free of charge.

3. Netflix app is probably one of the best Cydia apps to watch movies. I am sure that most of you are already familiar with Netflix and this is nothing different. You get to watch streamed movies, HD movies and TV series.

4. Flixter app is a little bit different. It does not allow you to watch the latest movies streamed on your device, but it will give you the exact time when the movie will be broadcasted at your favorite cinema. You can also buy tickets for it.

5. AirVideo app enables you to watch stream videos from your Mac or PC. The free version will show you only a couple of titles randomly selected.

Sunday 21 October 2012

The Review of Mall Cop Movie

Paul Blart: Mall Cop Movie Review - Plot
The movie opens at the New Jersey State Police Academy in the autumn of 2008. Paul Blart (Kevin James), a single father, tries out to be a cop. He does surprisingly well on the obstacle course despite his size, but passes out due to hypoglycemia, and fails the course.He lives with his mother and daughter, who tries to find him a girlfriend on a dating website, as his wife had previously left him, and he had been feeling lonely ever since. He tries to make ends meet as a security officer at West Orange Pavilion Mall.
He takes the job very seriously, but receives no respect from the patrons. The next day, Blart is introduced to a new trainee named Veck Sims. Blart takes him on a tour of the mall, teaching him the basics. While patrolling the mall, Blart sees - and falls for - a kiosk owner, Amy. After a few attempts to muster up courage, Blart tries to talk to Amy, but awkwardly asks for hair products instead. Upon their second "meeting", Blart offers to give Amy a ride to her car on his Segway, and they agree to meet later in a bar where the mall staff are regular patrons. Unfortunately, Blart accidentally gets drunk, and humiliates himself in front of everybody present. Thinking he has ruined his chances with Amy, Blart returns home in low spirits. Later, Blart's co-worker offers him his daughter's phone so Blart could call Amy.
On Black Friday, a group of robbers disguised as Santa's helpers "seize the mall" while Blart is inside the arcade playing Rock Band. While in the arcade, a foreign teen named Pahud calls the cell phone looking for the co-worker's daughter. Pahud believes Blart is her lover but he explains that he is only borrowing the phone and gives the boy positive advice (basically to just relax about this girl). Pahud begins to admire Blart and they become quick friends. The robbers chase most of the shoppers and staff outside. However, some of the mall staff, including Amy, are taken hostage inside the mall's bank. Veck reveals himself to be the ringleader, and intends to steal thirty million dollars from the mall by obtaining the codes to the mall's credit card machines.
The West Orange Police, led by Sgt. Howard, surround the mall, but are unsure of the actual conditions inside. Meanwhile, Blart realizes that the mall has been taken over, and he makes contact with Sgt. Howard. However, the moment he finds out Amy is among the hostages, Blart resolves to take the matter in his own hands. He begins incapacitating the robbers one-by-one, and recording the stolen credit card codes.
Outside, SWAT Commander Kent arrives to take control over the operation, and he ultimately dismisses Blart's actions; Also he has known Blart as Kent has been cruel to him since in high school. He shows that he is much more willing than Sgt. Howard to raid the mall, regardless of the hostages' safety. While Blart is busy fighting the robbers, his daughter, Maya, arrives at the mall to deliver his dinner, but she is quickly taken hostage by Veck. She then meets Amy, and tells her how Blart really feels about her.
Fortunately, Sgt. Howard had followed them, and quickly arrests Commander Kent after Blart's boss, Chief Brooks shoots the gun out of Kent's hand. Blart and Amy are re-united and Blart admits his feelings for her and she kisses him. Howard offers to let Blart become a full-fledged police officer. Blart steadfastly refuses, saying that his place is helping people in his mall. During the end credits, bonus scenes show Blart and Amy getting married in the mall with all of their co-workers and friends there, including Pahud.

Wednesday 3 October 2012

Know About The Different Kinds Of 3D Movies

How good or bad a 3D movie is totally depends on the response of the audience. In case the movie meets with a lot of good responses, then there is no way the movie maker and the creators cannot feel good about themselves. But, when the number of bad reviews and responses count more than the number of good responses, then it is time the creators for put some more thought into the making of the movie.

Therefore, we can say that the fortune of a movie along with its creators lies in the hands of website content writing professionals who write reviews to some extent.

A good and well composed website content writing for a 3D movie is what we know as a 3D movie review. Content writing reviews for a 3D movie can also help estimate the number of people that will actually pay to see the movie. Because, if the movie does not have a good and positive review against it, then there will be no one willing to spend their money and time on a worthless movie. Therefore, not only does the movie have to be well made, but it also needs to have some good reviews against its name.


To put it in a more sophisticated way, 3D movie article writing review is an analysis and post-mortem of 3D films. Content writing reviews for a 3D movie can be broken into two categories: journalistic and academic criticism. Article writing reviews for Academic criticism is done by film critics taking an academic approach towards movies. This form is known as film theory or film studies. We really think that this category ignores the mistakes in the movie if there are any because they are aware of the whole process of movie making and the troubles people in this industry have to endure. Also the reviews labeled academic are quite full of technical terms hence it is harder for the masses to comprehend to them.

Article writing a review for Journalistic criticism involves a 3D movie review that is made by film critics working for newspapers, magazines and the like. This also includes article writing for online film review websites which brings together movie reviews from a number of film critics to allot a certain score. Rotten Tomatoes is one of the most popular online film review websites. There are other popular websites for movie reviews for which regular article writing can be done.

Obviously, of the two categories, it is content writing for journalistic criticism that has a greater impact on the masses. This is not only because newspapers as well as magazines are more inexpensive, but this is also because of the fact that this form of reviews are direct in their criticisms and complaints about how the movie is done and how the actors and actresses played their roles. So, it would be very understandable if the people in the movie industry would be more concerned in pleasing those who are working and content writing for various newspapers and magazines.

Wednesday 11 July 2012

The Review Of The Pirates of the Caribbean 4

Alas, it seems that Disney may never recreate the lighting-in-a- bottle charm of the first Pirates film. Contrary to what you may have heard from critics, this sequel isn't a bad film. Neither is it, as some die-hard fans have enthused, the "best Pirates ever" (which they likely say every time a new one comes out). While Dead Man's Chest and At World's End suffered from being too ambitious (so much so that even Depp admits he didn't understand the plot), On Stranger Tides attempts to scale back to the stand-alone simplicity of the first film. A wise move, though sadly this film feels undercooked. All of the ingredients are there for this to be as fun as the maiden voyage, but the effort necessary to develop the action, comedy, or drama to their potential seems missing. The villain, Blackbeard, is perfectly cast with Ian McShane, though he displayed more convincing menace as the villain in Kung Fu Panda. Penelope Cruz adds some spice as a Spanish pirate, but her emotional arc is underdeveloped. Curiously, a Christian missionary is portrayed in a favorable light, though his potential romance with a mermaid fails to pack the emotional resonance that it's clearly meant to (it also pales in comparison to the tender chemistry of Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightley in the first film). Geoffrey Rush continues to impress as Barbosa, but much of his menace has been diluted. Even Hanz Zimmer dials in a musical score that seems to be copied and pasted from previous films.
Thankfully, Depp continues to be a hoot as Jack Sparrow; I had grown tired of the character by the end of the third film, but somehow Depp breathes charm back into him again. Though Sparrow is still a scoundrel, he's pulled a Han Solo and become more of a heroic and noble figure than he used to be. Depp's swordplay skills have become more impressive over the years, though no sequence matches the intricate staging and choreography of the battle for the key in the second film. Though enjoyable, none of the action has the scope we've come to expect, save for a riveting battle against, of all things, mermaids. The scene is terrifying, haunting, heroic, and fun, with imagination rivaling the underwater skeleton army from the first film. Sadly, the rest of the film fails to match the creativity and craftsmanship of this exemplary moment. Zombies, voodoo dolls, and a ship with supernatural power are thrown into the mix, but they're not given much to do. Ultimately, this Pirates film is fun but forgettable. There are some truly funny moments, it was never boring, and the wardrobe and set design continue to be splendid, but if the series is to continue they need to recapture the magic. Depp is game, Disney, so find writers and a director to match him.

Saturday 28 April 2012

Babel Review: Life Needs Translation


Babel
The biblical story of Babel takes up a handful of verses in the 11th chapter of Genesis, and it illustrates, among other things, the terrible consequences of unchecked ambition. As punishment for trying to build a tower that would reach the heavens, the human race was scattered over the face of the earth in a state of confusion — divided, dislocated and unable to communicate. More or less as we find ourselves today.

It tells four distinct stories, disclosing bit by bit the chronology and causality that link them and making much of the linguistic, cultural and geographical distances among the characters. The movie travels — often by means of jarringly abrupt cuts and shifts of tone — from the barren mountains of Morocco, where the dominant sound is howling wind, to fluorescent Tokyo, where the natural world has been almost entirely supplanted by a technological environment, to the anxious border between the United States and Mexico. Each place has its own aural and visual palette. The languages used by the astonishingly diverse cast include Spanish, Berber, Japanese, sign language and English. The misunderstandings multiply accordingly, though they tend to be most acute between husbands and wives or parents and children, rather than between strangers.
  
But let’s give feeling its due. The sheer reckless ardor of Mr. González Iñárritu’s filmmaking — the voracious close-ups, the sweeping landscape shots, the swiveling, hurtling camera movements — suggests a virtually limitless confidence in the power of the medium to make connections out of apparent discontinuities. His faith in cinema as a universal language could hardly be more evident.
  
Some of the pieces of “Babel” are attached to one another by the banal lingua franca of television images, as events in North Africa, for instance, make the evening news in Tokyo. But Mr. González Iñárritu’s own visual grammar tries to go deeper, to suggest a common idiom of emotion present in certain immediately recognizable gestures and expressions. We may not be able to read minds or decipher words, he suggests, but we can surely decode faces, especially when we see them at close range and in distress. Loss, fear, pain, anguish — none of these emotions, it seems, are likely to be lost in translation.
  
The most glamorous cast members are Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, who play an American couple on a desultory vacation in Morocco, trying to repair the damage done to their marriage by the death of their infant son. Their movie-star charisma is turned down to a low, flickering flame, and the easy sense of entitlement they sometimes betray belongs naturally to their characters, Susan and Richard, who nonetheless receive a brutal reminder that even the privileged are vulnerable to accident.
  
Susan — the kind of tourist who worries that the local ice cubes carry disease — is badly wounded when a bullet is fired through a bus window, hitting her in the neck. The bullet comes from a gun belonging to Abdullah (Mustapha Rachidi), a goatherd, and used by his two sons, Ahmed (Said Tarchani) and Yussef (Boubker Ait El Caid), to keep jackals away from the herd.
  
The gunmen and their victim are never in the frame together, and the consequences of the incident unfold in parallel crises. Susan and Richard wind up in a small town, waiting for an ambulance, facing the panic and impatience of their fellow holiday makers and relying on the kindness of strangers. Abdullah and his sons and neighbors, for their part, must deal with the harsh attentions of the Moroccan police, who are trying to defuse what threatens to become an international incident.


Babel suggests something coming out of the ether—always in a hurry but sometimes dropping clues as to where it's going and where it will end up. Chronology is jumbled as it was in 21 Grams, only this film's fudging of time is slightly less shrill, sometimes even soothing (a phone call received by one of the characters indicates that someone else—far away and close to death—might just turn out okay). In the end, though, it's not the linking devices, however desperate, that cripple the film (and the audience), but the stories themselves, which are jerry-rigged with the sort of scare tactics that tritely invite the cluck of one's tongue. In Mexico, Amelia's nephew Santiago (Gael García Bernal) shoots a bullet into the air (at which point you wonder if it will ricochet off a taco stand and go through someone's head), but not before he decapitates a chicken, scaring the shit out of Susan and Bill's lily-white son Mike (Nathan Gamble). The film delights in keeping its audience on edge, evoking life as a perpetual roller coaster ride of potential doom and gloom.

  
In “Babel” there seems to be an active, palpable tension between the schematism of Mr. Arriaga’s scenario and the sensuality of Mr. González Iñárritu’s filmmaking. Some of the most exciting and powerful sequences — a Tokyo nightclub rave, the wedding of Amelia’s son — push beyond the constraints of the narrative and defy, at least for a time, the grim inevitability that hovers over the film.
  
The sheer sensory exuberance of the film at once subverts the fatalism of its story and lends it whatever credibility it has. On paper, very little of it makes sense, but what is on screen has an almost physical impact. In the end “Babel,” like that tower in the book of Genesis, is a grand wreck, an incomplete monument to its own limitless ambition. But it isthere, on the landscape, a startling and imposing reality. It’s a folly, and also, perversely, a wonder.

Tuesday 24 April 2012

Facing Bela Tarr’s Final Film, ‘The Turin Horse’


The Turin Horse
Based on a scenario by longtime Tarr collaborator Laszlo Krasznahorkai,The Turin Horse begins by recounting an anecdote to explain its title: While walking in Turin in 1889, Nietzsche saw a cab driver thrashing his horse, and threw himself between the animal and the whip. The philosopher then collapsed and spent the rest of his life in quiet dementia, mostly in the care of his mother and sister.

The plot, such as it is, simply depicts six days in the life of the man – elderly, with one useless arm and, perhaps, one blind eye – and the grown daughter with whom he shares the cottage. They get up, get dressed, get water from the well, try to go to work – though the horse, ailing and refusing to eat, and an ever more violent gale prevent their doing so – eat (boiled potatoes only, using their fingers), stare out at the storm, and sleep. One day, a man visits to borrow brandy and speaks of the desolate prospects facing greedy, self-serving humanity; another day, a passing band of gypsies comes to the well but is driven away by the irate cottage-owner, leaving a religious tome for his daughter as recompense. That’s it, in terms of story – except that by the fifth day it feels as if the wind will never drop and the wretched pair will never be able to leave their home.

All this – which lasts two and half hours – is conveyed by around 30 long, elegant shots, beautifully lit and composed in monochrome by frequent Tarr collaborator Fred Kelemen; other regulars on board for what he has described as his last film include co-writer László Krasznahorkai (on whose novel Tarr’s masterpiece ‘Sátántangó’ was based), composer Mihály Vig (here contributing a dirge-like minimalist drone that matches the repetitively rhythmic raging of the tempest), and editor/co-director Ágnes Hranitsky. The slow pace, the generally miserabilist mood, the sparse dialogue and the focus on mundane quotidian domestic ritual will not be to everyone’s taste, and at times the sheer single-mindedness of the film threatens to slide into something like self-parody. Yet somehow it weaves its hypnotic spell: so bold are both the conception and execution of Tarr’s darkly cinematic elegy that the final scenes are as sobering as anything in his – or indeed anyone else’s – body of work.

Aside from a strong and increasing wind, The Turin Horse could be set in the same empty spot asWaiting for Godot. Like Beckett's play, Tarr's film is about the daily lives of two isolated people, occasionally interrupted by visitors. One difference is that, where Beckett's characters are locked in their routines, Ohlsdorfer (Janos Derzsi) and his unnamed heir (Erika Bok) are being blown out of theirs. The duo's harsh world is getting harsher.

It's not just the wind, underlined by Mihaly Vig's minimalist score. The horse is acting strange, and the well is going dry. At times, it even seems that the sun has gone out. As in Tarr's more elaborately plotted 2000 masterpiece, Werckmeister Harmonies, a great disaster looms off-screen.

The two peasants' visitors bring alarming messages, though they're vague. An acquaintance arrives to buy some liquor, and warns that greedy humanity is doomed. Later, some gypsies pass though, and the man drives them off, although perhaps too late. They give the granddaughter a book that Tarr has described as a Nietzschean "anti-Bible."

The bleakness is unrelenting — yet that's probably not why The Turin Horse has prompted so many audience walkouts. The film is structured as the events of six days, and each chapter promises to repeat the same obsessive depiction of simple acts: fetching water, chopping wood, eating potatoes and helping Ohlsdorfer, who has a lame arm, get dressed and undressed. The movie oppresses less through gloom than with repetition.

And yet there's enormous variation within the tight confines of this parable, in large part because of the compositions and cinematography. Tarr and his veteran cameraman, Fred Kelemen, employ long hand-held camera takes. (There are only about 30, averaging roughly eight minutes each.) The film was shot in and around a farmhouse, built for the production, that is essentially one large room and an attached stable. The way the characters (including the horse) move through this space creates a sense of intimacy and completeness.

As for the horse - which figures less than expected - it is mostly a solemn, impassive background presence, and a focus for the enigmatic drift of the film. Is the horse a repository, like Bresson’s donkey Baltasar, of human suffering? Or does it embody the universe’s absolute implacable indifference to humanity? The Nietzsche prologue, seemingly tangential to the main action, enigmatically bolsters the effect of parable.

Tarr has announced that this will be his last film, and indeed it’s hard to imagine where he could go from here. It’s a shame to think of this heroically uncompromising director shutting up shop, but if he does, The Turin Horse is a magnificent farewell - although the film ought perhaps to be accompanied by a warning for the depressive.

Tuesday 17 April 2012

"The Debt" Offers Up More Bang Than Brains

At first glance, The Debt might look like a run of the mill espionage drama – with plenty of big name stars putting on Israeli and German accents to sell a narrative about a group of secret agents thirty years after the events that made them national icons. In fact, the mere presence of go-to action guy Sam Worthington would seem to indicate that The Debt offers up more bang than brains.

In the hands of many other directors, The Debt - which is a remake of an Israeli film of the same name (from Assaf Bernstein) – could have easily gone the route of similar espionage movies. However, John Madden (Shakespeare in Love) is ultimately much less concerned with the tense spy-mission set-up, and instead spends the majority of the film playing out a tense character drama. But does the substance over style approach deliver an entertaining and memorable time at the movies?

Fortunately, the answer is yes. Not only does Madden succeed in committing an interesting character drama to film, the director also finds a compelling way to pull tension out of even the most uneventful moments in the script. As a result, in a time when so many films set-aside story and character in favor of CGI and big explosions, it’s an especially commendable accomplishment when a director can engage an audience with nothing more than the basics of artistic expression – solid performances and captivating (as well as real) characters, all grounded in an intriguing narrative journey.

For anyone unfamiliar with The Debt, the basic plot follows three Mossad agents who engaged in a top secret mission to abduct German war criminal Dieter Vogel (Jesper Christensen), in order to bring him to Israel for public trial. The plot jumps back and forth 30 years between the 1967 mission and the 1997 aftermath of the event, where new information regarding the mission comes to light, forcing the agents – Rachel (Helen Mirren/Jessica Chastain), Stephan (Tom Wilkinson/Marton Csokas), and David (Ciaran Hinds/Sam Worthington) - back into each other’s lives to make sense of their time in East Berlin – as well as what the revelation could mean for their respective futures.

The overarching story is one of the stronger elements of the movie (despite a few overly-sentimental moments) and successfully manages to carry the characters from the interesting period piece drama to the aftermath and subsequent reflection. The portion of the story that takes place in 1967 East Berlin is tense, and even without the modern narrative arc, the story of the Mossad operatives’ mission would be exciting and interesting on its own. However, the modern scenes add a delicious layer of depth and complexity, grounded in hind-sight regret and reflection, that bring everyone full-circle, even after 30 years.

That said, the narrative would be nothing without the bevy of captivating performances in the film. Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson, and Ciaran Hinds all live-up to their usual acclaim – successfully depicting a fractured group of individuals that have been weighed-down by their shared experience and no longer know how to relate to (much less care for) one another after many years. However, the most captivating moments of the film belong to their younger counterparts, Jessica Chastain, Marton Csokas, and Sam Worthington, respectively. This is hardly a knock against the older generation, but as mentioned, the 1967 time period storyline offers a number of chilling and complicated character moments that are delivered with powerful subtlety.

A lot is required of Chastain in particular, who not only has difficult moments with both members of her team, but shares a lot of tense screen time with the film’s “villain,” Dieter Vogel. Jesper Christensen is excellent as Vogel, capturing the genuine complexity of a Nazi “monster” living a normal life in post-World War II Germany. In one breath, Christensen can seamlessly transition from hateful anti-Semitic rhetoric to a concerned and almost relatable everyman.

It’s also worth noting that Sam Worthington, who is often (and for good reason) criticized for wooden action roles, offers a very subtle but competent performance as the younger David. Despite the presence of his usual head-down intensity, the actor manages to communicate a lot of layers in The Debt - often without having to even say a word.

Despite The Debt’s complexity – which deals with very real situations and truths – a few of the overarching story beats are overtly mechanical, serving to somewhat force-fuel a few end results and play against how certain characters might actually have handled a given situation. As a result, there are a few scenes that are hard to accept, given the fact that we’re talking about Mossad operatives. The story attempts to remedy these challenging suspensions of disbelief by hinging heavily on the assertion that we’re all human – no matter how monstrous or highly trained – and, while that idea certainly makes the characters real people – it doesn’t always rectify their less believable actions.

In the end, there are a couple of intended surprises and shocks that most movie regulars will probably see coming – though, ultimately, the lack of surprise doesn’t detract from how these moments affect the characters, as well as play to the overarching story. That said, aside from these few predictable (or mechanical) story beats, it’s hard not to enjoy (and think about) The Debt. It may not be the movie marketed in the trailers, but in this case, that’s actually a compliment.

Thursday 12 April 2012

"Contagion" Has Plenty Of Insight Into That World

Steven Soderbergh started off the new millennium with the Oscar-winning film Traffic, a broad and sweeping look at the so-called “war on drugs,” told through the interconnected stories of an ensemble cast of characters. With his latest film, Contagion, Soderbergh applies his Traffic formula to the battle against a deadly pandemic that is loosed upon mankind.

However, where Traffic provided a fresh (and necessary) bigger picture look at a subject many had a narrow view of, Contagion faces the challenge of having to distinguish itself from an overcrowded lane of similar movies that have already dealt with the threat, and resounding effects, of mass epidemic.

So, does Soderbergh – along with his cast of well-regarded actors – manage to rise to the challenge of turning something so familiar into something fresh and interesting? In terms of technique and style, the answer is yes; however, in terms of heart and emotion, Contagion is not as potent as one might hope.

The film plays like a connect-the-dots game of viral infection. The outbreak begins with some ill-fated world travelers, including Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow), a businesswoman who returns home to Midwest America and spreads the deadly disease to the local population. What ensues thereafter is a literal connect-the-dots game, as The World Health Organization and Center for Disease Control send their best scientific minds (Laurence Fishburne, Kate Winslet, Marion Cotillard and Jennifer Ehle) to track the disease back to its origin, contain its spread, and develop a vaccine. But this new force of nature isn’t the only problem the doctors must contend with: there are still plenty forces of man – panic, politics – that are just as dangerous as the virus itself.

Contagion is yet another good example of Soderbergh’s capacity to fit a lot of smaller puzzle pieces together into a distinct bigger picture. Terms like “The War on Drugs” or “Race For a Cure” are worn-out slogans in our day and age, but truly cataloging all of the lives and experiences encompassed in those slogans is a challenging task for anyone’s imagination. To his credit, Soderbergh explores the spread and effect of disease in a way that is certainly interesting and stylish – but also cold, calculating, and numbingly clinical.

A virus has no emotion. It infects, replicates, kills, mutates, and continues to infect without discrimination or prejudice. Despite the swollen cast of characters populating Scott Z. Burns’ (The Bourne Ultimatum) script, on a tonal level, Contagion imitates the virus that drives its plot forward. The film moves from character to character, dispatching certain people with cruel efficiency before moving on to new “hosts” for the story to follow. The characters combating the deadly virus (the aforementioned doctors) are scientific minds trained to be as unflinching and efficient as their viral opponent, and so the actors playing them are cold and clinical, even in the face of potential Armageddon. It’s all interesting on an intellectual level, but hard to connect to any particular character on an emotional level.

Even characters who are given more dramatic arcs – Matt Damon as a traumatized overbearing father, or Jude Law as a controversial Internet blogger – are portrayed with stunted emotion and/or calculating logic. Every character choice and motivation seems mechanically formulaic (If “A” occurs, proceed to do “B”), and for a film that totes the tagline “Nothing Spreads Like Fear,” Contagion is quite sterile (from its tone to its crisp digital shots) and fails to capture the sheer emotion of such a terrible situation. There are some chilling and/or heartfelt moments that occur here and there, but these are ultimately fleeting, as Soderbergh and Burns are clearly more concerned with mapping out their larger blueprint.

The most stirring trick the movie employs is actually a stylistic one: time and again we get “virus POV” shots of random objects (glasses, door handles, subway poles, etc.) which detail – in truly unnerving fashion – just how vulnerable we are to infection in our everday lives. This “virus POV” effect is cool, stirring, and will definitely leave you feeling slightly more germaphobic than when you entered the theater (or even about being in a movie theater - how meta!); it also serves the purpose of being the through-line by which all the dots are connected, as the virus is ultimately traced back to its tragic (and preventable) origins. For those who are good at connect-the-dots games: Contagion contains a distinct messages in its chronicling of how this virus came to be, and how small and connected the world truly is. These will likely be divisive messages for some, given the world we live in today, so keep your eyes on how all the pieces fit together, and what the big picture is actually depicting.

In the end, Contagion is like spending a Saturday morning in biology class: sure, you’ll learn a worthwhile or interesting thing or two, but you’ll also wish you were doing something much more fun with your time. For those curious about the biological precipice upon which our species exists, and those who work tirelessly to keep us from falling over it – this film has plenty of insight into that world. For those hoping to see a more traditional dramatic thriller: this film won’t be the cure you’re looking for.

Sunday 1 April 2012

"Paranormal Activity 3" To Be Scarier, Funnier And More Entertaining

It’s hard to imagine that it’s only been two years since our own Kofi Outlaw was among the first film reviewers to screen the original Paranormal Activity – back when the film was only in limited release. At the time, it was unclear whether the found-footage horror flick (which was actually shown in 2007 at the Screamfest Film Festival) would ever see a full-scale release. However, fueled by fan “demand” (literally) the original Paranormal Activity haunted the box office to the tune of $107 million domestically – on a production budget of just $15,000. As a result, it was no surprise when the sequel, Paranormal Activity 2 scored an astounding $41 million in its opening weekend.

Now, the franchise is back once again with Paranormal Activity 3 – a prequel that fleshes out the story of sisters, Katie and Kristi, who are tormented by an other-worldly presence. This time, however, the movie’s producers recruited a fresh filmmaking duo, Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, to handle directorial duties. The pair rocketed to fame after critics, moviegoers, and even network news outlets debated the validity of their 2009 documentary Catfish. Do the sophomore feature filmmakers continue Paranormal Activity‘s successful run or has the found footage series run out of scares?

Fortunately the directors have a batch of new tricks at their disposal (as a result of the 80s timeframe) – as wedding videographer and man of the house, Dennis (Christopher Nicholas Smith) comes up with inventive ways to capture the bizarre events occurring in the family’s house. A panning VHS camera (attached to the base of an oscillating fan) offers some of the film’s most tense moments – and definitely improves upon the often static images of the prior installments in the series. The retro backdrop also provides a number of cathartic, and unintentional, laughs – such as the appearance of a fancy “cordless phone.”

The filmmakers have, over the course of the prior movies, managed to deliver a relatively intriguing over-arching mythology – one that is further developed in the third installment. Obviously, as with all these movies, the story isn’t the central focus but it’s good to see the producers and writers at least attempting to weave a somewhat coherent through-line.

While the adult versions of Katie and Kristi (played by Katie Featherston and Sprague Grayden, respectively) are present in the film, the Paranormal Activity 3 story (as mentioned) is actually a prequel to both the 2009 and 2010 plot lines. Instead of forwarding the narrative beyond the events of the prior films, the third installment focuses on Katie and Kristi as children (played by Chloe Csengery and Jessica Tyler Brown, respectively) - when they first encounter the paranormal presence that later defines and terrorizes their adult lives. As with the last version, this film isn’t likely to address many of the questions left in the wake of Paranormal Activity but it still manages to deliver a compelling addition to the series mythology.

Anyone expecting a change to the franchise formula (such as the often maligned jump from The Blair Witch Project to Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2) or a significant up to the Paranormal Activity 2 ante, may find the storytelling, scares, and visuals of Paranormal Activity 3 to be mostly “more of the same.” The third film definitely features a few moments that could be considered “larger” in scale than prior films; however, the majority of the runtime is still a waiting game that could be underwhelming for certain filmgoers. In general, anyone who has tired of the series’ formula won’t find a fresh variety of scares in the third installment – but that doesn’t mean that the film isn’t a worthy follow-up for moviegoers who still crave the subtle and creepy anticipation that dominates this series format.

As mentioned, 1988 Dennis has far fewer resources than 2006 Daniel Rey (the father in the second installment) – as a result, instead of a high-tech multi-camera montage, the Paranormal Activity 3 set-up is limited to two static shots as well as the aforementioned panning camera. The limitation actually forces the filmmakers to be much more creative, and showcase a lot of variety in what is actually shown in each of the three rooms – instead of relying on a lot of different rooms. The result is a much more “in-your-face” experience – as the cameras are situated lower to the ground (not mounted high above the action) – and audiences will become intimately familiar with what should (and shouldn’t) be happening in each room.

Also, unlike the prior installments (which featured adequate but mostly stilted acting), Paranormal Activity 3 has a solid cast of performers that manage to make good on the scares – as well as inject believable humor into the mix. It’s only fair to point out that this round of actors, specifically the adults, already have significant filmographies behind them – as the producers are no longer concerned with casting unknowns to maintain the impression any of the footage might actually be real.

That said, obviously these aren’t Oscar-worthy performances, but all five of the “main” characters – Katie, Krysti, and Dennis as well as mother, Julie (Lauren Bittner), and family friend, Randy (Dustin Ingram) – deliver surprisingly likable performances in their respective roles. The adults inject plenty of humor and intriguing overarching exposition and the young girls successfully carry the creepier moments of the movie – since they’re often the ones being terrorized by the paranormal “activity.” As a result, compared to prior installments, the world created in these 80s VHS tapes is much more fleshed out and authentic – with real people, not just caricatures and demon fodder, reacting to the increasingly dangerous series of events playing out on screen.

Paranormal Activity 3 doesn’t reinvent the series’ wheel but it definitely refines an already effective format (and ups the ante by adding a few spikes to the rubber). While it’s still unclear where the franchise will go from this point forward, for the time being, the third film will no doubt deliver on (and possibly exceed) expectations. Non-fans of the series won’t find any marked changes to rekindle their interest but anyone who enjoyed either Paranormal Activity or Paranormal Activity 2 will probably consider this film to be scarier, funnier, and ultimately more entertaining than its predecessors.

Monday 26 March 2012

"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" Is A Thinking Person’s Spy Film

When people hear the term ‘spy movie’ these days, chances are their minds turn toward the more action-oriented tropes of popular franchises like Mission: Impossible or the Bourne series. The spy movies of today are mostly  fantasy – crafted more for entertainment purposes than insight – but the bygone Cold War era brought us more grounded and realistic spy stories, including the noteworthy works of John le Carré (real name David John Moore Cornwell), a former British spy turned spy novel author.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is the big-screen adaptation of Carré’s novel of the same name, and serves as the first chapter in the “Karla Trilogy” – the saga chronicling master spy George Smiley’s quest to uproot his nemesis, “Karla,” a top spy in the Soviet KGB.

However, where many modern spy films are wholly reliant on action movie formulas, director Tomas Alfredson sticks close to the understated approach of Carré’s narrative – the question is, will modern audiences still embrace a complicated spy flick that doesn’t offer a whole lot of action?

The story takes play in the ’70s, as the top echelon of British intelligence (known as “the circus”) is fighting to cut through the web of deceit and misinformation constantly being spun by the KGB. Times are changing, and the old guard – specifically “circus” ringmaster “Control” (John Hurt) and stalwart spy master George Smiley (Gary Oldman) – are being forced into retirement, following a bloody botched mission to uncover an alleged KGB mole within the top levels of British intellegence.

Before Smiley can even get used to the idea of retirement, he’s tapped by the heads of intelligence to go back to work on the case of a KGB mole – a mole controlled by Smiley’s KGB counterpart and longtime nemesis, “Karla.” Recruiting a team of lower-level and retired espionage agents, Smiley begins to unravel the web of deception, half-truths, misinformation, and questionable loyalties amongst the circus’ inner cabal. The only question is: which man is the rotten apple in the bunch?

Swedish director Tomas Alfredson is probably best known to American audiences for his adaptation of the vampire tale, Let the Right One In. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is constructed in Alfredson’s signature style, which often relies more on carefully crafted mis-en-scene (scene composition) and inference – as opposed to exposition or action to convey the story. (Though, admittedly, there are a couple of sequences in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy which rely almost too much on heavy-handed exposition.) This is a film that requires the viewer to constantly pay attention and connect the dots to understand what’s going on and why the characters are doing what they’re doing – and for some people, that level of complexity and subtly is going to be difficult and/or boring. However, for the viewer who likes to be challenged: this film is rich and rewarding to anyone willing to invest the necessary time and thought.

The other divisive factor is the level of action in this film: there is none. As a former intelligence agent, John le Carré knew the realities of the spy world – a place where information, mind-games and deception were the weapons of war – gun battles and fist-fights being a distant second. In staying true to source material, screenwriters Bridget O’Connor (who tragically passed away last year) and Peter Straughan (The Debt) had to forego the usual crutches of cinematic storytelling (movement and action) in favor of less captivating story beats (characters sitting around talking, or performing seemingly mundane tasks).

While there is great importance and meaning in just about every scene featured in the film, some casual viewers are going to inevitably be left with the impression that little-to-nothing “happens,” as there are no big action set pieces, and most of the major twists and/or developments are muted, understated, and require one to have been paying careful attention to what came before. That said, a few sudden (and grisly) moments of violence are likely to shake dozing viewers out of their stupor.

The cast of the film is made up of accomplished (mostly English) actors, including Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises), Ciarán Hinds (The Debt), John Hurt (V for Vendetta), Mark Strong (Green Lantern), Colin Firth (The King’s Speech), Benedict Cumberbatch (Atonement), Stephen Graham (Boardwalk Empire), David Dencik (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and Kathy Burke (Elizabeth). Each of these aforementioned actors is skilled in their own right; together as an ensemble, they make it easy to believe in the world of le Carré’s novel and the shady players therein. However, the combined efforts of these accomplished performers in the supporting roles still don’t outshine the powerhouse that is leading man Gary Oldman as George Smiley.

Smiley is a fascinating character: stoic, cunning, manipulative, insightful, and always, always, poker-faced. Oldman brings him to life in full range and complexity, while never once breaking Smiley’s icy demeanor. The scenes where the master spy is sitting back, silently eyeing his subject, are just as interesting as the moments when he delivers a monologue that reveals the inner workings of his mind – or the predatory nature hid beneath his calm, controlled, exterior.

All along the way, Oldman punctuates his performance with subtle hints of body language and mannerism that speak volumes about who Smiley is, and what his history has made him. It’s a hard thing to make a static character into an engaging protagonist (after all, most of the intrigue with a protagonist is watching them change and develop over the course of the story), but Oldman pulls it off so effortlessly it should be scary. That is, if we didn’t already know how talented Gary Oldman is. (Seriously, somebody get this guy an Oscar nomination already!)

If there is one element of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy that I must take issue with, it’s the original music composed by Alberto Iglesisas. This is a film that is already difficult to decipher, so one would think that musical cues would be a crucial tool in helping the viewer realize (even though they may not fully understand) when a moment is supposed to be suspenseful or important. However, more often than not, Iglesisas’ somber orchestrated score gives a tranquil scene the same weight as a suspenseful one, making it hard for casual viewers to rely on audio cues to help them along – and easy for them to be lulled into trance.
In the end, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a thinking person’s spy film that will bore those more inclined towards action-heavy spy adventures. However, those who like a more intelligent spy film – one that you have to see at least twice to get your head around – then this is a movie you will definitely want to watch…and watch again, and watch again.

Monday 19 March 2012

"Dream House" Will Leave You Feeling Muddled And Somewhat Upset About The Experience

Dream House is a hard movie to review – or even describe – without revealing too many twists and turns of the plot. The film stars Daniel Craig (Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) as a writer who settles into a quaint home with his wife (Rachel Weisz) and two daughters, only to learn that their house was the scene of a horrific crime. When strange things start going bump in the night, the husband starts to uncover a connection to the tragic murders – but only the pretty neighbor (Naomi Watts) seems to know what’s going on for sure.

Dream House was directed by Jim Sheridan, the man behind such great films as My Left Foot and The Boxer, as well as so-so films like Brothers and Get Rich or Die Trying. Sheridan is a skilled director (even when he’s working with half-baked material) so technically speaking, Dream House is visually sound and richly textured in its disparity between the warm hues and glows of a family home, full of love, and the harsh, blue-tinted, snow-ridden world outside that home – or, at times, the grit and grime of homes that have been overrun with rot and despair.

The other strength of the film is its cast. Craig, Weisz and Watts are all skilled actors and keep a lot of the more ridiculous aspects of the story (more on that later) grounded in believable performances. Craig – often stone-faced and grim – displays some warmth and smiles in his role as a loving father, though he gets ample time to stone-face it as well. Weisz is good as a free-spirited wife and mother; she makes her character stand out as a unique and fully-formed person, while Watts is given a harder task, playing a pivotal character that has to be balanced just right to be believable at all. Watts almost pulls of that balancing act, but not quite. Guys like Elias Koteas and Marton Csokas are great character actors – though they’re given little to work with here.

What knocks Dream House - a movie which has so much potential on paper – right off the rails is the script by David Loucka, the writer of not-so-great films like Eddie, The Dream Team, and Borderline. Dream House is a story that seems like a cool idea in theory, but doesn’t quite work when put onscreen. It’s highly derivative of other films (two in particular – scroll down for that mild spoiler) and ultimately gets lost in its own ambitions – which pretty much amount to throwing several “twists” into the story that are meant to be shocking or clever when they’re really just clichéd, confusing and often obvious.

This is also a film that changes gears very drastically in its 1st, 2nd, and 3rd acts, and subsequently feels disjointed and episodic, rather than organic and cohesive. There are also a truckload of logical flaws, and plot holes so wide they are nearly impossible not to fall into. On the whole, the poor script reduces Dream House to a movie that is hard to get into – and stay into – despite the talented actors and director working to keep it grounded and engaging.

Sometimes an idea just falls flat. There’s no harm in the trying. Certain viewers may watch Dream House and be thrilled by the shifting, uncertain nature of its plot (if they can avoid scrutinizing it and simply brush off the gaping holes). As stated, the film is well-constructed and well-acted, so it’s not a total nightmare. However, like the strangest of dreams, watching this movie will  leave you feeling muddled and somewhat upset about the experience.

Thursday 8 March 2012

Movie of The Hours



The Hours, most famous for being the film where Nicole Kidman sports a prosthetic nose - which is pretty effective actually, makes her almost unrecognisable!  The plot follows 3 women in different decades all suffering from depression - warning, this is a clue to how much of a downer the movie is, but in actual fact I really enjoyed it.  It travels through a day in each of their lives, one in which they may or may not survive...  Besides starring Nicole Kidman as writer Virginia Wolfe, it also features Julianne Moore playing a typical (and suicidal) 50s housewife and Meryl Streep as a present day publisher, with a ton of big names in the supporting cast - worth it for the talent alone in my opinion!  

This movie was an epiphany. As the main titles rolled, I told myself THE HOURS must have the best cast since IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD -- Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Nicole Kidman, Miranda Richardson, Claire Danes, Ed Harris, Allison Janney, Toni Collette, John C. Reilly, etc. -- and I braced myself for great performances. (The lesser-known Stephen Dillane, as Virginia Woolf's suffering husband, is especially good.) But what this film offers, above all, is great writing. David Hare's script, based on a novel by Michael Cunningham, is so brilliant on its own terms that everything else the production throws at it -- the exceptional actors, the splendid cinematography, Kidman's uncanny persona-dissolving makeup (which turns her into someone who looks slightly less like Virginia Woolf than Meryl Streep does without any makeup whatsoever), and especially the endlessly cycling, bicyling, tricycling, churning, twerning, exacerbating, lacerating, masturbating score of Philip Glass (I'm finally off the fence; he's a poseur) -- is powerless to do anything but vulgarize it. I'm not saying it's a bad movie; it's not -- but I believe the script would have gained much more in the auditorium of a reader's imagination. I haven't read the novel, so it's quite possible it's all in there.

Nicole Kidman received her 2nd Best Actress nomination and won for playing famous author Virginia Wolf in The Hours. Virginia and her husband Leonard have just moved out of London and into the country, so Virginia won't be as moody and troubled. But Virginia feels suffocated by the peacefulness of the country and is unable to connect with the people around her. Despite wearing ridiculous makeup and wearing a fake nose, Kidman is still able to deliver a very good performance as Virginia. A big plus is her voice: It's piercing and magnetic and draws us in. Her role is a bit underwritten and I think that it leans more towards supporting, but Kidman is able to make this work in her favor, by making Virginia an enigma that we want to see and know more of. The scenes with her sister are wonderful and the train scene is brilliantly executed by Kidman and we really feel an emotional connection to Virginia. So, a very good performance that is a bit underwhelming, but works overall.

Friday 2 March 2012

Watch It’s About You Movie Online Free

Now, many people like to watch movie online, we can not only watch the newest movie as soon as possible, but also it is free. "It's About You" Is A New Musical Documentary That Offers A Rare And Intimate Look At The Life And Music Of Rock And Roll Hall Of Famer John Mellencamp. The Film Premiered At The Sxsw Festival And Follows Mellencamp On His Summer 2009 Concert Tour And During The Recording Of His Most Recent Album, 2010's Universally Acclaimed "No Better Than This," The Sessions For Which Took Place At American Musical And Historical Landmarks, Including Sun Studios In Memphis And The First African Baptist Church In Savannah, Ga. We See Mellencamp Recording - With A Single Mike And Mono Tape Recorder More Than Half A Century Old - In The Same Hotel Room Where Legendary Bluesman Robert Johnson Created Some Of His Most Memorable Work. Along The Way, Mellencamp Reveals An Emotional Side Never Before Seen By The Public, In A Film That Becomes A Soulful, Highly Personal Meditation On His Beloved Small-Town America. Watch It's About You Movie 2012 Online.
Kurt Markus' Photography Has Appeared In Such Leading Publications As Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Gq And The New York Times Magazine, And He Has Shot Cutting-Edge Ad Campaigns For Bmw, Armani, Nike And Other Companies. His Unique Vision Has Been Brought To Bear On "It's About You," Which Was Shot On Super 8 And Whose Vintage Americana Look Is The Cinematic Equivalent Of A Well-Worn Pair Of Jeans.

Most Fathers And Sons Bond Through Activities Like Fishing, Camping, Or Road Trips - Opportunities To Get Away And Connect With One Another. But When Your Father Is A Photographer And Happens To Be Friends With A Fairly Famous Musician, A Cross-Country Road Trip Turns Into An Opportunity To Create A Film That Not Only Explores The Various Ways Of Capturing Images, But Also Seeks To Give New Insight Into A Well-Known Artist. The Key To Being An Artist Is Having The Ability To Bare One's Soul To An Audience Through Expressions Like Music, Acting, Photography, Or Painting. Yet It Seems That Despite Giving Us Song Lyrics Or Photographs That Are More Revealing Than Mere Words Ever Could Be, The Artists Themselves Remain Mysterious Creatures That People Always Want An Even More In-Depth Look At.

Photographer Kurt Markus, Along With His Son Ian, Aimed To Do Just That As They Took To The Road In The Summer Of 2009 To Document Kurt's Friend And Photography Subject, John Mellencamp, As He Toured And Recorded His Latest Album. Narrated By Kurt, The Film Seeks To Show A Different Side Of Mellencamp That Neither Kurt Nor We Had Seen Before. Filmed Almost Like A Music Video - Mellencamp's Music Plays Over Footage Of Landscapes From The View From A Car Window To The Crowd At His Shows. Rather Than Just Show Mellencamp Performing On Stage Or In The Studio, The Environment And People Surrounding Him Become Just As Important. The Camera Would Hold On A Girl Dancing In The Crowd Longer Than It Ever Would On Mellencamp, But It Worked To Show The Effect Of His Music On His Audience Rather Than Just His Performance Of The Song.

Although Full Of Footage, Photographs, And Music From Mellencamp, The Film Is Really About Markus And His Process Of Taking In The Changing Landscape Of America And The Use And Limitations Of The Various Cameras He Worked With. It Seems When Artists Try And Document Other Artists; The Camera Inevitably Turns Back Around On Themselves. With It's About You, You Truly Feel Like You Are On A Road Trip With Someone Looking To Learn More About His Country And The Different Tools For His Medium As Much As, If Not More Than, The Subject He Is Documenting.


As Mellencamp Records His Album In Various Locations Around The Country, He Continuously Uses A Single Microphone That He And His Band Would Crowd Around And Perform To. Many Of The Musicians Are Playing The Music For The First Time In The Recording Sessions And Will Use Just A Take Or Two To Find Their Rhythm And Use Whichever Take "feels Best" Rather Than Something Perfectly Rehearsed. It Is This Idea Of Striping Things Down To Their Simplest Nature That Runs Throughout The Film From The Super8 Camera Footage To This More Natural Recording Approach. Kurt Laments On The Loss Of A More Simple Time When Commerce In America Thrived On The Shops On Main Street And Rather Than Malls Centered Around The Suburbs. Watch It's About You Movie 2012 Online.

Despite The Use Of Narration, The Film Falters At Finding Its True Voice. It Is Never Quite Clear How Each Moment Connects To An Overall Story As The Sound Bites Kurt Lays Over Certain Scenes Seem More Like Watching A Slide Show Of Someone's Vacation Rather Than A Cohesive Film. The Visuals Are Striking And Kurt's Experience As A Photographer Shines Through, But The Constant Switch Between Color And Black And White, The Filming Of Still Photographs To Actual Film Begin To Feel Overly Stylized Which Ironically Goes Against This Idea Of Getting Back To What Is Simple. At The Beginning Of The Film, Kurt States It's About You Is About Mellencamp, But In The End, The Film Seemed Much More About Kurt And His Process As A Photographer, Filmmaker, And Artist. Fans Of Photography And Music, Particularly Those Who Enjoy Markus And Mellencamp's Work, Should Find This Film Engaging, But It May Be Hard For It To Find An Audience Outside Of That. 

Sunday 19 February 2012

The Twilight Saga Is The Art In The Life


There are many famous films this year,but I thnk that The Twilight Saga is the best one.I think I can view the art in it and also view the true life and true love in it. Obsessive Twilight fans have become quite common as the release of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse nears. The release of Eclipse on June 30th is expected to be one of the highest grossing films of the year, and easily the highest grossing of The Twilight Saga thus far. Twilight fans everywhere are lining up early for their chance to earn tickets to the June 29th midnight showing. Unlike other midnight premiers, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse has been sold out for over a month - that's nearly two month before the premier of the movie!
The second film, The Twilight Saga: New Moon brought a whole new perspective for Twilight fans everywhere. The split support between Edward Cullen and Taylor Lautner's character, Jacob Black, has not only created an even larger Twilight fan base, but an ongoing debate between Twilight fans. The rise of "Team Edward" and "Team Jacob" has given a great deal of hype clouding the upcoming release of Twilight. These two "teams" have turned into national clubs, each launching their own websites, as well as "team specific" merchandise.
The popularity of Twilight has reached lengths that 99.9% of movies will never reach. With two more feature films hitting theatres in a few years, The Twilight Saga is expected to be one of the highest grossing all time, competing with The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars films.
Twilight has not only seen success in the cinema, but also with the
Obsessive Twilight fans have become quite common as the release of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse nears. The release of Eclipse on June 30th is expected to be one of the highest grossing films of the year, and easily the highest grossing of The Twilight Saga thus far. Twilight fans everywhere are lining up early for their chance to earn tickets to the June 29th midnight showing. Unlike other midnight premiers, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse has been sold out for over a month - that's nearly two month before the premier of the movie!
The second film, The Twilight Saga: New Moon brought a whole new perspective for Twilight fans everywhere. The split support between Edward Cullen and Taylor Lautner's character Jacob Black, has not only created an even larger Twilight fan base, but an ongoing debate between Twilight fans. The rise of "Team Edward" and "Team Jacob" has given a great deal of hype clouding the upcoming release of Twilight. These two "teams" have turned into national clubs, each launching their own websites, as well as "team specific" merchandise.
The popularity of Twilight has reached lengths that 99.9% of movies will never reach. With two more feature films hitting theatres in a few years, The Twilight Saga is expected to be one of the highest grossing all time, competing with The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars films.
Twilight has not only seen success in the cinema, but also with the  line. "Team Edward" and "Team Jacob" apparel have already brought in more revenue than all other jewelry and clothing combined.
With the success already seen in the first half of The Twilight Saga releases, it is clear that the film adaptation of Stephanie Myers' third novel may be the most popular of the year. Join the Twilight movement that millions are raving about - start by viewing Eclipse line. "Team Edward" and "Team Jacob" apparel have already brought in more revenue than all other jewelry and clothing combined.
With the success already seen in the first half of The Twilight Saga releases, it is clear that the film adaptation of Stephanie Myers' third novel may be the most popular of the year. Join the Twilight movement that millions are raving about - start by viewing Eclipse

Thursday 26 January 2012

Easy A Is A New Film ,But Popular

Audiences have been hit with waves of raunchy sex and teen comedies over the years, all with varying degrees of success. Where most of them flounder is the lack of competent witty jokes and shallow two dimensional characters. EASY A does not fall victim to those pitfalls, and stands as a consistently funny and clever teen comedy that shows glimpses of movies that came before it such as MEAN GIRLS, but with characters that at times seem more like caricatures than real people.

 Olive (Emma Stone) is a well above average high school student, very smart and well liked by her teachers. She tells a harmless little lie to her best friend about having sex with a college guy and her friend quickly spreads the rumor all over school. She lands in trouble after snapping at a student in class and is hit with after school detention with her gay friend Brandon (Dan Boyd). She tells him the truth about the lie, and the two work out a deal to pretend to have sex at a huge party to help Brandon avoid harassment at school for his sexual orientation. When word gets around many more offers for similar favors come Olive’s way and her reputation gives unfavorable attention from the resident Christian students as well as many other pickles she finds her way into. She struggles with her new identity within the school and must find a way to regain her integrity and her dignity.

EASY A was surprisingly well written and even more entertaining than I originally wanted to give it credit for. I have a love of earlier raunchy sex comedies like PORKY’S or the more modern AMERICAN PIE movies, but have had a mixed reaction as of late with films such as JUNO or MEAN GIRLS. The dialogue is written in such a way that won’t alienate the older audiences that don’t understand high schooler's slang terms and sensibilities. The writers present us with plenty of strong characters that we can relate to and laugh at even if some of them can tend to be very over the top and cartoonish. The jokes are sharp and consistently funny while being very up to date with today’s culture.

Emma Stone is undoubtedly the star here, but there are plenty of recognizable names that make their way on screen and all adding very well to the festivities. Thomas Haden Church plays Olive’s favorite teacher, Mr. Griffith, and while he’s very mellow he always provides a good laugh when he’s around. Also, even though his character is very exaggerated, Stanley Tucci always turns in a fantastic and fun performance, this time as Olive’s easy going and hyper father, Gill. Emma Stone though has tremendous screen presence and comedic timing here, delivering her lines subtlety and confidently. Her character is very relatable; however, like Tucci’s there are many that resemble cartoons. It’s not an unforgivable offense; it just makes some of the characters a little harder to relate to, but still work with the comedy.
The film does borrow a lot from comedies that came before it, but unlike those other comedies it fixes the aspects that don’t work that well, making them more bearable and funnier. It sorts out the indecipherable mumbo jumbo from teens no one understands and lets us actually feel like these are people we could know or could have known when we were that age. There may be moments where they incorporate those teen tropes but they’re often used as the butt of the joke and not to be taken too seriously.

EASY A works like a solid entry to the high school comedies while also roasting them at the same time. It has an immensely likable lead, and is one of the funniest films released so far this year. There are a few characters that don’t quite fit in with the proceedings but they don’t distract heavily from the film. EASY A will open a lot of doors for Emma stone and rightfully so, it’s an easy film to sit and enjoy for her character as well as the laughs she brings along with her.

Wednesday 11 January 2012

The Latest Film From John Carpenter: The Ward

The Toronto International Film Festival is in full swing, and Midnight Madness is delivering the goods as always with a mix of genre features from up and coming filmmakers and old school masters. The last few years showcased new films from Dario Argento and George A. Romero. This year fright fans were treated to the latest film from John Carpenter – The Ward.
It is hard to believe that it has been nine years since Carpenter’s last feature film – the highly underrated "Ghosts of Mars". I have read a number of interviews with Carpenter where he explained that his hiatus from film was the result of a lack of interest in filmmaking following a variety of difficulties he experienced with Ghosts of Mars. Fortunately he had two of the better episodes of "Masters of Horror" to keep him busy, in addition to regular trips to the bank to cash all of those cheques from the various remakes of his work that have happened over the past decade (with more on the way – Carpenter must be the most re-made filmmaker in cinema!).

Unfortunately Mr. Carpenter was not in attendance at the film’s screening. Apparently he was given a summons to appear for jury duty back in Los Angeles, and decided that staying out of jail was slightly more important than attending the premiere is his first film in nine years. Fans were, however, treated to a video from JC which he sent just in case. The video began with "if you’re watching this video, I have to report for jury duty". If was very funny, but couldn’t replace the real deal. Fortunately for everyone in attendance, the stars of the film were there and were much pettier in person than John!
The film, set in the 60s, features a young runaway named Kristen, who is captured by the police burning down an old farm house and is sent to the local mental institution. She is assigned to "the ward", which houses five other teens. Kristen soon discovers that the ward also houses the ghost of a girl named Alice, who is killing off the girls one by one. Of course, telling the nursing staff or the Psychiatrist that you are seeing a ghost in a mental ward is a sure way to ensure you won’t be getting released anytime soon and the longer the girls are locked up, the more likely they will fall prey to the serial killing spectre. Kristen must find a way to either escape, or unlock the key to Alice’s murderous bloodlust before she becomes the next victim.

Carpenter proves he is still the master of shock, and knows exactly how to manipulate an audience for "one good scare". There are plenty of chair jumper moments, and he creates a great environment inside the mental ward for ratcheting up the tension. Much like "The Fog" (the original – not that remake crap) this is a ghost that doesn’t just say "boo", but grabs the nearest sharp instrument and physically murders her victims. While this film is not as good as "The Fog", I will definitely say that it has some of the strongest performances of any Carpenter film. The actors are outstanding. Amber Heard, in particular, is incredible as Kristen, and it is easy to see why "All the Boys Love Mandy Lane". She is an excellent actor who carries the film with the support of the rest of the cast.
It’s great to have John Carpenter back in the horror game – and I can’t wait to see what he does next.

Friday 6 January 2012

The Devil Inside Movie Review

The Devil Inside is one of the scariest movies I’ve ever seen. The film dishes its horror subtly over the course of the film until its furious finish.

Devil Inside is that rare horror movie that plants its horror seeds in your brain in its opening moments. They then bear fruit with increasing fervor by scaring you as the film progresses. Therefore, that fear emerges from deep inside your soul as the minutes pass in the theater, and that's exactly why Devil Inside is so deliciously ghastly in its ability to shake you to your core.
In fact, soul is at the heart of Devil Inside: Humans' ongoing battle against the netherworld’s demons. Isabella is a twenty-something woman. When she was a young girl, her mother was found not guilty by reason of insanity for the murders of three Catholic Church members. Now in the present, she has hired a documentarian to film her efforts to get to the bottom of her mother’s illness… or is it possession?

They head to Rome, where her mother is being cared for in a mental institution. Isabella visits a school for exorcism where she meets two priests who will eventually aid her in her efforts. That, my Movie Fanatic friends, is all we will say about the plot of The Devil Inside. What you need to know about this spellbinding film is that it is purely terrifying, riveting in every way and one of the most extremely original films we’re seen in the horror genre in some time.
Writers Brent Bell (who also directed) and Matt Peterman have crafted a film that some may say is a found footage type of flick, yet that would do it a gross injustice. There is a real narrative at the heart of Devil Inside. The plot and the bumps in the road that the audience experiences through the eyes of our priests and Isabella are as scary as Hollywood can produce.

The Devil Inside is actually a deeply personal film and that is probably why it is so horrifying. The audience can commiserate with Isabella as we all have mothers and most of us would do anything to see them well. Her struggle is ours, but when there are supernatural forces at work, there is only so much a human being can do. Thus she puts her hope in the professional exorcists. When the priests are fearful, we as an audience are completely petrified.
At the beginning of the film, and as is shown in The Devil Inside trailer, it is stated that the film is not sanctioned by the Church, nor did they aid in the filmmaking. It makes us think, as an audience, if these classes for priests really exist that delve into the art of the exorcism. Are there individuals, soldiers of God if you will, who go to battle every day for the sake of men's souls? Even if the history behind the story of Devil Inside is fiction, the tale is told with such bold strokes that it feels all too real. And because of that, it is sheer terror incarnate on screen -- an instant horror classic.

Tuesday 3 January 2012

Norwegian Wood Movie Review

With his intuitive penchant for lingering, privileged sensations, Tran Anh Hung would seem to be an inspired choice to film Haruki Murakami's languid-erotic 1987 bestseller Norwegian Wood, where the eponymous Beatles anthem can have the effect of Proust's madeleine. When it does come, sung softly in English in a cottage in the pastoral outskirts of Tokyo, the tune quickly brings tears to the eyes of Naoko (Rinko Kikuchi), whose private anguish is momentarily alleviated and then unsettled by the pop song's wistful evocation of ephemeral affairs: "And when I awoke, I was alone, this bird had flown…" With its gentle camera movements and wizardly cinematographer Mark Lee Ping Bin's amber light, the moment glows and shivers. It also illustrates, unfortunately, how Tran's adaptation works most effectively in such impressionistic glances and instants than as an emotional whole, where the swoony aesthetic comes to veer perilously close to postcard art.

Naoko is one side of a sorrowful romantic triangle set against the restless backdrop of Japanese student protests in late 1960s. Untouched by the political turmoil is freshman Watanabe (Kenichi Matsuyama), whose own brand of youthful rebellion boils down to books and inert longing. The missing third side is Kizuki (Kengo Kora), Naoko's longtime beau and Watanabe's best friend, whose suicide both damages their already fragile psyches and brings them closer together. Their one night of sex further unmoors Naoko, who retreats to an asylum and leaves Watanabe to shoulder the double whammy of alienation and guilt. Relief and tentative healing enter in the form of Midori (Kiko Mizuhara), a bouncy coed whose mischievous ribaldry is meant as the life-affirming sunshine to Naoko's endless despondent night, though the young protagonist is so inextricably bound to the past that he would rather listlessly crawl into a coastal cave with his mournful regrets than again risk anything with the present.

It's this passivity that, while thematically attuned to the wry moodiness of Murakami's novel, frustratingly keeps the characters at arm's length, short-changing the narrative of its emotional resonance. In that sense, the ideal Murakami screen adaptation may be Jun Ichikawa's 2004 visualization of Tony Takitani, where the author's distance was complemented by fastidiously miniaturist filmmaking. By contrast, Tran's best films (The Scent of Green Papaya,Cyclo) are chastely lush but scarcely rarefied. The camera contemplates Edenic expanses, surging rivers, and snow-carpeted woods with the same tranquil, drifting rhythm, underlined by the hushed notes of dread in Johnny Greenwood's score, and yet his lush eye often feels peculiarly divorced from the people on screen. Still, even if Norwegian Wood amounts to a gorgeous but lethargic emo ballad, there's no denying the stately lyricism of its melancholy, where the weight of loss and the unease of romance creep like clouds over endless verdant fields.