Reviews: Bounty Hunter, Percy Jackson and More!

#32: The Bounty Hunter. Starring Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler. Rated PG-13. 1 hour 50 minutes. Critics Grade: 08%. My Grade: D. There really is not much I can really say about this movie. For me, there was virtually nothing redeeming about the story or the characters. I didn't find it very funny, maybe a rare little chuckle here and there. Both these characters are terrible to watch and are not likable at all. The performances seem really staged and fake. The story is incredibly predictable and unoriginal. Plus...I hate romantic comedies. So I was just destined to not like this movie.

#33: Brooklyn's Finest. Starring Richard Gere and Don Cheadle. Rated R. 2 hours 12 minutes. Critics Grade: 43%. My Grade: C+. Here we have a multi story cop drama with nothing entirely new to offer. Honestly the overall storyline is fairly cliched and you can pretty much predict how it will end up. That being said, I somewhat liked this movie. I thought it was dark and filmed with a brilliant style. You never feel good or happy while watching any of this movie. That reflects well from the characters and the solid performances from the cast. The story may be unoriginal but it's hard to call this a bad film. With the cast it has, it's really hard to discredit a movie like this. As a cop drama, I think it just barely works. It was good enough for me to enjoy on a one time viewing. Not one I'd probably ever watch again, it is a bit slow. Overall though...pretty OK movie.

#34: Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief. Starring Logan Lerman. Rated PG. 1 hour 58 minutes. Critics Grade: 50%. My Grade: C-. This is being called a Harry Potter ripoff. In a sense yes, it rips of the Potter franchise and also the Narnia franchise. But this is still it's own movie. In terms of a fantasy film...I've seen much better ones in my life. This one is rather flat and doesn't have a very exciting tale to tell. It doesn't feel very adventurous to me. I think it had some great visual effects and the director did a fantastic job bringing this fictitious world to life. The performances, overall, were pretty good. Mainly from the lesser of the cast, the random supporting characters that popped up here and there. Logan Lerman is typically a talented young actor, but he doesn't carry the film well on his shoulders here as the title character. He's good...just not all that great. He's attractive though hehe. The movie has some entertaining moments but overall it's not the kind of movie I'd recommend to most people. It was OK.

#35: Chloe. Starring Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson and Amanda Seyfried. Rated R. 1 hour 36 minutes. Critics Grade: 52%. My Grade: C-. This is one hell of a shocking movie. Meaning it's shocking to watch based on it's subject material. This is a sexual thriller with a lot of sexual and not a lot of thriller. It's a pretty damn dirty film. The material has been done time and time again. There's nothing new here with this one. I didn't much care for the writing of the film and the characters are a bit dull and unlikable because they are all total jerks. The performances however are GREAT! Julianne Moore is one one of my favorites and dammit to hell already...give that lady an Oscar!! The performances are really the only solid thing about this movie. Otherwise, it's gross and kind of boring.

#36: The Kids Are All Right. Starring Annette Bening, Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo. Rated R. 1 hour 46 minutes. Critics Grade: 96%. My Grade: A-. Finally, we have the best full on dramatic film of the year. This will be a controversial film I'm sure...but screw everyone who says gay marriage is wrong. I say you are wrong and go jump off a cliff after you fall off your high horse and break your leg. This movie proves that the gay community is JUST like everyone else on earth. We have problems same as all you straights out there. We aren't perfect, just like none of you are perfect. We should be entitled to have families like the rest of you. Every child needs love, who cares who it's from? The movie has a wonderful screenplay and it feels so authentic. Bening and Moore play this lesbian couple with such authenticity. This truly feels like an actual couple, with actual human problems. They are struggling to keep the magic alive. They are struggling to keep their kids happy. Now their children want to meet their sperm donor...and when they do he turns out to be a cool guy. The parents struggle with this because they don't want their family to deteriorate and that's exactly what happens. This is just a wonderful little film that has some occasional funny moments. BRILLIANT performances from Bening and Moore (both deserve Oscar nominations for this film) and Mark Ruffalo gives one of his most touching and best performances as well. Great film!

First Annual Mikey @ The Movies (And TV) TV Awards!

I know it's generic looking...but here are my TV Award nominees. Starting back from last June until today! Woo! Less categories for drama cause the shows I watch and enjoy are heavy on comedic side.

Best Drama Series:

• 24
• Lost
• Medium
• Persons Unknown
• Southland

Best Male Dramatic Performance:

• 24 - Keifer Sutherland
• Lost - Matthew Fox
• Lost - Michael Emerson
• Lost - Terry O'Quinn
• Lost - Josh Halloway

Best Female Dramatic Performance:

• 24 - Cherry Jones
• 24 - Mary Lynn Rajskub
• Lost - Evangaline Lilly
• Medium - Patricia Arquette
• Southland - Regina King

Best Guest Acting in a Drama Series:

• 24 - Gregory Itzin
• Lost - Allison Janey
• Lost - Elizabeth Mitchell
• Lost - Henry Ian Cusick
• Lost - Nestor Carbonell

Best Writing and Directing for a Drama Series:

• 24
• Lost
• Medium
• Persons Unknown
• Southland

Best Comedy Series:

• 30 Rock
• Community
• Family Guy
• Glee
• Louie
• Modern Family

Best Lead Actor in a Comedy Series:

• 30 Rock - Alec Baldwin
• Community - Joel McHale
• Glee - Matthew Morrison
• Louie - Louis C.K.
• Modern Family - Ed O'Neil
• The Office - Steve Carell

Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series:

• 30 Rock - Tina Fey
• Community - Gillian Jacobs
• Cougar Town - Courtney Cox Arquette
• Glee - Lea Michelle
• The Middle - Patricia Heaton
• Modern Family - Sophia Vergara

Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series:

• Communinty - Chevy Chase
• Community - Danny Pudi
• Glee - Chris Colfer
• Modern Family - Eric Stonestreet
• Modern Family - Jesse Tyler Ferguson
• Modern Family - Ty Burell

Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series:

• 30 Rock - Jane Krakowski
• Community - Yvette Nicole Brown
• Cougar Town - Christa Miller
• Glee - Jane Lynch
• Modern Family - Julie Bowen
• The Office - Jenna Fischer

Best Guest Acting in a Comedy Series:

• Glee - Kristen Chenoweth
• Glee - Mike O'Malley
• Glee - Neil Patrick Harris
• Modern Family - Fred Willard
• The Office - Kathy Bates

Best Writing and Directing for a Comedy Series:

• 30 Rock
• Community
• Glee
• Louie
• Modern Family
• The Office

Best Reality Show:

• The Amazing Race
• America's Got Talent
• Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List
• Last Comic Standing
• Mythbusters
• Survivor
  

2010 Review #31: Salt

Salt

Rated PG-13

1 hour 40 minutes

Storyline:

As a CIA officer, Evelyn Salt swore an oath to duty, honor and country. Her loyalty will be tested when a defector accuses her of being a Russian spy. Salt goes on the run, using all her skills and years of experience as a covert operative to elude capture. Salt's efforts to prove her innocence only serve to cast doubt on her motives, as the hunt to uncover the truth behind her identity continues and the question remains: "Who is Salt?"

Directed By: Phillip Noyce

Starring:

Angelina Jolie

Liev Schreiber

Chiwetel Ejiofor

Rotten Tomatoes Critics Grade:

56%

My Grade:

B-

Hollywood, Ithink, believesAmerican movie goers to be mildly stupid. More and morethese days we are seeing films that don't make us think in any powerful way. More and more we get story lines that don't challenge us and make us go "wow". Because more and more these days, Hollywood is only concerned with making a shit load of money off these movies and you can't do thatwith Independent films with deep and haunting realistic life tales. They have to give us movies like "Salt" because this current generation of film goers can only maintain an attention span in a theater if things are blowing up and characters are pulling off ridiculous stunts that make us say "Damn! That was tight!" Now I'm not saying there aren't anymore thoughtful storyline based films anymore, of course there are. What I'm saying is, that today's audiences don't really know about them because they get no advertising. And no, I'm not saying America is stupid, I'm just saying I think Hollywood believes that we are.

So "Salt" is not some terrible movie. Don't let the above paragraph fool you. That was just a rant. Let's not forget why we usually go to the movies, especially during this time of year. We go to be entertained. That is what summer movie season is all about. Of course we aren't going to get a ton of movies over the summer that have profound stories, and who really cares? Yes occasionally we will get some gems, i.e. Toy Story 3 and Inception. Butaction movies at their true core are just there to wow to us and brake the barriers of realism. I don't think anything that happens in Salt can possibly happen in real life, but why would you even think that? I'm sick and tired of people going into movies like this and walking out laughing smugly saying "Psh, that could never happen, that movie was so unrealistic". Maybe those film goers are the stupid ones. Because typically those people are incapable of sitting back and taking a movie in for sheer entertainment. This is not a movie to watch closely and pick apart. Just sit back, shut the hell up, and enjoy. Action movies are notorious for being unrealistic...that's why they are action movies! I say the more unrealistic, the better! I don't want to go to a movie like this and just see crap I can watch on the news, I want to be blown away.

So how do you review a movie like this then, if you are someone who thinks like I do? I review it based off how much it entertained me...not how much I might think it would entertain the public. I can't speak for everyone, because everyone enjoys certain things differently. So did Salt entertain me? For the most part, I would say yes it did. There is a storyline thrown in the movie that I think get's a little to complicated and a little to confusing that takes up more screen time than need be. The story was awful, but again...I didn't care about that, the more stupid the story the better sometimes the action of the film can be. The problem here is that this stupid story was to involved in the film. Not really a bad thing normally as long as the story is cool and mixes well with the action. But here it was all over the place and just not really all that coherent. It was choppy and didn't come together well. It was more of a distraction than anything. They tried to make the story hip and smart but actually it came off as a muddled mess of stupidity. When mindless action movies like this have to big of a story, it takes away from what we are there to see in the first place: all that cool shit blowing up. I want to reiterate, I did not care that the story was bad...just that it took much time away from the stunts and effects. And ultimately the entertainment. You knew exactly how the story would end. You knew exactly who the "bad person" really was in the end before that was even revealed. Blah blah blah.

When there is moments of suspense and action on the screen in Salt, it is so over the top and ridiculous. I loved it. This woman must be a cyborg or something, because she feels no pain at all. She jumps from one semi truck to another on a busy freeway. She jumps off a freeway overpass. She leaps down an elevator shaft like she's spiderwoman. She shoots off her gun and throws grenades like it's no ones business. They must have some intense training there in this make believe land of the movie CIA. The action was insane and COMPLETELY implausible! That's why the action was so damn fun to watch! Angelina Jolie commands the screen no matter what role she's in. I'm a fan of hers when she's doing serious drama, but you know what? She can carry her own in a film like this too. If there's any reason to see Salt (ha) it's because of Jolie. She's bad ass in this movie, plain and simple. Action heroes don't always have to be men. Not a lot of female actors can portray the bad ass character, but Jolie is one of the best at doing so.

Look, Salt is by no means a great movie. Salt is a entertaining movie. That is why I give it a B- grade, because it entertained me. There was just enough action to go around to keep me glued to the screen. It's a rare feat these days to get an action film like Inception where there's a brilliant story to go a long with incredibly tense and awesome scenes of action. When we get films like that, relish them. For the most part, we will get film's like Salt. There sole purpose is to wow us and not win Oscars. Why can't people just realize that? Why does every movie have to have some high standard of excellence before you go into the theater? This is why I hate most critics. They are so full of themselves when they review movies like this. Truth is, they have no clue what American audiences find entertaining. Remember...we are all stupid...right?

2010 Review #30: Inception

Inception

Rated PG-13
(sequences of violence and action throughout)
2 hours 28 minutes

Storyline:In a world where technology exists to enter the human mind through dream invasion, a single idea within one's mind can be the most dangerous weapon or the most valuable asset.

Written & Directed by Christopher Nolan

Cast:
Leonardo DiCaprio
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Ellen PageTom Hardy
Ken Watanabe
Cillian Murphy
Marion Cotilard

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Grade:
85%

My Grade:
A+

The movie that I have been waiting to arrive for quite a while now is finally out for the world to see! Arguably Christopher Nolan's masterpiece depending on who is reviewing the movie. Do I think this is his personal masterpiece? On ever technical level and in the realm of originality, yes this is absolutely a masterpiece. Story wise I'm still ranking his 2001 mind bending and brilliant Memento as his screenwriting masterpiece. This however, is not that far behind. I mean this guy is a film making genius. Memento was fresh and needed at least two viewings to sink in. The Prestige brought the world of magic and illusion to a whole new, remarkable level. He managed to take an idea that has been done a ton before in Batman and add some breathtaking darkness and brilliance into the story that made it more than just a "superhero" summer movie with The Dark Knight. And let's not forget his relatively unseen Insomnia that is one of the better crime drama's I've ever seen. This guy is batting a thousand and he shows no signs of deteriorating.

I'm not going to explain the story of this movie here, because it would take me hours and I'm not even fully sure I grasp the whole concept of the film's story just yet. I need to see it one more time to let it all sink in. But I understood the story, I got the concept enough to know what was going on the whole movie. But no...I will not even bother to attempt to write it here. What you need to know is this movie is about the dream world and the people who are able to access ones dreams and steal ideas from them without the subjects knowledge. Now they have to try the unthinkable and what the impossible: plant an idea in a subjects mind deep in his conscious to bring the end to a powerful company. This idea planting is called inception...and it's not easy to do. This plays out like a crime thriller like you've never seen. The story, as sometimes hard to follow as it is, is incredibly engaging the so unbelievably thrilling. Nolan knows the dream world. It's funny because so many of the things and techniques used in this film by the characters are things you experience in your dreams. The actual dream aspects are not that far fetched...of course other than the fact that these people are entering dreams. A lot of people think the characters were written rather flatly but I totally disagree. We don't need to know the deep backgrounds of all the characters because they are here to a do a job. We get to know the psyce of the main character and boy is he troubled. But that's as much as we needed I think. This is about the heist, not just about the characters. And the heist is brilliant and so well told through this screenplay. This screenplay should and may very well garner Nolan a MUCH deserved Oscar nomination.

You see in the trailers for this film that this is going to be an action packed movie full of dazzling visual effects. They are more than dazzling they are jaw dropping. A lot of the times you see summer action movies that rely on special effects to keep the audience in and a lot of the time the effects serve no other real importance. What we have here is very rare: visual effects that are absolutely necessary to further the story of the film. There isn't a single effects shot that isn't needed. As they happen your eyes pop open in amazement because these aren't things we are used to. Cities folding up on itself...that scene was awesome. These effects balance out the awesome action sequences as well. When these characters are being chased your heart is racing. This is because you actually care about these people and you care about their mission. Such a rare feat in an action movie. The best part is, most of the movie takes place in dreamland so there's no bounds when it comes to what they could do. A freight train barrels through New York city during a shoot out sequence. There is this phenomenal scene where there is a chase through a hallway where people are floating through the hair while fighting that is shot so intensely. When the people are sleeping if they are moving, the world in which they are dreaming also moves creating this outer space like reaction. Ugh, it's just SO cool!! I don't want to say more because I want you to see it to feel the awesomeness of it. Oh and by the way...the people who say this is just like The Matrix can shut the hell up...this is much better.

The cast in this film is top notch, Nolan is a master at finding just the write people to play out his stories. I have no idea how Leonardo DiCaprio (Titanic, Blood Diamond) has not won an Oscar. He has a few nominations under his belt...but my God...can he just win one already!?! Earlier this year he did the brilliant Shutter Island. If I had to pick which performance was better I would say Shutter Island, but he is still amazing in this movie. He plays the tormented soul so well. His character here has some deep and dark things buried away and he's so good at reflecting that through his performance. I'm a big fan of Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Brick, 500 Days of Summer) and I think one day he will get the attention he so much deserves. He is good here, but there isn't much that his character has to do that makes his performance powerful in anyway. But he's very good still here, and he's involved in one of the coolest and most thrilling scenes in the whole film.

I was so happy with Oscar nominee Ellen Page (Juno, Smart People). When you see her advertised in this movie you think "Oh God, she's just here to snap off some witty one liners and add nothing else to the story". This is because she has played Juno is every movie she's been in since that film. The smart ass, dark little teenage girl who is overly witty. It worked in Juno...but just stop now. Finally she has a performance where she plays a normal human being that isn't annoying. Like Levitt, her performance is very good...just nothing remarkably notable. Oscar winner Mario Cotillard (La Vie En Rose, Public Enemies) who coincidentally beat Ellen Page for Best Actress a few years back, was very good and very convincing as the troubled dead wife of Leo's character. She pop's up throughout the movie and you are never quite sure what she's really there for until the story progresses towards the end. I liked her a lot, she balanced out Leo quite nicely. The rest of the cast were all very good, not a bad performance in the lot.

This is one of those movies that needs two viewings I think. Much like Memento. I think it would resonate better. But after the first viewing I knew I just watched something that I hadn't seen in a VERY long time: something 100% original. We haven't seen a movie like this before (shut up Matrix people!!). We may never see a movie like this again. This film is complex. This film is visually stunning. This film takes us on a journey that is so thrilling and mind blowing that it will have you telling everyone you know about what you saw. It's captivating. It has everything you could possibly want in an action movie and then some. This isn't JUST an action movie, because it has a purpose. The writing carries the action not the other way around. As of right now, this is my personal front runner for Best Picture of the year. Because when I think Best Picture I think of a movie that blows me away in every category. It's a movie that has me shaking my head in amazement. It has me wanting to tell everyone I know to see it...so see it!!! Inception is a remarkable film. A near flawless film in my eyes. Christopher Nolan is the man to look out for these days. He IS the best director working today...no doubt in my mind. Inception is his masterpiece.

...and by the way...how long do you think it takes for a van to fall off a bridge? Because it took about an hour and half in this movie...hehe. Loved it.

2010 Review #29: The Descent: Part Two

The Descent: Part Two

Rated R
(strong bloody horror violence, extreme gore, grisly images, terror and language)

1 hour 34 minutes

Storyline:
In this gruesome thriller, blood-drenched Sarah Carter (Shauna MacDonald) surfaces as the lone escapee from the savage cave-dwelling Crawlers that terrorized her and five others. Traumatized and unable to explain the nightmare, she must return to help find her friends. But it's not long before the search team becomes the Crawlers' fresh prey. And Sarah once again battles to cheat death, as she clings to the hope that her friends are alive. Sequel to the 2005 film, The Descent.

Cast:
Shauna MacDonald
Natalie Jackson Mendoza
Krysten Cummings

Critics Grade:
55% *(limited reviews)

My Grade:
B

In 2005, The Descent was one of, if not my favorite horror movie of the year. It might even be in my top 10 or 15 favorite horror movies of all time. It was fresh, and for the first two thirds, it was very subtle. The scares, at least for me, came from the scenes of these girls narrowly crawling through extremely tight spaces. I'm claustrophobic, so when I see people in those situations...it creeps me the hell out. The last act of the first film is all about the monsters and the gore. While I'm not a huge fan of gore fests...I liked it in the first movie. It didn't take up the WHOLE movie. Now we have a sequel, or I guess you can say...a continuation. This movie picks up exactly where the last one left off. The one (as far as we know) survivor from the horrific spelunking expedition, Sarah is found and hospitalized. Town authorities are now trying to find her 5 friends and some believe Sarah is a suspect in their disappearance. They essentially make her go back into these caves with a new group of people on a rescue mission to find her friends.

In terms of formula, this movie is basically no different from the original film. There aren't any surprises, and you know exactly what's going on. There's no intricate storyline and not a whole ton of dialog. The only thing that's different really is most of the cast. And no shocker here...they are all picked off one by one. You have to expect that. If this were a sequel that took place years later, I might not have liked the unoriginal formula. But this is a movie continuing the story from the first movie so the formula makes sense. They don't waste time (like a lot of horror sequels) trying to delve into some stupid back story of these creatures. As a matter of fact, but movie's end we still have no clue what they are and where they came from. But who cares? That's the thrill of the tale. And they are still out there by the film's end...expect another sequel. So I liked that.

There's a lot more blood and gore here, because it start's FAIRLY early on in the film. Sometimes it might have been to much, but eh, I didn't mind. This movie was entertaining. It was at times tense, I won't lie. What I did miss was a lot of the unsettling scenes of crawling through tight spots...there's only a few parts of that here. That to me was scarier than the monsters...who are pretty creepy looking...and quite gross. The action was good, there were a few pretty awesome fight scenes between the people and the creatures. I can't really critique the acting...because there barely was any. If you think about it...there isn't a whole ton of speaking in this movie. Just a whole lot of yelling and running. But for what it's worth, the acting was pretty decent.

Overall...this is a very worthy sequel. Not as fresh or original as the first film, but I didn't see much wrong with this one. So I liked it! It was good...for me at least.