Sunday, September 26, 2010

Boring and Overly Complicated

I was really looking forward to watching Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps because I am a huge Shia LaBeouf fan. I have watched him grow into quite a handsome young man since his days as the star of Disney Channel's Even Stevens. However, the sequel unfortunately did not measure up to my expectations. It was really disappointing as compared to the original 1987 film.

With the backdrop of the 2008 financial crisis, the story mainly revolves around Jacob Moore, a young Wall Street trader, who is engaged to Gordon Gekko's daughter, Winnie, and seeks help from Gekko to avenge the suicide of his mentor from the villain, Bretton James, in exchange for helping him reconcile things with his estranged daughter.



Michael Douglas and Shia LaBeouf decently portrayed the roles of Gordon Gekko and Jacob Moore. Carey Mulligan failed to change her British accent into an American accent for the role of Winnie Gekko as there were still traces of her British accent throughout the movie. The highlight of the movie was Josh Brolin, who played the role of Bretton James.

This sequel is not even worth watching on DVD, let alone wasting $12 in the theater due to a weak, boring, and overcomplicated plot.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Fresh and Riveting

Not having seen a good movie since Inception, it was refreshing to watch Easy A, a fun and entertaining high school romantic comedy directed by Will Gluck. This film was fresh and loosely inspired by the novel, The Scarlett Letter. The well-written script by Bert V. Royal tells the story of a high school girl, Olive Penderghast, who pretends to be promiscuous, when a lie about losing her virginity turns into a rumor that spreads like wildfire. Will Olive ever gain her reputation back? Watch and find out.



Except for the unrealistic and unusual behavior of Olive's parents, this movie was quite riveting and painted quite a realistic picture of the high school world. Emma Stone portrayed the main character in a remarkable fashion. I highly recommend watching this light-hearted comedy in the theater.

Critically Acclaimed Movie Fails to Impress

The latest bank robbery flick, The Town, co-written and directed by Ben Affleck, is based on Chuck Hogan's novel, Prince of Thieves. The story revolves around Doug MacRay, played by Affleck, and James Coughlin, played by Jeremy Renner, who rob banks with two other friends. During one of their robberies, they take the bank manager, Claire Keesey, played by Rebecca Hall, hostage. After the robbery, Doug, intending to keep an eye on Claire, so she wouldn't expose them to the FBI, starts dating her. Will Claire ever find out Doug's true identity? Will the FBI ever catch the robbers? This forms the main crux of the movie.



This film was not as good as it was hyped up to be as it was unnecessarily long. Affleck's direction was commendable; however, the overall film failed to impress due to a poorly written script. There were some parts of the movie that did not make any sense. For example, how did Claire not recognize Doug's voice, and realize that he was one of the robbers?

Except for good action sequences, there was nothing fresh about this flick. Renner and Jon Hamm, who played the role of an FBI agent, gave the most impressive performances in the movie. However, don't waste $12; wait for the DVD to come out.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

The Most Unexpected Comedy Ever Conceived

Yes, that's right because The Switch is NOT a comedy!!! Talk about false advertising! This latest Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman flick is more depressing than funny.

I think the concept of the movie was interesting, whereby a woman wants to get pregnant through artifical insemination and her best friend who is in love switches the donor's semen with his own. However, the script was poorly written and the story was not told in a very interesting fashion.



Bateman's character was depressing and it just seemed that Aniston's heart was not in the movie. There was absolutely no onscreen chemistry between them. Patrick Wilson, Jeff Goldblum, and Juliette Lewis, who played the donor, Bateman's friend, and Aniston's friend, respectively, were just plain annoying.

So if you have already watched this movie, I feel bad for your waste of money. And if you haven't watched, I suggest waiting for the DVD to come out. Just don't expect to laugh as the slogan implies.