Quickie Movie Reviews
This week starts the Holiday Movie Season with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. I got the midnight tickets to see the movie with my father and one of my best friends tonight. Even though I'm working tomorrow I'm still going to the midnight showing lol. I won't be writing that movie review until after my second viewing on Saturday. I can see now that both HP7 Pt. 1 and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader will have their own individual movie posts on my livejournal hehe. Last summer, my youngest sister and I read (myself re-reading) Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and it's a book we throughly enjoyed from beginning to end. Then again my youngest sister and I throughly enjoyed both the movies and books of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and Prince Caspian. However, I must say I've been enjoying the Narnia movies a tad bit more than the books due to the writing of the female characters. We can't wait to see this movie next month. Alas, I realized I haven't posted my thoughts on the movies I have seen recently.
Life As We Know It - This movie was without a doubt one of my favorite Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel movies. While both Heigl and Duhamel had cute flicks like Killers and When in Rome I felt Life As We Know It was a far better film. Director Greg Berlanti, whom I have been a fan of since Dawson's Creek and is one of the writers to the upcoming Green Lantern movie, did a great job in directing this feature. They filmed the movie in Georgia, and Berlanti did an exceptional job in camera angles (I really loved the camera angles when Holly and Eric are outside reeling from the reveal that they are Sophie's guardians) and capturing the beauty of that state. If you are a Vampire Diaries fan like me, then some locations might look noticeable to you. I don't want to give too much away, but I truly loved how they did the writing of Holly (Heigl) and Eric (Duhamel). How hard it is to raise a child, but also a child of your best friend. Then to top it off to fall in love with the person you previously disliked.
The end result of the movie is predictable, hey that's why we watch these movies right, however the journey isn't quite predictable. These two characters go on an emotional rollercoaster ride that will make you laugh, cry, and sometimes you will do both. Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel's chemistry was amazing especially when they banter and argue. There is one major argument they have near the end of movie, and my friend and I were completely blown away. It was so realistic, raw, and emotional. Your heart is truly hurting for both characters because you can relate to their fears and the acting was top notch. I truly enjoyed Holly and Eric's journey not only as a couple but also as individuals. The little girl, Sophie, was beautifully casted and utterly adoreable. I never seen a baby so animated as those triplets were. Plus they were completely adoreable with Katherine and Josh. Speaking of supporting characters the social worker became one of my favorite charaters by the end of the movie lol. I also loved Eric's cab driver-semi-babysitter lol. It was nice to see Katherine put in her former-Roswell co-star Majandra Delfino in the movie. It reminded me how much I deeply loved that show, and Isabel (Heigl) and Maria's (Delfino) interaction. My memory is fuzzy on the interviews, but I believe they could have deleted several of their scenes together in the movie.Hopefully they will be on the dvd. Life As We Know It is one of my favorite dramedy movies, and I haven't seen a good one in a very, very long time. Overall, I think this movie is a must see if you are into romantic dramedy movies. It's a great story, and the acting and directing were awesome.
Easy A - Ever since I saw the trailer a while back I've been dying to see this movie, and I didn't want to want to wait until HBO. Tellin' ya now Emma Stone is my new favorite actress. She's wicked talented from her emotional scenes to her adoreable knack for comedy. This movie was another great movie, and it's hard to do in the high school movie genre. They were able to present the formulatic genre into something that is different. Olive (Emma Stone) tells her story to the public through the means of a webcam. These webcam moments are just too fun to watch by the way. The whole story isn't based off of The Scarlet Letter, but there are certain parallels that are directly used to the book since Oliver and her classmates are currently reading the book in AP English. The movie is primarly about double standards not only in high school, but also in our society. Where it's okay and considered EPIC if a man/boy sleeps with anything that moves (especially in high school) whereas a female/girl is considered a whore and slut if she sleeps with anything that moves. Granted we seen these double standards noted in many books, tv shows, and movies. However, the way this movie presents it in a quite creative and innovative way.
Olivia's parents were quite the riot lol. Stanley Tucci was sooooooooo funny as Olivia's father lol. The jokes I will not state because it would spoil their deliveries 'cause they are priceless. At some point I thought Stanley's co-stars were seriously laughing and couldn't hold it in any longer lol. Another thing I loved was that they directly paid tribute to John Hughes' 1980's teenage movie work from The Breakfast Club to Ferris Buller's Day Off. They actually show quick footage of each of these movies, and they intertwined this tribute in a relateable fashion to Olivia's story. It was just made of awesome especially to my best friends and I because we grew up in the 1980's (okay my childhood lol). Just like with Life As We Know It I left the theatre completely happy. In fact, after watching this movie I'm really looking forward to seeing Emma Stone in the new Spiderman movie reboot as Gwen Stacy.
Superman/Batman: Apocalypse - Or if you are a comic junkie like me you know the title is actually "The Supergirl from Krypton" lol. It's the sequel to the movie/comic Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, and the animation is amazing since it's based off of the comics' actual illustrations. The fight scenes are completely made of awesome from the battles on Apokolips to Supergirl/Superman vs. Darkseid. I thought they did a great job at bringing one of my favorite comic books to life. The voice work was great from Darkseid to Supergirl. If one is currently watching the final season of Smallville and aren't entirely into the comic books, then you are starting to see the iconic traits of Darkseid from breaking a person's spirit to literally clearing their mind. This movie does a great job at showing a general viewer what this villain is capable of, and why he is a threat if he ever took over Earth. Another thing I loved about this recent DCU animated movie are the shout-outs to Smallville. These shout-outs take place solely in Smallville, Kansas. They use the Smallville's Welcome Sign from the "Pilot", signature cornfields, the Kent house is nearly EXACTLY the same except for a different color shade, and they were even able to show Clark's loft in the barn. These shout-outs were quite a treat for this Smallville fan and my youngest sister. Overall, I thought the movie was great, and I'm looking forward to the next DCU animated movie.