War of the Worlds review

War of the Worlds ....67%
Tom Cruise,
Miranda Otto,
Dakota Fanning

What to say about this flick... HHHmmm! OK, I liked it, sure there were lots of problems but if you can see past them you'll probably like this film.

The good
-The first 100 minutes (the movie is 117 minutes long).
-Dakota Fanning... if she can get rolls that don't require her to spend most of the time crying, she may turn out to be a great actor. She already has the ability to express emotion through the eyes and small jestures(SP) and movement, something most actors can't do well.
-the CG was very well done. I loved the forced perspective when you first see the "tripod"from behind the tree, it was probably pretty easy to do(similiar to layering photos I'd guess) but it really added to the beginning.
-The "tripods" were pretty cool and were very destructive.The "walkers" reminded me of the aliens from ID4, the fact that they had 3 legs made the design of the "tripods" make more sense .....smart move!
_Steven Speilberg is a fantastic director. He had Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning do things I wouldn't have expected, and his smart use of comedy was a rather nice tension breaker early in the film.
- The action just never stops.

The bad
- OK, after the EMP hits and everything stops working(watches,lights,cars) why did we see a guy photographing the scene, another guy videotape the scene, and after a replacing a simple starter solonoid how can Tom Cruise and his family simply drive away in a van??? I guess this is what's called a selective EMP, make sure you take out the enemies watches and window fans first!
- Even if I was entralled by the lightning and the ground opening up, my first line would have been "oh shit, my kids" and I would have run back to get them out of there.
- Follow the masses, it's a sure way to "hide in plain site". Does it work? uhmm NOPE!
- The "water tenticle" from The Abyss was a great scene by James Cameron, but doing a similar type of thing in this flick wasn't as cool, and what with the "tenticle" not having any infrared or ultra violet or heat sensing radar???
--Oh Stephen you BAD BAD boy, WHY couldn't you make the ending a little less fluffy?? First you have the son make it to Boston ahead of Tom and Dakota ....Damnit the son should be dead, how did he survive?? Then you make sure the house in Boston is in perfect condition and the street nearly untouched.
- In my opinion they should have ended it with the the people looking as the space hatch opens and a dead Aliens hand comes falling out. Fade to black and have a voiceover talk about the aliens inability to handle germs THE END

I might have raised the score a little higher if the ending wasn't so sweet(71-73%). I can get over the small problems, but the son making it to Boston was an actual LOL moment!

Brent

What's with this damn heat

You know it's getting pretty annoying to look outside and see all the weeds growing, but it's too damn hot to do anything about it.

What's worse is the rabbits found the little hole I left and completely devoured all of the strawberries.

So anyways it looks like I'll have to go out in this heat for at least a couple of hours, and try to figure out which is a plant and which is a weed.

Later
Brent

Short Movie reviews

http://www.kingdomofheavenmovie.com/
http://sisterhoodofthetravelingpants.warnerbros.com/
http://www.cinderellamanmovie.com/
http://www.mrandmrssmithmovie.com/
http://batmanbegins.warnerbros.com/
http://www.landofthedeadmovie.net/

Sorry to start this way, but I haven't figured out how to enbed a link yet. So until I do I'll post relevant links at the beginning of my posts.

As a movie reviewer I tend to believe that Roger Ebert is one of the best. I rarely disagree with his reviews, but you'll find that with my first review I don't agree with him all the time.

These will be quick reviews, and are not meant to steer you towards a bad flick or push you away from a good flick, make up your own mind. I will also not offer a synopsis for people wondering about the movies I review. I give you the links, and you follow them.

Kingdom of Heaven .....55%
Orlando Bloom
Eva Green
Jeremy Irons

This was the last flick in a day that had me seeing 3 movies. It was my birthday and I needed to fill my day, so I added this flick and boy was I dissapointed.

I was hoping that Orlando Bloom would be a strong lead in this movie, but I think he lacks the presence of a Russell Crowe in Gladiator or even a Brad Pitt in Troy. I also wonder whether he's a good actor or just got lucky acting with VERY good actors, Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Carribean, or in great movies like the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Needless to say this isn't even a renter for me, and should be watched only when free.

Sisterhood of The Travelling Pants .....80%
Amber Tamblyn
America Ferrera
Alexis Bledel
Blake Lively

I know what you're saying "Brent, I thought this was a chic flick", well you're right, but I loved it anyways.

4 teenage girls find a pair of pants fits them all perfectly, they spend the summer in different places learning, growing, and sending the pants to the next "sister".

I knew I wouldn't last long on my "no synopsis" thing .... oh well!

Of the 4 girls and their stories the toughest story to enjoy was the story of Bridget (BLAKE LIVELY) the supersexy soccer star. while being very easy on the eyes her acting abilites are a little suspect and her soccer abilities are too. The fact that she's a little promiscous in the movie is kind of a turnoff, but without that she wouldn't have a reason to grow as a person, or a have a storline

Well worth a rental, even for the men in the audience.

Cinderella Man .....83%
Russell Crowe,
Renee Zellweger,
Paul Giamatti

Very solid flick about an over the hill/has been boxer( James J. Braddock) that gets another chance to box during the great depression.

Both Russell and Renee are very good actors and we see why in this movie. Russell seems to have the ability to completely transform himself, and was pretty good at playing a boxer. I just wondered when he was going to throw a phone at somebodies head ... Sorry, I had to! Rene is strong AGAIN in this flick but I fear she may be slowly typecasting herself in this type of movie.

Based on a true story with a very good cast and a strong director(Ron Howard) makes this flick a rental even if you aren't a fan of boxing.

Mr and Mrs Smith .....75%
Brad Pitt,
Angelina Jolie

Not exactly Academy Award stuff but fun and sexy all the same.

Husband and wife, both hired killers get hired to kill each other. Great plot EH? Doesn't sound to good till you see it onscreen.

These 2 are very good together. Regardless of whether they really are having affair, they sure sizzle on screen. Angelina is possibly the sexiest woman EVER, but I figured this out after watching GIA on Satellite at Fred's cottage 10 years ago. Brad Pitt on the other hand, is a hunk, pure and simple and I can almost understand why woman fawn all over him. Together they look like they had loads of fun making this flick because what you see on screen sure looks like a lot of fun. Some interesting gadgets and lots of explosions add to the mix and are fun to watch being used even though I am ANTI gun.

I'll be buying this, I can't wait to hear this flick at home.

Batman Begins ......%85
Christian Bale,
Michael Caine,
Katie Holmes
Liam Neeson

So you think the Batman Franchise is dead EH? ....WRONG! In 1 movie this franchise is back in full force and looks to have the strongest Batman yet.

Christian Bale plays the "man in black" and seems to have figured out the role first time round. Michael Caine is solid as Alfred the Butler, Liam Neeson is good as the bad guy, the only miscasting was Katie Holmes. Miss Holmes doesn't have the Ummph to play the female lead/love interest, and when she's onscreen she pretty much drags the film down. It's good to hear that she may not be back for the next flick. I also liked the scarecrow as the villian, but I'm really looking forward to the next flick when one of Batmans greatest foes returns to reek havoc ....I can't wait!

Loved it, although I'll need to see the extras on the DVD before I decide whether to add it to my collection.

Land of the Dead .....%65
John Leguizamo
Dennis Hopper
Simon Baker

Land, Zombies, get it?

Pretty simple premise about Zombies taking over and a group of militia trying to keep them away form the rich people of "the green". Oh, the green is the name of the city that Dennis's character saves from the zombies

Dennis Hopper was fun in this flick, played it a little over the top as the pseudo president of The Green, but he's good at that. John L is pretty good as one of the militia that decides he wants to get his from the rich folks, starting with Dennis Hoppers character. Simon Baker is the real lead of this flick, but does it really matter?? all I was there for was to see zombies tearing limbs off of people, and to watch blood splurt all over, and I left satisfied.

Worth a look on Halloween, and good for a laugh, but there are other flicks that are better, including 2004's remake of Dawn of the Dead with Canada's own Sarah Polley in the lead.

That's it for tonight, since most of these updates were done at once I've spent nearly 4 hours here and it's time for a nap.

See ya!

Brent

Tom Cruise .... HUH?

I've been sitting here for more than an hour and getting more and more upset as I go on. Initially I couldn't think about what to write in my first actual Blog post. Should I make it funny? maybe it should be socially relevant?? or how about making it about something that bugs me??? YEP, that's it, Tom Cruise and his recent antics, they REALLY bug me.


Let's get this straight, I'm not big fan of Tom Cruise(TC for short), I don't think he's a very good actor, although he did suprise in The Last Samarai, and sometimes I wonder how he made it as an actor. Sure he's got a few things going for him. He's good looking(that always helps), he's got lots of Charisma(or is that the "I'm fantastic look at me" thing?), and he can memorize lines and take direction. What I think he lacks is an ability to go beyond his rolaes and try to improve his ability. Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, and Leonardo DeCaprio(among others) have the ability to tranform themselves, bringing them rolls and accolades that TC may never earn. It's good to know that TC has the ability to read, but that's the next paragraph:)


So have we seen enough of Tom Cruise lately? Between the impending release of War of the Worlds in which he stars, the Oprah brain fart, the Today show fiasco, and the Katie Holmes thing(related to the Oprah thing) he has been all over the entertainment news recently. The Oprah show thing is kind of interesting http://waxy.org/random/video/Tom_Cruise_Kills_Oprah.mov , maybe not THAT interesting but silly none the less. Tom Expressed his love for Katie and was seen jumping on the couch explaining that he just can't control himself. I see it as more of a marketing/promotion thing for both TC and KH. You see that any publicity is good, and with both KH and TC having new releases on the market, Tom with War and Katie with Batman, you'll understand the reason for all of this. Now the TODAY SHOW interview was funny http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8343367/ , it was also quite absurd. You see that Tom is into a religion/cult called Scientology and has been pushing it pretty heavily recently, going even so far as having a booth on set while filming his movies. I won't try to explain Scientology, but suffice to say it's pretty much a list of do's and don'ts that is supposed to help you with your life. If that were true though why would KH give up all of her friends and be seen with a Scientology advisor on a regular basis lately? Tom also seems to be trying to debunk Physciatry lately, explaining that he has read up on things and knows more than Matt Lauer, and that Broooke Shields was wrong for taking drugs for post partum depression. Going so far as to say Brooke could have taken Vitamins or done exercises to deal with the depression ..... OK!! you go Tom!


We'll end this by saying ...Katie Holmes said that when she was young her dream guy was Tom Cruise. What would you do to be with your dream guy or girl?? even if they are CRAZZZY!

CRAP CRAP CRAP

I won't ever enter text into this F'ing thing. 2ice I've finished 2 full paragraphs when I accidentally pressed the wrong thing and erased everything. From now on I'll be writing my blog in Wordpad and pasting it here.

Next entry coming soon.

Well it's a start!

This blog is set up friends and family to read about my amazingly unfulfilling life. Actually I'm a pretty happy guy that figured out it's the little things that make people happy and I refuse to forget that.

Back soon with a few quick movie reviews and my thoughts on Home theater, the government, and even a joke or two.

Goo