Alice in Wonderland

Hello!  Welcome!

Before we begin, I would like to tell any parents reading this, not to take your sick kids to the movies.  There was a little boy sitting behind me coughing the entire time.  Also, please do not have a 5-minute phone conversation during and movie.  Please, be considerate of other people.  Thank you.

Today is the opening day of a film that I highly anticipated.  The name of the movie is Alice in Wonderland.  I was so excited to see it!  I love the work of Tim Burton and there were some very well known actors in it too.  Johnny Depp, Helena Bohnam Carter, and Anne Hathaway, to name a few.  I was also very excited to see how the new Alice (Mia Wasikowska) would turn out.  Anyways, time to review.

Title: Alice in Wonderland
Genre: Fantasy
MPAA Rating: PG

Summary: Alice Kingsley, now 19, attends a party at a Victorian estate shortly after the death of her beloved father.  Alice spots a white rabbit wearing a waistcoat and pocket watch.  In shock and confusion, she runs off into a maze and follows the White Rabbit through it.  She eventually tumbles down a rabbit hole into Underland, more commonly referred to as "Wonderland" by its inhabitants.  She had visited this place 10 years earlier, but had entirely forgotten about it.  She is also told that she is the only one who can slay the Jabberwocky, the dragon who terrorizes the inhabitants of Wonderland under the rule of the Red Queen.

Review: -sigh- Where do I begin?  I was pretty disappointed with the marvelous Tim Burton's rendition of Alice in Wonderland, a story that truly do enjoy.  I think the main reason I wasn't too happy with it is that it didn't have a very genuine Tim Burton feel.  Sure it had kooky characters and dark elements. but it just wasn't the same.  I think the reason being is that Burton nearly ALWAYS uses physical set and very few CGI effects.  "Alice" did not have that.  The backgrounds and such were most definitly green or blue screen and almost all the characters had to have a touch of CGI to them.  Example, Johnny Depp's eyes were increased in size 15% and Helena Bohnam Carters head was increased neary double its size!  Also, alot of the animal-like creatures (Cheshire Cat, White Rabbit, Jabberwocky, etc.) had to be done using CGI.  Also, you kind of forget you're watching it in 3-D, which was not worth the $16 admission at my local theatre.

       One of the elements I did enjoy was the costume design.  Mostly, the changing of Alice's dresses due to her changes in size.  I also liked the set of the White Queen's palace which was one set that did have a genuine feel to it.  Everything on the Red Queen's side of Underland seemed like nuclear wasteland.  I also liked most of the bits of humor throughout mostly coming from the Red Queen.  The Mad Hatter's humour was more intended for little kids.

       Overall, I feel like this was not Tim Burton's best piece of work.  I missed the genuine sets and disliked the usage of CGI which is fairly new to Buton's films.  Had the film been PG-13 he could've gotten away with something darker and wierder (which is what I was expecting).  Also, this movie is better for kids and tweens.  Don't really take it too seriously.  And any die-hard "Alice" fans out there, do not get your hopes up.

Grade:  C (unfortunatly)

QUINTUPLE REVIEW! FEATURING: Avatar, The Secret to Teen Power, Inglourious Basterds, Shutter Island, and The Hurt Locker.

Come one, come all to the Rob's Review Blog QUINTUPLE REVIEW!!!  A month or two back I saw Avatar and read The Secret to Teen Power.  On the very rare NYC snow day, I decided to cure my cabin fever and watch Inglourious Basterds. This week I saw Shutter Island and The Hurt Locker. And don't worry, I'll try to keep each review to a short paragraph. Also, ITS OSCAR SEASON so comment on what movies you've seen and think will win a few.

FIRST REVIEW:
Title: Avatar
Genre: Epic
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Summary: A crippled military man travels to a lush, tropical, moon, Pandora, on a mission to learn the native's way of life but shortly realizes how precious everything really is.
Review: This epic directed by James Cameron is his latest box office record breaker since Titanic.  There are so many wonderful things to say about this movie but I gotta keep it short.  I went in thinking "Yeah right, this movie is gonna be all hype." Well guess what. BELIEVE THE HYPE! This movie was phenominal and had a great story, message, visuals, and themes. Go out and enjoy it in theaters. The 3-D was pretty good. The Oscars are coming and I predict it WILL win Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Score, Best Film Editing, Best Visual Effects, Best Art Direction, and Best Sound Editing
Grade: A

SECOND REVIEW:
Title: The Secret to Teen Power
Author: Paul Harrington
Genre: Self-help
Summary: The Oprah-fueld self-help book for adults gets translated to a teen audience and teaches them the law of attraction.
Review: I was expecting The Secret to Teen Power to be as life-changing as everybody says it was. Unfortunately, it wasn't.  The book gave me some good life lessons but didn't really change my whole perspective on the world. Also, don't read the whole book cover-to-cover, just read the parts you think will come in handy for YOU.
Grade: C+

THIRD REVIEW:
Title: Inglourious Basterds
Genre: War
MPAA Rating: R
Summary: Set in Nazi-Occupied France, the story is about a girl named Shoshanna. her family was killed when a German officer found them hiding in a Frenchman's basement. She, luckily, escaped and is now hiding in a city in France.  Inglourious Basterds also follows the story of a group of Nazi-Scalpin' Jews in the U.S. Army known as the Basterds. Their plans intertwine with Shoshanna's at the climax of the film that will leave you at the edge of your seat.
Review: If you are familiar with Quentin Tarantino's previous works, you know that there is alot of blood.  This movie used a ton of it! It was super violent and may be disturbing to some.  However, the violence doesn't take away from the movie's authentic feel and marvelous story-line. I liked this movie ALOT.
Grade: B+

FOURTH REVIEW:
Title: Shutter Island
Genre: Mystery
MPAA Rating: R
Summary: In 1954, two U.S. marshals (Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo) investigate the disappearance of a patient from a hospital for the criminally insane on an island in Massachusetts. They run into trouble when they are deceived by the hospital's chief administrator (Ben Kingsley), a hurricane hits, and they uncover a series of sinister human experiments, reminiscent of Nazi human experimentation.
Review: Now, I know the summary seems to give away alot of the plot but believe me, it doesn't. There are numerous twists in turns in this suspense-filled Scorsese-directed movie.  The movie isn't considered "horror" or "scary" but there are a few scenes of intense violence and disturbing images of the dead.  Aside from that, the mysterious past surrounding DiCaprio's character, Teddy, unfolds and wil leave you schocked.  Does this movie scream Oscar? No. But if you're looking for a good, erie movie to watch go see Shutter Island.
Grade: B

Fifth Review:
Title: The Hurt Locker
Genre: War
MPAA Rating: R
Summary: The Hurt Locker follows one of the United States Army Explosive Ordinance Disposal teams during the war in Iraq.  That's all.
Review: 9 Oscar nominations. NINE! Nine, neuf, neun, nove, nueve! IT'S BLASHPEMY! This movie was not deserving of about 7 of these nominations.  The two I agree with are Best Film Editing, and Best Cinimatography.  The cinematography did happen to blow me away with all of the different angles and shots and perspectives etc.  What I didn't like was that it seemed like a boring "A day in the life of..." specials on the biography channel.  It did not grab my attention and was falling asleep.  If they made the main sub-plot a major plot point earlier then 15 minutes before the movie ended, maybe I would've been a little more interested.
Grade: A for effort, C- for movie-making

The Lovely Bones (film)

Wow, It has been WAY too long since I have reviewed anything.  If you read my last post you'll understand why.  Anyways, I plan on writing a book review in about 3 weeks (just if you're wondering).  I am constantly seeing new movies and I feel I haven't lived up to my url's name. After all it is robBOOKblog.blogspot.com.  Anyways, I got a bootleg copy of a movie that has sparked alot of controversy.  Teenage girl's love it, critics hate it.  I am talking of course about The Lovely Bones. Here's my review.

Title: The Lovely Bones
Genre: Fantasy/Suspense/SUPAH CREEPY
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Summary: Director Peter Jackson attempts to adapt Alice Sebold's best-selling novel concerning a murdered 14-year old who watches from the inbetween as her family attempts to cope with their devastating loss and tracks her killer as he stealthily covers his tracks.
Review: Like almost every film there is good and bad.  I'll flip a coin for what goes first. Heads bad tails good.  Heads it is! No joke, I seriously flipped a coin. Haha!  Okay where do I begin? Let's start with the creepy factor. This was officialy the creepiest movie I have ever seen.  Stanley Tucci's performance as the killer was impeccable.  Just looking at the character, you can tell he's a major creeper.  This was not pleasant considering he was in the majority of the movie.  Another thing I did not like was how dragged out some scenes were, especially the murder scene.  Nothing graphic was shown.  However, the scene was about 15 minutes long and every second was grueling.  Another creepy part was the scene immediately following the murder in which Susie (the girl who was murdered) watches as her killer cleans the blood of his body, shoes, and home.  I could not stand it.  One thing I thought was way too intense was when Susie sees all the bodies of her killer's past victims. Overall, I found the movie way too creepy.  I also didn't like how the movie didn't go into depth of a sub-plot involving Susie's love intrest and a mysterious girl whom we assume will play a larger role as advertised in trailers and the beggining of the feature. Quick note: the ending will leave you biting your nails wondering "OH NO!" but don't worry I was semi-satisfied.
       Don't worry though, there were about two things I happened to enjoy about the movie.  The first thing I enjoyed was the acting.  I really was super creeped out by Stanley Tucci as the killer (as mentioned previously) which means he did his job.  I also think that Susan Sarandon's role as the awesome grandma was phenominal.  The supporting roles played by two teenagers whos names I do not know as Ray and Ruth were pretty good even though they only got like 5 minutes of screen time.  I am typically not a huge fan of Mark Wahlberg although he did a great job as Susie's obsessed yet loving dad.  Also, the girl who played Susie's sister was pretty good.  The second thing I liked were the special effects.  Peter Jackson's movies always have great ones. The third thing I liked was the portrayal of life in the 1970's.  Everything from the clothes to the houses to Susie's opening lines.
       As you can see, I didn't particularly enjoy the movie because it was too creepy.  However, the acting, visuals, and pertraying of suburban life in the 1970's.
Grade: C+

New Moon

Waddup?

Today I finished the second novel in the Twilight Saga called New Moon.  Just in time for the movie which I will also be reviewing.  Here's what I thought of the book:

Title: New Moon
Author: Stephanie Meyer
Genre: Action, Romance
Summary: Bella Swan's ultra-beautiful and ultra-sparkly vampire boyfriend, Edward Cullen, leaves her thinking he is too dangerous for her to be around.  She then reconnects with her childhood friend Jacob Black who just so happens to fall in love with Bella. By the way, he is a werewolf.  Werewolves are vampires mortal enemies.  When Bella does something stupid and nearly kills herself, Edward thinks she is dead and goes to Italy to see the all powerful Volturi, a clan of vampires, that can kill him too. What happens next? Read the book to find out.
Review: I have to say, I am not a huge fan of the Twilight series and I'm definitly not a "twi-hard".  Some of my friends even hate Twilight.  This has influenced me to hold a bias against the series so I will do my best to be fair in this review.
      The main character and narrator, Bella Swan, is a dumbass.  When Edward tells her he is leaving she goes into a zombie-like depression for nearly half a year.  Get over it already.  This is so overly exagurated that it makes me want to rip out the pages. Also, I feel that Stephanie Meyer's writing ability dropped a whole bunch since Twilight.
       The two main things I actually did like about the book was the development of Jacob's character.  However, once he started to put his thoughts toward Bella into actions, he became such a LOSER!!  I also liked the explanation of the history of the Volturi.  It was cool learning about how foriegn vampires live.  I think Stephanie should have made Italy a larger part of the books storyline.  The time in Italy lasts only one or two 20 pg chapters out a 570 pg book.
       Then again, I have heard New Moon is the worst book in the series and I hope this is true because I DO plan on reading the second half of the saga.
Grade: C-

District 9

Hello everybody! I just got home from seeing the action-packed and alien-filled District 9 produced by Peter Jackson, director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong.  Knowing this, I had very high expectations but did District 9 live up to them? Keep reading to find out.

Title: District 9
Director: Neill Blomkamp
Starring: Sharlto Copley
Genre: Action, Drama
Length: 112 min
MPAA Rating: R
IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1136608/

Summary: In 1990, a massive star ship bearing a bedraggled alien population, nicknamed "The Prawns" (to be used as a politically incorrect term),  appeared over Johannesburg, South Africa. Twenty years later, the initial welcome by the human population has faded. The refugee camp where the aliens were located has deteriorated into a militarized ghetto called District 9, where they are confined and exploited in squalor. In 2010, the munitions corporation, Multi-National United, is contracted to forcibly evict the population with operative Wikus van der Merwe in charge. In this operation, Wikus is exposed to a strange alien chemical and must rely on the help of his only two new non-human friends.

My Review: District 9 fell below my expectations.  It is quite saddening because I was really enjoying the Documentry-style shooting of the film but as the movie transitioned from documentry style to Hollywood blockbuster I found the film less and less interesting with all of the violent massacares of humans and aliens alike.

The first half of the film was very interesting, showing the backstory behind District 9 and showing how badly the aliens live.  This is what mainly got my attention.  It was amazing how realistic the movie was and if you replaced the aliens with people the story would still make sense.  It was very saddening watching how horribly mistreated the aliens were and how believable the living conditions and predjudice was.

About 40 minutes in is where the plot changes when Wikus accidently sprays himself with an alien substance.  After that, he slowly changes into one of the non-humans.  I didn't really enjoy Wikus' character too much.  Throughout the film he was very self-centered and the only thing he cared about was how to make himself live up to his recent promotion and how to change himself back into a human and how to stay with his wife.

Another thing I did not enjoy was the frequent use of the f-word and nonsensical violence.  But I especially didn't like the room for a sequal probably entitled District 10.  They made it very obvious a sequal is probably in the works and is going to be much worse then District 9. 

Some of the few things I did enjoy was the message the movie gave.  I already told you about how much I enjoyed the documentry style filming but when they showed the fake news feeds I felt like I was in the setting of South Africa watching the news surrounding the mysteries of District 9.

Final Note: District 9 was a film that did not live up to my expectations. Although very epic with great themes the story line was great but could've been represented in a different way.
Do I Reccommend It?: Don't spend $15 going to the theater to see it.  Rent it from Netflix or whoever but make sure you have surround sound.

Grade: C+