I LOVED this movie! It was great, and moving, and made you laugh and cry all at the same time. If you like baseball, this is a movie for you. If you love baseball, it is even better. If you like stories about true heroes, you will love this movie. If you have a soul, you will love this movie. That is all.
Everybody knows the big stories about racism and overcoming racism in the United States, and I'm sure a lot of people, particularly baseball fans, know at least part of the story of Jackie Robinson becoming the first black professional player with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Even so, this movie is powerful. It does a really good job of showing just how amazing Jackie Robinson truly was. He was incredibly intelligent, incredibly talented, and had an amazing sense of self-worth and self-restraint. Here, you see him refuse to break down in the face of repeated, relentless, and mindless racism that not only put him further in the spotlight, but also helped to break down that senseless racism across the country.
The movie progresses from seeing Jackie Robinson in the black baseball league, to the Dodgers' manager's decision to hire a black player, to the manager's decision to pick Jackie Robinson, to his progression in the league, to his starting place in history. Through all of this you see how day-by-day, person-by-person, Jackie Robinson (and the manager) changed the world. It really was amazing.
Chadwick Boseman was absolutely fantastic as Jackie Robinson. He developed the character over the two hour film, he made you feel Jackie Robinson's pain and joy, he made you laugh, and cry, and cheer, and boo all at the appropriate moments. Harrison Ford was also amazing. He was perfectly unyielding and supportive as the manager who knew exactly what he was doing when he specifically picked Jackie Robinson to be the first black player in major league baseball. Christopher Meloni (from Law and Order: SVU) was also pretty fantastic (I am really happy that his leaving SVU has lead to an increasing number of appearances elsewhere!). And, of course, the rest of the cast was also great.
As you probably have noticed, I could go on and on and on about this movie, but I will resist the urge. In the end, I give this a 10 out of 10!
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Olympus Has Fallen
I liked this movie. Once again, it's a moderately predictable, cheesy action film. North Koreans actually physically and violently take over the White House. You cannot go into this (or I guess rent this at this point) with high expectations of brilliance or class. It is action-packed, suspenseful, and fun.
Gerard Butler is beautiful, Aaron Eckhart is beautiful, Dylan McDermont is pretty, and Gerard Butler kicks some major North Korean butt, could you want more? O right, a plot might be good, but have no fear, this even has a plot (there aren't enough sexy men to make it come close to another Magic Mike)! It starts off kind of sad to set the background for Gerard Butler to be out of the White House and thus make him able to sneak in and save the day. Then we move almost directly into the action. There is apparently an entire army of secret service men in the White House, and they ALL die at the hands of the North Koreans. They planned this so well (without the NSA's or Patriot Act's illegal listening in to everything picking up on it) that they had planes, helicopters, and a full-scale invasion with bazookas (at least that's what I think they are, they blow things up) and everything!
Yes, it is ridiculous, but it is still fun to sit and enjoy the ride. There are some ups and downs, like the search for the President's son, trying to figure out the motive, waiting for Gerard Butler to save the day, etc. And there is even a touch of reality, Gerard Butler ALMOST dies! :)
There really isn't much more to say, for an action movie, I give this a 7 out of 10. If you don't like action, you might want to skip this one.
Gerard Butler is beautiful, Aaron Eckhart is beautiful, Dylan McDermont is pretty, and Gerard Butler kicks some major North Korean butt, could you want more? O right, a plot might be good, but have no fear, this even has a plot (there aren't enough sexy men to make it come close to another Magic Mike)! It starts off kind of sad to set the background for Gerard Butler to be out of the White House and thus make him able to sneak in and save the day. Then we move almost directly into the action. There is apparently an entire army of secret service men in the White House, and they ALL die at the hands of the North Koreans. They planned this so well (without the NSA's or Patriot Act's illegal listening in to everything picking up on it) that they had planes, helicopters, and a full-scale invasion with bazookas (at least that's what I think they are, they blow things up) and everything!
Yes, it is ridiculous, but it is still fun to sit and enjoy the ride. There are some ups and downs, like the search for the President's son, trying to figure out the motive, waiting for Gerard Butler to save the day, etc. And there is even a touch of reality, Gerard Butler ALMOST dies! :)
There really isn't much more to say, for an action movie, I give this a 7 out of 10. If you don't like action, you might want to skip this one.
World War Z
So, I'm not going to lie, I was not particularly interested in seeing this movie. I was not impressed with the previews, and I am starting to get a little annoyed with all the zombie apocalypse things. Dead, rotting beings that are falling apart and tear people to pieces by eating them are really not my cup of tea (though that obviously does not prevent me from watching them - Shaun of the Dead is the BEST!). That being said, Brad Pitt pulled me in, and I kind of liked it.
This movie was rated PG-13, so there wasn't any blood and gore. And I mean it, there was none. Every time there should have been blood they cut away or simply edited out. That made it better on the one hand (I didn't have to advert my eyes every time the zombies came one), but it also made it kind on ridiculous on the other. Someone lost a limb, and I didn't even know it had happened until a few minutes later. Don't get me wrong, I do not need to see the blood spurting out of the wrist, but I don't feel like they really needed to edit THAT much. It's a zombie apocalypse movie for goodness sake, it is not something you should take your pre-teens to, it does not need to be made PG-13 for them.
I love Brad Pitt, always have, always will. Not only is he a super sexy beast (regardless of his age, seriously, it's just impressive), but he can also act pretty well. He plays a retired soldier for the UN who gets scammed into traveling the world to find the origin (cure) of the zombie "disease". He's just supposed to be a hired gun, but ends up being able to help save the world (of course). He seems to be pretty comfortable and composed in all of the high-intensity situations that allow for him to be in complete charge and control in every different situation and group he encounters.
Besides Brad Pitt, there is s some pretty good acting all around. Again, the entire premise is that there is a zombie apocalypse, so of course it is predictable and action-packed, just like most every other zombie movie (it's amazing how there is only one that suggests that love can save us all! See Warm Bodies). That means that this is generally nothing new, nothing different, and you have your generally typical characters in true force. There is a sort of "twist" that does make this different from other zombie flicks, but they each do have to have their own special thing, right? (Shaun of the Dead is funny, The Walking Dead is more like a soap opera with the zombies as a background, Warm Bodies is all about love, Resident Evil has creepy zombie monster things, 28 days is all about the survival, you get the picture).
So, without really giving too much of the plot away (it is fun to be kept in suspense every now and then :)), I'll end by saying that I liked this, on the whole, and I give this movie a solid 6.5 out of 10.
This movie was rated PG-13, so there wasn't any blood and gore. And I mean it, there was none. Every time there should have been blood they cut away or simply edited out. That made it better on the one hand (I didn't have to advert my eyes every time the zombies came one), but it also made it kind on ridiculous on the other. Someone lost a limb, and I didn't even know it had happened until a few minutes later. Don't get me wrong, I do not need to see the blood spurting out of the wrist, but I don't feel like they really needed to edit THAT much. It's a zombie apocalypse movie for goodness sake, it is not something you should take your pre-teens to, it does not need to be made PG-13 for them.
I love Brad Pitt, always have, always will. Not only is he a super sexy beast (regardless of his age, seriously, it's just impressive), but he can also act pretty well. He plays a retired soldier for the UN who gets scammed into traveling the world to find the origin (cure) of the zombie "disease". He's just supposed to be a hired gun, but ends up being able to help save the world (of course). He seems to be pretty comfortable and composed in all of the high-intensity situations that allow for him to be in complete charge and control in every different situation and group he encounters.
Besides Brad Pitt, there is s some pretty good acting all around. Again, the entire premise is that there is a zombie apocalypse, so of course it is predictable and action-packed, just like most every other zombie movie (it's amazing how there is only one that suggests that love can save us all! See Warm Bodies). That means that this is generally nothing new, nothing different, and you have your generally typical characters in true force. There is a sort of "twist" that does make this different from other zombie flicks, but they each do have to have their own special thing, right? (Shaun of the Dead is funny, The Walking Dead is more like a soap opera with the zombies as a background, Warm Bodies is all about love, Resident Evil has creepy zombie monster things, 28 days is all about the survival, you get the picture).
So, without really giving too much of the plot away (it is fun to be kept in suspense every now and then :)), I'll end by saying that I liked this, on the whole, and I give this movie a solid 6.5 out of 10.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)