Cinemaniac Reviews

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Archive for the month “August, 2011”

31 Aug 2011

Review: THE BUCKET LIST

When we think of a buddy comedy, we rarely ever think of two old men. Somehow, THE BUCKET LIST makes that hysterical. This tells the story of Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman) and Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson), two men who are fighting cancer. They know they will soon die, so they decide to jot down a list of things to accomplish before they die, ranging from reasonable to ridiculous. This film is slightly flawed, as it is a comedy/drama blend, and, as with most films filed under the genre, it becomes slightly uneven, as for a while it’s all absolutely hilarious, but all of a sudden, nothing is funny at all, and everything becomes straightforward and serious. Otherwise, THE BUCKET LIST is both a hilarious and a poignant motion picture, and if you haven’t seen it already, I recommend that you do.
GRADE: A

Posted in Comedy, Drama, [Alpha], [Film Reviews]
29 Aug 2011

Review: GLORY

Based on true Civil War events, this picture was very poignant, brutal, and fantastic. Starring Matthew Broderick as Robert Gould Shaw, a colonel who narrates much of the film with the letters he writes to his parents, GLORY is a well-acted saga about the permission for blacks to fight in war. The two main African-American characters we see are Sergeant Major John Rawlins (Morgan Freeman) and Private Trip (Denzel Washington, who was awarded Best Supporting Actor at the 1989 Academy Awards for his outstanding performance). Even though only Denzel Washington won an Oscar for his performance in this film, Matthew Broderick, if anyone, should have won the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Even though he was recognizable through his English accent, his facial hair, and his mid-19th century clothing, his portrayal of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw proved that he is not just Ferris Bueller and he is not just meant for comedic roles.
GRADE: A

Posted in Drama, Epic, War, [Alpha], [Film Reviews]
28 Aug 2011

Review: BATMAN

The Joker: “Haven’t you heard of the healing power of laughter?”
Michael Keaton stars as a stereotypical, overly-generic version of Batman in this early, 1989 work of Tim Burton’s. The Joker, played by Jack Nicholson, is very creepy and well-acted, though not as much as Heath Ledger’s later take on the character in THE DARK KNIGHT. BATMAN is quite enjoyable, if flawed, and it is definitely not one of those “die-hard fans only” type of movies. Every moment is gripping and keeps you watching until the very end, whether you are a die-hard fan of all superhero-centric films, just a plain “Bat-fan”, or quite indifferent. Whoever you are, I guarantee you will find Tim Burton’s 1989 take on BATMAN very lovable, witty, and thrilling.
The Joker: “I have given a name to my pain, and it is ‘Batman’.”
GRADE: B

Posted in Action, Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery, [Alpha], [Film Reviews]
27 Aug 2011

Review: X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE

Young Victor Creed: “You’re always sick.”
Young James Logan: “You were sick when you were my age.”
The first prequel to the original three X-MEN movies isn’t notably terrible, but it’s just not all that great. THE LAST STAND was a considerable fall from X-MEN and X-MEN UNITED, but ORIGINS: WOLVERINE cannot even be truly called an X-MEN film. It can, though, be called an “X-Man” film, given the fact that it centers only on Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), as hinted in the title. The real thing that bothers me here, though, is that even though some of the other X-Men are here, we don’t get to see all the original X-Men like Storm (Halle Berry) and Rogue (Anna Paquin) who we loved seeing in the first three films.
Logan: “I’ll find my own way.”
Remy LeBeau: “Good luck.”
GRADE: C

Posted in Action, Science Fiction, [Alpha], [Film Reviews]
27 Aug 2011

Review: LIMITLESS

Bottom Line: Shocking and thrilling.
Rarely ever disappointing, LIMITLESS is the definitive thriller. Bradley Cooper portrays Eddie Morra, a man who is lured into taking a fictitious drug called NZT for his writer’s block, but as more and more people begin to find about the drug, writer’s block is not the only thing he needs to access 100% of his mind for (as stated quite factually in the film, a normal human can only access 20% of his or her mind). Granted, the film doesn’t get too off track with the fact that the drug was originally to cure writer’s block, as in the “one year later” segment at the end, Eddie’s book is finally released (really, that’s not a spoiler, because that segment of the film serves as a comparison to the epilogue of a book). But so far, if there were a list of must-see films of 2011, LIMITLESS just might be in the top three.
GRADE: A

Posted in Mystery, Science Fiction, Thriller, [Alpha], [Film Reviews]
26 Aug 2011

Review: THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON

Daisy: “What are you looking at, Caroline?”
Caroline: “The wind, Mom.  They say a hurricane is coming.”
Based on the F. Scott Fitzgerald short story of the same title, THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON is a long, brilliant, epic fantasy/romance/drama.  It is a life story, with no doubt, but in absolute reverse.  This concept often makes the plot difficult to comprehend, as Benjamin Button (who is portrayed by several various actors throughout the film, including Peter Badalamenti, Robert Towers, Tom Everett, Brad Pitt (most namely), and eventually child actors Spencer Daniels, Chandler Canterbury, and Charles Henry Wyson) himself begins life as a baby in an 80-year-old’s body and dies as an 80-year-old in a newborn’s body, to keep it plain and simple.  On the other hand, without this particular concept, the film’s brilliance would be taken away, and it would be just any regular life-telling.  This film could have certainly been better (and shorter).  It was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar in 2008, and if this had been a little better, and SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (the eventual Winner) had been a little worse, THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON would have held its rightful award for Best Picture of 2008.
Daisy: “You’re so young.”
Benjamin Button: “Only on the outside.”
GRADE: B

Posted in Drama, Fantasy, Romance, War, [Alpha], [Film Reviews]
25 Aug 2011

Review: RAIN MAN

Well, now.  To say the very least, RAIN MAN is absolutely brilliant.  Dustin Hoffman delivers an fantastic performance as the autistic character Raymond Babbitt, a role for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1988.  In fact, Hoffman’s performance is so outstanding that in comparison to Colin Firth as King George VI and Tom Hanks as the titular character in FORREST GUMP (using examples of other Academy Award-winning disabled roles), Dustin Hoffman as Raymond Babbitt is definitely the superior one.  Tom Cruise also does an acceptable job as Charlie Babbitt, a greedy, selfish man who lives his whole life unaware that Raymond is his brother.  I didn’t expect very much of this film, as it looked like it would be utterly irritating–and I will admit, I was irritated at some parts, such as the various times at which Raymond continuously recites lines from Abbott and Costello’s comedy act, “Who’s on First?”–but otherwise, RAIN MAN was an exceptionally great, thoroughly memorable motion picture.
GRADE: A+

Posted in Drama, [Alpha], [Film Reviews]
24 Aug 2011

Review: THE INCREDIBLE HULK

Abomination: “Any last words?”
The Incredible Hulk: “Hulk…smash!”
THE INCREDIBLE HULK flows (and sometimes even overflows) with action and intensity, which is great, but to tell you the honest truth, there’s nothing really all that incredible about it.  The cinematography is quite uneven (especially for an action flick), and the plot gets kind of confusing.  I wouldn’t exactly recommend it, but some die-hard fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and other Marvel films may enjoy it.
Bruce Banner: “Is it ready?”
GRADE: C

NOTE: Not to be confused with THE HULK. 

Posted in Action, Science Fiction, [Alpha], [Film Reviews]
23 Aug 2011

Review: AMERICAN GRAFFITI

AMERICAN GRAFFITI, a teen coming of age drama set in 1962, is certainly not what we would expect from George Lucas, who wrote, produced, and directed sci-fi and action movies such as STAR WARS (to stare the obvious), RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, THX 1138, LABYRINTH, and HOWARD THE DUCK. On the other hand, it is surprisingly good and entertaining, with an ongoing soundtrack of hits from the late ’50s and early ’60s.
GRADE: A

Posted in Drama, [Alpha], [Film Reviews]
22 Aug 2011
4 Comments

Review: THE HELP

Bottom Line: Certainly not flawless, but it does a good job of adapting the author’s style to the screen.

Based on the book by Kathryn Stockett, THE HELP is a poignant, moving film, peppered with light-hearted humor every now and then to spice up the otherwise sad plot, which ultimately reaches the point of being somewhat depressing. Emma Stone, who we know from EASY A and ZOMBIELAND, plays a great Skeeter Phelan, changing her accent to that of an aspiring Mississippian author for a two-hour-and-seventeen-minute long production; and Bryce Dallas Howard, who we can slightly recognize from THE VILLAGE and TERMINATOR SALVATION, portrays an even better Hilly Holbrook, a racist antagonist of the story. Compared to Kathryn Stockett’s debut novel from only two years before, this film is very, very close to being as good. It portrays the author’s view on racism in just the perfect light, and it is powered by great acting and cinematography that the author couldn’t create, making THE HELP a near-flawless production. Truly, it is the best way we can see what the rights of African-Americans were in 1962.
GRADE: A

Posted in Drama, [Alpha], [Film Reviews]

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