The Conspirator
I saw the trailer to this movie a couple of months back but when I watched it I had forgotten about most of it. Just remembered that it was sort of a court room drama that had to do with the assassination of President Abe Lincoln. Director Robert Redford assembled a really talented cast that includes James McAvoy, Robin Wright, Tom Wilkinson, Kevin Kline, among others. They all do great work together, especially between McAvoy and Wright. You can almost feel the conflict inside of her as she juggles her love for her son to her duties as a mother. The same can be said about McAvoy who plays an ex-military lawyer who has to defend the mother of a traitor as she is accused of conspiracy. The movie is pretty straightforward in its delivery with no real surprises, but we see characters like McAvoy's Frederick Aiken go from one end of the spectrum to sacrificing his own future in order to defend someone who everyone else thinks is guilty. It was a pretty good movie that I'd recommend to anyone who is a history fan or a fan of court room dramas.
7 out of 10
Battle Los Angeles
I wasn't looking forward to watching this that much. From the trailer, it seemed like a lot of special effects and no substance, and that is pretty much what you get from this one. Jonathan Liebesman, who also directed horror movies like Darkness Falls and Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, didn't really make me any more confident that this was going to be any good. This movie didn't really feel like a sci-fi movie but it was more like a straight up war movie that just happened to have aliens. The effects throughout the movie were very well done. The emotions in the movie were hokey at best. Truth is, I can't remember anyone other than Aaron Eckhart's character. It was just a war movie with no filling. Nothing to make it memorable at all.
4.5 out of 10
Sucker Punch
Ever since I saw the Dawn of the Dead remake that Zack Snyder made back in 2004, I knew this director would go on to do good stuff. After that, both 300 and Watchmen were two of my favorite graphic novels that he turned into movies, but even better than that, into good movies. Sucker Punch is a strange one. It's a strange movie in the way it is told. It's basically a fantasy within a dream. Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Jamie Chung and Vanessa Hudgens do a good job here, nothing amazing, but good. I would have liked to have seen some more back story given to the girls but as an action movie, it's okay. The really great thing about this movie are the fantasy sequences. Giant stone samurai, zombie nazis, robot guards... it all looks incredibly cool. I have to admit, even thought there's a lot of faults and stuff I could find wrong with this movie, I couldn't help but enjoy the movie.
Ever since I saw the Dawn of the Dead remake that Zack Snyder made back in 2004, I knew this director would go on to do good stuff. After that, both 300 and Watchmen were two of my favorite graphic novels that he turned into movies, but even better than that, into good movies. Sucker Punch is a strange one. It's a strange movie in the way it is told. It's basically a fantasy within a dream. Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Jamie Chung and Vanessa Hudgens do a good job here, nothing amazing, but good. I would have liked to have seen some more back story given to the girls but as an action movie, it's okay. The really great thing about this movie are the fantasy sequences. Giant stone samurai, zombie nazis, robot guards... it all looks incredibly cool. I have to admit, even thought there's a lot of faults and stuff I could find wrong with this movie, I couldn't help but enjoy the movie.6.5 out of 10
Biutiful
There are movies that have sad endings, there are movies that have incredibly sad scenes, and then there are movies that make you want to cry yourself to sleep and never ever wake up. This is one of those movies. Javier Bardem plays Uxbal. He lives in the fringes of society doing anything he can to feed and give a nice life to his children. Uxbal has an ability, though, he can communicate with the dead. It isn't long before everything goes haywire and we find out that there is something incredibly wrong with Uxbal. Director Alejandro González Iñárritu is used to making movies with doomed characters just trying to get by but this movie takes the cake. It's a great movie and Javier Bardem does a wonderful job, but this is a really really depressing movie. It reminded me of Never Let Me Go in terms of how depressing it is. I could understand why people wouldn't enjoy this movie, but it's also hard not to be enthralled with it. I sort of wish they would have focused some more on Uxbal's ability. Maricel Alvarez is also pretty good as Bardem's love interest Marambra. The movie doesn't deal with black and whites but with shades of grey, a lot like the real world.
7 out of 10
There are movies that have sad endings, there are movies that have incredibly sad scenes, and then there are movies that make you want to cry yourself to sleep and never ever wake up. This is one of those movies. Javier Bardem plays Uxbal. He lives in the fringes of society doing anything he can to feed and give a nice life to his children. Uxbal has an ability, though, he can communicate with the dead. It isn't long before everything goes haywire and we find out that there is something incredibly wrong with Uxbal. Director Alejandro González Iñárritu is used to making movies with doomed characters just trying to get by but this movie takes the cake. It's a great movie and Javier Bardem does a wonderful job, but this is a really really depressing movie. It reminded me of Never Let Me Go in terms of how depressing it is. I could understand why people wouldn't enjoy this movie, but it's also hard not to be enthralled with it. I sort of wish they would have focused some more on Uxbal's ability. Maricel Alvarez is also pretty good as Bardem's love interest Marambra. The movie doesn't deal with black and whites but with shades of grey, a lot like the real world.7 out of 10
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