Depression and Disaster

Kirsten Dunst gave an award winning performance in the film Melancholia.  This 2011 psychological disaster movie about a planet called Melancholia was hiding behind the Earth's sun and is now on a collision course with Earth to destroy it.  Justine, played by Dunst has everything going for her in life however, she is going through depression.  Her sister Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and her husband John (Keifer Sutherland) start off by throwing a lavish reception for Justine and her new husband Michael (Alexander Skarsgard).  Director Lars von Trier demonstrates two sides of this movie through the eyes of Justine and Claire.  The comparison of how an extremely depressed woman and a woman that's in control of her life deal with the end of the world is ambiguous and fascinating. The still life photography and the cinematography is absolutely brilliant.  You will either love this story for its symbolism and psychology or dislike it because of it.  Either way, its a beautiful and mesmerizing story.

Oblivion: Earth's Non-Existence

 

In 2077, Earth has been through a war and has been vacated by its inhabitants   Two people have been left on Earth, Jack Harper (Tom Cruise) and Victoria Olsen (Andrea Riseborough).  Jack scouts the Earth repairing downed drones from alien beings who were scavenging what was left on Earth. Victoria keeps an eye on Jack and reports back to their leader Sally (Melissa Leo) of the colony based on one of the moons of Saturn where Victoria and Jack will be able to go in 2 weeks time.  However, this all changes when a capsule lands on Earth and Jack discovers one survivor named Julia Rusakova (Olga Kurylenko).  She is a face that Jack she's often in his dreams and wonders why.  The cinematography is great, the flying sequences reminds me of a cross between Star Wars and Top Gun.  The story has a bit of a twist to it to keep you interested. It's also nice to see Morgan Freeman and hear his dynamic voice from time to time.

An Unexpected Hero

Peter Jackson's The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey was surprisingly entertaining for me especially since I never saw any of the Lord of the Ring movies.  I also liked that the story was explained for novices like me and I was able to follow along and look forward to watching the trilogy movies.  The story starts off with Bilbo Baggins, a Hobbit, sixty years in the future writing his story about his unexpected adventure with Gandolf the Wizard and thirteen dwarves who are trying to reclaim their lost dwarf kingdom of Eredor.  It was overtaken by Smaug the dragon many years ago.  The new dwarf king, Thorin, who has unresolved issues with the elves for deserting his people many years ago and a strong desire to regain the dwarves home, leads this group through Middle Earth where they run into many dangers along the way.  One of my favorite scenes is with the goblins.  The visual effects of that scene was fantastic and of course the cinematography was great throughout the movie.  With so many shots done aerially and the movement of the camera, looking at some of the scenes was a bit dizzying and some scenes can make you feel a bit uneasy.  The beginning is long but that's Peter Jackson's signature.  However, once you get pass that, it is a fun movie. The Hobbit, An Unexpected Journey is definitely worth it's weight in gold literally.

Star cast, weak story

Cowboys vs Aliens starring Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford and Olivia Wilde was a pretty good movie.  The movie is set in 1875 in New Mexico, a stranger (Craig) appeared with no memory and with an alien device on his wrist.  He decides to go to the nearest town and finds the  law enforcement and the towns people know who he is and he becomes public enemy number one.  Harrison Ford plays a concerned father of a troubled spoiled son and a cowboy who is the leader of this town.  Olivia Wilde is a beautiful woman with an agenda of her own and a secret.  When more townspeople are taken by the aliens, enemies and rivals have to work together to fight the aliens.  The actors were great and they did the best they could with such a weak storyline.  The  story was so disjointed and confusing that it made a movie by director Jon Favreau and Steven Spielberg not really worth seeing.

Thor -Superhero or eye candy

Thor was an unexpectedly good movie. I thought...oh not another superhero movie but I was surprised that it really kept my attention. The story is about two sons who are be up for heir to their father's throne and to be king to a city of gods. They are somewhat at peace with a civilization of a frozen-like race on the brink of war. The eldest son is cocky and gets exiled to Earth. While he is gone, things start to fall apart for his planet. The movie goes in the direction of good verses evil and the innocent are caught in the middle. The cgi was great and the cinematograhy was fantastic. I left the movie a little puzzled with the extent of the story line of Earth. It reminded me of the extra unnecessary existence of extra pirates run by Yun Phat's character in the third Pirates movie. It would have been a better movie without the extra part. The move Thor is enjoyable and I saw it twice so that should tell you something.

Movie Review

"I Am Number Four" is a science fiction/fantasy teenage movie about human looking aliens from another planet whose people have systematically been killed off.  Alien assassins are hunting and killing nine specially powered young people to complete their mission.  Number three was killed along with his keeper and now they are after number four.  The first two are dead and the story never really goes into detail about that.  Number 4 (John) of course wants to be a normal teenager but is reminded to stay off the grid so that he is not found.  Well...how easy is that in terms of the Internet and smart phones?  This movie have some references to different movies such as Superman, Twilight and Transformers.  The teenagers, the girlfriend, the geek sci-fi friend who wants to believe and who has a father that could hold the key to the whole situation.  The way the movie ended means there will be a sequel.  I Am Number Four is not a bad movie.  It's entertaining and if you are looking for a light distraction with no real strain on the brain, then sit and enjoy the show.