Star Trek 2009

Actors: Hugh Jackman, Brian Cox
Running time: 103 mins
Genre: Drama
Director Gavin Hood

This movie is about the violent past of the mutant Wolverine, aka Logan, and his relationship with his half-brother Victor Creed. It also details Wolverine's early encounters with Colonel William Stryker and his time with Team X., also including the bonding of Wolverine's skeleton with the indestructible metal: adamantium, during the Weapon X program. This movie was outstanding. Since I was a little girl, I have read the comics and appreciated them, thus, I had high expectations of how this movie would portray such a childhood love of mine. I thought the graphics used were of high quality and the music complemented the movie’s high and low thrills.
Hugh Jackman is an excellent actor. He stepped up in this role and made it his own. Sadly, not enough thought was placed in the story line which was at times a little simplistic but this did not damage the film’s draw and entertainment quality. Each character was thought about and acted out very well. One success of this was the slow and deliberate lead to one character’s descent from good to evil and the consequences of his downfall.
This movie kept me on the edge of my seat, waiting and wanting more.


I would rate this movie

X Men Origins Wolverine

Actors: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Eric Bana, Leonard Nimoy, Winona Ryder, Simon Pegg, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Chris Hemsworth
Running Time: 122 minutes
Genre: Sci-Fi
Director: J.J. Abrams

This movie, based on the cult hit series, about the charismatic Captain James Kirk and his crew. The movie takes from the series and portrays the hidden years of Kirk’s life to how he became a star fleet captain.
I’m not usually a fan of the science-fiction genre; however, I believe this movie was very entertaining. The story line was complex and intriguing, focusing on the complicated rivalry turned friendship of Kirk and Spock, a Vulcan alien. The cinematography was superb with the movie opening with a very dramatic scene; where Kirk’s father saves thousands of people from being killed by sacrificing his own life, thus setting the stage for what was to come. The musical score also complimented the dramas and action sequences, adding tension and mood where needed.
There were some contradictory and weak elements to the film, though, which detracted from the flow and scene transitions. The villain, played by Eric Banner was simple and two dimensional and did not add any real tension or value to the path of the story. Indeed, the real villain, to me was the animosity between Spock and Kirk which threatened to tear the ship apart as they both fight for leadership.
But overall it was an entertaining and exciting film.


I would rate this movie

The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas

Actors: David Thewlis, Vera Farmiga, Asa Butterfield, Zac Mattoon O’Brien
Running time: 94 mins
Genre: Drama
Director Mark Herman

This movie about, Bruno an eight-year-old German boy who leads a very comfortable life in Berlin during the Second World War. His father is a high ranking Nazi officer, but things change when the family has to move due to his father’s new post. In his innocence, Bruno sees the nearby concentration camp as a ‘farm’ and wonders why its inhabitants are always wearing striped pyjamas. Eventually Bruno becomes friends with a Jewish boy his own age who lives on the other side of the fence. I went into this movie without knowing what it was about. I thought it was a cartoon movie, but soon realised it was about the war with the Germans and the Nasties and the Jews. It was an interesting movie as it kept you thinking about what could possibly happen next. Some of the images shown of the camps were quite harsh, but it was actually showing what happened in the past. They treated the slaves so cruelly and they forced them to live this life style. I thought this movie was interesting and kept me intrigued. It had great suspense builders that made me wanting more. Even though the ending was very sudden and sad. As the main actor, Bruno dies in a gassing chamber with his new made friend, it had the realization of this stuff actually happened.


I would rate this movie a

Dragonball Evolution

Actors: Justin Chatwin, James Marsters, Jamie Chung, Emmy Rossum, Eriko Tamura, Joon Park, Chow Yun-Fat, Texas Battle, Randall Duk Kim
Running time: 80 mins
Genre: Action, Fantasy
Director James Wong

So this movie is basically about Goku an ordinary young man who is required to save the world from the clutches of the evil alien Piccolo by retrieving the seven magical dragon balls. This movie wasn’t very successful in my opinion. I found that the story line was a complicated mess. This is because it didn’t follow just the main character it went onto follow each and every one that was in the cast, making it too complicated. I think the only age group that might find this movie interesting would have to be those who are under the age of 6. This movie holds no reference to the books and I think that die hard fans will not like it. Although there were some scenes of the movie where the cinematography was excellent. For example there was a fight scene between Goku and Piccolo that looked quiet realistic. The movie could have been more accessible had it adhered to the guide of the original story-line instead of meshing fan jargon into it. I believe with better acting and script writing this movie could have been a success.


I would rate this movie

The Boat That Rocked

Actors: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, January Jones, Rhys Ifans, Nick Frost.
Running time: 135 mins
Genre: Comedy
Director Richard Curtis

The Boat That Rocked is a comedy set in Britain in 1966, an era when the BBC, the only UK mainland licensed radio broadcaster, played little more than two hours of any kind of recorded music each week. A pirate station called Radio Rock began broadcasting rock music twenty-four hours a day from a boat anchored off the coast of England in international waters. Hosted by a colourful band of disc-jockeys, it soon gains an audience of millions and angers the government in the process. This movie was quite funny and quirky. The one thing I really enjoyed about this movie was the soundtrack, it had all the songs from 1960’s. I found that the movie was basically about sex, drugs and rock n' roll. Well that’s what did happen in the sixties. The newcomer, Carl gets to know the irrepressible members on the boat. Were it not for the strength of some of the core cast, it would have been very easy for the film to completely lose its way as the narrative begins to lose shape and the sub-plots confuse us all. Although I liked this movie some scenes the script could have been written better.


I would rate this movie

17 Again

Actors: Zac Efron, Leslie Mann, Thomas Lennon, Matthew Perry, Michelle Trachtenberg, Melora Hardin, Hunter Parrish, Jim Gaffigan
Running time: 102 mins
Genre: Comedy
Director Burr Steers

This movie is about a guy whose life didn't quite turn out how he wanted it to and wishes he could go back to high school and change it. He wakes up one day and is seventeen again and gets the chance to rewrite his life. As this movie is a kid’s movie it has casted its actors very while. Because as we all know Zac Efron is the in thing. He has made the movie entertaining and interesting to watch. I liked the story line although some parts could of possible been left out, i.e. in health class. It’s a kid’s movie HELLO. Besides that this movie was great and will be watched again.
In some parts this movie had me in stitches laughing. This movie is aimed at teenagers, they will properly enjoy it to a great extend and find it just as funny as me.


I would rate this movie

Knowing

Actors: Nicholas Cage, Rose Byrne
Running time: 121 mins
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Director Alex Proyas
The plot was very interesting. Students were asked to represent a drawing of what the future would look like to them and they were all to be stored in a time capsule. 50 years later they re open the time capsule to relieve a piece of paper completely covered in numbers. Professor John Koestler’s son gets this drawing but doesn’t think very much of it, but his Dad soon releases that it is a code. He figures out the code and tries to stop the disasters from happening, but know one is listening. While he was trying to figure the code out, I to was trying as well. The movie was engaging to watch. I think the ending let down the whole movie because it concluded with the tree of life and didn’t really make sense. I think that the script could have been written better, therefore with a better ending. I also thought that the aliens didn’t look realistic at all. They could have worked on the cinematography a little bit more.


I would rate this movie