Ok, so I am way late with this post- like over a month late- but what did you really expect me to say about the movie? I’m certainly not going to say anything bad. There was nothing bad about it! It was a fantastic movie that deserves 5 stars! Anyone will love it, even people who are not Muppet aficionados. I was not a true Muppet fan (not like some other people that I personally know) and I really enjoyed it. I went to the movie with Meagan, a larger Muppet fan than I, and she had to tell me that the “Mah Na Mah Na” song was a Muppet classic! That just goes to show that you don’t need to be the Muppet’s #1 fan in order to enjoy this film.

I still remember the Muppets. I can remember some Muppet movies and a few episodes of Muppets Tonight. I know how the Muppet humour works. I think Jason Segel did a wonderful job writing something that was as closely related to the original Muppets as possible. The songs were fabulous. Meagan, my muppet-loving friend, bought the album as quickly as she could. We just couldn’t get enough of “Man or Muppet.”

The cameo appearances were fantastic! The cameos on Muppets Tonight were always awesome as well. As a celebrity, I don’t know how you could turn down an invitation to be part of this movie. Who wouldn’t want to be involved in a wonderful tribute to Jim Henson? I think Mr. Henson would be really proud of Jason Segel’s work. He really is a muppet of a man.

 Do I really have to explain my excitement for this film? I feel like I’ve been waiting so long for it. I swear, I found out about it in 2009. And the novel is one of my favourites. Depp doing anything that involves anything by Hunter S. Thompson cannot be bad. They’re as good a pairing as…. rum and ice. Not necessarily for everyone but as long as you have a taste for it, there’s nothing better.

The fictional novel was written by Thompson in the late 50’s but was only published in 1998. He had spent some time writing for a sports newspaper in Puerto Rico and had been denied a job writing for the San Juan Star, the daily English newspaper. Although The Rum Diary is fictional, the characters were based loosely on the people Thompson had befriended at the Star and their antics and unruliness seem incredibly similar to the non-fiction work he regularly wrote about. The story; Paul Kemp leaves New York for the relaxing islands of Puerto Rico to write for the San Juan Star. He gets into some crazy situations with his co-workers/roommates, Sala and Moburg, and finds himself wondering whether he should take the opportunity, and money, to write a favourable review for one of Sanderson’s skeptical real estate deals. All whilst trying to juggle around his new drinking habit and his love for Sanderson’s lovely lady, Chenault.

The era of the 50’s is always a fun one to play around in. Mainly it’s the fashion that does it for me. I wish I were born in the 50’s strictly to be able to have the clothes. One thing that I could have seen a lot more of was Puerto Rico itself. Perhaps cinematography was low on the list for Robinson, but the rest of the movie looked great. Or maybe it was a budget decision.

Depp’s version of Kemp is a believable representation of a young Thompson. Without the aid of Thompson as a coach for this role, I think he performed it well. I can see bits of Raoul Duke in this character. He’s a very different man in the 50’s, seduced by alcohol rather than drugs, but he certainly has the same tendencies. One surprising role was Giovanni Ribisi as Moburg. I really like Ribisi and he plays the role of a crazed lunatic very well. I also really like Aaron Eckhert and he plays Sanderson, a suave, asshole businessman, very well.

There were a few scenes that I remember in the book that were not included in the movie, but because I generally do things backwards (meaning, I watch the movie then read the book) I now do not expect the movie to be exactly like the book. I’m of the opinion that the book should remain somewhat different in order for you to still enjoy the story, long after the movie’s lost its popularity. And sometimes a story doesn’t translate well to film, so it needs to be altered for the screen. Adapted screenplays are not claiming to be the novel, so I never expect them to be. The ending on the other hand was not as I had remembered it in the book at all. It was open ended and they decided to tie the ends together with a wrap-up text. For a fictional film. That doesn’t work for me. Granted, the movie’s not about Kemp in New York, it’s all about Puerto Rico, so ending it like that worked for the overall feel of the film.

I remember feeling very relaxed when I read the book, like I was in Puerto Rico, but that was probably helped by the fact that I was actually in the Dominican Republic. That’s probably also why I enjoyed the book more than the movie. But c’mon; Johnny Depp with that 50’s style? Sit back and enjoy with a glass of rum on the rocks. You know, if your theatre offers that.

Ok, don’t ask me why, but I do really like Russell Brand. I’m not sure exactly what it is about him that I like though. Could be the accent, could be his type of humour, could be his nonchalant manner of conduct in every character that he plays. Whatever it is, that’s what made this movie for me.

Helen Mirren is an amazing actress, and honestly, it surprised me a bit to see that she’d chosen to do a role like this. She doesn’t strike you as a comedic actress, so you won’t be surprised to hear that her character as the nanny isn’t a very funny one. She has her moments, but none that you really remember. She plays the part well, but the character wasn’t strong enough for me to really enjoy, which is a shame for the secondary character in the movie.

Jennifer Garner’s character is much of the same. She has funnier moments than Helen Mirren, but nothing to laugh out loud about.

It seems that all the comedy in this romantic comedy was left up to Russell Brand to take care of, and he steps up to that plate every time. The dialogue that was supposed to be funny for the other characters was shadowed by the responses that Brand gave. He brought the dull lines out of their slump with the quick, and sometimes witty, remarks.

The love portion of this story was pretty blasé for my tastes. Naomi was a little boring, and Greta Gerwig didn’t do anything with the character to add a bit of excitement. When Arthur is given an ultimatum- marry Susan or lose his millions of dollars of inheritance- I would have liked to see a lot more of him trying to survive in the real world. I think Winer could have taken it in a different direction. Maybe make the ultimatum “learn to take care and prove yourself as a capable human being, or lose the inheritance.” That would mess around with the love story though, since Naomi is supposed to represent the girl that his mother doesn’t approve of, unlike Susan, who is beautiful and wildly popular. I just think that a story of a man changing his life as he knows it would have had more comedic opportunities than those presented in this film.

It was a lot better than I was expecting it to be, but don’t rush out to go see it. If you’re a Russell Brand fan then sure, but otherwise, you can wait to meet this billionaire in the comfort of your own home.

Well hello there, movie fans! As you may well know, I am travelling around the great Oz and therefore my spending habits have changed drastically. But, as Sydney has provided me with a decent paying job for nearly 2 months now, and they have cheap movie Tuesdays, I have finally been able to make it to the cinemas. And not to see Rango as what was intended. No, the friend I went with wasn’t feeling the animated chameleon as much as I was, so we compromised and went to see Limitless, the other movie we could both agree on. Although Rango is still on the to-see list, I am glad I was talked into seeing Limitless.

It was fascinating. A pill that can heighten your intelligence; dive into the far recesses of your mind and pull out details and facts that you didn’t even realize you knew anything about. Where can I get some of this? Of course, as this is a non-FDA approved drug, something must be wrong with it. Drugs come with severe problems with addiction and certainly there would be a major downfall if you become addicted, which you find out about two thirds into the film. This concept though, that you can become a better version of yourself by popping a pill, does make for an interesting story.

Bradley Cooper was a good cast for this role. Because he can so easily pull off the confident pretty boy, that’s half the battle won. He did a decent job with Eddie, the under-achieving author, but that look of superiority suits him quite well. A few times I was reminded of the Patrick Bateman character from American Psycho, except without the same level of psychosis. Which granted, is most of the fun, but still has that certain appeal.

None of the other characters or actors stood out for me, but one visual did. When not on the drug, Eddie simply moved through life without any special effect- grey, listless, boring. But as soon as the drug kicked in, the colour of the world around him changed, literally. By bringing an obvious vibrancy to the colours in the film, it changes the way Eddie sees the world- bright, exciting and full of life. This significant detail changes the mood of the film from sober to high, which I think affects the mood of the audience as well.

The story’s good and worth the admission price. Far-fetched? A bit, but when it surrounds drugs, isn’t anything possible? With no impossibilities, there are no limits.

Why am I so lazy at updating this site? Partly because this is the first movie I’d seen since Scott Pilgrim, but that was about 3 weeks ago. I dunno, maybe because I’m not actually a writer and therefore can never think of a good way to describe what I liked and didn’t like about the movie. Which doesn’t get any better when I try to describe it 3 weeks after I’d seen it. I know I always say, “I’m going to write the review as soon as I get home” but I never do. I give myself very good advice, but I very seldom follow it…

Regardless, it should be noted that I did enjoy this movie. I’m not the biggest of Ben Affleck fans, but I don’t detest him. And he did a great job as Doug. He was a likable character, and the accent was well done. I’m also liking Jeremy Renner. He was fantastic in The Hurt Locker, and he was great in The Town. He played a very convincing part, you just didn’t like him. You wanted him to get out of the picture, to leave well enough alone. But that wouldn’t make much of a movie, would it?

I LOVE Jon Hamm. I fell in love with Don Draper (and if you haven’t watched Mad Men, I suggest you do so), but that is who he’s become. Although he does not play an ad man in this film, he still has that I-know-better-than-you vibe about him, which is what makes him so attractive. He’s so sure of himself so he plays the role of the cop very well. The air of superiority is so strong with him, I’m a bit concerned that he’ll always be cast in those types of roles. He’ll forever be the guy who solves the problem, not creates it. I hope he proves me wrong, and does a lot more than that.

Ben Affleck is really trying to make a name for himself in the directing world, and this film will surely help him along that path. The storyline was familiar, but had a good- different- twist to it. There’s really nothing else I can think to describe. I really liked it.

I didn’t have my heart set on seeing this one. But my roommate did, and I was bored and wanted to do something with her, so we went to an 11:40 weekend showing. Which meant great seats! Already a great start.

I didn’t know much about the story. All I knew was there was this guy who liked this girl and she had evil boyfriends who he needed to fight in order to win this girl’s love. Which sounded a little dumb to me. I also knew that it was based on the Canadian comic, which made me a little more interested to see it. It’s also nice to know that the Canadian comic-made-movie was also filmed in Toronto. Thumbs up for that.

It turned out to be a lot better than I had thought it would be. Not because there was more to the story than what you read above, but because the styling was fantastic! They basically took images from comics books and plastered them into certain scenes. I like how IMDb described it- “stylized violence.” A completely different style than Sin City, but awesome nonetheless.

Michael Cera was as good as I expected him to be. Although I know who he is (and he looks just like my roommate’s brother, so weird) I’d never actually seen him in anything. He seems to always have this blank sort of expression on his face, which worked well for this character. The ex-boyfriends were all ridiculous. Not the actors, just the characters. Most of the time I sat there with a “What the hell??” look on my face, but I hadn’t read the comics, so I had no idea what to expect from them. I did love Kieran Culkin though! He did a great job, and he was quite funny. And he still looks like the little kid getting squashed behind the chair in Home Alone, without the glasses and can of Pepsi.

I wasn’t as impressed with this film as I was with similarly themed Kick-Ass, but I wasn’t disappointed. If you’re considering going to see it, just go. If you’ve decided that the movie is going to be stupid, I’m not completely convinced that it would change your mind. But if you go in with an open mind and expect to have fun, you will.

I really wanted to see this comedy. After Date Night, I was looking forward to another Steve Carell movie. Paul Rudd is such a cutie so I can watch him in anything.

These two points did not help with my enjoyment of the film. It’s not that it wasn’t funny, it just wasn’t the type of comedy I was expecting. I think I was expecting some slapstick and what was delivered was more random, nonsensical comedy. The type reminded me of The Hangover. The basic commentary I heard on The Hangover was that it was “the best comedy ever!” which I completely did not agree with. So depending on how you felt about that movie may change my validity on this review.

Most of the film focuses on the day before the actual dinner. Steve Carell’s character (Barry) is a little too aloof. Completely clueless of everything and everyone around him, his antics are more annoying than really funny. The relationship between Tim (Rudd’s character) and his girlfriend is almost ruined because of simple minded Barry and his desire for something to call a relationship with another human. Granted, Julie’s (Szostak) strange art gallery client plays a small, and very weird, part in this fiasco.

I spent most of the movie waiting for the dinner to start, but they first needed to go through these crazy shenanigans in order to highlight just how crazy these people are. Unfortunately, my tolerance for the bizarre sense of humour dropped throughout this development and didn’t make the dinner, the funniest part of the movie, that great.

I was indirectly told by a few people that I had to go see this. But now, I am directly telling you, yes you, that you must go see this movie. Definitely the best film I’ve seen so far this year, possibly the best film I’ll see all year. I don’t know how many movies I’ll be watching while traveling around Oz, but this one is going to be hard to top.

Besides DiCaprio and Cotillard’s, and arguably, Murphy’s character, there wasn’t much in the way of character development for the rest of the cast. Which is good. If any more information were crammed into this film, your mind would probably melt. The story is quite hard to follow, and to comprehend this movie completely, I will have to watch it multiple times, back-to-back. I’m trying to figure out a way of explaining what I saw without spoiling it and not not writing gibberish, but it’s not going to work. I won’t spoil it because it’s too good and I am serious, you HAVE to go see it. Also, anything I try to explain is only going to confuse you, and the last thing you need is to be confused before going into it. There’ll be plenty of time for that during the film.

What I can say is that I forgot how much I love Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I loved him in 3rd Rock From the Sun, and he’s the one I fell in love with in 10 Things I Hate About You, not Heath Ledger. Dress him up, give him a gun, and give him one of the coolest fight scenes ever… who wouldn’t love that?? Yeah, he definitely made the movie for me. Which is saying a lot because we all know how much I love Leo. Ellen Page wasn’t too bad. I feel like I should say better things about her since she’s from Halifax, but her performance wasn’t really that spectacular. Marion Cotillard, once again, was fantastic. I’m liking her more and more with every movie I see her in. Please note: Christopher Nolan is very quickly moving up the list of my favourite directors. There will come a time when I will want to go see a movie just because he directed it, not because the movie sounds great. But with his track record, I don’t think that’s at all possible. He directs the coolest movies.

This would normally be a rave review, but since there’s so much I still don’t understand, and so much that I can’t say, it’s hard to write one. Just like Shutter Island, this movie is great because I don’t fully understand it. The visuals and the transitions from one subconscious to the next are captivating, that I can say for sure. I want to go see it again and again, if not to understand it, then at least to watch Joseph Gordon-Levitt in that fight scene again and again. It makes me so happy.

Normally, I think we can agree, trilogies are not that great, usually awful. The third movie never turns out to be as great as the first, never come close, and they always take the storyline to a level that it should never be taken to. I’m sure you’re all thinking of particular good movies that have been nearly ruined do the fact that the producers and directors just didn’t know when to quit. Pirates of the Caribbean comes to mind for me.

Somehow though, this trilogy doesn’t get sucked into that black hole. Somehow, this trilogy survives past it, and moves forward. Toy Story, brilliant. There is no discussion, it was pure family-comedy perfection. Toy Story 2 was nothing to really talk about, granted, but it wasn’t bad. You didn’t miss the hours of your life spent watching it. With the addition of Toy Story 3, the story feels whole. All the pieces are now in place. This is how the book is supposed to be end.

The basis of this chapter falls on Andy going off to college, where of course toys like these do not venture. A simple, and believable, misunderstanding happens, and the toys are sent to a daycare centre, where they meet tons of new characters. New characters are always hard to introduce. They are usually overshadowed by the main characters, who after two movies, the audience has grown to love. But these new characters were wonderful, some a little scary. Watch the movie and tell me that the “big baby” and the monkey don’t freak you out.

Somehow, the producers, creators, directors, writers, everyone put on their good idea hats and made something truly memorable. Funny, smart, heart-wrenching, good, great. While other movie makers would have crumbled under pressure and made a mess of it, Pixar didn’t. It’s not often Pixar produces a flop, because they have the most imaginative, and probably dedicated, movie makers in the industry. They really know how to make a movie funny for the whole family, not just the kiddies. They know how to make you laugh, and cry, and I admit, I choked back many tears during this one.

I personally feel Toy Story 3 is better than the first. The third wouldn’t be anything without the first, I grant you that, but the creators knew what the audience wanted to see when Andy left for college, ending the toys’ story. It was fantastic, and if you haven’t seen it yet, you really don’t know what you’re missing. I never really thought about adding the first two to my collection, but now, the trilogy needs to be there. This is a masterpiece that belongs in any movie lovers collection.

Oh, Liam Neeson. Is there a movie you star in that I wouldn’t want to see? I think it’s fair to say that as long as there is a particular actor, or actress, starring in a movie that you generally would not find yourself paying money to see, you will. And it is entirely possible that because of that particular actor or actress, you end up going to see a movie that you do enjoy. This is one of those cases.

Not really at all familiar with the original TV series, (at least, not with the concept of the show. I do know who Mr. T is. My brother had a 20 piece puzzle of the guy!) I wasn’t exactly sure what kind of movie I was going to get. Seeing the previews gave me the impression that it was going to be ridiculous, and possibly even bad. But, when you have Liam Neeson starring in it, and his name is Hannibal, your interest suddenly perks.  Absurd? Absolutely. Bad? I guess that depends on what you’re expecting this movie to deliver.

I expected ridiculous action, and I expected a few bad pieces of dialogue, sure. I also assume that the original series was dripping with that as well. And they didn’t have Liam Neeson (or Bradley Cooper, who you have to admit, is pretty gorgeous) starring in it. Instead, they had Mr. T to work with. Which is why I assume people loved the show. Oh, and who shows up at the end (hopefully to make a larger appearance in the sequel, if they make one) but Jon Hamm, or Mr. Draper from Mad Men. He makes me very happy.

Yes, the action was over the top, and yes, the story was somewhat predictable, but it was still enjoyable and fun to watch. Who else but the A-Team tries to fly a tank? From what I’ve been told by people who grew up with the A-Team have told me, no one. They were about the preposterous stunts, and they delivered that in a full-blown, 21st century action flick. They didn’t hold back, and that’s what made it a great movie.