Day 191: The Motorcycle Diaries (Diarios de Motocicleta)

Directed By- Walter Salles

Written By- Jose Rivera; Based on the Book By- Che Guevara

Starring- Gael Garcia Bernal, Rodrigo de la Serna

Critics Review- "I think it is beautifully shot, and the chemistry between these two young actors is terrific."- Richard Roeper "Ebert & Roeper"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 84% Audience- 91%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 4 1/2 stars

My Review-

I have always wanted to watch this movie and it was also recommended to me by a friend of mine, and I am glad I chose this for my list. Even though I did not know a lot about Ernesto "Che" Guevara, before this film it helped me get a better understanding of him. This movie is both beautifully shot, and wonderfully acted by both Bernal, and Serna. At first I was thinking to myself that the movie did not need to be as along as it was, but by the end of it I realized if it was any shorter it would not have been as good because we need to see the road trip and all the people they met along the way that would changed both of their lives forever. This has been one of the only other movies I have seen with Bernal and this probably the best that he has done, since he is the main character and it is from his book, which I would like to read now. Also the acting from Rodrigo de la Serna and this being his debut he did a really amazing job, I wish I could have seen other movies from him to see how he did after this film. Some of my favorite parts of the movie is when it would show them riding on "The Mighty One", and how they would show the scenery of where they were traveling. However my favorite part of the movie was the last 30 mins when they went to San Pablo to help the patients, we see the impact that they made on those people and when they left at the end it was like they were losing a part of them as well. This movie is not only emotional with scenes of Guevara and Granado's journey but also at times would have a little comic relief when they would fall off of the "The Mighty One". Salles blended these two elements to tell the story of how this journey shaped Che to what he would eventually become. The last thing that drove this movie along was the subtle guitar music that would come in every now and then it was not too forced into the movie it was but in just right every other scene or just the important scenes. This movie was worth the watch and it is wonderfully acted by these two actors, if you have not seen it go and check it out its worth it. Yes it is a foreign movie with subtitles but that's what makes it also a good movie if it was told with out subtitles it would not have really worked. I am now looking forward to watching Che Part I and Part II too see how the rest of Che's life went before he died. So if you are looking for a good movie to watch, check this movie out. 

Day 190: Hesher

Directed By- Spencer Susser

Writer(s)- Spencer Susser, David Michrod

Starring- Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Rainn Wilson, Natalie Portman, Devin Brochu

Critics Review- "Happily, Hesher never lays things out too clearly. Just as you never know where he came from, it's hard to grasp where he's going, or even what he's doing in the moment. But you know he fits somewhere. And that's satisfaction enough."- Tom Long "Detroit News"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 54% Audience- 61% 

Out of a possible 5 stars- 3 1/2 stars 

My Review- 

This movie is not what I expected it to be, in a good way. When I first saw the trailer's for this film I thought it would be a comedy/drama, but I was completely wrong. This film is a straight out drama with a few laughs here and there and they are all from Gordon-Levitt, who is actually the one that drives this movie, well since he is the title character in the movie he does more then he supposed to at times. The whole movie was kind of depressing until Levitt's character came on screen and changed everything for the people he was living with. He made them see things differently. What made this movie work, was that Joseph Gordon-Levitt was so unpredictable in it and at times very intimidating, Rainn Wilson was also very different in the movie he is not like his character in the office he is the exact opposite, depressed and will not do anything and there is a reason behind that, and I will not give it away. This movie is worth the watch based on Levitt and Wilson's performances along. I recommend that you watch this to form your own opinion on it. 

Day 189: The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas

Directed By- Brian Levant

Writer(s)- Deborah Kaplan, Harry Elfont, Jim Cash, Jack Epps Jr.

Starring- Mark Addy, Stephen Baldwin, Kristen Johnston, Jane Krakowski, Joan Collins, Thomas Gibson, Alan Cumming

Critics Review- "The Jokes are pathetic."- Michael Wilmington "Chicago Tribune"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 25% Audience- 28%

Out of of a possible 5 stars- 1/2 star

My Review-

I actually liked the first one, possibly because it was John Goodman, but hated how Rosie O' Donnell was Betty. In this one Jane Krakowski is better to look at even if this prequel was not needed. It was not funny, Stephen Baldwin was annoying and it needed to be shorter.

Day 188: The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Directed By- David Slade

Written By- Melissa Rosenberg

Starring- Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattison, Taylor Lautner, Bryce Dallas Howard, Billy Burke, Dakota Fanning

Critics Review- "Poorly-acted, bland, overlong and thrill-less. It insults your intelligence from start to finish."- Avi Offer "NYC Movie Guru"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 49% Audience- 74%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 1/2 star

My Review-

Yes, I finally watched a Twilight movie on this list, and after watching it I'am kind of regretting it. Watching this with friends helped a little making fun of every little thing these characters did and still being able to understand what was going on did help. This time around Bella still cannot chose who to go with; wolfboy, or vampieboy and its not that hard, well for it took 3 movies, that were not needed. I will watch the last one in the theaters because I already told my friends I would even though I may talk crap about it the whole entire time. I am glad that these movies will be over with soon, and hope they will not get rebooted in the near future.

Day 187: Inside Deep Throat

Directed By- Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato

Writer(s)- Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato

Narrated By- Dennis Hopper

Critics Review- "Fascinating social criticism and a witty and relevant take on American sexual history."- Roger Moore "Orlando Sentinel"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 83% Audience- 60%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 4 1/2 stars

My Review-

This documentary is not just about the porn film Deep Throat, it is also about how people wanted to shut it down and were successful because they found it to be immoral and obscene. This also deals with the shift on sexuality in American and how some people did not like talking about and how it was a taboo topic, which in away is still a taboo topic today. It was interesting to see how people dealt with this subject back in the 70s, and the backlash they received for working on it. Since the government wanted to shut it down we were able to see that more people wanted to see it because we were told not to. The thing that makes this work is the interviews with the people that worked on the film and archive footage from the people that saw the film and the ones that wanted to stop it. What we also saw is how the film Deep Throat changed everything for the porno industry and possibly the movie industry without even knowing it at the time. What drove this documentary is how some people were 50/50 with that movie and how some saw it so bad that no one should have seen it, and how they did not want people making their own opinions about the movie. What we also learned is that the main actress Linda Lovelace was abused by her ex-husband her made her do the film and later in life was an advocate against porn and her film. It was a very interesting watch, because it was just not about a pornographic movie, it was about tackling sex as a subject and how it should be talked about and not just seen as a subject that should be left alone. I do recommend this documentary because we see what it was like in the 1970s for sexuality and how it was vastly changing whether some people liked it or not.

Day 186: The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

Directed By- Marc Webb

Writer(s)- James Vanderbilt, Steve Kloves, Alvin Sargent; Based on "The Amazing Spider-Man by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko

Starring- Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Martin Sheen, Sally Field, Denis Leary, Campbell Scott, Chris Zylka, Irrfan Khan

Critics Review- "This is a grittier webslinger saga, led by a Peter Parker with swagger and angst and a tone defined more by emotional resonance than wide-eyed wonder. It still has plenty of fizz."- Chris Vognar "Dallas Morning News"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 72% Audience- 84%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 4 1/2 stars

My Review-

It has been 5 years since Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3, which was not that good to be honest. Now in 2012 we have a new take on the Peter Parker story, from director Marc Webb whose first feature film was (500) Days of Summer and for only his second feature film Marc Webb as promising career in directing movies. With this reboot things are different; there's no Mary Jane Watson, but Gwen Stacey, and character that most fans have been wanting to see for a long time since Raimi got it wrong in Spider-Man 3. The chemistry worked really between Garfield and Stone, and you could see on screen how much they were in to each other to begin with and that can work well in a movie.  Also in this reboot we got to see Peter's Parents for the first time and get some what of a reason of why he had to stay with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben, played wonderfully by Sally Field and Martin Sheen in my opinion were kind of better in this one, and they interacted more with each other in this film. Another thing we were looking forward to for a long time was the villain we were longing to see was Dr. Connors as The Lizard, and this was the lizard from the comics not the cartoon which a lot of people seemed to be mad at, in my opinion I liked this take on Lizard and how it was more from the comics rather then the cartoon and Rhys Ifans was great as Dr. Connors. With Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spider-Man he did his own take on this well known character, he was more of a geek in this one and more of a smart-ass when he was in the costume, which I really liked. Also new movie means a whole new suit in this one it showed us the process of him trying to chose what material to use to make it and how he made his mask and everything which was cool. We also got a better reason to why Peter chose to become the hero that he was meant to be, first as a vigilante then as a hero, a process that he had to grow through when he was finally asked who he was. This movie was both funny, and had a little more dramatic elements; in this one Aunt May and Peter were able to grieve a little bit more after Ben had died, Sam Raimi really did not do that in the first one in 2002 version. Lastly Denis Leary as Captain Stacey, no one could have played this better then he did, he did what he did best somewhat of a smart-ass dad and it worked really well since he normaly does that in some films. There were elements that I really liked in Webb's take on this series and elements I really liked in Raimi's series, Both Raimi and Webb each set there own tone in their Spider-Man films; and each one had certain things that in away stood out more then other, with Webb one of the major differences were the web shooters that Peter made for this movie which  I liked. I am hoping that in this new take on Spider-Man Webb returns because I would like to see what he does next. However the only problem I had with the movie was the James Horner's score and I am hoping they get someone else to score the music because it seemed like the score did not fit to well with the movie, certain scenes were good with the music and other scenes it did not work. This is a new take on the Spider-Man saga and some people may like it, some people may hated it but its worth the watch, I will watch it again in 3D to see how it is since it was film in 3D, this worth the watch to see a new take on the web head to form your own opinion on it since it can go either way for some people.

Day 185: The Grey

Directed By- Joe Carnahan

Writer(s)- Joe Carnahan, Ian MacKenzie Jeffers

Starring- Liam Neeson, Frank Grillo, Dermot Mulroney, Dallas Roberts, Joe Anderson, James Bridge Dale, Nonso Anozie

Critics Review- "Every performance is a low-key, high-impact marvel in a movie that's true to it's ruthless self to the very end."- Maitland McDonagh "Film Journal International"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 79% Audience- 64%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 4 1/2 stars

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS AHEAD


AVOID IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THIS MOVIE YET.

My Review-

Even though this movie was spoiled for me, I still wanted to watch since I first saw the trailer and this probably one of my favorite Liam Neeson movies. This movie is all about survival and and dealing with the harsh elements in the wilderness, and its done well. In a way this can also be some what of a horror movie with wolves that will stop at nothing in movie. This was also a good movie because they did not use a lot of well known actors, it seemed like they wanted the everyday man to be in this movie. For me what made this movie so good is that they made you invest into all the characters without knowing their fate during the course of the movie. I saw some of the characters that I wanted to survive die, and it sucked. The movie was also the right pace for what the survivors were going through. This movie was driven by all the actors in it and not just Neeson, and you were able to feel for all the of them and what they were going through. At first you would think a movie about men and werewolves would not be interesting or a watchable movie, but Carnahan did just that, he made the movie very interesting, and not that many people like the ending but I do because it left it up to us as an audience to figure out what Neeson's fate was because it could go either way. Another thing that made the movie for me was the music, it went perfect with the movie and helped move along with certain scenes sticking out more then others due to the music. I highly recommend this movie to be watched again if you have already seen it to watch it again.