Day 249: The Five-Year Engagement

Directed By- Nicholas Stoller

Writer(s)- Jason Segel, Nicholas Stoller

Starring- Jason Segel, Emily Blunt, Alison Brie, Chris Pratt, Rhys Ifans, Jacki Weaver, Kevin Hart, Mindy Kaling, Brian Posehn

Critics Review- "Offers plenty of chuckles - although not enough to justify the middle-aged spread of its two-hour running time."- Mark Kermode "Observer [UK]"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 63% Audience- 59%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 3 stars

My Review-

This movie was good, but it was a little too long I thought it could have been 15 minutes shorter and it still would have been a decent movie. One thing I found out about this movie, after watching it I like Alison Brie even more then I did on community, even though I did hate her in Scream 4. It did have a good storyline with really funny supporting characters, and I was surprised that Rhys Ifans was in this movie, I did not see him in the trailer so I was taken by surprise. I get the actual movie takes place within the span of 6 years and in my opinion it could have been done in a better way without making the movie so long. One scene I thought was needed was when Blunt got shot in the leg with the arrow, yes it was funny but it didn't do much for the story, but that's just me. Rhys Ifans was one my favorite characters in this movie like always, I cannot think of one movie where I did not like him or find him annoying, he is always so likable in his films even though in this one we(the audience) have to kind of hate him during the course of the film, but by the end of it I still liked him. I like how Segel is writing more adult comedies even though I really did like The Muppets, I like how he writes he characters especially and he is able to make everyone in his films really unique and they are able to add their own little scenes in the movie and make it funnier than it already was. One person I really could not stand in this movie was Mindy Kaling, she plays the same character in every movie and show and its really getting annoying and she should try to do something different than what she is already doing. If you like Jason Segel or any of the characters in this movie, than this a decent watch for any of those types of fans, their not bad its just that I'm still saying it could have been shorter, and used some other characters a little more.

Day 248: Judge Dredd (1995)

Directed By- Danny Cannon

Writer(s)- William Wisher, Jr.,Steven E. de Souza Based on the British Comic 2000 AD. By- John Wagner, Carlos Ezquerra 

Starring- Sylvester Stallone, Diane Lane, Armand Assante, Rob Schneider, Joan Chen, Jurgen Prochnow, Max Von Sydow

Critics Review- "Aside from the affable Schneider and the able Lane, the cast seems to be in deep shock. Um, make that Dredd lock."- Rite Kempley "Washington Post"

Rotten Tomatoes Review- Critics- 15% Audience- 35%

Out of a possible 5 Stars- 2 stars

My Review-

Yeah this movie was not that good, and I could see why a lot of people make fun of it. Including his infamous line of  "I'am the LAW!" or something like that I cannot remember. The highlight of this movie for me was that Rob Schneider was actually funny, and Diane Lane was really hot back in the 90s. I suggest you stay far away from the movie. Stallone is stiff as a board when acting and Assante's voice was really annoying. I hope the remake coming out this year is better, and Karl Urban looks much scarier as Judge Dredd.

Day 247: ParaNorman

Directed By- Sam Fell, Chris Butler

Written By- Christ Butler 

Starring- Kodi Smit-McPhee, Casey Affleck, Anna Kendrick, Tucker Albrizzi, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Leslie Mann, Jeff Garlin, John Goodman, Elaine Stritch, Ariel Winter, Bernard Hill

Critics Review- "Truly, this is one animated film that would work just as well as a live-action movie."- Bill Goodykoontz "Arizona Republic"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 86% Audience- 79%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 5 stars

My Review-

This movie is now one of my favorite stop motion movies. I loved the story and everything about this movie, even down to the little jokes they had from other horror movies to make this one memorable. When I went to Universal Studios I saw with some friends how this movie was made, and I wanted to see it even more. Now that I have seen it I loved every minute of the movie, from Norman's room to him talking to the ghosts in his town. All the characters in this movie, left their own mark on the film and the voice cast was amazing; especially John Goodman, Casey Affleck, and Anna Kendrick they were all particularly very funny in this movie and they should do voice acting more. What I really likes about this movie is that it was a mixture of horror and comedy in a animated kids movie that had a really good story too it. There was no part of this movie I found boring, or too long, for being from the makers of Coraline it was way better than that movie and by far possibly the best animated film I will see in theaters this year. Even though I did not see it in 3D I think I would have enjoyed it either way. What I also loved about this movie is that they used zombies as part of the story line and that is established early in the film, which comes back later and used more, the reason why I loved stop motion animation is that at times they can make it seem so real, and lots of dedication is used to make a movie like this since it takes to long to film every frame and every move of all the characters. I feel like this movie is going to go really underrated and won't get noticed like it should be. In some animated movies now a days lot of the music does not go well with the movie, that is not the case the music was really awesome in this movie, and I liked how in the movie they were singing "season of the witch," as it was used in the trailer. I agree with the critic 100% this movie could also work as a live-action film and I still would have loved either way, since it was like a throw back to the old school horror movies. I am surprised it has lower rating with the audience than it does with the critics I had expected it to be a little higher with the audience and with the critics I agreed with my friend Gophrr a 86% sounds about right but I was hopeing it would be a little higher than that like in the mid 90s. If you really like animated films, or stop motion films, I suggest that you check this movie out, its really good and worth the watch. I suggest you watch in theaters well you still can or you can wait for DVD either way it is still a really good movie that should not be missed. This one animated movie I will buy the day it is released or maybe even pre-order it.

Day 246: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Directed By- Tomas Alfredson,

Writer(s)- Bridget O'Connor, Peter Straughan

Starring- Gary Oldman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, John Hurt, Toby Jones, Mark Strong, Ciaran Hinds

Critics Review- "The film has intrigues, shootings, infidelities and clues-- lots of clues-- which we ponder, along with the poker-faced Smiley, played with Oscar-nominated perfection by Gary Oldman."- Roger Moore "McClatchy-Tribune News Service"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 83% Audience- 65%

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

My Review-

This movie is really slow, and it takes time for everything too fall into place with all the characters. Each character in this movie is like the piece of a puzzle with the main story being who is the Spy within the British intelligence. This all-star cast is lead by the always amazing Gary Oldman who got his first Academy Award nomination for this film, why it took so like I still cannot understand. One of the things I liked about this movie is that I was able to see Benedict Cumberbatch in something other than his show "Sherlock" even though I really like that show it was cool to see him in this movie doing something else. Since this was a mystery movie nothing is what it seemed with some of the character, and most of the movie led to the final 10 minutes to finding out who the mole was after countless efforts, lies and losing people to the characters figuring it out. What also made this movie work is that it had multiple story lines that were at times hard to keep track of but also intertwined with another, to build a bigger picture of everything. One thing that confused me is that at times I did not know if I was watching a flashback or something that was happening in the present, the first time this happened it was never really established and for me took a little time to figure it out. Despite that I liked the movie, it was really intriguing since I first saw the trailer, and I haven't watched a spy thriller in a while and this one was top notch with all the acting especially from Gary Oldman. So I suggest you check this movie out. Even though Toby Jones, and Mark Strong were not in it a lot they were really awesome in this movie.

Day 245: Happy Accidents

Directed By- Brad Anderson

Written By- Brad Anderson 

Starring- Vincent D'Onofrio, Marissa Tomei, Nadia Dajani, Richard Portnow, Holland Taylor, and Anthony Michael Hall

Critics Review- "The charm of Happy Accidents is that like Ruby, we half-believe Sam Deed."- Terry Lawson "Detroit Free Press"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics-  Audience- 

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

WARNING: CONTAINS MILD SPOILERS 

My Review- 

This movie was recommend to me by the hosts "Yeah, It's That Bad." As I was flipping through the channels trying to find a movie to watch for today and I came across this movie which was recommend to me so this movie being added to my list I decided to watch and record it on my DVR. After watching it I can consider this movie to be a hidden gem because it does seem like not a lot of people know about this movie, and they should know about it because it is really good; the acting is really good from D'Onofrio as always and from Tomei whom I have always liked as an actress ever since I saw "My Cousin Vinny," I believe this was their first movie together, and they both worked really well in this romantic comedy with a twist or if it can even be considered that it seems more like a sc-fi movie with romance in it. This movie had me hooked since the opening credits, It started off as a scene being played in reverse and then staring off like a movie does it they way it starts is half way through the movie, since most of it is told in a flashback told from the POV of Tomei. This movie is done really well with the relationship between Tomei's character Ruby and D'Onofrio's character Sam, throughout the movie Sam is a mystery saying that he is Time Traveler from the year 2470 and keeps making up different variations of why he would travel back to the year 2000. When we finally find out the truth we are like Ruby questioning everything that he does it is not until the last 5-10 minutes of the film do we finally find out the truth. This movie has a few twists that I did not see coming and had me shocked at what had happened. This probably now my second favorite movie from both of these actors. What I really liked about this movie is that it is up to us to try and piece together the puzzle and figure out if Sam is telling the truth or not, its these kind of movies that more people should know about, and should watch. I highly recommend this film to be watched for many reasons that I may have already mentioned. There were some scenes here and there that I did not care for, and thought they did not need to be in the movie but that's just me. One of my favorite parts of the movie was seeing Anthony Michael Hall in a cameo, and it made sense since there was a joke told about him earlier in the film. So if you ever want to watch a movie or looking for a good off-beat sc-fi movie check this one out, I hope you will not be disappointed.

Day 244: Lawless

Directed By- John Hillcoat

Written By- Nick Cave; Based off the book- The Wettest County in the World by Matt Bondurant 

Starring Tom Hardy, Shia LaBeouf, Jason Clarke, Guy Pearce, Jessica Chastain, Mia Wasikowska, Gary Oldman 

Critics Review- "Bad-ass from start to finish."- Richard Roeper "Richard Roeper.com" 

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 65% Audience- 82%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 5 stars

My Review-

First let me say this, Tom Hardy is a motherfucking bad-ass in this movie. I have always liked these type of movies set in this era, mainly because they always go to wear suits all the time. With this movie being set in this time period made me want to watch and also because it seemed really good, and it was, this probably Shia LaBeouf's best movie too, where he actually good be taken seriously and no robots were trying to kill him. This movie had me hooked from start to finish, and I liked how Shia LaBeouf's character would come in a narrate the story every now and then, made the movie move along well by giving some back story for the audience. Going into the acting, holy good god, Tom Hardy, Guy Pearce and Shia LaBeouf made this movie especially Gary Oldman (SPOILER ALERT) even though his part was small. Also the trailers made Gary Oldman seem like the man antagonist in the movie when he wasn't which was kind of a let down. However with Guy Pearce in the movie he was totally different in this one than he was in Lockout a movie that I reviewed on this list, in this movie he was a bitch and I hated him so much but it just proves that this guy is an amazing actor who needs an Oscar nomination even hopefully Tom Hardy gets one, this is probably in my list of the movies I have seen with Tom Hardy that he was been straight up bad ass and makes the movie what it was. This movie had some comedy every now and then to relieve some of the tension that was building up or that had already happened earlier in the film. I would like to read the book to get a better understanding and to learn more about the Bondurant brothers and their bootlegging business. This one movie that should not be missed since it seems like this one will end the summer movies for this year, and it was well worth it. This movie had everything; amazing acting, violence, great music from Nick Cave finding and creating music from that era, and I agree with Roeper, this movie was bad-ass from start to finish, and it had be at the edge of my seat in some scenes and some scenes that had me going "That did not just happen." This movie should not be missed, and I hope who ever watches it will enjoy it and like it as much as I did.

Day 243: Waking Ned Devine

Directed By- Kirk Jones

Written By- Kirk Jones

Starring- Ian Bannen, David Kelly, Fionnula Flanagan

Critics Review- "The beauty of this film is its simplicity. It's good old-fashioned story-telling, following the increasingly desperate attempts of a group of lovable rogues to fill their pockets."- Jason Korsner "BBC"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 83%  Audience- 85%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 4 1/2   

My Review- 

This has to probably one of the best films I have watched in awhile, I really liked the story, the acting and of course the accents. It is a simple story about the lottery and what to do with the winnings if they guy who won has died. Throughout this movie we meet the villagers and began to like them except for one old lady in rascal she seems to hate everybody in the village. What also makes this movie really good is that since it is set in Ireland we get to here old folk music and traditional Irish music which was really cool in the movie. When of them sees a vision of Ned the winner of the Lottery the village soon decides to split the winnings among themselves because it is what Ned would have wanted, along the way when we meet the different villagers we get to know more about them and everyone knows everybody since it so small and how everyone cares about each other and looks out for one another. This movie did make me feel really good for some reasons I cannot put why, it was just a happy movie and I really believe that's what the writer was looking for when he wrote the movie, and basically look out for one another. This is one movie that should be watched for the story line since it is really good and the acting from the actors is done well, by everyone. Also this movie did not have big and famous Irish actors in it, they seem like they were actors that came in movies every know and then and this movie was finally the one movie to show how well they could really act. I suggest you find this movie to watch and see if you like it for yourself. I think the only flaw I found with the movie is that it was a little too short just being an hour and 35mins I had hoped it would have been 15-20 minutes longer.