Mark Reviews I Am Legend

The Post-apocalyptic story of a man and his dog. Over all I was very impressed with this film. If you took Kyp's advice and started listening to Film Spotting, you would've heard their review last week coupled with their review of Juno. On one main topic I agree completely with them. The CGI vampire/zombie creatures were incredibly unimpressive. Give me a bad make-up job before you give me a crappy CGI creature that looks like Eric Bana's Hulk... yes... THAT bad. They looked more like cartoons. However, I can't disagree more with their critique of Will Smith; claiming he fails to create connection with audience. I think they continually were comparing it to Castaway, and I see where they are coming from; however, it's unfair to this film. I think Smith captures the audience in his own way, which while different than Hank's on the beach, is just as effective. I think the subtleties of this movie make it successful. One of my favorite things was the fact that you see pieces of priceless art hanging around his apartment. At first you would think nothing of it, considering the popularity of reprints of Van Gogh's Starry Night; however you realize something is off when you look at the clearly ornate frame... which left me believing it's meant to be the original.

On a side note: all the computer's he uses in the film are Apple.... which clearly means, if you could have any computer in the world... go with Apple.

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Kyp Reviews Atonement

This is an amazing film. I typed several adjectives and Backspaced a few times before going with "amazing." I tried, phenomenal, fantastic, incredible and slippery. That last one was Backspaced faster then the others but I digress. I was impressed by everything this movie had to offer from the acting, to the direction, to the music. Keira Knightly is billed as the lead and is nominated for Best Lead Actress in a Drama (Golden Globe) and she's fine in the movie. I'd even go as far as to say she's good. But the real star is 13 year old Saoirse Ronan who gives an astonishingly mature performance. I enjoyed Joe Wright's Pride & Prejudice but Atonement just made me a fan.
Do not be fooled by the marketing. This is not a talky, British, no-plot, costume drama. This is not a date movie. This is not a love story. This is a tale of misfortune, war, heartbreak, and well... atonement. On a scale of 1 to 10 this movie gets a "Holy Crap go see it now."

Kyp Reviews The Golden Compass

The picture I'm using for this movie review is of the Book. And that should tell you everything you need to know. As excited as I was about this movie, sadly, it did not live up to my expectations. Please note. This is not a bad movie, by any stretch of the imagination. It is exciting, fast paced and whimsical. Dakota Blue Richards does well as Lyra even though it's her screen debut. Ian McKellen is perfect as the voice of Ice Bear Iorek Byrnison and Nicole Kidman is wonderful playing the villain. I don't know why she doesn't do that more often. The problems lie in the script. It requires so much blatant exposition that it all ends up feeling forced. There is also very little feeling of Charater aside from the 3 I mentioned. They also try too much to be faithful to the book by including almost everything that happens but moving through it way too quickly. Lyra's with one group of people and off again with a different group.

If you've read the book, it might be annoying to see all the characters you've grown to love get swept aside in the interest of a short movie. If you haven't read the book, check out the movie. I think you'll enjoy it, especially if you like ARMORED EFFING BEAR DUELS!

Mark's Movie Review- TRIPLE SHOT!

Ok, So I've neglected you blog... how can I show you how sorry I am... how about I use one post and review three movies back to back!?

OK HERE WE GO:

1) Smoking Aces

Overall this movie was just weird... All the trailers and info I saw on the film made me think this would be a fun action movie. So I wasn't expecting much from the plot... which would have been fine. However, what I think ruined this movie was the sorry attempt at a plot. Now don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of both Jeremy Piven and Ryan Reynolds, however the movie seemed split between wanting to be an action thriller with all the blood and violence you can handle, and having a deep conspiracy theory plot. In the end, it was weak, but fun.

If the movie had ended about 20 minutes earlier, maybe I would've liked it better. Not to mention Piven was surprisingly weak in his snitch character. Explaining his big ideas in metaphors for illusions... it just got more annoying than anything else.

Redeeming points: One of the assassin's had a wrist blade a'la Assassin's Creed.

Some of the little magic type tricks that are done, just kind of thrown in (Piven shuffling the cards as he breaksdown) are kind of cool.

2) Girl Interrupted

I was very impressed with this film. Angelina Jolie and Winona Ryder both were pretty strong. The plot overall was good; had a weird blend of Donnie Darko and One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest. The interaction of all the girls in the hospital seemed genuine. A little dry at times, and overall a little slow but I did enjoy this movie.

As a heads up it does have a lot of heavy issues and deals with mental health, which can be hard to watch for some, but it did so in a safe and respectful manner. Some highlights include the cameo of Zoe Bartlett, Brittany Murphy and Stokes.

Watching this film however you kind of wonder what ever happened to Winona Ryder... I figure all the roles that would work for her have been taken by Helena Bonham Carter, or Keira Knightley.

Overall- a strong film, with good acting.

Finally

3) Alpha Dog

What can I say. I had heard good things, and am always open to Emile Hirsch films after The Girl Next Door. I actually really enjoyed this movie. It kind of broke the format of a typical movie, giving you not so much a plot twist as much as a twist on how a normal movie would play out, if that makes any sense. I was very impressed with Justin Timberlake's performance... however, Ben Foster stole the show in my opinion. Despite kind of disappearing halfway through the movie, he was an absolute bad-ass. I'd equate him to the toughest neo-nazi since Ed Norton. I wasn't floored or anything but still a very impressive movie. If you can get past the ridiculous nick names (elvis, 911, poke) and the occasional annoying dialogue... it's pretty good. Stumbles a little with pacing but worth adding to your quene.

Smoking Aces: 2/5

Girl Interrupted: 4/5

Alpha Dog: 3/5

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Kyp Reviews Enchanted

I am a man. The prospect of a Live-Action, Disney, Fish-Out-Of-Water story does not interest me in the bloody least. So why is it that I loved everything about Disney's Enchanted? Stay tuned after these messages to find out.

Buy Coke.

And we're back. Enchanted takes every Disney cliché and turns it on its head. From the talking animals, to the evil sidekick, to the random outbursts of song, everything is done with a self aware humor that makes the movie both hilarious and satirical. If you love Disney movies you'll love Enchanted.