Someone asked me to drive them to the dollar tree at 9:15PM. I was thinking like...no way. I thought they closed at nine anyway. But in the end, I agreed to go since, I had to get gas and as it turns out, they close at 10PM. And...since I was the Dollar Tree, and the movie theater is right next door.....Long story short I went to see a movie on a last moment spur. Basically, we didn't know what we were getting ourselves into. I knew nothing about any of the movies playing, and two of them I actually saw already and I didn't want to see it again.
Takers was playing at a good time for when we arrived. I asked someone standing in line what that movie was about. She couldn't remember at first, then she said it was about mobsters. I got tickets to see Takers, and the funny thing was that we were the few white people in the whole theater to see the movie. Most of the audience was black. I was in great suspense to see the movie since I knew absolutely nothing about it. Didn't even see the preview. But, from the audience, I started to believe that the main characters would probably be black. Turns out Chris Brown, Tip T.I. Harris, Zoe Saldana, Idris Elba, Michael Ealy, and a lot of the other main characters were black. They also had a few white people in the movie, such as Hayden Christiansen, Paul Walker, and Matt Dillon. It was a diverse mix of actors.
After seeing the movie, and coming home, I read the reviews of some critics and some people. I read a lot of reviews of people that liked it, hated it, or they thought it was okay. I liked the movie. It was okay. I didn't love it or anything, but I don't think it was a bad movie.
Anyway, out of all the reviews, I agree with the one that said he felt like he was routing for both the bad guys and the good guys in this movie, which caused a internal conflict, and suspense. I disagreed with a lot of common criticism that I heard such as, the movie had no plot, the acting was horrible, the camera work was confusing and I couldn't tell what was going on.
I did agree with the criticism that the characters were not that well developed, so you didn't know them very well. Who and why were these people? Normally, I would have a problem with that, but somehow not knowing much about the main characters worked for this movie. I had no trouble seeing what was happening...the camera work was fine. The people who said that they couldn't tell what was going on probably had bad sensory skills, I don't know what their deal was.
As for it having no plot, I believe that the plot of this movie was actually interesting, and it had good twists and surprises. It wasn't your run of the mill bank robber movie. It had some extra complexity to it. I guess I'm not great at giving reviews, but, I did like the movie. It's not sophisticated or anything. It's an action packed bank robber movie for pete's sake.
Tip T.I. Harris made a great impact on this movie, and if his character "Ghost" wasn't in the movie, it would have been a lot less interesting and would have been a movie with no plot as they would say. It was very interesting to see his con game and how the betrayal fell. It was also stupid as to how they all fell for it. Teaches you to play the safe side, trust your instincts. Put yourself in other people's shoes to know their true intentions, and be realistic. One thing this movie teaches you is that crime doesn't pay. Especially since a lot of the criminals die in this movie.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Julie and Julia
This movie had a happy ending and it had an interesting premise. It really spoke to the human situation of not knowing what to do with yourself, and finding yourself. Sticking to something, and finishing it.
I just found this movie really boring though, despite it's grand nod towards the human condition. It wasn't what I thought it would be at all. Though it had clips from the life of Julia Child, it was mainly about a blogger named Julie Powell, who believing she was a loser, and going nowhere in her life, decided to find herself. So, she started a blog where she was to cook a recipe everyday from Julia Child's cook book "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" and then write about it in her blog.
This movie was too much about, "who read my blog?, and wow I have so many readers of my blog! Oh, my cooking is great, everyone is reading my blog!, opps, I dropped the chicken on the floor. I ruined the mold, the stew is bland, I'm not a good human, my days are going badly, freaking out when I have a disaster." "I'm learning about Julia Child, she was such a great women, she is an inspiration, I'm strangely connected to her and feel a kinship because I'm cooking all the recipes from her book"..."Am I a bitch, am I a horrible wife, I'm narcissistic and self centered because of my blog?" Then it's "Yay, everyone is calling me for a book deal, phone calls, publishers calling me...bla, bla, bla...yada, all that jazz."
That's what this movie felt like. Overkill of all the above. The movie was dull and uninteresting.
I just found this movie really boring though, despite it's grand nod towards the human condition. It wasn't what I thought it would be at all. Though it had clips from the life of Julia Child, it was mainly about a blogger named Julie Powell, who believing she was a loser, and going nowhere in her life, decided to find herself. So, she started a blog where she was to cook a recipe everyday from Julia Child's cook book "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" and then write about it in her blog.
This movie was too much about, "who read my blog?, and wow I have so many readers of my blog! Oh, my cooking is great, everyone is reading my blog!, opps, I dropped the chicken on the floor. I ruined the mold, the stew is bland, I'm not a good human, my days are going badly, freaking out when I have a disaster." "I'm learning about Julia Child, she was such a great women, she is an inspiration, I'm strangely connected to her and feel a kinship because I'm cooking all the recipes from her book"..."Am I a bitch, am I a horrible wife, I'm narcissistic and self centered because of my blog?" Then it's "Yay, everyone is calling me for a book deal, phone calls, publishers calling me...bla, bla, bla...yada, all that jazz."
That's what this movie felt like. Overkill of all the above. The movie was dull and uninteresting.
Anne of Green Gables
This book was written a hundred years ago by a Canadian Author from Prince Edward Island. By some strange coincidence, it takes place in Prince Edward Island too. Though it was so long ago, and in a different time and place, I felt that this book was very easy to relate to and understand. It makes me think that we barely changed in the last hundred years. In some ways that is actually a good thing.
I never liked a book so quickly as I did this one. After the first page or so, I was really was impressed. The way L.M. Montgomery writes is hard to explain, but it really shows the story from a good vantage point and from a witty and smart frame of reference.
I liked the book a lot better in the beginning when Anne was a very silly, fun, colorful character. Reading a book full of her thoughts and her sayings is perfect for putting someone in a good mood because she is so positive and really enjoys the little things in life.
Towards the end of the book, it had some good plot twists and turns, and I was surprised by how it turned out, however, it became more of a summary, lacking the life it used to have, and the main character was not as entertaining as before. Anne became more mature, in the beginning she was 11 years old, and at the end of the book she was 16 years old. For most of the book, she was 11 and 12, then towards the end it just did a quick overview of her older years.
She became less imaginative, less talkative, and more serious, competitive and sober. I didn't see the passion and life in the older Anne like in the younger Anne. I supposed it was a good thing she grew up some.
Though I'm not as happy with the end of the book as the beginning, I am very curious to read the next book from the 6 book series, Anne of Avonlea.
I never liked a book so quickly as I did this one. After the first page or so, I was really was impressed. The way L.M. Montgomery writes is hard to explain, but it really shows the story from a good vantage point and from a witty and smart frame of reference.
I liked the book a lot better in the beginning when Anne was a very silly, fun, colorful character. Reading a book full of her thoughts and her sayings is perfect for putting someone in a good mood because she is so positive and really enjoys the little things in life.
Towards the end of the book, it had some good plot twists and turns, and I was surprised by how it turned out, however, it became more of a summary, lacking the life it used to have, and the main character was not as entertaining as before. Anne became more mature, in the beginning she was 11 years old, and at the end of the book she was 16 years old. For most of the book, she was 11 and 12, then towards the end it just did a quick overview of her older years.
She became less imaginative, less talkative, and more serious, competitive and sober. I didn't see the passion and life in the older Anne like in the younger Anne. I supposed it was a good thing she grew up some.
Though I'm not as happy with the end of the book as the beginning, I am very curious to read the next book from the 6 book series, Anne of Avonlea.
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