Friday, May 30, 2014

Movie Fact of the Day

  Today 's fact is another fact about one of the movies James McAvoy has been a part of. This time the movie is "Wanted", a 2008 film also starring Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman and Chris Pratt among other.
  There is a very liberating and badass scene in the film where James McAvoy's character, Wesley Gibson, tells off his boss and as he is leaving, hits his best friend Barry (played by Chris Pratt), who is sleeping with his girlfriend, in the head with his keyboard. The letters that come flying off towards the audience spell the words "Fuck You".
  So, that was the movie fact of the day. I hope you enjoyed it and have a great day.

m.
Courtesy of
Universal Pictures

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Movie Fact of the Day

  THIS MOVIE FACT CONTAINS SPOILERS ABOUT THE MOVIE "TRANCE"

  This post is a spoiler about "Trance", so i suggest if you haven't seen the movie, watch it and then revisit this Movie Fact of the Day.   If you've seen "Trance" then you know about the character secrets that are revealed by the end of the movie. However, there is a sign early on that if you look close enough will give up all the secrets before the third act unveil.
  That sign is in the scene where James McAvoy's character is under hypnosis. His phone rings but before he gets a chance to answer it he gets into a car accident. At the moment where the car hits him the audience can see in the phone screen who called him, and who would later be the solution to all the questions of the movie.
  I hope you enjoyed today's movie fact and feel free to revisit Moviereviewsbym94.blogspot.com for movie reviews, rating and more.
  Have a great day. 

m.
Courtesy of
FOX Searchlight Pictures

That Awkward Moment movie review

Cast: Zac Efron, Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Imogen Poots, Mackenzie Davis
Director: Tom Gormican
Running time: 1 hour and 34 minutes

  Jason (Zac Efron), Mikey (Michael B. Jordan) and Daniel (Miles Teller) are three best friends. When Mikey's wife asks for a divorce his two friends decide to stay single with him and ease him back into the dating pool. But what do you know, both of them end up finding the loves of their lives (shocker!) and start to go back on their pact. What will happen? Will their friendship survive? Will they find happiness and true love?

  One thing that worked about this movie was that the 3 lead characters have a nice chemistry with each other. Even though i thought (and i've heard a lot) that Daniel and Jason were kind of mean and douchy, it was somewhat fun to watch the three of them together. I would mostly contribute that to Miles Teller's charm and personality, which he brings to all of his movies (i'm a big fan as i've mentioned before). 

  Apart from Teller's charming presence there was some humor in his character. He was the link that held the friendship together and made the movie remotely fun. I doubt i would like this movie at all (not that i like it a lot as it is) if he wasn't in it. As far as Michael B. Jordan's character goes i have to say i liked him the best. Daniel is funny, but Mikey is the kindest and nicest of the group. And in a group of douchebags that means a lot. Now, regarding Zac Efron's character. I though Jason was a blank and boring addition to the group. Efron didn't have anything to offer to the film, mainly because the character had no positive attributes. He wasn't funny like Daniel was or nice like Mickey was, so i found it hard to care about him at all.

  Right from the first couple of scenes i had a problem with the movie. We see Teller and Efron's characters pitch a book cover proposal to some clients and i didn't buy it for a second. They look like they are in college and even if we assume they are 26-27, like they are in real life, doesn't that agency have any senior stuff that would meet with the clients and do the important jobs? You don't become a lead book cover artist when you are in your 20s. I would believe it more if they were interns rather than cover art geniuses with huge New York City apartments.

  Speaking of the begging of the movie, the first scene (if i am not mistaken) is when a girl breaks up with Zac Efron even though he hadn't realised they were in a relationship (or the girl hadn't realised they weren't in one). The fact that every girl (there is another one later in the film) Jason hooks up with doesn't understand that they are only having sex, and not starting a relationship, offended me a little bit. The movie doesn't seem to get that not all women are looking for relationships and/or are idiots who mistake casual sex with dating.So, actually, i had problems with the movie right from the start.

  Also, the whole premise of the film (that Daniel and Jason would stay single to help Mikey) didn't sit well with me. How would that help Michael B. Jordan's character? Is it because they didn't want him to see other people in love and feel hurt and jealous that he was no longer with his wife? Like he doesn't have any other friends that are in relationships. The idea struck me as a little childish. And i doubt Mikey would object with his friends meeting girls that they like and actually being happy.

  Like so many other rom-coms That Awkward Moment was very predictable. Friends decide to stay single and they immediately find the perfect girl. The guy sees his girl-best friend play the piano and he realises he loves her. The other guy gives a big romantic speech in front of many people so that he can win back the girl. And finally, the third guy who thought that he couldn't move on from heartbreak ends up getting over his ex and finding someone new. You could make a list with all the cliche romantic-comedy situations that are in this movie. The predictability of the movie kept me from being excited to see how everything would play out and learning what would happen in the end.

  Finally, i can't not comment on the fact that SPOILER! Ellie's dad's death is so clearly just a plot devise for the movie. We meet him in Ellie's birthday party and, literally, the first scene after the party is when we learn about his death.The writers should have, at least, put another scene in between so that it's not that obvious. It felt totally manipulative and not in any way emotional.

  In conclusion, That Awkward Moment is widely predictable with a couple of charming characters (literally,there were 2) that can't save this movie from the drag that it is.
Final thought #1: There is a book reading scene that is very painful.
Final thought #2: Damn Zac Efron's tight pants, tho.

My score: 19%
Tomatometer: 22%

m.
Courtesy of
Focus Pictures

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Run movie review

Cast: William Moseley, Adrian Pasdar, Eric Roberts
Director: Simone Bartesaghi
Running time: 1 hour and 30 minutes
  Run is the story of Danny, Sean or whatever his name is, who lives with his father and at night he "runs" through town to steal and support the family but, also, because as he says it's the only time he feels free. There is a part about his mother, his crime-lord uncle, some kids in his new school, a girl and other very stereotypical stuff. There, really, is no point in me telling you about the plot of this movie because you've probably seen 100 other movie with an extremely similar storyline. 
  But let's start with the parts of the movie that worked.Or part to be exact. The whole parkour theme of the film is pretty interesting. That was what drew me to the movie in the first place. But even that, is not great. I would have liked to see more parkour, especially since it's supposed to be a parkour movie. If i had to describe Run, i would say it's a very common flick with a little bit of parkour, rather than a parkour-centered movie.
  One of the main problems of Run is that it is full of cliched situations. From the fact that Danny keeps his parkour skills secret from his new classmates but then has to use them in front of the them to the oh-so-ordinary (and boring) love story or the third act abduction that i could see coming from miles away. It all felt so familiar. Too familiar. If you've seen anything ever, you will know what is going to happen in this movie.Not only is the plot incredibly stereotypical but the acting isn't any good,either. I though Moseley's performance was two-dimensional and, frankly, a little annoying. As was Pasdar's. Moseley was portraying Danny as a weirdly shy little boy, while Pasdar was a strict borderline abusive father. I didn't believe their relationship was a loving father-son one. And that was partly because of the acting.Finally, i have to point out a major flaw of the movie. And this is something that happens a lot in action movies but it was much more obvious in this movie. Danny would have been caught or killed multiple times during the film. However, he always magically managed to survive. As i watched the movie, there were certain moments where Daniel would be either shot by the bullets professional assassins were firing or caught by the policemen that were chasing him. The fact that he was always able to escape unscathed felt unrealistic.
  In conclusion, Run has a good premise that doesn't come to life upon execution. Not worth a watch, in my opinion.
Score:13%

m.

Courtesy of 
Koch Media
Millennium Entertainment
Palatin Media



Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Veronica Mars movie review

Cast: Kristen Bell, Jason Dohring, Ryan Hansen, Krysten Ritter, Francis Capra, Percy Daggs III, Chris Lowell, Tina Majonno, Enrico Colantoni
Director: Rob Thomas
Running time: 1 hour and 47 minutes
  Veronica Mars (the movie) is the continuation -and unofficial finale (or maybe not)- of the tv show, also titled Veronica Mars, about the now grown up Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell), ex-teen-private-investigator-now-new-york-lawyer, who comes back to Neptune, California to help ex-boyfriend Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring) who is investigated for the murder of his girlfriend and famous singer.
  Let me start by emphasising that i was a pretty big fan of the series back in the day. I've watched every episode about 3 to 4 times.I loved the whole LoVe thing and i really enjoyed the wittiness and quickness of the show.So if i seem harsh or neat-picky in my review, it's only because i was invested in the story and the characters for long time.
  The movie does a lot of things right. Veronica is, still, the sarcastic, quick on her feet, clever (ex-)PI that we know and love. Her character makes the movie worth watching. If you were a fan of the show you will, definitely, love seeing her again. In fact, you will love watching all the characters of the show coming together. There is enough personality and shading to everyone, especially for a movie who's main focus was the mystery rather than the relationships and the human interactions. Logan, although very improved in comparisson to the series version, still has temper issue. Dick has a deep-routed (in my opinion) depression, even though he jokes about it,which is interesting and i would like to have seen more about it (both in the movie and the show). All those undertones in the characters made them more believable and relatable. On a similar note, i really appreciated how the movie didn't blame the Piz and Veronica break up on Piz. He wasn't made into the bad guy, like we've seen in so many movies. He was patient and understanding but the fact is that some relationships don't last, just like in real life, without anyone being at fault. Now, regarding the murder part of the movie, i have to say it was well done. It was intricate enough, with no apparent solution but, still, fun to try and solve. There were multiple suspects and at no point did the movie go for the easy way out. Finally, even though the LoVe relationship wasn't depicted as good as i wanted it to have been,there was a scene that i loved(the song choice made it even better). All the big LoVe fans know what scene i am talking about, the car scene. Since this scene was so perfect (for me,at least) i will not ruin it by talking about it, i will, just, quote Veronica (yes, there is narration and it is actually good) and say, "Do i get a chip for this? Pouring the drink? Swishing it? Smelling it? Leaving the bar without taking a sip?Is this what getting clean feels like?".
  One of my main problems with the movie was that it was more mystery than character driven. The reason i was excited about Veronica Mars coming out with a movie continuation of the show was that i would be able to see all the characters that i loved so much on the show. And the fact that we were focused more on "who was the murderer" rather than "how will Logan and Veronica get back together" disappointed me and my inner LoVe fangirl. Similarly, i thought that both the Piz-Veronica breakup and the Logan-Veronica makeup were done too quickly. What i mean by that is that one second Veronica was in a relationship with Piz and the next she wasn't, and one second she was single and the next she was back together with Logan. I would have liked to see all those events play out more and take their time. One thing that i found strange and unnecessary was the Weevil (Francis Capra) storyline. I didn't understand how it moved the story along. I felt like it was, only, so that characters like Weevil and Celeste Kane (Lisa Thornhill) wouldn't be left out of the movie. Actually, i didn't (still don't) know how to feel about the end of that storyline, either. I'm not going to spoil it but if a sequel doesn't get made, Weevil's story ends in a bittersweet note.Moreover, something that happens a lot in movies and it frustrates me all the time is when there is a recent death or murder and the characters of the movie that should be emotionally affected don't have the appropriate reaction. Supposedly Logan had been dating Carrie Fisher (Andrea Estella) for some time before she was murdered,but we never see him really grieving her loss. Her existence (or rather her non-existence) seems to be, only, a tool for the movie to bring Logan and Veronica back in the same place (both physically and emotionally).  Finally, as expected, i thought that there shouldn't be so many references to the show, but to be honest that wasn't such a big deal. I did like the one about how Leo (Max Greenfield) thought that Veronica had gone on to be an FBI or CIA or something agent, which was referring to a season 4 trailer (which only remained a trailer)(you can look for it on YouTube).
  In conclusion, Veronica Mars is a pretty good stand-alone movie, but as former fan of the show i expected more from the movie.
Score: 67%

m.

Courtesy of
Warner Bros. Pictures