The big wedding movie review

Cast: Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton, Susan Sarandon, Katherine Heigl, Robin Williams, Amanda Seyfried, Ben Barnes, Topher Grace
Director: Justin Zackham
  The big wedding is about the family of the groom,played by Ben Barnes.His biological mother comes to visit the weekend before the wedding and because she is catholic and she believes that divorce is a sin, Ben Barnes'  adoptive divorced parents are forced to pretend that they are still together for the shake of their son.
  The house and the location where the movie is shot is beautiful.There are trees and a lake and a beautiful big house.I found the whole scenery magical,to be honest.I would love to live in a place like that one day.I think all of that made me like the movie more than i would normally like it(and i didn't really enjoy it that much).Also, i enjoyed the chemistry between Susan Sarandon and Diane Keaton.I would definitely watch a movie with the two of them as best friends.One other thing i liked was SPOILER ALERT!!! how Robert De Niro didn't end up with Diane Keaton but stayed with Susan Sarandon.I found it better than what usually happens in this type of movies,which is that the guy realises what he is missing dumps his girlfriend and goes back to his wife.
  However, i felt that the movie had a lot of misses.Firstly, i had a big problem with Topher Grace's character.He is a 30 year old virgin (which i am willing to believe),who as he claims is waiting for love, and who randomly decides to have sex with his adoptive brother's biological sister,while he had plenty of offers before that i might add.I thought that was very shallow and wasn't really something his character would have done.Another character that i didn't buy was the biological sister.She is supposed to have been raised by a very strict catholic mother but she seems to have no hesitation to sleep with a stranger.Which she then is convinced not to do just because of one thing that Diane Keaton tells her.She doesn't care about the million things ,i assume, her mother has said to her over the years but Diane Keaton tells her,one time, she deserves more and she suddenly decides to wait.I found her character the most annoying in the whole film.Moreover, i found it difficult to believe that Robert De Niro would so easily cheat on Susan Sarandon.I believe that he would cheat on her but maybe he would have some remorse or he would at least feel bad about it.I found that in the movie his cheating was treated very casually almost like nothing had happened.Finally, i thought that Barnes' biological mother contradicted her self and her beliefs a lot especially when she admitted that she knowingly dated a married man once and that Barnes' was really his son.I don't think she would be so harsh about divorce and any other sin if she had done all those things when she was younger.
Score: 30%

m.

Courtesy

Lionsgate

Stuck in love or This is the end

  I'm planning on going to the movies on Thursday and then write a new review on the movie i watch but i can't decide between stuck in love or this is the end.What do you think?What would you like to see a review on? Comment below.

m.

Courtesy                                           

  Columbia Pictures                                      Millennium Entertainment                                                     

Would you rather movie review

Cast: Brittany Snow, Jeffrey Combs, Jonny Coyne, Robin Taylor

Director: David Guy Levy

 The movie is about one dinner party where life and death decisions must be made.The participants must play a game of "would you rather" which will test their strength,humanity and self preservation.So let the games begin...

  The movie starts off with the background story of Brittany Snow and how she gets pulled into the dinner.It shows her sick brother and her struggles.Everything is very believable and comes from real life.She later decides to attend the dinner hosted by Jeffrey Combs which as she was promised will help with her brother's operation.During the event she and seven other contestants find out how disturbed the hosts and the games really are.The emotions during the game are a lot and they are greatly portrayed by the actors through their characters.Every decision they make has an effect to the viewer and their thought proses is,also, clearly shown.I loved how everyone reacted to their turn and i was at the edge of my seat the entire time.Furthermore,i found that each "would you rather" was exactly what it needed to be to make the decisions extremely hard for all the attendants.I,also, really liked Robin Taylor's character and how he was portrayed as wealthy with no sense of reality and how he was raised into this lifestyle by his father.Finally,i thought the whole concept of the game was very realistic and believable.I wouldn't be surprised if this has actually happen.

  One of my biggest dislikes about the movie was Sasha Grey's character.And it wasn't because of her cruelty, it was because i found her character unrealistic.If she just had the mentality that she had to do anything to win, it would have been fine but she enjoyed herself at the begging and after a while she,out of the blue, started being quite and sad about the whole thing.To make it more convincing the movie added a short storyline about her husband and daughter.I thought the background story was rushed and unrealistic for the character Grey was supposed to be at the begging of the movie.Moreover, there is a little subplot about last year's winner and how he, suddenly, had a change of heart and decided to go save Snow.I found that unnecessary and i though it added nothing to the actual plot.Also, Snow's character at some point during the game gets stab in the ribs and, although, the old lady died from a stab in the leg Snow seems to be fine after a while.Further,in the last decision Snow contradicted, extremely, her earlier behavior,especially since Enver Gjokaj was the one that helped her the most in all the rounds.In my opinion Snow's character would have picked the option for both of them to leave the house empty handed instead of killing him for the money.Finally, i found the ending completely unnecessary.The movie was not about what would happen to Snow's brother but what she was willing to do to save him.The feeling we were supposed to have at the end of the movie wasn't despair that she had to do all those things but she still ended up losing her brother but it was shock and disgust about the brutality and inhumanity of the game. 

  In conclusion, i thought the movie was very powerful for the most of it and it is worth a watch.

Score:73%

m.

Courtesy 

of the films production/distribution companies

Olympus has fallen movie review

Cast: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Angela Basset, Robert Forster
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Running time: 1 hour and 59 minutes
  The movie centers around the attack and invasion of the White House and the kidnapping of the President of the United States, played by Aaron Eckhart. Former White House security agent Gerard Butler is the only one who can save the nation from distraction as well as the presidents life.
  What i found unexpected about the movie was how for the first half hour you couldn't say exactly what was happening.Why was the plane killing random people?Why were they attacking the White House?Who was behind all of this?And for a period of time you didn't know who was the mastermind of the attack that was in progress.I thought these little twists gave a little mystery to the first quarter of the movie.And that was the sole reason i gave to the movie the score that you'll see below.
  After that ,which lasted for about 30 minutes, there was a whole lot of boring.The movie was just a giant action scene without any interesting stuff.Other than that, there is not much depth to the characters.We learn almost nothing about them therefore we don't care about their fates at all.we are introduced to Gerard Butler's wife Radha Mitchell and she is supposed to make us see more of Butler's personality but all she does is whine about how Butler is always distracted and ask how his day is going.That's it.The film would actually be better without her.Also, at the begging of the movie we witness Eckhart's accident where his wife dies but we get nothing from it.No real emotions,not anything.It just happens so that Butler can eventually be a former agent so that he is not in the White House at the time of the attack.Also, i feel like the part where, when the invasion starts the president insists that the South Korean Prime Minister joins him in the safe room is totally unrealistic.Even if the president had insisted there is no way that the security would allow for someone they didn't know to be locked in a room with the US president when a terrorist attack was happening.They would take him somewhere else that was safe maybe, but not the same room.Finally, the movie was exhaustingly long, while it didn't need to be.It was a full 2 hours of nothingness.
  In conclusion, this movie is flat with no real character and a total waste of your time.
Score:20%

m. 

Courtesy

Film District

Now you see me movie review (guest blog post)

Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, Morgan Freeman, Michael Kane
Director: Louis Leterrier
Running time: 1 hour and 56 minutes

  Four independent magicians are joined together under the name “The Four Horsemen” -actually, three horsemen and one horsewoman- and captivate Las Vegas with their show. Their leader, J. Daniel Atlas (aka. Jesse Eisenberg from “The Social Network”) is a card-sharp and his motto is: “The closer you look, the less you see”. Then there is Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson), a mentalist that specializes in hypnosis and Jack Wilder (Dave Franco), a pickpocket. Finally, last but not least, Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher), an escape artist with a very intriguing number that includes human-eating piranhas. However, what is so special about those four is that in their show they… rob a bank and rain the money down to the audience. Not the usual trick with the rabbit that comes out from a hat! 
  Of course after that, the FBI and the Interpol are after the tracks of The Four Horsemen, who put on their next shows in New Orleans and of course New York for the grand finale! The FBI agent, Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo from Zodiac, The Shutter Island), and the Interpol detective, Alma Dray (Mélanie Laurent) do their best to capture them and the result is a non-stop chase with incredible twists, but the magicians are always “one step, three steps, seven steps ahead”… And the agents are on the run, trying to catch up, but their efforts are getting them nowhere right from the very beginning.
  Helping them is Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman), who has decided to reveal all the tricks of the four magicians, while Arthur Tressler (Michael Caine) is the rich guy that finances the Horsemen.
  Other than the amazing cast participating in the movie, what puts film in a different level is the effects used. The cast did a great job on this one! Directed by Louis Leterrier (“Clash of the Titans,” “The Incredible Hulk”), the movie will blow your mind with the effects used in the magic tricks performed by the Horsemen. Also, the movie goes beyond the mystery, showing us action with Jack fighting Dylan and with a car crash on the Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive. On the other hand, we get to see some romance between Dylan and his partner Alma, which adds flavor to the film.Lastly, there is a big final revelation, a huge surprise and quite a shock for the unsuspected audience! It really caught me out of the blue! 
  Even if this was a great film, no movie is ever perfect. The plot was a bit hard to follow, and I had to re-watch some parts that I didn’t quite get. And the logical explanations behind the magic weren’t the least bit believable. Even if that’s not so uncommon in this type of movies. However, the thing that really bothered me was that the movie focused so much on the plot that it completely ignored the characters. We don’t get an insight on their personalities, rather than just a touch on the surface. And the most complicated character of them all is kept simple till the very last second, when we see his (or hers no spoilers) true colors! Quite a waste, I would say, even if it adds to the element of surprise. On the other hand, one of them, Arthur, after he has played his part on the plot, simply disappears from the movie. So, the use of the movie characters is actually not good, but that is partially fixed with the finale.
  So, the movie is definitely worth watching, even just for the effects. And the finale actually brings the movie in a whole new level, I totally loved it. A must-watch! 
Score: 90%

Dafni Damianidou (dafnidamianidou@yahoo.com)

Courtesy

Summit Entertainment

Grown ups 2 movie review

Cast: Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Kevin James, David Spade, Salma Hayek, Maya Rudolph
Director: Dennis Dugan

  The movie is a sequel to the first Grown ups movie.We find the four guys all living in their childhood town after the Feders decided to move away from Hollywood.It's the last day of school the kids are all grown up and there is a new "kid", if we can call him that since he looks 23, David Spade's son. The guys decide to have a party at Sandler's house and... things happen(or don't).
  First of all, i find the cast very likable.They all have faults but are funny at times.I love David Spade,Adam Sandler can be kind of funny sometimes and Chris Rock and Kevin James can be pretty funny as well.So there is one plus to this movie.I ,also, really liked the scenes with the college guys.Taylor Lautner and Milo Ventimiglia had some very funny bits.
  However, for every funny scene there were ten stupid ones.There were a lot of jokes that 5 year old boys would like and i really didn't laugh at any of those.In fact,i found them to be very stupid and immature.Also, there were some "sentimental" scenes that felt too cheesy and family movie-ish.Moreover,there is not any plot to this movie.The whole movie takes place in one day and half of the movie is the party which becomes a little dull after a while.I have to say i much rather enjoyed the first half of the movie,which wasn't actually all that great either.
  In conclusion, likable actors, some funny parts but many more disgusting and juvenile parts.I liked the first better but if you are very bored go watch this.There are some laughs here and there.
Score:30%

m.

Courtesy

Columbia Pictures

The numbers station movie review

Cast: John Cusack, Malin Akerman, Liam Cunningham
Director: Kasper Barfoed

  The movie is about an agent ,played by John Cusack, who is transferred to London to guard a code operator, portrayed by Malin Akerman. Everything is going great until a bunch of bad guys broadcast 15 unauthorised missions and try to kill Akerman from canceling them.
  I though the missions broad casted by numbers and all that CIA stuff were pretty interesting but the movie is not at all about that.It could have been just any CIA unit and it wouldn't matter to the plot of the movie, which was a bummer since the concept of the numbers was what intrigued me about it.One thing i, also, liked was how at one point there was an unexpected death.But that ,also, didn't have any impact to the plot.And those were the two things about the movie that i kind of liked. 
  Now for what i disliked about the movie.The first sequence where John Cusack's character starts to feel empathy and remorse and decides not to kill the young girl, played by Hannah Murray (yeah for skins UK fans), was completely unrealistic.We see him kill everyone without a glimpse of an eye the scene before and we are supposed to believe that he suddenly had a change of heart?Sorry but i don't buy it. Also, i couldn't feel that Cusack was a good guy,which i think i was supposed to, but they didn't make him to be a bad guy either,which would have been a lot more interesting, so as a result i just didn't care about him at all.Actually, i didn't care about Akerman either.Moreover, we meet the bad guys for what feels like a second and we don't see them again.And i get that they are just those who follow orders but we never see or hear from the real bad guys and we don't know who they really are,which is a little bit confusing and makes the movie feel a bit fake.Furthermore, i didn't feel any kind of thrill during the fight scenes.I found them to be unbelievable so i didn't enjoy them at all.Finally,the fact that almost the whole movie takes place in that underground facility doesn't help with the lack of excitement but it makes it even worse.
  In conclusion, this is a movie where you don't care about the characters,you have trouble figuring out who's on the good side and who's on the bad and it ,also, isn't much of an action movie either.So i suggest you don't waste one and a half hour watching it.
Score:27%

m.

Courtesy

Image Entertainment