Film: Olympus Has Fallen

GENRE: Action/Thriller
RATING: 14A for strong violence and language
RUNTIME: 2 hours
STARRING: Gerard Butler (300, Law Abiding Citizen, Ugly Truth)
Aaron Eckhart (Dark Knight); Morgan Freeman (Deep Impact)
DIRECTOR: Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, King Arthur)
WRITERS: Creighton Rothenberger & Katrin Benedikt (newcomers)
PLOT: A single Secret Service agent is the only hope to save the president and prevent a nuclear holocaust when terrorists take over the White House.

FIVE OBSERVATIONS:
1 So basically this film was Die Hard in the White House. Let’s compare shall we? Butler = John McClane; Eckhart = Holly; Angela Bassett=Al Powell; Kang=Hans Gruber; Dylan McDermott=Ellis; Freeman & Robert Forster = Agent Johnsons; both plots involve single man taking down an army of terrorists, air vents, army tactical errors, helicopter attacks, “blow the roof”, necessary codes, pretend to die so you can escape, stupid people in charge giving dumb orders, etc. Put Butler in a dirty wife-beater and say ‘Yippee Ki-Yay’ and they’d be sued for copyright infringement.
2 Movie lesson: bad guys smoke cigarettes, worse guys shoot dogs
3 Why was Butler’s character married? What difference did that make? 
4 If a code is that important, you should be willing to die for it. Even if the wimpy president gives you a direct order to reveal it.  
5 Who thinks Dylan McDermott (The Practice) had a remote chance of beating up Gerard Butler? Ya, me neither.

RECOMMENDATION: Wait for TBS, if that
UPCOMING REVIEWS: GI Joe: Retaliation

Film: The Incredible Burt Wonderstone

GENRE: Comedy
RATING: PG for dangerous stunts and sexual content
RUNTIME: 1 hours and 40 minutes
STARRING: Steve Carell (Evan Almighty, The Office, Anchorman)
Steve Buscemi (Fargo, Big Fish); Jim Carrey (Bruce Almighty)
DIRECTOR: Don Scardino (30 Rock, Cosby Show)
WRITERS: John Goldstein & John Francis Daley (Horrible Bosses)
PLOT: A fading magician and his partner need to come up with something new to defeat an up-and-coming street magician rival.

FIVE OBSERVATIONS:
1 I like Steve Carell. I’ll pretty much watch him in anything. He does a great job in a mediocre movie. He plays both arrogant and sympathetic well. He definitely is a wonder to watch in this film.
2 Jim Carrey is more disgusting than funny in this one. He does go for the outrageous as a Criss Angel: Mindfreak sort of weirdo. I had to avert my eyes a couple of times.
3 I also really like Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine, Argo) who plays Burt’s inspiration, Rance Halloway. I think it’s his voice and gruff attitude that just slays me every time.
4 The plot is just so-so. The middle of the film is pretty dull with just a few chuckles. There are some funny moments here and there but it’s not that consistent. 
5 The last two minutes are hysterical! I had tears coming out of my eyes. They show the behind-the-scenes of their greatest trick and it made the whole film worth it, just for that.

RECOMMENDATION: Probably should wait for TBS
UPCOMING REVIEWS: GI Joe: Retaliation

Film: Oz the Great and Powerful

GENRE: Adventure, Family
RATING: PG for violence and language
RUNTIME: 2 hours and 10 minutes
STARRING: James Franco (Spiderman, 127 Hours, Milk)
Mila Kunis (Book of Eli); Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn)
DIRECTOR: Sam Raimi (Spiderman 1-3, Evil Dead)
WRITERS: Mitchell Kapner (The Whole Nine Yards)
David Lindsay-Abaire (Robots, Rise of the Guardians)
PLOT: A carnival magician finds his way to the land of Oz where he is mistaken for the wizard they have been hoping for to defeat the witches.

FIVE OBSERVATIONS:
1 The production value of this film is amazing. It’s like Alice in Wonderland with Johnny Depp (same producers) but even brighter. The colors, the costumes, the sets, everything is pretty dazzling.
2 Because Disney doesn’t own the rights to the original film of The Wizard of Oz, they couldn’t copy anything exactly. It forced them to go their own way which looks familiar yet is still original on screen.
3 After all the broken characters Michelle Williams has been playing lately, it was refreshing to see her in a truly “good” role for a change.
4 I did not like Mila Kunis’ character in the beginning of the film. I didn’t buy her lovesickness. She did much better half-way through though.
5 I missed Zach Braff (Scrubs). He should make another Garden State-like film.

RECOMMENDATION: See in theatres for visuals
UPCOMING REVIEWS: The Incredible Burt Wonderstone

Film: A Good Day to Die Hard

GENRE: Action
RATING: 14A for violence and language
RUNTIME: 1 hour and 38 minutes
STARRING: Bruce Willis (Red, Looper, Expendables 2)
Jai Courtney (Spartacus: Blood and Sand, Jack Reacher)
DIRECTOR: John Moore (Max Payne, Behind Enemy Lines)
WRITER: Skip Woods (The A-Team, Wolverine, Swordfish)
PLOT: John McClane goes to Russia to help his rebellious son who happens to be on a CIA mission.

FIVE OBSERVATIONS:
1 The genius of the original Die Hard was the restriction of the building and the fact that John McClane was in the wrong place at the wrong time but able to use his cunning to outwit his opponents. Now he’s not even restricted to the States, he’s looking for trouble and he just uses a lot of firepower to get out of situations. Way to be like everyone else. Boring.
2 What an incredibly dumb storyline. I didn’t care about anything or anyone in this film. Well, maybe John McClane, but only because of some of his comments. I didn’t care for the villain, the mission or the son.
3 There is an entertaining, long, destructive car chase but it reminded me of the Bourne series.
4 There’s a helicopter scene that is simply laughable. 
5 The director shows every Russian landmark to remind you that they aren’t filming in California or New York. They filmed in Budapest, Hungary.

RECOMMENDATION: Wait for TBS
UPCOMING REVIEWS: Oz the Great and Powerful

Oscar Results

 So I only got 17 out of 24 categories right. I unfortunately picked the wrong Disney films.  The show was lacking this year. Seth McFarland was pretty hit and miss. I did enjoy his “We Saw Your Boobs” number and the VonTrapp introduction but it got pretty annoying when he kept laughing at his own jokes. There were some really weird moments this year as well, like including Captain Kirk in the festivities, Paul Rudd and Melissa McCarthy bumbling their way through scripted ‘improvised’ patter, and Michelle Obama adding her two cents to an already overtime show (and who were those people behind her). I did enjoy the Jaws music playing people off, the fact that there was a tie in a category and the freakishly long hair of sound people accepting awards. But enough about the ceremony, lets trip our way through the winners, like Jennifer Lawrence on the auditorium stairs:

LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
CURFEW (predicted) 

ANIMATED SHORT FILM
PAPERMAN  

DOCUMENTARY SHORT
INOCENTE 

SOUND EDITING
SKYFALL (predicted) & ZERO DARK THIRTY 

SOUND MIXING
LES MISERABLES (predicted) 

ORIGINAL SCORE
LIFE OF PI (predicted) 

ORIGINAL SONG
SKYFALL [SKYFALL] (predicted) 

VISUAL EFFECTS
LIFE OF PI (predicted) 

MAKE-UP
LES MISERABLES 

COSTUME DESIGN
ANNA KARENINA 

PRODUCTION DESIGN
LINCOLN 

FILM EDITING
ARGO (predicted) 

CINEMATOGRAPHY
LIFE OF PI (predicted) 

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN (predicted) 

ANIMATED FEATURE
BRAVE 

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
AMOUR (predicted) 

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
ARGO (predicted)=

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
DJANGO UNCHAINED (predicted) 

BEST DIRECTOR
ANG LEE [LIFE OF PI] (predicted) 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
ANNE HATHAWAY [LES MISERABLES] (predicted) 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
CHRISTOPH WALTZ [DJANGO UNCHAINED] 

BEST ACTRESS
JENNIFER LAWRENCE [SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK] (predicted) 

BEST ACTOR
DANIEL DAY-LEWIS [LINCOLN] (predicted) 

BEST PICTURE
ARGO (predicted)

How did you do?