Up In The Air - Movie Review

Premise:
Based on the book of the same name by Walter Kirn.
Ryan Bingham's (George Clooney) job is to fire people from theirs. The anguish, hostility, and despair of his "clients" has left him falsely compassionate, living out of a suitcase, and loving every second of it. When his boss hires arrogant young Natalie (Anna Kendrick), she develops a method of video conferencing that will allow termination without ever leaving the office - essentially threatening the existence Ryan so cherishes. Determined to show the naive girl the error of her logic, Ryan takes her on one of his cross country firing expeditions, but as she starts to realize the disheartening realities of her profession, he begins to see the downfalls to his way of life.

My Thoughts: I didn't really have a lot of expectations for this movie before I saw it because I didn't really do any research into what the movie was about other than watching the movie trailer for it. I have to say though I was pleasantly surprised with it. The performances were excellent. It was funny and charming. I was extremely please with actress Anna Kendrick. I've always thought that her character, Jessica, that she played in Twilight was one of the most believable characters in both of the Twilight movies and she definitely has real acting talent. I would recommend this a movie for a girls night out and it would also make a great date movie. It centres around adult themes so this is geared towards older teens and adults.

Overall I give this movie 8/10

The Vampire Diaries AKA The 6 Pack Diaries

Sadly tonight's episode did not include any shirtless vamps, but it was good none the less. Lately I have been getting into this show more and more and I wait anxiously each week for the next episode.
Anyways this was just a quick post to say "hey, you should check out this show if you haven't already." I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys: vampires, hot shirtless men, or shows like: One Tree Hill, Gossip Girl, 90210, Buffy, Supernatural etc.

Daybreakers Movie Review, No Glittery Vampires Need Apply

Daybreakers
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe, Sam Neill

Premise: In the year 2019, a plague has transformed most every human into vampires. Faced with a dwindling blood supply, the fractured dominant race plots their survival; meanwhile, a researcher works with a covert band of vamps on a way to save humankind.

My Thoughts: Now this a vampire movie! It holds true to most of the standard vampire myths pre-twilight. Vampires burn in the sun so their society sticks to the night, and since most of the world has been taken over by vampires and very few humans exist the roles of night and day have been reversed completely. Instead of regular sidewalks they have "subwalks" an underground tunnel system to access during the day.
This movie to me is what would happen if there really were vampires, I think it would spread and spread until humans were all but extinct and the decisions they make in the movie is pretty close to how I think people would act in a situation such as this so I found the plot very believable, well as believable as a vampire movie can get.
The fashion is this movie is awesome. All the vampires dress in a sort of 40's inspired look and the hair and clothing is all very elegant and classy. I find a lot of movies that take place in the near future adopt this look as the 40s inspired such clean lines and suits generally never go out of style so it doesn't date the movie.
Now onto the eyes. The eyes are amber coloured on all the vampires and it was exceptionally well done. It's what the eyes should have looked like in Twilight. There is this one scene where all these vampires are waiting for the subway train and the tunnel goes dark as a train passes and all you see are the eyes, very spooky.

Now this movie is rated 18A in Canada, and I'm pretty sure it's rated R in the US, so this is definitely not a kids movie, it's quite violent and I would recommend this to adults only.

Overall I thought it was really well done and I will be adding this to my shelf when it comes out on DVD and hopefully on blu-ray. I give this a 4 out of 5

Side Note: The main character's name is in fact Edward, and I've been getting a little annoyed at people who say "oh they copied Twilight" etc. I just wanted to state this couldn't be true. The screenplay for the movie Daybreakers was written in 2004 well before Twilight was released, also the movie was actually filmed and completed in 2007 before the Twilight phenomenon reached its peak. I'm not sure why it took so long before Daybreakers was released in theatres, it may have had to do with the budget or distributors or something I know nothing about, but the writers did not copy anything from Twilight and any similarities are therefore coincidental.

To Have And Have Not - Movie Review

To Have And Have Not
Released 1945
Staring Humphrey Bogart & Lauren Bacall

Premise: Harry "Steve" Morgan and his alcoholic sidekick, Eddie, are based on the island of Martinique and crew a boat available for hire. However, since the second world war is happening around them business is not what it could be and after a customer who owes them a large sum fails to pay they are forced against their better judgement to violate their preferred neutrality and to take a job for the resistance transporting a fugitive on the run from the Nazis to Martinique. Through all this runs the stormy relationship between Morgan and Marie "Slim" Browning, a resistance sympathizer and the sassy singer in the club where Morgan spends most of his days

My Thoughts: The relationship that develops between Slim and Harry is amazing, their chemistry on screen is what makes this movie worth while. You can definitely see why Humphrey Bogart fell in love with Lauren Bacall and ended up marrying her in real life, there is just something about her. The way she carries herself, her voice, all well beyond her 19 years that she was at the time the movie was made. While this movie is not anywhere close to a masterpiece like Casablanca, is a definite must for anyone who is a fan of old Hollywood glam.

I give the overall movie 3 out of 5, but I give Lauren & Bogie's on screen chemistry and performances 5 out of 5.

Memorable Line:
Slim: "You know you don't have to act with me, Steve. You don't have to say anything, and you don't have to do anything. Not a thing. Oh, maybe just whistle. You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and... blow"

Fame Movie Review

Fame (2009 remake)

Premise - The movie follows a group of students making their way through preforming arts school.

My Thoughts - The premise is so short for two reasons. This is a remake of a musical that's been preformed a number of times so chances are you probably get the gist of what this movie is about. The other reason would be because this movie was just so blah I couldn't be bothered to go into further detail.

I have to say I watch a lot of movies, and I like all kinds and I usually try to find the upside in a movie even if it's bad. But this movie was just boring! My high school's performance of Fame was more entertaining.

I will however give honorable mention to Kelsey Grammer and the other actors that played the teachers in the movie, they did a good job. The rest of the cast were pretty average and nothing really jumped out at me. The singing and dancing numbers were excellent but the rest of the movie just fell so flat for me that I pretty much forgot about the good parts of the movie once it was over.

Overall I give this a 2 out of 5, I don't think I will be watching this again.

Avatar Review

Avatar
Written and Directed by James Cameron

Ok, so I don't know what you've heard about this movie, but if you've heard anything good about it then it's probably true and then some. I knew I would like the movie before I went and saw it, so my expecatations were high and I have to say that every one of them was met by this amazing movie.

Premise- Jake (played by up & comer hottie Sam Worthington) ends up taking over his brother's contract to work on the planet Pandora. Jake was never meant to go so he really doesn't know what to expect while there.
Humans are on Pandora for one reason, to mine a mineral that sells for millions back on Earth. However, there is a problem, the locals called the Na'vi have there village overtop of a large deposit of the mineral and the humans would like them to move so they can mine there.
Jake is teamed up with Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver)to try and find a peacefull solution to get the natives to move. They connect to an alien avatar that allows them to get familiar with the Na'vi. I don't want to give too much more away but I will say that the plot is fairly similar to that of Disney's Pocohontas.
So there is romance for the girls and a ton of kick ass cgi and action for the boys.

It's a treat for the eyes that's for sure! This is by far my favorite movie of 2009, and it seems to be that way for many as it is currently the 2nd highest grossing movie of all time only second to James Cameron's other hit Titanic and it may end up passing it yet. I loved every minute of this movie, and even though it's over 2 1/2 hours long it never felt like it. All I can really say is go see this movie and see what you think, it is so worth it. I give this 600 out of 5!

Long Time No Post + Blood Price Review

It's been awhile, the last few months have been crazy busy at work, which is where I do most of my blogging. Also I seem to be going through a dry spell when it comes to reading, I haven't gotten much done at all. On the other hand my movie watching has increased a ton so I might post some more movie reviews instead of books in the next while. That is if I can keep up with posting. Ok on to my most recent book.

Blood Price by Tanya Huff

I posted the UK cover as I like it better than the North American version.

Premise-Vicki Nelson is a Private Detective (Former Police Officer)and the book opens on a murder at the subway station. Vicki is hired by the murdered victim's girlfriend to try and find the killer. It leads her to meet Henry Fitzroy, romance author and vampire. Together along with Vicki's former Police partner Mike Celluci they attempt to catch the killer.

My Thoughts- This is the first in a series of books and it grabs you in. Vicki is a very strong female character and she takes charge from start to finish. One of my favorite things about these novels is that they are set in Canada, in Toronto to be more specific. You don't see that many fantasy novels set in Canada so I really enjoy the Canadian-ness. Although these books are found in the "adult" section I would say they would appeal to older teens as well. Although keep in mind that these books were printed before there were cell phones so some of the fashion mentioned is a little outdated.

Overall I would give this book 4.5 out of 5, I might have given this a 5 but I have already read the second in the series (Blood Trail) which I liked just a little bit better so I had to lower my rating just a touch.

FYI- In case you're interested there is also a TV show based on the books called Blood Ties, really good show if you like The Vampire Diaries, Moonlight, Buffy, Charmed etc. The show is no longer on, but it is available on DVD.