Ali

Ali is a 2001 biographical film directed by Michael Mann. Mann is known for directing great pictures like The Last of the Mohicans in 1992, Collateral in 2004 and many more. Ali tells the story of Muhammad Ali aka Cassius Clay, the icon of heavyweight boxing. In the role of Ali we can see the talented Will Smith. And let me tell you up front, Will Smith was just incredible in this role. In fact, both, Will Smith and Michael Mann, were so dedicated to make this film as good as possible that they offered to put up their salaries in case the film went over-budget.
 So, this magnificent film takes us all the way back to 1964 when fresh from his Olympic gold medal victory, a brash new pro boxer, Cassius Clay, explodes onto the scene of heavyweight boxing and follows his career as professional boxer, personal life and problems with the law as he refuses to submit to military conscription for duty in Vietnam for 10 years. I'm not going to bother with a retell. It would be too long for anyone to read. I'll just write about the aspects I found remarkable.
 Well, what is definitely worth mentioning is that there are no rocky-type fights. This film is not made to entertain people, it's made to show the life of a great man and that as realistically as possible. In my opinion, they have succeeded at that. Although, I'm not an expert on Ali Muhammads biography, I have only seen few documentaries on his life and video recordings of some of his fights, it seems to me that the matches in the movie are close to perfect reproductions of the real ones. Michael Mann really has focused on getting all the details right.
 According to Wikipedia, Ali has won 20 awards. Well, that should be enough of a back up for my rather praising review. Unfortunately, Ali, despite of being nominated in two categories in Academy Awards and in three categories in Golden Globe Awards, didn't win any Oscars or Golden Globes. To me that just seems like a big misunderstanding. I can't recall that there was anything better made that year. Okay, A Beautiful Mind with Russell Crowe was a pretty decent film as well. But trust me, Ali is better.
 The users of IMDB have given Ali a rather mediocre score of  6.6 points. I guess a lot of people just can't appreciate when something is made to tell the real story, instead of just being entertaining. Well, from me, this masterpiece get's 8 points out of 10!

Miss Bala

Miss Bala is a 2011 Mexican drama film written and directed by Gerardo Naranjo. To be honest, the name, Gerardo Naranjo, doesn`t really tell me anything. But let me just tell you up front that this not so famous director did an excellent job writing and directing Miss Bala. The film was even selected as the Mexican entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 84th Academy Awards, unfortunately it didn`t make the final shortlist.
In the lead role we can see unknown but beautiful and talented Stephanie Sigman, who plays the role of Laura Guerrero. A young woman - in her early 20s - who lives with her father and younger brother in Tijuana, Mexico.
The film starts with Laura and her friend Suzu going to an auditon for the Miss Baja beauty pageant. The audition goes well and both girls are asked to come back the following day. For a moment, life seems to be perfect for Laura, she has just successfully taken the first step in the process of realizing her dream of becoming the next Miss Baja. After the audition Laura follows her friend to a seedy nightclub. In there, she soon finds herself being in a wrong place at the wrong time. Lino Hernandez, the local drug kingpin, and his gang, storm the nightclub. Laura lies on the floor and miraculously survives the intense gun fire. After the danger is over, she starts to search for her friend but can`t find her. She ends up spending the night in a café staring at her cell phone, hoping to her from her friend. But as the sun rises, she has not yet heard anything from her firend. She leaves the café. On the street, she spots a police car. Hesitating whether it is the right thing to do or not, she approaches the car. She tells the policeman everything that happened on the previous night and he promises to help her. The policeman says that he will take her to the station to form an official testimony. But instead, he gives her over to the Lino Hernandez gang. The mistake of trusting the policeman, changes Laura`s life tragically. Lino, who takes an immediate shine to Laura, starts to use her in his criminal actions. Laura, afraid for the safety of her family, does everything as told. As Lino appears to be fond of the girl, he uses his criminal ways to secure Laura the Miss Baja title. Laura still taking part in the pageant, after life-chaning encounter with Lino Hernandez, is what makes this film what it is. On one moment Laura is on a street nearly shot to death in an exchange of fire between Lino`s gang and DEA. The next moment, she is thrown to the backstage of the beauty pageant for a quick make up to appear beautiful and cheerful on the stage in just few minutes.
I remember accidentally reading a comment about Miss Bala on Metacritic before watching the movie myself. There was this one guy - I can`t recall his ridiculous username - who said that this movie was fine but appeared as if it had been shot with a cell phone camera. I don`t know what low-budget series of frames did he watch and why he felt the need to write about it on Metacritic`s Miss Bala review page, but he obviously had not seen Miss Bala. This film is expertly shot. Although, the camera work was a little unusual at times, it was so only to make it seem more realistic and bring out the emotions Laura felt more clearly.
Stephanie Sigman did a remarkable job playing Laura Guerrero. Laura did not speak much. So all the emotions - fear, confusion, uncertainty etc - had to be shown with body language only. And Stephanie did a really good job at that. Laura seemed to be in shock pretty much the full time after the shootout in the nightclub.
Noe Hernandez who plays the local drug kingpin Lino Valdez was pretty good as well. He does a great job at bringing out his character`s nasty personality and looking gruesome.
In conclusion, I have to say that I really liked this film. I started to watch it only because I found Stephanie Sigman pretty good-looking and I wasn`t really ready to see something this good. It took me by surprise. It really was a realistic, fast-moving and intense movie that gives the audience a harrowing experience. 9/10 points! Yep, it was that good!

V for Vendetta

V for Vendetta is a 2005 thriller film. An adaption of the V for Vendetta comic book by Alan Moore and David Lloyd. It`s directed by James Mc Teigue. A man known for being the assistant director of Matrix trilogy. So it sounds promising already, right? Well, it get`s better. In the leading role we can see the fantastic every man`s dream girl Natalie Portman. And on an equally important role, we can see Hugo Weaving. No, sorry. We can`t see him. We can only hear his voice. His face is hidden behind a Guy Fawkes mask. A mask well known to people today as the mask used by the group called anonymous and thousands of imposers.
The film takes us to 2030`s, when the world is in chaos and the United Kingdom is ruled by a totalitarian government under the fascist Norsefire party. They use media to manipulate with people and eliminate everybody who they think don`t fit in their society or could be a security risk. Therefore homosexuals, black people, Pakistanis and Muslims are simply exterminated. Unfortunately to the fascistic government, there is a mysterious Guy Fawkes-masked vigilante known only as V who dares to stand up to them. He blows up Old Bailey and takes over the state television broadcast to urge the people of Britain to rise up against the oppressive government and meet him in one year, on 5th of November, outside the Houses of Parliament, which he promises to blow up as well. On the night before detonating a bomb in Old Baley, V rescues a young woman, Evey Hammond, from an attempted rape by the memebers of the secret police. The women, played by Natalie Portman, becomes V`s only friend and an ally, as he continues the fight against the fascistic government.
I must say, I have mixed feelings towards this movie. It was really long - over two hours. The first hour seemed promising. The story was interesting. They showed backstories to the current events and everything. But the second half wasn`t so great. The story started to seem more and more meaningless with every minute. And the ending appeared rushed and simpleminded. Blowing up a building can change the world? Well, in Fight Club it can, but not in V for Vendetta. Nevertheless, it was quite okay and in Hollywood they make movies out of far more improbable stories. And it`s always a total pleasure seeing Natalie Portman, who`s acting in this one, was pretty respectable.
It`s seems like a lot of people liked this one. Despite all the unkind comments on metacritc, it has a score of 8.2 points out of 10 on IMDB and the tomatometer shows that 88% of the audience liked it. Almost makes me regret all the bad things I said about it. As it seems to be loved by everyone, I could receive a lot of those so called hate comments for this. So, therefore let me just say that I was only trolling and I actually really liked it. It was probably the best movie I`ve ever seen. No-no! What`s done, is done! I don`t agree with IMDB and the tomatometer once again. I`d give it 6.5/10 and 5 points are for Natalie.

The Rum Diary

The Rum Diary is a 2011 film based on the novel of the same name by Hunter S. Thompson. It`s written and directed by Bruce Robinson and the lead role of Paul Kemp is played by Johnny Depp.
The film takes the audience way back to 1960`s when an unestablished novelist Paul Kemp travels from New York to Puerto Rico to get a job writing for a local newspaper, The San Juan Star. In his new office he meets some colorful persons. Even ends up living with one after his new boss doesn`t agree to pay for his hotel room anymore because Paul has made a gigantic bill sucking dry a lot of those small bottles of alcoholic beverages. Although, he begins the habit of drinking a lot of rum, he tries to write proper articles and be a good journalist. His faithfulness to true journalism however is put to the test when a crooked real estate developer, Hal Sanderson, wants to involve him on his manipulative plan for getting permissions to start building hotels on a rather untouched island. Things get even more spiced up as Paul falls in love with Sanderson`s fiancée.
It`s an amusing story with a lot of interesting characters and plenty of amusing incidents. Johnny Depp, to who it was not the first time to play a Hunter S. Thompson`s character, did an excellent job playing Paul Kemp. Paul Kemp`s love interest was played by Amber Heard. Her role did not take much of an effort. She just had to look naturally stunning like she does, and wear vivid red lipstick. And oh boy, she wore that lipstick alright! Aaron Eckhart played the role of the crooked real estate developer. And he is perfect for the role. His smile and literally everything about him, makes him perfect for playing roles like this. Michael Rispoli played the role of Pauls best friend and roommate, Bob Sala. He also added a lot to the movie as he was this carefree guy who watched his neighbour`s TV with binoculars, saying that he almost owns a TV. He had a smile on his face even in the most crappiest circumstances.
I must say I was rather pleased with this movie. For one, I really liked the full 1960`s Puerto Rico theme. And it was well brought out. It`s a definitely a great film. And IMDB`s score of 6.5 points out of 10 for this one, really seems surprisingly low to me. What is wrong with people? And the tomatometer shows only 50% for this one. Well, I`d give it 7.5 out of 10. I`d give it more but I found the ending a little hasty. It felt as if they had forgotten themselves filming too many good scenes they wanted to keep in the move and therefore had to make the ending quick, so they could still fit in a previously set time. But it`s still definitely worth a watch!

Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story

Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story is a direct-to-DVD animated comedy film made in 2005, when Family Guy`s writers were still making people laugh. I`m sorry, but they stopped being funny somewhere in the middle of making the ninth season. The last season in fact only made me laugh once and that was when I got so bored watching the new dull episodes that I started to recall jokes they had made in earlier seasons. Anyways, this animated comedy film is set in the fictional dimension of Family Guy just like the sitcom. But unlike the episodes of the sitcom it`s nearly 90 minutes long. So it`s roughly three times longer. But is it three times as fun? Oh yes, yes it is. It`s hilarious.
As one could presume from the name of it, the plot centres around Stewie. The film starts with Griffins going swimming in the Quahog Community Pool where it turns out that little Stewie can`t swim. Therefore his mother, Lois, takes him to swimming lessons where Stewie meets a child about his age who is a great swimmer. Stewie instantly becomes jealous and wants to steal his glory. He tries everything. Even shaving off all his body hair to swim faster. But it`s all good for nothing as he just can`t swim. As a last resort he tries to kill that kid with a dynamite but ends up olny hurting himself. He ends up in hell where Steve Allen seems to try and rape him. After he is revived by Lois, he believes that the brief hell experience is a sign showing that he has to be a good boy for that moment on. While Stewie is doing his best on being a caring and well-behaved young boy, his father, the legendary Peter Griffin, is given a job at Quahog 5, hosting a segment called What Really Grinds My Gears, where he rants about things that bother him. Like Lindsay Lohan with all those little outfits, jumping around there on stage, half naked. I guess it`s important to note here that back in 2005 Lindsay hadn`t yet lost her looks. On one morning, Stewie wakes up with a hangover. Did I forget to mention that as Stewie found it very hard to act nice to other people, he turned to alcohol for help? Well he did. So on one morning he wakes up with a hangover and realises how lonely his existence in this world is. He wishes he had someome to relate to and on that very moment he notices a person on the TV checking in at a hotel in San Francisco who looks just like him but is an adult. Stewie starts to think that maybe that guy is his real father, not that idiotic fat man who he has been living with. And he wants to find out for sure. Therefore Stewie and Brian decide to get a ride with Quagmire, the pervert next door neighbour, to find that man who Stewie believes is his real dad. And that is when the journey begins. The journey that does not only take Stewie from Quahog to San Francisco, but also involves traveling in time and plenty of humorous incidents.
If you are a fan of Family Guy, then you have probably already seen it. If you are not, then I don`t really recommend you to start watching Family Guy with this film. There are a lot of in-jokes that you probably wouldn`t get. You should start with the pilot episode.
I have to say that I really liked this one. It`s definitely a lot better than Family Guy`s other straight-to-DVD releases. Although, it`s thrice as long as a normal episode, it didn`t feel intentionally stretched to be longer. There was always something going on to keep the audience entertained and every scene of this 88-minute long movie had a joke that worked.
On IMDB it has a score of 7.7 points out of 10 and the tomatometer shows that 83% of the audiece liked it.
Just so you all know, I heard from a reliable source that if you have not seen and don`t intend to watch the first 9 seasons of Family Guy (it`s okay do not haven seen the 10th one because it`s really bad) and this direct-to-dvd film, an evil monkey moves into your closet to intimidate you.

The Pursuit of Happyness

The Pursuit of Happyness is a 2006 drama film based on Chris Gardner`s close to one-year struggle with homelessness. Will Smith plays Gardner`s role and what definitely adds value to the movie is young Jaden Smith, Will Smith`s son, playing Gardner`s son Christophjer Jr. Film is directed by Gabriele Muccino.
The film takes the audience back to the year of 1981, when in San Francisco, Chris Gardner has invested his family`s savings in portable bone-density scanners. And his plan is to sell them to doctors to support his family. But doctors find the scanners unnecessary and expensive as they give only a slightly denser picture than the x-ray. That financially breaks the family and as a result, his wife, who had been working double shifts for months, can`t take it anymore and leaves him to move to New York. Their son remains with the father. On one fatal day while downtown trying to sell a scanner, Chris incidentally meets a stockbroker, who tells him that Dean Witter is recruiting interns. The stranger appears very happy to Chris. In fact, he finds everybody leaving and going into the Dean Witter`s building happy. Happy because they are financially secured. Happy because they probably don`t have to worry about unpaid bills or how to feed themselves and a child with five dollars. Happy for being financially secured. And financial security, is what the singel parent, Chris, seems to desire most in the world at that moment. Therefore he decides to apply for the internship. And although, on the applicaton he has nothing to write on the three lines reserved for education after high school, he gets it. Unfortunately it`s an unpaid postiton and he yet has to prove himself better than other interns to get a paid position on the firm. That is when the real struggle begins. A struggle that leaves Chris no choice but to find refuge for him and his child in a homeless center more than a few times and even sleep in a public toilet
Before starting writing, I took some time to read what others have wrote about this movie. I stumbled on a review that depreciated everything but Jaden Smith`s performance, saying that Chris Gardner`s incredible story definitely needed to be made into a film but this one just isn`t it. As I am not that familiar with Chris Gardner`s story, I only have seen this movie and don`t know anything more about the guy, I can`t agree or disagree with that reviewer. But I can say, that this movie as an inpsiring and dramatic story about fatherhood, is just fantastic. And that every child would be happy to have a father like Chris Gardner.
The tomatometer gives this one 6.4 points out of 10 and IMDB`s users 7.8. As this truly was 117 minutes of my life spent watching a great and heart touching movie, I must say, I agree more with IMDB`s users on this one or no. I don`t agree. It deserves more. I`d give it at least 8.5 points out of 10. And I do recommend it to anyone and especially to all the dads.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a 2010 comedy film, based on the graphic novel series of Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O`Malley, directed by Edgar Wright.
The main character Scott Pilgrim is played by Michael Cera. If we would leave aside Scott`s unrealistic fighting skills, then Scott doesn`t seem that different from other characters Michael Cera has played over the years. Scott is a boy-like young man who lives with his gay roommate and friend in a tiny basement apartment just across the street from his parent`s house in Toronto Canada. Just like many characters Michael Cera has played before, Scott has abundant girl problems. There was this one girl Envy Adams who broke his heart a year and a half ago, and then there is Knives Chau, a 17-year-old Chinese school girl who Scotts starts dating when he finally starts to show signs of getting over Envy Adams. For a while everything seems to be going smoothly for Scott. He goes to band practice and hangs out with Knives. Things start to get complicated when a new girl Ramona Flowers, played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead, moves to town and catches Scott`s eye. Scott falls in love with her at the first sight. And that is when things start to get interesting. So this is the point I`m going to stop the retell as I don`t wanna spoil the surprises for anybody.
I read a few comments about this movie on IMDB and it seems like people either get it and like it or are as confused as a bird in a shopping center and don`t like it.
I guess if you start watching it and expect it to be a normal coming-of-age comedy and you are not enough open-minded to watch an unusual video-game-like approach to fight scenes and even going to the toilet, then you probably wouln`t like it. But if you are an open-minded person and like unusual things, then this just might be something you would like.
One really strong part of this movie is definitely the soundtrack. It features good old tunes like "Under my thumb" by The Rolling Stones, "I Heard Ramona Sing" by Frank Black and so on. But there is also alot of pretty decent original music being played as Scott is in a band and they are taking part in a battle of the bands contest.
On IMDB Scott Pilgrim vs. the World has a rating of 7.6/10 and on Rotten Tomatoes 7.5/10.
I`ll give it 8/10 and most definitely recommend it to all of you, who like things that are out of the box of boring usualness.

Eden Lake

Hey, mates! So earlier on today I was looking for a movie to watch. I came on an idea to not read about the plot or even watch the trailer of the movie, I was going to watch, before watching it. I didn`t want to ruin any surprises. Usually I know quite alot about the movies I watch before watching them and that takes some excitement away. As I didn`t want to end up with something totally dull, I thought of making the decision of watching a movie or not on IMDB`s score. I silently agreed with myself that anything above 6 is good enough. The first movie, I was considering, had 6.9 points and was therefor okay to watch. It was Eden Lake.
It`s an Irish movie from 2008. And it`s pretty terrible . Sorry, If some of you have seen it and liked it, but I don`t. It is just full of brutal meaningless violence. It does give you the feeling like the story is building up for something really exciting to happen. But it doesn`t. It does give a strong point on why one should not give in to peer pressure. But only a brief scene is about that. The rest of the movie is still pointless violence. So unless you want to see something really disturbing, I don`t recommend it.

Other things this movie teaches:
Don`t ever go for a romantic weekend break with your girlfriend to Eden Lake, unless you are into getting murdered.
Don`t ever watch this movie again.
Don`t trust IMDB.

It definitely isn`t one of the most provocative and terryfing thrillers of the year of 2008.

The idea of not finding out too much about the movie, I am going to watch, is still good, though. This one rahter bad experience didn`t ruin it for me. If they would have not shown brief clips of violence in the opening credits, then for a while it would have seemed like it could be anything from what it really was to a heart-warming romantic comedy.

The Inbetweeners Movie

Hey! To those of you who have already seen three seasons of socially awkward and hilarious misadventures of Will, Jay, Neil and Simon, I have only to say, that it`s just as good as the TV series. Only longer. For those who havent, I have alot to say. Starting with, you guys, have missed alot.
So I watched The Inbetweeners movie. It`s a big-screen continuation to a British sitcom with the same name. The sitcom was cruel and pitiless. The four main characters looked just like the kind of chaps you can see walking on every street corner. They were no cool pretty boys. And that was for the best, though. It made it look so real. Like you are not watching a fictional show at all, just four average adolescent boys trying to climb up the social ladder and get acquainted with opposite sex. Of course, they failed more times than succeeded. The sitcom mostly took place in suburban London. In the movie, though, you can watch these four guys or the pussay patrol or the playas, like they like to call themselves, go on a holiday to Malia, Crete. And what a holiday that is.
I`m not gonna spoil it with a retell. You should just watch it yourself. It`s mental.

On IMDB they have received 7.2/10 points. From me, they get 9! That`s how mental it is.

If you are not into comedies, don`t worry. This movie has other values too. Like Jay happily shares some pretty decent philosophical wisdom: "Why go for hamburgers when you've got steak at home?" and more.

Adventureland

Good morning!
Today I`m gonna begin with a movie review. I haven`t yet wrote about any movies in this blog. So I guess that even if you have been a reader of my blog right from the very beginning, you don`t know that I`m quite the movie freak. But trust me, I am. And movie reviews are the short of a thing you can start to expect to find from here.
So yeah, I watched a movie named Adventureland. It takes the viewer all the way back to the summer of 1987 . To the summer when a high school grad James has to give up his plans to go to Europe for the summer with his best friend because his dad`s severe career setback So instead of a tour in Europe, James has to start looking for a summer job in Pittsburgh, to save up for college. What at first seemed like a hopeless job hunt, resulted in James getting a job in a local amusement park, Adventureland. And that is where the story actually begins. So that is where I´m gonna stop with the retell. Don`t wanna spoil it all for the potential viewers.
It says on IMDB that this movie classifies as comedy, drama and romance. I found it pretty dramatic and romantic, but not that comical. There were few jokes, but that hardly makes it a comedy. So if you are looking for something that will keep you laughing from the opening scene to the ending credits, this is not for you.
But if you are looking for a movie that will tell a great story where nothing is overwrought, like in not so many movies, it`s for you.
One of the really pleasant things about this movie is the music that accompanies the plot. The soundtrack features songs like "Pale Blue Eyes" and "Satellite of Love" by Lou Reed, "Don`t Change" by INXS and many more.
On IMDB Adventureland has received 7 points out of 10. I`m gonna be more kind than them. I`m gonna give it 8 points.
By the way, the picture I added to this post features one of the reasons to watch this movie - Margarita Levieva. Stunning looking girl. Goodbye for now!