Chronicle tells a story of three high school students who stumble upon some sort of extra-terrestrial anomaly in an underground cave in the woods. After barely escaping a cave-in, they find themselves with psychokinetic abilities. One of the three friends comes from a broken home, where his short-tempered father finds excuses to abuse him. He is pushed too far, and he uses his new found powers in a negative and greedy manner. The story follows the ups and downs of the three friends exploring their new powers and the problems that arise when the arrogance of youth is combined with supernatural gifts.
The movie at times makes you wish you were one of the friends in the movie with these powers- especially when they learn that they can fly! The special effects looked really good, and made you feel like you were part of the action. Overall the movie was good. The final few minutes are the best, and it's definitely worth taking the time to watch Chronicle. If I had to give it a rating, I would give it a 7 out of a possible 10.
0 Comments
New Year's Eve has a giant cast of pretty cool actors. The lights of New York are awe-inspiring, and that is captured well in the film. Otherwise, I thought this movie felt uneven, and none of the actors were really given a chance to shine.
The film is pretty much the same as Valentine's Day, but less charming. It even has some of the same actors, although they aren't playing the same parts. A myriad of people, somewhat entwined, are preparing for New Year's Eve celebrations across the city of New York. Robert DeNiro is appropriately touching, and I would love to see Hilary Swank get to act with him in another movie. That would be powerful! Michelle Pfeiffer is awkwardly dumpy in this film, which is a letdown 'cause she's a MILF, but she was entertaining as this sort of pathetic middle-aged woman. Zac Efron...what happened? He has a face like a baby, but he's supposed to be best friends with Ashton Kutcher- who looks like the bear wearing Kutcher's face in this movie- and Sarah Jessica Parker's brother? He looks like an adult in the trailers for The Lucky One, but in this movie I kept getting grossed out every time he hit on a girl, because he looks like a 12 year old, and talks like one too. Abigail Breslin is still adorable, even though she's definitely not a baby anymore. Expect big things from that one. Halle Berry gets to look sad for a while, even wihle wearing a sexy dress. We see Common and Alyssa Milano for about 45 seconds each- the producers shouldn't have bothered hiring names for those roles, because they didn't get to do anything. The girl who plays Rachel on Glee is in this, and she sings, because what else is she going to do. Her duet with Jon Bon Jovi (they're in separate places) is awful, not in small part because Bon Jovi has to be the worst actor ever to set foot on this planet. Katherine Heigl slapping him is hilarious even though that scene was in the trailer. Her two assistants were really funny- I'd like to see a whole movie about those two! Pretty much everybody else faded into the background. By far the most funny part is during the credits, when Carla Gugino is playing midwife to Jessica Biel's preggo lady, and as Biel seems to be giving birth, a DVD and bluray copy of Valentine's Day come out. Ha! Basically, if you've already seen Valentine's Day, just watch Love Actually, the movie they're all stealing from. Let me start this review by getting something out of the way: this is not a “good” movie. The plot is full of holes and many characters seemingly lack motivation for their actions. But let’s face it, you’re not going to see a Conan movie for a tight plot and fully fleshed characters; you’re seeing a Conan movie for the violence, and on that front, this film delivers.
This film is jam packed with violence, barbarians, pirates, monks, armies and more as they spill each others' blood in varying locations. Throughout it all there is some semblance of a plot concerning Conan being swept up in the resurrection of an evil sorceress. But ultimately this plot is simply an excuse for more violence (and a small love story). The fighting in this film is very well done, as might be expected from a film with so much of it. The fights look convincing and Conan does not escape all of them uninjured. Likewise the special effects are high quality and add to the viewer’s immersion into the world. The acting, on the other hand, is much more hit or miss. Jason Momoa acts well as Conan, sticking to simple emotions and primal fury, which fit the character well. Stephen Lang is likewise good as Khalar Zym, the principle villain. The acting in general falls off from there: although there are some other performances that are good, the majority are less so. The film is highly deserving of its R rating, both for violence and for nudity. Ultimately, the film is fun to watch and the bloodthirst is enthralling. If you were already thinking of seeing Conan I would recommend you do so. If it’s not a film that was on your radar, then it would probably be a good one to avoid. |
AuthorsReviews are written by Westside Video employees and customers- in other words, by people like you. If you have a review you'd like to share, submit it via email or in store! Archives
January 2015
Categories |