Raiders of the Lost Ark

Raiders of the Lost Ark
Starring: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, and Paul Freeman
Rating: A

Today I'm doing the first, and best, of four Indiana Jones movies. This is really the classic adventure story ever made in my mind. Under the direction of Steven Spielberg, this movie takes you on a ride you will not soon forget. I remember watching it as a little kid, but I really did not appreciate in until I was older and really paid attention to the writing. George Lucas writes another great story that really takes you all across the globe with one of the great adventure heros ever. This film took Harrison Ford, fresh off the first two Star Wars films, to an all new level of stardom. Ford, with his cowboy hat and whip, really became an icon with this movie. It's hard to believe that Lucas didn't want to use him in the role. What a great mistake that would have been.

The movie really grabs you from the beginning, as Indiana is hiking through the rain forest looking for a lost idol. It is there that you are first introduced to his nemesis Belloq, who once again steals his prize. From there Indiana goes back to his university job and is approached by two men from the U.S. army. They intrust him with the mission of beating the Nazis' to the sacred Lost Ark of the Covennt. Along with his long lost flame Marion and friend Sallah, Indiana hunts down the Ark.

Armed with a great cast and director, this film really is one of my all-time favorites. If you have not seen it, you are really missing out on one of the greatest adventure stories of all-time. This is really a can't miss movie, so get out and see it.

Up in the Air

Up in the Air
Starring: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, and Jason Bateman
Directed/Writen by: Jason Reitman
Rating: A-

Up in the Air tells the story of a man who spends his life traveling around the country firing people for companies who don't have the backbone to do it themselves. Sounds cynical, well yeah it really is. The whole concept of this movie could leave you depressed, but writer/director Jason Reitman gives plenty of laughs through it. By the end the movie really left me heart broken, but I looked back on all the incredibly funny lines and I had to leave this movie with a smile on my face. Anna Kendrick shows incredible whit as Clooney's apprentice during the movie and really lets you look back on the movie and say, "yeah she was incredible". The academy would agree with you on that one because they gave her an academy award nomination. At the beginning you look at Clooney's character as just a person completely separated from "real life", but by the end you look at him like anyone else you ever know who goes through everything a person can. Some critics tried to say that his performance wasn't valid because he was basically playing himself. I want those critics to try and get on set and give that performance. The day that any of them can show the depth that Clooney showed in this movie, going from someone who loves his job to someone who wonders why he is doing this in the first place, is the day they should be able to criticize his performance. From a person who cares nothing about his family, to someone who wants everything to do with them. From a person who has never had the moment, "Where you stare into someone's eye's and you feel them staring into your soul, and the whole world goes quiet just for a second", which ends up in my mind being the defining quote of the movie, to a person who trusts his heart and ends up hurting because of it. George Clooney gives the performance almost any other actor could only dream of giving and people want to discredit him for it because his character was like him in real life. I'm sorry that you are jealous that he made it and you didn't so now you have to write about him for a newspaper, get over it and give him credit.

Up in the Air is everything it is advertised to be. Nominated for 6 academy awards, and deserving of all of them, this film is definitely one of the best of the year and one of my favorites. Clooney, Kendrick, and Farmiga all give outstanding performances and deserve their academy nominations. Along with great little bits of people getting fired, headlined by Alan from "The Hangover" and J.K. Simmons who also worked in Reitman's film "Juno". It was brilliant to also put people who had actually been fired from their real jobs as stand-ins in the scenes where people are let go. I guarantee you will enjoy this film. Through the funny and depressing you will love the performances by the actors and the writing of Reitman, and leave this film satisfied. Loved this movie and I hope my readers feel the same way.

Wanted

Wanted
Starring James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman
Rating: B+

So for this post I'm doing the action movie Wanted. I remember going to this movie with my brother and a couple friends. As I'm walking out I'm think, "Wow that was a pretty good movie", and I remember hearing some of my friends saying, "It was decent, but I hated the ending." I look over at my brother, who thinks a lot like me, and I can tell that he's definitely thinking the same thing. We're both sitting there thinking, "How the hell else did you want that movie to end?" I mean the main reason I really liked this movie was because it didn't try to be anything that it wasn't. I wanted to ask my friends, "What did you want? A realistic ending? Did you want a tearjerker? Did you want a happy ending?" I mean as far as realistic goes, they fucking curve bullets so throw that out the window. I mean the movie followed a certain code through the whole thing and you wanted something else out of it? It was a cheesy action flick that completely stuck with the shoot 'em up attitude it started with. The last line, "What the fuck have you done lately", went exactly with the rest of the movie. They take a nobody off the street and turn him into a super assassin in order to kill the man who killed his father. He goes through crazy training and then he ends up killing that man, who turns out to be his actual father, and then turns on the entire other group of super assassins. So what the fuck have you done lately? Basically that quote is the movie in a nutshell and yeah the perfect ending.

As far as performances go, James McAvoy gives a very good performance nobody turned super assassin, Angelina Jolie gives a solid performance as his mentor, and Morgan Freeman is Morgan Freeman so you know what you're getting. The plot sticks to what it is supposed to and that's one of the things that really sold this movie to me. This movie, for me, definitely earns it's B+ rating and as long as you don't go in thinking you're going to get an Oscar winning film I'm pretty sure it will do the same for you.

First Post: Greenzone

So this is the first post of my blogging career and I feel like I should run over how later posts will go. First I'll pick a movie from my collection, which consists of nearly 100 movies, and I will grade it and give reasons why I believe it deserves this grade. The grading system will be letter grades with F being the lowest and A being the highest.

Greenzone: B-

Since I'm not by my collection I'm using Greenzone, which I saw in the theater yesterday, as my first movie. All in all this was a pretty good movie, but far from great. It definitely kept you on the edge of your seat with all the action, but the story sometimes seemed a little lose and predictable. Matt Damon did a good job as Captain Roy Miller, but it just seemed like him and director Paul Greengrass were trying to make a fourth Bourne Movie at times and it just wasn't as good as the films they've made in the past. The supporting cast lead by Greg Kinnear, Amy Ryan, Brendan Gleeson, and Jason Isaacs all held their own and were believeable. All in all good movie, but could have been so much better.