A Thousand Words (2012)

[plain idiocy]

A Thousand Words (2012)
IMDB- 4.5
Rotten Tomatoes-0
RJG Rating- 10

A book agent has his fast talking ways curbed when a tree pops up on his lawn.

Starring- Eddie Murphy
Director- Brian Robbins

With last years Tower Heist ,Eddie Murphy seemed to have broken his jinx of totally crap movies.But hes back with another worthless movie ,A Thousand Word.This was made way back in 2008 and got released this year.Any movie with such a long delay is already doomed.

Eddie Murphy is the only recognizable star.And he is awful.All his comic antics fall flat and its a pain watching such a comic veteran reaching such low standards.

The story has a concept but it has no idea with what its going with.It doesnt offer much common sense into the behavior of the main lead.For example a tree magically pops up in the front lawn and the couple living there doesnt even take notice of it.Many a times its hard to reason with the choices the characters make.There is a long list of mindless scenes.The movie is also highly predictable.It isnt the first time we have seen a rude/egoistic hero being cursed ,suffers the curse in a lot of funny scenes and towards the end learns his mistake.Whatever message the story wanted to get across is heavily obscured thanks to Eddie.

Direction is very poor.Eddie Murphy is known for his style of talking very fast,but in a movie which has no other attraction,Brian Robbins decides its better to keep Eddie shut for the entire second half.Towards the end he is confused whether he started off with a comedy movie and suddenly the movie takes a turn for the dramatics.And it isnt the usual "comic-hero realizes his mistakes and turns serious to learn his mistakes",this is complete u-turn into hyper drama.

The movie failed to even recover half its budget of 40million.Just give this movie a miss,its not worth the time.

Acting- 0.5/5
Story- 1/5
Direction- 1/5
Comedy- 1/5
Drama- 0.5/5

Mars Needs Moms (2011)

[complete disaster]

Mars Needs Moms (2011)

IMDB- 5.1
Rotten Tomatoes- 37
RJG Ratings- 20

Milo,a 9 year old boy ,witnesses the abduction of his mother by aliens.Will he able to rescue her?

Starring- Seth Green,Dan Fogle,Joan Cusack
Director- Simon Wells

Mars Needs Moms is an animated motion capture movie in the likes of Beowulf ,Polar Express etc.It was produced by Robert Zemeckis.

MNM is a completely cliched movie and is completely predictable.The use of motion capture usually turns up great (Polar Express ,Christmas Carol) ,but for MNM this was a bad idea.All the characters are weird to even look at.The human characters look too real and ends up in the "uncanny valley".
[*uncanny valley-It is a hypothesis in the field of robotics and 3D computer animation,which holds that when human replicas look and act almost, but not perfectly, like actual human beings, it causes a response of revulsion among human observers.]

As for the aliens,they too look extremely strange.But the actors have done a fine job.

Story is poor and predictable.Direction is average.If you could sit through the unbearable first half ,you get accustomed with all the weirdness and find the second half a bit more tolerable.The dialogues and scenes are all cringe worthy.

On release ,MNM was a big failure and is considered as one of the biggest box office bombs of all time.Producer Robert Zemeckis, who had decided to stop making live action movies after Castaway and solely concentrate on making motion capture animated movies, was forced to abandon his next animated venture- The Yellow Submarine.

Overall this is a movie which doesnt appeal neither the adults nor the kids.Give it a miss.

Animation- 2/5
Story- 1/5
Direction- 1/5
Drama- 1/5
Comedy- 1/5
Action-3.5/5

A Bug's Life (1998)

[a simple movie set in an amazing world]

A Bug's Life (1998)
IMDB- 7.2
RottenTomatoes- 92
RJG Rating- 80

Flik, an unlucky ant ,sets off to find a group of warriors to protect his colony from the Grasshoppers.

Starring- Dave Foley,Kevin Spacey,Julia Louis
Director- John Lasseter

A Bug's Life was Pixar's second movie after the highly successful Toy Story.John Lasseter returns to direct this movie.

The story for Bug's Life is influenced by the fable, "The Ant & the Grasshopper" and for experienced viewers ,you could also notice it was inspired from the Japanese classic Seven Samurai.
I felt the story was very simplistic in nature, compared to Toy Story (and also to later Pixar movies).It was very predictable and didnt stand out from the rest of the group.
But it did standout ,in terms of animation.Bug's Life sees Pixar's level of animation rise and its very noticeable.The beautiful background and detail that is applied to each and every scene is breath taking.The second half and mainly the climax is the best part of the movie.

As in most Pixar movies,the characters are given top priority.And in Bugs Life its no different.Each and everyone is well developed.The funniest part is the final credits ,when the movie's bloopers are shown.That itself shows how much the characters are developed and brought up by Pixar.

Even though a similar movie (Antz) was released a month before ,Bug's Life managed to defeat it and became a success at the box office.

The movie isnt meant for all ages ,it wont have the same charm and is meant for kids,but its still worth a watch.

Animation- 5/5
Story- 4/5
Direction- 4/5
Comedy- 3/5
Action- 4/5

Oscars--
Nominated (1)
Best Original Musical or Comedy Score-Randy Newman

Toy Story (1995)

[a timeless classic]

Toy Story (1995)
IMDB-8.2 (Top 250: #127)
RottenTomatoes-100
RJG Rating-100

Woody ,a cowboy toy, gets jealous of a new spaceman action figure.

Starring- Tom Hanks,Tim Allen
Director- John Lasseter

Toy Story was a revolutionary movie made back in 1995.It was not only Pixar's first full length movie ,but also the first ever feature film to be made entirely with CGI (Computer-generated imagery).

Toy Story was lead in the voice department by Tom Hanks (Woody) & Tim Allen (Buzz). John Lasseter ,the head of Pixar, directed this movie.

Toy Story may at first glance appear to be a very kiddish story with talking toys and what not.But within 5 min into the movie,anyone will be hooked on to it.The story isnt just for kids,but for people of all ages.The story is simple but yet has different layers to it.The humour used is clean, and for movie lovers its fun to see a lot of classic movies being spoofed in a couple of comic scenes (ex:Woody does an Exorcist 360 degree head turn in a scene with Sid).

The dialogues and characterization of each and EVERY character is handled perfectly.The most important factor is the heart warming effect you get after watching this movie,the Pixar touch ,as many would put it.But still,the music in Toy Story is as touching as the story itself.The song ,"You've Got a Friend in Me" by Randy Newman is brilliantly used.

Toy Story was box office gold earning on release and won most of the animation awards of that year.

Animation- 4.5/5
Direction- 5/5
Story- 5/5
Comedy- 5/5
Drama- 5/5

OSCARS
Nominated (3)
Best Original Musical or Comedy Score Randy Newman
Best Original Song for "You've Got a Friend in Me"
Best Original Screenplay Screenplay [Joss Whedon, Andrew Stanton, Joel Cohen, Alec Sokolow, John Lasseter, Pete Docter & Joe Ranft]

*Award for Best Animated movies werent introduced till 2001.

Won (1)
Special Achievement John Lasseter [This is a special award by the Academy for exceptional contribution.As of 2012,John Lasseter's win for Toy Story was the last time this award was presented]

TDKR TV AD#7

Get Me Back In The Game

Another Awesome TDKR TV AD

TV AD #7

Unlike the previous couple which didn feature anything new,this one has a couple of great shots !

 

Savages Poster & Trailer

Poster & Trailer for Oliver Stone's crime thriller ,Savages

Trailer #1

Savavges stars Taylor Kitsch(John Carter), Blake Lively ,,Aaron Johnson (Kick Ass), Salma Hayek , John Travolta ,Benicio Del Toro (Che), and directed by Oscar Winner Oliver Stone (Wall Street ,JFK)

RECAP :Insomnia (2002) Review

5 MORE WEEKS FOR THE FINALE OF THE DARK KNIGHT LEGEND!!! Heres my review for Nolan's 3rd movie-- INSOMNIA

Insomnia (2002)

More pics from TDKR

 

New poster for Amazing Spiderman

Community return date

With 3 back to back seasons of pure fun and awesomeness ,Community will be back for a 4th season starting from October 19th 2012.With Dan Harmon (the show creator) fired ,will Community have the same charm ,or will it be just another cheesy TV show?

Trailer for Resident Evil Retribution

First full Trailer for Resident Evil Retribution

Trailer #2

Action packed and full of 3D gimmicks,fans of the previous movies will surely love it.

Posters for Rise of The Guardians

6 Character posters for Rise of the Guardians

Life Of Pi teaser

Teaser clip from Ang Lee's next directorial venture - Life Of Pi

Teaser Clip

21 Jump Street (2012)

[hilarious]

21 Jump Street (2012)
IMDB- 7.4
Rotten Tomatoes- 85
RJG Ratings- 85

2 undercover cops pose as high school teenagers to bust a drug gang.

Starring- Jonah Hill,Channing Tatum
Director- Phil Lord ,Chris Miller

21 Jump Street is a reboot of the hit 80's TV show of the same name.Even though the TV show was more dramatic in nature,the movie is a laugh riot.

Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum are the main leads.Even though they may not seem to be a perfect pair,they give their best.Tatum feels to be a bit too old for this role and his comic sense isnt too good,but he is able to give a decent performance.But its Jonah Hill that steals the show.Being part of the "new-age comedians" ,gives him the edge ,and he carries out the jokes perfectly and is at ease from start to finish.

The story is quite simple and doesnt pull any twists or turns ,but its the comedy scenes that are its main highlights.

The main strength of the movie is its first half which moves along perfectly thanks to the chemistry between the lead pair.But as it enters the finale the jokes give way for some action and becomes a bit dull compared to the first half.But this isnt much of a problem,since the movie has already hooked the viewers.

Overall,21 Jump Street is the best comedy movie ive seen this year (yet). Definitively worth checking out.

Acting- 4/5
Story- 4/5
Direction- 4/5
Comedy- 4.5/5
Action-3.5/5

Samples from TDKR Soundtrack

30 second teasers of the tracks from The Dark Knight Rises have been released. Theres a connectivity with the earlier albums of Batman Begins & Dark Knight,but this one does have its own eerie yet a sort of calmness sound to it.Whats your take on the 30 seconds?
http://snd.sc/LVMJzG