Matthew Liedke on Film

Director:
Darren Aronofsky
Cast:
Natalie Portman
Mila Kunis
Vincent Cassel
Barbara Hershey
Winona Ryder
Rated: R

Ballet is now officially scary because of this film.

Black Swan follows the character Nina Sayers (Portman). Nina is a ballet dancer trying to make it big in her career and she gets her chance when the then best dancer Beth (Ryder) is released from the production. Because of this, Nina is given the lead role in the ballet’s production of Swan Lake. This causes her to become excited, yet at the same time nervous, especially with her overbearing mother.

She is also made nervous because of a new dancer named Lily (Kunis) who comes on the scene and is made to be her backup. Because of this, Nina begins to lose her mind and her grip on reality setting up for a very chilling thriller.

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Director:
Joseph Kosinkski
Cast:
Jeff Bridges
Garrett Hedlund
Olivia Wilde
Bruce Boxleitner
Rated: PG

TRON Legacy is the sequel to the original cult classic 80’s film Tron. In this adaption, the main character is Sam Flynn (Hedlund), the son of Kevin Flynn (Bridges), the protagonist of the first film. The film begins with Kevin leaving Sam to deal with work however he never comes back home leaving Sam alone. The story pics back up with Sam as an adult. He owns the majority of his father’s company ENCOM, but isn’t part of the staff.

So instead of trying to stop the other members of Encom’s board from doing bad things with his Father’s company as the CEO, he instead uses James Bond methods to sabotage their work… for some reason. However, before Sam can do anything more he gets a page from his father’s old arcade. Upon arriving he is transported into the cyber world known as the grid which has been turned into a sort of police state with the program ‘Clu’ as the ruler.

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It’s Kind of a Funny Story 2/5
This film was about a teenager who tried killing himself but failed. After this he goes to a psychiatric ward where he meets many different characters. The film was just OK. The story was a bit of a miss, mainly because the protagonist didn’t seem to require being at the psychic ward, rather, he just chose to admit himself in there for a week. While there, he just seemed to wander, rather than get sufficient treatment. So instead of being a movie about studying a depressed teen, it came off as more of a standard coming of age story in a different setting.

Some of the characters were at least interesting. Zach Galifnakis actually delivered a strong, emotional performance and the rest of the supporting cast do provide for some interesting sequences. Ultimately, this is just one to rent.

Life as We Know It 1/5
I have to say the plot of this film sounds like a nightmare. Basically after an accident that kills them, a couple leaves their baby in the hands of their friends who already hate each other.

The dilemma in the picture is certainly one of the more original attempts at a story, but this flick quickly devolves into a standard romcom pretty quickly. It’s the typical tale of two characters disliking each before realizing they were meant for each other. There are some nice family moments in this movie, but as a whole, it’s cliche ridden and forgettable.

Director:
Nathan Greno, Byron Howard
Cast:
Mandy Moore
Zachary Levi
Donna Murphy
Ron Perlman
M.C. Gainey
Rated: PG

Despite the name, Tangled is actually based on the Brothers Grimm tale “Rapunzel.” The film has the original idea, but massively expands on it. In this version, Rapunzel is born as the princess to a kingdom, but during birth, her mother comes down with an illness.

People of the kingdom find a magic flower that immediately heals anything and the mother takes it and the power transfers to Rapunzel’s hair after she is born.

Continue reading “REVIEW: ‘Tangled’”

Director:
David Yates
Cast:
Daniel Radcliffe
Rupert Grint
Emma Watson
Alan Rickman
Ralph Fiennes
Rated: PG-13

Well folks, we are almost to the finish line.

The first part of the seventh installment begins not too long after the ending of the sixth film. Our three heroes are all preparing for a long journey of being on the run and in battles. At first, the three have some help from the Order of the Phoenix, but after some dangerous battles the three are forced to go out on their own and fend for themselves.

The three begin to travel around the magical world searching for Horcruxes, seven objects where Voldemort (Fiennes) put pieces of his soul in. Meanwhile, the villain himself is busy taking over the magical world, infiltrating the Ministry of Magic and searching for Harry to put an end to him. They are also looking to eliminate muggle born witches and wizards and the way this happens is similar to Nazi Germany.

Continue reading “REVIEW: ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1’”

Director:
Roger Michell
Cast:
Rachel McAdams
Harrison Ford
Diane Keaton
Jeff Goldblum
Rated: PG-13

Morning Glory follows the character Becky (McAdams), a 28 year old television news producer who, after a rehiring, has to find a new job. After some searching she lands a spot as the executive producer of the television news show Day Break. However, she soon learns the reason why she got the job is because it is nearly impossible to be successful.

The show Day Break is behind the other morning shows on the networks and the staff just can’t seem to get it together. Becky sets out to change that, first by taking complete charge of her staff to get in line, and then hiring a new anchor, Mike Pomeroy (Ford). The problem, though, is that Pomeroy is an old school news man and doesn’t care about any of the fluff pieces that overwhelm the morning news shows these days, plus he can’t get a long with the co-host Colleen Peck (Keaton).

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Director:
Tony Scott
Cast:
Denzel Washington
Chris Pine
Rosario Dawson
Ethan Suplee
Kevin Dunn
Rated: PG-13

Ever hear the saying “A lot of people would have to screw up for something like that to happen,” this is one of those situations.

Unstoppable follows the incident of a train in Pennsylvania that, after a few mistakes by an engineer, starts going down the tracks at speeds that (very slowly) reach 70 mph. Because of this, the corporation that owns the trains start doing everything in its power to stop the train, but none of it works as they would have hoped. Meanwhile, the manager of the shipyard where the incident happened, Connie (Dawson), is in contact with two others on another train that’s on the same track.

The two are Frank (Washington) and Will (Pine). Frank, is nearly a 30 year veteran and Will is a brand new rookie on his first day on the job with Frank. So you could say it’s like his training day (I’ve been waiting so long to use that joke). Anyways, the other part of the story follows these two as they race to try and stop the train by latching on and pulling it in the opposite direction, to do so they must put aside some of their differences to work together.

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Director:
Colin Strause, Greg Strause
Cast:
Eric Balfour
Scottie Thompson
Brittany Daniel
Donald Faison
Rated: PG-13

This film may win a record for ripping off alien movies.

Skyline follows the characters Jarrod (Balfour) and Elaine (Thomson), a couple that are on their way to Los Angeles to visit their friend  Terry (Faison) who is a successful actor in Hollywood. When they arrive they start partying right away, but during the night a bright light starts pulling people into the sky including one of the people from the party at Terry’s apartment.

After another hour or two, they see outside that there are actually massive space ships that are sucking up all the humans, and they send down smaller ships/aliens themselves to search for more to capture. So, the rest of the film the audience is left with these characters whose biggest dilemma is whether or not to leave the apartment.

Continue reading “REVIEW: ‘Skyline’”