Tag: Drama

Les Miserables review

Adapted from the 1862 novel written by Victor Hugo, “Les Miserables” follows the story of an ex-convict named Jean Valjean, played by Hugh Jackman, whom upon leaving prison tries changing his life and becoming a better man than he was before. He breaks parole though and because of this, the law-obsessed inspector Javert, played by Russell Crowe, goes to no ends throughout the movie to try and capture Valjean.

After getting his life back on track and avoiding Javert, Valjean meets a woman named Fantine, played by Anne Hathaway who has had to sell her body to support her young daughter, Cosette. Upon her death, Valjean makes a promise to protect Cosette and raise her as his own. The rest of the film is about his struggles of raising Cosette and an envisionment of France in the early 1800s.

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Trouble with the Curve review

Director:
Robert Lorenz
Cast:
Clint Eastwood
Amy Adams
John Goodman
Justin Timberlake
Rated: PG-13

The movie could also have been called Trouble with Writing Characters.

“Trouble with the Curve” follows the story of Gus (Eastwood), an aging baseball scout who is beginning to have trouble with his eyesight. At the same time there is a new up and coming baseball scout who uses computers more who doesn’t believe Gus can do the job anymore, the organization still sends Gus out to recruit a kid who looks like a great draft pick.

Meanwhile, Gus’ daughter Mickey (Adams), who he doesn’t have a great relationship with is almost at the point where she can get a promotion at her law firm. However Gus’ eye condition convinces Mickey to come back and help him during the scouting process.

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Magic Mike review

Director:
Steven Soderbergh
Cast:
Matthew McConaughey
Channing Tatum
Alex Pettyfer
Cody Horn
Rated: R

Magic Mike follows the story of the title character. Mike, played by Channing Tatum, has been a stripper for a few years now, all to save up enough money to eventually start his own furniture business. To Mike, the lifestyle is just a means to get by, as he happens to work in other jobs, too, like construction. One day at his construction job he meets a young guy named Adam (Pettyfer).

Adam is for the most part, a screw-up, living on his sisters couch and not really able to hold his job. That is until Mike decides to help him out and convince the owner of the strip club Dallas (McConaughey) to hire him. At first things seem to be going well but as time goes on Adam starts getting into trouble, meanwhile Mike begins getting closer with Adam’s sister Brooke (Horn).

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The Hunger Games review

Director:
Gary Ross
Cast:
Jennifer Lawrence
Josh Hutcherson
Donald Sutherland
Woody Harrelson
Rated: PG-13

Amazing how the technology in this flick ranges from the 1800s to the control deck of the Starship Enterprise.

“The Hunger Games” is set in what can be described as a post-apocalyptic future where the main country where the story takes place is divided up into 12 separate districts and one large capital city. In the Capital resides the government and the richest of the population, where as the 12 separate districts are where the poor live.

To keep order and peace in the country and stay in control, the government created ‘The Hunger Games’ where one young man and woman would be chosen from each district and compete in a survival/fight-to-the-death competition. Our main character, Katniss (Lawrence) was originally not suppose to participate in the games however her sister gets picked and because of this she volunteers herself to take her sister’s place. The movie then follows Katniss’ journey of learning about the capital and fighting in the hunger games itself.

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Act of Valor

Director:
Mike McCoy & Scott Waugh
Cast:
Alex Veadov
Roselyn Sanchez
Nestor Serrano
Emilio Rivera
Rated: R

Should’ve just been called “Call of Duty: The Movie.”

“Act of Valor” is a new film about war, centering on a unit of Navy SEALS, played by actual military personnel. The film starts with them in training back in the states. However duty calls and the team must go across the world using all of their combined efforts and technologies to hunt down and stop a terror cell from striking inside the United States.

The plot of this film is amazingly weak, with it barely having a structured narrative. The film constantly flips back and forth to different locations (with an annoying map display every time it does) making for a very disjointed experience. I said it could’ve been a movie of Call of Duty and the reason is that that’s the way it plays out. There’s the mission and then a cut scene followed by another mission.

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Man on a Ledge review

Director:
Asger Leth
Cast:
Sam Worthington
Elizabeth Banks
Anthony mackie
Jamie Bell
Genesis Rodriguez
Ed Harris
Rated: PG-13

“Man on a Ledge” follows the story of escaped convict Nick Cassidy (Worthington), who tells everyone he was wrongfully framed for stealing a diamond from rich CEO David Englander (Harris). Because of this, Nick devises a plan to prove his innocence.

He stands out on a ledge of a high building to attract all the attention he can making it seem like he’s going to leap off the edge, meanwhile, his brother Joey (Bell) and his brother’s girlfriend Angie (Rodriguez) break into Englander’s compound to find the diamond and prove Nick’s innocence.

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The Grey review

Director:
Joe Carnahan
Cast:
Liam Neeson
Dallas Roberts
Frank Grillo
Nonso Anozie
Rated: R

The characters Liam Neeson plays just can’t catch a break.

“The Grey” follows a group of men who work for an oil company in Alaska. The main character, Ottway (Neeson), a trained wolf hunter for the company, seems to be one of the outsiders at the oil company and keeps to himself. Eventually, the crew of the company is to be flown back to a major city for a break however during the flight the plane goes down.

Upon regaining his bearings, Ottway begins searching for survivors and finds a handful, he also finds that they are surrounded by a pack of hungry wolves. Ottway soon establishes himself as the leader of the scared group of survivors and begins a journey to try and bring them back to civilization.

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The Iron Lady review

Director:
Phyllida Lloyd
Cast:
Meryl Streep
Jim Broadbent
Alexandra Roach
Rated: PG-13

I wonder if this film was made because Meryl Streep made a call saying she wanted another Oscar.

The Iron Lady follows the life of Margaret Thatcher in her later years after her time as Prime Minister of England. The focus was on her dealing with loss of her husband and wanting to still be the strong woman that led England through the 80s.

As the film goes on, it has many flashbacks to her as a young woman getting into politics to eventually running to be the Prime Minister. It then shows times of her running the country including many moments including the good, the bad and the ugly.

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Young Adult review

Director:
Jason Reitman
Cast:
Charlize Theron
Patton Oswalt
Patrick Wilson
Rated: R

For the record, I’ve never called Minneapolis the “MinnyApple.”

Young Adult is the latest film from “Up in the Air” director Jason Reitman. The movie follows Mavis Gary (Theron), a book writer living in Minneapolis who has had most of her success from writing teen novels. However she is unhappy with her life and has become a heavy drinker.

Upon being updated on an old high school romance, Mavis decides to go back to her small home town and try to reconnect with her old boyfriend even though he is married. During her time there she meets up with some of the other people from the town and learns what other people have done with their lives.

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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo review

Director:
David Fincher
Cast:
Daniel Craig
Rooney Mara
Christopher Plummer
Stellan Skarsgard
Rated: R

James Bond was able to relax a little, working on a case without a super villain and all.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the American adaption of a popular book series. The film follows the character Mikael (Craig), a disgraced journalist who was accused and found guilty of writing false accusations against a wealthy CEO type. Because his investigative reporting skills are not in high demand in the news business, he is then hired by an old rich man who would like Mikael to research and find new evidence on a cold case that holds many secrets for the wealthy family.

Meanwhile, a poor yet brilliant woman named Lisbeth (Mara) who helped the CEO with his case against Mikael eventually starts to help Mikael on the case. Together the two begin to find clues and more and more mysteries begin to unravel about what really happened behind the scenes with the wealthy family.

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