The Popcorn Review

Frankly My Dear...

2008-11-14T15:30:00.000-08:00

Well, the end has come at last. Due to other gigs, and the busy state most of us are in right now, we've decided to permanently halt this review spot. It's been a really fun run, and I'd like to thank all the contributors who made this blog such a blast. I'm planing on taking down most of the reviews- if there are any you'd like kept up please let us know.
All the best!

The Shop Around The Corner

2008-10-14T21:56:00.000-07:00

The story is lovely : A young girl seeks the mental companionship of a young man. She wants there to be no names, no specifics or particulars of any kind, just letters. Their letters would discuss life, love and the human condition but never dull things like personal traits or descriptions. The Shop Around the Corner follows the story of the young man's side of the letters. Alfred Kralik (James Stewart) is an esteemed clerk at Matuschek Company. We watch as he falls in love with the mystery girl he is exchanging letters with without knowing all along she is none other (Spoiler Alert) than the young quippy shop clerk that he had been bickering with for months. After some roadblocks and fairly predictable plot twists the movie has, of course, a lovely ending.
The characters are winsome. Jimmy Stewart brings a lovable personality to the screen (as always) and though his costar Margaret Sullavan is the slightest bit harder to relate to they make an oddly comforting pair. You have probably seen the work of Frank Morgan, who plays the owner of the shop, Mr. Matuschek, in The Wizard of Oz as the wizard himself. At first I felt this would be distracting but he was able to cross the board and create a new character without hesitation.
The movie, being almost seventy years old has little going for it by way of cinematography. The music however is perfectly unobtrusive but is still lends a hand to the atmosphere of the story.
All in all this was a very pretty movie that I personally could watch time and time again, although I will allow that The Shop Around the Corner hardly fits into everyones favorite genre!

The Bottom Line
Score: 4.7 out of 5
Grade: A
Rating: This movie was pre-rating. But basically G.
Ideal: A snowy girls night with Hot Chocolate, popcorn and a room full of silly romantic young women.

Reviewed by: Kaley Rachelle

88 Minutes

2008-10-06T21:17:00.000-07:00

88 Minutes was in fact 107 minutes of not-so-bad thriller mind games. Jack Gramm (played by Al Pacino) has been putting away the worst of the worst serial killers for years now as a forensic psychologist, when a controversial case is reopened. People around him are being murdered in what appears to be an elaborate setup to frame Jack and clear a prisoner’s conviction. And he has 88 Minutes to solve this one, before he is killed.

The premise seems solid enough, and has the parts built right in for a heart-racing thriller. And it delivered to a degree, but I wasn’t entirely impressed. When I watch a thriller, I want the euphoria of anxiously following the protagonist, I want to be confused as to whether I should sit or stand up, I truly want my heart beating out of my chest. Shooter (2007) did that for me, and in contrasting this golden experience with my time watching 88 Minutes, I can’t help but be slightly disappointed.

But don’t get me wrong. This is a good movie. First of all, AL PACINO. This man is epic, and I really liked his character in this film (although you’ll never beat Scarface). He was so collected and on top of things as Jack Gramm throughout the film, when he became unhinged by something, it jumped out at you as stark and very believable. Al Pacino was definitely the most enjoyable aspect of this film.

And this movie had you guessing all the way through. In fact, there were so many people introduced as potential suspects to the viewer, that it actually hindered the film a bit. I could not follow all of the names to be honest, and some of the suspects seemed unnecessary. The movie was, in a sense, chucking useless information to confuse you. But it did the job. The ending, while not entirely as climatic as I should have liked, was a bit of a surprise.

One more complaint. The movie sort of rips off the voice from Saw, when the killer is contacting Jack to tell him he has 88 minutes to live. It’s not a big deal, but it irked me, and I think anyone who loved Saw would agree with me here.

Despite all of this complaining, I’m giving 88 minutes quite a good score. Because whether it was Al Pacino’s performance, or some other intangible aspect I missed here, the movie was fun to watch. And isn’t that the point?

The Bottom Line
Score: 4 useless suspects out of 5
Grade: B+
Rating: R
Ideal: Saturday night film to watch with anyone itching to work their brains. Warning: the murder scene even made me queasy, and I’m pretty good with that kind of stuff. Definitely for a mature audience.

Reviewed by: Aviator Trev

Iron Man

2008-10-02T21:32:00.000-07:00

So I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this comic book hero turned movie called “Iron Man.” Personally I had never read the comics so I walk into this story semi blind as to what it’s all about. We follow the story of weapons creator Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) as he is ambushed in Afghanistan, forced to recreate a his greatest weapon, says no thanks to the bad guys and makes his own super suite to free his release from bad man captivity. So far so good, normal really. Tony then decides to shut down his weapons company after realizing that the idea of giving peace a chance isn’t that bad of an idea, this of course causes turmoil and Tony disappears to his luxurious Malibu home to create another version of his super suite. This is where I have to say “wait a second” … I mean a guy owns a billion dollar company, tells the world that he isn’t going to be building weapons anymore, and then goes and builds a super weapon. That strikes me as messed up
logic but then again what do I know… However, to Tony’s defense, he decides to liberate the world of his old weapon technology to make it a safer place. This however, causes some issues in the office as Tony’s right hand man Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) who decides to steal Tony’s idea and create a suite for himself, setting us up for a rather visually stunning fight of robots. Anyways, you can probably guess how the plot goes so I’ll ignore the rest of it…..

Let me just say a few things, I really thought that the acting of the two men was really not that bad. Downey played the playboy billionaire turned peace advocate quite well and I think he really has set himself up to build a franchise around his Iron Man character. But of course every hero needs a villain and Bridges did his job dutifully. There is one scene where he is especially nasty, he’s ripping out Stark’s heart (okay not really, just watch the movie you’ll understand) and then he completely toys with the poor man as his body shuts down, very villainous and cruel… ie a good power struggle. Some of the minor characters were good (ie Yinsen (Shaun Toub), the man who saves Stark’s life in the beginning) and others were bad (ie Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) was horribly played in my opinion as the love interest)

The last thing I’ve got to say is that this movie had a LOT of hype surrounding it this summer and unfortunately that usually creates a sense of disappointment for someone watching it for the first time. This is one of those times. Don’t get me wrong it was a good flick but definitely not one that will go down as a classic comic book movie…. As I said we will most likely see spin offs and sequels for many years to come but that’s ok, I mean there are worse movies out there…. So yeah, that is enough of my ramblings for now, I look forward to sharing with you all again next time!

The Bottom Line
Score: meh 3.5 metal men out of 5
Grade: B
Rating: PG-13
Ideal: Guys night out, bored on a Friday, lets test the new sound system (sounds great by the way… LOTS of bass) or a “hey we watched a chick flick last time!!! Its only fair we watch one of my movies” night… followed by a very nasty fight kinda night…..

Reviewed by: Mitchello

Mad Money

2008-09-28T20:58:00.000-07:00

The only thing really gunning for this movie is the fact that the main characters are all played by relatively famous celebrities. Queen Latifa, Katie Holmes and Diane Keaton come together, in what is a rather shallow plot; three gals from very different backgrounds working at a bank, where their various positions present an opportunity for some dirty money making. Old retired cash becomes target numero uno for an easy and adventurous buck. It’s the insider bank heist, minus guns and getaway car chases…which means they took out all the good parts.

This was the sort of movie that really passes under the radar, so that when you do watch it, it’s completely out of boredom. I personally had no motivation to watch it, and considered very seriously just popping in an epic movie that never gets old like Jurassic Park. But in an attempt to avoid bias bashing, I have to give the movie props in a few places. First of all, it is portraying a strong theme of female power, reinforced by the ability to overcome differences in an attempt to work towards a goal. But this theme is just as old and used as the money they are trying to steal. There is hardly any innovation here.

They did do one thing that merits at least one star out of five in my books: a Goldberg machine that blows up a trailer home. I’ve probably just intrigued you enough to at least glance at the movie case.

The plot was predictable too; of course they are going to get caught. And the character development was actually too easy to follow. The characters always “break up” due to an incident, in this case being caught by the feds, but are brought back together by “surprising circumstances,” in this case having the mullah after all. I probably just spoiled things here, but I don’t expect you to watch it anyways. And the characters themselves are fictitious enough that it somewhat detaches you from what’s going on. Katie Holmes in particular acted like she was hooped on something, when in fact she was just diabetic. It really made no sense.

This movie had potential for those who like a mellow drama/comedy. Just to warn you, I’m not sure this even falls under the comedy category, since there really weren’t any funny parts, but that depends on the intelligence of your sense of humour. The story was like cereal with no sugar, and a bad report card when you make no effort in school: bland and predictable.

The Bottom Line
Score: I give this movie two dirty bags of money out of five.
Grade: C-
Rating: PG 13
Ideal: .....

Reviewed by Aviator Trev

Jurassic Park

2008-09-22T19:32:00.000-07:00

Suffice it to say, Jurassic Park is a large block in the foundation of my life. When I was just a wee lad, I LOVED dinosaurs, and this movie was, and still is, the holy grail of my youth. And it is still just as scary, thrilling and inspiring to this day.

Here’s the beef; Jurassic Park, an island where Dinosaurs have been brought back to life, is nearing completion when an accident worries investors. To make them happy, paleontologists Dr.Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), and chaos theorist Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) are brought in to endorse the park. What ensues is a masterful presentation of post-modern ideology. The dinosaurs escape, the situation progressively gets worse, and the scientists must fight to escape alive. I have left a lot of detail out here, so you need to watch the movie to get the whole picture.

One of the things I love about this movie is the delicate balance between conveying scientific information and making it interesting, and while I would say this was done very well, some may argue that the information bits slow down the pace too much. But the discussions on the consequences of recreating Dinosaurs lends an element of symbolism that is profoundly disturbing. Near the beginning, Ian Malcolm, the chaos theorist, elegantly argues that this park is a bad idea because “Life breaks free...life finds a way.” This point is proven later when the Tyrannosaurus Rex breaks free from its paddock and opens its mouth with a devastating roar. It is a movie moment that gives me chills just to think about.

Which brings me to another point. This movie was made in 1993, and it absolutely pioneered the advancement of computer generated graphics. While a giant robot was used for closer shots of the Tyrannosaur, the realism of the computer animation as it lumbers its giant steps makes the movie that much scarier. You are literally pulled into this terrifying world because it is so believable.

Character development? Well, the scientists learn a lesson, and the people against the idea of dinosaurs in this modern day have their point proven. Besides, the Tyrannosaur truly is the star of this film. But for me, it is what all the characters encompass that matters, and how the collective view about the park is shifted. How far is too far for science? Should we be playing God? Can we ever be in complete control? This movie is a step back from the arrogance of humanity.

If my opinion cannot convince you, then here are some solid facts. Jurassic Park is American Film Institute’s 35th most thrilling film of all time (as of 2001), and Bravo chose a scene from the movie as 95th scariest of all time. When you consider how humungous our movie bank is now, this is impressive. And you can thank wikipedia for those facts.

Here’s the truth, I love this movie, and you are going to watch it. It is scary, it is inspiring, and Steven Spielberg directed it. Whether you want to peel back the layers of nerdy scientific fact and argue the possibilities of re-creating dinosaurs, or just want to kick it with some extinct and slightly misunderstood creatures, this movie is a must see.

The Bottom Line
Score: 5 out of 5 mangled car tires
Grade: A+++
Rating: PG, the violence is not excessive, but you see a T-Rex munch down on a lawyer, so use your common sense before letting your five year old kid watch this. Actually wait, I think I saw it when I was five...
Ideal: Buy it and build it a shrine with glass windows and a gold platform. This is one you want on your shelf, so you can watch it on a huge TV screen late at night.

Reviewed by Aviator Trev

Camp Rock

2008-09-04T06:30:00.000-07:00

Let me begin by saying, if you’re a a singer...sing. Musicians should play music, actors should act. Sometimes in the world today we come across multi-talented people who can do more than one thing very well. These people are the exception. I say all this to say that Camp Rock is a perfect example of a time when people should have been left to what they were best at.

The premise: Shane Grey, (Joe Jonas) a wildly successful, diva-of-a rock star has been acting up, and as punishment is sent to teach classes at “Camp Rock”, a summer camp for up and coming musicians. Mitchie, (Demi Lovato) wants to go to camp more than anything but the only way she can afford to go is by helping her mother cater the food for the rest of the campers. Once these few facts are established, the rest of the 98 minutes of film explain to the audience how He was just misunderstood and how She just wants to fit in. She lies about her mother, he falls in love with a mystery girl he overhears practicing a song. She’s found out in the lie, he searches for the girl. That’s about it. In the end, she gets disqualified from winning the big end of the summer prize, but he learns that she was the mystery girl all along. They embrace and end with one great big company song.

The Camp Rock characters are undeveloped and leave little room for the kind of character-audience connection that makes a great movie. The writing leaves much to be desired with seemingly never ending scenes chock full of robotic and mindless dialogue. I’ve seen better cinematography in zero budget student films. The colors were muted, the scenes were shadowed and some shots were blurry and hard to follow because of the shortage of inspired direction. The music was, due to the lack of a better word, shallow. Every song sounded mechanical and generated in a sound booth, because of that fake sound, the songs felt out of place and forced. At the end of the movie, I stood up feeling as if I had sat through a series of unstructured poorly shot scenes separated by simplistic songs.

On the opposite end of the spectrum however, it must be taken into consideration that this was a made for TV DCOM. Also, it must be understood that the target audience of this movie is pre-teen girls, and in my experience they tend to be a fairly UN-critical group who are only watching the movie because they believe that they one day will be a Mrs. Jonas.

My conclusion, watch it, but with seventeen grains of salt, an openly mocking kind of mind-set, and something to do to occupy yourself. I recommend a sewing project.

THE BOTTOM LINE
Score: 2.5 out of 5 Boring/predictable pop songs
Grade: C-
Rating: Hardly even G...
Ideal: This is ideal for a fun night, with understandingly sarcastic friends who will appreciate the reason that you’re watching this flick.

Reviewed by: Kaley Rachelle

Smart People

2008-08-18T08:15:00.000-07:00

This movie struck a note with me, mind you it wasn’t a long one.

Here’s the plot: a widowed university English professor learns to love again when he is reunited with a former student, tested along the way by his stubborn demeanour, an unreliable adopted brother and the surfaced tension with his teenage children. To put it simply, it is a story about character development.

Which is good, because I really liked the characters. What really blew me away was how Ellen Page basically played the opposite role to Juno. She was mature, somewhat sheltered, and very ambitious, but you will still hear the intolerant droll of her voice and her craftiness with words. This might not be as pleasing to watch or hear, because Juno really was a lot more fun, but I was impressed to say the least. This is a very talented actor.

But our Professor, Lawrence Wetherhold, played by Dennis Quaid, was the center of attention in the film. His plot is underlying, that of him trying to be board of some school organisation and trying to publish his novel about literacy. The real cake is how his character is basically a bully of an old man, and how the love that enters his life pushes him to explore his washed out and narcissistic attitude. In a way, it causes him to have a love affair with everything he has been since his wife died, breaking him loose from the attachments and beliefs that were only bogging him down. It’s a journey to find a common happiness in all aspects of his life.

But the movie wasn’t a treat the whole way through. It isn’t very fast paced, and the “plot churner,” wasn’t exactly unique in any way. The ending leaves something to be desired, as you aren’t entirely satisfied that the characters are going to be alright.

THE BOTTOM LINE
Score: I give this movie three and a half stubbornly unpublished novels out of five. You’ll have to watch the movie to understand that one.
Grade: B-
Rating: PG 14. Despite it's rating, I wouldn’t take this off the shelf to watch with the kids until they are maybe a couple years older than that, since the “f-bomb” is dropped a couple times, and the use of drugs and alcohol are used liberally.
Ideal: ... rainy Saturday night rental. Though nothing groundbreaking, it was enjoyable to watch how the characters developed and see Ellen Page in a completely different role. There wasn’t even a single explosion, but I won’t hold that against the movie....

Reviewed by: Aviator Trev

Paris, Je T'aime

2008-08-14T11:57:00.000-07:00

Paris je t'aime

Ah, gay Par-ee, the city of love. There are some great films that show the heart and magic of Paris (particularly Amelie), but never has a film so extensively shown the charms and nuances of each of the city's characteristic districts. The film is made of of eighteen individual shorts, each highlighting a certain section of Paris, and all based around the theme of love. The shorts are directed by notable filmmakers from all over the world such as Gus Van Sant, the Coen brothers, Sylvain Chomet, and star many big names both French and American, from Juliette Binoche to Steve Buscemi to Gena Rowlands.

The film over all, was really fantastic. It's so refreshing to see a new idea developed and to see each filmmaker take one central theme, and truly make it their own. The cinematography is varied and excellent, there are laughs, tears, and every other cliche you want from a good film.

My personal favorite short was Wes's Craven's, set in the Cimitaire Pere Lachaise and staring Emily Mortimer & Rufus Sewell as young honeymooners, and Alexander Payne as the ghost of Oscar Wilde. It's funny sweet, and really shows off this gorgeous commentary that is a must see for anyone visiting the city. But it's hard to choose a favorite when they are all so good. The french language sounds elegant and refined, and the whole piece fits together remarkably well.

Let's hope the "sequel", a New York edition, holds up to this brilliant piece of work.

The Bottom Line
Score: 4 out of 5
Grade: A
Rating: R
Ideal: For a fantastic night in Paris, even when your budget can't allow it.

Reviewed by: Kristy

Wall-E

2008-07-24T21:48:00.000-07:00

Well I must say I went into this movie not 100% sure what to expect. Sure Pixar has put out a number of really great hits but that doesn’t mean they can’t produce a flop right?? Now I knew the story behind the story of how these guys at Pixar got together a few years back and came up with a bunch of ideas for the movies they were going to do in the years to come. What did they come up with, Toy Story, Monster’s Inc, Nemo, just a couple of no-name shows really? So, this story about an earth cleansing robot was their final idea and what do they do? They produced another hit!

The basic story line for those of you that might not know about it is simple. Earth has been trashed by us humans and we decide to travel to space for five years while a fleet of robots is left to clean things up. This plan fails as one by one; more and more robots freeze up and die, all except Wall-E. He continues to work alone until one day a visitor came from the stars and shakes up Wall-E’s life for good! A pretty new female robot, Eva, comes to search earth for signs of plant life. You then journey back to Earth’s mother ship and watch Wall-E try to win her affection. I know, I know robot love how much fun can that be? Well to be honest, it’s a lot of fun! A wonderfully written script that decides at key times to use dialogue, however, a majority of this movie doesn’t have text.

Anyways, I don’t want to give up to much of the plot as I walked into this movie blind and thoroughly enjoyed myself so I want you, my readers to experience the same. I’ll just tell you this, you’ll laugh, you’ll have your heart strings tugged, and you’ll walk out of this movie saying “my that was good!” Oh and I must say a quick thing about the actual drawing/animation of the film, let me just say that I think this may be one of the best animated films of all time. The color, scope, and detail of the animation really took my breath away.

THE BOTTOME LINE
Score: 4.5 out of 5 (I don’t think Kristy would let me put up the first 5 out of 5)
Grade: A-
Rating: G
Ideal: Family Night, Movie Night with the friends, and a GREAT date movie!

Reviewed by: Mitchello

Editors Note: As an avid fan/performer of Musical Theatre, I was thrilled with the integral part "Hello,Dolly!" played in this film, it was brilliant! -Kristy

Welcome

2007-12-01T18:20:00.000-08:00

Welcome to The Popcorn Review, your one stop shop for Movie reviews, interviews, and news.