JAWS REVIEW

          Enter Jaws theme music, Tuh Tuh, Tuh Tuh, Tuh Tuh, Who doesn't know the classic theme and film? I feel there isn't a person older then 10 that has not seen the film jaws. For those who haven't seen it *Spoiler alert* this is what Jaws is about according to IMDB."When a gigantic great white shark begins to menace the small island community of Amity, a police chief, a marine scientist and grizzled fisherman set out to stop it." So the film is definitely an Iconic film for sure and stands the test of time but is it really a masterpiece and one of the greatest films ever made?
         So Jaws stars Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss, Lorraine Gary, and Murray Hamilton. It's music score is done by John Williams who's also done *drumroll* STARWARS. Yes, now we know why Jaw's music is so appealing. The Cinematography is done by Bill Butler but everyone knows the film was directed non other than boy wonder *at that time* Steven Spielberg. The Film runs 124 mins long and was released in 1975 with genre categories as Adventure, Horror, Thriller. In my personal opinion, Jaw's is not a horror film but maybe it was back in 1975 . I see Jaws as an adventure film for sure. The film just works perfect because at that time, no one had done anything similar with style and music and story for sure. Personally, I don't find it to be the greatest film ever nor I find the film to be that interesting. I mean don't get me wrong I'd watch it if it's on tv or at someones house.
            The way this film is done is simply amazing. Yes I know I said I don't find to be the greatest film but when it comes to mechanics and presentation, It's a whole different ball game. See Jaw's has many iconic moments and the fact that we don't see the great white shark till the end of the film is part the reason. It builds suspense. That Iconic shot scene with Brody at the beach and the camera zoom's in on his face but zooms out at the same time, *the trombone shot* puts true perspective as well. The locations of the shoots are well detailed. Its as if Jaw's is the perfect fruit basket but you have to look at it from this perspective, not everyone enjoys fruit and not everyone enjoys particular fruit. Overall I don't feel Jaws to be compared to Citizen Kane or any other film but like my professor who will be grading this review, I too share his theory. All films are subjective and there is no good or bad film, there is only art. An example of that would be simple, Not everyone likes the Mona Lisa so I'll leave at this note. Can Jaw's be the Mona Lisa of films?

G.I. Joe Retaliation Review

       So knowing is half the battle according to the famous quote by the G.I. Joe's. Unfortunately because of my great friend Skylar Gorell, I knew something about this film that I shouldn't have known. See my friend Skylar works in Hollywood as a special effects guy and he's did special effects for this film and thus he knew the story and spoiled it by telling me that Channing Tatum who plays the Duke in this film dies rather quickly. So basically they gave this sequel to Dwayne the Rock Johnson and it is really his film. The Story is as follows. After being ordered by the Government to take down several pakistani militants and secure atomic bombs, the Joe's are terminated with extreme prejudice. Only 3 survive that outcome and Cobra Commander has taken over the white house by kidnapping the president and replacing him with Zartan who is the master of disguise. The Joe's team up with another member Snake Eyes and together they find some old recruits and they fight to clear there name and take out Cobra. During this process, they also recruit Storm Shadow who was an enemy at first but becomes now an ally for the Joes.

        G.I. Joe Retaliation was Released March 27th 2013 and it Runs 110 mins long. It stars Channing Tatum as Duke who is a recurring role from the first G.I. Joe film. It also brings back Snake eyes and Storm Shadow along with other characters. The Rock plays Roadblock and Elodie Yung plays Jinx. It Ray Stevenson plays firefly, Adrianne Palicki plays Jaye with D.J. Cotrona as Flint and Bruce Willis plays General Joe Colton. This is a straight action film from beginning to end. The Story isn't the greatest in my opinion but it does work and gets the job done. The Film itself was rated pg-13. It was directed by Jon M Chu who is also known for the film Step up 2 and Step up 3d. Perhaps thats why some scenes just do not make sense from a directors view because this would be his first Action film he's directed at least in my opinion. 

       So watching this film, I kept thinking how my friend did all these explosion scenes and blowing up stuff and fights and the sequences of all effects and I was like, wow this must be a fun job. The truth is, a lot of hard work went into this film and I can actually see it because each scene is beautiful at its own level. Through out the film, I was wondering why Destro didn't get rescued and if storm shadow will betray the Joe's and go back to Cobra Commander. I was a bit upset that Joseph Gordon Levitt did not reprise the role of Cobra Commander again but beggers can't be choosers right. None the less the film is something that is worth watching if not for the story than for sure for the action sequences and explosions. 

Olympus Has Fallen Review

      The White House set ablaze is one of the most unforeseen images ever thought imaginable. This is your basic terrorist take over story with a twist, the twist being the white house and the destruction of our capital Washington D.C. The story follows a  man who's in the secret service and from an accident gone bad, gets thrown out of the secret service by the president himself who happens to be friends with our hero named Mike Banning. During the attack, he finds his way into the White House and uses his inside knowledge and skills to rescue the presidents son and the president himself while working with  national security as well. Everyone knows he will succeed in this mission because the good guys always win and United States does not negotiate with Terrorists.

       Banning is played by the one and only certified bad ass Gerard Butler. This film also stars Aaron Eckhart as the president of USA and Morgan Freeman as the speaker of the house.  Butler is known for his best role as Leonidis from 300 and Eckhart is known best for his role as two face from Batman Dark knight series. Morgan Freeman's been in the game so long that it's truly a sad thing if you don't know who he is, but in case, he's played many roles one most notable from the film Deep Impact.
This film was Directed by Antoine Fuqua, who is notable for the films Shooter, Training Day, Tears of the sun and many others. This Film was released March 22nd 2013 and is 122 mins long and is a Rated R film due to his heavy violence and killing throughout from beginning to end. I would easily say this is a hard core action film with a good backstory to it as well.

       So Gerard butler is definitely the bad ass in this film from the beginning to the end. From the very beginning of the film, he's training the president in boxing and we can tell how swift he is as a fighter. During the film later on, we realize by finding out, he's the best the secret service has because he's a ex ranger and that alone just speaks for itself. I feel he was good for this role because Butler has a soft yet crazy look to him like you can say he's a cool romantic type but he's seen things and he's done things in the name of survival so he definitely has a dark bad side to him. Another thing about this film that I've noticed is that the terrorists are from Korea. It's nice to see that film's are no longer depicting Islamic people with terrorism. I think this would have something to do with the current world tensions of Korea and the DMZ. But one thing this movie also shows is a almost full proof plan on how to take over the capital. Truly a great film indeed with a great assembled cast and good story with plenty of special effects and fight sequences, I would highly recommend watching this film.

Oz the Great and Powerful Review

       We're off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz. Well clearly this song never made it to the film  Oz the Great and Powerful. Dorothy never made it to this film, neither did the lion and the tin man and the scarecrow and toto definitely does not make an appearance either. Everything that you knew about Oz, just forget about it all. This film is a totally different film that is more a prequel and shows more in depth of how Oz came to be within this world. It is a story of a man who is nothing and his journey to unknown and becomes something great and powerful as the title states.
       A brilliantly written film, It stars James Franco as Oz, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams, Zach Braff, Bill cobs and Joey King. The Film was Directed by Sam Raimi, who some may recall as the director of the Evil Dead series. It is interesting that Disney decided him to be a director for the film because he is also known to do super hero type films like spiderman. James Franco as Oz is a perfect casted person for the role in my opinion, He is truly a talented actor and proves it on the silver screen with his performance of Oz. The film's budget was $215 million dollars and its box office is at $359,359,000 dollars. The run time for this film is 127 minutes which In my opinion could have been a little longer.
       The whimsical fantasy tale is the genre, and I feel it can be a comedy as well. Again Genre is mainly perception of the person viewing it. Now the film that was released on March 8th 2013 tells a story of a man who is nothing, and how he is running away and ventures into the land of Oz and comes to know of a prophecy of a man who will save them from an evil witch. During the duration of the film, we see a transformation come from the character of Oz from someone we first do not like into a person we wish to be. The story progresses very well paced and the scenes are somewhat breathtaking as well. This film was also shot in Disney 3-d and watching it in 3-d was well worth it for its moments. Overall the film is a great film and worth watching and one can certainly find out finally how Oz came to be in that world and what happened prior to Dorothy's arrival. On other note, I'm glad Johnny Depp and Robert Downey Jr did not take the role for Oz.

Evil Dead (2013) Review

      When it comes to scary movies, in my opinion Evil Dead has to be one of the best remakes of our time. Evil dead is about a group of friends who venture out into the woods for helping one of there own through rehab to get the main character off the drugs she's been taking. During the stay they discover witchcraft was done under the cabin they were staying at and they find a book. One of the friends then reads a passage from the book and unleashes evil. That evil unleashed attaches itself to the main character who then makes the killing occur with the other characters by somewhat possessing them with evil until one by one, each is dead. 

      

      The film is a remake of an older version with a similar story but the film does not bring back the same characters, but simply the book itself. It is directed by Fede Alvarez and produced by Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell and Robert G Tapert. It stars Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor Pucci, Jessica Lucas and Elizabeth Blackmore.  It's original release date is April 15th 2013 and is going to be distributed by TriStar Pictures. The run time is 92 minutes long with a 15 million dollar budget. 

Fede claims this film to be a sequel to the events after Evil Dead. The Film has gotten 4/5 stars at the SXSW review and Chris Tilly of IGN gave it 9/10. 

      

      The theme of this film is obviously dark and gore with lots of blood. The genre it falls under is Horror though it can fall under other categories as well but thats really on perception. The film in my opinion is truly terrifying and full of gore. The Film's setting takes place in the woods in a cabin and majority of it is all at night. According to Fede, no CG was used in making this film and everything done was realtime. In my personal opinion, I have to agree with them saying its a terrifying film simply because it does have moments where it makes you jump and makes you a bit disturbed. It is definitely not a film for the weak hearted. The story does have similarities to the Original story and what upset me thought about it was that it did not have any cameos from Bruce Campbell but it did pay homage to the boomstick shotgun and the chainsaw.  

BATMAN RETURNS

     

       Batman Returns has to be one of the best superhero films ever made. Batman itself is one of the greatest superheros to be created. The creator of batman is Bob Kane. If you do not know who batman is, I seriously would have to ask in what world do you live in ? Anyways I digress from this Review of the film Batman Returns.

        Batman returns is the sequel to the film Batman. It's release was in 1992. Directed by the legendary Tim Burton. Tim is known for a lot of classic films such as Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands and Mars Attacks. It stars returning as Batman, Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, and Michelle Pfeiffer. Danny plays the penguin and Michelle plays Catwoman. This has to be one of Tim Burtons finest work on a film as a Director. The theme is classic Burton, it has a dark theme even though some parts are even shown in day light. Christopher Walken also stars in this film and he does a find job as well. The films budget was $80 million dollars while it made $45,687,710 in united states along during its opening weekend, it grossed $282,800,000 worldwide. The film was nominated for the Academy Awards for best visual effects and best make up.

       The story is simply classic batman. Here is the plot details for this film written by Graeme Roy off IMDB.com "Having defeated the Joker, Batman now faces the Penguin - a warped and deformed individual who is intent on being accepted into Gotham society. Crooked businessman Max Schreck is coerced into helping him become Mayor of Gotham and they both attempt to expose Batman in a different light. Earlier however, Selina Kyle, Max's secretary, is thrown from the top of a building and is transformed into Catwoman - a mysterious figure who has the same personality disorder as Batman. Batman must attempt to clear his name, all the time deciding just what must be done with the Catwoman."

      There isn't much as that can be said about this film then what is already known. Its Batman at its finest for that time period. Here is the link to the theatrical preview for Batman Returns .

Children of Men

 

       Children of Men is an instant classic of a film in my opinion. The story is amazingly well written and the cinematography and directing is also on point and to top it off, the acting is simply incredible.

       According to IMDB, the film's synopsis is as follows. "In 2027, in a chaotic world in which humans can no longer procreate, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea, where her child's birth may help scientists save the future of humankind." The Film is classified as an Adventure, Drama, and Sci-Fi in the genra categories. It was released on January 5th of 2007 and is 109 minutes long.

      This film was directed by Alfonso Cuaron who is also known for the following hits such as "Great Expectations", "Y tu mama tambien" and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. In my opinion though, Childern of Men would have to be Cuaron's masterpiece film. The film stars Clive Owen, who's done one of my favorite films "Inside Man" and several other films such as "The International" and "Shoot'em up". It co-stars Julianne Moore who's known for films such as "Boogie Nights", "The Big Lebowski", and one of her recents "Crazy Stupid Love".

      So Children of Men is known for it's one shot sequences which occur throughout the film. The story is about the world in ruins and woman not being able to have any children. Its about the journey of one man and a woman under his protection who holds the key to the future of mankind. The key is that in the last 18 yrs she is the first woman to get pregnant. The film is more about the struggle of survival of humankind and of the journey from A to B which makes the plot tense. The ending of the film is where its at though in my opinion because its an open ending and because it has one of the most exciting gun battles of war I've seen in film. The way the camera follows our hero keeping up is as if you're in the film with him and looking at everything through first person view. To simply put once again, This is Mr. Cuarons Masterpiece.