Rio

 

Rio is a movie that not only takes place in Brazil, but the unique aspect is that it is a family friendly version of Brazil during Carnival. Rio ends up being a fun movie that has such a fun upbeat musical score to go along with the vibrant colors of the birds that you can't help but feel happy and even have an urge to almost dance after seeing this movie. Rio gives us a fun movie that in the end deals with a privileged blue macaw that does not fly. this blue macaw though ends up going to Rio with his owner to mate with another blue macaw to help save the species, but smugglers end up stealing these two macaws. We are then sent on the journey through Rio as Blu tries to make his way back to his owner, all the while avoiding recapture.

 

Jesse Eisenberg lends his voice to the character of Blue and for some reason his voice worked perfectly. The tone of his voice was just perfect to play the blue Macaw and I even thought it was good The Social network came out prior to Rio because I picture him now more as a Macaw then the founder of Facebook. Anne Hathaway in the role of Jewel the other blue Macaw fits the role okay. Her performance with the role as the feisty character is only partially believable. Her performance was really one that any lead actress out there could have done. Jemaine Clement as our bird villain really stole the show for me. His song about himself and being a villain was perfect and was so Flight of the Conchord's like that it just worked well in the end. Clement has done the villain in two roles with such perfection that I look forward to see what he does next. The rest of the supporting cast all five admirable performances and in the end do precisely what is needed.

 

The story for Rio is nothing creative and is an okay one. While using smugglers of exotic birds is a good though, but I would have loved to have had a more creative way for the two blue macaws to be in Rio trying to escape the smugglers. While the story was simple it did not need to be complex for the story to work and in the end with it being simple I felt like everything flowed together well. The pacing for Rio was perfect as it never went too fast of too slow, but in the end it was paced in such a way that everything was able to be touched with plot points while at the same time you did not feel like it dragged.

 

The music for Rio was fun and worked so well for the feel of this movie, not only the songs in the movie, but the background music throughout the movie fit well. The music leaves you in the end with a feeling of wanting to dance and through your dancing just enjoy life. For me though one of the best musical aspects in the movie was Jemaine Clement's song as our villain bird. Anyone familiar with Clement and his participation in the show Flight of the Conchords would say the rap/song has precisely that feel to it. The humor in Rio while it was there it really was minimal and non-invasive that aside from the monkey I don't really remember much else in the humor department.

 

Rio is an animated movie for families that while it is not one that is on the level of some of the top animated movies of all time, but is still alright. Eisenberg and Clement's performances were very strong and particularly Clement made up for the okay performance brought by Anne Hathaway. The music in Rio is one that leaves you really feeling the music in the end that you have a feeling to want to dance. I am giving Rio two and three quarter buckets of popcorn out of five. This is a fun family movie that will be added to the movie collection at some point.

 

-The Movie Man

Dark Shadows

 

Dark Shadows is one of those Tim Burton movies that I was very excited to see even before I saw the first trailer. Yet for some reason this was a movie that for some reason things kept coming up and allowed me to keep putting off going to see in the theaters, so I never ended up seeing it in the theaters. Dark Shadows is a big screen version of a soap opera from the 1970's and it is one that I have never heard of, but the fact that a soap opera deals with a vampire is really a kind of funny story idea in and of itself. Tim Burton has the ability to make very strong dark, Gothic movies. Dark Shadows begins with decent gloominess and yet the rest is scattered with a groovy soundtrack and colorful images that really capture the time period of the 1970's very well. The mixture of the gloominess with the time of the 1970's is something that one may not think could work well and I am sure those that did not like Dark Shadows felt like this is where the problem resonated for the movie, but I tend to think that it was in the end a fairly decent movie, but could have had some changes in the end that would have made the movie better in the end.

 

The story for Dark Shadows while it is based off of a soap opera from the 1970's, since it was source material that I was not familiar with I felt that the initial story had a unique concept to the whole vampire craze that is prevalent. Barnabas Collins, a rich well off playboy in the 1770's, ends up breaking the heart of a witch named Angelique, she curses him to a fate worse then death. She ends up turning him into a vampire, and then burying him alive. Two centuries later, Barnabas is inadvertently freed from his tomb and emerges into the very changed world of 1972. He returns to Collinwood Manor to find that his once-grand estate has fallen into ruin. It looks promising in the beginning, as Tim Burton uses his campy directing style which made the intro intriguing. It get silly when Barnabas returns from his grave. Exploring the changes of his town. It's quite funny and delightful. The problem with this movie is the film can't decide if it is a dark comedy or a Gothic thriller/romance because of this the movie ends up feeling disjointed that is funny at times with a lot of unnecessary exposition. With this film being based on a soap opera I am sure Burton wanted to pay homage to the original and tries to with so many intricate details, but in the end it ends up feeling boring at times from plot point to plot point. Unfortunately, with some of the end of movie surprises they come of as being forced. The pacing is consistent throughout the film and while it felt a little boring at times it is really a fairly short movie time wise that feels longer then its actual run time.

 

Johnny Depp plays Barnabas Collins and he gives this role the same that he seems to give all of his roles where he is the oddball character. Depp brings a great flair and really plays the fish out of water well, but I really expect nothing less because he has played so many different fish out of water characters. Eva Green in the role of Angelique really works well as a witch who has been spurned and so she is focused on revenge. The chemistry that she had on screen with Depp worked so well and the way that they fed off of each other throughout the film really added a great amount of character depth that would have never shown through if the chemistry between the two rivals of Barnabas and Angelique. Green in the end plays antagonist that you both dislike, but at the same time feel a little sorry for her because she has become the way she has because she is still in love with Barnabas. Of course a Tim Burton movie can not be a movie without his wife Helena Bonham Carter having a role. She plays Doctor Hammond and unfortunately her role is kind of just there and to me kind of had no purpose in the end. The rest of the supporting cast give good performances, and I really did enjoy the roles of the remaining parts of the dysfunctional Collins family.

 

A definite huge part of any Tim Burton film is the musical score and Dark Shadows is no exception, and Danny Elfman once again provides the musical score for Dark Shadows. Throughout most of the film the movie has a great feel to it, as they have used various music from the 1970's from different genres throughout a lot of the film. I really enjoyed hearing the different music throughout this time period especially since I am a fan of a lot of the older music whether it be rock and roll or other types. The party that is thrown by Barnabas for the people of Collinsport I particularly enjoyed. The enjoyment that I had for this aspect of the film though may be simply because of the fact that Alice Cooper was the musical act. Cooper's cameo really made the finished product of the overall music for the movie work really well. The imagery that Tim Burton creates in his films is breathtaking at how he can take even things in the real world and he makes them ever so vibrant with the addition of vibrant colors. The visuals in Dark Shadows are no exception whether it is the vibrant hair of Dr. Hammond or the bright red dress that Angelique wears to the party that stands out from everyone else just because of how bight the color is, it all works to create a fantastical feel to the movie.

 

Dark Shadows while I found it to be a good movie it was by far not the best effort that I have seen in a Tim Burton film. The story while I was intrigued by it, it was a little muddled as it felt like it was missing a solid identity. The performances are precisely what one would expect from Depp and others in a film and the musical cameo of Alice Cooper really worked for me. I am giving Dark Shadows three buckets of popcorn out of five. This is one that if you are a fan of Tim Burton that you should rent and have an enjoyable night of watching a decent movie about a vampire.

 

-The Movie Man

9

 

Let me start out by saying  am a huge Tim Burton fan, so an animated movie that is produced by him I may have a little bot of bias simply because I have yet to be disappointed by a movie that Tim Burton has been involved in.  I love the concept for 9 with it being an animated movie taking place in a post-apocalyptic world in which humanity is no more as the war between man and machine went the way of the machines. Yet, hope is not all lost for a scientist before his death created a group of rag dolls that hold the key to the spark of life. The visuals we get from this movie are not ones that one expects from an animated movie as the attention to detail is spot on that you almost feel like it is not an animated movie that you are watching. I love the concept of this movie having a great darkness to it, yet even with the darkness there is still a glimmer of hope.

 

Elijah Wood in the role of the character of 9 works well. Wood has the ability in roles where he lends his voice, to change it slightly from role to role so each character is their own character, yet anyone can hear the voice and recognize it to be Elijah Wood. His performance as 9 is no exception as he really carries the character well, that you take to him instantly and you want things to go his way no matter what. John C. Reilly in the role of 5 does well. I have only ever seen Reilly in roles in comedy movies, so to see him in a serious animated movie I was not sure if he had that ability. I was pleased that he proved me wrong as I felt like he had amazing voice presence and his chemistry with the other characters works so well. The rest of the supporting cast all give great performances as well. With so many great actors in this movie it would be nearly impossible for the performances to have disappointed and been sub par.

 

The story for 9 is one that was unique and creative especially for an animated movie. An important aspect is that I will not give too much away because I found the trailers never really gave much to the story and because of that it puts the audience in the same boat as the character of 9 who has just awoken in this world and is trying to figure everything out. I loved feeling like I was learning everything at the same time and the story was not so predictable that I was not guessing what was going to happen. The story worked because I felt like it was able to be an epic movie in 79 minutes which is kind of unheard because most would believe an order for a movie to be epic the running time would have to be over two hours. Yet somehow Acker is able to give an epic movie because of the grandiose shots within the animation. Tim Burton as a producer it is truly interesting that his trademarks tend to come out from time to time throughout the movie. The themes of outsiders or the alienated triumphing over adversity and the film being co-composed by Danny Elfman just screamed Tim Burton. The visuals truly work so well with the story because there are those moments that work so perfectly to tell the story that dialogue would have not been needed to convey the major plot points.

 

The visuals in 9 work because of what helped inspire the post apocalyptic world. Having a reference point based in reality for this movie really helped blur the line between it being animated or being shot with actual sets and not animation. Post war Vienna Austria served to give 9 that real feel of the way the world would look after complete destruction of everything that was living from the gas bombs created by the machines. The subtle nuances as well work to only strengthen the visuals, due to the subtle hints to the Nazi's of the past, anyone that watches 9 should take note of the references of the Chancellor in 9 as being a nod to Hitler. While the most obvious part of this is that of Hitler was the Chancellor before he created the title of Fuhrer, but this is the smallest of the ties to Nazi Germany. During the scene where they are showing the past footage as to what helped create the world as it was is during the parade if you look the Chancellor makes a salute that ends up being very similar to the "Heil Hitler" of the Nazi's. Secondly, if you look at the flags they have a look that is very similar to the swastika that adorned the Nazi flag.

 

9 is one of those movies that it is intriguing to me to know that Acker originally created 9 as a 10 minute short film with no dialogue, I am truly intrigued to hopefully find a way to see the original 10 minute film. The voice talents truly give strong performances and I would not expect anything less from the talent in this film. Anything less from the talent in this film I truly loved the story and felt like something new and unique yet did not try to use comedy like almost all animated movies have to appeal to sometimes teenagers. I am giving 9, three and three quarter buckets of popcorn out of five. this is a film any Tim Burton fan should see and is one that is worth the price of renting if you are looking for an animated movie that is not your every day run of the mill animated movie.

 

-The Movie Man

Raiders of the Lost Ark

 

Raiders of the Lost Ark is the firs movie in one of my all time favorite trilogies. This is one of those movies that is a must watch every once and awhile and I just simply love to watch. Growing up Indiana Jones was an adventure hero that had a great ability to make even archeology seem like an awesomely exciting career choice and made the use of a whip seem really cool and something that every hero should use. I loved the fantasy aspects related to the Ark and the Covenant made things even more fun for the adventure and they take it all completely up a notch by creating the ultimate villain for a movie in using the occult belief from the Nazis and the fact that Indy is racing to prevent them from getting a hold of this priceless artifact. This is one of those movies that I really wish I could and have had the chance to see it in theaters and so I am still kicking myself that I missed the re-release for one week only earlier in September of 2012.

 

Harrison Ford IS the role of Indiana Jones and his performance is nearly perfect. This is probably his second most memorable role and along with his performance as Han Solo in Star Wars will be the roles that people will always remember Harrison Ford for. Ford has many more facial movements and voice inclinations in Raiders of the Lost Ark then the old grumpy man role that he seems to play time after time now. Ford use to be dynamic, adventurous and as wisecracking as the best of them onscreen. Everyone will remember Indy just as much for some of his lines as much as they will for the action sequences. Countering Harrison Ford we have Paul Freeman as Rene Belloq. the role of Belloq even though French embodies the villainry of the Nazis because even though he wants to try the power of the Ark for himself, he is still working for the Fuhrer. The rivalry between Belloq and Indy makes it work even more because they both represent opposite sides of the archeology spectrum. Karen Allen plays Marian Ravenwood, a former flame to Indy and yet we still see that spark is still there. The chemistry works well onscreen that you feel her initial pain toward Indy and then as her heart softens the audience feels that as well. The supporting cast perform well also and I think everyone takes a liking to Sallah immediately because he has that feel of the adventurer uncle that you rarely see.

 

Spielberg and Lucas put together an amazing story that works and at the same time it is a fun fantasy adventure movie that takes fun liberties. Those liberties though while they may not be plausible they do not have to be in this type of movie simply because everything is meant to be fun and enjoyable for the audience. I love the feel that Spielberg and Lucas take with this as an attempt to pay homage to adventure comics of the 1930's. The hunt for the Ark of the Covenant is more then just an excuse for an action adventure movie, everything has been meticulously thought out and the story is intertwined perfectly with the action sequences. Nowadays movies seem to come up with the action first then try to fit or mold the plot to all the action sequences, where Raiders of the Lost Ark has worked the Covenant story so well into the plot that it only makes the action that much more enjoyable and it is what has made Raiders of the Lost Ark stand the test of time.

 

The action for Raiders of the Lost Ark is simplistic, but that is what precisely was needed for everything that is going on. It is because of everything that is going on and how well written the story is that somehow it just makes the action work all that much more. An interesting aspect that you may not see much nowadays is with Indy being both a doctor and a professor, yet he still has no problem when it comes to having to kill someone.This all leads to probably my favorite scene in the movie  that is a perfect mix of action with even comedy, is the fight sequence in Egypt with a band of native hired mercenaries. The wisecracking part of Indy comes out as one of the mercenaries comes out and Indy is stuck with this mercenary blocking the path pulls out a large Arabian sword and he shoves of his fanciness with the sword as he takes some swings, Indy responds to this by nonchalantly pulling out his pistol  and fires to eliminate the threat. John Williams has brought an amazing score to Raiders of the Lost Ark, and the theme has probably one of the most recognizable sounds to it that most anyone would recognize what movie it is from after merely one bar. This music has a great ability I am sure to taking anyone back to remembering the first time they ever saw this movie. Williams has a great hand with his score as well because it never takes away from the movie.

 

Raiders of the Lost Ark is the first movie in one of my favorite movie trilogies. Indiana Jones probably gave a bunch of kids the dream to be an archaeologist thinking it would be a globe trotting adventure. Harrison Ford is lights out and along with his role of Han Solo these two roles will go down as his most memorable ones. I am still in awe every time I watch Raiders of the Lost Ark, at the way Spielberg and Lucas intertwined the story/fantasy aspect with great action sequences so well. With Raiders of the Lost Ark being part of one of my favorite trilogies and since it is the introductory movie to Indiana Jones, I am giving Raiders of the Lost Ark four and a half buckets of popcorn out of five. This is a must own for anyone that is a movie buff. Just remember when it comes to the Ark that "we have top men working on it."

 

-The Movie Man

Pitch Perfect

 

With the popularity of Glee, it made sense that it was only a matter of time until competitive a cappella hit the big screen. The first trailer I saw for Pitch Perfect definitely perked my interest as I thought it looked like it had the makings for a funny comedy and I knew it was one that would in the end no matter what be right up my wife's alley. Pitch Perfect deals with the two main acappella groups from Barden University, the Treble Makers and the Barden Bellas. The Bellas are out to redeem themselves after an epic failure at the finals for the acappella championships, and end up with quite the rag tag group of misfits to make up the group the following year. Our main character Beca (Anna Kendrick) is the alterna-girl who is reluctantly at college because her dad is a professor at Barden and he believes the college education is vital, but her real dream is to be producing music in Hollywood. Her dad finally agrees that if she joins one of the campus groups and still does not love her college experience he will help her move to Los Angeles and of course she ends up loving the group of misfits she joins. One can not help, but truly enjoy this movie and was a lot of fun to watch in the end.

 

Anna Kendrick in the role of Beca really performs well and she shows that she is not only a big star in the making, but is a star now. Kendrick lights up the screen and plays her role not only well, but the chemistry she has onscreen with all of the other characters is something rarely seen in a comedy. Skylar Astin in the role of Jesse, Beca's love interest gives a pretty solid performance in the first role I have seen him in. He plays the honest guy very well and is truly believable in the role and I felt like he not only connected with Beca, but the audience as well. Rebel Wilson though in the role of Fat Amy nearly steals the show with her great delivery and the comedy she brings to the movie. She took her role and completely ran with it and did not back down for one second. The rest of the supporting cast all give good performance as well. The only character that I really had a hard time with was Brittany Snow, I felt like she was kind of a confusing role and while she had a couple of great lines, she was just not what I expected from her to give in a role. I felt her character could have been taken out completely and it would not have changed the movie at all.

 

The story for Pitch Perfect was simple and even formulaic with just a couple of tweaks. The main change between Pitch Perfect and other competition based movies is rather then the rival being from a different school the rival is actually a rival acappella group within the same University, and the rivalry within the a capella world ends up being an all male group vs an all female group. Really the story works and did not take away from where the movie was taking the audience, but the big part of the story is it really serves to be what ties each song into the next song section between the acappella groups. The story set out to do precisely what it needed to do and nothing more then that. With the way the story was ingrained with the music it really helped to keep the pacing of the movie moving without feeling rushed. While there were parts where I think they could of slowed the pace down to let everything simmer and develop more I felt the pace did not move too fast so as to make you go wait what just happened.

 

The character of Fat Amy for the most part really carries the comedy in Pitch Perfect. While she is a bigger person, I think the fact though she owns it onscreen and seems to have great confidence in herself. She had me nearly rolling on the floor laughing throughout. Pitch Perfect also used the counter thoughts for what someone normally would think of when it comes to acappella competitions. The fact of the Treble Makers being the "Bad Boys" really makes you laugh throughout the movie. To go along with the comedy of acappella the hosts of the Finals competition are merely there for comments meant to be funny. Everything they say is really joke set-ups between the two of them. One of my favorite scenes that happens in Pitch Perfect is that of the Riff Off. While it has its funny parts throughout the Riff Off the best part of the Riff Off is when Kendrick's character jumps into the Riff Off with the rap from the song "No Diggity." It has been awhile since I have seen a  comedy movie that I have laughed so hard in throughout most of the movie. A lot of the times I find movies like this to have all of the funny parts just in the trailer then the rest of the movie is boring throughout, and luckily Pitch Perfect did a great job at completely avoiding this pitfall.

 

Pitch perfect was a comedy that I figured would eventually come about because of the popularity of acappella due to Glee. Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson gave great performances and I was not sure if Kendrick could shine and really handle being the star, she really showed that she is a star and will be a big star in time. The story served to basically just move from song to song, but it worked. The songs worked and I would have loved to have heard more mash-up songs. I am giving Pitch Perfect three and a half buckets of popcorn out of five. This is a movie that is well worth seeing in the theater, especially if you want a night of laughing.

 

-The Movie Man