Movie Review: The Grey

Alright, I admit it. I watch a lot of movies. A lot. I can't help it, I love them. Even ones that I don't like, I still love. I love to analyze the movie afterwards, I love to point out flaws and I appreciate the little details. Now, it isn't that I didn't like Liam Neeson's latest movie, but let's just say it was not without flaws.

The quick rundown: Great scenery, cool idea, but don't get caught up in logistics or else you'll spend the whole movie saying "you got to be f'ing kidding me...." (much like I did).

The long rundown: Just a heads up, the whole movie was filmed to look a little grainy/gritty which I actually like. We find our fearless hero (Liam Neeson) up in east bum Alaska working with ex cons as a wolf sharp shooter. We know Liam is unhappy with his life and right from the start he is contemplating suicide. The next day the whole crew hops on a plane heading back to Anchorage. What I really did like about this movie was the crash scene. They did a real nice job catching the wild fury and panic of a plane crash. After the crash Liam steps up as a leader trying to get survivors to work together. Soon they realize they are in wolf territory and that's when things start getting unbelievable. The rest of the movie is about their journey from the crash site trying to find safety by getting stalked and hunted by wolves of mythical proportion. If you've never seen a Discovery documentary on wolves then maybe you wont care how ridiculous they are portrayed but you still will probably raise eye brows when the survivors have to jump over a cliff edge and hope they can reach the tops of trees since that is the only way off the cliff, but then once they get there the wolves are already waiting on the ground (they must have took the stairs?) As the survivors struggle for their lives their characters get developed further but let's be real, at this kind of movie you aren't here for the character development.

All in all, the movie was entertaining. You are there asking yourself what would you do in that situation? As ridiculous as some of the wolves were and some of the plot lines were and some of the stunts were... bottom line it is still an entertaining movie. You want the characters to survive, you fear for their lives and root for them to win (as in, beat the mythical wolves who want to kill them for pleasure more than for food).

Movie Review: The Whistleblower

Last night we watched the 2010 Rachel Weisz move, The Whistleblower (based on a  true story).

The quick rundown: A tense movie with a tragic story line, not for the faint of heart.

The long rundown: Rachel Weisz plays a divorced mother whose child was in the custody of the father.Although it is never really explained why she doesn't have custody, you are led to believe it has something to do with her loving her job as a police officer? (that makes sense?) Not really an important plot point so moving on. In an effort to make neough money to move to Georgia so she can be closer to her daughter she signs up to work for the UN in Bosnia. She gets there and is quickly promoted because she is so good at her job, yaddie yaddie yadda, she is soon causing trouble. She finds out that sex trafficking is a huge problem and she wants to save all these girls but every one seems to be telling her not to bother.

Without ruining the movie for you, I will just say that she gets herself  and the girls she is trying to save into more and more trouble. The whole movie had me upset (mostly because this really does happen and this is really how governments handle it). The move was fairly well done in that respect; it makes you want to help these girls. Story line wise, there were some things I would change (such as the poorly developed love story between Weisz and some Dutch guy whom the whole time you are thinking must be some sketch ball since every other guy in the movie seems to be...) but there are some good plot twists as well that make the movie worth while.

If you like political movies or tense dramas this would be a good pick. If you are looking for a feel good movie, this is definitely not it. Also, if you get squeamish there are certainly some scenes you would have to close your eyes (even when they don't show it, they suggest a lot...)

Movie Review: Midnight in Paris

We had movie night last night and I managed to convince my boyfriend to rent Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris", which was a fight since his first impulse was to rent "Cowboys & Aliens".

The quick rundown: Pretty good, worth the watch.

The long rundown: The movie started a bit slow. As with most Woody Allen films the dialogue seemed a bit contrived at times and it took some warming up before the actors really started to flow. No spoilers here, but here is outline of the plot. Gil (Owen Wilson) and Inez (Rachel McAdams) played an engaged couple visiting Paris while Inez father is there on business. Gil is a screenwriter who is working on his first novel, Inez is the slightly bitchy bride to be who plays the part of the girl more interested in the wedding than the husband. Gil stumbles upon a car that brings him to the 1920's as soon as the clock strikes midnight. He takes traveling back in time every night and makes some revelations about his life.

As I mentioned before, the movie starts a little slow. Took me a while to get into it and there were moments where it just came off a bit awkward. Pretty much all the actors who played the famous characters of the past (Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, the Fitzgerald's...) were awkward and not very convincing. When the story focused more on the individual relationships between the characters it went a lot better. As the movie progressed, it got better and better.

I'll leave it at that, I don't want to give away any major points. If you like Woody Allen, you'll like this movie. If you like Owen Wilson, you'll like this movie. If you like Rachel McAdams, well, she is kind of annoying in the movie so maybe you won't like this movie so much.