Warrior

9.5 out of 10 stars

Cast

Paddy Conlon............................Nick Nolte
Brendan Colon......................Joel Edgerton
Tommy Conlon..........................Tom Hardy
Tess Conlon.....................Jennifer Morrison

***** WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS *****

I APOLOGIZE FOR NOT POSTING I KNOW I'M A TERRIBLE PERSON. In my defense, school ruins my life. Especially honors classes. Never take honors classes. Not if you value sleep, friends, and a stress-free life... But really, I'd like to apologize for not posting because I just get carried away with homework, work, volleyball, and Downton Abbey. But I'm back! And to welcome you all back to my blog from my ridiculously long break, I'd thought I'd review the best movie ever made.

By the way someone came into the theater this week and spilled a FULL LARGE bag of popcorn a FULL LARGE soda and an ENTIRE bag of m&m's on the floor. Um if you're going to do that, you need to leave. Like no, get out of my theater. 

Okay, this movie, give me a second to compose myself. This is by far my favorite movie of all time. Every time someone so much as mentions the word "warrior", I get all worked up. I could go on for days about how much I love this movie. It's that good. Also, I cry every time I watch this movie. I do. It's sad. But what's more important is that it makes my older brother get a little misty eyed. If you can make an eighteen-year-old three-sport-star-athlete, rough-and-tough guy tear up, props to you. This movie is ridiculously amazing and if you haven't seen it, shame on you. 

Now I will admit that this movie wasn't very well advertised. I remember when it first came out. I had seen very few previews for it and I might have seen a poster for it once at one of the bigger movie theaters that my brother worked at. I think this might have been because it didn't have an extremely popular cast. Nick Nolte is a guy that most older-generation folks would know. Hardly any kids these days actually knows who Nick Nolte is. Joel Edgerton is an Aussie and he hadn't really been in many American movies before this one. Tom Hardy had only really been seen in Inception but few people remembered him. And I hadn't really seen Jennifer Morrison before or if I had, I wasn't really paying attention. However after this movie, I gained a lot of respect for all the actors. 

Nick Nolte. Nick, Nick, Nick. He was perfect in this movie. His character was the alcoholic-dad-trying-to-redeem-himself. The movie opens with him coming out of a church and going to his car where he listens to Moby Dick on tape. When he arrives home, he discovers his youngest son, Tommy (Hardy), sitting on his porch steps. When Tommy offers him a drink, Paddy (Nolte) declines saying "I'm done with that now." Also, when Paddy and Tommy are inside talking, Paddy explains how he's 100 (or was it 1000? I can't remember, it's been a while) days sober. My heart really went out for this guy throughout the whole movie. Yes, he was an awful father when his sons were younger, but he's trying his hardest to pull his life together and redeem himself. His main goal throughout the whole movie was to show his sons, especially Tommy, that despite the fact that he's an alcoholic, he still loves them with all his heart. 

The one thing though was that sometimes, I couldn't understand what Nick Nolte was saying. Whether it was because he was mumbling, or because he just has a really rough voice, I don't know. I just know that half the time I had to rewind the scene to catch was Nolte was saying. 

I will admit that the first couple times watching this, I didn't really like Joel Edgerton's character. I haven't the slightest idea why. I just know that I really wanted him to lose even from the beginning. 

But even though I wanted him to lose, I did think that he was fighting to a noble cause. Edgerton's character, Brendan Conlon, is the family man. He was really the only one out of his family that pulled his life together. He married a beautiful woman, had two kids, and got a job as a high school physics teacher. However, when his second daughter was born, she had some heart defects. She was put into surgery. Very expensive surgery. Brendan and his wife can't afford the medical bills. They're at risk of losing their house and time is running out to get the bills paid.

So in order to raise the money, Brendan had to find other jobs. He told his wife Tessa (Morrison) that he was a bouncer for clubs on the weekends. However, in actuality, he's been going to strip club parking lots and fighting in the ring. He makes a decent amount of money, but his wife hates it. She told him that she didn't want to have to tell her kids that "daddy gets beat up for a living." Eventually, after a particularly rough fight, Brendan comes home beat up and Tessa discovers what has really been going on. Brendan tells her that there's going to be a big fight in the Atlantic City and he wants to enter. If he wins, he'll get more than enough money to pay the bills (I think it was somewhere around 5 million dollars?). Tessa declares that she'll stay with him, but she strongly disapproves of him fighting and she will not be standing by him in Atlantic City. 

Brendan starts training in order to fight. He joins up with one of his friends who owns a gym. After the owner loses his best fighter to a knee injury, he agrees to sign Brendan up for the Atlantic City fight. 

Again, I'm saving the best for last so I'll get to Tom Hardy next. But as for Jennifer Morrison, I, personally, had never heard of her before this movie. I didn't really like her character in this movie. And once again I have absolutely no reason for this opinion. I just don't like female leads in movies like this. Plus I thought it was annoying that she didn't like her husband fighting. Like he enjoys it, LET HIM DO WHAT HE LOVES, WOMAN. Granted, eventually, she does come around and watch his last fight in Atlantic City. I was rather annoyed. I really don't have much to say about her except the fact that she should make up her mind and stand by her decision. And she shouldn't be so controlling. Like honestly woman, lighten up. 

Okay, give me a moment to collect myself. This is the movie that made me fall in love with Tom Hardy. He is an excellent actor. He's very young, too, so I am very impressed with him. Plus, Gary Oldman said in an interview that he thought Tom was one of the best young actors he had ever seen. So if you don't think Tom Hardy is a good actor, your argument is invalid because Gary Oldman said he was cool. 

So Tom's character in this movie breaks my heart every time I see it. Every. Single. Time. The movie opens with Paddy Conlon (Nolte) coming home and finding Tommy sitting on his front steps. He seems rather shocked to see him there which gives the viewers an indication that the two of them haven't seen each other in a very long time. Tommy offer's Paddy a drink but Paddy refuses saying that he's "done with that now." This gives the audience a hint that Paddy has a problem with drinking. So Paddy invites Tommy in and they start talking. Paddy keeps trying to be the nice, hospitable father but Tommy is very short and cold with him. At first I was kind of like "Wow, jerk. I mean no need to show your father love or anything, not like you're in his house." However, as the dialogue develops, you learn that Paddy was actually and alcoholic and probably abusive father. Tommy obviously hasn't gotten over that yet and still has some hard feelings towards his dad. 

The part though in the beginning that I didn't like was when Paddy was like "Tommy, I'm a thousand (or was it a hundred, I can't remember) days sober now." And Tommy tells him (sarcastically) how nice that is but he's too late now. At first I was like "whoa dude, harsh." Little did I know that that information was a foreshadow that lead to one of the most heart wrenching scenes in the movie. 

So basically, Tommy comes back from fighting overseas. That's all you know is that he was overseas and everyone is surprised to see him back. He goes to his dad's place and stays there for a little bit. He goes to his old, local gym and signs up for a membership. He starts working out and one day, the best fighter in the gym doesn't have anyone to fight against. The gym manager says that he'll give two hundred dollars to the next person who gets someone to fight this guy.

So Tommy's like "I'll fight him."

And then they all laugh.

And he's like "No really, I'll keep him warm until the next fighter gets here." 

So the head honcho of the gym checks to make sure Tommy has insurance and then lets him in the ring. Keep in mind that everyone in the gym thinks Tommy won't last ten minutes with this guy. So Tommy gets in the ring.

And he absolutely kicks this guys but. Like within three minutes, this guy is on the ground, out cold. 

And then Tommy just walks over to the gym manager and is like "You owe me two hundred bucks." And then he just walks away. 

Sassy.

So independently, Tom Hardy goes to Atlantic City with his dad as his "trainer" so to speak. He totally blows off the press conference that all the fighters are supposed to attend to but his brother (Edgerton) catches a glimpse of him. This is the first time in years that the two have seen each other. 

The fighting begins. And we see Tommy get in the ring first. He has no walkout music. He just walks in and goes to his corner. The other guy comes in and tries to be all showy but Tommy is having none of that. So the ref starts the fight and literally, Tommy throws one punch and the guy is out cold, on the ground face down. And then he just walks out. He just leaves the ring. One does not simply leave the ring after knocking someone out in one punch. But Tommy does.

So this whole beating-everyone-up-in-a-very-short-time thing continues for a while. We see some of Brendan's fights but they're long and not very interesting. 

And then we learn that the reason Tommy came back from fighting was because he went AWOL. When he was leaving, he came upon this tank that was sinking and there was a guy in the tank. Tommy ripped the door off the tank and then walked away. The police say that if Tommy doesn't win, they're taking him into custody. 

And then (again) Tommy and Brendan meet for the first time in years and they have a very emotional talk. Well it was emotional for me, and I think Brendan, but Tommy was just mad and distant. 

And then the most heart-wrenching scene in the whole movie happens. It cuts to Tommy in the hotel room and he hears his dad in the living room kind of rambling around. Tommy opens the door to find Paddy completely drunk and on the verge of an emotional meltdown. And then Paddy starts crying and Tommy hugs him and oh my word it is beyond sad. 

So then, we find out that Tommy and Brendan..... have to fight each other. What. I know, it was incredibly predictable but still very exciting. So Brendan shows up to the ring with his trainer and Tommy shows up a little bit later alone because Paddy's still getting over his drunkenness. And they start fighting. And it's intense. And it gets down to like the second to last round and (this is where I start to get teary-eyed because this really emotional background music starts playing) Brendan has Tommy in this hold.... and he dislocates his shoulder. OH. MY. WORD. I cringe every time. But Brendan's really upset because he didn't want to have to and Tommy's upset because his shoulder really hurts. 

So the next round starts. And Brendan's trainer, like the little jerk that he is, tells Brendan to dislocate Tommy's other shoulder. But Brendan wants to stop the fight because Tommy's hurt. Well Tommy is having none of that and he tries to fight Brendan. Of course Tommy can't really do anything because he has a bum arm but Brendan still puts him in a hold. 

And this is when the tears start flowing. 

Paddy shows up and sees what's going down and knows what's about to happen. Tommy's on the verge of all kinds of collapse. And Brendan is holding him saying "Tommy, please tap out. Tommy please." But Tommy refuses. And then they kick me while I'm down. Brendan says "Tommy, I love you. I'm sorry." 

And then Tommy taps out. And I collapse on the floor in a heap of tears and feels. 

But all these people are trying to swarm the ring and Tommy's on the floor because his shoulder's hurt. So Brendan pushes everyone away (yes, including the policemen who were coming to take Tommy away. Yah, I forgot about them, too) and he helps Tommy up and they walk out together. 

I shouldn't be allowed to watch this movie. 

Sources

Images-Google

Cast-IMDb

Taken 2

5 out of 10 stars

Cast

Bryan Mills..............................Liam Neeson
Kim Mills...............................Maggie Grace
Lenore Mills........................Famke Janssen
Rade Serbedzija...................Murad Krasniqi


***** WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS *****

Someone tried to pay with plastic money at the theater this week. Actually, they didn't try, they succeeded. It was only a dime but still. Can I just... I mean, who carries plastic money around with them? Like props to the guy who got away with it but really. I don't even know what game it was from. 

Alright, Taken 2. I'll start off by saying that it wasn't as awful as I thought it was going to be. I thought it was going to be this abysmal, poorly written movie that only highlighted Liam Neeson's obsession with trying to be James Bond. 

And although it did try to put Liam Neeson in the James Bond position once again, it had a little more substance than that. But only a little. 

Okay. Liam Neeson. This man is obviously a very well-known and (as I admit begrudgingly) talented actor. However, lately, I haven't been liking many of his movies. One of my coworkers told me that there was a rumor that Neeson auditioned to be the next James Bond (I'm guessing instead of Daniel Craig) but was told that he is too old. So now, I guess to prove himself, he signs up for all these movies where he plays this action hero who can take out an entire mob with nothing but his bare hands. Like Liam, let it go. I looked up some of the previous/current James Bond actors and their age for their last movies. This is what I got.

Age of James Bond Actors for Their Last Movies

Sean Connery- 53 yrs old.

Roger Moore- 58 yrs old.

Pierce Brosnan- 49 yrs old.

Daniel Craig- currently 44 yrs old. 

Liam Neeson is 60. What I'm trying to get at is that all the previous James Bond actors ended their careers around or before the age of 60. Neeson is trying to start a James Bond career now. It just isn't going to work. Stop trying to prove yourself. You've made your point. 

I just recently finished watching Schindler's List and I thought that was some of the best acting Liam Neeson has ever done. And he wasn't an action hero. Although I love action movies, only playing an action hero won't impress me. Being a diverse and complex actor will impress me. If you can play an intelligent-yet-cunning con man then turn around and play a inner city ex-military fighter from a dysfunctional family and then turn around again and play a masked villain (*cough cough* Tom Hardy *cough*), you will definitely make my "Good Actors" list.  

However, this movie wasn't as bad as some of the others. I liked the whole dad-teaching-daughter-to-drive thing. I also thought the protective-dad-going-to-boyfriend's-house thing was pretty funny. He's decent at playing a dad. That is if your dad is an assassin who has been trained to kill any man a snap of your fingers.

Demon. She looks like a demon. It's nothing personal against Maggie Grace, I just think that her eyes are so dark that they look black... like a demon's. She's actually very pretty. Her eyes just freak me out. 

She was pretty decent in this movie. At least she attempted to show some kind of self-defense skills. She seemed to have gotten better from the first movie. Her boyfriend was ugly though. No offense to her or anything. 

However I thought some parts of her character were very illogical. Like how she doesn't have her licence but she can drive a stick-shift taxi cab through downtown Istanbul. No... just no. And she throws grenades weird. She throws like a girl.

Demon 2. It must run in the family.

I really didn't like Famke Janssen in this movie. She was a much better Jean Grey in the X-Men Series. She was just... annoying. Another thing you'll learn is that I really don't like characters that have no self-defense skills and are helpless. That is exactly what she was. I mean I understand that if you are being held at gunpoint, there's not really much you can do.... unless you're like, I don't know, James Bond or something... sorry Liam. But if someone is kidnapping you, like don't just start screaming. Throw some punches or at least start kicking him or something. If I am going to be taken, I am going to make sure that I will make it as difficult as possible for them to even get near me. Seriously, it'd be like trying to pick up a floundering fish. 

Yes... I basically just called myself a floundering fish...

Okay is it just me, or does he look like The Most Interesting Man in the World? Like really, I looked at him and was waiting for him to say something like "I don't always try to kidnap people. But when I do, it's Liam Neeson trained as an assassin." 

I actually thought he was pretty funny. Which is something that I seem to do. I always like the bad guys. Typically the bad guys who like to hurt people. Like Bellatrix in Harry Potter 7 when she's attacking Hermione and carving words into her skin. I thought it was the funniest thing in the movie. I was cracking up the whole time.

My friends think I'm a sadist. 

Also, first person who can tell me how to accurately pronounce his character and real name, I will dedicate my next blog post to you. Leave responses in comments.

You think I'm kidding. 

Do it.

I thought there were some other illogical things about the movie. Like how when Liam and Famke get kidnapped and Liam is trying to tell his daughter how to find them, and you discover that he is like four blocks from their hotel. I mean if you're going to kidnap someone, take them to the other side of the country. 

And how when Kim throws the grenade, it conveniently lands under the only car on the parking deck. They just couldn't go one movie without having a car explosion. 

And when the kidnapper is searching the closet for Kim. Open the doors, don't see anybody standing there, must be empty. What an extremely thorough search of the closet. I'd be like throwing things and kicking piles of clothes. But whatever, they're Turkish. 

So yah, this movie wasn't the greatest but it wasn't exactly fall-off-the-cliff-of-despair terrible. It's really only a one-time see movie. 


Also, I have seen that some people from France, Germany, and Russia have been viewing my page.

ily Eastern Hemisphere. We tight.






Sources
Images- Google
Cast- IMDb

Trouble With the Curve

6 out of 10 stars

Cast
Gus............................... Clint Eastwood
Mickey............................... Amy Adams
 Pete.................................John Goodman
Johnny.........................Justin Timberlake


***** WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS *****

This is when I usually tell about some strange/interesting thing that happened to me at work this week. Nothing exciting really happened I guess, except maybe that one of my coworkers told me how when he first saw my boss, he thought he was a homeless man. I can't say I disagree. 

Anyway, this movie. Not the best. For me, it was a one-time-see movie. I liked it the first time, it was alright. But I definitely wouldn't see it again. It was a little... dry. Dull. Nothing really happened. Maybe it's because I'm a knock-down-drag-out-fight-to-the-death-someone-must-die-or-at-least-be-part-of-a-severely-dysfunctional-family-to-be-a-good-movie kind of person, but I mean really, the best part was probably when Gus (Eastwood) and Mickey (Adams) got in a car accident.  And they didn't play it up very well. The whole scene lasted about two minutes. 

Oh Clint Eastwood. Clint, Clint, Clint. When I first told one of my friends that this was the movie that was playing at my theater, she asked who was in it. I replied: "Oh, you know, Amy Adams and Clint Eastwood." thinking that she would at least recognize those two names. At hearing my response, she promptly cried: "Clint Eastwood? Isn't he like 100?!" 

He's 82.

Close enough.

However, in this movie, you can definitely tell that age is starting to affect him. He doesn't move very well anymore (and yes, I do understand that that was kind of the point of his character but still, he plays it very well). Also, he has absolutely no voice inflection. Everything is monotonous.  Even when he's talking about his wife's death.

Like please, Clint, I need you to control yourself.

Also, he's got the classic Clint Squint. His eyes are forever half-closed in a look where I can't tell if he's glaring at someone or just can't see. Or both. 

Overall, I think Clint's time is coming to a close in the movie business. I understand that he has acted in 68 productions, produced 37, and directed 35, but really like I think it's getting to be that time.

Just let it go, buddy.

Okay, I actually kind of liked Mickey. And that's saying a lot coming from me. I mean I usually hate all female lead roles in movies. Maybe it's because I can kind of relate to her. I mean even though she acts like this sophisticated, uptown lawyer, she's actually a rough-and-tough tomboy who loves baseball. Growing up with an older brother and my dad, I was a tomboy for the longest time. And in some ways, I still am (I mean they are basically the reason that I hate chick flicks and love football). I love how she could show up all the boys in Gus's department. 

However, there was one thing that bothered me. At the end of the movie when she and Gus are walking out of the stadium and she checks her phone and says that she might become a partner with her firm. And then... she just throws her phone away. In the dumpster! ONE DOES NOT SIMPLY THROW THEIR RATHER EXPENSIVE PHONE IN THE DUMPSTER. But obviously to her dumpster > logic.

(I would like to take a moment here to apologize if this seems a bit choppy. I'm trying to watch Gladiator and it's getting to the good part. So I'm sitting here like "YAH. YAH MAXIMUS GET IT. GET IT MAX, YAH. YAH YOU KILL COMMODUS. KILL HIM. YAH THERE YOU GO. NO. NO STUPID YOU CAN'T DIE NOW. NO. NO STOP IT. STOP. DYING." I've seen this movie twelve times. 

You think I'm kidding.

I'm not.)

So back to the review.

John Goodman. This man. Is amazing. I never really realized how many movies he was in. Especially kid movies (think Sulley from Monster's Inc. and Pacha from Emperor's New Groove.) I really like him. A lot. He reminds me of a teddy bear. I like his character in this movie. He's the good guy who tries to please everyone. He's Gus's best friend of 30 years and a second-father figure to Mickey. He's just a likable guy.

(In case you were interested, Gladiator is over so I am Legend came on.

Talk about terrible graphics.

Ew.

So I changed it to The Social Network.

With Andrew Garfield.

Andrew Garfield = life.)

Justin Timberlake. Sigh. Admittedly, he was alright in this movie. He was most certainly the comic relief. I did chuckle a little a couple times when he was on-screen. Like the whole "bar fight" scene. And how he asked Mickey out on a date. I just don't know why but for whatever reason, every time I see that Justin Timberlake is going to be in a movie, I cringe a little. He just always plays very.... static characters.

So overall, it was a decent movie. Interesting enough concept. However, there wasn't really a climax. Also, they didn't do much with the pitcher that the bring in at the end, Rigo. I mean yah, they had him as "Peanut Boy" in the beginning, but then he just kind of disappeared from the movie until the end. I feel like they needed to build up his character a bit more. It was alright the first time. After that it was just kind of dull. Solid 6.

Asdfghjkl. Andrew Garfield.

P.S.- I'm taking the ACT tomorrow. God save my soul. 

Sources

Cast-IMDb

Images-Google

Looper

3 out of 10 stars

Cast

Younger Joe.....................Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Older Joe.....................................Bruce Willis

Sara..........................................Emily Blunt 

Cid.........................................Pierce Gagnon

*****WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS*****

Can I just rant for one tiny moment? Someone came into the theater this week and asked for unchilled bottled water. Unchilled. As in not cold. Like, seriously? If you come into my theater and ask for unchilled water, I will judge you so hard.

Anyway, back to the movie. 

I wouldn't say this is necessarily a bad movie. It's just...... weird. That is really the only word I can use when describing this movie. It's just plain weird. I think he tried too hard to play the cool guy though.

Can I just first take a moment to say that this is not Joseph Gordon-Levitt. That's just not what he looks like. It threw me off the whole movie. I kept looking at him and thinking "no.... just no." I know he was supposed to look like a younger version of Bruce Willis, but it just wasn't working for me. And besides, of all the actors in Hollywood to choose to play older and younger versions of each other, they choose Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis?? Their casting director should be fired. 

But besides the whole changed-appearance thing, I thought Joseph Gordon-Levitt did alright in this movie. It definitely wasn't his best. But it certainly wasn't his worst. He did an excellent job of narrating in a dramatic voice. 

Okay... Bruce Willis. I think I actually sort of maybe liked his character. I'm not quite sure yet. He wasn't... awful. But again, I don't think it was his best performance. There was one point in the movie, don't ask me about it because I won't be able to tell you, but there was one point where, for like maybe 2 seconds, that Bruce Willis had hair. It was a close-up of him turning around so you could only see half of his face. But it was long, stringy, black hair with an intense widow's peak. And for whatever reason, those 2 seconds just make me madder than all get out. I cannot stand to see Bruce Willis look like that. It infuriates me. It's not the fact that he has hair. I've seen him with hair before, in Surrogate. I don't know. It was just atrocious. I do think that the whole time, he was fighting for a noble cause. He only wanted to save his wife. He was fighting for the one's he loved. However, I do not under any circumstance promote the killing of small children. I thought that was horrible. Especially the first one, when the boy turns around and sees Bruce Willis just standing in his garden, watching him. I wanted to be like "YOU CREEP GET AWAY FROM THAT BOY HE'S REALLY CUTE!" But of course he killed him anyway. What a terrible person. Poor kid.

I will admit that I somewhat approved of Emily Blunt's character. Only somewhat. I was rather impressed, though, with her ability to put on an American-Southern accent. Some British actors have enough trouble with regular American accents (think, Chicago-like), let alone one with an accent. I thought that was pretty skilled. However I did almost snort Dr. Pepper up my nose at the part where Sid (Gagnon) is having his 'meltdown' and she locks herself in a safe. I was like 'really? That's your panic room?' I feel like that could be potentially very dangerous. But I guess you gotta do whatever it takes to protect yourself from your raging, psychopathic 4-year old...

Speaking of psychopathic 4-year olds, lets talk about Cid. Sweet baby mother of pearl. This child. First off, look at his face. So cute. So presh. I wish I could just wrap him up in my pocket and save him for a rainy day. And let me just remind you all that Pierce Gagnon was five when he filmed this movie. 
Five. 
And what have you done with your life so far?
Exactly.
This is some of the best child acting I have seen in a very long time. I love the part when he distracts the guy who comes to question Sara. How he just walks around the big circle so smooth-like. Also, he's remarkably good at making an angry face. And I don't mean like little-kid-gets-mad kind of angry face. I mean like I-swear-I-will-make-sure-you-die-the-most-painful-death-possible kind of look.
He's five.
People on tumblr like him a lot.

So although it did have Pierce Gagnon in it, I still think it wasn't a very good movie. There was just so much excessive language. And I guess that is more realistic since most of it is about grown men fighting each other but still, it would've been just as great a movie if there wasn't as much foul language. 

Plus, they could have done with a little less violence. Now I know that's unusual for me to say. I'm usually pretty chill with violence. It doesn't bother me. (That's what happens when your dad has you watch Saving Private Ryan when you're nine.) But this time, I just got tired of it. Like, we get it. You see the guy, you blow his guts out his back. Enough already, I've seen in twelve times. And as my mom said, it left nothing to the imagination. If somebody got shot, you would see everything. 

And finally, I really don't think the movie was very well thought out. Half the people I've talked to are still confused as to whether Cid was a younger-younger version of Joe or if he really was the Rainmaker... or if Joe was the Rainmaker. I finally conceded to the idea that Cid was not a younger-younger version of Joe and that Cid was supposed to be the Rainmaker but because Joe killed himself, Cid would have a loving mother in his life who would keep him on the right track and not turn into a murderous raging monster. But I wouldn't know would I because THEY DIDN'T CLEAR THAT UP AT ALL. Also, the one thing I thought was that if Abe, Joe's boss, was from the future, didn't that mean that a younger version of himself was running around somewhere? And if so, I thought that was illegal. I don't know. There were too many unanswered questions.

Like why did Joe want to go to France?
I just...
I can't.
Okay. Goodbye.
Drink cold water.





Sources
Images-Google
Cast-IMDb

The Odd Life of Timothy Green

6 out of 10 stars

Cast

                                       Cindy Green............................Jennifer Garner

                                                 Jim Green................................Joel Edgerton

                                                 Timothy Green.........................CJ Adams

*****WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS*****

This movie is currently playing at the theater I work at. Honestly, I didn't really know if I wanted to watch it or not. However, I sat through it and I'm really glad I did. 

Let me start off by saying that although I did not give this the highest of rates, it was still a feel-good movie. It was really cute and had an interesting concept. 

From the beginning though, I loved the cast. I really liked Jennifer Garner and she was excellent at playing the over-protective mother. And because this wasn't an action movie, I actually enjoyed having a female as one of the lead roles. I did feel bad for her in the beginning. And whenever she talked to her troll of a sister. Like really, BRENDA, SHUT UP ABOUT YOUR KIDS ALREADY. Anyway, I approved of Jennifer Garner's performance.

I have decided that I really like Joel Edgerton. The first time I remember seeing this Aussie on-screen was in Warrior (I have recently discovered that he was in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith... I feel very deceived). However, since Tom Hardy was also in that movie and because I believe Tom Hardy is God's gift to the earth, I thought he completely out-shined Joel Edgerton.  But, in both movies, Edgerton played the family-man, always caring about his wife and kids. I think he'd be a good dad to be quite honest. And, because he had no fierce competition for face time in this movie, I got to see how good he really was. 

Okay, this kid, CJ Adams, I love him. He's so cute. Like when I have kids, they'd better be like this child right here. He's a really good actor for being so young. He was definitely the highlight of the movie. His character was just so precious. And in the beginning, the way he said "please don't ask about my leaves." Oh my gosh. I died. 

However, I will say about this movie, Timothy's "departure" was a bit sudden. I mean I know they built it up the whole movie about his leaves falling off and everything but still, when the time actually came for him to leave, it was very sudden and over very quickly. But I don't know, maybe that was the point. I just thought it should have been a bit more dramatic. 

Nonetheless, I thought it was a very cute family movie. It's perfect for all ages. I would recommend it to families who have younger kids or for anyone who wants to watch a feel-good movie. I approve.

And I love the name Timothy.



Sources
Pictures- Google
Cast- IMDb

Inception

8 out of 10 stars

Cast:

                                             Cobb.................. Leonardo DiCaprio

                                             Eames.................. Tom Hardy

                                             Arthur.............. Joseph Gordon-Levitt

                                             Ariadne............... Ellen Page

                                             Saito.................. Ken Watanabe

                                             Fischer................ Cillian Murphy

                                             Mal..................... Marion Cotillard

*****WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS*****

Let me just start off by saying, I love Christopher Nolan. He is my hero and an absolute genius when it comes to directing movies. 

This is an example of that genius. 

I mean really, how can one person come up with such a complex idea of various levels of dreams? And the whole planting-an-idea-in-someone's-mind thing? Just amazing.

Anyway, I absolutely love the cast of this movie. I'm a big fan of Joseph Gordon-Levitt and I love Marion Cotillard. Plus, one of my all-time favorite actors ever had a total of about twelve seconds on-screen: Micheal Caine. Yes. The One and Only. 

And let me just take a minute to explain the Tom Hardy situation. You will hear about Tom Hardy a lot on this blog. Brace yourselves, you have been warned. He is, by far, probably my favorite young actor. I consider Inception to be his debut film into America. Yes, I am well aware that he was in the Resident Evil movies. But I feel like ever since Hardy worked with Christopher Nolan, people started to remember "the British one from Inception". 

I adored Eames's character. I thought he was definitely the comic relief in most situations. His constant bickering with Arthur was amusing and his "mustn't be afraid of the big guns, darling" line (scene from picture at top) never fails to make me laugh. I also thought he was really cool in the last level of dreams that they were all in. A.K.A. Hoth. The way he took out the entire security force was rather impressive if I do say so myself. 

Arthur, as much as Eames disliked him, was also one of my favorite characters. I always seem to like the right-hand-man kind of characters in movies and that was definitely Arthur's role. I like his cool, calm, and collected demeanor. Plus, his spiderman-no-gravity hotel fight scene was pretty dang cool. 

I didn't really like Ariadne, A.K.A. Arachnid (don't ask, I know she has absolutely no resemblance to a spider but that's just how I remembered her name the first time I heard it). This is probably because, as you will soon find out, that I really don't like when girls are one of the major characters in a movie. This usually only pertains to action and action-type movies. I have absolutely no idea why I feel this way but that's just how it is. Admittedly  compared to other major-female roles, she was rather good and I was able to tolerate her for the length of the movie.

I didn't completely love Cobb either. For some reason, I typically don't like the protagonist in movies. Especially when it's Leo DiCaprio. I have no idea why. It just seems like whenever its Leo DiCaprio, I just like the secondary characters better...

The only thing I have to say about Marion Cotillard: I am alarmed albeit impressed with her ability to play a character with extreme psychological issues. 

The suspense of the movie gets me every time. Especially when they're all in the van and it's falling off the bridge and they have to accomplish everything before the van hits the water so they can ride the "kick" back up. I've probably watched this movie at least 7 times. Every time I watch it, I always get nervous at that part. I always think they might not make it. I mean, you'd think for as many times as I've seen it, I would be used to it but no, I still get worked up. 

The one thing that I don't understand though is that once the van hits the water and they're all sitting on the bank of the river, how do they get from that dream level back to reality? I mean they got back to that level by riding all the "kicks", but what kick got them back to the plane? Because if they killed themselves, they'd just drop into Limbo, right? AND, they said the time period they'd be on that level was like a week. Hmm, food for thought. 

And finally, the spinning top at the end. Um, let me just say: It was going to fall over. It was wobbling. A TOP CANNOT WOBBLE THAT MUCH AND NOT FALL OVER. JUST LET HIM GET BACK TO HIS KIDS, OKAY? 

Overall, it was a great movie. However, as some people put it, "you have to think in order to watch it". If you enjoy movies that you can sit back and relax while watching, I would not recommend Inception. However, it is an amazing movie with an incredible concept. Another fabulous job by my idol.

Christopher, your genius is showing again...

Sources
Images-Google
Cast-Imdb