Oblivion

Oblivion directed by Joseph Kosinski is a sci-fi movie set a few years after aliens invaded Earth, causing us to use our nuclear weapons and destroy our planet. Luckily, we won the war (or did we?) but we have had to move to Saturn's moon, Titan. The main character in the movie is Jack Harper (Tom Cruise) and he is a drone repairman. He only has two weeks left of this job, then he gets to go to Titan with his partner Victoria (Andrea Riseborough). Well, as long as he doesn't mess anything up.

Everyday, Jack gets to go down to Earth on a fancy flying machine and make sure everything is running properly on the surface. He repairs any drones that the remaining aliens, or Scavs, have taken down during the night and kills any Scavs that he finds. Victoria stays up in the tower and watches everything he does on a screen, alerting him of coming danger. She's also in contact with Mission Control this whole time - Sally.

The problem is, Jack sometimes has dreams about a girl, dreams that he thinks are memories. Five years ago, he had his memory wiped so he doesn't remember anything before the invasion - but he remembers this girl. And boy is he in for a surprise. One of his days down on the surface, he finds that the Scavs have set up a signaling device that is sending a signal off planet. He destroys the device, but later that evening, a ship comes crashing down to the surface. He of course goes to investigate, and finds that the crashed ship hold not Scavs, but humans! And one of those humans is the girl from his dreams! Dun dun dun.

Victoria had alerted Control about the ship and drones were on their way to destroy any survivors. These survivors were in freeze-sleep or whatever you call it, and had been for sixty years. So, they are sleeping in coffin looking things that have been keeping them alive. The drones come and start blowing up the other survivors. Jack manages to save the girl of his dreams though by standing up to the drone, risking getting blown to smithereens. Then he brings her up to the tower to Victoria and she saves her life. But you can tell Victoria is uneasy about it. I should note, Victoria and Jack are lovers as well as partners at this point. She encourages Jack to turn the girl into Control, but instead the next morning, he takes the girl, Julia, down to earth so she can get her flight record and they can see what happened to them. But, things don't go according to plan.

While at the crash site, Julia and Jack are taken by Scavs. Well, that's what they appear to be, but after Jack gets there, he learns that they are actually human too. And nothing is really making sense to him. The leader of this group, Beech (Morgan Freeman) tells him that Titan doesn't exist and that the Tet (the supposed space station) is the alien object that destroyed the Earth. He wants Jack to program the drone they have captured to go to the Tet, carrying enough fuel packs to make a sizable bomb. But Jack isn't convinced. He encourages him to go into the radiation zone so he can figure some stuff. Instead Jack takes Julia back up to the tower but Victoria won't let them inside because she is jealous of Julia mostly. She tells Sally that her and Jack are no longer an effective team. So a drone comes to kill them. It does kill Victoria but Julia manages to shoot the drone down with the ship and save Jack.

Then they go to the radiation zone. And Jack sees himself. A clone of him doing exactly what he does. That's what it takes to convince him something is wrong. Julia then collapses because she was shot by a drone. So, Jack fights his clone, steals his airplane thing, and goes back to his tower. Stealing that med pack, after an awkward confrontation with another Victoria, he goes back, saves Julia, and returns to Beech. He's agreed to program the drone to deliver the bomb.

The problem is, Mission is onto them. The second Victoria reported that Jack went missing, so they send drones that come and attempt to destroy the colony of humans. The drone is destroyed. They need another way to deliver the bomb.

I'm not going to give away the ending on this one, because I think it's lovely. And I want everyone to experience it first hand.

The acting in this movie was great. I LOVE Tom Cruise. I don't think he's particularly attractive or anything, but he does a pretty good job. In Sci-Fi movies especially (I adore Minority Report). And his love interest in this movie is talented too. I loved her in Quantum of Solace, opposite Daniel Craig, and she didn't disappoint here either. And of course, Morgan Freeman. Who doesn't love this man? He's truly fabulous in this movie, as in every other movie he's in.

I liked the story in this movie. It was more a love story than anything else. Which should come as no surprise, because most movies are. Let's face it, love is really what life is all about (not just in movies). To tell yourself different is just lying to yourself. And cloning always intrigues me. It's a confusing and fascinating simultaneously. I don't think it's something that should ever be done, in the real world. But it's good movie material. Can be funny or just add enough extra to a Sci-Fi movie to set it apart from the rest. I also liked that even though the world was apparently destroyed and couldn't support healthy life because of the radiation, Jack still couldn't really bear the thought of leaving. Do I believe in life elsewhere? Absolutely. Would I ever leave my home planet? No way. I think there is something special about Jack for not giving up on his home. Something I think a lot of people I know need to work on. Just because it's not doing so great doesn't mean you just get to cast it aside and move on to what you assume are bigger and better things. There is a reason we are here and not somewhere else, after all. You can read into that as much as you would like. =)

I'm done with that tangent now. My conclusion is: this movie is lovely. Watch it.

I give it an 8 out of 10.

As always, thank you for reading. Please, watch Oblivion and share your comments below.

May Movies!

Yay! Summer movies! Best time of the year ;)

May has some HUGE movies coming out. So.. I'm guessing out of my nine movies, seven of them will come. But, I've been wrong before.

Iron Man 3
>Um.. it's Iron Man? I think that's all the explanation this needs as to why it made the list. But, to go into it a little more: This is going to be the best Iron Man so far. Pepper is in danger. Tony is pissed. Revenge is sweet. Also, he has a fancy new suit (surprise, surprise).
The Iceman
>Oh my goodness, does this movie ever look good. Usually, I'm a pretty good judge of what's going to be good (except Battleship). This has an awesome cast with Ray Liotta, James Franco (yum), Chris Evans, Winona Ryder, and.. David Schwimmer? I'm excited for this one.
The Great Gatsby
>One of the greatest books of all time. With an all star (and talented to boot) cast. Leo DiCaprio is great, Toby McGuire looks like he is growing up, and who doesn't have a crush on Isla Fisher? Carey Mulligan is new to me, so we'll see.
Star Trek Into Darkness
>I probably won't be able to sleep for like the whole week before this movie. Gah! I LOVED the 2009 movie, and this new one looks even better. That's all.
Fast and Furious 6
>Well, these movies are seriously lacking in plot, but you don't see them for the plot. It's pretty much a whole movie of car chases, which all men like. And women too, turns out. Plus, there is pretty men and women in this movie, I guess. Paul Walker does nothing for me, personally.
The Hangover Part III
>I honestly don't know how I feel about this movie. But I have to finish the series out.
Epic
>There is probably always going to be a animated movie in my list. I like them. I take my nephew to see them with me, and that makes them better. This looks cute. =)
Now You See Me
>I've been waiting months to see this movie! I have really really high hopes for it though, so it may be a let down. However, it has an amazing cast and an interesting plot. So I'm confident Morgan, Jesse, Mark, Isla, and Woody won't let me down.
The Kings of Summer
>The underdog movie for this month. Every other movie on my list is pretty big, and this one isn't really on the radar. I think it looks funny though. So, I'm hoping it comes to our small theater.

That's my list. Going to be a great month. Can't wait to blog about these films!

Thanks for reading. =)

42

It's been a week since I saw this movie - sorry for the delay on the review.
Also, kind of sleep deprived, so it might be all over the place with lots of spelling and grammar errors. My apologies.
42 directed by Brian Helgeland is the story of how Jackie Robinson got into baseball. I loved this movie. Loved it. I liked that things weren't blown out of proportion for more suspense or drama. Well, at least I don't think they were. I'm not an expert on Jackie Robinson. I expected to cry in this movie, and I did. Only once though. =)

Most people know this story already, so I am going to keep my review short.

Starts out with Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford) talking to a couple other members of his management team, and he tells them he's going to bring a negro player onto the Brooklyn Dodgers. Remember, this was in the late 1940's, so this was a risk. However, his team agrees to help him research and find someone to recruit. They find Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman).

Jackie Robinson was known for fighting segregation. He didn't just lie down and take it. He stood up for himself. This made him a good candidate for the first negro major league baseball player. But, he had to understand that if he was to take this opportunity, he couldn't fight the people who tried to bring him down. The public wouldn't see it how it actually happened. They would see it with Jackie throwing the first punch or whatever. He needed to be stronger than that. Jackie assured Mr. Rickey he could do that.

Jackie and his wife, Rachel, showed up in Florida for spring training. But they couldn't stay in the hotel with the team so they were set up in a house nearby. It didn't take long for people to show up and threaten him. The movie goes on to show the hurdles Jackie had to overcome with the public hating him, his team not accepting him, and other teams trying to bring him down. All the while, his wife supported him. She made it to as many games as she could, even after they had a child.

There is one moment in the movie where Pee Wee Reese from Kentucky, throws his arm around Jackie's shoulders where everyone, including his racist family, can see. He then says to Jackie "Who knows, maybe tomorrow we will all wear 42, then no one could tell the difference." That's when I cried. Haha.

Of course, as we all know, Jackie does overcome all those obstacles and plays for the Dodgers.

The acting in this movie was incredible. Chadwick Boseman played Jackie perfectly. He portrayed the inner struggle that Jackie had going on very well. Played him as the strong person that he was. And Harrison Ford was amazing.

I also liked that the racism wasn't underplayed. They definitely weren't afraid of the word "nigger", which is good because it makes the movie more believable. A lot of people back then really did think colored people were a lesser race.

I've read other reviews for this movie saying that the drama was too played down. But, I disagree. It showed the drama that was going on, with the death threats to Jackie and his family, the judgement that Mr. Rickey had to deal with. I think people are just too addicted to action. They wanted more suspense and fight scenes. And those just weren't necessary to make this movie great for those of us who know good movies. ;)

Sorry this review isn't as in depth as my other ones. I really want everyone to just go see it. I don't want to spoil any of the details of the movies. So.. go see it. I give it a ten out of ten.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation

Hmm, I don't know where to start on this one.

G. I. Joe: Retaliation, directed by Jon. M. Chu, did not quite reach it's full potential, in my opinion. I also didn't like the first installment in this series so I wasn't too surprised to find myself not wowed by this one. I wanted to go see it because it looked like it could have some decent action scenes and I have never minded a little Channing Tatum on the big screen(yum). However, it fell short of amazing.

My plot review for this movie will be a little shorter than my previous entry... hopefully =)

G.I. Joe Retaliation starts out with the G. I. Joe force breaking into an enemy camp, as is typical for any army based movie. Start it with some action. Okay, so that part is pretty uneventful. Tried to throw some comedy in there between Duke (Channing Tatum) and Roadblock (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) as well as a small laugh by the enemy flag being replaced by the G. I. Joe flag.

After the opening credits, during which you find out the two Cobra officials unaccounted for are Storm Shadow and Zartan, it goes to the White House, where the president and his council decides to blame the G. I. Joe squad for the death of the Pakistani president. So, the president makes the order to bomb their camp. The attack is completed unexpected and all except for Flint (D.J. Cotrona), Lady Jaye (Adrianne Palicki) and Roadblock (Block). No more Duke. So, within the first fifteen minutes, I've already lost one of my two reasons to watch the movie. And action alone isn't enough to make a good movie.

Anyway, this group of G.I. Joes gets away from the camp and immediately knows that something is wrong with the president. (Oops.. forgot to say, the president has already been revealed as a fake. While he keeps the real one locked up, he digitally alters his appearance and runs the country with the interests of Cobra in the front of his mind.) So, they quickly find a way to get back to the United States (a convenient airport less than a day's walk from their destroyed camp).

Meanwhile, Snake Eyes has been captured, and they take him to the prison in Germany where the Cobra Commander and one other Cobra head honcho who's name escapes me, are also being held captive. The most secure prison in the world as it is miles under the surface of the earth. However, when they get Snake Eyes into the same room as the Cobra Commander, it is revealed that he isn't Snake Eyes at all! But rather his arch nemesis, Storm Shadow. Dun dun dun. So, they put him in prison instead.

While this is happening, you see a motor bike approaching the prison, and once he is close to the gate, he releases a swarm of mechanical fireflies. At the same time, Storm Shadow convinces the guards that he is dead, and when the go to see what's up, he kills them all. The fireflies are actually little bombs that blow up the whole surface section of the prison, and Firefly (the man on the motorcycle) goes down and helps Storm Shadow free the Cobra Commander. The leave the other guy there to die because apparently he did bad. Alrighty, during their escape, Storm Shadow is severely burned on his back so they send him to the mountains to heal. And Snake Eyes sees all of this as he is also outside of the prison. Popular place for being top secret.

During this time Lady Jaye decides to pretend to be a reporter at an event that the president is at so she can get further evidence that his is not himself. She collects a hair and the find out he is none other than... Zartan! Oh my, didn't see that one coming. Then there is a creepy scene where Flint watches her undress but nothing ever comes of that.

Snake Eyes makes a plan with both his mentor and fellow student Jinx to capture Storm Shadow and get him on their side so they can figure out what Cobra's plan is. Some kinda neat ninja-running-on-sides-of-cliffs scene, and they are successful. So, the three of them (Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow, and Jinx) meet up with Jaye, Block, and Flint and make a plan to take down Cobra. They go get some help from the first Joe, General Colton (Bruce Willis). So, now we have a team of super badasses who basically cannot fail.

First let me tell you what Cobra is planning. They have pretty much built a super weapon that is in space, and they are planning on bombing all of the countries with nukes and take over the world. But first, they call a nuclear council meeting, and convince everyone else to launch their nukes at each other, then guilts them into self destructing the missiles before the can do damage. Now no one has any weapons. Except Cobra.

Luckily, the Joes get there after only one country has been destroyed. Cobra Commander flees the scene and Firefly takes off with the briefcase that has the power to launch the missiles. Luckily, they do at least get to kill Zartan and save the president. Then Block goes after Firefly. Blows him up with his own firefly bomb, and saves the day by overriding the system in the nick of time. All the Joes are recognized with medals and everyone is happy. End of story.



I'll admit, the main reason I didn't like this movie is because of the similarities it had with A-Team, Red, and The Losers. Apparently the hot plot line right now is to paint the heroes in a bad light at the beginning of the movie so that they can't be trusted anywhere they go. G.I. Joe isn't supposed to be a serious movie. And I think they were too careful with it. It was boring. Movies about elite soldiers should never be boring.

Plus, when you have an attractive set of characters, such as Jaye, Flint, and (for some) Block, you have to incorporate some sex into it. Watching Jaye undress in the reflection on the TV screen just doesn't cut it from me. Come on people, you already have the PG-13 rating. Cut out the unnecessary scene where Block meets up with old friends for a place to stay and throw in some steamy sex scene. Just my opinion.

Maybe what I'm trying to say is the movie is lacking emotion. Movies that stick with you are movies that make you feel for the characters. I just didn't have that with this movie. Even with Block and his kids, there was just something missing. So, I think they need to work harder on the next one (I'm sure it's coming since Cobra Commander escaped) and make you fall in love with the characters. Other action movies do it.


Overall, I would give it a five out of ten. And I apologize for not making that any shorter. I did try.

Once again, thank you for reading. Comments always appreciated. =)

Silver Linings Playbook

Silver Linings Playbook, directed by David Russell is a powerful love story full of drama and some crooked humor. I'll admit, I pretty much went into this movie blind. I had watched the trailer and knew it was nominated for several Academy Awards. Plus, I knew it had Jennifer Lawrence in it, and I have a bit of a lady crush on her. However, I really didn't know the story line. Which is actually how I prefer to do things. I hardly ever read a synopsis. If the trailer can't convince me, then I'm probably not interested.

So.. here is a plot summary. It's a little long and there are spoilers. Sorry... his is my first one. =)

The movie starts with Pat Solitano (Bradley Cooper) in a psychiatric hospital but his mom, Dolores (Jacki Weaver), comes that day to take him home. On the way home, Pat asks his mother to take him to the library so he can read all the books on his wife's, Nikki, curriculum. When the arrive at the house, Pat's dad (Robert De Niro) is surprised to see him home because he didn't know Dolores was getting him. Then they all argue. Lots of arguing in this movie.

Pat begins reading the books from Nikki's class in his effort to win her back. However, at the end of reading A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, he has a fit. While Pat was in the hospital he worked on finding silver linings and believing in happy endings. He was not happy with the book because it ends with death. And it's hard to see a silver lining in that.

Sometime in the next couple days, he goes for a run. He is searching for Nikki while he is running, going past their old home and to the school where he used to work and she still does. He then stops by his friend, Ronnie's house, where he is invited over for dinner. At first he does not want to go but then he thinks that Nikki might be there because she one of Ronnie's wife's friends. So, he decides to attend.

Ronnie's wife, Veronica, doesn't like Pat. And she does not try to hide that when he comes over for dinner. Before dinner, Ronnie confides in Pat and tells him that he is having marital problems. Pat tells him that he needs to talk to Veronica about that, but Ronnie prefers to pretend like nothing is happening. About this time, Veronica's little sister, Tiffany, comes into the room. Ronnie had just warned Pat that she was coming and was still recovering from the death of her husband so he shouldn't bring it up.

Pat's first conversation with Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) does not really go well. He tells her that he isn't flirting with her then ends up asking her how her husband died. Dinner ends up not going well either and Tiffany ends up wanting to leave early and asks Pat to walk her home. When they get back to her house, she says she isn't attracted to him but if he comes in, she will sleep with him. He declines this and offends her. So she slaps him and storms off.

Over the next couple days he finds out a little of Tiffany's story and she makes a deal with him. If he agrees to dance with her in an upcoming dance competition, she will deliver a letter to Nikki for him. So, he starts spending a lot of time with her, learning different dance moves and building a friendship. She eventually gives him a return letter from Nikki.

During this time, Pat's father keeps trying to get Pat to hang out with him and watch the Eagles game. But, Pat is always spending time with Tiffany during the games. His father thinks Pat is good luck, and if they watch the game together, the Eagles will win. Pat ends up going to a game with his brother and getting kicked out while ditching Tiffany, and gets into a big argument with his father. Tiffany comes over to his house to chew him out, and Pat's dad says she is the reason that the Eagles lost.

Tiffany retorts with a list of the games that the Eagles played while Pat was with her, and they won every game. The next game is supposed to happen during their dance competition, so she convinces his dad to double or nothing the bet on the Eagles winning. The guy he is betting against, Randy, agrees, but wants to add a parlay of Pat and Tiffany getting at least a score of five. Pat however, is angry with everyone and refuses to dance. So, they lie to him and tell him Nikki is going to be there.

The Eagles end up winning the game, but Tiffany sees that Nikki actually did come to the dance competition and she freaks out and starts drinking. Pat finds her and they do their dance, and barely squeak by with a five. But that's all they wanted. Tiffany sees Pat go over to talk to Nikki and runs out of the dance hall. Pat whispers something in Nikki's ear and chases after her. When he catches up to her, he reads her his last letter.. which is to her, not Nikki. In the letter, he confesses his love for her and apologizes for his head taking so long to catch up with his heart.


It's not very often that romantic comedies really wow me, but this story hit close to home and I was impressed. I think my favorite part of the story was how you see the crazy in everyone. Which is something I most definitely believe to be true. Nobody is perfect, we all have demons and every single one of us is a little bit crazy. 

The plot in this movie was well developed and executed well. It started out a little slow, I thought, but it didn't take long to understand just how messed up in the head this guy was. He wanted to prove that he had gotten better while he was away, but the audience can clearly see that he isn't really very much better. However, he has chosen to adopt a very positive outlook on life. He has decided to believe in happy endings. To believe in silver linings. Which I think everyone needs to work on doing that a little more. I liked the overall outlook Pat had on things, even if he did go a little extreme and beat a man within an inch of his life at one point. Overall, he's doing better than most of us, who choose to see the world in a negative light. It takes a strong personality to not focus on the bad stuff. I think we all have a little to learn from crazy Pat Solitano.

I also loved Tiffany's character. She has one line: "I was a slut. There will always be a part of me that is dirty and sloppy, but I like that, just like all the other parts of myself. I can forgive. Can you say the same for yourself, fucker? Can you forgive? Are you capable of that?" I love this line. It's a hard enough world to live in, and if you aren't happy with who you are, it's that much harder. I like that Tiffany can admit that her past isn't perfect. But it has made her into the person she is today, and she is proud of that. I think that's admirable. To not only be proud of your achievements but be proud of your mistakes too. Lovely character. And I have an even bigger crush on Jennifer Lawrence for playing her.

The acting in this movie was incredible. Definitely Bradley Cooper's best that I have seen. The chemistry between Bradley and Jennifer was perfect. They both did a lovely job playing the crazy person in modern America. And I was very impressed with De Niro. He was fantastic at playing the OCD sports fan. I think this movie was well deserving of the Oscar nominations and I am disappointed that it didn't win more.

Thanks for reading. Comments would be appreciated. =)