Movies I Watched This Week: 7.08.08 – 7.15.08

Read below for reviews on the following films:

• (2007) Gone Baby Gone **** ½
  
• ( 2008 ) Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay *** ½
  
• ( 2008 ) Made of Honor ** ½
  
• ( 2008 ) Mama Mia ****
  
• ( 2008 ) Meet Dave *** ½
  
• ( 2008 ) Minutemen *** ½
  

Gone Baby Gone (2007) **** ½

Gone Baby Gone is stars Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan as Boston-area detectives who are hired to find a child that has gone missing. Everyone involved put their heart and soul into finding her, which in turn turned everything into a disaster for them physically and emotionally.

This is a movie that several people will enjoy. There aren’t many movies these days that critics can give praise to, but this film is among the few that does deserve praise. Everything done in the film was done phenomenally.

The casting could not have been better. From beginning to end, I constantly thought that I’ve never seen such an amazingly realistic cast. Finally, a movie that mirrors reality! Where all the men and women are not utterly attractive as they always tend to be in movies. People come in all shapes and forms, and that certainly does not take away from their acting ability, which is another key factor.

The acting was just as great. Because of such a diverse group of actors, you really believe them when they are on screen. Everything from their reactions to just how they deliver their lines. It was all done beautifully.

The movie really makes you feel bad for these kids that get kidnapped. You know when you are watching that it’s just a movie, and it is all fake, but again, the acting was done perfectly and you want everything to go alright. You can’t wait to see how everything is put into place. Unfortunately, however, that is not how this world works out. You can’t always have a happy ending, and they portrayed that flawlessly in this film.

When watching this, I really can’t help to think to myself that this could be based on a true story. It’s done that well. Before this week, I didn’t know what this movie was about, so I was reluctant to watch it. Now in retrospect, I’m glad I saw it. Peace out.

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay ( 2008 ) *** ½

I never actually saw the first Harold & Kumar for one main reason, something about going to White Castle. The truth is I really didn’t have a clue what the movie was about, I just knew small key points here and there, like, they smoked pot, wanted to go to White Castle, and met some hot girls along the way. I also knew that it left off where this film started. I can say after seeing the sequel, it’s enough to make me want to see the first film.

This time Harold & Kumar are on an adventure to go to Amsterdam, where Harold’s girlfriend from the first film moved to at the end of White Castle. Their reasons are simple, because one, Amsterdam is the place where marijuana is legal, and two Harold wants his girl back. Along the way, the duo gets caught up in several comedic obstacles along the way.

I’m not going to lie, it’s stupid, but it’s funny. I had some major laugh out loud moments watching this. It was a fun movie to watch. Not all of it was that great either. Even though it was funny, a lot of it got to be excessively unneeded. I understand that for this kind of movie it’s to be expected for some of the stuff it does, so I’m not going to really criticize it much. Also, this is just a side note; their George W. Bush isn’t that great. He may sound like Bush a little, but he isn’t even that great of an impressionist. You can tell they spent a lot of time putting a ton of make-up on him to try to make him look like the president, but in all honesty, it wasn’t that great.

Overall, this was just a fun movie to watch. I gave it 3.5/5 and for the people reading that that think it’s harsh, think of it this way, 3.5/5 is just another way to say 7/10. Peace out.

Made of Honor ( 2008 ) ** ½

I am unsure why the film business insists on making the same movie over and over again. They did a good job in “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” and they did an alright job in “27 Dresses,” but they cannot continue doing this. It just turns out to be one big cliché of a romantic comedy, which is what this movie is. I’m one to usually like the occasional “chick flick” but this movie goes beyond your stereotypical romantic comedy film. For me this movie was more a spoof movie than “Date Movie” was.

I will say this about Made of Honor; Patrick Dempsey’s and Michelle Monaghan’s acting performances were actually done pretty well. However, that does not make up for the crap that is the rest of this movie. I liked the beginning 10-15 minutes, and I really enjoyed the predictable ending 15-20 minutes of the film. The hour in-between was just painful to watch.

I guess you can say when the film really picks up, when Dempsey’s character, Tom, realizes that he has feelings for his best friend, Hannah, and she shows up with a fiancé, you really emphasize with his character. This does not last long however, because the film ultimately feels dragged out longer than it should, and you end up not caring what the heck happens to Tom. I couldn’t care less if Tom lost the girl and jumped off a 50 story building. If they just had her come back from Scotland, and Tom came to her and proposed to her then, making the movie 30-45 minutes long, than I would be happy.

I was really bored watching this, and almost stopped watching several times. I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone unless they are completely bored and have nothing else to do. Peace out.

Mama Mia ( 2008 ) ****

I had the opportunity to see Mama Mia a week before it came out, and I’m actually glad I did. I had a few issues with it myself, but in the end I came to enjoy it. This stars Meryl Streep as Donna, the mother of Sophie, who just wants to know who her father is. Sophie found her mother’s diary where she found three possible fathers, so on her wedding day, she invited all three, because she was convinced she would know who her real father was right away. The only problem is, when they arrived, she had no idea which one was her father.

All in all, this is a feel-good musical comedy. No, a lot of it doesn’t make sense. For instance when the young couple is singing an incredible song on the beach, about fifteen guys randomly appear out of the ocean and start singing along with them. This particular thing happens all the time in the film, and it happens all the time in musical’s alone. For me, it was not a huge problem, because the cast put on a stellar performance in every one of their songs. I had to get used to Pierce Brosnan singing ABBA, I have to admit, but once I was used to it, I just downright enjoyed the movie.

Honestly, I think the more of an ABBA fan you are, the more you’re going to enjoy this movie. For me, I’ve listened to ABBA several times prior to seeing this movie, so I obviously was having a lot of fun. I am not an avid fan of ABBA, but I can imagine anyone that loves their music, will love this movie. Anyone that isn’t a fan at all of ABBA, simply won’t like this. Across the Universe did The Beatles, Mama Mia did ABBA, who’s next, Michael Jackson?

Meet Dave ( 2008 ) *** ½

This is where I differ from most critics. Although, I don’t think that I’m alone in this, at least not to the general audience. For critics, I’ve heard them complain about this movie for months, just because they thought the trailer looked stupid, and that Eddie Murphy’s career is going down the tubes. I agree that Eddie hasn’t made a great comedy in a long time, but I actually enjoyed this, and I’ll explain why.

Eddie Murphy stars as “Dave Ming Chang,” a human-shaped alien spaceship. He also stars as the captain of the ship. He is on earth looking for an orb that will suck up all the Earth’s water to save his own planet from destruction. On Earth, he meets Elizabeth Bank’s character, to which he falls in love with, and in turn, respects the human kind.

It’s not the best writing in the world, but I think Murphy portrayed his character in a really comedic fashion like he always does. There was a ton of physical humor, and I couldn’t help but keep laughing. There was a good amount of verbal comedy, but what won the movie over were Dave’s actions.

Overall, I just had a fun time watching this. Would I watch this again in theaters? Probably not, but I wouldn’t mind seeing it again on DVD. Peace out.

Minutemen ( 2008 ) *** ½

Minutemen is a Disney Channel ‘Original’ Movie. When I put quotes around original, I mean it wasn’t original at all. How many movies have you seen about time travel? There’s too many, sure they all have different stories for the most part, but you can’t do a whole lot with time travel really. The question is, what would you do if you could travel time? Selfish deeds probably, well the point this movie was trying to make was to be selfless, and not selfish.

My inner critic shot out some rather obvious flaws pertaining to this film. The first was that the acting was terrible. No human reacts the way they did. Second, there were countless plot-holes in the movie. Third, it didn’t make sense at all. The writing was horrible. Now that being said, this, ladies and gentlemen, is once again, a Disney Channel Original Movie. What else do you expect?

That wasn’t meant as a negative, I assure you. I had fun watching this. Even though every other scene, I just sat there, wondering who was dumb enough to write that into a script. It was a movie made for kids. I am no longer a child, so I can’t see it the way a kid can. Like they said in Gone Baby Gone, “Kids forgive, they don’t judge, they turn the other cheek, and what do they get for it?” I can’t say it better than that. Peace out.