Despicable Me
Release Date: 2010
Director: Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud
Genre: Animation
Main Cast: Steve Carell (as Gru) Jason Segel (as Vector) and Russell Brand (as Dr. Nefario)
IMDB Rating: 7.5
My Rating: 9.1
Length: 95 minutes
Budget/Gross Revenue: $68 million/$528 million
Going from needing to be convinced multiple times to watch this film to buying the $30 Blue Ray Special Edition the day after watching it was a huge change in perception, but it was well worth it do the comedy and exceptional plot the animated film presented. The use of the minions throughout the film was the main source of comedy, with their failures and giggles providing similar laughs for the audience. Most animation films in the past that I have seen have been directed at younger audiences, however, Despicable Me did an excellent job of using the transition of the Gru's character from being villain to a caring father to make the plot excellent to all audiences. This is my favorite and highest-rated animation I have seen to date, as well as a great watch with any audience for any occasion.
Road to Perdition
Release Date: 2002
Director: Sam Mendes
Genre: Drama
Main Cast: Tom Hanks (as Michael Sullivan, Sr.), Tyler Hoechlin (as Michael Sullivan, Jr.), Paul Newman (as John Rooney) and Jude Law (as Harlen Maguire)
IMDB Rating: 7.8
My Rating: 7.0
Length: 117 minutes
Budget/Gross Revenue: $80 million/$181 million
The -.8 difference in my rating and the near-default IMDB's 7.8 is in no way a disrespect to this excellent film, gangster films are just not my preferential sub-genre. I did very much like the concept and themes this film presented throughout and felt it had an excellent ending and closure, something I do not praise very often in most films. The evolution of the film from a hunter to a hunted was done well overall, but made the film seem slightly drawn out. Kinda the trend this week, the film had above average amounts of shoot-'em-up scenes, with every main character besides the innocent son dying in the end. The father-son theme of both the Sullivans, the Rooneys, and Sullivan Sr. and John Rooney was what truly made the film better than most mafia-themed ones, with Sullivan Jr. resolving the father-son struggles in the finale of the film. Hanks and Newman led the way of the excellent cast performance. Another can't-go-wrong film that displays its excellent drama and plot from all angles.
Dust
Release Date: 2001
Director: Milčo Mančevski
Genre: Action
Main Cast: Joseph Fiennes (as Elijah), David Wenham (as Luke), and Adrian Lester (as Edge)
IMDB Rating: 6.1
My Rating: 5.6
Length: 127 minutes
This film was absolutely all over the place in its storyline and character development. The plot of the western story was literally made up within the modern story, thus it had tendencies to not stay consistent and believable. The numerous characters didn't stay terribly consistent either, making the film hard to follow and difficult to understand the meaning behind the actions. The shootouts were drawn-out way too much, them accounting for a large portion of the film's time. The relationship of the brothers was also not very sincere or correlated, there was obvious feuding but that feuding became more of a series of staredowns throughout the film. About the only part I liked was the evolved relationship between the thief Edge and the dying Angela. Their friendship before her death was the only decent acting that actually seemed sincere in this hollow film.
Appaloosa
Release Date: 2008
Director: Ed Harris
Genre: Drama
Main Cast: Ed Harris (as Virgil Cole) Viggo Mortensen as Everett Hitch) (Renée Zellweger as Allie French) and Jeremy Irons (as Randall Bragg)
IMDB Rating: 6.8
My Rating: 7.1
Length: 115 minutes
Budget/Gross Revenue: $20 million/$27 million
I felt this film was was well done as a whole, with some great performances and no major issues or flaws. Keeping the film flowing and keeping the audience comfortable with the understanding of the plot is critical to a good film, thus the major difference between this western and Dust. Viggo Mortensen is one my favorite actors, and he does not disappoint in this film's performance. His poised demeanor provided an excellent supporting role too Ed Harris' slightly-paranoid and slow character. The romance theme throughout the film was way to prevalent, the film would have been better had it just been a friendship/rival theme with the three main male characters. Allie French's revolving love interest in different men made it hard to sympathize with any negative outcome the occurred. The affairs did not have the King Arthur/Sir Lancelot feel that I had expected, as Viggo's character wisely stayed out of the drama of Allie. An solid film despite the romance-heavy theme, with good action and excellent acting by Harris, Mortensen, and Irons.
Never Back Down
Release Date: 2008
Director: Jeff Wadlow
Genre: Action
Main Cast: Sean Faris (as Jake Tyler) Amber Heard (as Baja Miller) Cam Gigandet (as Ryan McCarthy) Evan Peters (as Max Cooperman) and Djimon Hounsou (as Jean Roqua)
IMDB Rating: 6.2
My Rating: 8.3
Length: 114 minutes
Budget/Gross Revenue: $20 million/$42 million
This week's review is full of films that I liked that were not in my usual preferences of genres, and this film is a good example of that. I am normally not a huge high-school drama film fan at all. This film, however, did a great job of selling that drama within the sport-form of mixed martial arts. The relatively new cast beyond Gigandet and Hounsou performed above average performances, especially in the fighting scenes. The filming of the fighting was done very similar to popular fighting films like the Rocky Series and Cinderella Man. I really didn't have any major issues with this film, with it having good closure and leaving the audience wanting a similar well-done sequel.
The Departed
Release Date: 2006
Director: Martin Scorsese
Genre: Drama
Main Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio (as William "Billy" Costigan) Matt Damon (as Staff Sergeant Colin Sullivan) Jack Nicholson (as Frank Costello) Mark Wahlberg (as Staff Sergeant Sean Dignam)
IMDB Rating: 8.5
My Rating: 7.3
Length: 151 minutes
Budget/Gross Revenue: $90 million/$290 million
One of the most popular gangster films of recent times, The Depated presents an extremely complex plot of deceit, corruption, and ganglife. Armed with 4 big name actors, the film does an excellent job of using their acting talent to set the film up for greatness. Each character fits their role relatively well, with Damon's corruption being the police rat being semi-unbelievable due to him playing the protagonist in nearly every film. Another film with death throughout, the killing of nearly all the main characters in the end does a good job of stating the film's moral and themes. My only prejudice against the film is it possibly being slightly too intricate. Again not my genre of films, but an extremely well done piece that deserves the mass of recognition it gets.
Smokin’ Aces 2: Assassins’ Ball
Release Date: 2010
Director: P.J. Pesce
Genre: Action
Main Cast: Tom Berenger (as Walter Weed) and Clayne Crawford (as Zane Baker)
IMDB Rating: 5.0
My Rating: 6.1
Length: 86 minutes
Budget/Gross Revenue: unkown/unknown
An obvious low-budget film that was not released in theatres, this prequel to the original action-packed shoot-'em-up has even less substance than its predecessor. This film had an almost identical plot to the first one, with multiple hitman teams assigned to take out a target, with the point of the hit being altered at the finale of the film. Overall solid action and shooting scenes, but little-to-no plot and poor acting from a cast of low-tier perfomers.
An obvious low-budget film that was not released in theatres, this prequel to the original action-packed shoot-'em-up has even less substance than its predecessor. This film had an almost identical plot to the first one, with multiple hitman teams assigned to take out a target, with the point of the hit being altered at the finale of the film. Overall solid action and shooting scenes, but little-to-no plot and poor acting from a cast of low-tier perfomers.
War
Release Date: 2007
Director: Philip G. Atwell
Genre: Action
Main Cast: Jet Li as (Victor 'Rogue' Shaw) and Jason Statham (as John Crawford)
IMDB Rating: 6.1
My Rating: 4.8
Length: 103 minutes
Budget/Gross Revenue: $25 million/$53 million
One of the worst plots of a film that I have seen in a long time, this film is typical of most Statham and Li films: lots of good hand-to-hand action, but no other points of interest within the film. There really isn't much to say about this film besides that everything was below average besides he fighting scenes, and that I don't suggest it unless it is one of your last choices.
Tommy Boy
Release Date: 1995
Director: Peter Segal
Genre: Comedy
Main Cast: Chris Farley (as Thomas "Tommy" Callahan III) and David Spade (as Richard Hayden)
IMDB Rating: 6.8
My Rating: 6.3
Length: 97 minutes
Budget/Gross Revenue: unknown/$33 million
An overall comical, yet dumb comedy starring one of the best comedians of the '90's in Chris Farley, this film charts the attempts of Farley and Spade as they try to save Farley's automobile company as travelling salesmen. Another one of the anything-that-can-go-wrong-does themes, Farley and Spade do a good job of bonding and psynching roles towards the end of the film. Unlike many of today's comedies, I liked how it remained funny despite the lack of an outrageous amount of crude and somewhat-innapropriate humor. A great quick watch for laughs, making it a classic comedy.
Piranha 3D
Release Date: 2010
Director: Alexandre Aja
Genre: Horror
Main Cast:
IMDB Rating: 5.7
My Rating: 6.1
Length: 90 minutes
Budget/Gross Revenue: $24 million/$80 million
Piranha lived up to its billing as being a Jaws-type outrageous horror, with graphics and a plot that were intended for quick scares and near-comical deaths. The entire films tracks harshly-carnivorous fish that quickly devour any prey that is in their water system. The plot is little more than an escape one, being slightly difficult to comprehend how people mostly on beaches couldn't avoid the water-dwellers. Beyond decent fish animations and an semi-interesting background on the emergence of the fish, this film was not great by any means.
A much improved week of viewing from the previous couple, with some excellent films stemming from genres that I normally veer away from. Despicable Me turned out to be a must watch, and the gangster/hitman-heavy film list proved above-average as a whole. Stay tuned next week for more variance in film categories viewed.
-Jarid Holliday
Piranha lived up to its billing as being a Jaws-type outrageous horror, with graphics and a plot that were intended for quick scares and near-comical deaths. The entire films tracks harshly-carnivorous fish that quickly devour any prey that is in their water system. The plot is little more than an escape one, being slightly difficult to comprehend how people mostly on beaches couldn't avoid the water-dwellers. Beyond decent fish animations and an semi-interesting background on the emergence of the fish, this film was not great by any means.
A much improved week of viewing from the previous couple, with some excellent films stemming from genres that I normally veer away from. Despicable Me turned out to be a must watch, and the gangster/hitman-heavy film list proved above-average as a whole. Stay tuned next week for more variance in film categories viewed.
-Jarid Holliday
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