"The Social Network" review

Don't think that this is some film about how Facebook got big or the steps it took to become a phenomenon. No it's not, because that movie would be boring. This is a film, a great one, about the people who created it and all the drama that went along with it. It has everything you want in the type of thriller for the brain. I'm talking about tons of dialogue, written beautifully by Aaron Sorkin, rather than gunfire and exploding vehicles. David Fincher makes every scene seem like an action scene. He directs it beautifully and adds his signature Fincher touch to everything. The story of Mark Zuckerberg caught me in a trance, and my eyes couldn't leave the screen. Here you get corporate backstabbing, intense greed, betrayal, ending friendships, and an antisocial genius who created the most social networking site out there. All of these components packed into one, flawless film.

Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) is a sophomore in Harvard University, perhaps the most prestigious school in the world. He's a genius who didn't miss a single thing on his SATs. He's obsessed with finals clubs and has the type of personality that makes all girls hate him. From the very first scene we see why this is the case. He gets dumped by his gilfriend who states that dating him is like dating a "stairmaster, it's exhausting." Zuckerberg is sad, and decides to start a website called facemash, where Harvard alumni can compare the hotness of Harvard females. After the computer system crashes, Zuckerberg catches the attention of the Winklevosse twins, who rows for the Harvard rowing team. They give him an idea called the Harvard connection, where fellow Harvard students can have their own profile with pictures, interests, etc. Zuckerberg says he's in to help. With Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), his best friend, helping him out, and the powerful Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake), the creator of napster, they decide to take the idea and make their own website. I'll stop there. Watch the film to see what ends up happening. Grand theft website, anyone? Watch it and you decide yourself.

The acting is brilliant here, possibly the best ensemble cast of the year thus far. Jesse Eisenberg gives one of the best performances of the year as Mark Zuckerberg. He has this innocence about him that's hard to resist. He doesn't ever miss a beat in this film. Stop comparing him to Michael Cera. This right here, in my opinion, is an oscar-worthy performance. Justin Timberlake is dynamite, solidifying the fact that he's a serious actor. Now, back to oscars again. One actor in particular who deserves a best supporting actor nomination is Andrew Garfield. There is a certain scene here where he steals the show and it is so beautifully acted. He gives Eduardo a great amount of smarts as well as an ample amount of vulnerability, and i couldn't help but sympathize with him. And of course Armie Hammer, who plays the twins, is terrific as well.

I want to start talking about why "The Social Network" is such a great film. It's so amazingly well-made. The whole look fo the film, the pacing, the dialogue, the acting, the mood of each scene is brilliant. Hats off to both David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin for coming together and making a gem of a movie. Aaron Sorkin's screenplay definitely steals the show here for the majority of the film. The dialogue is witty, funny, and smart. The film doesn't drag you along but rather, makes you catch-up to it. The story enthralled and captivated me. The characters were so well emphasized in this film, that I might consider calling this a character drama. What each and every character is going through and how different each of their perspectives are is interesting. This is the best film of the year so far, and it'll be hard to top. It's one of those rare dynamites of a movie without using any actual dynamite. Facebook lover or not, whether you think Mark Zuckerberg is an assh*le or not, this is a great movie. "The Social Network" shows where we are in society, a technologically driven society. This film is something special.
Rating: 4 out of 4

"Get Him to the Greek" review

Russell Brand and Jonah Hill are back in this so-called sequel to the great "Forgetting Sarah Marshall". Nicholas Stoller, the director of the 2008 hit, is directing this film as well but this time he's also writing it. Like any Judd Apatow produced film, it does have its share of hilarious raunchiness. It's R rating is prominent here once again, but one of the good things about the film is that it never goes too far. The first half of "Greek" is filled with dirty jokes and drug abuse, but as soon as you think it's going too far, it reaches its second half which has a surprisingly pleasant amount of heart. like "Forgetting Sarah Marshall", you care for the characters here and truly hope that they can find a better lives for themselves. It's the ability of these types of comedies to do this to us that make them worthwhile. Sure it's funny, but where's the emotion? There are only a few that accomplish this, and "Get Him To The Greek" does a nice job.

British rock star Aldous Snow (Brand) is over the hill. He's sunk himself deep with drugs and alcohol. Instead of being an artist, he has turned into a controlled musician with producers telling him what to sing. This is evident by his terribly recieved album "African Child". He's basically done. Then one loyal fan named Aaron Greenberg (Hill), who works for a record company, proposes a plan to the ambitious and demanding Sergio Roma (P. Diddy) to have an Aldous Snow comeback concert in the Greek Theatre in L.A. Seeing this as a great plan, Roma trusts Greenberg with the obstacle of getting Snow to the Greek. Problems arise as Greenberg tries his best to keep Snow on track. Being sidetracked by drugs, alcohol, girls, etc., Greenberg realizes that it'll be hard not only to keep the rocker on track, but himself. The journey to the Greek can be disturbing at times, but ultimately it's a memorable one.

The whole cast here is simply terrific. It's one of the biggest strengths of the whole film. Jonah Hill makes his character a sophisticated but very vulnerable man, although Hill's weight is starting to look like an issue. P. Diddy is fantastic and absolutely hilarious. Some people say that he actually made the film. In my opinion, though, Russell Brand made the film what it is. He's the same old Brand that we've come to know from "Forgetting Sarah Marshall", a wild drug, alcohol, and sex addict. But when the film decides to become sentimental, Brand does a great job of giving Aldous Snow a tremendous amount of heart.

Nicholas Stoller has written and directed a good film that is undoubtedly hilarious at some parts. The problem here is that the film may seem a bit too long and a couple of parts seemingly fall flat. Overall, though it isn't as good as "Forgetting Sarah Marshall", it's a good film that's funny enough to be considered one of the better comedies out there.
Rating: 3 out of 4

"Date Night" review

Steve Carrell and Tina Fey team up in a very solid comedy that has a simple story to it. They're just one of those couples who goes on a date here and there, but in the same restaurant. They barely have sex and their kids and job seem to take up the majority of their time. They notice this as a theme to their relationship, and plan to spice things up by going on a different type of date. The date turns disastrous. First, they steal someone's reservation in a high-end restaurant called Claw and then they are caught up in a whirlwind of problems. They meet weird people, including the shirtless Mark Wahlberg, and go on a too unrealistic car chase. What may seem like many problems at first happens to be a blessing in disguise. What they learn from each other may be the key to saving their "boring" relationship. It has a nice blend of comedy and suspense, but some of the lines didn't work. With that said, most of them did, and "Date Night" serves as a fun film to check out.
Rating: 21/2 out of 4

"Kick-Ass" review

This is one badass movie. It's bloody, hilarious, and has a young girl beating big dudes up and cussing furiously along the way. This is what I'm talking about. Now is it really true that sometime in our lives, maybe even now, we fantasize about being a superhero? Yes, probably. Have we fulfilled that dream? Probably not. Why? Maybe because we're too much of a wimp to try it out. In this great film by Matthew Vaughn, that fantasy came true. This movie is definitely not for everyone. Don't be fooled by the trailers. This isn't a film for young kids or the faint of heart. It's gory like a Quentin Tarantino masterpiece. It's language is harsh at times and the jokes are very explicit. Call it "Superbad" with a little extra twist; there are superheroes. All those components, when put together, work amazingly. It has the right amount of rauchiness but at the same time, the perfect amount of heart. "Kick-Ass" brings out the vulnerable superhero from all of us.

The great imagination of being a superhero turns into a reality when a regular high schooler named Dave (Aaron Johnson) decides to try his hand at fighting crime. He's just a regular teen who "just existed". He wasn't into sports, wasn't the smartest kid, and girls didn't seem to like him much. It was just him and his three friends fooling around at comic book stores after school. Soon, Dave buys a funny looking green costume online. It looks ridiculous, and that's one of the funny parts of the film. It's stupid and not intimidating at all. Nevertheless, he puts it on and names himself Kick-Ass. Of course, like any superhero, nobody knows his true identity. None of Dave's friends know that he is Kick-Ass. So he begins his tour as a superhero, and things don't seem right. He first tries to fight a couple of thieves who are attempting to steal a car. It doesn't work out too well. He gets beat up and even worse, as he's walking away, he gets hit by a car. He's sent to the hospital bleeding out real human blood. This shows that despite being a superhero, he's a vulnerable human being like all of us. He gained some fame, but it wasn't until he decides to fight 3 guys who are ganging up on one guy that he broke through. As he begins to fight them, he attracts the attention of the people around him. One kid pulls out his cellphone and records it, posts it on Youtube, and the sensation of Kick-Ass is born. With the help of the loving, but obsessed Big Daddy (Nicholas Cage) and his daughter Hit Girl (the tremendous Chloe Moretz), they begin their reign. These two are masters at their crafts, and Big Daddy is relentless in teaching Hit Girl the ways of a superhero. Soon, obstacles begin to stand in their way, like the police department and the one and only Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse). The fights that the good and bad guys take part in are pretty darn cool. Trust me.

The whol cast is brilliant, but the one who totally steals the show is Chloe Moretz, a young 13-year-old actress who plays the totally badass Hit Girl. To think she was only 11 when they shot this film is mind-boggling. She slips that occasional cuss word, and gets grown men bloody from their heads to their toes. She stabs then and pops them right in the head with a gun. She's ruthless and a master at her work. The young actress pulls it off flawlessly. This performance will get her started for sure in her career. Aaron Johnson plays the role of Dave and Kick-Ass with heart and determination, always reminding us that he's not a superhero but just someone who dares to be one. And Nicholas Cage surprised me in this film. I've always known that he is a fine actor, but I didn't know he would play such a vital Role in this film. There are also strong supporting performances by Mark Strong and Mclovin from "Superbad".

"Kick-Ass" is a great film of people willing to obtain superhero-like powers. Not super speed, the ability to fly, or breathing out fire, but rather the willingness to make a change and end the corruption. We need more people like that in the world. In one scene, Kick-Ass is called crazy. He realizes that he's not the crazy one, but that we are for just standing there and watching the madness proceed. "Kick-Ass" is a terrific combination of being funny, violent, and tragic while at the same time being a hugely entertaining journey of a ridiculously fake superhero who will seem like a real one to all of us.
Rating: 31/2 out of 4

"How to Train Your Dragon" review

Does this movie look like something soley made for kids? You betcha. But trust me, it's more. It's an animated feature of a great adventure that can be enjoyed by both children and adults. The 3D is the best I've seen in any film thus far, and you will be blown away. The story is about a lovable character named Hiccup (voiced brilliantly by Jay Baruchel) who just wants to be a viking like his father and the rest of them. The problem is that he's a skinny little boy with a show of little confidence. Definitely not the recipe for a viking. So what does he do? He sees himself in a dragon he calls Toothless, and learns the ways of the dragon through him. The whole cast of voices here are all well-done, especially by the likes of Gerard Butler and Craig Ferguson. Ultimately, the movie is beautiful throughout, but the scenes that stick out are the ones with Hiccup flying high in the sky with awesome 3D magic. I don't know if this is quite Pixar-esque, but it isn't far away from that, and that's seriously saying alot. The film is at times funny, thrilling, and heartful. A family film to have all those qualities work effectively together is an undoubted success. One of the best films of the year thus far.
Rating: 31/2 out of 4

"Clash of the Titans" review

Movies like this can easily be bad, with over-the-top action scenes, a script that seems like it was written by a 12-year-old, and a bonehead plot. Fortunately, the filmmakers here decided to actually take this one a little more seriously. The film is based on a remake from the 1981 "Clash of the Titans", and the new 2010 one is filled to its brim with, at times, beautiful CGI. More or less, that's what this whole film mainly depends on, the strength of its CGI. And what the film mostly consists of is real humans fighting CGI in mindless action scenes. That's right, mindless. Is this a bad thing? Well, it can be enjoyable to a point, but when it reaches the stage where you can barely recognize what's happening in the movie, then that's bad. This is one of the flaws of the film. There are times when the action on screen simply look like utter madness. Still, Sam Worthington gives an inspired performance along with Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes. They make the best of the material is this fun but flawed action adventure.

Perseus (Worthington) learns that his real father is Zeus (Neeson), a god. He is angry that he never knew this after 20-some years, and to make matters worse, Zeus' brother Hades (Fiennes) murdered Perseus' fake father whom Perseus loved very much. He vows to take revenge by killing Hades but of course, it's no easy task to kill a god. Despite Perseus' obvious courage and characteristic of being both a man and a god, it seems like an impossible feat when you look at the creatures that he's going to have to kill. Watch Perseus swing his sword bravely through every mindless (there's that word again) action scene to accomplish his seemingly improbable goal.

I think Sam Worthington is a certified blockbuster actor now. And though he can't and may never top the success he had with "Avatar", it is no doubt that his new film will do well in the box office. Liam Neeson is solid here, but the part doesn't demand much out of him. Still, Neeson is Neeson, which is good. The rest of the supporting cast, led by the legend Ralph Fiennes, do enough to fulfill each of their characters.

The script is nothing special, but rather flawed in its amount of cheesiness. I hate using that word, but some scenes undoubtedly include some cheesy dialogue. But believe it or not, "Clash of the Titans" is not a bad film, but an enjoyable one. When the action doesn't seem so mindless, it can be fun to watch. You also begin to care about Perseus more and more as the film goes on, making his quest for revenge exciting. This film is a more serious version of this year's "Percy Jackson and the Olympians", which I found to be a better film. Despite that, this is a movie to enjoy with a big bag of popcorn and a nice pair of 3-D glasses. Just don't expect a masterfully made epic that's entertaining throughout. Just because it's starring Sam Worthington doesn't mean it's as good as "Avatar". C'mon now.
Rating: 21/2 out of 4

"Crazy Heart" review

Jeff Bridges amazed me in this film. His performance is nothing less than perfect. You watch him and you see "Bad" Blake, an alcoholic country singer who was once a huge star, clearly and vividly. You forget an actor is playing him. Bridges gets absolutely lost in his character and never looks back. This is why he went on to win best actor in the 82nd Academy Awards a week ago. If anyone deserved it, it was him. Maggie Gylenhaal, who was nominated for best supporting actress, is solid as a divorced mother who falls in love with "Bad", or at least she thinks she's in love. The cast is the biggest strength of the film, as the story is nothing unique. The material would just be solid with decent performances, but because of the flawless performance from Jeff Bridges, it's worth seeing.

"Crazy Heart" is definitely not for everyone. It isn't constantly entertaining and some songs seem to drag. Nevertheless, the film is captivating as you start to care for "Bad" Blake more and more as the film goes on. Scenes that involve Blake fighting his addiction to alcohol are filled with genuine authenticity. Everything feels real. Other than that, the Jeff Bridges performance of a lifetime is worth checking out on its own. Watch him play the chords of "Bad" Blake's crazy heart. You'll be satisfied.
Rating: 3 out of 4