Taken - Review

As a fantastic surprise, we get a fantastic movie thrown into the midst of the movies we have been reviewing of late, as part of our student powered voting system. It is a nice change of pace in comparison to the other movies, which kind of emanated a certain "I'm in school" vibe, as the movies we watched seemed to normally be something most people wouldn't watch on their own time. Well, with that out of the way, on to the review.

To start off, the movie's plot is as simple as it's title. A man who used to work for the government as a self proclaimed  "preventer", who simply prevents bad things from happening, has his daughter kidnapped in Paris while she is on a vacation with a friend. Now, the plot is of course a BIT deeper than that, but we'll leave it at that. Even with the simple plot line, this movie packs a major punch, as it's filled with action, detective works, sly spy-like tricks, and even a little parkour.

There were not many main characters in the movie, but Liam Neeson, who portrays the main character, Bryan, did a fantastic job bringing action to the movie, while being an all-together collective, and seemingly average guy. With a surreal car chase, dozens of hand-to-hand fighting scenes, and even a few shootouts, this movie definitely brings the action that we desired to the screen, and even a star that we aspire to be a little closer to reality than most. The other main actors, Kim (Maggie Grace), Lenore (Famke Janssen), Amanda (Katie Cassidy), etc. all played less major roles in the film, but still presented themselves in an adequate fashion on screen when their parts required it.

The music was all too unnoticed while watching the action occur during the movie, leaving it hard to rate, unlike the special effects, which were also hard to notice being fake, as you immersed yourself into the movie's action.

To conclude, this movie is a definite RENT, as it's got some good action, a few good hints of comedy, and the explosions we know you love!

***Rating***
 ****/*****

Action: *****/*****
Acting: ****  /*****
Music:  ?        /*****
Plot:     ****  /*****

Top 10 Films - Joe Heinecke and Cole Buchanan Compare

Joe Heinecke and Cole Buchanan here to talk about our top 10 favorite films of all time!
I, Joe will go first.
1) V For Vendetta
2) Inception
3) Big Daddy
4) My Best Friends Girl
5) Rush Hour 2
6) Rush Hour
7) G.I. Joe
8) Aladdin
9) Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets
10) Ace Ventura


And now Cole.

1) Scott Pilgrim v.s. The World
2) Tales of Vesperia: First Strike
3) Juno
4) Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
5) Superbad
6) Yes, Man
7) Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie
8) The Truman Show
9) Liar, Liar
10) Ace Ventura

The Great Debaters-vodcast

http://sharing.theflip.com/session/00392c653472b41fe8b8e056d2ae1df1/video/27808921

V for Vendetta - A reView

Well Cole and I, Joe certainly disagree on our ratings for this movie, so I... Vacated him from the team (relax he's out sick). Well, while he thought the story was to Vague, I thought it was simply wonderful, and guess what, he's not here. I've seen this movie enough times to notice those little things that you miss the first Viewing. I will personally say that this film deserves the raVe reViews it's gotten. The actors play there parts near perfectly, a few haVings, but nothing serious. The use of iambic pentameter was well placed, esspecially at the Very beggining, after V saVed the distraught EV. They were also clever in using BeethoVen's 5th symphony in accordence to "Remember Remember the 5th of NoVember." I'm glad to say that all of V's efforts were not in Vain, as the reVolution came about and a new, braVe, and united Brita' came about, and peace was reViVed. This was truly a movie of Vast messages and thought, I loVed it.
***Pros***
Plot
Music
Underlying Messages
Action
Twists
Acting
Character DeVelopment
***Cons***
(for the sake of Cole)Need more info about V's life, who is he(Ironic to ask a man in a mask, who he is, isn't it)
***Rating***
*****/***** (fiVe/fiVe)

The Graduate - THE Review

In the movie “The Graduate”, Dustin Hoffman stars as our uncoordinated, Benjamin Braddock, who is confused about his future, and ends up having an affair with one of his parent's friends, Mrs. Robinson, and then falling in love with her daughter, Elaine. On the way, Ben has a number of spontaneous decisions that normally lead to comedic outcomes, and ultimately end up with Ben running off with Elaine, unsure of where the wind will take them.

***Plot***

Cole - The plot of “The Graduate” really had me unhooked. It was all about Ben trying to get Elaine, after first sleeping with her mother numerous times. Sure, it had its comedic moments, but they didn't compensate for the movies dull and slow atmosphere. The music used was all done by Simon & Garfunkel, who did an amazing job of capturing the movie's persona, but the movie's persona beforehand was to my displeasure.

Joe - The plot was certainly interesting, the kind that made you wonder who’s thinking what and why, but all in all it was a good story of loved and lost, then card flip in a romantic race against time for Ben to stop Elaine from marrying Carl. Over all the character development was very good, they did great in turning Ben into a nervous wreck, Mrs. Robinson into a… well….As well as Ben parents as goofs.  Over all it had its ups and down, like any movie, but I personally liked it.

***Acting***

Cole - Most of the actors did an astounding job playing their parts, but there were some misgivings. Mrs. Robinson, for example, does a very good job of playing a sleazy woman at first, but as the story goes on, she becomes sort of a mentally unstable woman, with almost no correlation to the plot itself, other than just as a stand-in.

Joe -I think that Dustin Hoffman get 2 thumbs up once again, he is and excellent actor all his own, but to add to the greatness all the actors played there parts just fine, Mrs. R a wahore, Mr. Braddick a goof. It was all well done.

***Music***

Cole - The music in The Graduate was done by the band Simon & Garfunkel, who played some stereotypical hippie music, which was suiting for the movie itself, but was not in my taste. Therefore I think it is a positive for the movie in itself, not my musical preference that decides this.

Joe - I personally love the music, I've always liked "The Sound of Silence", and it was well placed to fit the mood and the situation.

***Conclusion***

Cole - The movie was sort of interesting at first, and had some decent comedic moments, but the "comedy" really didn't give all that it had promised. The acting was also good AT FIRST, but crumbled as the story went on. Speaking of degrading, the plot really did give away as well as the rest of the movie, as it turned into a love story with little comedy, and with some unbelievable actions that no normal person would do. The music was the only thing that stayed moderately the same throughout the movie, which isn't necessarily a good thing.

Joe - Though the conclusion was romantic and humorous, with the running to the church and swinging the cross, but it was very open ended. I was disappointed.

***Pros***

Cole - Music, beginning of the movie

Joe - Humor, music

***Cons***

Cole - Lack of humor, film degraded

Joe - Racy

***Overall***
   ***/*****

Psycho - Review

A distressed woman, who steals $40,000. A creepy motel owner. The motel  owner's mother. Add all of that, and you get the 2 main characters of the movie. What? It doesn't add up? Then you obviously haven't seen the 1960 classic, Psycho.

In the movie Psycho, you follow the character of Marion Crane as she flees to her boyfriend Sam Loomis' home, after stealing $40,000. Along the way, she is continually freaked out by the slightest movement, and inevitably dies at the hands of ...

****************(Spoiler)****************
Norman Bates (Mother)
**************(End Spoiler)**************

The movie had a great plot, and some good twists, which set the standard for most modern movies. However, most modern movies could probably do better when it comes to the graphic effects like blood. Graphically, the movie uses black and white in order to heighten the suspense, and to improve the drama in the movie. It is a good decision for the most part, but to some, color would have improved the movie, but who knows. The camera work was quite good as well, where if you notice the camera's specific movements, it would seem near impossible to do them in one take.

Unfortunately, the music in the movie was kind of repetitive, and they used basically two pieces throughout the movie; one for intense scares, and one for the build-up. The build-up music was fairly good, but the scary music was a simple, shrill noise, which was sudden, and kind of annoying.

The actors in the movie were mostly unnoticeable, as there were only about 4 main characters, who all did adequately in their roles. However, the actor portraying Norman Bates stuck out in the movie, as a very good actor for his role, and let his character's personality shine through.

Overall, the movie had its ups and downs, like all movies, but had its own noticeable features, and set its own milestone, which many movies would later attempt to achieve.

***Pros***
Interesting plot
Good acting
Black and white?
***Cons***
Repetitive/Annoying music
Old timey effects
Black and white?

***Overall***
   **/*****

Ben_Hur Vodcast

http://tinyurl.com/25n9dq3