The Fighter

At least once or twice a year (maybe more depending on how avid of a movie-goer you are), there will be those films that you cannot wait to see. There is an unexplainable excitement; a Christmas morning excitement if you will. These are the movies with the big actors and actresses or with the story that is extremely relatable. In 2010, there have been three films that I have had this feeling for. The first one was in June when ‘Toy Story 3’ graced theatres nationwide. The second was in October when ‘The Social Network’ came out. These first two followed along the lines of the story that meant something to me. But this last one, ‘The Fighter’, peeked my interest just because of all the hype it had received, and it did not disappoint.

Directed by David O. Russell and starring the likes of Mark Wahlberg as Mickey “The Irish” Ward, Christian Bale as Dickey Eklund, and Amy Adams as Charlene, Fighter is not just about boxing. It tackles the issues of loyalty, family, drug addiction, and trust. The story follows Wahlberg’s character through a stretch in his career where Ward, his brother (Eklund) and his mother (played by Melissa Leo) are struggling to get Mickey his break in the boxing world. There are many obstacles that hinder this; whether it be sketchy behavior by crack-addicted Eklund, unfortunate opponents for Ward, or conflict in the family by the entrance of a new girlfriend (Adams), and it’s up to Ward to find out what really matters to him in order for him to make his big break, no matter what happens or who is affected.

I often find myself in danger of over-hyping films that I’m excited to see, but this thankfully lived up to my expectations. The lead acting in this movie is phenomenal. No, phenomenal isn’t good enough. This is Packers-make-the-super-bowl good (I hope I don’t jinx it). Christian Bale delivers the performance of a lifetime, and it will probably pay off come Oscar time. Wahlberg, who trained for this role for four years, shows his dedication to the role by portraying Ward beautifully. Oscar time is the most wonderful time of the year, and this film will definitely be a big player when the awards get handed out.


Rating: 4 out of 4 stars

Despicable Me

There's always been a saying that I try to live by, but always fall short. It is a great saying though. It basically goes along the lines of 'even if you know what the outcome of something will be, that surely does not mean that you can not enjoy the ride. That is super true. This is exactly, EXACTLY what happened in the movie.

In Despicable Me, we come across the standard story of spy vs. spy, as we meet the worlds' best...or 2nd best...super villain Gru, with the voice being done by the one and only Steve Carrell. He's got all the tools, but he is always being upstaged by his rival, vector (Jason Segel). After vector tops all the heists by stealing The Great Pyramid, Gru decides to go big or go home. Him and his minions (literally called minions) concoct a plan to steal the moon by using a shrink ray that is being built in a secret lab. Gru gets hold of the shrink ray, but of course vector sweeps in and steals it. Gru is all out of ideas until three little girls come trottin alond selling cookies for what appears to be an kid's orphanage. Gru realizes that through these girls, he can gain access into vector's house and steal the shrink ray, all while being unetected. Gru ends up getting control of the shrink ray, but then is at a crossroads when he realizes that these girls need more than just a person to look up to and a place to stay; they need a role model, a dad.


This was incredibly predictable and kind of boring because of that, which keeps it from getting a perfect score. But it's not an excuse to not enjoy what's being shown on the screen. The voice acting is really, really well done, and the humor is a unique blend of sentiment and raunch. The soudtrack, produced by Pharrell Williams, is pretty fly and it's an overall pretty darn entertaining movie.


Rating: 3.5 out of 4 stars

Toy Story 3

There are always some things to get really excited about. There are the holidays such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Years, etc. There also things like birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, and other celebrations. There are things that happen to you like promotions, good luck, raises, etc. But then there are things you get excited about because you remember how good of times you had when you experienced that. This is exactly how I felt in line to buy my ticket of Toy Story 3. I was more jacked up then the sugar high kids piling in with their parents.

In this third installment of the Toy Story franchise, the toys and their owner Andy are all getting to that point that no kid wants to have to face; what do you do with your toys once you head off to college? You obviously outgrow them right? Well Andy is given four choices by his mom: he can take them to college with him,donate them, store them in the attic, or chuck 'em. Andy decides that he only wants to take Woody with him to college. He decides to store the rest in the attic, but after a mishandling by his mom and a near trip to the garbage, the other remaining toys decide that they would rather be played with then be stored away. They then all pack themselves into the 'Sunnyside Daycare' box. Woody, who is trying to convince the toys that they were not intended to be thrown out in the trash, ends up in the daycare box and they all are brought to the daycare. When they get there, it is almost like a paradise in this Butterfly Room of the daycare. Everyone but Woody loves it here, because they will be able to be played with again. Woody insists that they all return home, but nobody will budge, so Woody sets off for home by himself. The group then meets the other toys, lead by Lots O' Huggin Bear. They appear welcoming and friendly, especially the Ken doll, who in a hilarious way, wins over the affection of the barbie doll donated by Andy's little sister Molly. But when all of Andy's toys are sent to the other room, the Caterpillar Room, things aren't as awesome as they had once thought. These kids in the Caterpillar Room are younger than the other kids, and therefore just like to destroy the toys. After a destructive playtime, Buzz sets out to find Lotso to maybe ask for a promotion to the better of the two rooms. It is at this point that Buzz finds out that these toys aren't so nice as they once seemed, and that they are all in a lot of trouble, trouble way more serious than what kids get to play with you.


There is something seriously amazing going on in Emeryville, California. This is where Pixar Animation Studios is located. They are second to none when it comes to entertainment both for kids and adults. This brought me back to my childhood immediately, so I couldn't help but smile they whole time. I was absolutely drawn to the screen the whole time. These movies are just so breathtaking. There is a perfect blend of humor, sentiment, and action. Movies like this is why this is why I want my career to be in this field. This is letting your imagination go free and believing that these are almost real people. It's amazing. Can't get enough of it. This is definitely an instant classic.

Rating: 4 out 4 stars (3rd perfect score of 2010!!)

The Karate Kid

There seem to be a lot of remakes coming out in the last 5 years. I have since then wondered whether Hollywood was running out of ideas or not. There are obviously sequels made for the wrong reasons such as Garfield, Alvin and the Chipmunks, and Sex and the City. Others you just need to like Meet the Parents, Toy Story, and Pirates of the Carribean. But sometimes people make remakes to relive the times of the original release. Examples of this are the upcoming Wall Street, Star Trek, and now the Karate Kid. These usually are better than sequels, because they don't try to expand on the story. They just try to spice up the original versions. Luckily this one didn't miss.

There were some changes made from the 1984 original starring Ralph Macchio. This movie is more about kung-fu. This also takes place in China, which the original didn't have much of. Anyways, 12 year old Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) is forced to move from Detroit to China, because his mommy got a job offer over there. Like any normal human being, Dre is not exactly pumped about this switch. Whatever. He has to go. Dre obviously has a tough time fitting in. He does hit it off with a local girl, but he is almost immediately accosted by a group of older kids that a pick a fight with him and beat him pretty bad. Dre is immediately ready to head back home, but he must stay. During another fight with the boys, one is about ready to lay the finishing punch on Dre when the punch is stopped by the maintenance man in Dre's building, Mr. Han (Jackie Chan). Then Chan proceeds to humiliate the kids and send them on their way. Han then decides to teach Dre kung-fu so he can defend himself. They then begin to train together, with Han's discipline clearly crossing paths with Dre's attitude. They struggle getting along, but when Dre has to sign up for a kung-fu tournament to keep the kids from attacking him, they begin to bond. They then have only a short amount of time to get ready before the biggest battle of Dre's life.

This movie was fantastic. If you can sit through the beginning and middle parts of plot setup, which isn't that bad actually, you will be greatly rewarded. The end tournament gave me chills and kept me on the edge of my seat. Jaden Smith is a star in the making, and has all the talents that his pops Will Smith had and has. This was just a smidge too long, but I think it needed all that time to set up everything else. It's great entertainment, and a great motivational movie.


Rating: 4 out of 4 stars (2nd perfect score this calendar year!!)

The A-Team

It's hard to think of a clever opening sometimes. These aren't ever really that long, but they do take some time to think up. I went to the midnight showing of this movie, which was my first one of those. It wasn't packed at all, but then again it was midnight, and this wasn't a massive blockbuster along the lines of 'Harry Potter' or 'Avatar'. But enough jibber-jabber, let's actually talk about the movie, whaddya say?

The A-Team movie was originally a television show back in the day. It centers around four military men: Hannibal (Liam Neeson), Face (Bradley Cooper), B.A. (Quentin 'Rampage' Jackson), and Murdock (Sharlto Copley). These men are the best of the bunch. "They specialize in the ridiculous". The movie begins with them forming this said group together. The movie then skips ahead a few years, and they are all now stationed in Iraq. They hear word from CIA agent who goes by the name Lynch that there are some illegal bills being made and that these guys should stop them. The team then finds out that another branch in their militia is actually in on the whole thing, and when they try to stop them they end up getting framed for this crime, and off they go to jail. Of course, being the brilliant men they are, they escape pretty easily. They are then determined to bring these real criminals justice, all while clearing their name of any wrongdoing. But not everything, or everyone, are what they seem to be.

This movie is the definition of action-packed. It's not just a guys' movie, with people and everything getting mutilated. This is genuine, high-octane fun. The four leading members are all very good, even 'rampage' was pretty decent. If you're lookin for that adrenaline rush type of movie, here it is. Good, solid fun.


Rating: 3 out of 4 stars

Get Him to the Greek

I loved Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I enjoyed all the characters, except for one. Aldus Snow. He bothered me. He didn't seem like a real person, he was too over the top and just not a believable character. He was funny though. Lucky for me, I got to see him again. This time he seemed more believable.

In the dubbed 'spin-off' of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, a music industry staff member Aaron Green (Jonah Hill) comes up with an idea to save his company: a ten year anniversary rock concert at the Greek Theater featuring Aldus Snow. There is a problem with this idea. Snow is on the decline. He had just come out with an album titled 'African Child' which was poorly recieved by every critic across the world. Just think of anything offensive, and it probably was on that album. The movie starts on set of the 'African Child' video shoot. It basically tries to do what Forgetting Sarah Marshall did with their music videos, which is push the boundary line of offensive or joking and funny. Unfortunately, this tries to have a comic twist to something as unfunny as impoverished African children and culture. It's really up to the viewer to decide whether it is funny to them, or if they have gone too far. Anyways, Green gets the green light from his producer (P. Diddy) to do this concert, the only catch being that he has to go to London to get him back to LA; and he only has 72 hours to do so. At this point the viewer will know that it's not going to be easy to accomplish this.

When I had first heard about this movie and saw that it had the same director from Forgetting Sarah Marshall, I was unbvelievably excited to see this. Then I found out that it had different writers. 'Ssrah Marshall' was written by its star Jason Segel, and 'Greek' was written by director Nicholas Stoller. There is a noticable difference in the two films. Forgetting Sarah Marshall had much less gaps in humor and seemed to have more focus. This movie seemed to drag a few times, but it made up for it when it was funny. The central theme of getting back to doing your passion because that is the only thing that makes you happy was really well displayed once they got to the ending of the movie. Overall, this movie was very strong but had a few weak parts. But you should go see it nonetheless.


Rating: 3 out of 4 stars

Macgruber

Ok this one will be a real, real short one because I can't say anything nice about it. This movie was incredibly disappointing. This begs the question 'Why'?

Macgruber comes from the popular SNL 90 second skit with the same title. I was hoping that this movie's humor would follow the same type of humor as Hot Rod, but this movie was just disappointing, stupid, and really not worth my time. Will Forte, Kristen Wiig, and others just really don't deliver anything new or funny at all. I was just hoping for something cool and refreshing, but it all sucked. I can't even tell you what it's about, it's just not worth the time to explain it. Do not see this, no matter how bad you love SNL. I really love SNL, and this was just nothing up to par.


Rating: 1.5 out of 4 stars