Welcome to Moviereviewmq

Welcome to our movie reviewing blog! We are four university students who take look at a various range of films to critique and pay reverence to. Our group has written on multiple genres from old classics to new modern gems, so there's something for everyone.

We have created the following video to give you an idea as to what we're about and some of the personal favorite movies we've reviewed, as well as introducing the reviewers behind the screen. We hope you enjoy!

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Up (2009)

Photo source: Associazione Italo Americana del Friuli Venezia Giulia

Directed by	Rob Minkoff
Starring	Ty Burrell, Max Charles, Ariel Winter, Stephen Colbert, Leslie Mann, Allison Janney
Music by	Matthew Margeson

Short Story:
When Carl Fredricksen was a little boy, he idolized famous explorer Charles F. Muntz. Unfortunately, Muntz is accused of presenting false evidence about the skeleton of a giant exotic bird he claims to have discovered at Paradise Falls, and leaves the public eye, vows not to return until he captures one alive.

Time passes, Carl meets Ellie, a Muntz fan who's dream is to have a house overlooking Paradise Falls. They practically grow up together, get married and decide to save money for a trip to the Falls, but life always intervenes in the way of things to buy, to fix, etc. A now elderly Carl finally arranges for the trip, but Ellie gets cancer and passes away before they have the chance to realize their dream.

Enters Russell, a young Wilderness Explorer who tries to collect the last out of a collection of merit badges in the hope that his divorced parents will come to his badge award ceremony. He knocks on Carl's door and offers him help of any kind so that he can earn his final merit badge, the one for assisting the elderly. Carl is not particularly forthcoming, but when he is ordered to move to a retirement home, he flies away in his home by using thousands of helium balloons and inadvertently takes Russell along. They get to Paradise Falls, find the giant bird and name it Kevin, befriend a talking dog, a Golden Retriever named Dug and get to meet Muntz. The problem is, Muntz is still looking for the giant bird and when he figures out that Kevin must be the creature that eluded him all those years only to befriend Carl and Russell, he becomes very hostile.

Carl and Russell's unlikely duo go through a series of life-threatening adventures during which Carl's house is destroyed, but not before he finds Ellie's childhood scrapbook. It turns out that while Carl's been living in regret for not giving Ellie the adventurous life they've always wanted, she filled out the scrapbook with pictures of their married life and left him a note saying “Thanks for the adventure- Now go have a new one.” More adventures ensue, Carl manages to rescue Kevin (now Muntz's prisoner), takes over Muntz's dirigible and flies it back to the city where he presents Russell with his final badge.

Verdict:
LOVE this movie! Up is the first animated and 3D movie to open the Cannes Film Festival. It was extremely well received at the box office, and it remains one of the best Pixar movies to date. It is just the right mix of thriller, adventure, love, humor - everything, really. The characters are genuine, well-formed, the dialogues full of heart and the story itself is one that most of us can relate to. An absolute must see, feel-good movie.


Favourite quotes:

Russell: Good afternoon. Are you in need of any assistance today, sir?
Carl: No.
Russell: I could help you cross the street.
Carl: No.
Russell: I could help you cross your yard.
Carl>: No.
Russell: I could help you cross your porch.
Carl: No!
[closes the door on Russell's foot]
Russell: Ow.

Carl: You'd better get up, Russell. Or else, the tigers will come and eat you.
Russell: There are no Tigers in South America. Zoology.

Carl: [Having arrived above Paradise Falls in South America, miles from where they took off] Don't worry, I'll get you down, find a Bus Stop.
[cuts off the strings to some of the balloons, allowing the house to descend down]
Russell: Whoa, that's s gonna be like a billion transfers to get back to my house...

Contact (1997)

Staring Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey, William Fichtner, Tom Skirritt

Contact is a science fiction adaptation of the
book with the same name written by Carl Sagan who was a predominate astronomer. It follows Dr Ellie Arroway who is a scientist at the SETI institute that discovers indisputable evidence that extraterrestrial life is out there and actively sending messages to humans. The movie takes great length to explore the possible ramifications and philosophical implications of just how might a situation like this effect our society. One of the most enjoyable aspects of this film I thought was how there was a lot of thought directed in trying to back a lot of Contacts concepts in actual scientific contexts rather than extravagant Hollywood style action, giving contact a refreshing aspect to it.



Dr Ellie: "I'll tell you one thing about the universe, though. The universe is a pretty big place. It's bigger than anything anyone has ever dreamed of before. So if it's just us... seems like an awful waste of space. Right?"

Aliens (1986)

Director James Cameron
Staring Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Carrie Henn.

Aliens is the prequel to the original film Alien, it continues off from where the last film ended. Following Ellen Ripley who has been found after 57 years of drifting in hypersleep (a sort of stasis). She must once again encounter the alien entity that destroyed their crew as a colony of humans has been developed on the planet where the organism was found. Although the film is directed by a different director to the first, James Cameron still managers to deliver a successfully thrilling sequel which I believe is an improvement from the first film. As well the role of sigourney’s character which showcases well developed heroine at a time in film where there weren’t many.

Ghostbusters (2016)

Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon

Ghostbusters is a highly successful movie from 1984 and now we are presented with a new updated version of the classic. The movie features the same story about four scientists who believe in ghosts while nobody else does. Strange things start to happen and the city is taken over by the supernatural, giving the scientists the chance to fight it with their inventions.
The movie was strongly criticized especially because of the gender change in the roles. Instead of four male characters as protagonists, they now decided to put four females in their place. This is important for representation and my personal feelings are positive towards this change. They have also swapped the dumb female secretary for a male one.
Overall the film is the same as before, with a few updated jokes and, of course, modern special effects.
My favourite quote is from the scene where Kevin, the secretary, decides to create a logo for the Ghostbusters and he comes up with the old one, but with breasts and, when everyone looks shocked and disappointed he says: “Is it the boobs you don't like? Because I can make them... bigger”.

Trailer:

Now You See Me (2013)

Now You See Me (2013)

Starring: Dave Franco, Mark Ruffalo, Morgan Freeman

Now You See Me is one hell of a smart assy movie. It has some awesome scenes. The scene where Daniel gets out of the handcuffs, and switches agent Rhodes phone and he says “always be the smartest guy in the room”. The trick of robbing Tressler, and giving the money to the audience. Also, the scene where they find out about Rhodes, and who he really is. So cool! “I did not see that coming”.

It is cool how Rhodes goes from being the one hunting them to the one who is really behind the making of them as a group, and who orchestrated the whole event, of stealing money from Tressler, the insurance company that wouldn’t pay for his father’s insurance, and also taking down the guy who debunked all of his dad’s magic tricks. “the real magic is getting four strong solo acts and getting them to work together”.

And can we talk about Dave Franco in this movie. Soooo good “You’re a big boy now, Jack”. The scene where Jack fights agent Rhodes, and Fuller, sooo cool!

The movie also has some killer lines

“the more you think you see, the easier it is to fool you”

“oh, no nothings ever locked”

“I thought you were quite a dick”

“as if they were on the inside”

“could you be more of a condescending ass”

“this is kind of a talent only area”

“I can’t tell you how long I’ve waited to see that look on your face”

Now You See Me trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_diRgwPCS8

image from https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTY0NDY3MDMxN15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwOTM5NzMzOQ@@._V1_UX182_CR0,0,182,268_AL_.jpg

Arrival (2016)

Starring: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker

Arrival is a brilliant movie that shows a unique perspective of what non-terrestrial species may represent to humanity. The movie starts with the invasion of 12 alien objects in 12 distinct parts of the world. The locations are random and the countries are working to solve the puzzle.

The “space ships” are just there, inoffensive containing the alien specie inside. The great point, in my opinion, is the “non-humanification” of the them. They don’t look like us, they don’t walk, communicate, breath or behave like us. They are different, as it should be.

The climax of the movie happens with the decision of China cuts off the collaboration with other countries and decide to attack. If that happens, the scientists would not be able to receive the gift from the aliens: their language. For them to translate and understand it, they need the cooperation of all 12 nations and avoid war.

Different from other movies, the aliens are shown as allies and not enemies. The only down point that got too unrealistic was when the main character gets inside the alien atmosphere and survives. Apart from that, it is a movie that makes you think about cooperation and decision make.

The best quote was from Dr. Louise Banks: “The weapon is their language. They gave it all to us. Do you understand what that means?”.

Trailer:

Mr Peabody and Sherman (2014)

Photo source: FamousFix

Directed by	Rob Minkoff
Starring	Ty Burrell, Max Charles, Ariel Winter, Stephen Colbert, Leslie Mann, Allison Janney
Music by	Matthew Margeson

Short Story:
Mr Peabody, a highly accomplished "renaissance" talking dog (business titan, inventor, scientist, Nobel laureate, gourmet chef and two-time Olympic medalist - to quote his modest self-assessment) adopted a 7-year-old human son, Sherman. Mr. Peabody is educating Sherman using his own invention, the Wayback Machine. Their travels through time cultivate a real passion for history in Sherman, who is eager to share his knowledge on his first day at school.

The problem arises when Sherman gets in a fight with Penny (a fellow student from history class) over the George Washington cherry-tree anecdote. The highly provocative situation leads to Sherman biting Penny, which in turn leads to a Child Protective Services officer trying to remove Sherman from Mr Peabody and place him in foster care. To rectify the situation, Mr Peabody invites Penny and her parents over for dinner. While the adults are trying to find some common ground, Sherman shows Penny the Wayback Machine and together they go on the most exciting adventure of their lives. They go to Ancient Egypt, where Penny is to marry King Tut, but when they find out that she must follow her future husband in death, make a narrow escape with the Wayback. Unfortunately, the machine runs out of power and they have to make an emergency stop in Renaissance Florence. Here they meet Leonardo Da Vinci and get to try his famous flying machine. We even find out the secret behind Mona Lisa's enigmatic smile.

They manage to power up the Wayback, but on the way home they run into a black hole that forces them to make another emergency landing right in the middle of the Trojan War. Penny gets trapped into the Trojan horse, Sherman rescues her, but must go back to present to warn Mr Peabody that he might die in the past. When those who time-traveled meet with their present-time selves, a rip occurs in the space-time continuum that prevents anyone from traveling back in time. This rip causes numerous historical figures to invade the present and Peabody, Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Agamemnon are all trying to figure out how to repair the space-time continuum. Surprisingly, the solution comes from Sherman, who suggests that they travel in the future, rather than the past. Peabody and Sherman take off in the Wayback, fix everything and get back right in time for school, but this time Penny and Sherman are good friends.

Verdict:
I absolutely loved this movie! Can't really understand why it performed so badly at the box office, but if you're into intellectual humor, be prepared to laugh so hard, your cheeks will hurt. Children will love all the history-related fun facts and even without that, it's a really good story, brilliantly executed.


Favourite quotes:
Penny: I'm not Penny anymore. Now, I'm Princess Hatsheput, precious flower of the Nile.
Mr. Peabody: "Precious," perhaps, but if you think we're going to leave you here, you are most definitely in "de-Nile."
Sherman: [laughs] I don't get it.

George Washington: I hereby award Mr. Peabody a Presidential pardon.
Abraham Lincoln: Me too!
Bill Clinton: I've done worse.

Mr. Peabody: Sherman, don't you remember why I told you to stay close to me during the French Revolution?
Sherman: Because after the French Revolution, it was gonna rain?
Mr. Peabody: Close. I said "After the French Revolution comes... the Reign of Terror!"

Penny's father: When it comes to the safety of my daughter, nothing is more important than...Shello? Sure, I'll take a survey.

Pitch Perfect 2 (2015)

Pitch Perfect 2 (2015)

Starring: Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Brittany Snow

Pitch Perfect 2 is a really good movie musically speaking. It features some killer arrangements, with a whole variety of songs. The sing off is awesome, especially Das Sound Machine, their arrangements are superb. The amount of work that would’ve had to have gone into their arrangements. They are also awesome and they know it “Darlings, please don’t try to beat us, you can’t, we’re the best”.

Character interaction, and relationships is also done really well. The girls lose their style at the beginning of the movie, and work throughout the movie to get their style back. This movie shows the girls being lost, and scared of moving on after being known as having shown their junk to the president. Amy says to Becca “You’re the most talented person I know and I’ve met three of the Wiggles intimately”, when Becca is feeling down about herself.

Humour is once again very much present, but there are some things that are taken too far, almost to the point that it may be offensive. Fat Amy is pivotal in most of the humour (that is actually funny) “I’m a free-range pony that can’t be tamed, I can’t be tied down”. Another funny line “you’re physically flawless but that doesn’t mean I like you” – Becca trying to talk down to DSM but failing, quite hilariously.

However, there are some things that are taken too far “girls who are too ugly to be cheerleaders”, “that’s what happens when you send girls to college”, there is even a comment about “going back to Mexico”.  This movie has tried to ‘amp’ up from the first movie, however have possibly taken it too far.

Some awesome quotes from the movie

“you’re ginger that’s punishment enough”

“let’s not be dicks about it”

“what do American kids say? Jelly”

“you? The kicker of ass? You’re so tiny”

“Sure blame the minority” … “I’m black, gay and a woman”

“what kind of white shit is this”? – when the group are singing Torn

“you’re Becca and Chloe, together you’re Bhloe”

If you haven't, go check out my Pitch Perfect (2012) review:

http://moviereviewmq.blogspot.com.au/2017/05/pitch-perfect-2012-starring-anna.html

Pitch Perfect 2 trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgPm-yaLoyo

Image from:  http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/pitch-perfect/images/3/3f/Pitch_Perfect_2_poster.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20161125115018

Blade Runner (1982)

Directed by Ridley Scott.
Staring, Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young

Blade Runner is a unique sci fi which is distinct and set apart from many of the films of the genre. It is set in a dystopian-esque los angeles in the year 2019, and follows Rick Deckard, a man who is tasked with the job to locate and find replicants which are bioengineed androids that are banned on earth due to the problems they’ve caused. In this near future, almost all trees and animals have become extinct, sacrificed in favour of an unchecked human population. In this world cities sprawl beyond the horizon. The film itself heavily relies on the subtly visuals and lets the audience be engrossed in the scenes, rather than using dialogue to explain everything that is going on. Overall this movie is a must see classic for those into sci fi and philosophical story telling.

Quote
“The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long – and you have burned so very, very brightly roy”



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLoQygDnrsk

Pitch Perfect (2012)

Pitch Perfect (2012)

Starring: Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Anna Camp

If you’re a music lover, then watch this movie if you haven’t already. The music scenes are awesome. They are super complex, with counter melodies, multiple harmonies, and killer vocals. The Just The Way You Are scene for example, has counter melodies, with the two melodies intertwining together. It also features many harmonies, and really cool timing patterns. There are vocals acting as drums, bass, and guitar. To arrange this would have been very complex, and not to mention having to sing the arrangement.

The riff off is an awesome scene. There is groups battling each other with awesome arrangements of songs and sass, and they are working together. It shows the first sign of real bondage between the groups. The songs they sang too, with the variety from rap to pop and ballads, were really cool.

The movie also has great character development, with just the right amount of romance, that you end up cheering for the characters. Pitch Perfect does romance and friendship a whole lot better than Glee, so don’t compare it to Glee. At the end when Becca and Jessie finally get together, so cute. At the beginning of the movie, he air guitar’s to her when he doesn’t even know her, he brings juice and killer movies, for something else to do together instead of just stacking CD’s and using record covers as faces. “you’re an acapella girl and I’m an acapella boy”.

It’s pretty cool to see a group of strangers become really good friends. It is cool to see Aubrey finally “loosen the rails”, she asks Becca for help at the end, rather than puking like she did twice because she was stressed. She let someone else take some control, and turned them from being good to being awesome.

This movie has some really cool lines.

“Amy what are you doing”? “I’m vertical running”

“Excuse me bitch no need to shout” – when the girl finally speaks up

“you’ll be spending a lot of downtime together so please no sex on the bench, I’ve been warned before”

Becca- “Kimmy Jin is my friend” ... Kimmy Jin-” nope”

“Your man boobs are going to concave”

And also, when Jessie sings “I guess it’s the women in you that brings out the man in me” to Becca – so cute

“Aca-believe it”

Pitch Perfect Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dItOM6eYXY

Pitch Perfect 2 trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgPm-yaLoyo

image from http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8526/8642176033_f9c1dd148b.jpg

Eye in the sky (2015)

Starring: Helen Mirren, Aaron Paul, Alan Rickman

Eye in the sky is a nerve-wrecking movie that shows us a war zone placed in Kenya, in a terrorist owned territory. The British government is working with the Kenyan and American governments to track high-risk terrorist they have been chasing for years and those terrorist ended up being in this place in Kenya.

To create empathy, the movie presents aside with the main story, a little girl different from the people in that area. She is intelligent and sweet, learning maths and languages. When not playing or studying, she helps her mom selling bread to others in the village.

The whole movie is about on major decision. The highly wanted terrorists are planning to strike with 2 bomb-men. They are placed in the house next door to that little girl.. The decision they need to make is either to strike, maybe kill the girl and prevent the attack, or not to strike and maybe let many other people die from the attack.

It seems easy to choose between one life versus many lives, but in my opinion the ethics behind that decision go much further. It brings us the thought of the care of the government towards its citizens. For example, I pay my taxes for the government to protect me, not shoot a bomb from a drone and as a collateral damage, kill me or the ones around me. However, many may think it was a necessary damage, because many other people would die from that bomb. But my point is to see this issue as bad guys (terrorists) killing versus good guys (government) killing its own citizens.

My favourite quote is when they talk about war propaganda: “If they kill 80 people, we win the propaganda war. If we kill one child, they do.”

Trailer:

Guardians Of The Galaxy (2014)

Guardians Of The Galaxy (2014)

Starring: Chris Pratt, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper

 Wow. What a killer movie!! Guardians of The Galaxy is probably my favourite marvel movie. It is everything that suicide squad tried to be but failed at miserably. Sorry, well no, no I’m not. The only good thing from Suicide Squad was Heathens by 21 pilots. Love that song. Anyway, Guardians, they took misunderstood characters, notice not ‘evil’ characters, like in Suicide Squad, with a ton of humour and made a killing of a movie, and most likely money too.

Guardians of The Galaxy also had character relationship and friendship, which is pivotal in the story plot. The characters start off trying to capture each other due to different needs but end up being really good friends by the end. In the movie, Chris Pratts character, tries to emphasize friendship and says “The movie shows a group of people working together, originally, in order to get out of prison and to make money, however by the end, they are working with the people who captured them into prison, in order to save the world that they live in. When they are escaping from prison, Gamora says “I’m going to die surrounded by the biggest idiots”, but at the end when they are saving their planet she says, “I will be grateful to die amongst my friends”.

 It has tons of action, and the production they would’ve needed to create the many awesome sceneries that they had.  Like all the space scenes, the one where Star-lord goes out to save Gamora, and the scenes with Thanos in them. The scenes in this movie are really cool, the scene where they are barricading the ship so that it doesn’t come down and destroy the world.

Groot is so cute! And loving too even though he can literally only say “I and Am and Groot exclusively in that order”, at least until the end of the movie when he says, “we are Groot”. That scene is so cute!! He kills himself to save his friends. Also when he creates the flower for the girl. Aww.  At the end of movie too, when he’s a baby. He’s dancing to I Want You Back by the Jackson 5, and every time that Drax turns around.

  

The movie has some really funny quotes and some meaningful ones too.

“I have part of a plan” “12%” – Rocket

Raises his middle finger “Oh I didn’t know how this machine works” – Star-lord

 “He says he’s an A-hole but not 100% a dick”

“they got my dick message”

“I’m distracting you, big turd blossom”

“Dance off bro, me and you”

“It’s pleasing to once again have friends”

“The walking thesaurus”

“I know they are the only friends we’ve ever had” – Rocket

“You said it yourself bitch, we’re the guardians of the galaxy”

image from https://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/marvelcinematicuniverse/images/1/12/Guardians-of-the-Galaxy_first_Screenshot.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140101012755

Power Rangers (2017)

Starring: Dacre Montgomery, Naomi Scott and RJ Cyler.

I could not be more unsatisfied with a movie than I am with the new Power Rangers. It has been a long time since the last Power Rangers movie and when I saw the trailer about a brand new film I got really excited. The morphing-time looked amazing. The special effects looked great. Even the story sounded more exciting than before. It wasn’t.

My first thought when the movie started playing was “wow, Zac Efron lost a bit of weight to look like a teenager”. Later on, I discovered it was not him, but an Australian actor called Dacre Montgomery. Then, we jump into the same old and extremely childish story. So many unexplained facts. For example, they just accepted the fact they were "rangers" without further explanations or details of what that meant.

I think what drew my eyes to go to the cinema was a piece of news I saw when scrolling through my Facebook feed, saying that the film would explore the homosexuality of one of the Rangers. And they did it, very badly. It was such an unnecessary scene that made me feel awkward and embarrassed. Nobody was talking about relationships at that point. In my opinion, they just put it in the movie to get the attention, since LGBT characters have been a hot topic everywhere.

I guess the only funny part was the giant villain Goldar: made of gold. Yes, a pretty expensive villain. And then it comes my favourite quote of the movie, said by Zack Taylor when he sees Goldar: “That's a lot of gold”.

Trailer:

Eddie the Eagle (2016)

Photo source: www.showfilmfirst.com

Directed by	Dexter Fletcher
Starring	Taron Egerton, Hugh Jackman, Tom Costello, Jack Costello, Christopher Walken, Iris Berben, Jim Broadbent
Music by	Matthew Margeson

Short Story:
Eddie the Eagle tells the story of Eddie Edwards (magnificently played by Taron Egerton), the first ever British Olympic ski jumper.

It was Eddie's childhood dream to become on Olympian and despite the numerous setbacks, continuous discouragement from all around him, it is only though sheer determination that he manages to make his dream come true.

He nearly kills himself a couple of times before he meets Hugh Jackman a.k.a. coach Bronson Peary. Peary used to be a very promising ski jumper himself, but a big ego and an even bigger drinking problem cut his career short. As expected, Peary is reluctant to coach Eddie in the beginning, but Eddie is nothing if not persistent. As they go on and prepare for the Winter Olympics in Calgary, both of them are faced with complete and utter disdain from all other coaches and athletes, including Eddie's own compatriots.

By the time we reach the end of the movie, Eddie's determination and affable manner wins him not the Olympics, but the hearts and respect of athletes, coaches and public alike.

Verdict:
In an interview given to The Guardian in 2016, Michael (Eddie) Edwards admitted that the movie moved him to tears and even though the actual facts are only 5% accurate, it portrayed the heart and soul of Britain's first ski jumper flawlessly.
This is an inspirational movie at its very best. It will leave you elated, on the top of the world and feeling that NOTHING can stop you from making your own dreams come true.


Favourite quotes:

Eddie: [voice over] "For as long as I can remember it has been my ambition to become an Olympian. I just needed to find the right sport.“

Eddie's Mom: "Harry, he’s off to the Olympics again."
Eddie [to his Dad]: "I told mom I’m going to the Olympics—I held my breath for 58 seconds!"
Eddie's Mom: "When is it all going to end?"
Eddie: "When I become an Olympian."
Eddie's Dad: "Enough is enough. … You are coming to work with me."
Eddie: "What about my Olympics preparations?"
Eddie's Dad: "Eddie, you are not an athlete!"
Eddie: "Dad, you’re a genius! You’re right; I’m never going to go to the Olympics. I’m gonna go to the Winter Olympics!"

Bjørn the Norwegian Coach: [loosely quoting Pierre de Corbertin]: "Most important thing is not to win but to take part. It’s not the triumph but the struggle."

Eddie: "I just thought we’d have a little chat about me being a ski jumper. Just looking for a few tips. "
Bronson Peary: "Give up. There’s one for free."

Eddie: "I’m not deluded. I know there are plenty of other athletes more deserving than me, so if my antics took away from their accomplishments, forgive me. … As someone [wise] said, … I love [ski jumping] very nearly as much as I love proving people wrong, which is why I’ve decided to jump the 90m. To compete in the Olympics doesn’t mean anything if you sell yourself short. I did not come to the Olympics as a novelty act and I will not be going home as one."

Moana (2016)

Starring: Auli'i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson and Rachel House

Moana is the new Disney’s musical animation movie. It is a heart-warming story of the chief’s daughter who is trapped in a Polynesian island with her born tribe duties. The Ocean plays a role in the story as a living character and chooses Moana to cross the reef and rescue Maui, the demi-god that stole the heart of the islands goddess Te Fiti, spreading darkness through the world.

Having excellent songs, the movie goes beyond a cute story. It shows children a strong female character that lives in conflict about what society and her parents expect from her and what she wants to do. Choosing to follow her heart, she goes in an adventure and learns many skills otherwise impossible. During the climax, after she is abandoned by Maui and lost in her own thoughts, she receives a visit from her dead grandmother, telling her she has the power of choice. Then, she finds the strength to keep going by herself, demonstrating that you can do everything you want, you just have to believe in yourself.

She finishes the movie single, still hunting for adventures, which is great to show kids and adults that the world is full of diversity and has been changing a lot in the past few decades and a girl is not just about being pretty for a man.

My favourite quote is from a song, when she finds herself and sings: "I am Moana!"

Trailer:

Inception (2010)

Poster Source: joblo.com

Directed by	Christopher Nolan
Starring	Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ken Watanabe, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, Michael Caine
Music by	Hans Zimmer

Short Story:
Christopher Nolan’s Inception is one of those riveting, baffling, breathtaking intellectual mind games that leave the audience in awe and not quite sure about what they’ve just witnessed. It really is hard to sum up the story in a few sentences, but I’ll give it a try anyway.

Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a highly skilled thief who has taken corporate espionage to an entirely new level. He connects with his marks in their dreams, when the victims are most vulnerable, and steals their secrets. This back and forth between dream and reality causes the death of his wife, Mal (Marion Cotillard) and makes him a wanted fugitive, leaving his two children behind.

His chance at redemption comes in the form of Saito (Ken Watanabe), a Japanese billionaire who offers Cobb one last job: instead of stealing a secret from rival young billionaire Robert Fischer Jr. (Cillian Murphy), Cobb has to plant an idea in Fisher’s subconscious – hence the title, Inception. In return, Cobb would have his criminal record erased and he would be able to reunite with his children.

In order to achieve this seemingly impossible task, Cobb enlists the help of a highly specialised team: an Extractor (the person who manipulates the target into revealing his/her secrets), an Architect (the person who builds the reality-like dream in which the Mark - targeted person - and the Extractor meet), a Dreamer (the person whose mind actually hosts the dream) and a Forger (he can not only forge someone’s signature, but in that dream world created by the Architect, the Forger can take up someone else’s appearance, too). Saito joins them in order to make sure that Cobb actually accomplishes his task.

The actual inception involves the characters entering various levels of (sub)consciousness in their dreams, each one deeper than the other. The last level, the Limbo is basically a raw subconscious state from which is almost impossible to return. An interesting characteristic of these dream levels is the passing of time: the deeper the level, the faster the time passes. A few minutes in real time can translate into months, years or even decades in dream time. The movie starts with Cobb and Saito meeting in Limbo: Saito is an old man living in a beautiful Japanese palace on the beach, Cobb is washed ashore with only a gun and a spinning top (the one thing that connects him to reality) on him. Cobb manages to persuade Saito that they are in a shared dream, reminds him of their agreement, they wake up (or so we are made to believe) and they both get their “happy ending”. There is a catch, however: the only way for Cobb to tell if he is dreaming or not is with this spinning top. In a dream world, it spins indefinitely, whereas in reality if will obviously stop after a while. In the last scene of the movie Cobb spins the top, but walks out of the room just when it was about to fall over and goes to be with his children. It seems that whatever the result, Cobb has accepted the current state as his “preferred reality” and stops questioning it.

The audience, however, is left wondering: does Cobb really get a happy ending or is he still locked up in Limbo?

Verdict:
This movie is certainly not for the faint hearted. It challenges you on an intellectual level and at the same time, it dazzles your senses with spectacular visuals. A must see, but observe the PG-13 rating. It really isn’t suitable for impressionable young children. One last thought: we are always told to "dream big", "follow our dreams", etc. and yes, we certainly need to do just that, but every once in a while we also need to stop dreaming, wake up and enjoy our reality.

Favourite quotes:

Saito "Do you want to take a leap of faith or become an old man filled with regret waiting to die alone!"

Cobb: “What is the most resilient parasite? Bacteria? A virus? An intestinal worm? An idea. Resilient... highly contagious. Once an idea has taken hold of the brain it's almost impossible to eradicate. An idea that is fully formed - fully understood - that sticks; right in there, somewhere.”

Cobb: “When we wound up on the beach of our own subconscious, we lost sight of what was real.“

Robert Fischer Jr.: "I know, Dad. I know you were disappointed I couldn't be you.”
Maurice Fischer "No, no, no... I was disappointed... that you tried."

Megamind (2010)

Photo source: Slashfilm

Directed by	Tom McGrath
Starring	Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, David Cross, Brad Pitt
Music by	Hans Zimmer, Lorne Balfe

Short Story:
Super-intelligent super-villain Megamind and Elvis-lookalike superhero Metro Man have been rivals ever since they were a few days old. They both come to Metrocity from another planet, but while Metro Man was raised in a wealthy family and has always been popular, Megamind lands in a prison with his best friend/sidekick, Minion, is raised by convicts and becomes an outcast from the first day he sets foot in school.

In and out of prison all his life, Megamind kidnaps Metro Man's alleged love interest, TV reporter Roxanne Ritchi and when the hero comes to the rescue, Megamind finally defeats Metro Man and takes over control of the city. The problem is, that every villain needs a superhero and Megamind is no exception to this rule. Feeling at a loss without someone to fight, Megamind decides to create another hero by injecting Hal Stewart, Roxanne's creepy cameraman with Metro Man's DNA. He calls the new "hero" Titan (all the other cool names have already been trademarked), but it turns out that enhanced physical powers don't necessarily make a hero. Hal's low intellect and mean personality are also accentuated by the serum and in fact, he becomes a true villain. Eager to maintain the good guy-bad guy equilibrium and to save the city from Titan's destruction, Megamind teams up with Roxanne - first disguised as Bernard, a curator at the Metro Man Museum, and later on as himself - and ends up falling in love with her.

There's a lot of action, witty dialogs and great visuals during which we find out that Metro Man hasn't really died, but faked his death in order to pursue an artistic career as a singer and Megamind realises that he's won his first battle because his efforts were put into doing good. I'm not going to give away more from the story. Suffice it to say that this is truly a movie for the whole family: children will love the action and bright colours, adults roar with laughter at the various social, political, cultural and other references. Personal favourites are the mixture of Elvis/Metro Man's celebrity / seasoned politician moments: flies over the crowds, walks on water, kisses and juggles babies (note the politically correct caucasian, black and asian baby) and when someone cries out: "I love you, Metro Man!", he replies "And I love YOU, random citizen!"

Will Ferrell is having an absolute blast as Megamind and the way he pronounces Metrocity to sound like "atrocity" was a touch of genius. The rest of the cast and the music are equally brilliant.

Verdict:
If you want a movie to brighten your day, this is it. If you watch it with children, it might be worth talking about it a little bit afterwards, pointing out how a hostile environment can cause someone to become antisocial, but love and positive reinforcement will bring out the best in all of us.

Favourite quotes:

Megamind "I was eight days old, and still living with my parents. How sad is that? Clearly, it was time to move on."

Megamind: “Funny. I guess destiny isn't the path chosen for us, but the path we chose for ourselves.”

Megamind: “All men must choose between two paths. Good is the path of honour, heroism, and nobility. Evil... well, it's just cooler. “

Roxanne Ritchi: "If only life had a reset button...”

Megamind [disguised as Bernard] "I've looked into the reset button... The science is impossible!
[sniffles]

Megamind [disguised as Space Dad] "You've been blessed, with unfathomable powers!"
Hal "What kind of power?"
Megamind "Unfathomable. It's like, uh, without fathom..."

Event Horizon (1997)

Staring: Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, Kathleen Quinland & Joely Richardson

Event horizon is a science fictional psychological thriller which takes place in the year 2047. The movie focuses on a crew set off in space to rescue a previous missing ship named the Event Horizon. The ship itself was testing an experimental drive which enables the ship to travel faster than the speed of light by folding space-time to reach great distances instantly.

The film itself had great potential with the film following true to it's genre, however it commercially failed in the cinemas during it's original released, possibly due to rushed production and unmet deadlines. The film has gained a cult following over the years as it provides a uniquely entertaining story. The cast is a surprising choice for it's genre of film however Sam Neill plays his role quite well.

Event Horizon draws it's inspiration to the previous big films of the genre such as Alien & Solaris. Although it isn't as great as these films I would still recommend watching this movie to those deeply interested in this genre of film

"I created the Event Horizon to reach the stars, but she's gone much, much farther than that. She tore a hole in our universe, a gateway to another dimension. A dimension of pure chaos."
Weir-Event Horizon

Ghost In The Shell (2017)

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Ghost in the shell is a scifi/action set in a postmodern city where the lines between what is human and what is machine are blurred.
based as an adaptation off the original Ghost in the shell manga & movie (1995). Scarlett Johansson plays as the major a police officer who suffered an accident and was rescued by recovering her brain and placing it into a complete cybernetic body. Only she discovers that the people who saved her have not been truthful as to how she ended up this way.

The movie itself displays a beautiful post modern city and often show chases it's cutting edge graphics, however the bad press over the movie lies more within it's story and how much it faithfully pays respect to it's predecessors. I myself think of Scarlett as a highly professional actor but couldn't help but feel the story itself was lacking. The movie often chops bits and scenes from the famous anime into the film but removes the philosophical / and in depth concepts that the original anime was famous for. The story itself digresses from the original plot which in itself is not something bad. What didn't make sense to me was how certain scenes that were straight from the anime it self were sort of cut and pasted into the new story line forcefully, trying to pay the basic homage to the original film when perhaps it wasn't necessary with the direction they wanted to go with it.

Overall the film itself has it's moments of stunning visuals, film goers who haven't seen the original film will probably enjoy this more than those who have. The story pales in comparison to it's original though it's visuals are imaginative and it's soundtrack is fairly decent.

Beauty and the Beast (2017)

Starring: Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans and Josh Gad

Beauty and the Beast is well known among children and adults from its fairy tale story and music in Disney’s 1996 animation movie. Counting on that successful title, Disney has decided to turn it into a live action, starring Emma Waston as Belle (which I could not think of someone more suitable for this role), the odd girl who lives in a village and dreams of more.

The remake has not only brought all the old plus new songs, but added modern touches to the screening. One of my favourite addition was the story behind Belle’s mom and how she and her father ended up in such a “little town”. Not only more about Belle’s mother, they also tell us more about Beast’s past and why his servants are so attached to him, turning the simple “becoming a beast” into a more deep and thoughtful story.

Although the movie is full of magic, music and special effects, it did not please everyone. The introduction of a visible gay character was an issue for many people. In the 2017 live action, LeFou is clearly in love with Gaston and demonstrates his affection to the good-looking sexist hunter throughout his actions. This polemic topic has been discussed a lot over the world, and the inclusion of a gay character just shows how Disney is concern about bringing equality to its stories in a natural way.

The songs were gracefully performed by the whole cast and the soundtrack is stunning. My favourite quote in the movie is one of the last lines, when Beast back to its human form and Belle jokes: “Do you think you can grow a beard?”.

Trailer:

Fast And Furious 7 (2015)

Fast and Furious 7 (2015)

Starring: Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Paul Walker

Fast and Furious 7 is probably my favourite of the series. It is action packed but is also probably one of the deepest and meaningful of the series. This movie focuses on family and brotherhood, whilst still having the super-fast and awesome cars, and tons of great action scenes, that make me feel extremely sorry for the stunt guys.

This whole movie occurs because Deckard Shaw, older brother of Owen Shaw, the bad guy in Furious 6, threatens Dom and Brian’s families. This movie has the right amount of backstory behind Shaw’s motives for going after Dom’s family, which means that throughout the movie, you are easily able to follow along, which was slightly harder to do in Furious 6 due to the slight lack of backstory. This made Fast and Furious 6 in my opinion, not as good. This movie shows two guys doing the same thing, getting revenge, but this time it’s also for the same reasons, family.

I swear, with each movie in the franchise the budget increases dramatically. The cars they featured like jeez. They had a Bugatti Veyron, Aston Martin, Maserati, an R8, and the third most expensive car in the world, with only a few in existence, the Lykan Hyper sport. That’s only to name a few.

The action also increases a ton. Vin Diesel’s character Dom, flies the Lykan out of not one but two frigging towers in Abu Dhabi. Then the car goes flying out of the third tower and crashes, while Dom and Brian roll out of the car before it goes ‘bye-bye’. Also, the damage that would’ve been don’t to the penthouse alone. They fly out in cars from a plane high in the sky.  They take down a helicopter by throwing grenades onto the helicopter.

This movie is one of the most sentimental of the series. This movie is when Hobbs and Dom finally are good friends. Hobbs says to Dom in the hospital room “the official answer is don’t” “the brother to brother answer is do whatever you gotta do and don’t miss”. He also refers to Dom as “an old friend” when he introduces Dom to his daughter. Then towards the end of the movie, Hobbs rips off his cast to “go to work” to help them take down Deckard. When Letty and Ramsey think that they have no cavalry, Hobbs shows up with a frigging machine gun to save the day and says, “women I am the cavalry”. 

This movie also has hilarious quotes mostly thanks to Roman “the joker” of the group.

“This right here my friend is the dumbest plan I’ve ever heard”

“Adult diapers in your glove compartment”

“Cars don’t fly Dom” – Brian as they are about to fly out of the penthouse

And some really sweet and sentimental ones along especially the ending with the song See You Again

“If you die I die”

“It’s never goodbye”

“the most important people will always be the people in this room”

“Everything I went through you were standing there by my side”

To watch the Fast And Furious 7 trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Skpu5HaVkOc

Fast And Furious 8 (2017) is now out in cinemas

To watch the Fast And Furious 8 trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19uRZ0vVVbA