Savages movie review

Savages-2012

Length: 2 hr. 9 min.
Genre: Thriller/Suspense

Cast:
Blake Lively
Benicio Del Toro
Taylor Kitsch
Aaron Johnson
Salma Hayek
John Travolta
Emile Hirche

Grade: A-

Would I buy: Yes

Review:

Savages is about two guys Ben and John (Johnson and Kitsch) who live in Laguna Beach with their shared girlfriend O (Lively) where they are known internationally for growing the best cannabis in the world. Everything appears as though they are on top of the world until some mexican cartel partners want to combine with Ben and John's business and receive a percentage of the profits earned, while learning how to grow what Ben and John are so well known for. After "non personally" denying the offer made by the cartel and getting caught in a web of lies the Cartel led by a mean Elena (Hayek) takes O as a hostage until Ben and John are willing to comply. Ben and John will stop at nothing to get their girlfriend back, which leads to a story of violence, deceit, and ultimately betrayal.

After being a fan of many of Oliver Stone's film and watching what he has put out lately, I was ready to see him get back to what he does best, violence. In this film that is exactly what he came to do. The acting in this film was phenomenal on almost all accounts; the only performance I was on the fence with was Taylor Kitsch who plays John, an ex military officer. I understand that his purpose was to be try and unemotional but there were times were I thought he could have done so much more, it wasn't bad, just not great. The standout performance in this movie to me was Benicio Del Toro; this man can act! He really stole the scene in every one he was in, and played a very menacing character. John Travolta also did great as the DEA kind of playing for both sides. Every character in this movie was forced to have many different dimensions due to the situation at hand which was always a pleasure to watch. Everyone had a clear objective and to me, they completed what they set out to do.

The plot to me was actually very interesting and I thought that the cinematography was a nice touch as well. The action scenes were done very well and it definitely pulled you in whenever stuff started hitting the fan. The story compelled you to root for the two main guys on their pursuit to O because the antagonists were just too cruel not to hate. Every scene made you raise more questions about what was going on while the script made it easy to follow for the most part. The scene that really stuck out to me was the scene between Del Toro and Travolta, I don't know why I just felt that it really pulled me in to open up to who's who.

As far as the ending it is something that you have definitely seen before but I thought it was done well. It is a kind of cheap way to do it, but at the same time you will probably like it, if you liked the characters in the movie that is. Overall I thought the movie was great, I will definitely buy it, this is a movie I recommend to everyone over the age of like 17.

Ted movie review

Ted-2012


Length: 1 hr. 46 min.
Genre: Comedy


Cast:
Mark Wahlberg
Mila Kunis
Seth MacFarlane
Giovanni Ribisi
Joel McHale


Grade: B


Would I Buy: No


Review:


First time big screen director Seth Macfarlane (famous for his work on Family Guy) is also the voice of Ted, a teddy bear wished to life to befriend a young boy who has no friends. The only problem about this friendship is that it transcends all the way into the adult like of John Bennett (Wahlberg) and the long term relationship he has with his girlfriend Lori Collins (Kunis). John Bennett has to decide whether he's willing to grow up into the man Lori wants him to be, or continue the fun although immature and childish friendship he has with his teddy bear, Ted.


This film really surprised me in both negative and positive ways. The positives about this film were that it had a very interesting premise, I mean what isn't funny about a teddy bear cussing and saying all of the things he says? There were so many times that the things that came out his mouth were just so outrageous and crude that it was just too funny not to laugh at. However, there were also some themes that the film relied to heavily on. I won't do any spoilers but there is one theme (which causes the main dilemma in the film) that I felt they just talked about and played on too much. Also, the film just had a side plot that could have been hilarious but it was just weird. Basically what I'm saying is, the film was just very inconsistent. You had two jokes really hit hard, and then the next two just weren't very effective. 


I thought the performances were as good as they could have been, but it the script didn't really call for anything above and beyond. The movie had some great points and then it had mediocre points as well, and it relied on some of the same jokes many times. I thought it was pretty funny and definitely worth the cost of admission but I wouldn't buy it because if you watch Family Guy, or have seen the Hangover (as far as the crudity and language) then it's nothing too special as far as jokes are concerned.

The Amazing Spider-Man Review

The Amazing Spider-Man

The Amazing Spider-Man- 2012

Length: 2 hr. 17 min
Genre: Action/Superhero

Cast:
Andrew Garfield

Emma Stone

Dennis Leary

Rhys Ifans

Martin Sheen

Grade: B+

Would I buy: No

Review:

In this reboot of the 2002 box office smash Spiderman comes a new vantage point on a familiar story with an entirely new cast. For the few who don't know of the story, it basically is about an outsider, Peter Parker (Garfield), who lost his parents at a very young age and lives with his aunt and uncle. One day whilst wandering off in a science lab his bitten by a radioactive spider and is then transformed into a hero. Set out to find the truth about his parents and seek justice for those who are helpless and are put in harms way, Peter uncovers a startling truth that leads him to the fight of his life to fight with one of his main comic book nemesis, "The Lizard". 

Before I get too critical I must say that I was very impressed with Andrew Garfield's performance as Peter Parker. He did a fantastic job portraying the emotions that Peter probably felt as well as providing a lot of comic relief to the story when it was needed. I have been a fan of him since I saw his performance in The Social Network, so I was very excited to see what he could do here, and he delivers. Emma Stone is always on point and she continued her streak in this film, and Rhys Ifans is slowing working up my ladder on favorite actors because I love every character he plays in every film he's in. Martin Sheen even gave a good performance, so that's when you know its the goods.

There are a lot of mixed reviews about this film and I think the majority of them are strictly based off the fact that this reboot takes place at a very unneeded time, which I do agree with. There just wasn't a big enough gap from Spider-man 3 to now, to make us wonder if someone could do it better, however that's just my opinion. However,  as a whole I must say I do think they did it a little better in most categories. One of the main things I felt that was missing though was the menacing presence of the villain. What I mean is, in the original Spider-man you knew that the goblin was just up to no good and simply wished to wreak havoc upon everyone. In this film, at some points it's almost as if you felt sorry for the Lizard's character, even when he was destroying everyone. I feel that this is also at fault on the script for poor pacing. I mean the first hour and 20 minutes you are watching all of this backstory of Peter Parker and then it immediately switches and says, here's the villain, someone needs to stop him, Spider-Man where are you? Even though I felt this way I must say the action scenes were much better in this film than the originals.


One thing MANY people will be pissed off about and that I completely understand is that the trailer sets this film up to answer a simple question, "What happened to Peter's parents?" I'm just going to tell you now so you can be warned you don't find out any good information. They basically made that seem like it was going to be the main point to clearly set up for a sequel. I mean we all knew it was coming, but really? Make us wonder the whole time to get nothing in return? Also there were MANY parts in the trailers that weren't in the movie. For example, the line "You want the truth about your parents Peter? Come and get it!" Yeah it wasn't in there. Cool. The one line that says come and fight me please I will show you what happened isn't in there. I've been lied to and I don't really appreciate it. Anyways this movie was worth the cost of admission and I will see the second one for sure. It is a good time and I recommend it for sure!