Owner: The Movie House URL:http://the-movie-house.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Tue, 01 Jan 2008 18:17:41 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: Movie Reviews By An Average Guy
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Stop-Loss (2008) Review 2008-04-09 16:01:43 The story follows a soldier who returns from his tour of duty in Iraq and learns that he has been stop-lossed and ordered to return back to Iraq. The movie does a good job of telling the story of Iraq veterans but only tells the story of a small group of Iraq veterans and tries to make it represent them all. It stereotypes soldiers from a small town in Texas but doesnt represent the Iraq veteran group as a whole. It succeeds in showing the average joe what it can be like for a veteran who is injured or suffers from a severe case of post traumatic stress. I believe there needs to be more war dramas about the Iraq war to help Americans see the bigger picture and the effects war can have on the individual but not war dramas suffering severely from bias. Overall an alright movie but falls shor
Leatherheads (2008) Review 2008-04-10 16:10:38 The story follows a 1920s pro football coach named 'Dodge' Connelly. After realizing that his team from Duluth is running out of money he tries to recruit a hot shot college player named Carter Rutherford. After managing to draft the young star, the football team takes a turn for the better and everyone wants to come out and see Carter Rutherford play. Meanwhile, a reporter from Chicago named Lexie Littleton has come to Duluth to get a story for her Tribune newspaper. Both Connelly and Rutherford begin to fall for the reporter causing tension between the two teammates. Eventually Lexie Littleton breaks a story about Rutherford's false claims to heroism from the 'Great War' and sparks a scandal. Rutherford joins Chicago's pro team, matching up the two now rivals. Both players find themselv
The Bank Job (2008) Review 2008-04-11 17:11:38 The story follows a car shop owner named Terry who is offered to rob a bank in London by a woman named Martine. Terry gets his gang together and comes up with a plan to dig their way into the safety deposit room from an empty shop two stores down. They find a room filled with safety deposit boxes with money that runs into the millions of dollars for each thief. Little did they know that one of their own crew members is secretly seeking some discriminating photos of corrupt politicians and a princess which are located inside one of the safety deposit boxes. They then find themselves in a storm of corruption involving law enforcement, politicians, pornography producers and black rights activists. The Bank Job is a good crime thriller and it's even more interesting because it's based on a re
Funny Games U.S. (2008) Review 2008-04-15 18:43:41 I had not seen the original version of this movie before watching the new one. I knew that it was directed by Michael Haneke and that he pretty much replicated the original 1997 film scene by scene. The story follows a small family (mother, father and son) who arrive at their vacation home only to find a couple of polite and peculiar men terrorizing them for not apparent reason other than entertainment. The two psychopaths are played by Michael Pitt and Brady Corbett. Michael Pitt in my opinion is an underrated actor but probably because of his selection of strange roles. Naomi watts plays the powerless mother in the film. This movie is interesting because it plays with the viewers mind as well as the characters in the movie. The movie could be classified more as an intense psychodrama thr Read more:Funny
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Into The Wild (2007) Review 2008-04-21 10:42:00 A well-made biographical film directed by actor/director Sean Penn. Based of the novel by Jon Krakauer, the film follows the true story of Christopher McCandless, a young man graduate from Emory University who embarks on a spiritual journey to Alaska. He gives away his Harvard Law college funds to a charity and leaves his family behind. During his journey he comes across many compelling people who help him understand the essence of relationships and the truths of living. A relative unknown actor to me before this film, Emile Hirsch does a good job playing a lost man who thinks he can find himself in the wilderness of Alaska. Hal Holbrook plays an old man who McCandless befriends near the end of his journey. Holbrook got an Oscar nom for best supporting actor for his role. Overall this fil
Flushed Away (2006) Review 2008-04-28 13:06:36 I had to watch my 7 year old nephew and 2 year old niece tonight, so I picked out Flushed Away to watch at bedtime. I thought that it was going to be like all the other wannabe animated movies out there like Over the Hedge which I thought was horrible, but I was pleasantly surprised. The movie had my niece and nephew enthralled and so was I. It's hard to get a two year old to sit down and watch a movie with their short attention span, but she loved it.The movie was very entertaining to me. It was made the way an animated movie should be made. It's fun, it's exciting and most of all it's not too serious. Kids don't want to cry watching movies like this.The plot is about a lonely little pet rat named Roddy. When his owners leave on vacation, he finds that another rat named Sid is crashing hi
Lars and the Real Girl (2007) Review 2008-04-28 12:47:08 Ryan Gosling plays Lars, a strange and awkward man who creates an imaginary girlfriend out of a life-size doll he orders on the internet. One night he brings the doll named Bianca over to his brother and sister-in-law's house for dinner and introduces her as if she is real. The confused brother and sister-in-law pretend that she is real although baffled by the awkward situation. After consulting and doctor about Lars condition, the doctors tells them the best thing to do is to pretend along with him. His brother begins to think that he is insane while the sister-in-law worries about his mental health. Soon, out of Love and compassion everyone in the small town that Lars lives in begin to pretend that his girlfriend is real. Over time, Lars starts to fall for a real girl named Margo whom he
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) 2008-04-21 11:06:16 What kind of movie is The Bourne
Ultimatum? Action, Adventure, Dramatic What is the premise of The Bourne Ultimatum? The third movie in the popular spy series brings us Jason Bourne trying to escape assassins and trying to escape government agents. Bourne whom is a retired from the CIA still struggles with memory loss and tries to put together his past life in order to understand where he is in the present. Bourne must fight to save his life after his enemy Carlos the Jackal plans to murder him. As Bourne digs deeper, he finds that Carlos the Jackal plans on killing a historian named David Webb. Webb's two friends Alex Conklin and Morris Panov warn him that he may be in danger and Webb moves to a secret hiding place. Who is the director of The Bourne Ultimatum? Direct
Hot Rod (2007) 2008-04-21 11:06:16 What kind of movie is Hot Rod
? Romantic, Comedic, Action What is the premise of Hot Rod? Saturday Night Live's Andy Sanberg must show up for his first major movie. This reminds me a lot of a little SNL alums named Will Ferrell and Adam Sandler. Saturday Night Live launched many comedians into successful movie careers. Hot Rod is about a stuntman named Rod Kimble who organizes a motorcycle jump to raise money for his father's heart surgery. Rod is determined to jump over fifteen buses in a death defying manner. The movie sounds like another Will Ferrell movie but that is definitely not a bad thing, especially at the box office. Who is the director of Hot Rod? Directed by Akiva Schaffer Who is the writer of Hot Rod? Written by Pam Brady What other movies did Pam Bra
The Grand (2008) Review 2008-04-30 11:06:55 A very creative and funny movie from known writer Zak Penn. ZakPenn is known for writing screenplays for major comic book movies like X-men, Fantastic Four and Electra so this movie is sort of a new genre for him and it's only his second film ever directing. With many cameos and strange characters, The Grand
follows the story of several odd poker players competing in a tournament to win 10 million dollars. The main character know as One Eyed Jack Faro is an alcoholic druggie played by Woody Harrelson who is trying to save his Casino the Rabbit's Foot which inherited from his grandfather. Other strange characters range from a pair of competitive and outspoken brother/sister duo named Larry and Lanie Schwartzman and an intelligent card counter named Harold Melvin who still lives with his mom
Son of Rambow (2008) Review 2008-04-30 23:01:29 The film takes place in England during the 1980's where a pair of young boys named Joshua and Will find friendship by secretly filming their own version of Rambo. Joshua is a instinctively rebellious because of his family life and unwillingness to adhere to the strict rules of his school. Will is a shy and quiet young boy who finds a refreshing release from his strict world by hanging out with Joshua and filming their movie. Will has a very creative imagination and uses the film to express his creativity and urge to rebel against his world outside of Joshua. Both of the boys learn much about themselves and about growing up in a world full of good and evil. Their friendship is threatened by the Will's family expectations of his conduct and choice of friends. Other parts of the film involv
Iron Man (2008) Review 2008-05-02 17:47:31 Director Jon Favreau really brings this movie to life unlike some other recent comic book movies I've seen. The storyline follows a cocky military arms industrialists named Tony Stark played by Robert Downy Jr. After giving a presentation to military officials about a new weapon his company is manufacturing, he takes a ride in a Humvee with some American soldiers. They are attacked by terrorist type guys and he is kidnapped. The terrorists ask him to build them a bomb but he secretly designs an armored suit to escape. His experience of almost losing his life at the hand of evil-doing terrorists compels him to design a better version of his iron suit. He equips his suit with all sorts of gadgets, missiles and gizmos so that he can go out an serve justice. A pretty cool film if I do say so m Read more:Iron Man
Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008) 2008-05-03 17:15:24 The two weed smoking friends are back. This time they become suspects of terrorism by bringing a bong onto an airplane. When they are in Guantanamo Bay, they luckily escape and join a group of Cuban escapees going to Florida. Although not as good as the first film, this film is still good for a quick laugh. This film is almost completely different from the first expect for the type of humor and characters. This one relies heavily on raunchy jokes and racial jokes for it's humor. I didn't expect it to be some great piece of comedic work or anything going into it. There is no doubt that John Cho and Kal Penn have great chemistry together. They are both very funny and have great timing. I know that the first film had a pretty big following so it will be interesting to see if this film will Read more:Harold
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Columbus Day (2008) Review 2008-05-05 10:38:53 Val Kilmer plays a thief named John who hides in a park after stealing some goods from an infamous conman. He derives a plan to sell the goods in a deal and move to Florida with cash he makes. While in the park he befriends a socially confident young boy who claims that he is out of school because it's a holiday. Throughout the whole movie, John is trying to rehash broken relationships with his daughter and ex-wife over the phone, hoping they will listen to him now that he will soon be rich. John also realizes that the young boy he befriended has problems with his family and that is one reason he is in the park by himself. Bobb'e J. Thompson plays the young boy in the park. For a thriller this movie is not very thrilling but it does have very good acting on the part of Val Kilmer and Bobb' Read more:Columbus
Baby Mama (2008) Review 2008-05-07 18:29:41 Baby Mama is a superb comedic film. The storyline is about an accomplished business woman who has always put her work at the center of her life. When she realizes that she is growing to old to have a baby, she decides its time to have one. Her excitement mounts only to find out that she has very low odds of getting pregnant. Determined to have a child of her own, she hires a surrogate mother from Philadelphia who soons finds herself without a place to live. The two live together and they both have difficulty agreeing on anything when getting ready for the baby. Tina Fey does a good job as the over-prepared mom to be and Amy Poehler does a brilliant job as the strange scatter brained surrogate. The two Saturday Night Live are fun to watch in this movie. I do feel that this movie could have Read more:Baby Mama
Made of Honor (2008) Review 2008-05-07 14:38:06 Made of Honor is a decent film, a must see for Patrick Dempsey fans and lovers of romantic comedies. The plot follows a guy who secretly loves his friend who just got engaged to another guy after a trip to Scotland. He tries to make her fall in love with him after he accepts an invite to be the Maid of Honor. Patrick Dempsey does a good job as the hopelessly romantic aging man in love with his friend. I know that Patrick Dempsey will bring people to this film because of his appeal to many woman I'm sure. Director Paul Weiland has not made any notable films in his career but maybe this one will help launch him onto the scene. Overall, this movie is worth watching if you want to watch a funny movie with Patrick Dempsey or if you are a romantic. This is not as good as some other comedies this
The Fall (2008) Review 2008-05-10 13:03:46 I never had the chance to see it when it was released in 06 but was really anticipating it. The Fall has many carefully arranged details both cinematically and also in the storyline. The movie very creative and and is a visual masterpiece. The story tends to be broken in some areas but not too bad. The story takes place in the early 1900s in a hospital near L.A. where a little girl with a broken arm stumbles across a bed ridden stunt man. He begins to tell her an imaginative story. As he continues to tell the story to the little girl, the imaginary world he is creating begins to blend with reality and he tries to manipulate the little girl. The little girl is played by a young Romanian girl named Catinca Untaru who is amazing in this movie. Her character and the way she acts really adds to
Speed Racer (2008) Review 2008-05-09 09:00:01 I was thinking to myself that this movie has a lot to live up to. This is a classic cartoon and many people who grew up on SpeedRacer
(including myself) don't want it ruined by the silver screen. Just like the cartoon it follows Speed Racer
and his Mach 5 car. The film is loaded with amazing special effects but the script doesn't match up to the visual effects. The story is overdrawn and the movie is almost over stylized. I wouldn't go as far to say that I would have rather seen the cartoon version up on screen, but the film was over plotted and too long. Maybe the Wachowski brothers got themselves in too deep with this one. With that said the visual effects make this film worthwhile especially for taking the little ones. Keep in mind the lengthiness of the film though. It's pretty long f
Up The Yangtze (2008) Preview 2008-05-12 18:59:06 Filmmaker Yung Chang's film seeks to reveal the problems caused by the Three Gorges Dam under construction on China's Yangtze river. He focuses his documentary on a low-income family whose home is an area planned for flooding. It follows the families struggles to survive on the eve of losing their home. It also follows the oldest daughter who is forced to abandon her ambitions of going to college Read more:Preview
Towelhead (2008) Preview 2008-05-14 20:19:25 Based on a novel by Alicia Arian, the film follows the story of a young Arab-American girl named Jasira who is confronted with racism and sexuality after her mom sends her to live with her strict father in a suburban Texas town. She seeks comfort in her neighbors and her black boyfriend whom her father doesn't like. Aaron Eckhart plays her neighbor, Mr. Vuose, an army man who becomes attracted to Read more:Preview
Baghead (2008) Preview 2008-05-14 14:47:36 Writing and directing brothers Jay and Mark Duplass' new film about a group of struggling actors who venture to a cabin in the woods to film a movie that they hope will jump start their careers as movie makers. While coming up with ideas about what their movie should be about, they explore the idea of a scary movie about a man with a bag over his head. The film focuses on the character dynamics b Read more:Preview
American Teen (2008) Preview 2008-05-16 09:58:39 American Teen is a highly anticipated documentary from Nanette Burstein. If follows a group of students who who attend a high school in a small town in Indiana. It highlights each students individuality and also the clique they are considered to be in. It follows all of the stereotypical high school characters from the jock who plays basketball to the nerdy one who stay home and plays video games Read more:American
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The Love Guru (2008) Preview 2008-05-15 14:57:10 Saturday Night Alumni Mike Meyers is back with his next crazy character since Austin Powers. This time he plays an eccentric love guru named Pitka who is asked to get a prominent Toronto Maple Leaf hockey player back with his wife in time for the Stanley Cup. Verne Troyer, Jessica Alba and Justin Timberlake all co-star in this movie. It looks just as funny as Austin Powersand just as zany. Mike M Read more:Preview
Surfwise (2008) Preview 2008-05-18 01:03:44 A stylish documentary from director Doug Pray about an aging man and his family of passionate surfers. The film tells the story of Dorian Paskowitz, a natural born surfer who married and had eight children, all of whom were raised to share the family passion of surfing. His extreme and almost radical parenting techniques were done from a small camper in which his family lived and traveled in for m Read more:Preview
The Edge of Heaven (2008) Preview 2008-05-22 17:01:36 The Edge of Heaven
is a foreign film directed by Turkish director Fatih Akin. A film very similar to Crash, The Edge of Heaven is about a group of people whose lives become intertwined and entangled in many different ways. Major themes of the film include race and politics. The movie takes place in Germany and Turkey following several people with emotional and unique life struggles. One story fol Read more:Preview
The Children of Huang Shi (2008) Preview 2008-05-22 16:25:38 A foreign film from director Roger Spottiswoode. The Children
of Huang Shi is a historical drama based on real events that happened in 1930s China. Based during World War Two when China was being occupied by Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War. This left many areas a danger zone for innocent civilians, especially children. The story follows a writer from Great Britain, a nurse from Australi Read more:Preview
Battle for Haditha (2008) Preview 2008-05-21 20:17:23 An Iraq war film that follows a series of events that culminate in the death of several Iraqis civilians. The story is told from the perspective of both a frustrated Iraqi Insurgent named Ahmad who gets weapons from Al Qaeda for use against American soldiers and a U.s. Corporal who is faced with him. This film seems like a good in-depth over dramatization rather a than a busy anti-war mega narrat Read more:Preview
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W (2008) Preview 2008-05-21 20:16:08 So here comes the controversial Oliver Stone again this time making a film about the president while he is still in office (i like this guy). I am sort of a history guy so i have really enjoyed his other films. This one may actually make history if it influences the November election at all. I trust Stone to be more of a story teller than a party pusher though. He has been more controversial for Read more:Preview
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) Review 2008-05-24 11:51:32 I remember watching the originals back when I was younger and thought his character was awesome like tons of other bored kids wishing they could go on adventures. I knew there would be a sequel and now twenty seven years later there is. Although Spielberg, Lucas and Ford are twenty seven years older, Indy is still at it. They made the film just like it should be, action packed and fun. In this seq Read more:Indiana
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