Friday, June 22, 2012

Movie Trailer: Abraham Lincoln - Vampire Hunter

Abraham Lincoln, the USA's 16th president, is fighting vampires. That's what the title says, and that's what is in the trailer. A simple but hilarious idea that, if well executed, could be incredibily entertaining.

In the last few years vampires have been associated with girly fantasies and glitrer. However, the theme of vampires has been producing badass movies for much longer. Does anyone remember Nosferatu (1922)? Or more recently Blade and Interview with a Vampire? Hell, even the 1931's Dracula was way more awesome than Twilight.

I am very happy that they are bringing the badass back. That was just my ramble, here is the trailer:


Monday, June 18, 2012

Move Trailers

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012)
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

some interesting links:

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Movie Trailer: The Dark Knight Rises

Who else is excited for the third part of Christopher Nolan's Batman movies?
I know I am!

When Batman Begins was released in 2005 I, as a Batman fan, finally had a feeling of satisfaction, thinking to myself "this is how a Batman movie should be like.". After that came The Dark Knight, featuring everyone's favorite villain, The Joker, fantastically played by Heath Ledger. That movie quickly rose to the top of my favorite movies list.

And now, 4 years later, I am impatienly waiting for the third part, The Dark Knight Rises. I'm sure Bane will be awesome, but I am most interested to see if we finally get a worthy Catwoman. Guess we'll see.

Here's the trailer:


Friday, June 15, 2012

Movie Review: Project X: The Mother of All Parties

It is mid-June right now. I’m in the middle of an exam-period, so I spend the bulk of my time studying. In the evening my brain has stopped functioning and all I need before a good night sleep is some senseless entertainment. That is exactly what Project X is, a found footage film of some High school kids holding a party when the parents are out of town to gain popularity. The movie may or may not be based on the internet phenomenon Corey Delaney. An Australian teenager who held a massive party that disturbed the neighborhood, destroyed cars etc.  

The movie tells the story of three High school seniors holding a birthday party while the parents are away for the weekend. Thomas (Thomas Mann), seems like a responsible youngster, and his parents trust him. He envisioned a small get-together just to have fun and gain some popularity. However, his “best friend” Costa (Oliver Cooper) sees things a little bit bigger. He markets the party massively and plans for the biggest party of all time. And he succeeded, unfortunately the party quickly gets out of hand and half the neighborhood gets destroyed.

The plot and the characters may not be most well-written. But as a form of senseless entertainment for teenagers, it’s pretty good. However, the movie did lack in consequences after the fact. Half a neighborhood gets destroyed; however the teens seem to come out of it pretty fine. Yes, there is mention of some law-suits and possible jail-time. But what we see isn’t so bad. Thomas’ parents completely under-react, the father even seems proud. If I did that, I don’t think my parents would ever look at me again.

As I have stated before, if you are a teenager looking for some senseless entertainment, Project X might just be the thing you are looking for. Don’t look for anything deep, it’s all about a party.

Leave a comment with your thoughts on the review, or on the movie itself. I’d Love to hear what you have to say. If you have any movies you would like me to review, send me an e-mail at: nuggettreviews@gmail.com

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Movie Review: Wrath of the Titans: They Forgot the Plot

Against my better judgment, I watched Wrath of the Titans (2012). Luckily, I had already heard so many bad things about the movie, that at times I was pleasantly surprised. At times. The movie has some pretty good-looking special effects. Kronos and all the mythological beasts look great. However, in general you can’t really say this is a good movie, and I will tell you why.

First of all, it lacks what every movie need, a good plot. Or maybe there was a plot but they edited all the important dialogue out to make more room for meaningless but good-looking fight scenes. Although the movie only lasts for about 90 minutes, it feels like the story was meant to take 5 hours. Most of what happened is left unexplained, and every 5 minutes I found myself asking “Why?”. Zeus comes to ask the help of Perseus to defeat a certain upcoming doom. Why? What can a demi-god without any real powers do that a lightning-wielding powerhouse can’t? Oh the gods lost most of their power because the people stopped praying. Wait! So how come Zeus and Hades can stroll through a monster-infested battlefield and throw lightning and other stuff at Kronos? The biggest disappointment was the labyrinth scene. Hephaistus build Tartarus, a huge prison, to keep Kronos in, and he build a labyrinth as only means for a person to get into the prison. The labyrinth looks very impressive, and would take anyone 20 years to get through, unless they starve to death. However, Perseus and the gang get through it in about 5 minutes. They get lost, Perseus falls in a hole and is separated from his group. Then he fights a minotaur-type monster and after that the entire labyrinth moves to make a nice clear path for Perseus to follow, oh and he is re-united with his friends. How? What? Why? That doesn’t make any sense.

As for the actors, the movie has a pretty impressive cast: Liam Neeson, Sam Worthington, Ralph Fiennes, Danny Huston, Bill Nighy etc. Sadly, most of the characters are extremely flat. They are boring and uninteresting. The only characters who seem to have some depth are Zeus (Liam Neeson) and Hades (Ralph Fiennes). They are played by some of my favorite actors so I was glad their characters weren’t as dull as Perseus or Ares. Zeus and Hades are brothers and underneath their plotting, schemes and back-stabbing, their brotherly love still shows. The scene where they walk through a battlefield like total bosses (or gods) and fling monsters away like they are toys, although completely incoherent with the rest of the movie, is really badass. Zeus telling Hades “let’s have some fun” is what you would imagine greek gods to do, because that is what they do in the mythology. The gods play with humans, they are almighty and all-powerful and just don’t give a sh*t. Bill Nighy did a pretty good job too as Hephaistus, I was truly laughing and enjoying his performance.

I’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg but this review is getting a bit long so I’ll stop here. The concluding question should probably be: is Wrath of Titans entertaining to watch? Yeah, kind of, if you don’t ask yourself why anything is happening but just enjoy the visuals.

Leave a comment with your thoughts on the review, or on the movie itself. I’d Love to hear what you have to say. If you have any movies you would like me to review, send me an e-mail at: nuggettreviews@gmail.com 

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Movie Review: Mr. Nobody - How Does a Child Make an Impossible Choice?

A 9-year-old kid with a rich imagination is faced with an impossible choice after his parents’ divorce; go with mommy, or with daddy. Choices are the main topic in this philosophical drama by Belgian director Jaco Van Dormael. How much can one single choice impact a life? Little Nemo is imagining all of them to help him make his impossible decision.

I like movies that make you think, especially if the philosophical aspect is coherent with the story. The story always has to be a writer/director’s main focus. Jaco Van Dormael succeeded in creating a masterpiece with Mr. Nobody (2009). He created a beautiful philosophical drama with elements of science-fiction and a love story. If you don’t share my love for philosophy, you can just relax and take a ride in Van Dormael’s rich and bizarre universe. From past to future, birth to death, earth to outer space, Mr. Nobody has it all.

It even has a great cast, and a fairly large one. Because of the time shifts in Mr. Nobody some characters have to be played by different actors. The main character, Nemo Nobody, has three actors: Jared Leto, Toby Regbo and Thomas Byrne. They all did a great and convincing job; the movie often feels like a dream and not just another movie. However, I specifically want to mention Toby Regbo’s performance. For he did a tremendous job as 15-year-old Nemo, along with his love interest played by Juno Temple.

The length of the movie is one of its only downsides. It tends to drag on a bit and some scenes don’t really feel like they belong there. They bring the viewer out of balance. But then again, who are we to question a child’s (or Jaco van Dormael’s) imagination?

I definitely recommend renting this one if you ever feel like escaping the Hollywood movie-formula of big explosions and cliché love affairs. Mr. Nobody will take you on a ride through a child’s mind and encourage you to think about your choices and its effect on life. Do not watch this right before bedtime, for you may find yourself lying awake thinking for a few hours after.

Leave a comment with your thoughts on the review, or on the movie itself. I’d Love to hear what you have to say. If you have any movies you would like me to review, send me an e-mail at: nuggettreviews@gmail.com

Friday, June 1, 2012

Movie Review: Iron Sky - Nazis In Space

In 1945, a group of Nazis fled the earth and hid on the dark side of the moon, preparing to invade earth. 73 years later, the first black man lands on the moon as part of Sarah Palin’s campaign to be re-elected as President of the United States. The black man, named James Washington (Christopher Kirby), gets captured by the space-Nazis, who proceed to turn him white and use his cellphone to power their warships.

If that summary left you feeling a bit confused, not sure what to think of it, fear not. I still have that same feeling, even after watching the movie. Iron Sky (2012), defies all logic and mixes a bunch of different movie genres into one weird whole. That is not to say the movie is not entertaining. It kept me very entertained to say the least. The idea of Nazis having a Star Wars-type battle in space with earth’s spaceships (oh yes, did I mention every member of the UN build some kind of space battleship in 2018?), though completely unrealistic, is still hilarious.

Iron Sky is a big, beautiful mix of every possible movie cliché a man can think of.  We have the predictable love affair between enemies followed by a change of heart of the female bad guy, an over-exaggerated final battle, a sadistic and emotionless bad guy double crossing his partner and a caricature of Sarah Palin (Stephanie Paul) as a political jab. On top of that the writer decided “hey, let’s just add in a moral at the end of the movie, maybe we’ll fool some people into taking this movie seriously”.

The movie is worth watching if you need some laughs, it’s not too long. Although I am pretty sure my IQ dropped of about 20 points after watching it. So beware of that. Most of the acting isn’t that good either. Don’t expect too much from it. Except for the character of Sarah Palin, she’s just too funny.  

Leave me a comment with your thoughts on the review, or on the movie itself. I’d love to hear what you guys have to say. If you have any movies you want me to review, send me an e-mail at: nuggettreviews@gmail.com