Saturday, September 25, 2010

Easy A

Starring Emma Stone, Amanda Bynes, Thomas Hayden Church, Lisa Kudrow, Stanley Tucci, and Patricia Clarkson

Directed by Will Gluck

Release Date: September 17, 2010

I'm gonna be perfectly honest: the trailer for this movie didn't get my interest initially. However, after seeing the film, I really enjoyed this high school drama revolving around the rumor mill that is a populace of high school teenagers. The cast is very funny, especially Emma Stone as Olive, Patricia Clarkson and Stanley Tucci as Olive's liberal, trying way too hard to be cool parents, and Thomas Haden Church as Mr. Griffith. Inspired by Nathaniel Hawtherone's The Scarlett Letter and John Hughes movies of the 1980's, Easy A is a lighthearted comedy that explores the gossip revolving around Olive Penderghast, as one little lie soon erupts into a whirlwind of assumptions and dirty looks.

Rating: * * * * of 5

Click here to buy Easy A Easy A [Blu-ray]

Sunday, September 19, 2010

The Town

Starring Ben Affleck, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Hall, Pete Postlethwaite, and Chris Cooper

Directed by Ben Affleck

Release Date: September 17, 2010

Despite how obvious the third act and the resolution are, The Town is an enjoyable, gritty crime drama directed well by Ben Affleck. The performances are great, from Blake Lively as Kris, Rebecca Hall as Clare and Jon Hamm as the FBI agent assigned to catch the Boston bank robbers.

Rating: * * * * of 5

Click here to buy The Town The Town (Extended Cut) [Blu-ray] 

Saturday, September 18, 2010

CardCaptor Sakura-The Movie 2: The Sealed Card

Kâdokaputâ Sakura: Fûin sareta kâdo (original title)

Starring the voices of Aya Hisakawa, Hideyuki Tanaka, Junko Iwao, Maaya Sakamoto, Masaya Onosaka, Megumi Ogata , Motoko Kumai , Sakura Tange , Tomokazu Seki , Toru Furusawa , Yukana Nogami

Directed by: Morio Asaka

Release Date: Jul 15, 2000


Picking up 4 months after the Series' finale, Sakura is still trying to find the words to tell Syaoran that she loves him. So, Meilin and Syaoron are back in Tomoeda Town just in time to see Sakura star in the 6th Grade play for the Nadeshiko Festival. Meanwhile, a powerful force has been building at an amusement park built on the abandoned mansion where Eriol once lived. Will Sakura find the courage to announce her feelings to Syaoran? Will Tomoyo make another "Battle Costume"? Will Kero-chan eat all the takoyaki?

As with the previous theatrical film, CCS 2 is made for fans of the series first and foremost. This movie is an epilogue to the series, where all loose ends are tied up as we await the lingering question of will Sakura admit her true feelings by the resolution. Fans will appreciate that all the series main characters (and a few secondary characters) show up for the story and all play their parts well without distracting from the main romantic plot or the supernatural subplot. As with CCS, the movie deals with the joys and hardships of love, be it between family or dealing with your feelings at a young age. The animation is very well detailed, putting more sharp attention on color and shadows. If there is one thing this movie lacks is the series sense of physical and broad comedy, but that actually works as this movie is more focused on Sakura's heatache troubles and not if she's being called a "monster" by her older brother.

A fitting end to Cardcaptor Sakura, with layered writing, incredible vocal actors, and gives a feeling of warmth and joy to anime fans.

Rating: * * * * * of 5

Poster from http://www.wikipedia.org/

Click Here to buy Cardcaptor Sakura - The Movie 2 - The Sealed Card (Special Edition)

CardCaptor Sakura: The Movie

Gekijô-ban Kâdokaputâ Sakura (original title)

Starring the voices of Aya Hisakawa, Chiyako Shibahara, Hideyuki Tanaka, Junko Iwao, Kikuko Inoue, Kotono Mitsuishi , Megumi Hayashibara , Megumi Ogata , Sakura Tange , Tomokazu Seki , Yuriko Yamaguchi

Directed by : Morio Asaka, Terry Klassen

Release Date: Aug 21, 1999

A fun, enjoyable film from the anime series, "CardCaptor Sakura". Set after the first season, Sakura, tomoyo, Toya, and Yukito go to Hong Kong on winter vacation. Soon, Sakura's magical powers are tested by a mysterious woman with power over water. A must see for fans of the series. For others, the animation looks great, the story is good, and the action sequences are well paced and look fantastic.

Rating: * * * * 1/2 of 5

Click here to buy Cardcaptor Sakura - The Movie

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Machete

Starring Danny Trejo, Robert De Niro, Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez, Jeff Fahey, Cheech Marin, Don Johnson, Steven Segal, and Lindsey Lohan

Directed by Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis

Release Date September 3, 2010

In 2007, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino collaborated on "Grindhouse", two movies paying homage to 1970s exploitation films. In between Rodriguez's Planet Terror and Tarantino's Death Proof, there were a series of fake trailers made by Tarantino, Rodriguez, and other directors such as Edgar Wright and Rob Zombie. One of those trailers, Rodriguez's Machete, was a fan favorite and soon became the subject to discussions about Machete becoming a full-lenghth feature film. Now, three years later, Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis directed the full-length feature film spun out of a three minute trailer.

Machete Cortez was a hard-nosed federale who had a strict sense of justice and a penchant for knives and blades over guns. Now, he's been defeated by drug-kingpin Torrez and reduced to working as a daylaborer in Austin, Texas. Soon enough, he's been hired by Boothe (Jeff Fahey) to assassinate US Senator John McLaughlin, who is currently running on an anti-immigration campaign all the way to the White House. Eventually, Machete has been set up and begins to start a revolution...

Short on plot but more than enough blood, guts, and bullets, Machete is a fun and exciting action adventure that feels like a contemporary "Mexploitation" film. As per usual, Trejo is an awesome action star and truly shines as the titular character. The rest of the supporting cast (Jessica Alba, Robert De Niro, Steven Segal, and Cheech Marin) are all fun, entertaining, and enjoyable in this goofy ride through Texas' captial. Unfortunately, not every part is cast correctly: Lindsey Lohan should have not been cast as April, a DRUG ADDICT who spends 80% of her role in the nude (which is obviously a body double so why even bother hiring an actress whose role is mainly given to someone else?) I felt that anyone could have been cast in her part, Lohan is that unnecessary to the plot of the story.

Overall, Machete is a fun, over-the-top action movie that will enthrall fans of Rodriguez and exploitation films.

Rating: * * * * of 5

Click here to buy Machete Machete [Blu-ray]