True Grit

I have been sick lately.  I have been lying in bed crying, knowing that my fans were desperately awaiting some movie reviews.   My fans depend on me. You depend on me. 

As I was lying in bed I was tossing and turning, knowing that Tron had been out for a while and I still hadn’t seen it.  I had been waiting to see Tron for a while and had planned to see it as soon as I recovered from my life threatening illness. (Ok, so it was the flu, not exactly life threatening.)

But to my surprise, I decided to go see True Grit before seeing Tron.  I had heard good things about True Grit and I just didn’t believe the rumors.  I decided to make the sacrifice and go see this movie. For my fans. For you. (And sorta for me.)

It was so good. I was pleasantly surprised.  It is rare that I go into a movie with the thought that I won’t like it.  However, I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone.  You don’t have to like western movies to like this one.  This is a movie that both women and men will enjoy equally.

The thing that made this movie so great was the witty dialogue and Indians.  Without the witty dialogue and Indians this would have been an average western movie.  However, Jeff Bridges and a new actress Hailee Steinfeld stole the show.  Jeff Bridges is a polished actor and played his role spot on.  I think he will be better remembered as Kevin Flynn from Tron, but he played the cowboy spot on.  Haille Steinfeld was exceptional.  She played an overly ambitious 14-year-old girl who is trying to track down her father’s murderer.  She is now in talks to play Katniss for The Hunger Games series.  My vote goes to her.

Go see this movie.  You’ll like it, I promise.  

Where I got the pics:

http://www.cinemaspartan.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/2010_true_grit_001-650x433.jpg

http://www.full-movies-links.com/images/true-grit-2010-big.jpg

http://www.americansweets.co.uk/ekmps/shops/statesidecandy/images/american-quaker-traditional-white-hominy-grits-1170-p.jpg

The Tourist

“Welcome to “movie math” readers!  Please answer the following question.”

Angelina Jolie+ Johnny Depp + Movie = ?

“Go ahead….what do you think the answer is? Go ahead and shout them out!”

“Perfection!”

“A box-office smash hit!”

“Greatest movie of all time!”

“Oscar nominations!”

“Good answers children/readers/old people.  But sadly you are wrong.  This is one of the more difficult math problems because when you add two of the greatest actors of all time to a movie, you would expect the answers that were given.  But children, you forgot that a movie does not just consist of the actors.  There are actually many elements that make a perfect movie besides just the actors….like a PLOT! Ok, you all fail. Please read the following for your next assignment and we will review the question again.”

 

I was SO disappointed. I am just sad.  Sad, sad, sad.  I will say it again. Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie are some of the greatest actors of our time.  This movie was sure to succeed.   Too bad it failed miserably instead.

I don’t blame the actors.  Angelina was great and Depp was ok.  I mean, you can only act out a crappy script so well. The plot of this movie was absurd.  Completely and ridiculously absurd.   The whole movie was based on the concept of identity theft.  Yeah, lame.  I mean, how many of us, who have had their identity stolen have thought to ourselves, “yeah, this would be a great movie!” Oh yeah, none of us because that is the lamest story ever.

So I failed chemistry in high school, but I didn’t need to get an A to know that the chemistry in this movie failed completely.  Sorry Johnny, you are way out of Angelina’s league.

The music in this movie was completely off.  It was some creepy, classical lullaby that was trying to put you to sleep the whole time.  I wish I would have fallen asleep because I probably could have dreamt up something a lot more exciting than the movie( cue Inception.)

There was no action.  SALT was such a good movie because Angelina kicked some serious booty.  While watching The Tourist I kept hoping that Angelina would bust out some of her sick moves and beat up a bunch of guys. Nope, she just played some lame British chick that didn’t know anything.  Depp was ok, but not great by any means.  He was pretty unfunny, but did his best with what he had to work with.  He was asked to build a sand castle without any sand. (Ok, that was a really stupid metaphor, but it worked.)

Save your money.  Don’t go. Or go. Do whatever.  It’s a free country.

TANGLED

I can take criticism.

I can.

I criticize movies all the time. I criticize actors.

So yeah, I can take some criticism myself.

Recently someone told me that they have been reading my blog.  This person (you know who you are) said, “ I really enjoy reading your reviews Justin. I do! But……..”

But what?!

I am perfect!!!!!

Ok, so I am not perfect according to this ONE person I talked to.

Let me continue with the story.

She said, “I really enjoy reading your reviews Justin.  But, I think that you are too positive.  You are not hard enough in your critiques.”

So here it goes.  Me taking some advice. Please enjoy this review on Tangled. 

I hated this movie for many reasons.  I hated that the Disney character Rapunzel was an animated character cuz I think that in real life we would get along. Heck, Rapunzel and I would probably get married.  We would have four kids.  I hate how this fairy tale will never come true for me.

I hate that I can’t have Mandy Moore in my life.  She did an excellent job in this movie.  She is an amazing singer and really pulled through in her songs.  I think that the soundtrack to this movie is one of the better soundtracks that Disney has produced.  I hate that Mandy Moore is perfect and was exceptional in this film.  I hate that more actresses aren’t as talented as Mandy Moore.  Don’t lie….you know that you cried after watching A Walk to Remember. 

I hate that this movie is going to make so much money at the box office because of how it is the best family film of the year hands down.  I have not met ONE person who has hated this movie.  ONE! And that is definitely saying something.  People of all ages will love this movie because it is just an all around, clean, feel good movie.

I hated how perfect the story was.  I hated that this movie made me laugh/tear up/ laugh/ tear up.  The storyline was so perfect and I am so mad that Disney will have such a hard time living up to such a creative plot.  

There.  See? There were a lot of things that I absolutely hated about this movie.  

Fair Game

If you LOVE politics then this is a good movie to see.

If you HATE politics, then you will not like this movie.

Chances are you have never heard of this movie.  It had a limited release a few weeks ago and was released to most theaters this past weekend.  The movie is “inspired” by true events.  Isn’t every movie “inspired” by true events?  Please refer to the list below as I prove my point.

Inception-we all dream. “Inspired by true events”

Harry Potter-we all know a kid named Harry. “Inspired by true events”

Batman-bats exist. man exist. “Inspired by true events”

I think if you claim that a movie is “inspired by true events”, then you should have to at least try to follow some truth.  I just saw the movie Unstoppable.  I went home and read the “true” story.  It was a completely different story.  The only thing in common was the train.

Anyway, back to Fair Game.  This movie is about Valerie Plame, a CIA agent who is exposed as being a spy. Who exposes her you might ask? THE GOVERNMENT! Oh the drama! Oh the conspiracy! Bush lied! Like we haven’t heard that before.

With that being said, it is a really interesting movie.  This is a hard-core liberal movie, but I really enjoyed it.  Sure all the facts are not true, but some of it is true and yeah, Valerie Plame got put in a tough position she didn’t deserve.

Valerie Plame is palyed by Naomi Watts.  You know, The Ring actress, King Kong actress.  She is an awesome actress.  She played this role extremely well.  Sean Penn plays her husband, Joe Wilson. He is a great actor also.  2 great actors+Government Conspiracy=Good Movie.

I loved this movie.  I eat up politics. (Can you even say that….eat up politics???)  The more politics the better.  Throw in a little conspiracy here and there and I am there!  The movie felt long at times, but all in all was a pretty interesting movie.   It got me asking some questions.  Why did we go to Iraq? How did the intelligence get so messed up in the CIA?

Go see the movie. But maybe wait till the dollars…I don’t think it will be in the normal theaters for long.

The Next Three Days

This movie came out the same day as Harry Potter.  I don’t know why anyone would release a movie the same weekend as the juggernaut Harry Potter, but they did.  This movie will fail at the box office, living in the shadow of Harry Potter. It’s a shame too because this was a pretty decent movie. 

The movie is about a lady/wife/mother who is convicted of murdering her boss and is sentenced to life in prison.  However, her husband believe she is wrongly convicted and does everything he can to break her out of prison. 

It is a pretty cool movie, but I will never watch it again.   It had a really interesting story but took a little while to develop.  However, it definitely keeps your attention the entire way through.  The movie is good because you are constantly asking yourself different questions the entire movie.

I wish the writers would have called me though because I would have made the ending ten times better.

Give me a call and I’ll tell you how it SHOULD have ended.

Good movie.  Short review.  It’s a fun movie and definitely won’t disappoint.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

Wow. People. Wow.

I have grown up with good ol’ Harry Potter. I remember being a boy and loving the books. I remember going to the midnight book releases and getting as much Harry Potter as I could get.   So call me terrible, but I remember having a huge trial of faith as I was preparing to leave for my mission.  The 7^th book was going to come out two months after my “date of availability to serve.”  I remember filling in the blank spot, marking my date of availability, praying so hard that I would leave after the 7th book came out.  I was blessed and left a week after the release.  I loved the 7^th book.  So now on to the movie….

Dark.  This movie is the darkest movie of them all.  It is amazing that you can go from happy Hogwarts in book one, to death, death, death in book/movie seven.  I think this is why I loved the movie so much.  I get sick of the happy endings, the happy times, the happy music.  Life isn’t always happy. Especially as a wizard.  I loved how dark it was and loved that it was so terribly sad.  So if you don’t like sad movies, just stay home.(ha who am I kidding? Like this blog post is going to keep you from seeing Harry Potter. Right.)

The trailers are quite deceiving.  Many of the movie trailers that you have seen are not actually in the movie.  Don’t expect much action in this movie.  There is enough action to move the plot along, but you could tell that the director is saving the big action scenes for the end.  If you have read the books, you know how much action comes at the end.  The next movie is going to be insane! This movie set up the story perfectly to give us the conclusion of a lifetime come next summer! Mark your calendars!

I couldn’t help but saying to myself that this movie is not really a “kid” movie.  There is a lot of death.  I don’t think kids will really like it.  That’s just my opinion though.   There was a huge controversy before this movie came out when people heard there was going to be a couple nude scenes, and for all your guys’ sake I will set the record straight.  There is one “nude” scene, if you can even call it that.   It’s all CGI and it’s really dark and you don’t see anything.  If you watched Avatar where there were hundreds of naked blue people the whole time, you can handle this.  If Avatar offended you , then yeah you might be squirmy for the three second scene.  It’s your call.

All in all, I came out of this movie just in awe.  I love Harry Potter.  I wish Harry Potter were a real person.  I think we’d be friends.  He flies on broomsticks, and I use brooms to clean bathrooms.  I think we have a lot in common and could make great buds.  I got the chills multiple times during the movie.   The end is near people.  What a great way to start such a monumental ending of the greatest series of books ever written.  Harry Potter has changed the world.  Enjoy it guys! The end is near!!!!!

**PS…if you are not at the midnight showing right now, it may be wise to brush up on your Harry Potter knowledge.   This movie may be a little hard to follow if you are not familiar with the seventh book and it’s predecessors.  It starts where the story left off. They make no attempt to explain what’s going on or what has gone on in previous books.

UNSTOPPABLE

Unstoppable is probably the perfect word to describe my movie going experience this week.  On Wednesday I saw Megamind. Thursday I saw Inception (4^th time). Friday I saw Skyline. Saturday I saw Unstoppable.  I have a prediction of what I will see Sunday too…..my credit card bill through the roof!  I see too many movies.  I do it for you people. I do it for you.

I thought the trailer for this movie was pretty weak.  I was not really interested in seeing some lame two-hour movie about a runaway train.  The movie boasted big name actor Denzel Washington and I thought he would be the only saving grace to a weak storyline and a weak movie.  I understand the movie was inspired by true events, but I don’t remember hearing much about the true story, so it must not have been that big of a story.  I had little desire to see it, until initial reviews started popping up saying that it was incredible.

AND IT WAS!

Unstoppable was amazing.  This movie was one of the most well done movies of the year.  My heart was beating so fast the entire time.   I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing on the screen as I sat watching the story unfold.  The whole movie really does take place on a train, but it is incredible to me that such a simple plot could be so engaging.  I was not disappointed. Go see it guys, go see it.

Denzel Washington and Chris Pine are amazing in this movie.  They are such good actors and really delivered in this film.   Their story is indeed inspiring; however if you really want this movie ruined for you, look up the true story after you see Unstoppable.  You will be disappointed to find out that there was a lot of drama that was added in order to make the film a hit.  It was well worth embellishing the story though.  I was thoroughly pleased. 

If you like action movies this will not disappoint you.  It is a face-paced movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire time. 

Unstoppable is definitely worth seeing this holiday season.  Go! Go! Go!

SKYLINE

Oh brother. Why do they make these kinds of movies? Why?

I trust the filmmaking industry.  I think that it is safe to say that the majority of the time, movies are decently made.  Not every movie is great, but many are just fine.  Then there are movies like The Last Airbender.  I seriously scratched my head and thought to myself, “how”? How can a movie that is so blatantly terrible hit the big screen?  Well my people, it has happened again. A failure has hit the big screen and is attempting to steal your money. Lucky for you, I got your back.

If you want to know what Skyline is about, go look it up on Wikipedia.  I don’t want to write a summary of the movie because it doesn’t deserve a summary.  There are only three things that describe this movie: aliens, death, lame.

I am a fan of alien movies.  I love Signs. Cloverfield is one of my favorite movies.  Skyline looked so intriguing to me.  I heard it was a low budget film, but the previews always caught my eye and I looked forward to November 12 for a long time.  The movie was not screened for critics.  Usually this is a bad sign, but the director said he didn’t want to screen it for critics because he wanted to keep the script a secret.  Yeah I’d want to keep this script a secret too.  It was such a weak script that they should have locked it away and called it a failure before production.

There are three things that carry a movie: a script, actors, and special effects.  I give Skyline a failure in all three areas.  The script was so poorly written.  Everything the characters said was agonizing to listen too.  There was nothing funny, nothing scary, nothing entertaining to listen too.  The acting was also terrible.  This movie was filled with no name actors.  They are “no name” actors for a reason.  They don’t even deserve a name.  They were not passionate about their roles.  There was no hero of the movie and I didn’t even care when a character got eaten every now and then.  When a character got eaten I secretly cheered because it was one less person I had to listen too.  The last failure was the special effects.  The aliens were ok looking, but nothing really original or special about them.  Lame. Lame. Lame.

I will give this movie ONE compliment. The ending.  Cool, sad, not happy ending.  This is not being sarcastic either.  I love sad endings and Skyline delivered on at least an original ending.  People! Save your money or go spend it on something better(like toilet paper).

Keep reading my blog guys! Reviews will still be comin! Spread the word! Help me become the person you know who makes it big and becomes famous!

MEGAMIND

It says a lot when you cry during a movie.  I can’t remember the last time I cried during a movie.  Actually, yes, I can.  I cried while watching Megamind.  It’s not like I was bawling or anything, but I was laughing so hard that tears began falling from my face. This is NOT what I was expecting going into this movie.  I was expecting a lame, animated space movie with big name actors that were hired for the sole purpose to sell this movie. Boy was I wrong.

Megamind was definitely worth the money.  I didn’t find the whole movie funny, but it had enough funny parts to keep my interest.  There is one part in the movie where I was really just embarrassed that I was in a theater because I was laughing like a little child (a strong, manly, good-looking child.) I have to give credit where credit is due though.  Once again, Justin Bieber gets all the credit for making this movie the bomb shizzle.  Let me explain.  I walked into the movie with a poor attitude.  I went for the sole purpose of writing a blog post in my quest for fame. As the previews began, a little boy popped up on the screen. Yes. You guessed it.  There is a Justin Bieber movie coming out. And thank the heavens, it will be in 3D.  I was laughing so hard.  What has this world come to?  Justin Bieber:The Movie.  I was laughing so hard that my mood lightened up in order to prepare me for the amazingness of Megamind. 

Megamind was so cleverly written.  Do not judge this movie by its trailer.  It is way more than just a simple movie between a good superhero and a villain.  I’m not going to give the plot away, but I promise you will not be disappointed.  It’s hard to comment on the “acting” of Will Ferrell, Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, and Tina Fey because they weren’t actually in the movie.  I guess I can say that they did a good job “voicing” though.   Will Ferrell was absolutely hilarious and Tina Fey was pretty funny also.

I just want to give some props to the writers.  They are the true talent behind this film.  When you can get a 22 year old to cry because he is laughing so hard, you deserve a standing ovation.  So imagine me giving a standing ovation to the writers.  They don’t give enough credit. 

It’s rare that a movie comes out that has mass appeal.  A movie is either for “grown-ups” or for “children”.  I could be wrong, but I am pretty sure this movie will please most audiences.  What a great way to start of the Fall season of movies.  Go see this movie people.  It’s a good one.

P.S. I didn’t see it in 3D. It makes me sick.

(Hey JB….I’m givin you a standing ovation too.)

Life As We Know It

Well here is life as I know it. The world revolves around two people. Justin Bieber and Fergie.  Yes, Justin Bieber and Fergie.

Well, first off, “I got a feelin” (Fergie), that you will all really enjoy this movie!

The movie is about two young people, Holly and Messer, who are set up on a date together by their best friends. And like all blind dates, Holly and Messer do not get along well.  Tell me of one blind date that has actually ever worked out. It never happens.  But as fate would have it, these star-crossed haters and thrown back together after tragedy strikes their friends. Holly and Messer are named the legal guardians of their friend’s child, Sophie.

The movie had many funny parts. I’m talking, lol, laugh out loud parts.  Messer is plated by Josh Duhamel (Fergie’s husband).  Duhamel’s acting is not too shabby.  I mean, it wasn’t Oscar contender worthy or anything, but he played the “dumb dude” quite well.   He probably acted so well because he didn’t want to upset his wife, Fergie.  I don’t think anyone would want to make Fergie mad.  Boom Boom Pow!

 

I never knew that I would enjoy another movie with Katherine Heigl ever again after seeing The Killers.  I think that Katherine Heigl is frankly one of the least funny people on the planet. I don’t get her humor and I don’t even think she is a good actress.  I think that she is only where she is today because of her looks. She is a beautiful, blond actress to whom directors think they can just give a script to and have a box office hit.  With all of this Heigl bashing aside, I really did enjoy her in this movie. She played her role well and had me laughing with some of the things she said. 

All in all, I think this movie is definitely worth seeing.  I liked it a lot. I am usually way into the scary, action, suspense movies, so this was a nice break from that.   It was just one of those feel good movies that had you laughing all the way through it. Comedies are hard movies to make. Not that I have ever made a comedy, I just know how hard it is to keep people’s interest in a movie that is supposed to be funny the entire time. I was pleased and thought it was pretty funny. And for that, I will give this movie three out of five Fergie’s.

RED

“What was that movie called again honey?”

“What movie?”

“Green?”

“Oh you talking about that movie with the name that is some color?”

“Yeah I can’t remember, maybe like blue?”

“No, I know it wasn’t blue……I think it was pink.”

 RED! People! The movie is called RED!

The movie is about “Retired Extremely Dangerous.” Get it? Get it? RED!

If you are a fan of the show 24 you will like RED. Ok, I take that back.  If you are above the age of sixty, and are a fan of the show 24 you will like RED.  It was weird walking in the theater and seeing a lot of old people.  I didn’t know old people saw “cool” movies. No offense to old people of course.  But then I realized after watching this movie that it wasn’t a “cool” movie. Which was too bad because I was really excited to see this movie.

Movies with all star casts are either great (Ocean’s 11)……or they bomb (Valentines Day).   RED has an extraordinary cast: Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Richard Dreyfuss, Helen Mirren, Brian Cox, and John Malkovich.  It’s sad that a movie can have such an excellent cast and still fall short. 

Bruce Willis plays Frank Moses.  I don’t know why they decided his name should be Frank Moses because he really was just a 65-year-old Jack Bauer.  Moses is an agent who worked for the CIA back in the day, and now the CIA is out to kill him.  Moses is trying to settle in to “normal” retired life and focuses most of his time reading romance novels in order to woo Sarah Ross played by Mary-Louise Parker.  Mary-Louise Parker stole the show.  She was the comic relief and played her role exceptionally.  Without Parker, this show would have dragged more than it already did.

Anyway, Moses goes around and gathers all his fellow agents and tries to figure out who is chasing them and attempting to kill them all.  Doesn’t that sound like a cool plot for a movie? (Seriously, no sarcasm, it sounds like a cool movie)  It is a cool premise, but for some reason the movie just didn’t really do it for me.  I enjoyed it, but I wished I hadn’t spent money to see it.  This is a movie that would be worth getting at Redbox or even seen at the dollar theaters.  The movie wasn’t terrible, but nothing special either.   If you are thinking that this is the action movie of the fall, don’t be fooled. Harry Potter is going to be the action movie of the fall.

 

I don’t want to write much more on this movie.  It was slow, but entertaining enough to keep your interest until the end.  Like I said, I think the older generation will like this movie a lot more than the younger generation.  So all you old people, go for it. Young people, go see Inception again.

Hereafter

You guys should know something. I enjoy watching C-SPAN.  Yes, you read that last sentence correctly.  I enjoy watching C-SPAN.  Some people think C-SPAN is boring. Well these people have obviously not seen Hereafter.  I can honestly say that I think that this is the worst movie that I have seen all year. There is slow, and then there is agonizingly slow, and then there is Hereafter slow.

Hereafter is the story about George Lonegan (Matt Damon) who has a gift/curse to talk to dead people.  But he doesn’t talk to them in a “Sixth Sense” kind of way( it’s more of a “boring “ kind of way).  He is a psychic who relays messages from the living to the dead so that the living can move on with their lives.  Lonegan has retired from this psychic work, but his older brother convinces him to do a few readings for his friends.  Lonegan has to decide whether or not he wants to start doing readings again for money.  Heck, times are tough, and I heard that psychics are in high demand again.

The movie follows three separate storylines.  One story takes place in America, one in France, and one in England.  So you’d think that one of these storylines would be interesting.  Nope. It felt like I was watching three boring movies at the same time. Since one of the story lines takes place in France you have to read subtitles a lot of the movie.  I don’t mind reading subtitles; I just hate reading subtitles when I have a headache. 

 

The only ray of sunshine in this movie was Bryce Dallas Howard (The Village/Lady in the Water).  She is in the movie for a total of about 12 minutes.  I’m a huge fan of The Village so I was happy to see her in this movie.  I just wish there was more of her in the movie and less of everything else.   She plays Matt Damon’s love interest. 

I had only read great reviews going into this movie so I’d thought that it would certainly be worth my money.  Nah….just wait till this movie comes out on Redbox or something.  If you are a Clint Eastwood fan then you will like this movie.  It is artsy and all that other junk that Clint Eastwood does.  I am not good with slow movies.  I probably looked at my phone 15 times to see if it was almost over.  As soon as the movie was over, the first words to come out of my mouth were, “Finally. It’s Over.”

Save your money. Go see Inception at the dollars or something.  

It's Kind of a Funny Story

“So Justin what movie did you see this weekend?”

“It’s Kind of a Funny Story.”

“Really? What happened?”

“No, that’s the name of the movie.”

“Really? It’s Kind of a Funny Story?”

“Yeah.”

“And how was it?”

“It was kind of a funny story.”

So some people have never even heard of this movie.  I had seen previews for it and it looked interesting enough to see.  You can check out the preview here.  The movie is about a 16-year-old boy named Craig(Keir Gilchrist) who is suicidal.  He calls a suicide hotline number and decides to check himself into a psychiatric hospital.  The teenager’s ward is closed, so he is admitted into the adult psychiatric ward.  It takes him about five minutes for him to realize that he is not suicidal anymore and wants to get out.  However he is committed to stay for at least five days.

Through the movie we follow Craig’s story and explore the issues of depression.  However, it is difficult to have a movie about depression when Zach Galifianakis is involved.  Galifianakis (The Hangover, Dinner for Schmucks) plays Bobby, a patient of the psychiatric ward.  Bobby is nice to Craig and they develop an interesting friendship in the movie.  Bobby treats Craig with respect, but explains to Craig that he has no idea why he is suicidal.  To Bobby, Craig has a good life and should never be in a psychiatric ward.  Craig asks Bobby throughout the movie why he is in the psychiatric ward, but Bobby doesn’t reveal the truth until the end of the movie.

Craig develops a love interest for Noelle (Emma Roberts).  Noelle is a cutter who has gone through some serious stuff in her life.  They begin to fall for each other, but then, of course, there is some drama that gets in the way of their little love fling.

The acting is great.  Zach Galifianakis does not play the dorky type as he does in most movies.  He takes this role seriously and you develop a lot of sympathy for his character.  Gichrist and Roberts are great too.  It’s hard for child actors to play these kinds of roles.  Somehow, these two lovebirds pull it off though. 

I’d definitely put this movie in my top six movies of the year.  (Top six movies? Is this guy crazy? He has a list of top six movies?)  I have already had people ask me if it was hilarious.  No, it wasn’t hilarious.  I laughed a lot, but it’s what I will call a “deep comedy.”  They make the movie funny to keep your interest, but I wouldn’t classify this movie as a “comedy comedy.”  I don’t think this movie will make a ton of money at the box-office, but it’s worth seeing.   If you have ever dealt with depression, or know someone who has dealt with depression, it’d be worth your time and money.  I really liked it.  I liked it more than I thought I would.  It feels long at some points, but a movie based on depression is probably not supposed to be a fast-paced thriller. 

So if you are sitting at home reading this, you probably have time to go see a movie.  I vote you go see this one.  

The Social Network

“I wanna be a billionaire….so freakin bad…..” .  You have probably heard the lyrics to the song “Billionaire” by Travie McCoy.  Well I have finally found out the secret to becoming a billionaire.  Invent Facebook.

So I’m going to be honest and say that I didn’t really want to see this movie when I first saw the trailer for it a few months ago.  A Facebook movie? Really? 

I am addicted to Facebook enough, I don’t think I need to go see a movie about Facebook.

But you all know me.  I have to see every movie.  A couple days before the movie came out it had a 100% rating on rottentomatoes.com.  That never happens.  If you have ever logged on to rottentomatoes to find out a movie’s rating, you never see 100%. Ever.  So I had some high expectations for this movie going into it.  And let me tell you, they were met once again.

Do you know the story of Facebook? I had no idea.  I had no idea of how it was created, who created it, when it was created, or why it was created.  Facebook now has over 500 million members so it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to brush up on your history.  I am not saying that this movie is completely accurate, but I am saying that it is interesting enough to go see. 

As always, I don’t want to talk too much about the movie itself because I don’t want to ruin it for those who have not seen it yet. But I will say this much.  I wanted to delete my Facebook account the minute after I saw the movie.  Last week I saw Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps and learned that “greed is good.”  Once again, this point was reinforced after watching this movie.  Mark Zuckerberg is a not exactly greedy, but just stupid.

“But Justin he invented Facebook! He is a GENIUS.”

“I know, he is stupid in the sense that he has absolutely no understanding of how to maintain relationships with people.  He takes advantage of people and doesn’t understand the consequences of his actions….until he is being sued for millions of dollars.”

The movie is really bleak.  There is no hero.  No one wins.   The movie is a real winner though.  It has already stirred up alot of Oscar talk and it is sure to win some awards.  The acting was phenomenal.  Mark Zuckerberg is played by Jesse Eisenberg.  I am pretty sure that this movie is his shot to fame.  He was so believable in his character and as you are sitting there watching the movie you forget that he is acting.  I have never met Mark Zuckerberg personally, but for better or worse, I will always picture him the way that Eisenberg portrays him.

My initials are J. T. Guess who else shares my initials?! Justin Timberlake....Mr. J.T.  Justin Timberlake plays Sean Parker, the inventor of Napster.  I had no idea, but I guess Parker was somehow connected with the launch of Facebook and owns parts of the company.  Justin Timberlake was awesome in his role.  I also think that he could be successful in an acting career if he wanted to give up singing.  But then again, I like the song Sexy Back, so from one Justin to another, "Justin, don't give up your music career."

The other actors are just amazing too. The 2.5 hours movie fly by.  I walked out of the theater amazed that I was so entertained watching a movie where the entire movie is mostly talking and computer programming.  (And some partying).  This movie is so engaging and you really don't notice that it is really a long movie.

“That sounds amazing Justin!”

“Go see it then!”

I loved it.  I have no more to say.  Just go see it. I came home and bought two books off Amazon.com to learn more about the history of how Facebook got started.  Yeah….I liked this movie enough to spend more money on finding out more about it.

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

So money never sleeps..... But if you are under the age of 20, you will probably sleep during this movie.   With that being said, this was an extremely well acted, well-done movie.  When a person goes to the movies, it is usually to escape the real world.  For example, a person who went and saw Inception would usually come out of the theater thinking about how cool it would be to invade people’s dreams.  However, what do you do when you watch a movie that discusses real life issues?  This movie is no escape from the real world.  It IS the real world.

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps is a sequel to the movie Wall Street that was released in 1987.  I didn’t know it was legal to make sequels over twenty year later.  But I guess it’s legal.  I am pretty sure everyone in the theater last night had seen the first movie because the audience mostly consisted of people over the age of fifty.  Lots of old people.  I have never seen the original movie, but I mad sure to Wikipedia it before I went and saw the movie tonight.  If you have not seen the first movie, it would not hurt to spend five minutes reading what the first movie was about. Here's the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Street_(1987_film)

So, I loved this movie.  To be completely honest, it sometimes felt like I was in an advanced stock market class or something and I was lost for parts of the movie.  I didn’t understand exactly what was going on, but the movie still kept my attention.  The acting was phenomenal.  Michael Douglas (Gordon Gekko) and Shia LeBeouf (Jack Moore) are the two main players in the film and their acting skills are just awesome.  Carey Mulligan(Winnie Gekko) plays as Gordon’s daughter and is also a great actress.  The movie may be confusing, but the characters are so real, and so engaging that you don’t really care that you get lost with all the money terms.

Jack and Winnie are living the life.  They’re rich. They’re happily dating.  Everything is going great, until the housing bubble burst of 2008.  The movie follows their life as they try to cope with the economic crisis that the country experienced during this time.  Jack looks up to Gordon and asks for advice during these hard times.   Gordon becomes Jack’s mentor, at the strong disapproval of his girlfriend Winnie (Gordon’s daughter).  The movie plays out from there.  I don’t want to give out plot details.

So the big question! Do I think you guys should see it? Yes! The acting is great.  The story is engaging.  It does feel long at some parts, but it moves along fast enough to keep your interest.  If you have absolutely no interest in the economic crisis that we face today, then don’t go see this movie.  There is one point in the movie where Gordon gives a speech to college students.  I really felt like he was talking to me, and it made me think about what I am doing in my life to stay financially stable.

“Wow Justin, a movie that you will actually apply in your life?”

“Yes, I haven’t been able to build my dream-invading machine yet, so this is the next best thing.”

Go see the movie.  It’s good.   

WARNING( 2 F-bombs).  Just fyi.