Movie Reviews By Movie Reviews Pro

Titan AE

Rating:

Movie: Titan AE (2000)

Studio : Twentieth Century Fox

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 95 min

Website : N/A

Trailer :http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3qht7

Review:

Year 2000: one of the most technologically advanced animated films was released, by 20th Century Fox. Directed by Don Bluth, famous for such movies as Disney’s ANASTASIA, ALL DOGS GO TO HEAVEN, and THE SECRET OF NIHM, TITAN A.E. is an animated film that is littered with great talent led by Matt Damon (of TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE and EUROTRIP fame), Bill Pullman (CASPER) John Leguizamo (SPAWN), Nathan Lane (THE PRODUCERS), Janeane Garofalo (MYSTERY MEN), and Drew Barrymore (E.T.).

Though it wasn’t the first movie to explore computer animation (from memory, that honor would be TRON), it used the animation as more than just a vehicle of fancy. It served as an incredibly important piece of what makes TITAN AE the movie that it is.

With a view of the stars, the hero, Cale’s (Damon) father speaks in retrospect to his son about the reason society is in its current, restless state, mostly blamed upon the alien race, the Drej, a glowing blue, energy based race of beings which were entirely animated digitally. Because of the creation of the unexplained Titan, the Drej attacked the Earth. As the ship’s creator Cale’s father takes the Titan into orbit, leaving Cale in the arms of Tek, an alien as a godfather of sorts. Both the Titan and the ship housing Cale and Tek make it into outer space before the destruction of Earth.

Fast forward 15 years. Cale works in space salvaging junk. Because humans have no home world, humans are considered second class citizens. Cale is attacked and rescued by Korso (Pullman) who tells Cale that he is humanity’s last hope against the Drej. Cale, Korso, and crew embark in search of the Titan.

What I find the most incredible about TITAN A.E. are the details. Every time a character with any amount of hair turns, their hair moves in congruence with the rest of their action. Their clothes hang naturally on their bodies, and when Cale is injured, his wounds bleed progressively through his bandages

The one lacking part is the story. It’s too much the same as so many of its processors. There is great potential, but in the end, it doesn’t deliver.

For the majority of audiences, TITAN A.E is a watch, not a buy, but it is worth the watch, as at the very least, it’s an entertaining ride.

-M. Sigurd Hall

Adventure, Animation, On BLU-RAY, On DVD, Sci-Fi

Alice in Wonderland

Rating:

Movie: Alice in Wonderland (2010)

Studio : Paramount Pictures

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 108 min

Website : aliceinwonderland

Trailer :http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xcevm5

Review:

Roger Ebert was the person who got me started reviewing movies for my middle school newspaper. In preparing for my reviews, I usually read his, and he came to an epiphany about Alice in Wonderland: Lewis Carroll didn’t write it for children. As I watched the film, I reflected back to when I was six years old, when I first saw the film. I remembered being completely confused throughout the film and somewhat frightened when Alice was being chased by the Queen and her mob of cards (I also thought back to why my friends and I were so fascinated by it during college). As I write this review, I realize Tim Burton was the perfect candidate to direct this version, which plays like a tripped-out nightmare (which Carroll’s story essentially is).

This version starts off with little Alice having just returned from Wonderland, being comforted by her father. We quickly cut to Alice at age 19 (likably played by Mia Wasikowska), who is about to enter an arranged marriage with Hamish Ascot, a total doofus (Leo Bill). Rightfully afraid of the monotonous life that awaits her, she flees in the middle of the ceremony and chases another white rabbit down a hole. Two seconds later, she’s back in Underland and off on a new adventure.

The visual elements here are amazing, as is characteristic of Burton. Bonham Carter has (literally) taken on a swelled head for the role of the vengeful, jealous Red Queen, and Tweedledee and Tweedledum are complete grotesques. Burton also gives this world a very dark-looking tone, which is actually even more fitting for the story than the generally pleasant-looking one of the 1951 animated version.

Burton mainstay Tim Burton gives the Mad Hatter (who turns out to be an instrumental ally in Alice’s quest) a third dimension. The story, while slow in spots, picks up when Alice is thrust into a war between the Red Queen and her sister, the benevolent White Queen (Anne Hathaway). There’s also one memorable exchange between Carter and Hathaway that allows us to peer into the mind of the evil Red Queen and infer how she came to be the creature that she is.

I enjoyed the movie, but I’ll warn parents of very young children that this is only for ages 8 and up. A very young child left the theater with his mother, in tears at one of the more violent sequences. However, in a few years, the kid probably will be enthralled by it, as will the parents.

-Craig Wynne

Adventure, Family, Fantasy Adventure, Alice in Wonderland, Family, Fantasy, tim burton

The Road

Rating:

Movie: The Road(2009)

Studio : 2929 Productions

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 111 min

Website : The Road

Trailer :http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9bku7

Review:

Based on Cormac McCarthy’s acclaimed novel, The Road speaks like a Hemingway story. Our hero is a nameless father with a nameless son. In a world where the end finally happened and recovery never came after almost, if not over, a decade; what hope is there left? Almost as though it was defying 2012, which inherently believes in the goodness of everyone, The Road questions if people have any form of morality left.

The two travel to the sea, not so much because there is sanctuary down there as much as it is the final hopeful request of a wife and mother who committed suicide. The only other thing they can carry is the belief that “they are the good guys” and that they will not succumb to the animalistic urges of cannibalism to stifle the consistent hunger and cold.

Visually, the world is dreary, bleak, and lifeless: appropriate for this world. Forests are nothing more than fields of dead timber that crash with a simple tremor, fields are fallow, and the dead rest in nooses or in piles of fully-devoured feasts. Even something as simple as a pack of crayons seems to offer tones mostly in monochrome-inflected stains. In contrast, vivid memories from the father come around that are gorgeous with life.

The acting is great throughout (a special nod to Michael K. Williams for stealing one scene exceptionally well), and even the makeup team seemed to be phenomenal by making well-recognized actors like Redford and Mortenson appear alien from who they actually are. It took me several screenings to finally recognize some of them and even now I still find it difficult to see how they pulled it off.

With a story and execution that stands up as one of the best I’ve seen, this is hands-down one of my favorites for this year. Kudos to John Hillcoat, whom I will be crossing my fingers for next to Peter Docter and Lee Daniels come February.

-Donald Lee

Adventure, Drama, In Theaters, Thriller the road

Sherlock Holmes

Rating:

Movie: Sherlock Holmes(2009)

Studio : Internationale Filmproduktion Blackbird Dritte

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 128 min

Website : Sherlock Holmes

Trailer :http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9byrr

Review:

Sherlock Holmes is a popular novel turned into a block buster movie. The cast includes some of the hottest and popular stars like Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams and others. If you liked the novel then you would definitely enjoy the movie as well.

The movie is a thriller in which Sherlock Holmes works to solve detective cases. Serial killer Lord Blackwood and his close assistant Dr. Watson have been caught by Holmes. Sherlock Holmes thinks that he is done with the case but Blackwood returns back again and resumes his killing activity. It becomes the task of Sherlock Holmes to look for the sorcerer Lord Blackwood and hunt him down. The detective has to work hard to open up secrets of killing, cheating and black magic while contending with the head of Scotland Yard as well as the Fiancée of his partner.

The movie is a good one and all the parts seem in place, however even though the director has done a good job in maintaining the viewer’s interest the momentum does not stay the same throughout the movie. The best scenes were those where dialogues were shared between Law and Downey Jr., their interactions were quite witty and quick which seemed to be like that of a married couple.

There is minimal and clear-cut action which is worth watching in the movie. The director has done a good job in not putting too much emphasis on those scenes which are not really important to the story. Everything seems to go in harmony and flows down naturally till the end of the movie.

The make up on Rachel is a little too excessive and unnecessary; she would have looked much better looking a little more natural. The movie has got quite a lot of repetition; once you have crossed the first 30 minutes of the movie you have pretty much seen it all. There seems nothing new happening after the initial minutes, the rest of the movie is just recycling of the first few scenes.

Overall, the movie is entertaining and although it may be a little repetitive you will most certainly enjoy it.

Action, Adventure, In Theaters, Mystery, Thriller sherlock holmes