FRIGHT NIGHT
3 out of 5 stars

this 1985 remake was better than i had expected! this is one of those horror comedy genre hybrid movies, but there wasn’t much comedy or vampire humor... plus, the boy/girl relationship was very twilight-y in the tween sense, but redeemed itself a little with colin farrell’s hotness and david tennant’s crazy/drunk magician persona. can’t go wrong with a drunk magician! :P

so, if you haven’t seen the 1985 version, the story goes as such... charley brewster (anton yelchin from j.j. abrams’ star trek) is a normal 16 year old boy, living in the suburban section of las vegas, with his mom jane. (toni collette) he even has a hottie GF named amy, who drives a lime green VW beetle, and loves charley like crazy. (even tho he’s a little bit of a dweeb) in a scene sim. to the roll call scene from ferris bueller’s day out, charley notices that a LOT of kids are missing in class. he looks at his former BFF ed (christopher mintz-plasse), who wants to meet after school to discuss something really “important”. they meet at their friend adam’s house, and ed tells charley that jerry (colin farrell who is smokin’ hott!), charley’s neighbor, is a VAMPIRE. charley doesn’t believe ed at all, but then ed is attacked by jerry and doesn’t show up to class the following day. charley decides to do his own investigating by breaking into jerry’s house, doing vampire research at school, and even seeking out the one and only peter vincent, the crazy self-proclaimed vampire hunter and magician who is currently performing at the hard rock hotel & casino. (david tennant- provides most of the comedic moments) peter vincent proves to be pretty much useless when he kicks out poor charley from his apt, so it’s up to charley to take on the 400 year old vamp by himself to protect amy and his mom....from being jerry’s “snacks”. :P

like i said, the story is OK and predictable, but both colin farrell and david tennant really act well in their respective roles. the boy/girl relationship is very cliche, so no imagination there... the graphics for the title/end credits were very well done and stylized, so extra points for that. overall, dreamworks did a good job revamping an 80s original, but how come i didn’t laugh once? they spent waaaaay too much time perfecting jerry’s vamp/demony face and not enough time writing the jokes... :/

FOOTLOOSE
3 out of 5 stars

“i’m turning it LOOSE!!!”

the 1984 cult classic, which launched kevin bacon into stardom, gets revamped and the results are...satisfying. it would never out-do the original, but this one is good enough for 2011, i think... if ONLY kevin bacon had decided to star as 2011’s ren’s dead-beat dad. then, this movie would have been SOLID. maaaaaaan... :P

anyway, this movie starts out with a high school barn dance party in bomont, GA, where everyone is dancing and having a blast. it’s some HS senior party, and five kids get into a car to head home. while they’re car dancing and listening to “footloose”, the driver kisses his girl, then they crash into a semi... as it turns out, the driver was rev. moore’s son bobby, and the whole town of bomont is devestated by this tragedy. consequently, the city council decides to outlaw public dancing, and it’s been the law ever since. FF to 3 years later... cityboy and boston native (they changed it this time) ren mccormack (newbie kenny wormald) arrives in bomont. his mother died from leukemia, so his uncle wesley decided to take him in. his uncle even gives ren the trademark yellow VW beetle, and ren fixes her up in no time! ren even goes to church on sundays with his uncle, and meets the beautiful ariel (julianne hough- DWTS’s derek hough’s lil sis), rev. moore’s daughter. ariel has turned into a wild child ever since her brother’s death by getting involved with this hick-ass race car driver named chuck and even gets caught dancing at the snack bar afterhours with ren. ren doesn’t understand why dancing is banned in this town, so he decides to change things for the senior class of bomont high. but not before teaching willard how to dance, dancing his heart out at the warehouse, and hosting prom night at the cotton gin he works at... ;)

like i said, this version would never outdo the original, but it had some good revamped moments. my two fave scenes: when the kids go dancing at some city cowboy bar and country line dance their hearts out AND the infamous prom night dance sequence. both kenny and julianne are great dancers, but leave it to the class of 1984 to show you TRUE dancing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0JBSLO_O14

;)

THE HELP
5 out of 5 stars

“you is kind. you is smart. you is important.”
– aibileen clark

“fried chicken just tends to make you feel better about life.” – minny jackson

probably one of THE most touching, heartfelt, uplifting stories i’ve seen in a while. when it comes to african american civil rights, there’s something about it that gets you teary-eyed and wondering how far this country has come from the days of good ol’ fashioned racism. however, this isn’t so much a political movie, but a movie about the human spirit, really... octavia spencer, who plays sassy minny, got an oscar for her role, and she totally deserved that oscar gold! BRAVO performances all around including viola davis, emma stone, jessica chastain, and even allison janney! :)

the movie starts out with eugenia “skeeter” phalan (emma stone) interviewing aibileen the maid (an awesome viola davis) in her kitchen in jackson, mississippi in the 1960s. skeeter gets a glimpse of aibileen’s life when she asks how it feels to raise a white child while her own child is being looked after at home, and aibileen responds by describing her connection with mae mobley, the daughter of her employers, the leefolts. she loves that baby with her whole heart, and mae mobley seems to love her back... we then see that skeeter is back in jackson upon graduating from college (she went to ole miss AKA univ. of mississippi), and she decides to interview at the jackson journal so that she could gain some writing experience. (her ultimate goal is to become a novelist at harper and row in NYC) we learn that skeeter comes from a really good family who owns a massive cotton farm/plantation in jackson, and she’s also part of the junior league. (social elite of jackson) the head of this clique happens to be racist hilly holbrook (a bitchy bryce dallas howard), and she and her friends treat their maids really awfully i.e. making them use a seperate bathroom, being verbally abusive, and firing them for unfair reasons. during a bridge game that the junior league is hosting, skeeter asks elizabeth if it’d be OK with her to interview aibileen for her cleaning column, but elizabeth wonders why skeeter can’t interview her own maid. she reveals that her maid, constantine, had quit and moved to chicago...which isn’t entirely true. (we later find out the truth and it’s so hearbreakingly sad...) skeeter’s interviews for cleaning tips then turn into something more when skeeter decides to write a book from the maid’s perspective. what she’s decided to do, of course, is completely illegal in 1960s jackson AKA where the KKK will blindly shoot a colored person for speaking out, but skeeter convinces aibileen to share her life stories with her. pretty soon, minny (a firecracker and extra sassy octavia spencer) joins in, and gives skeeter the ultimate story. (hint: it has to do with a “chocolate” pie :P)

overall, WATCH THIS NOW if you haven’t seen it yet! it’s a wonderful story about how two headstrong maids and a headstrong white girl decide it was time to let the truth out. like i said, it’s a story about the human spirit in a time when racism in this country was tolerated. (such a damn shame...) OUTSTANDING performances all around esp. octavia spencer and viola davis. the character of minny brough the humor, and aibileen was the tears... being black in 1960s jackson wasn’t easy, and boy, you get right down to the core with this. ;) (even moreso than any other civil rights movie)

IN TIME
2 out of 5 stars

“for few to be immortal, many must die.”

the concept of one’s wealth being measured by time instead of good ol’ fashioned moolah is intriguing, however the execution of this movie was not... plus, justin timberlake in a DRAMATIC role? are you kidding me? riiiight.... could have had better casting, IMO. :/

this movie starts out with factory worker will salas (justin timberlake) waking up in the morning, and wishing his mother (olivia wilde) “happy birthday”. she may be 50 in real time, but she looks not a day over 25... that’s because in this world, NO ONE ages past 25, and your “clock” (looks like a glow-in-da-dark timer on your forearm) starts. most usually have about a year, and they time out... however, the rich can live forever, and they mostly live in a luxurious city called new greenwich. time can also be transferred from one another via skin contact, FYI... anyway, will works literally day by day acquiring his precious hours, and while one crazy night at the bar with his friend from the factory (i can't remember his name...it's like bartel or something), he sees henry hamilton (matt bomer from USA’s white collar) buying people drinks and flashing his 116 hour “clock”. gangsters called the minute men arrive, lead by some british thug named fortis (alex pettyfer- HOTT!), want to steal henry’s time, but will decides to be a hero and interferes... they run and hide out, and that’s when henry tells will that he’s really 105 years old, the truth about the system, and even transfers his time to will while will is sleeping. henry leaves about 5 minutes to himself, and times out on a bridge... now that will has all this time, he decides to give some to his friend, his mom, and god knows who else. however, his mom ends up timing out on the way back from paying all her bills, and will decides to seek revenge by traveling to new greenwich, where he meets the beautiful sylvia (a redhead amanda seyfried) and her controlling father philippe weis. (vincent kartheiser AKA pete campbell from mad men!) of course, a movie without an antagonist isn’t a real movie... so, there’s timekeeper raymond leon (cillian murphy) trailing will’s movements...

like i said, the concept of this movie was pretty original and intriguing, but the lack of good acting, the choppy editing, so-so script...MEH. justin timberlake needs to stick with comedies because he really is a funny guy, and leave the dramas to someone else who can cry better than he can. amanda is just annoying, and cillian...CREEP. i wished the characters were better developed, and all the bank robbery/bonnie & clyde-esque shit was boring. where’s the conspiracy? how did will’s father really die? who really was henry hamilton? why wasn’t this movie as good as gattaca or lord of war? (same director!) NONE of my questions answered... THANKS, hollywood. :/

THE IDES OF MARCH
4 out of 5 stars

ahh...the wonderful world of (dirty) politics... we enter a world that’s all about “fucking someone over” so you could further ur own agenda. hey, why not? we’re all in it to win it, right? integrity, smhtegrity... :P

plotwise, this was a film adaptation of beau willimon’s 2008 play “farragut north”, and it starts out with a boyish, handsome guy named stephen meyers (ryan gosling- HOTT!), junior campaign manager for governor mike morris of PA (george clooney- NAILING this role!), making sure everything is perfect for the debate later on that evening with the governor’s opposing rival sen. ted pullman for the ohio primary. we learn that stephen works for the senior campaign manager, paul zara (philip seymour hoffman- EXCELLENT in this role!), whose sort of a mentor to young stephen, and they exchange words with tom duffy (paul giamatti- EXCELLENT in this role!) about how duffy’s guy pullman is gonna lose to their man. but then, while paul is off schmoozing sen. thompson for his 365 delegates (they need those votes in order to win OH), duffy calls up stephen posing as his dad, and asking to meet with him in some sports bar. stephen doesn’t really know what to do, but meets with him anyway... as it turns out, duffy offers stephen the opportunity to come work for him and pullman’s campaign, stating that the republicans are going to vote for pullman because they hate morris and don’t want him winning the democratic nomination. stephen is caught in a pickle, but there’s bigger fish to fry... he ends up hooking up with one of the interns named molly (evan rachel wood) working on the campaign, and finds out a very dirty secret involving her and his beloved governor... (when he pieces it together, RG’s face is PRICELESS.)  while he's trying to "fix" this situation with the intern, he learns that someone had leaked his meeting with duffy and a pesky NY times reporter named ida (marissa tomei) is trying to blackmail him for info. on the secret meeting with sen. thompson.  then...he gets a big lecture from paul re: loyalty and trust, and gets fired.  i guess fortunately for stephen, he's got that dirty card up his sleeve and he's gonna work for duffy/pullman now, right?  think again... this is POLITICS, remembaaaaa? :P 

honestly, if the movie was just about paul and tom...it would have been 5 stars/AWESOME. but, the focus for this one was more on stephen and the govenor, and i thought the characters could have been fleshed out some more. the script alone is EXCELLENT (it was derived from a play so DUH), and the cast/acting is excellent as well. that scene in the restaurant kitchen is INTENSE. (could cut that tension with a steak knife) also, talk about a movie where back-stabbing is the name of the game. and...stephen’s transformation from idealist to cynic is incredible. ;)   

HUGO
5 out of 5 stars

“maybe that’s why a broken machine always makes me a little sad, because it isn’t able to do what it was meant to do… maybe it’s the same with people. If you lose your purpose…it’s like you’re broken.” – hugo

OMG, EXCELLENT MOVIE!!! such a sweet story about a little boy who lives in the paris train station and his determination to find out the toy shop owner’s past. this one made me laugh, cry, and appreciate the art of (early) cinema even more… BRAVO, MARTIN SCORSESE!!! ;)

asa butterfield AKA bruno in the boy with the striped pajamas stars in this movie as 12 year old hugo, a son of a clockmaker (jude law), who unfortunately dies from a fire at the museum he works at. but before he died, hugo’s father had found an automaton (sort of a wind-up robot) that could write, and he and hugo were working on fixing him up to see what sort of message this thing could write. But hugo’s father dies, and his drunk-ass uncle claude (ray winstone) takes custody of young hugo, making him into his apprentice, so he could sneak off to bars while hugo can cover for him and fix the clocks at the paris train station. so, while hugo is fixing the clocks and stuff, he observes many different characters at the train station i.e. the station inspector (a hilarious sacha baron cohen) and his bum leg and canine companion maximillian, lisette the flower vendor (emily mortimer), and georges the old toy shop owner. (a wonderful ben kingsley) one day, hugo decides to steal a toy mouse from old georges’ shop, but then gets caught! he’s forced to empty his pockets, and old georges takes his beloved notebook, which belonged to his father. it’s the only memory he’s got left of his father, so he’s determined to get it back! he follows george home, where he runs into a young girl named isabelle (a sweet chloe moretz), who decides to help him get his notebook back, so he can finish fixing the automaton. hugo discovers that isabelle has the heart shaped key to turn on the automaton, and the message from the lil’ robot leads to uncovering georges’ film-making past. ;)

this movie should have been best picture of the year (2012), but i believe it went to the artist because that one had an original storyline, wheras this was an adaptation from a children’s story. REGARDLESS…what a sweet story! even the back story of george melies won me over! the script is well written, the beautiful cinematography (scorsese does it again), the narrative, even the acting is just wonderful! this one shows us that good filmmaking is all about good storytelling, and boy… scorsese sure shows us how it’s done. ;)

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN: PART 1
2 out of 5 stars

“no measure of time with you will be long enough. but we’ll start with forever.” – edward

it took me a month to finally come around to watching this, and i just did not know why... but now i know! deep down inside, i probably knew that i would hate this becuz i’m not an angsty teenage girl wanting desperately to have sex? this movie is all about edward and bella doing the nasty and the consequences from that... :P

breaking dawn or should we say...breaking hymen starts with bella trying on her wedding shoes, alice being wedding planner, and jacob angrily going off into the woods after receiving an invitation to bella’s wedding. bella (kristen stewart AKA kstew or quiverlips) is nervous about the whole thing, and edward (robert pattinson AKA rpatz) even tries to convince her out of it...especially the turning her into a vampire part. the wedding is quite beautiful, and probably the best scene in the entire movie... (the toast montage is awkward and amusing!) even jacob shows up to give his congratulations to the new bride and groom, but then gets angry when bella tells him she wants to consumate the marriage on their honeymoon while human... REGARDLESS...bella and edward go on their honeymoon down to rio de janeiro, and have all kinds of bed-breaking sex and play chess too! bella realizes she’s preggers when she throw up upon eating some half-cooked chicken (i would have thought food poisoning but OK...), and edward immediately decides to go back to forks so that carlisle can get rid of “it”. well, bella decides to keep her baby even though “it” is slowly destroying her... does bella go through with the pregnancy? hahahaha, it’s a twilight movie! ;)

overall, it’s OK but there’s a ton of special effects and lots of awkward/angsty moments throughout the whole movie. like i said, the wedding and honeymoon were done really well, but the whole pregnancy and then the werewolves trying to kill it...meh. (and ironically, that’s where all the action took place!) jacob and his involvement in this whole situation makes this one convoluted because i guess bella still “loves” him/wants to keep him around, but i guess if you run out of antagonists...stick with the werewolves? idunno... it’s just how long will the whole vamp vs. werewolf plot go on now? one more movie AKA breaking dawn: part 2? ugh...i’ll skip it in the theater and just watch it via my netflix. :P (will probably take me a month to watch that one too! HAH!)