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Brave

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Brave
  • IMDB: link

brave-posterIt’s taken Pixar nearly two decades, and a dozen films, for the animation studio to give us their first attempt at a feature film centered around a female character. Merida (Kelly Macdonald), the fiery tomboyish Scottish princess certainly fits into Disney’s Princess franchise, but Pixar one-ups the house that Mickey built by giving us a story centered around a troubled, but loving, mother-daughter relationship (something Disney hasn’t been able to achieve in far longer than two decades).

Although I think Brave has a little too much of an American sensibility for an old world fairy tale (another first for Pixar), the film is gorgeous to behold. The story of a young girl attempting to change her fate may not rank near the top of Pixar’s best, but it’s definitely worth a long look and should find quite fanbase in both young and older female viewers who have been waiting patiently for the studio to deliver a character like Merida.

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(They Sunk My) Battleship

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Battleship
  • IMDB: link

battleship-posterI don’t know the history behind how this movie based on a Hasbro board game got made, but I have an idea. I’m pretty sure director Peter Berg must have found himself at a Hollywood party where the alcohol was flowing freely and he stated emphatically that Michael Bay was a hack and anyone could make one of his movies. Battleship, I assume, was his attempt to prove this point.

Even for a movie based on a board game, Battleship is dumb. In fact it’s incredibly, inexcusably, mind-numbingly dumb. And for a film filled with explosions, big budget special effects, and alien attacks, the film is neither all that exciting nor enjoyable.

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Lockout

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Lockout
  • IMDB: link

lockout-posterBorrowing pieces, plot threats, and characters from the likes of Escape From New York, Outland, Demolition Man, and others, co-writers and co-directors James Mather and Stephen St. Leger give us an outer space action film set 65 years into our future about an orbiting prison ship filled with the dregs of humanity, the President’s daughter trapped inside, and the one man who can get her home.

To put it bluntly, this ain’t Shakespeare. Lockout would feel right at home on as part of a lazy Saturday afternoon triple feature sandwiched between The Last Boy Scout and Runaway. It’s certainly a flawed piece of filmmaking, and at times dumb as a brick, but with a smart ass sense of humor and two likable leads the movie provides its share of fun moments.

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The Hunger Games

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Hunger Games
  • IMDb: link

hunger-games-poster

Long before the young adult novel by Suzanne Collins on which The Hunger Games is based, Hollywood has enjoyed the idea of a culture putting murder on display as reality television for the enjoyment of the masses. From the enjoyable The Running Man to the deplorable The Condemned the results have been mixed.

And we’re not even going to get started on the dozens of gladiator and horror movies that use some version of the tale as well. Originality is not this film’s strong suit. And with a running time of 142 minutes neither is brevity.

The Hunger Games gives us a world in which the twelve poor outlying districts attempted to rise up against the rich capital state 74 years ago only to be thwarted and beaten back down. Now, in memory of the events and to keep the populace in line, one male and one female between the ages of 12 and 18 are chosen by lottery to kill each other on live television in “The Hunger Games,” with as much pomp and circumstance as they can muster. Murder, of and by children, it seems is to be the sport of the future.

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Puss in Boots

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Puss in Boots
  • IMDB: link

puss-in-boots-blu-rayReprising his role from Shrek 2, Antonio Banderas returns in this prequel which explores the history and legend of Puss in Boots. The Shrek spin-off is available on Blu-ray and DVD this Friday.

Puss in Boots centers around the relationship between Puss (Antonio Banderas) and Humpty (Zach Galifianakis) whose childhood friendship was destroyed after Humpty violated Puss’ trust by tricking him into becoming an outlaw.

Reunited with Humpty and his companion Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek), and against his better judgement, Puss agrees to help Humpty fulfill his childhood dream of climbing the beanstalk and finding the goose that lays the golden eggs. To achieve this they’ll have to steal the magic beans from Jack (Billy Bob Thornton) and Jill (Amy Sedaris) and stay one step ahead of the murderous pair to claim the prize.

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