Star Wars Theme Performed by Dogs
I simply could not pass this up. The has to be the best insider tease for Volkswagon I’ve seen. This is supposed to air as one of this years Superbowl ads. Let us know what you think.
War Horse Movie Review
I alway enjoy stories that, with the right storyteller and the correct presentation, allow the reader or viewer to celebrate the birth of a hero and follow them through their life to the tragedy of their death. War Horse is one such story. Albert Narracott, played by Jeremy Irvine – a relatively new actor who’s just beginning to show his stripes – witnesses the birth and maturity of a beautiful and strong horse that commands a little too much attention wherever it goes. Albert’s father – a drunk played by Peter Mullan (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, Trainspotting, Session 9) – nearly shoots the horse after putting his farm on the line to keep it for Albert who assures his father that he can train the horse to plow the field on their property even though it’s the incorrect breed to do such work. His mother, Emily Watson (The Waterhorse: Legend of the Deep, Corpse Bride, Red Dragon), watches from a nearby fence as Albert gets the horse to till the stoney land of their property before telling off their condescending landlord, David Thewlis (Harry Potter Movies 3 – 7 Part 2, Kingdom of Heaven, Anonymous). Albert’s dad eventually sells the horse to the army in order to keep his farm as the first stages of WW: I begin to unfold. As the bond between Albert and Joey – Albert’s name for the horse – strengthens, it’s difficult for Albert to say goodbye especially when horses are essentially disposable to the army. Joey’s tale really begins during the lonely arc of his life where he is subjected to numerous tribulations throughout wartime England and Germany. After a failed charge by the English army headed by Captain Nicholls portrayed by Tom Hiddleston (Unrelated, Archipelago, Thor) German soldiers take control of Joey and use him for hauling heavy artillery uphill as horses with muddy hooves and bloody knees collapse to his left and right. When a horse falls, it is immediately disposed of with a gunshot to the head and removed from the line. With the help of a German officer who is determined to rescue his younger brother before he sees the front lines of combat, Joey escapes only to be briefly adopted by a Belgian girl – Celine Buckens, another fresh actress – before he is repossessed by the desperate ground forces of the German army as they take everything else from the girl and her grandfather, played by Niels Arestrup (The Big Picture, Farewell, A Prophet). There’s little love in this accurate vision of WW: I. Steven Spielberg delivers an honest and artful view of the trenches, the perpetual threat of death surrounding the body-strewn war-grounds, and the ominous booms of artillery fire surrounding each of Joey’s changing owners as he is shuffled around the deadly battlefields of Europe. Two years after the war begins and Albert is of age, he enlists in the army where he and the other English soldiers relentlessly race a mounted machine gun near an adjacent trench only to be bombarded with mustard gas. 
Spielberg is delicate as he expresses the gruesome woes of pre-advanced technological warfare during the sixth largest war in world history. As the gas fills the trenches, Albert’s best friend from home, Robert Emms (Anonymous, Monday Monday, The Street) is consumed and the camera fills with the white cloud before dissolving to Joey’s short-lived attempt at trying to escape from the German forces where he ends up tangled in barbed wire in the middle of ‘No Man’s Land’. The cinematography and use of European landscapes is magnificent. Based on the original novel by Michael Morpurgo, War Horse is a sincere movie, appropriate for ages 13 and up that, even though it is a war film, doesn’t require a tough stomach to get through.
– Benjamin Allen
4 out of 5 stars (3.80)
The Adventures of TinTin Movie Review
The Adventures of Tintin opens with a classic Sherlock Holmes style plot where Tintin, voice-acted by Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot, King Kong, Jumper), purchases a seemingly innocent model boat known only as the Unicorn for one pound. Not one minute later, two strangers try to purchase the model, the first claiming that Tintin could be in danger if he keeps it. The second is a man named Mr. Sakharine, voice-acted by Daniel Craig (The Quantum of Solace, Cowboys and Aliens, The Golden Compass), who asks Tintin to name his price for the boat while the disgruntled former owner of the replica watches in awe at having missed ‘name your price’ by one minute. Tintin is a sleuth, and a curious reporter who can’t allow a potential story to go unwritten, so he keeps the boat and begins studying it. It’s here that shadows start following him wherever he goes. Tintin is a movie for all ages until one of the first characters we’re introduced to gets shot behind Tintin’s front door, distinguishing the film’s PG rating. A clue left behind by the deceased player leads Tintin to Mr. Sakharine’s place of residence where Tintin gets swept into the high seas with his fox terrier, Snowy hurrying to keep up while humorous twin English police officers, channeled by Nick Frost and Simon Pegg (Frost and Pegg: Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead, Paul), attempt to capture a thieving pickpocket played by Toby Jones (Captain America: the First Avenger, The Mist, The Rite) who adds to the complexity of the situation. Having been captured aboard a large merchant boat, Tintin befriends the wily Captain Haddock whose boisterous nature is brought to life through Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Flushed Away, Rise of the Planet of the Apes). Haddock is a drunkard who, as he sobers up, remembers less and less about his life to the point where he can’t even remember Tintin after the two have travelled for days through ocean, air, and desert, making the task of getting Haddock to remember an important story his grandfather told him as a child next to impossible as Sakharine hurries to collect the final of three scrolls Haddock’s grandfather left to guide his heir to his treasure’s final resting place. 
Actors beware: the animation is pristine and every detail of each character is mapped so well – the lines and creases in the characters’ facial inflections, the hair hanging from Haddock’s cheeks, and the intricate fluff of ginger on Tintin’s forehead – at times it’s hard to believe you’re watching an animated feature. Writers Steven Moffat (Sherlock, Dr. Who, Coupling), Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Grindhouse, Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World), and Joe Cornish (Attack the Block, Adam and Joe’s American Animated Adventure, Adam and Joe go Tokyo) bring a unique and nostalgic blend of mystery, storytelling, and action to the table that we so rarely have the opportunity to experience with today’s distracted, high-paced society. It’s all done under the imaginative direction of Stephen Spielberg who provides the perfect medium for translating the 1930’s comic to a soon-to-be modern day classic. The Adventures of Tintin is a fun family movie that, while noisy and explosive, does not venture deep into the realm of violence, and remains entertaining for viewers young and old. However, for those who are wary: Captain Haddock might pick up a bottle or ten.
Benjamin Allen
4 out of 5 Stars (4.30)
Hugo Movie Review
Martin Scorsese isn’t known for directing family-friendly films. In fact, if it doesn’t have the mob, gangsters, violence or Leonardo Dicaprio, he usually isn’t interested. Well, he’s finally done a 180 with his new movie “Hugo”, and he might have created one of his best films yet. I was completely unfamiliar with the source material for this film, a book by the name of “The Invention of Hugo Cabret”, and really didn’t know what the story was about except for the fact that there was a clockwork boy, two real children and Ben Kingsley in it. What I discovered after viewing is one of the most creative, artistic, and charming homage films that I have ever seen.
As the film begins, we meet the movie’s namesake Hugo Cabret, played brilliantly by Asa Butterfield. Hugo is an orphan who goes to live with his uncle in a Paris train station. His uncle works at the station and maintains all of the clocks throughout the premises. Hugo has learned how to fix clocks and other mechanical items from his father and when the father dies he leaves Hugo with a broken automaton that Hugo continues to try and fix so as to still remember his father. At first glance, you begin to think the entire film will be about Hugo, the automaton and their adventures, until Hugo meets up with a strange and mean man running a toy shop, played expertly by Ben Kingsley. Hugo needs some tools to help to fix his automaton and decides to steal them from the toy shop owner until he is caught by the owner and must work off his debt to him by working in the store. While working in the store, Hugo befriends the toy owners ward Isabelle, played charmingly by Chloe Grace Moretz. Through their friendship he discovers that the toy owner is in fact the film maker Georges Melies, the iconic director of many silent films including the famous “A Trip to the Moon” where a space capsule hits the moon in the eye. As Hugo learns more about Mr. Melies, they begin to inspire each other and Hugo learns that Mr. Melies actually built the automaton that Hugo has been trying to fix. We get a brief history of the directing and acting career of Georges Melies and his wife and why they stopped making their fantastical movies.
I got the impression the Martin Scorsese was very inspired by the works of Georges Melies. Every detail is so perfectly and lovingly brought to life in every aspect of this movie. The acting is absolutely superb and the 3D helped me to feel like an extra on the set. I would hope that Mr. Scorsese will continue to make films like this one that would appeal to the entire family. This is absolutely one of the best films I’ve seen this year and I left the theater with a smile on my face and joy in my heart. The film really is an inspiration and speaks to everyone to never let go of your dreams and what you love to do. I really hope that more people go out to see this film so that more films of this kind can be made. We have enough of the brainless kid films that do nothing but provide a few laughs, and is forgettable five minutes after viewing it. Do yourself a favor and start the new year with an inspirational film by one of our most gifted movie makers.
J.Chandler: Grade A
The Thing Movie Review
John Carpenter’s “The Thing” is one of my favorite horror films of all time. It had the perfect combination of a stellar cast, great story, insane special effects and plenty of images that can haunt you long after you’ve seen the film. When word came out that they were going to work on the prequel to this amazing film, I couldn’t have been more excited. I thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to flesh out the story even more and discover the origins of the infamous “thing” and what happened to the other site that is briefly visited in the original film. Unfortunately, my expectations were greater than the film itself.
Next year will be the 30th anniversary for the original movie. In those thirty years, special effects have come light years from where they were back then. However, despite all of the advances, the special effects in the original movie far surpass the ones in the new movie. There is something to be said about practical special effects. While watching the original, there is no doubt in your mind that the actors are reacting to the models, animatronics or whatever they were using to create the crazy mutations the Thing does throughout the film. You knew that everything on the film was real, and wondered how on earth they were able to create such realistic and terrifying creatures. In the new film, there was a lack of creativity in the creature itself. It always seemed to look pretty much the same every time they ran into it. Also, I could tell that the actors were just trying to imagine what they were supposed to be looking at because it was going to be added on later by a computer. I just don’t see why they wouldn’t just do practical effects in the new film to keep them as similar as possible. Surely just because you can now create these things on a computer, doesn’t mean that they are better than creating something real, not only for the actors sake but also for the viewers.
The other thing about this film that irked me was the origin story they created for the creature. Apparently it crashed landed here centuries ago and was frozen in the ice until this team discovered the ship it landed in. This just seems like a complete cop out and the easiest thing they could have thought of to tell the audience how this thing got on earth. Maybe they could have made it some kind of science experiment gone wrong or a creature that’s been on the planet since time began that was found in the ice. I was just hoping for something more original than what they used to explain this.
I should have learned by now that usually the best ideas for sequel and/or prequel movies can only be made into great films by finding a director that has a love of the story and the knowledge to see it through. I need only reference this summer’s amazing “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” to prove how it should be done. Unfortunately I had my hopes up that this movie would rock, because the premise made such perfect sense. But, at least I still can view the original “The Thing” to wipe all memory of this one from my mind.
J.Chandler: Score: C
MI4: Ghost Protocol Movie Review
The first fifteen minutes of Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol feels like it’s giving Tom Cruise (War of the Worlds, Minority Report, Vanilla Sky) the opportunity to prove that he can still channel the massive ego of Ethan Hunt. After that, Director Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Ratatouille, The Iron Giant) sends the viewer down a two-hour, adrenaline-packed venture that is genuinely entertaining. The movie plays similarly to a comic book: people get punched without bruising, break through windows with ease, and survive major car accidents and explosions that would have killed any normal human being. The biggest hang-up is Hunt’s unbelievable good fortune. Something is always playing into his favor, be it the leather jacket with a hood hanging on a ground-level clothesline in the middle of Moscow as he’s being chased by the local authorities headed by Michael Nyqvist (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Among Us, Day and Night), or the ability to survive a hail of gunfire that obliterates everyone except the one man who happens to have intimate information about Hunt’s past. And for agents who have been disavowed by the government and labeled terrorists for blowing up the Kremlin in Moscow, his team still has a wonderful artillery of useful gadgets, even a full-body magnetic suit. 
While iPhones and iPads look pretty cool in the hands of a bunch of spies, it would have been nice to see a few non-Apple phones and tablets just for the sake of fair marketing. The femme fatal of the movie, played by Paula Patton (Hitch, Precious, Swing Vote) plays well with everyone, even in the notorious cat-fight scene on the 130th floor of the Burj Tower of Dubai. She also sizzles in a beautiful turquoise dress as she attempts to seduce the only man capable of stopping an impending nuclear war played by Anil Kapoor (24, Slumdog Millionaire, Race). The comic relief comes from Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Star-Trek [2009], Hot Fuzz) who has difficulty keeping his mouth shut at times. The final member of the group, played by Jeremy Renner (The Town, The Hurt Locker, 28 Weeks Later) is an analyst whose allegiance and conviction comes into question as rogue politicians of the Russian government race to arm an apparently necessary nuclear warhead. While not necessarily believable at all times, writers Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec (Alias, October Road, Profiler) have created a wonderful story that wouldn’t be complete without a slippery briefcase that no one can get their hands on as the first nuclear missile races for San Francisco Bay. By the end, it’s not that you’ve forgotten that the seemingly indestructible protagonist is non-other than the producer of the action-movie you’re watching, Tom Cruise, but looking back at the many hills of the roller coaster: it is easy to really enjoy this movie and the characters the actors bring to the screen.
-Benjamin Allen
4 our of 5 stars (3.85)
Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1 Movie Review
Ok, I’ll admit it. I’ve read all of the Twilight books and have seen all of the movies that have been released so far. I say this with my head hanging low and wish that I could get most of those hours back. At first I thought the series was getting better with each book, until I got to “Breaking Dawn”. During the middle of this book, I was getting fed up with everything and seriously thought about putting it down and not reading it. Unfortunately, I did finish and recently saw the movie that is no better than the book it was made from. I’m finally to the point that I wish this series would just go away and make room for more interesting and worthwhile books and films.
I’ve never been a fan of the casting of Kristen Stewart for the role of Bella. She just didn’t fit the description of Stephanie Meyer’s heroine. Plus the fact that she seems utterly bored and emotionless in every film of this series. She continues to give us more of the same in “Breaking Dawn: Part 1”. The film begins with the planning of the marriage of Bella and Edward. Most women are at their happiest during the time of their wedding however Ms. Stewart acts as if she is being forced to marry and wouldn’t know happiness if it hit her in the face. Also, the chemistry between her and Robert Pattinson’s Edward is non-existent. I know that they are married in real life, but you would never know it by their lack of passion on screen.
The only other thing that happens in this film is the conception and pregnancy between the very human Bella and the vampire Edward. They finally consummate their relationship while on their honeymoon and Bella becomes pregnant. The rest of the film is then spent on the pregnancy itself, much like the book does. Why they felt the need to break this book up into two films is beyond me. The book literally spends no less than 100 pages on the pregnancy making it the most drawn out literary pregnancy ever (or at least it seems that way). If only they had just made one movie for this book, the movie might have not been too bad, but spending two hours on a wedding and a pregnancy is simply ridiculous.
When news broke that Bill Condon, the incredible director of Dreamgirls, was hired as the director of this two part Twilight film, I had high hopes that these films would be the best in the series. Unfortunately, they’ve given us the weakest film yet. Every character seems to be waiting on what is to come instead of what is currently happening around them. The wolves are determined to kill the vampires for essentially killing Bella by impregnating her and planning on turning her into a vampire after the birth. The vampires are doing everything they can to protect Bella and they don’t care if they hurt or kill the wolves along the way. However, neither group has the guts to cross the line and actually do what they threaten. Maybe it’s because they all know there’s a second movie coming and they don’t want all fun to happen in the first film. It left me frustrated and completely indecisive about whether or not I’ll even see the final film.
The Twilight films have had a number of good moments in them. Nothing great, but not horrible either. Unfortunately they take a step backwards with this film instead of making it better than all the other. These guys need to learn from the creative team behind the Harry Potter series to see how it should be done. I’ll be glad when the Twilight craziness is over and we can get back to real love stories or real vampire stories and not something they tries to be both.
D+