sug2763 Reviews

The Social Network (2010)

Excellent dialog. Superb directing job by Fincher.

[24 September 2010]

I went into this film with little or no hope. By the time the movie was over, with the Beatles' "Baby, You're A Rich Man" playing over the end credits, I had a huge smile on my face. I literally cannot wait to watch this again during it's wide release.

The lighting and camera work here is beautiful, every scene and sequence is a joy to watch. If Fincher hasn't already proved himself time and time again with his great films, this one might be the one to seal the deal for him. One sequence in the middle of the film features a boring rowboat race. Fincher sets up the photography so beautifully, that it feels like you're watching a painting come to life.

All the performances are excellent. Jesse Eisenberg plays Mark Zuckerberg as a fast-paced, nerdy, kind of jerk-ish attitude, and Andrew Garfield is his best friend, Eduardo, who at the beginning didn't mean much to me, but I found myself rooting for him by the end. Justin Timberlake is easily the weakest one of the three, but he still does a decent job.

And oh, man the soundtrack. Trent Reznor deserves some kind of recognition for this. It is amazing. A lot of people say the movie sounds boring. They cite "The invention of facebook" as an uninteresting topic. I say don't believe that talk, and check out this interesting, funny, thrill ride by Fincher and co.

Dreamgirls (2006)

Not worthy of a Best Picture win , but deserves some recognition in more than one aspect...

[20 January 2007]

I just got back from seeing this, and while I thought the movie itself isn't worthy of a win for Best Picture this year, it deserves some recognition in more than one aspect. Like the supporting cast, which was great. I really liked the movie at the beginning, it had a very behind-the-scenes feel to the music industry and when songs were sung, it was done in a clever way, fast paced, and not in that busting-out-of-nowhere-in-public type singing.

Then, thats where the movie fell apart for me. Long glitzy musical numbers that didn't fit the atmosphere of the film's opening. The film just didn't know where it wanted to end up. Is it a flashy musical like Chicago, or music biopic like Ray? In the end, it ends up a bit messy, being more like Chicago, but in a setting that a bit more realistic. Thats not to say that the performances are bad by any of the actors/actresses.

The singing, on the other hand, is top notch and so is the music. Eddie Murphy merits at least a nomination, and Hudson is a lock for Best Supporting Actress. Keith Robinson also adds to the already outstanding supporting cast. The two leads were Beyonce and Jaime Foxx, but Foxx stuck out like a sore thumb in some scenes, whereas in Ray and Miami Vice, he played his parts perfectly. Beyonce has her talent for dancing, and has a decent stage presence, but nothing in comparison to Jennifer Hudson's voice. Director Bill Condon sets up some wonderful visuals, although at times the editing was a little poor in minor parts. It also could have used a little trimming, maybe by 15-20 minutes, in my opinion. I saw it with my girlfriend, who loves musicals, and she loved this movie. I, on the other hand, thought it was just okay. So I guess in the end, your love of this film could depend on what you're into nowadays.

GRADE: B-

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

Little Miss Sunshine. The best movie of the summer.

[29 August 2006]

Or, the best movie of this year. This summer I was anticipating so many movies. M:i:III, while being a fun movie, it delivered on what i expected it to be. X3 was just popcorn nonsense, and Superman Returns, was kind of a letdown. I was left looking forward to the comedies of the summer to bounce back and show us a good time at the movies. Clerks II and Talladega Nights were great laugh-out-loud comedies, but Little Miss Sunshine comes off as an amazing, hilarious film. From the opening of the movie, to the final shot, nothing lets you down. The characters are great, funny, and moving. Steve Carrell continues to do some amazing work. The the others like Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Paul Dano, Abigail Breslin and Alan Arkin play their parts with such...realness. If that's even a word. Well, Little Miss Sunshine is not one to miss this summer.

Miami Vice (2006)

Mann fails to deliver in 'Miami Vice'

[28 July 2006]

Being a fan of the TV show, and a fan of Michael Mann's movies, I was ready for this to be amazing. And its not that I'm one of those nostalgic fans who wanted to see the film set in the '80s with the flashy suits and music from the times and everything, but, I hate to say it: the movie was very weak. The dialog, absolutely horrible. People laughed in my theater (I'm in Miami) whenever Spanish was spoken by one of the characters. I couldn't bring myself to like Gong Li's acting OR her character. The camera work was very off, closing up way too much on certain people and their...shoulders? Surprisingly, Colin Farrell did a very good job in my opinion. I've never thought of him as a very good actor in his recent movies but he nailed it here, I was very pleased. The thing is, Him and Foxx never have any chemistry because they rarely work together in the movie! I have to say at the least, the final 20 minutes were superb. Mann never lets down in the action category. But, in the end, I felt the movie failed to be what it should have been. It might make plenty of cash at the box office though, I don't know if it was the fact that I'm in and from Miami that everyone in Miami wanted to see it and my theater was packed.

Hey, there's another thing that bothered me. It didn't FEEL like Miami VICE. It felt more like...South America Vice.

Grade: 6/10

Date Movie (2006)

Painful.

[18 February 2006]

Why did they even make this junk? Were they that bored? I thought it was too early in the year for such a bad film. I mean come on, first Bloodrayne, now this?! It seems like we already have the worst movie of 2006 here. Do yourself a favor and don't go see this. If you already did, I'm sorry your poor soul had to go through that torture. For those unlucky few that have not seen it and will be saved by reading this, I had to walk out in the first 20 minutes. by the time the credits had rolled, I wanted to shoot myself. The jokes were tasteless, some of them didn't make sense, they didn't put effort into anything at all. By the way, heres a little preview of what Scary Movie 4 is going to be like. It gives me shivers just to think of all the sad individuals that will give in to that movie. I'll pray for you.