Review: Invictus

Clint Eastwood is quickly establishing himself as one of the best directors in the history of film. His latest film, Invictus, follows the story about how new President Nelson Mandela and the “Springboks,” South Africa’s national Rugby team, united a country that was previously divided by Apartheid during the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

One of the main highlights of the film is the performance by Morgan Freeman, who plays Nelson Mandela. Besides the Freeman’s resemblance to Mandela, which is extremely close, he portrayed Mandela perfectly. As always, Matt Damon did a great job as the captain of the rugby team, Francois. But Freeman is the one who might get a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his role.

The movie had the feeling of a South African and rugby version of Miracle, which is another film I love. Rugby is a sport I don’t know much about, but the film did a good job drawing in your interest to the rough sport and teaching you how it is played as the movie rolls along.

But Invictus was about much more than just the sport of rugby, it was mostly about the struggle to bring a nation together that was ripped apart by the travesty of Apartheid for so many decades. The drama of how Mandela tries to figure out how to accomplish this task is as riveting as the scenes of the South African Rugby team trying to find their way and be competitive for the World Cup.

I give Invictus an 8.5 out of 10.

So when is the next Rugby World Cup? I think I’ll be watching

Review: Pirate Radio

Without a doubt, Pirate Radio has the best soundtrack to any movie ever made. What else can you expect from a movie about rock music from the 60′s, the best era for music ever, in my opinion.

Pirate Radio, or The Boat That Rocked as it is known outside the US, is about a ship of rogue djs and crew members in the 1960′s who play rock music on a ship because the United Kingdom’s regular airwaves refuse to play their greatest product, rock & roll. The government of course hates the crew of Radio Rock and try to eliminate their pirate broadcast. The film focuses on the lives of the crew members, especially a teenager named Carl (Tom Sturridge), who’s mother sent him to be with his godfather Quentin (Bill Nighy) aboard the ship

The wide range of wacky characters is one thing I loved of the film. I like a broad range of characters in a comedy like Pirate Radio and I think it worked very well. Philip Seymour Hoffman who plays American DJ, The Count, did a great job as usual. Bill Nighy also did a great job as, Quentin, the head of Radio Rock.

A huge criticism of the film was that it was too long. I didn’t think so, I gladly would have watched another hour of the film.  However, I greatly enjoy 60′s rock and a mess of characters. Two hours is needed for the vast number of characters in this movie, but extra time could have been spent on certain characters to develop them more.

My biggest criticism would be that the film did seem jumbled and messy at times. The film could have been tightened up a bit and more polished. Overall, I did enjoy the movie and thought it was funny.

I give Pirate Radio a 7.5. Now, excuse me while I put some Stones records on.

Review: Paranormal Activity

Two things would have made “Paranormal Activity” a much better horror movie for me. First, if I saw it before or ignored all the hype, which made it really hard for the film to live up to the scariness. Second, watching it in your home at night. It would be much more terrifying being in your home alone than with a 100 or so people in a theatre.

With that said, I believe “Paranormal Activity” to be an incredible horror film and in the top 5 of all-time horror flicks. It was very refreshing to see an effective horror movie without all the show-me gore that rules today’s horror genre.

The plot revolves around a couple Micah Sloat & Katie Featherston (that is their real names too) who decide to record paranormal events in their home. An entity seems to be following Katie around her whole life. As they film, the events get worse and worse.

The slow build up of paranormal events does a lot for this movie. It’s a little too slow in the beginning, but that quickly changes. The “mockumentary” film style really works for this film. That you basically only see this one couple the entire film in a home video setting, plus the fact that the acting is fantastic, you get very connected to the characters and you want them to figure this haunting out.  There was no real script for this film just mostly a script outline, which really help with the realism of the film.

The last 20-30 minutes of the film is where “Paranormal Activity” really sets itself up as one of the best horror flicks of all-time. It’s like watching two cars headed for a head-on collision, you know its only going to get worse. The last scene is classic and makes the movie. I’ve seen many horror movies with some distinct endings, but “Paranormal Activity’s” really disturbed me.

I think a few things could have been done to make this movie almost too horrifying to watch. But, director/writer Oren Peli does an incredible job on such a low budge ($15,000) and with very little effects.

I give “Paranormal Activity” an 8 out of 10. “Paranormal Activity” has given me hope that the horror genre can improve from its current state.

Review: Zombieland

Looks like “Shaun of The Dead” has been topped in the “zomedy” category. I loved “Zombieland” and not because it was the funniest or best zombie film, but because it was just a great movie.

For those who are unaware of the plot, it’s pretty straight forward. The movie follows four survivors, Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), sisters Wichita and Little Rock (Emma Stone & Abigail Breslin), who cross paths in a world taken over by a zombie apocalypse and try to survive.

The chemistry between Eisenberg and Harrelson, who play polar opposite characters, make the movie. Harrelson is hysterical as the redneck tough guy and Eisenberg is as awkwardly funny as Micheal Cera is in any of his movies. In fact, I believe Cera will now face competition from Eisenberg for the roles of the awkward nerdy high school/college kid. Stone and Breslin also do a great job. “Zombieland” being a zombie apocalypse movie, you basically only see these four interacting during the whole movie and the dialogue is very funny and witty. Casting did a great job with these guys. There is also an awesome and hilarious celebrity cameo, but I won’t ruin it for you guys.

“Zombieland” was highly entertaining and if you liked “Shaun of The Dead,” you’ll love this. Even though the title is “Zombieland,” there is much more to this movie than just Zombies. Though the zombies and violence toward the zombies were really cool. “Zombieland” is just a fun movie.

I give “Zombieland” a 8 out of 10.