Ocean's Eleven (2001)

Genre

Comedy | Crime | Thriller

Director

Steven Soderbergh

Country

USA

Cast

George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Andy García, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac, Scott Caan, Casey Affleck, Carl Reiner, Elliott Gould, Eddie Jemison, Shaobo Qin, Holly Marie Combs, Topher Grace, Joshua Jackson, Barry Watson, Shane West

Storyline

When Daniel Ocean (George Clooney) is released from prison, his next heist is already planned: he combines an eleven member team, including Frank Catton (Bernie Mac), Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt) and Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon), to rob three Las Vegas casinos, all owned by Terry Benedict (Andy García).

Opinion

Remake of the 1960 film starring Frank Sinatra - which I haven't seen -, Ocean's Eleven is an exciting, fast-paced, highly entertaining comedy heist filled with tension, and great performances by an all-star cast.

The film scores a lot of points thank to its plot: it is completely unpredictable, and as things happen, you will never know if something went wrong, or things were planned and supposed to go that way without the audience knowing it.

The ironic and never banal dialogue is supported by some wonderful characters, from Pitt's compulsive eater Rusty, to Damon's insecure but clever Linus, and García's ruthless and arrogant Terry Benedict, Ocean's arch nemesis. The chemistry between Ocean and Rusty is so amazing, in several situations they don't even need to end their talk to understand each other.

I liked the photography, but there was something wrong with the way Julia Roberts was shot. She is beautiful but somehow she really looks bad in this film. The music plays a great role in the film.

George Clooney gives a solid, and charismatic performance as Danny Ocean, as always I'd add. Brad Pitt is wonderful as Rusty. The chemistry between the two Hollywood good-looking men is great. Matt Damon is great as the insecure Linus, and Don Cheadle is hilarious. Elliott Gould, Bernie Mac, and Carl Reiner are all good. Andy García delivers a wonderful performance as Terry Benedict. Scott Caan and Casey Affleck are hilarious as the brothers. Newbie Oscar winner Julia Roberts is wasted for the role: she doesn't have much to do, and any other actress could have done that. But I guess the producers wanted an all-star cast.

Monsters vs. Aliens (2009)

Genre

Animation | Comedy | Adventure

Directors

Rob Letterman | Conrad Vernon

Country

USA

Cast

Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogen, Hugh Laurie, Will Arnett, Conrad Vernon, Rainn Wilson, Amy Poehler,  Kiefer Sutherland, Stephen Colbert, Paul Rudd, Jeffrey Tambor, Julie White, Renée Zellweger, John Krasinski, Ed Helms

Storyline

When a meteorite from outer space hits Susan Murphy (Reese Witherspoon) and turns her into a giant monster, she is taken to a secret government facility where she meets a group of monsters also rounded up over the years. As a last resort, under the guidance of General W.R. Monger (Kiefer Sutherland), on a desperate order from The President (Stephen Colbert), the motley crew of Monsters is called into action to combat the aliens and save the world from imminent destruction.

Opinion

After the fantastic Kung Fu Panda, DreamWorks is back with a brand new film. It isn't that fresh nor original though.

Monsters vs. Aliens has enough humour to entertain people of all ages, and relatively good CGI. However, it is tedious for most of the running time, having the film slowing down dramatically after a pretty good start.

The story written by co-directors Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon is anything but original. It is more of a sort of parody of science fiction films, although the task force of monsters gives a touch of originality. The plot is predictable in many places - however I doubt kids are that smart to guess in advance what's going to happen. The dialogue is never that brilliant, still there are some solid jokes that will make you laugh.

There isn't much of character development. Only the main character changes a little, the others remain unchanged.

Reese Witherspoon's Susan/Ginormica has some back story, but we really don't care about it, or her character much. The monsters, Seth Rogen's B.O.B., Hugh Laurie's Dr. Cockroach, and Will Arnett's the Missing Link, are the most interesting characters. Too bad they are not developed enough. Rogen's character is the one that steals the show. He is incredibly dumb - he doesn't even have a brain - but at the same time he is incredibly funny. The President is just like Stephen Colbert. Besides from the voice, the facial expressions are the same as well.

The aliens who want to conquer and destroy the earth are way too stupid to complete such a task. However, if such an event were to occur, I'd rather have to deal with dumb aliens instead of intelligent ones.

Quotes

Gallaxhar: Humans of Earth, I come in peace. You need not fear me, I mean you no harm. However, it is important to note that most of you will not survive the next 24 hours. The few of you that do survive will be enslaved and experimented upon. You should, in no way, take any of this personally. It's just business. So to recap, I come in peace, I mean you no harm, and you all will die. Gallaxhar out.

Punisher: War Zone (2008)

Genre

Action | Crime | Drama

Director

Lexi Alexander

Country

USA | Canada | Germany

Cast

Ray Stevenson, Dominic West, Julie Benz, Colin Salmon, Doug Hutchison, Dash Mihok, Wayne Knight, Romano Orzari, Stephanie Janusauskas, Larry Day, Ron Lea, Tony Calabretta, T.J. Storm, Mark Camacho, Keram Malicki-Sánchez, David Vadim, Aubert Pallascio, Bjanka Murgel

Storyline

After his family was killed by criminals, ex-military man Frank Castle (Ray Stevenson) became a vigilante known as the Punisher. After hunting down and killing hundreds of criminals for the past five years, he faces his most deadly foe yet: Jigsaw (Dominic West).

Opinion

As I said three weeks ago, I am a fan of the Punisher, and as I said back then, I have been completely shocked by how bad this film turned out to be, considering Green Street's Lexi Alexander made it. 

Action packed, Punisher: War Zone is still extremely violent - apparently brutality and blood is what the audience wants -, tedious, and definitely does not justice to the great comic book.

The result is pretty much the same, and since two different version of the Punisher is what we are dealing with, it comes natural to compare the 2004 film to this one. In this one there isn't much of a backstory, but at least it is faithful to the comic book, and I really appreciated that. Besides this, I struggled to find something else good in this film.

Silly, and lacking in logic, the plot is probably the worst thing about the film. But I guess tons of people will watch this for the action, and violence, so I won't spend much time on this. 

Another major issue concerns the Punisher's character. He is portrayed as a violent and ruthless man, not an avenger, and the last scene proves it. What kind of "good" man blows up somebody's brain just because he tried to rob his friend's wallet? That's just going around killing people, not getting rid of organised crime. 

Ray Stevenson was the perfect  casting as Frank Castle aka the Punisher. He perfectly fits the role, and he definitely is a way better Punisher than Thomas Jane. Dominic West also is pretty good as Jigsaw, but he could have done better in some scenes.

About Cherry (2012)

Genre

Drama

Director

Stephen Elliott

County

USA

Cast

Ashley Hinshaw, James Franco, Dev Patel, Heather Graham, Lili Taylor, Diane Farr, Megan Boone, Vincent Palo, Jonny Weston, Ernest Waddell, Sensi Pearl, Maya Raines, Michael Manuel Torres

Storyline

With an alcoholic mother (Lili Taylor) and a violent father (Michael Manuel Torres), 18-year-old Angelina (Ashely Hinshaw) runs off with her best friend (Dev Patel) to San Francisco. There, while cocktailing in a strip club, she meets Frances (James Franco), a lawyer who offers to introdice her to a different kind of world. At the same time she, using the moniker Cherry, has begun exploring the porn industry ynder the direction of Margaret (Heather Graham). 

Opinion

I still don't understand why I keep on watching James Franco's new films, since he got involved in pretty bad movies lately, this one making no exception.

Shallow and without focus, About Cherry is one of those films that shouldn't have been shot in the first place. 

Everything is awful in this film. Stephen Elliott's directorial debut is so bad, you'd rather die than watch his next feature. The shaking camera is hella annoying, and the editing is so bad, it makes the film painful to watch.

The worst part is the screenplay, since Elliott co-wrote it with real-life porn star Lorelei Lee. Isn't she supposed to know how to write a damn script about porn? 

The plot is basically non-existent. The dialogue is horrible. And the film is completely unable to maintain focus on something, or somebody. Lots of secondary characters are in the film, but at the same time they are not there - what's the point of bringing out Paco's sexual orientation if it's not explored at all?

Angelina's transition isn't much believable. It's kinda off topic, but in Transamerica - you have seen it, right? - Felicity Huffman's son dreams to work in the porn industry since always. Here, Angelina goes from being a good girl who feels uncomfortable when doing a nude photo shoot, to porn star without any inhibitions nor sexual preferences, proud of her job - not to mention the change of sexual orientation - so fast you won't even have time to winkle. Also, in her rise in the porn industry, she does meet with no obstacle, everybody loves her - and I don't really think everyone's so friendly in real life. Furthermore, why does she do it? For the money like Isabelle in Young & Beautiful? Maybe at first. Then it's more than clear that she loves doing it, but unfortunately there is no inner character development that could lead us into thinking that. 

The acting doesn't get better. Ashley Hinshaw delivers an hollow and emotionless performance. James Franco is so not believable, and when he says, "Your job is disgusting. What you do is disgusting. You are disgusting." looks like an old pervert offerings "candies" to a kid. Heather Graham is pretty decent as Margaret, a porn director. Dev Patel badly plays his clichéd character.