Quick Movie Review

Lars and the Real Girl (2007, USA) | Rating: 4/5
This was a recommendation by a good friend and I trust her taste. I didn't know what direction would this movie would go considering the concept was about having a relationship with a doll. Yes, a doll. I'm sure those who are in the know of Japanese taboo trends might be familiar with real girls or sex dolls. There's also the possibility you've watched My Strange Addiction or heard of Davecat on a talk show. Anyway, it deals with that. The movie stars Ryan Gosling who seems almost unrecognizable to my eyes and does a fantastic job playing this socially awkward man who simply wants to find a love similar to his brother. He's a very simple man and so innocent, so it is easy to care for his character the same way the people in his town do. Overall, I thought this was a cute and entertaining film that has a good balance of comedy and drama. It does a successful job of involving your emotions with the characters, but not overly forcing them out to consciousness.



American Grindhouse (2010, USA) | Rating: 3.5/5
I don't want to make it a habit of reviewing documentaries, but if I come across some that are worth mentioning then I will. This is one I want to mention as I am a film graduate and don't really know much about the grindhouse genre aside from Death Race and Planet Terror. If you want to know more about the genre, this is a good documentary that delves into the history, influences, subgenres, and related genres while still being entertaining. After watching it, I felt more comfortable in identifying and perhaps casually speaking about grindhouse films. Even more interesting for me are the close ties it has to the "controversial" journey that the horror genre has undergone over the years.



Think Like a Man Too (2014, USA) | Rating: 2.5/5
It's still a little surprising that a self help book received a movie in the first place, but it's even more surprising that a sequel was green lit. If you haven't read my quick review for the first movie, you're probably thinking that I didn't like it, but I did find it surprisingly entertaining. The sequel does lack a little of the charm and quality of entertainment as the first one, but it is tolerable. There's extra screen time with Kevin Hart and his over the top antics that can either seem embarrassing or somewhat funny. In the end, producing a sequel seemed completely unnecessary, but overall pretty harmless.



Super 8 (2011, USA) | Rating: 4/5
When this movie came out, my mother urged me to check it out as it had to deal with filmmaking, but I wasn't really interested. A little interest sparked when my workplace received the DVD for its collection and I found it fairly interesting. It does give some insight into the filmmaking process while fusing it together with sci-fi elements. I thought the child actors did a fantastic job and the pacing and tension build up were well thought out, but that's not surprising with such an acclaimed director as J.J. Abrams. Throughout the movie, I didn't know what to expect and the movie hardly gave any hint of predictability. Whether you're interested in filmmaking, enjoy sci-fi, or simply like J.J. Abrams' film, I would recommend you give this one a try.



The Angriest Man in Brooklyn (2014, USA) | Rating: 2.5/5
I've never heard about this movie until post-mortem Robin Williams and commercials for the DVD were running. I did read about some wise words passed down by Williams to Mila Kunis while they worked together. The premise didn't seem like anything new as there have been a handful of movies about someone dying in a short amount of time and trying to undo their bad behavior. Despite the unoriginal plot, I still wanted to check out because...Robin Williams. *shrugs* I must say, this movie wasn't anything special. It was a little odd seeing Robin Williams so angry and foul mouth, but that's what the character called for. The string of events that Kunis and Peter Dinklage face to get in contact with Williams' character is kinda...silly. It's not a terrible film, but if you skip out on it during your Robin Williams marathon, you're not missing out on anything.


If there's something you want me to review (or want a more in depth review of the movies above or previous ones), check out this post on how you can submit requests.