Les Miserables Review

Les Miserables assembled a great cast that delivered, however it failed in the third act which hurt the movie as a whole.

Things I liked:

The movie follows Hugh Jackman and Russel Crowe primarily throughout the movie with a cat and mouse game, however because of the amazing character development and plot movements early on this is disguised and you genuinely feel for Hugh Jackman and sympathize with the character. Hugh Jackman is outstanding in it, and does a great job of delivering his lines through song while using great facial expressions. Likewise, Russell Crowe is a great villian who develops throughout the movie.

The movie starts off with Hugh Jackman as a prisoner who is released on parole and then skips town after a turn of events. His character(as stated above) is outstanding, and he meets up with Anne Hathaway whose struggles are documented throughout the movie to the point which some were reduced to tears. Hathaway also does a fantastic job in the movie, as there is nothing but raw emotion in her character and she does great to further the plot along.

The story was also convincing, while there are some complaints about it the overall journey and triumph of each and every character was really well done and justified. The movie does have slight pacing issues and does repeat the story a little bit, however the pros do outweigh the cons. I cannot go into detail without spoiling something, however you truly do care about the characters and the resolution at the end.

Even the supporting characters of Borat and Helen Bonham Carter are entertaining and serve a purpose throughout the movie. Along with the kid at the end, and the priest at the beginning  these supporting characters throughout only help add to the movie.

And of course I loved the music used throughout the movie. The delivery was great by the actors/actresses and the continuous uses of certain aspects throughout was very well done.

What I did not like:

There are certain things you can do with a movie that you cannot do with a play. A play is limited to a stage, a movie is not. Therefore during a play when a character is on the other side of the stage and singing about the two characters you just assume that they cannot hear her and go with it. In a movie, you could put that character elsewhere and just shoot back to them. It is a minor complaint but there were many times a person woudl be singing right by a group of people who would not hear her.

Also, singing every. single. line. throughout the entire movie was just too much, the music was not nearly as good as the big songs and detracted away from the power of some of the scenes.

The entire french uprising sequence was just terrible, throughout the entire movie you have great characters developed throughout and then you do not care about the french revolution at all. It also starts off with ANOTHER gap in years with Crowe finding Jackman. Its like really? We JUST saw that done. None of the characters aside from the kid are developed, and the love story is worse than a comic book love story. No spoilers here, but it is "I saw her, I love her time to risk everything for her." I am sorry but if you are nominated for an oscar you should not have that in a movie, this isnt Dredd, this isnt Spider-man, this is Les Miserables. Also, someone with a bullet wound is being dragged through the sewers and is covered with feces, but is FINE! That makes no sense. 

My Girlfriends take: Ranked from Love it, eh, Bad she gave it a Loved it.

Overall Les Miserables does a great job of setting up its scenes and delivering a believable plot with good character development. However it ultimately has one glaring hole in it which does harm it. I give this movie a 8/10.

Dredd Review

I did not see the original, however this movie was a fun action movie that I wish had not bombed.

Dredd was a nice fun action movie that you can grab a pizza and a beer and watch.

It starts off with Dredd taking on a girl with psychic powers on a tiral run to see if she is ready to become a judge. The girl failed the tests but due to her powers she is getting a second chance.

The movie does a good job of setting up the world, and for a 90 minute movie to expect more is ridiculous. It starts off with a pretty cool action scene and does not stop.

If you are looking for a movie with a well developed complex plot, with character development, and the like go elsewhere. This is an 80s action flick that delivers.

I will not summarize the movie however Dredd and the girl get caught up in an apartment complex with the main villian who is developed decently well for an action movie, however you never think she is actually going to kill Dredd as she alone is not too powerful but has powerful allies which come in.

The movie does a good job of touching on some social issues such a drug use, poverty, and other behavior that some who have nothing might be forced to do when they have no other options. There was also some pretty entertaining scenes between the psychic and just about everyone and her powers are put to good use throughout and not ignored and relied upon for lazy story telling.

There are some nice shooting scenes in the film, along with some good dialogue for an action movie and some pretty funny scenese as well. The movie itself doesnt really have any dead time, as it cannot afford it with its runtime, and that works to their benefit as the entire movie is a nonstop action thrill.

This was a nice good action movie that should be seen by those wanting a fun action flick for the night with a beer and pizza, I give it a 8/10

Zero Dark Thirty Review

I am reviewing every single movie I see this year, whether it came out this year or not, and whether or not I have previously seen it.

Zero Dark thirty is getting a lot of oscar buzz, however I did not see why. The characters throughout the film are not really developed and tends to drag during certain parts.

The first 30-45 minutes of the movie are torture, or as my dad kept correcting me enhanced interrogation, this is done to show that torture does work while interrogating people and is constantly referenced throughout the entire movie. I felt this part was well paced and accomplished what it set out to do.

The main character is a bitch who has one goal and that is to find osama. This works, as she shuts herself out from having friends or relationships and is completely committed to the task at hand and everything a CIA agent should be.

The movie suffers in the middle portion though, and this is why I feel it was good but not great. The entire middle part is essentially a list of all the historical events that occured during the time when the hunt started and when it ends. It felt more like I was watching a history channel documentary than a movie at some times, and this is why I felt it is not oscar worthy. For instance there are many times when they set up a historical scene, show it, followed by the reaction of the characters and them coming to the conclusion "lets try to find him..HARDER!" Also we all know what is coming, but setting up the actual ending(the seals barging in) took way too long in my opinion, the pacing of the movie could have been better.

The ending was fantastically done however, when the SEALS went in there you know what was going to happen but it was riveting. I will not summarize everything, but they do act like how SEALS act so they were true to form. They did not leave out any of the details, and it was great.

Overall I would give the movie a 7.5/10, good, but not great. The pacing was just too off for me and it felt like a historical documentary at times instead of a film. 

666 Park Avenue Episode 4 "Hero Complex" Review

666 Park Avenue will probably be cancelled due to low ratings, however the show has been putting out a quality product for weeks now and is often ignored. It is not a noticeably scary show however more of a mystery show.

This episode however focused on Henry moreso than Jane and developed the character Nona a little more. This episode had 2 main story arcs and the sub arc involving the suitcase that Jane stumbled upon in the previous episode.

The main story arc of the two was Henry and Gavin's conflict that arose due to the investigation into Gavin's affairs. I felt this was a little far-fetched for starters and was poorly developed. Henry's decisions come with very little to no character develop whatsoever. We saw him make a choice with his back up against the wall, however I doubt what his employers wanted him to do was break into Gavin's place and illegally seize material. Also the adolescent teen boy hides his indecent material on his parents computer better than Gavin hides potentially damaging business deals. This made no sense, that someone as intelligent as Gavin would just conveniently have a file on his laptop labeled "Greenpoint Towers." Also while Henry making the decision to obtain this by illegal means was not likely, it was very likely that he would leave part of it behind for Gavin to magically find. Again, a very predictable outcome with your typical "hero" and "villian" conflict. This story was the least interesting until the end which will be addressed, but first it is necessary to talk about the second story line, that of Nona's.

I was happy to finally see a resolution with the Drake thief, yes it occurred conveniently however at this point if you have not suspended the belief that everyone will conveniently run into each other in the lobby you should just stop watching, it will happen as these people are all running around all the time and it is perfectly reasonable for someone to stop and talk to the receptionist about losing her sunglasses. However what I find hard to believe is that Nona would conveniently wear them just minutes after stealing it, this is just careless on her part however it did further the story line, albeit by a lazy method. I am willing to give this more leniency than Henry's story line partly because I just wanted it to advance finally. It was nice to get some information about Nona's background, which I wont delve into because I am trying to review and not summarize so much. Once all the items were being returned everything was better, and Rachel got a nice bit of information from Nona which contributed to the good conclusion.

The conclusion brought us back to last weeks story with the writer who whatever she writes comes true, it was nice to see this bleed over into this weeks story and it was nice to see what Gavin got from the deal, surely someone who could write any story and it be real could be very helpful, especially in this case when he is feuding with Henry's boss. The warning by Nona to Rachel really strengthened their relationship, as it came true and now Rachel knows a little more about her and can relate to her because of being separated from her parents. This was a nice and fitting conclusion, you saw Henry come to his senses which was within character, Gavin to say "oh well he made one mistake"(convenient answer), and Rachel to develop her relationship with Nona.

It was nice to see the suitcase finally get opened however, although you have to feel bad for the little girl since she just did not want him out. It also was nice to see the Drake controlling other people and transporting them or making them do stuff to people besides Rachel. It is truly powerful and most people do not even remember. It could bring about the question is Gavin in charge of the Drake or is the Drake in charge of Gavin?

This episode used some very convenient methods of storytelling to advance a plot(I am not holding the seeing everyone in the lobby as an excuse) I still think it was a weak episode for the series so I will have to give it an 6.0/10.

Ultimate Comics: Spiderman #16 review

I found this issue very lacking for several reasons, however by the end of it Miles seems to FINALLY be a part of the main plot that is dominating the Ultimate series.

My main complaint about Miles has been he lacks a rogue gallery and each new issue that fails to capitalize on this will suffer in my mind. I really do not see where Marvel is going with this series at the moment, although it appears they want to make him a member of the Ultimates, however my question then becomes why? Why have Spider-man fighting the same exact villians every single hero in the Ultimate Universe is fighting at the moment.

The series started off strong with the Prowler and had some pretty powerful moments, but this issue just continues the sub par storytelling that just keeps being compounded month in and month out. It took them how many issues just to get him to become a member of the Ultimates at a time when they should just be accepting everyone?

Miles is a likeable character, as this issue showed with some nice one liners and inter dialogue that made everyone love Peter, however him being Spider-man really needs to be fleshed out. I felt like I was reading an Ultimates issue, not a Spider-man issue.

Overall I give this comic a 3/10, it had a contrived plot, a random villian arbtitrarily thrown in to fix his dumb decision which was incredibly cliche, and failed to develop spider-man outside of the Ultimates.

The League Season 4 Episode 2 Review

If you are a football fan you need to watch this show, especially if you are a fantasy football fan you NEED to watch this show. It might be the funniest show on television and while you do not need to understand football to understand it, for instance I have friends who hate sports but love the show, it would enhance it.

This episode started off really strong and the main story lines were Kevin and Jenny's choice as to whether or not to give Chalupa a circumcision and Pete's whole waiver and rating system. I thought it transitioned well to get the other characters involved, but these were the main 2 things.

The whole circumcision thing worked out well in my opinion, it was a bit generic for him to get nervous about his Doctor and his wife, but overall I felt the story worked. Without spoiling too much the ending was well timed and as this show likes to do is bring back jokes in an unexpected way at the end.

Pete's whole +1 thing was great and could become a thing, I mean really people already do this when they see someone but this places a point value on it. It was a nice twist at the end with Taco, and I especially loved the breakdown of her point value of him at the end. The funniest line was the "Well you know my ex, so you probably know how I am in bed minus 1".

The Andre jokes were well paced and hit at all the right times, as was the ending with Shhhhhhhhheeeeeeeevvvvvvvvvvvvaaaaaaaaaaa. It was great to finally find the answer to what is going on with Andre's penis. Yes I just typed that sentence.

The episode delivered numerous jokes throughout the entire episode and their Jokes per minute was off the charts. These were not just random but were well time jokes that usually hit and related to the overall story. You can tell they set out to tell a funny structured story and it hit in my opinion. I will remember this episode fondly.

Overall, I give this episode a 9.0, it delivered often and advanced the show into an interesting direction with the line from SHHHEEEVVAA

South Park Going Native

South Park "Going Native" Review

Every once in awhile South Park breaks it current trend and goes for a non parody approach that is built on jokes and a story line involving its characters, and they did so in this episode.

The episode started off very strong with Butters insulting the other boys and channeling his inner Hawaiian for rage. I do wish we could have seen the fight that started it all though but oh well every line he delivered was spot on. 

The episode then transitioned to what I thought were funny bits involving his family, especially on the correct pronunciation of Hawaii. Also the whole refusal to allow him on the plane was hillarious,not because he was a child but because they thought he was intoxicated.

The Hawaii scenes did not play out as well as I had hoped however, it all centered on one joke really and that was these people being natives. It might have clicked for others out there but it did not really register with me aside from the first time. SP does this a fair amount and sometimes it works really well, for instance in Sarcastaball or the shake weight, and sometimes they fall short like here. The parts where they fought with the Coast Guard were funny, and I cannot believe Butters killed all those people!

I did enjoy Kenny's subplot though, it was nice to see him get a notable inclusion in the episode and his letters back home were funny, in my opinion anyways. I thought he died and was surprised to see him wake up in the Elvis place, it was nice he saved them all though.

The ending was good as it showed Butters' main angst came from being jealous of Ben Affleck, a nice way to end the show.

I did like that South Park got away from the parodies and went back to what got them here, an episode with no real parodies and an episode built around Butters who has become arguably their 3rd most popular character for carrying episodes behind Cartman and Randy.

Overall I thought this was a solid episode and would watch it again, however it did not stand out so much and will not go down as one of the season's stronger episodes. With comedies it is often hard to rate them, however I will attempt to use a 10 point scale for them as well when taken into account how easy it is to recall the episode later on. Will I remember this episode greatly if someone mentions Butters in Hawaii I probably will not recall it that fondly, as I would say Sarcastaball.

Overall, I give this episode a 7.5, it delivered enough to be a passable episode but did not break through to that great territory.