A Very Expectedly Great Movie

Great But Different. 

This was a movie that might have suffered from a very common post-trilogy syndrome of trying to live up to its predecessors glory. Instead this movie gave a big old fuck you and decided to be completely different and it worked... well... in fact very very well.

The movie starts before the beginning of the Lord of the Rings trilogy with old Bilbo and Frodo, and Bilbo is recalling his story, as Frodo goes to wait for Gandalf in the woods, which is the first scene after the prologue in the original trilogy. The movie goes for a great while into detail about the dwarfs and the cave and the gold and the dragon and the setup for the next three movies, then it starts at the beginning of 'The Hobbit' book. It has multiple flashbacks to earlier times and different storyline which keeps it pretty excited for the first half and the movie which is slower then the second. The end of the movie doesn't creep up on your but comes with no real feeling of conclusion, obviously. 

An Unexpected Journey was perhaps the most entertaining movie I have seen all year, it had it all the underdog story, the fallen hero, and even romance (Not really... but I am still holding out for maybe the great sex scene of all time between Gandalf and Galads). It didn't take itself to seriously in the slightest but still maintained a sense of epicness, and adventure. There are very few things that aren't great about this movie. Although it lacked the original authentic feeling of the first movies. All the bad guys in the film were CGI and lacked the conviction of the dressed up, unrecognizable human that I love so much. Nonetheless it was still great to look at as CGI looks amazing now. 

For those that have read the book, it is quite different as you might expect because a movie made from the book would be terrible just like the book is. Simply put 'The Hobbit' is a children's story and not much else, but Peter Jackson has done a great job in adapting it for the screen. More then half of the movie probably isn't in the book, and its for the better, making it much for entertaining. There are scenes with storm giants and warges, orcs and necromancers and although not in the original story they were very fun to watch. If you went into the movie expected it to be like lord of the rings they you may be disappointed, it is completely different in nature its much lighter and entertaining.

I did decided to watch it in the new 48 frames per second instead of the normal 24 fps, and it was different, a little distracting at first but my eyes quickly adjusted and it was very smooth and looked much cooler especially during the fight scenes, I highly recommend it over the now outdated IMAX 3D theatre for amateurs. 

Overall, the movie was good just about what I expected from the trailers, different, less authentic, more entertaining then the original trilogy but still adventurous, epic, and heartfelt. A really fun movie to watch. 

Overall Rating

S-A-B-R-e 

First Person-ish cop movie about two officers that stumble across a drug cartel... LOOKS AWESOME. This is one of those you watch the movies and then seriously consider being a cop if it was at all like this movie...which it isn't I don't think. It is starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena (there is a squiggly line above the 'N' in 'Pena' used to indicate his ethnicity, but I don't know how to write it using my keyboard) The director is David Ayer who has a fetish for badass-streetgang-cop movies having done training day, and S.W.A.T and Street Kings. I am very much looking forward to having that couple moments of wanting to be a badass cop.

- E

Magnolia Films

Magnolia Films seems to be popping up more and more in the movie world, maybe it is just me but it seems to have the fix on good movies. Magnolia Pictures is a company originals made for distributing foreign and independent films, now owned by the Mark Cuban and has turned into a lower-budget amazing film producing company, that also produces amazingly basis but good documentaries. Look into it, seriously.

I have seen quite a few of there movies, hear are some I recommend, comment is you think agreed or disagree:

- Countdown to Zero (Documentary)

- I Melt With You (Film)

- Troll Hunter (Film)

- I am Still Here (Film)

- Jesus Camp (Don't watch if you like Christianity) (Documentary)

- Man of Wire (Documentary)

- Food Inc (Documentary) 

- The Hunter (Film)

- And many others

Leave your comments with your favourite and your least favourite Magnolia Film.

- E

Why I believe that 'The Dark Knight Rises' will be one of the greatest movies of ALL time....!

A Movie to Rise Above All Others

The Dark Knight Rises, has been an extremely long awaited squeal, not in the traditional sense of time, but in the longing of awesomeness sense... Let me elaborate... Most movies I walk out of and say 'hey that was alright' then a while later I think 'hmmm could go for another one of those movies right now' but when it comes to Batman I left the Dark Knight movie theatre and was immediately ready for the sequel, and that is why it is an extremely long awaited movie. The Dark Knight Rises has had a crazy amount of hype after The Dark Knight and Batman Begins which were both absolutely amazing movies! The movie is expected to be just as good as The Dark knight is not better, and I believe that even though the expectations are extremely high the movie will be just as good if not better then the Dark Knight... and that is saying a lot.

I will elaborate my argument in three paragraphs. The first praising Christopher Nolan as a god. The second is just my personal opinion followed by a concluding paragraph that will have the word fuck in it about 20 times... obviously to give emphasis to my opinion.

 'The Dark Knight Rises' - And Why it is are going to be one of the best movies ever:

1. The Director (Christopher Nolan) is a genius not much else actually has to be said about that but if you need proof; he was the creative mind behind the 'mindfucking' movies (movies that fuck with your mind) such as: Insomnia, the murder mystery story nominated for numerous awards, directed by Christopher Nolan. Memento, the low budget films that was nominated for two oscars, Written and Directed by Christopher Nolan. The Prestige featuring Christian Bale and Hugh Jackson about two aspiring magicians in search of the greatest illusion. From mind thrillers, to magicians and Superheros there is nothing he can't do.  The man is also british so he is smart. He also wear scarfs and looks like a total swag-baller. The Man can make movies with highs stake suspense, crazy actions scenes, great special effects, and at the same time can completely scramble your brain. He is a king of the cinematic world (I said 'a king' not 'the king') and a God of the normal world, and he will not disappoint his peasants in "The Dark Knight Rises".

2. This movie is the 'epic conclusion' or one of the greatest trilogies of all time and with the amount of built up for movies, it might be impossible to achieve people expectation, but for me if it is even 1/50th of what I expect/want then it will be one of the greatest movies ever! I think the villain in this movie is awesome, I think the plot of this movie is awesome and I think that the flying thing that 'isnt a car' is going to be fucking awesome. I will be waiting in line for this movie for like 3 hours and it is going to be so worth it in everyway!! This movie won't be awarded in 3 or 5 stars ratings it will awarded in diamonds, because Christopher Nolan knows that pressure makes diamonds.

3. Fuck Fuck Fuck (17 left) This movie is going to reach new fucking height for the fucking superohero movie fucking genre, it will fuck with your heart, fuck with your thoughts, and it will be fucking fucktastic, and fuckgasmic!!! The cast is fucking amazing basically fucking Inception plus the Dark fucking Knight together to have one grand old fucking time. The brainiac director Christopher fucking Nolan is about to end his first trilogy and it is going to be fucking awesome!! Fuck Fuck Fuck-ya! (that was a cheer at the end...cause I had to get to 20)

- E

The Avengers

If we can't make a good movie, then we will be damn sure to make a shit load of money in the process.

The tag line of this review doesn't actually work cause it was a good movie, not in the oscar movie way, but in the 'yes!, HAHAHA, OMG!, Ohhh!' way. The movie was a long awaited collaboration of 5 movies over the course of 4 years. The movie is a mixture, of the average high-budget-superhero movie and an interstellar-space-battle-humans-on-the-defense-movie. Loki the weirdo demi-god has decided to steal the tesseract (which is something that has a bunch of energy) and the Avengers are to stop him... obviously. The movie mostly takes place between the avengers trying to work through their egos problems, people dying here and there, and then like a billion aliens, with a weird bunch of giant flying worms trying to once again... kill everyone.

The movie puts on a juggling act trying to give the all the actors even time on screen. Between the heavy-hitters such as Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and Scarlet Johansson they have to share 143 minutes on screen, which can be no small task, but all actors had their time and their moments (even though the attempt at making Scarlet Johansson character seem like she had an interesting and dark storyline was completely terrible).

The movies plot line was different then most of the other avengers' movies excluding Thor. Thor's movie was much different then the others, cause it didn't really have anything to do with Earth, and was a weird futuristic, space movie. The Avengers combined the Thor outer-space theme with the planet that most people actually give a shit about.

The movie is the epitome of the 'big budget feel' it includes giant explosives, a flying aircraft carrier (that explodes), an insane cast, a out-of-this-world storyline (punny) and of course a happy ending. I bet most people will see it again....

In the end it finishes in the same way that it is meant to, in order to attain a box office, potential for a sequel and of course that being a happy ending.

Overall Rating S-A-B-r-e

A Party Gone Very Very Wrong, In a Very Very Good Way

The Party of Partys!

I was lucky enough to attend a free advanced screening of Project X, and I must say, it was awesome. It is a parent's worst nightmare brought to life.

The movie is shot in a camera based format much like Coverfield or the Blair Witch Project. It is about a kid Thomas (Thomas Mann) who is celebrating his birthday party and is pressured by costa (Oliver Cooper) to throw a big fucking party. In a very Michael Cera - Johan Hill tag team duo relationship they pull off one of the greatest parties of all time.

The movie features some extremely sexy woman, who are acting like sluttly high school girls (is there anything better?) there are whole 5 minute long scenes of woman this their tops off.... amazing! The themes of the movie are 'party', 'alcohol', 'drugs' and 'unbelievably sexy woman!!!!!!'

The soundtrack of the movie features the ultimate dirty-party-hip-hop-rap mix that every house party desires, including eminem, kid cudi, and jay-z (H*A*M!)

As the movie progresses the party moves from a larger-then-average get together, and becomes a rioters wet dream where hobos' with flame throwers and topless woman run free! The movie is quite unrealistic and has few attachments to a reality that a giant house party would take place but it doesn't matter. In a somewhat unnerving way this movie gives every teenager a taste of what the craziest party would be like and attempts to show its consequences (which apparently aren't that bad...they include a girl!)

Overall this movie was awesome and could act as a strong deterrent to kid wanting to throw a house party, and is definitely recommended if you had any type of social life in high school, if not I guess you could just become the cameraman.

Sabre rating

S-A-B-R-e

Contagion - basically the scariest movie to watch in a public place

                                                          

 Contagion - the scariest movie ever...

The movie contagion is about virus that spreads around the world and kills people, plain and simple... but there are a lot of implications with such a simple statement, such as what will happen to all the bodies, who will be immune, who gets the vaccine first, and last but certainly not least why oh why did that bat eat that banana ( see the movie...you'll get it) 

The movie is a zombie-non-zombie thriller with a  side order of political corruption. The movie is directed by Steven Soderbergh who is such a good director that he started the worldwide epidemic on day... 2 (very classy) but to match the A-list director is a A+A+A+A+A+A list cast, including Matt Damon, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Gwyneth Paltro, Laurence Fishburne... etc.

The movie follows the different stories of all these characters as live or don't live through the pandemic, some just normal families looking to try to live, well others are high priority citizens trying to stop the spreading. All the acting, in all the different story lines is absolutely amazing, I have no further comments on flaws (except Gwyneth Paltrow... never liked her, but she still did well)

I was watching this movie in a large theatre in downtown montreal in midst of flu season, flu season involve as shit-load of coughing, sneezing and throat clearing, which is super fun for all the health people (pointing a finger at myself) but even less fun where you are watching a movie that is purely based on the transmission of a killer virus...

The movie is fucking scary in the OMG THIS COULD HAPPEN WAY, not the HOLY-FUCK-A-POSSESSED-LITTLE-GIRL sort of way, which to me is much scarier. The cast was awesome, and the directing is quite amazing, and Steven makes the movie extremely realistic. 

SABRE RATING:

S.A.B.R.E

The "S" from SABRE writes his first article!!

The McGill Daily » Canadian national identity and rugby

Drive'n up the Genre

Drive is to Transporter as The Road is to 2012, let’s get that clear right from the start. Same basic plot does not equal same basic movie, and those looking for a mindless action film of sweet car chases and insane auto stunts best look elsewhere. Drive is a car movie based on suspense, emotion, and realism; it ain’t your average action blockbuster. 

Ryan Gosling is the mysterious ‘driver,’an unnamed and silent spaghetti-western cowboy in eighties attire, cruising gracefully through the streets of LA. He is a stunt driver for Holllywood movies and moonlights as a contract getaway driver, he is very good at both of these jobs. He is not good at conversation; he rarely speaks and this largely effects the tone of the film. His life is silent and orderly until he meets a girl (Carey Mulligan) and her young son and then his life is a romance. Then the boy’s father returns from prison, and while obviously nothing good can come from this, a lot of bad spirals out. There are threats, a heist, a set-up, a man-hunt, and more victims than a Shakespearean tragedy. 

Through all of this, it may be relevant to note that there are only two car chases. The first, in the opening, is a covert duck-and-cover through the streets of Los Angeles. The second is a high-speed chase that as far as I could tell was completely within the laws of physics. There is violence, but not elaborate shoot-outs. No one knows any forms of martial arts or owns a bazooka. The action is desperate, undignified, and violent. 

The action is therefore “real,” and the actors only help make it so. Every performance is captivating, matching the brilliant characters written for them. Real credit however, I believe should go to director Nicolas Winding Refn who has assembled these good components and turned it into a great film with a distinctive feel and originality. The music, the silence, and the understating of what most blockbusters embellish to absurdity makes this a film worth watching. It makes it a film with Drive. 

Overall Rating:

S-A-B-R-E

Immortals

Plot: Looks like it is going to be a mix between 300 and Clash of the Titans, A guy is going to defeat the odds cause it is his destiny

Actors: BAD!!! maybe Mickey Rourke will be okay, but this is not a movie that is built on actors

Box Office: It will do okay, in the hundred millions, cause of all the marketing and high budget, but it won't stay in theatres for more than 3 weeks.

30 minutes or less

Our Predictions:

Looks: Hilarious, might get slow at some point, but it going to be hilarious

Box Office: It is going to do when, but no avatar, maybe 60 million, and will probably be #1 on opening weekend.

Jessie Eisenberg: Hilarious Stoner, like Zombieland

Aziz Ansari: Also Hilarious, no question there is going to be a slight falling out, but they will get back together.

Let's see how Sabre Does.... Comment if you think you can out predict us...

Conan the Barbarian

Looks: Like it is going to be okay, not great and might try to have some sort of metaphorical tendencies which I will dislike. Other than that might be pretty cool

Box Office: cant really put my finger on this, I dont think it will last more than 3 weeks, but still pull quite a bit of movie

Conan: Jacked

Bad guys: Stupid

Let's see how Sabre Does.... Comment if you think you can out predict us...

Captain America

Breaking news - Little kid turns into muscle machine, and makes movie!

The newest instalment of the ultimate avengers movie is out in theatres and it is Captain America! The movie acted as a giant setup, for the avengers. I found much of the movie quite redundant, back tracking on itself as well as not really making to much sense....

There is one point in the movie where the army has refused to go and rescue numerous prisoner because it is to far behind enemy lines, and is much to difficult... well captain america says fuck that and goes in himself, and then saves all the prisoners, and then.... wait for it.... they walk back! yep thats right, they WALKS BACK, unharmed.... stupid. The title of the movie may also be a little misleading although it says Captain America is should really say - little hormone deprived man with the ability to be overly unlucky, I call it this because about half the movie is about the little man, not captain america.

The acting in this movie was actually quite well done, Chris Evans who clearly needs some body work done, is quite compelling, especially in his last scene. Hugo Weaving playing Red Skull, did a great job playing a power hungry hydra leader.  Hayley Atwell did a great job playing the 40's love interest.

The movies art direction and cinematography was good, keeping a old, dirty and gritty look to it, much like in World War II, some classic scene include the obvious motorcycle jumping of Captain America. The movie was able to setup a strong foundation for the plot of the avengers, helping with the beginning of the shield program, and why the avengers will be needed, it was a necessary movie to act as a platform for the much anticipated Ultimate Avengers film.

The movie has some stupid plot points, but looked good and had a some decent acting in it....

Overall Rating:

S-A-b-r-e

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part II - The best one yet!

After a decade of movies, it is now time to say goodbye to arguably the most amazing movies saga of all time, and unarguably the most magical.

Harry potter and the Deathly Hollows Part II was fucking unbelievable!!! Every moment was gripping and keep the audience alive! The movie lived true to the book, only missing a few scene and adding in even fewer. The series of Harry Potter is done justice in this film.

Award to... DAVID YATES! I still remember the day where David stepped forth the take on the role of director for the 5th movie, and it was much different than the film previous, not in a good way. But now he has lived up to an almost unachievable standard of movie making, where he is able to put the book fully onto the screen, with a few twists and some different approaches but still great!

In the original movies the actor were extremely young and quite new to the wizarding world of movie making, and the casting director should get a divination medal for being able to tell the glorious future of all the actor who have out shined themselves again and again as the potter series continued! Although the casting person who hired Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley) should be branded with "I'm as awful as Bonnie's acting skills" and exiled to casting broken legs.

The only really downfall of the movie and the most upsetting part was the changing of the ending, I don't know why it was necessary and seemed pointless the change the end as it would have made no difference to the audience for those who had read the books or not. Their were other small parts that seemed pointless to change, such as Hermione not giving the goblin her wand when everything stills says the same with the rest of the scene.

But when all is said and done, it was an amazing film that did an amazing job wrapping up the series. From beginning to end the movie was riveting, fun, dark, entertaining, and magical. The music, acting (except fucking Ginny), plot, and tone were all perfect.

P.S - The 3d was pretty good, I have seen it in both 3d and 2d, and I enjoyed 2d more, but it is all preference, switch it up, cause you'll see it more than once.

Overall Sabre Rating:

S-A-B-R-E

Green with.....Envy, no..... Green with Greed,no..... Green with not a good movie, YES!

The Green lantern was a movie, which had a big budget actor, the most desirable woman of the year, and nothing else.

The movie is about Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) who inherits a ring, that is fuelled by the will of all living things. It can do anything, no big deal. Hal wearing the ring must kill an evil guy, hector who is infected by parallax - stupid name. Hal gets the girl, and the super suit, and the ring, and he is Ryan Reynolds.

The opening fifteen minute of this movie was absolutely terrible; it was completely CGIed with purple men, pinky men, and a weird smoke guy, parallax. The camera just kept zooming in and out of cosmic things, and galaxies, and a narrator who seemed to be 87 years old talk about parallax and some guy capturing him. I have mentioned Parallax numerous times, and my feelings on Parallax are that, he is one of the worst villains of all time!!!!!! his power is the colour yellow! (And fear, big deal) Who ever CGIed him should be fired, and moved to the colouring partly in the lines department.

Although the movie’s plot lacked in most ways, a huge amount of love must do out to ask men's most desirable woman of the year - Blake lively. I guarantee that a 5 to 10 minutes sex scene, with the Blake lively and Ryan Reynolds would have made it the movie of the year and a “hottest-sex-bomb scene” or something people choice awards. Just as a side note, Hal is not smart, he tried to stop a crashing helicopter with a race-track and some make-shift-piece-of-shit-car, stupid Hal.

But the best part of the movie by far, that blow all other parts of the movie out of the water, or space, was the guardians...now close your eyes...then open them (cause your going to have to read, just getting you into the mind set) they are a bunch of stupid little aliening probing-like creatures that are identical to the ones in the newest Indiana Jones....and they can long capes. I am sorry to the producers but I could not take the high and mighty guardians seriously.

Overall, if you want a little fun, some terrible plot lines, really bad physics (Hal flew to the sun in 20 seconds) and a very hot girl, go see it.
Overall Rating:
S-A-b-r-e

Watchmen + 300 + High Budget Porno = SUCKER PUNCH

The Ultimate Chick Flick for Men

Before I start this review I have to give a huge shout out to the beautiful woman in this movie, may you stay hot, forever. Now...

Suckerpunch is basically the best movie of all time when you attempt to explain the movie to someone, please allow me: Imagine story where the 6 main characters are woman and 5 of them are gorgeous (one is lacking her name is Rocket) and they live in a brothel-like place and when this one girl named baby doll does some crazy gyrating dance they enter a dream world. This dream world is filled with big ass ninjas that have gattling guns, massive dragons, World-War II battle sequences and hot girls.

This movie defines sexy in more ways than one, the first way being that it is sexy when a sexy woman is carrying around a sexy ninja sword and is sexyly jumping over stuff which is super sexy. The second way that it is sexy is in that smooth, flawless, pacing sexy, much like the way James Bond is sexy.

Although this movie was much like watching a soft-core porno, there was about 45 mintues of it that could have been much improved. This 45 mintues that I speak of is when Zach Snyder (Director) tries to develop the plot, not saying that he didn't develop it but that I wasn't to heavily invested in the characters personalities. This same 45 minutes included the low-lights of the movie, the parts that I like to call emotional.

The music in this movie is something to be commented on, it was covers of rocks song, with a very unique and original twist. It made for some very, intense and cool sequences from dancing to fighting.

The movie was amazingly entertaining, it was the ultimate guys movie, and oddly rated 14A, good job Zack Snyder. Calling all director of chick flick films: WATCH THIS MOVIE! And learn how to get the male audience!!!

I See Potential Limits...

The moral of the story is "DO ILLICT DRUGS" because they make your life better.

Limitless definently had a limit and it was about a 6.5 maybe a 7 out of 10. If you have seen the commercials then you know most of the movie. Basically a loser-hobo-newyork-writer takes a pill and then he can access 100% of his brain, this basically makes him the smartest person in the world - BUT WAIT!!! - there's a problem he could run out, people want what he has, there is a limit to his power...

The movie revolves around Bradley Cooper who has had a pretty shitty life and then he is offered a Pill to make him feel better, after taking this one pill he needs more, after taking more he climbs the world's richest and smartest peoples list, and then a bunch of stuff happens that I am clearly not going to tell you because I think you should go see the movie and there is a cliff hanger ending.

The acting in this movie could be much improved as the lead female Mrs. I have never seen her before literally couldn't produce a single emotion and I am betting that is why she got her clever nickname. Robert de Niro was by far the best actor in the movie but he only had about 40 lines. Bradley Cooper was alright. The cinematography in this movie was pretty cool from the endless streets, to the lighting and darkening of a persons vision to know if they were on the pill or not.

The pacing in this movie was pretty well done I didn't get bored at all, and I wasn't taken out of the movie at all even during the 25 minute withdraw scene, were he just ends up throwing up everywhere, and potentially killing someone.

I recommend the movie to those that want to be entertained, but if you are looking for a multi-dimensional movie, with layers of character development and like 400 underlying themes then you shouldn't watch this movie, like at all.

RATING

S-A-B-r-e

TH..a KIn...G'.S Spe...aC..h (or lack there of)

Not the Best Movie of The Year

When you think about the best film of the year, you may think of a movie that inspires you, or that is more than just talking head the whole time, well think again because The King's Speech is literally all talking heads. I guess if you were to here a movie called The King's Speech you would assume that there maybe alot of dialouge, and you would have assumed right.

Before I rip this movie apart I must say that it was a pretty good movie, and I think that alot of people would watch it again. I also must I say that colin firth did do a great job. Now.....

This movie was probably as boring as trying to have a conversation with helen keller about paint drying on a wall, and the paint colour was called grass growing really fucking slowly. During the movie there were long drawn-out scenes of either colin firth smoking, or looking at something, or someone else talking to colin firth were he doesn't talk back. If I had to compare the pace of this movie to a really life situation it would be the pace of a blind quadrapoligic "running" a quadrupile marathon throught the gobi desert ( making a little bit of an hyberbole but you get the point)


Helena Bonham Carter was nominated for best supporting actress, And I literally have no idea why, just because the movie was nominated, and Colin Firth was nominated doesn't mean that she had to be. She literally stood there. She didn't really have much screen time, or very many lines. Anyone that stepped into this role would have been nominated for best supporting actress.

The speech also sucked, it seemed like it might have been building up to an inspiring speech that brought together the whole not-great into some awesome montouge, and I could have left the thearte thinking "WOW! WHO AWESOMELY INSPIRING! THAT MOVIE HAD MEANING AND WAS AWESOME!" unforunately I didn't have this overwhelming feeling. Good - Not Great - Definatly not the best movie of the year - Good job Colin Firth - Didn't really do a job Helena Bonham-Carter - and Slow!!


Overall SABRE rating:
S-A-B-r-e

A Whole Lot of Really Good Nothing

She Literally Becomes the Black Swan, in the Mental Sense

The movie The Black Swan is about a woman who would probably be admitted to a pysc – ward with round the clock watch, with a sign on the door that reads – “Clinically Insane/ with hint of excessive obsession behaviour”. She is a ballerina, mentally fragile to begin with, and then receives the lead in Swan Lake and becomes completely fucking crazy.

The film revolves around Natalie Portman’s character Nina, and her declining mental state. She has always been devoted to ballet but this becomes an obsession that affects her health, as she strives to follow her director’s advice and dance with abandon and life.

Natalie Portman is absolutely amazing in her role as Nina and plays a really good FCG (Fucking Crazy Girl). She is happy/sad/up/down/high/innocent/drunk/prudish/beautiful/menacing in her role; it is clear and obvious why she is nominated for an Oscar.

The cinematography portion of this movie is exceptional, from every close cut camera angle to the same dance routine thirty times and especially to the gritty rave scene. There the music pounds louder and louder, as Nina tries to free herself by matching the free-spirit nature of the new dancer Lily. The rest of the time however when not the club scene or the music of the Swan Lake, the score made the movie closer to a horror movie. The second that deep violin music started playing you knew shit was going to go down.

The movie for acting, directing, and cinematic view was amazing and near perfect but where the movie started to lack was the screenplay. It lacked in the caring department; there were no stakes or reasons for us to care about the character. Sure she was a dancer who got a good role, and had a weird mother – but that doesn’t affect me or the world. FCG can be FC for all I care.

The movie also at some points had pretty strong connections to soft-core porn. Not saying it shouldn’t have been included but some things can be implied.

Overall though, The Black Swan is a great film without a good story and really is a whole lot of nothing by the end.

S-A-B-R-e

TRONTASTIC

A Deaf Person’s Favourite Movie

The 2010 Tron film is amazing to watch, provided you are either deaf or just don’t care about a plot/decent writing. The movie looks fantastic; never have roman gladiator battles been so sleek and modern; never have inflatable motorcycles looked so realistic; never has Obi Wan Kenobi dressed so much like Morpheus. It is modern eye candy that explodes off the screen in dazzling effects.

The actual content however, is a muddled heap of garbage that borderlines the film on comedy territory. Here is the basic plot: ten year old son and father have clichéd conversation, father leaves and disappears, son grows up and goes all Tony Stark on his life minus the cool factor of Robert Downey Jr., son grows up and finds his way into grid world where he finds his father trapped by the evil supervillian Clu! Oh and there are glowing Frisbees that are crucial to your survival but you can also chuck them as weapons. The title of the film I think comes from the video game from which the movie is based, and is also the name of a character who was good but now is evil but then becomes good again so in the end it is all cool.

What is actually cool is Jeff Bridges, who plays the father/creator -of-the-grid/zen-master and then as a separate character plays Clu as well. Jeff Bridges is what would happen if you combined Gandalf with a very rugged lumberjack, and then added a touch of God to the mix. In short, he is awesome. Sure the director makes him do stupid stuff like whack a guard on the head to reprogram him, or create a swirling tornado out of nowhere but that is only because Jeff Bridges is a good sport. Also it is because he got paid millions.

The movie in total cost 170 million to make, and I would make an educated guess and say that most of that money was spent on making things look wicked sweet. The problem however, is that when things look wicked sweet, they don’t look real. It’s hard to care about a violent Frisbee battle when it just looks like a dramatic video game. It is even harder to care when the dialogue from the protagonist-with-daddy-issues goes something like this: “Is this really happening?” pause for something to explode “OMG it really is.” Olivia Wilde as the Trinity of the film also seems fairly hollow. She’s unconscious for a portion in the middle of the film and the audience really doesn’t notice a difference. On a side note: can a human and a program hook up? Because that just seems weird to me.

I have not seen the original Tron, nor do I want to. Wikipedia says that it was criticized for its weak plotline, which its sequel clearly did not learn from. In the end, I just think Hollywood just needs to hold some teamwork seminars and figure out how writers like Aaron Sorkin or Diablo Cody could write the scripts for movies with awesome special effects. Like Juno but with aliens as the characters, or Tron with diaologue as fast and impressive as the motorcycle chases. That’s all I want, but I think it is about as likely as a blind person liking Tron.

Rating: S-a-b-r-e