Casa De Mi Padre

Hola mis amigos, esta es la reseña de "Casa de mi Padre". Casa de mi Padre is the third installment of Will Ferrell's every-man trilogy (Anchorman, Ricky Bobby, and now Casa) and this was a great way to close it out. What was this movie about? It was Will Ferrell doing a 1970's style telenova in Spanish and that's all I'm going to say about that. I feel if you go into this movie with any sort of expectation then you may find a bit of disappointment. You really need to walk in, let yourself go, and just enjoy all the things that are happening around you.

The thing that really made this film so great was how terrible it was. It was purposefully made with badly painted backgrounds, misplaced mannequins, wardrobe changes where they weren't supposed to be, and random scene cuts. All of these made the story that much more hilarious. The execution of these "bad filming techniques" is what made it funny instead of having to make too many jokes in the story and script itself; this allowed the comedy to not go too far but still leave everyone in the theater cracking up.

I would say go and see Casa de mi Padre in the theaters because it is built for the big screen more so than for home. But, like I said before, don't go into it thinking that it will be another Anchorman; and because it's not another Anchorman level of funny I give Casa de mi Padre 4 Scorpion Beers out of 5! Mi nombre es Armando Alvarez y Yo No Se!

The Lorax

(singing) "Humans suck they really really suck! Humans suck they really really really suck! We love to kill the Earth because we're all stupid. All corporations are greedy and evil; and all forest creatures can be enslaved by marshmallows!" I'm not saying that was Grammy worthy but I am saying this is the review of The Lorax. The Lorax takes us on a journey with a young man who, in order to impress a girl, goes and listens to the story of how the land outside of his all plastic town of Thneedville was ravished by corporate greed.

At first I was ready to walk out because the amount of human hating pulpit preaching in the first number alone was enough to make me puke. That, however, eventually subsided and it became a rather enjoyable movie. The story moved along at a good pace and never lost the attention of my kids who we took to see this.The look of the film itself was very visually appealing and my five year old daughter was very happy that it was animated and not another live action piece of Dr. Seuss nonsense.

On the other hand, there seemed to be some disconnect between the animated characters and their voices; there wasn't a good blend of the two which made it difficult not to visualize the actors doing the voices rather than just focusing on the characters in the story. Oh, and by the way, there are so many plot holes and unanswered questions in this movie it was ridiculous. Why would there be snails in a town completely made of plastic? Were the Lorax's only powers, as the spirit of the forest, to make you feel guilty? Couldn't they have used a ladder to harvest the truffula trees? If the Once-ler (the storyteller) had a solution all this time why didn't he fix things years and years and years ago? Not to mention the logistics of holding a people captive behind the walls of a city. Honestly, there was a lot to this movie that didn't make sense and I don't mean that in the fun Dr. Seuss randomness kinda way. This doesn't make the movie awful but you just need to shut of you're brain and enjoy the pretty colors.

If you have kids, go ahead and take them to see this and let yourself be inspired to plant a tree. If you're a small business owner you can take inspiration from this as well. Anyone else besides Al Gore, I'd say don't bother checking this out unless you take some shrooms beforehand. I give The Lorax 2 out of 5 Big Hairy Mustaches although I will probably being buying it on DVD so my kids can watch it over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and again...

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island

Look up in the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s Dwayne Johnson here to try and save another movie franchise! This is my review of “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island”. Journey 2 follows the same kid as the first movie now living with his mom and stepdad and still obsessed over Jules Verne now more than ever. Receiving a transmission from his grandfather, Sean (Josh Hutchinson) and his stepdad Hank (Dwayne Johnson) set off to find the Mysterious Island. After hiring Luiz Guzman to get them there, they end up crashing on the island and now, with the help of Sean’s Grandfather Alexander (Michael Caine), they must get off the island before it sinks. Surprisingly this ended up being a rather good film. I don’t know if it was the fact that I was on vacation or how much disappointment I had prepared myself for due to the first one, but this ended up being an entertaining flick that I was happy to have seen. Dwayne Johnson and Luiz Guzman play off each other well and actually added some comic relief instead of making it cheesy and campy. The story itself was very predictable (which is ok, not every movie has to keep you guessing) and the CG left a little to be desired but all in all it was well shot and well formulated. My kids enjoyed it immensely and I had fun watching it with them; so in that scenario I would say definitely go and see it. All in all I give Journey 2: The Mysterious Island 3 man I really want to be a steampunk submarine captain more than anythings out of 5.


Tony Smith
Revolution Review 2012

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Okay guys… it must say a lot about how much I liked this movie since it took a week to write this review. Technically I think Tony had a plan to write this review but he hasn't done it yet, so much to your pleasure (I’m sure), I’m taking over.

Last week we took a day date to see Rise of the Planet of the Apes. The movie is a prequel to the Planet of the Apes series, but it does not assume that you have seen the other movies. It follows the story of Will, a scientist for a drug company working on a cure for Alzheimer’s, whose obsession for his work is fueled by his father’s own battle with the condition. Due to an unfortunate incident, Will loses his funding and his group is ordered pull the plug but this doesn't stop him from stealing one baby ape and continuing his research from home. Over the years Will, his father, and the now moniker-ed  “Cesar” grow into a happy family until one faithful day where Will’s father has an incident with the neighbor and things start going downhill rapidly. From here Apes get smarter, angrier, and rise-up-ier...but I don’t want to go into much more detail because it really is a good watch and lot of stuff happens.

Now… onto the review…

I actually liked the movie. I didn’t find it amazing but I didn’t dislike it either. The special effects were decent but making Cesar entirely CG took away something. I totally understand why this was the best option, but maybe a puppet or two would have helped with the realism. The acting was good but, again, nothing spectacular; though I will give credit to John Lithgow who is always pretty amazing, oh, and Tom Felton (it took a good 10-15 minutes before I leaned over to Tony and said “I think that’s Malfoy”, then another 10-15 minutes for us to both be convinced, and even then I still looked it up when the movie ended). He filled the role well but his character's personality wasn’t all that different from what we have from seen him before (minus the whole "P-P-Potter.." stutter action). I’ve heard some people (Tony…) say that the action was lacking and this brought the movie down.*

"Objection your honor!...You may approach the bench...why thank you. Hey y'all, this is Tony. What I was trying to say was that the movie is titled RISE of the Planet of the Apes, the previews showed apes on roof tops with spears, and scar faced battle torn bad-ass apes consciously pushing helicopters off bridges, but the end result seemed lack-luster in the PLANETARY UPRISING department. I was left a little disappointed wanting something more. The movie was good and filled (mostly...you could connect the dots) the gaps between this and the original, so don't get me wrong...I just wanted to put my two cents in...perhaps if I had been less lazy..."

*I tend to disagree. There wasn't much in the way of action but with this being a prequel we should expect a lot of build up, relationship building, and back story. It does, however, deliver in these areas immensely. I was so sucked into the story I didn’t care that there weren't a lot of explosions or monkey chases. Overall the movie was very enjoyable. Don’t walk in expecting some earth-shattering eye-opening mega movie but it was a decent and entertaining piece of cinema.

Due to the overall entertaining nature of the film, and the amazing acting of Lithgow, I give this movie 3 “Damn Dirty Apes” out of 5 (predictable, I know… but I had to...sorry Collin).

And I leave you with this:

“If it doesn’t have a tail, it’s not a monkey.

Even if it has a monkey kind of shape.

If it doesn’t have a tail it’s not a monkey.

If it doesn’t have a tail it’s not a monkey, it’s an ape.”


-Aamber S. (Edited and Interrupted by Tony S.)
The Revolution Review 2011

Captain America: The First Avenger

"In two words: predictably exciting" -J.W.

"It captured the essence of what made the comic book so addictive for many of us when we were kids" -M.M.

"The acting was way better than expected and it was just a ton of fun to watch" -A.S.

"The story was good and not as predictable as I thought. Chis Evans did a good job of playing Cap but could have done a better job at playing Steve" -K.M.

"The lessons of Captain America are profound: patriotism is yummy and Nazis are dumb" -M.M.

"A truly epic thrill ride. Nothing but pure clean fun for the entire audience. Not since the first Iron Man have I been this entertained by a Marvel movie. Bravo!" -T.S.

T.S.? Wait a minute that's me! That must mean we're in the middle of my review of Captain America: The First Avenger. Captain America follows the determination of a scrawny big hearted young man by the name of Steve Rodgers (Chris Evans). Steve's parents were killed in service of the country and he feels it's time to do his part. After being rejected several times by the army because of his meek stature, he is selected to become a part of a secret super soldier program due to his integrity and good nature. Steve decides to use his new found abilities to go deep into enemy lines and attempt to dismantle the Nazi group know as Hydra and stop it's dementedly evil dictator, Red Skull (Hugo Weaving), from achieving world domination.

This film is great and follows suit in showing us why Marvel Studios is at the forefront of the entertainment industry. It was a little slow to start out but then the movie grabs you by the scruff of the neck and doesn't let go. The decision to shoot it as a period piece was the perfect route to take. This allowed the studio to rely on some of the same formulas that made Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk so good but it still had it's own flavor.  As much as Chris Evans is saturated in the comic style movie industry (Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer, Scott Pilgram, The Losers, Push, TMNT) he was a perfect fit for this role. Speaking of perfect casting, how amazing was Hugo Weaving? He was demented, scary, and just down right evil. It was like taking Agent Smith and Col. Hans Landa (mastery played by Christoph Waltz) in a boiling cauldron of fear and depravity.

Let's get down to brass tacks here, I mean it's not all candy canes and lollipops. The CG in some of the scenes (two in particular: first, when he chases the Nazi spy after first getting his abilities; and second, when he is chasing after Red Skull's plane in the hanger) was put together with a lot of follow-through. It felt like a mix of re-colored scenes from Spiderman and a bad taste of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Also I didn't feel that they made a solid connection between Cap and Bucky. They were supposed to be the best of friends but they didn't nurture that relationship enough for me to care what happens to Bucky throughout the film. All of that aside, I will say, the work that went in to making Chris Evans look like a puny little guy was spectacular. I know it was the same technology that went into making The Curious Case of Benjamin Button but holy crap it was spot on and flawless in this film.

Overall this is probably the best movie I have seen all summer and if you have an inkling of a curiosity to see it, DO IT, you will not be disappointed (and don't forget to stay till the end, one word, EPIC!). In the curious case of Captain America: The First Avenger I give it 5 Shield Shaped Head Concussions out of 5!

Tony S.
The Revolution Review 2011

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Hey Ladies and Gents, Aamber here. As I'm sure you've noticed, we decided to mix things up and have other people write some reviews to give Tony a bit of a break. That means that I got the final chapter of the Harry Potter series.

 

First, a little background! I never considered myself a Potterhead (even though we own most of the films). In fact I have never even picked up the books and I fell asleep during the 6th movie. Last year we finally broke down and saw part one of the Deathly Hallows. It was pretty awesome, and it definitely got me excited for the finale.

 

 This movie is a lot less fun and games than the previous seven and it is definitely more centered around the battle that inevitably ensues. The story follows Harry Potter and his buddies on their journey to find the final pieces of Voldemort's soul (seriously...Horcrux sounds so much less intense) in order to stop his quest for immortality and eventually destroy him. This takes the trio through the vaults at Gringotts Bank, on a high flying dragon ride, and eventually back to Hogwarts where everything began; ending in a final battle that could rival most war epics.

 

Now...how was the finale, you may ask? Honestly, it was kind of amazing. This is no longer the kids movie that Harry Potter started out as. I definitely wouldn't let my daughter watch it, because I'd wake up with her in my bed every night for a week if I did. I don't want to give away too much, but this movie definitely gave me a greater appreciation for some of the actors. Maggie Smith (who plays Professor McGonagall), in particular, was fantastic, though I felt her role was rather limited. There was a lot of death and destruction in this chapter, most of which was done very well. However, some key characters met their demise, yet it seemed like an afterthought. I believe that the film makers truly missed out on a great opportunity for an emotional impact. I also took issue with the epilogue. Set 19 years in the future we get a brief glimpse of what life is like for some of the characters now. I loved the concept, but the film makers really copped out on the "movie magic" here. They attempted to age the actors, but instead implied that everyone in their late 30's looks tired, fat, and bald. These actors are adults now, it would not have been difficult to give them a little aging, but still keep them looking good.

 

All in all this movie was made very well. The score, as always, was fantastic. The special effects were flawless. Even Voldermort's nose was pure perfection and did exactly what it needed to (ya know... induce vomiting). The only issue I have is that it was shot for 3D.... meaning that some gestures (aka gags) in the beginning were intentionally played out for the 3D aspect (but if you've been following us, you already know that I am not a 3D fan); so, we saw it in the normal 2D. One thing that really stuck out for me cinematically was the dragon in Gringott's vault. It would have been easy for them to just throw in a simple CG dragon, but the film makers really took their time and made him as life like as possible. That made it easier to focus on the whimisical side of there actually being a dragon, instead of focusing on how fake it looked.

 

With everything taken into consideration this is definitely a movie worth the watch, but I wouldn't if you haven't been following the story so far. I recommend that even the most seasoned Harry fan watch at least part 1 before venturing into this one. So brush off your sorting hat (you know you've got one), throw on some black rimmed glasses, and settle in for the ride. This one gets 4 Golden Snitches out of 5.

Aamber S.

The Revolution Review 2011

Transformers 3: The Dark of the Moon

(Whistling "That's Amor") Mix in Skrillex dub step without the music portion, throw in a small gun, a big sword, toss in my fantasy actor team (Simon Pegg is benched), an entire jug of awesome, and vala! Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon. I know there are a lot of haters out there that love to bag on the second film. It wasn't that bad. I know it wasn't the greatest movie ever made but it wasn't eye gougingly awful, hey we all make bad choices (testicles on a giant robot humping a pyramid) but we need to look past them. Past oops-a-daises aside, there was nothing to look past in this installation of the series; in one word...EPIC!
This third installment of the series revolves around the idea that an Autobot ship crashed on the moon back in the 1960's and it contained a device that could transform (pun completely intended) the war for the Autobots. Now Sam (Shai Labeouf) and all our old friends (sans Megan Fox) must team up with Optimus and the others to stop the Decepticons before they get their hands on it.
This movie was a...wait for it...mazing! It had bigger robots, more explosions, sharper iron age weaponry, hotter love interests, and better actors! What more could you ask for? Star Trek jokes? Has it! Bad ass militia units? Has it! Matching pajamas? IT FREAKING HAS THEM!!! The plot runs well and never loses focus. I loved the Armageddon post apocalyptic feel it had which even trickled into Megatron at the beginning.
My favorite thing of all? CAST! I never expected it and it blew me away! Alan Tudyk (Firefly, Knights Tale) = amazing, Ken Jeong (Knocked Up, Hangover Series) = hilarious, John Malkovich = disarming, Glenn Morshower (Aaron from 24) = classic, Patrick Dempsey = unexpectedly perfect, Lenord Nemoy = legendary, and as always John Turturro (Oh Brother Where Art Thou, Secret Window) and Hugo Weaving (Matrix, LOTR, V for Vendetta, Captain America) rock my socks! Also the cinematography was a lot more spot on than it has been in the previous films. Thank you Micheal Bay! We like to see robots fighting not the legs of robots fighting! POV is an important tool but let's not get carried away (new spiderman trailer)!

Now how should I rate this...I would consider giving it a five but the POV slips and lazy reuse of shots from The Island (yes Micheal Bay, we caught you) knocks it down to a four...but...robot heads being ripped out by the spine with battle axes and the comedy combo of Ken Jeong and Alan Tudyk bring it up to 4.5 Teleportation Pillars out of 5!