2014: Week 11: 12 Years a Slave

12 Years a Slave

Genre: Drama, Biography

Main Players: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Lupita Nyong'o, Brat Pitt, Benedict Cumberbatch

General Gist: Set in pre-civil war America, a free black man is tricked into traveling south into DC and then abducted and sold as a slave.  Based on a true story. 

Tiff's Take:
This was a slow week for movies so we decided to see this one since we didn't get to see it last year.  And I always like to see Oscar ones I missed.

Let me say, this was so well acted and done.  I can definitely see why it won Oscars.  However, that being said, it was so difficult to watch.  How can people continue to move forward when their situation is so bad?  It's really hard seeing people literally and figuratively beaten down over and over.    Obviously not a high point in our country's history.  But this man's story is horrific and amazing all at the same time.  And Lupita Nyong'o who played Patsey definitely earned her Oscar.

If you haven't seen this yet it is definitely worth seeing but it's not an easy one to sit through.  It won't be one that you can watch over and over.  One time is enough for me.

Tiff's Rate: Opening Night

Deb's Take:
If you want a movie that will evoke emotions from deep in the pit of your stomach this is the one to see.  Like Tiff said, its horrific and amazing. Worth every award it received.  I can't even imagine living through what these people endured.  There is something to be said for the ability for a human being to carry on. 

This movie was best because I didn't know many of the actors.  I like when movies don't pull in the known people, a sense of authenticity is created when the actors seem more like people than stars.  Chiwetel Ejiofor and Lupita Nyong'o were beyond amazing.  I think if I had to live those parts, in any way, shape or form, I would vomit daily.  That's what this movie made me feel like, it was so sickening to see what these people had to endure I wanted to throw up. Piggybacking on my "history lesson" post of The Monuments Men, I will say this kind of history lesson hurts the heart. 

This movie was all emotion, intensity and passion.  The movie will break your soul, cause you to question humankind and possibly fill you with hatred... but it will also make you passionate about life, hunger for compassion and burst with love.  Now that folks, is a good movie!

Deb's Rate: Opening Night

Preview: Divergent of course.   

2012: Week 11: Gone

Gone

Genre: Thriller, Drama

Main Players: Amanda Seyfried, Daniel Sanjuta, Jennifer Carpenter

General Gist: A girl who reports she was kidnapped and escaped, claims her sister is now kidnapped and sets out on a quest to find and save her sister.

Deb's Take:
I am always a little hesitant to go to movies that I think may be "scary". I have always been a wimp, and I can't sleep at night or I have nightmares. I take that as a compliment to my imagination. The upside to this movie, there were no ghosts. Ghosts are the things that freak me out the most. I figured since there weren't ghosts I could handle it.

This movie was sort of odd. The premise was great! The storyline followed a typical "who done it/criminal minds" sort of theme. I spent the whole movie thinking the good guy may be the bad guy. I was waiting for the ultimate high of the movie, the intense "fight scene" and the major twist at the end. Well, I was disappointed... it didn't happen. The twists were more like straight aways and the intense climax was more like a little speed bump. The movie had so much potential, and it didn't reach it's mark in my opinion. I do think there was enough suspense to enjoy it at home as a rental, and I think Amanda Seyfried was good. I guess if I was going to dedicate myself to a "thriller" I wanted to be on the verge of not sleeping. Needless to say, I slept fine.

Deb's Rate: Rent it (leaning towards a matinee)

Tiff's Take:
The previews for this movie made it seem like a definite thriller.  The kind that would keep you on the edge of your seat.  Well, it did a little but not a lot.  I totally agree with Deb that this movie was just plain odd.  I felt like the movie jumped right in to the action without a lot of setting up of who was who.  That wouldn't necessarily have been a bad thing but the "action" wasn't really there.  It was like the whole time you were waiting for it to really get going.  And then when it finally reached a peak it just sort of ended.  Very anticlimactic for sure.  And there were a lot of random characters that you thought would be important but then weren't.  Or could have been eliminated from the movie altogether and wouldn't have made an ounce of difference.   

The acting was okay and Amanda Seyfried was decent but overall this movie just lacked that extra umph.        

Tiff's Rate: Rent it

Preview: The winner of our Giveaway will be announced tonight.  Hurry if you act fast you can still enter.  Next reveiw...The Hunger Games!!! YEAH!  Who's going to see it this weekend?

Week 11: Beastly

This week we saw the movie Beastly.  I had no idea going into this movie that it was basically a modern day version of Beauty and the Beast.  I didn't realize it until Deb said something about it after the movie.  I really need to become more observant. 

To start out with this movie had Alex Pettyfer.  He was the hot teen alien in last week's movie, I Am Number Four.  Strange since I had never heard of him before and now I'm seeing movies back to back with him in it.  I guess that's what happens when you go to movies every week.  He was okay in this movie.  Maybe a little awkward.  I definitely liked him better last week.  But in his defense I liked last week's movie better anyway.

As I said, this was a modern day twist to the old Beauty and the Beast story.  Since I didn't realize that until the end it made the movie seem random, with way to many holes in the story.  Kyle, played by Alex Pettyfer, is this rich, good looking kid who believes only the outside makes someone beautiful.  This crazy witch-like girl played by Mary-Kate Olsen makes him ugly and says he has to find true love within a year or he'll stay that way.  Vanessa Hudgens plays the girl he falls in love with...yadda yadda.  You know the rest of the story. (Honestly, how didn't I know this was Beauty and the Beast?)  This movie played like a book remake in the sense that you felt like you were missing pieces of the story.  And if you didn't know it was a Disney remake you probably were.

I really like good edgy remakes of old classics.  Like Romeo and Juliet with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes.  One of my favorites.  But this one fell way short for me.  There wasn't much of it that worked.

To Sum it up: Weird, disjointed and just not there.