Movie Friday: Hitman (and Bee Movie)

Blogged on December 23, 2007 at 21:11

Hitman

This Friday I decided to see an overdue movie that was already at the “Dollar Theater” ($2 actually :p): Hitman. I wanted to see this movie because I played the games, and although I never finished any of them (I don’t finish single player games lol) I wanted to see the big screen adaptation.

This movie recreates pretty well the setting of the games: lethal human machines, bread with the single purpose of killing select targets. They work alone and don’t have any human contact with anyone, and no emotions at all! Then the movie goes on to try and add the personal and emotional aspect to the character. Although the movie does include some nudity, it is used mildly with the purpose of accentuating the cold character of Agent 47- When dealing with the human feelings of lust and arousal, he refuses to “fall” and carries on his mission. You’ll see they actually portray an emotional relationship between the two, but without the normal “chick flick” ingredients!

On the casting, I think Timothy Olyphant turned out to be the perfect match for Agent 47. Olga Kurylenko (Nina) also does a pretty good job of portraying a rebellious prostitute. They were both able to show the cold and emotional side of their characters. On the weird side is seeing Robert Knepper (T-Bag in Prison Break) playing a russian secret service leader and Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond in Lost) playing a drunk drug/weapon lord that is the brother of the president of Russia.

It’s not a great movie… But it’s not as bad as some “game2movie” adaptations we’ve seen! It’s got some interesting action that will appeal especially to those who played the games. On the bad side, I feel they rushed some scenes and lingered others. Not too bad, but not good enough to be a great movie! But go see it and comment for yourself! What I liked about the movie was the plot setting: a “nice” hitman that got framed by it’s employer, “The Agency”, and went on to bring justice with his own hands. Heck yea!! Conspiracy plots FTW!

My Score: 5.5/10

 

Bee Movie

I watched the “Bee Movie” yesterday (Saturday). To be honest, it almost sucks! lol The lifesaver for this one is Seinfeld’s jokes that are not even relevant to the storyline. Basically, after Pixar the stakes are REALLY high for animation movies, and although this one is not horrible, it’s poor. The CGI looks from the late 90’s more than 2007! And the story… Oh gosh… Don’t get me started! Loved the voices of Seinfeld, Chris Rock (small appearance, but has the best lawyer joke I have ever heard in my life!!!!!) and Renée Zellweger. And then we have Sting and Larry King as themselves (hilarious!) and… Winnie the Pooh gets “shot”! ahhh ah

Like I said, if it wasn’t for the nice jokes spread across the movie, I’d feel like I had been ripped off… $2!

My Score: 4.5/10

Movie Friday: I Am Legend & Alvin and the Chipmunks

Blogged on December 16, 2007 at 22:02

So Friday was movie day! I watched two movies: Alvin and the Chipmunks and I Am Legend! (both opening on that day!). I’ll start with the latter.

I Am Legend

I Am Legend is a great movie, and I want to make that clear right off the bat. In my opinion, it’s an oscar-worthy acting for Will Smith. He’s brilliant and… he makes the movie worth it! That and the amazing deserted New York City landscape… stunning! But it’s a great movie with some major flaws. Although the story has a lot of potential I believe they rushed it towards the end, leaving us with a sense of “Ok, now what?” or “Sure he could have done it differently!”. And another flaw would be the crappy special effects… I mean, even Resident Evil can make more realistic zombies (as if there’s such a thing lol :p). The point being that they look… CGI! It still manages to get your heartbeat above healthy levels from time to time, and I loved that, but we expect more realistic creatures ever since Star Wars: Episode I hit the big screen… Right? I won’t go into further details on the above flaws to avoid… spoilers!
Bottom line, it’s a great movie, with brilliant acting, some hilarious jokes to decompress all the tension of the intensive thriller it is (”I was saving that bacon!” haha)… Heck, even the german shepherd should get a freaking canine-oscar IMO! =)

My Score: 7.5/10

Alvin and the Chipmunks

Ok, I’ll admit! Ever since I watched the theatrical trailer for this one I made my mind to go see it. And I got invited to go see it with some friends on opening day… Neat, huh? On to the movie itself, a heads up: your head will hurt and you’ll have tears coming down your cheeks… from laughing too hard! I mean it: it’s a very funny movie… for the first half of it at least! Yes, you’ll laugh your butt off with the scenes and awkwardness of some situations, and you’ll find the animated chipmunks too be “real” enough to make you forget they’re actually NOT there! But as the movie/story unfolds, it gets to a point where they try to actually tell a story… and it didn’t work. Some scenes are too long, laugh-less and boring. They try to add some drama to it, a “chick flick” of sorts starts to come up and… the movie ends! OK, I won’t be too hard on it… I mean, it’s the freaking Chipmunks, right? WRONG! I wanted it to be funny the whole way through! If you watched the theatrical trailer (the longer, more recent one) you’ll have seen close to half of the real funny scenes. I’ll have to say the “I’m waiting for the rinse cycle!” tops my list of funny moments, but… that’s me!
I sincerely urge to go see it… for the sake of your past/present inner-child! I loved the Chipmunks growing up and, apparently, I still do!

My Score: 7/10

So, get out of your cozy, warm living room, and go watch these two nice movies!

Ohh, and if you’re not into any of these genres (thriller and comedy), you can always go see “Enchanted“… I did last week, and… enjoyed it! Hilarious movie and good for a family evening at the theater while still entertaining both the “mom” and the “dad”, while taking some sincere laughs out of anyone who enjoys a good one! It’s a Disney cartoon story… in “real” life! Yup, even with birds and squirrels dancing and doing their choreography… I won’t review that one, but I’ll challenge you to go see it and report back on it… sincerely!