Bridesmaids.

     My movie review is about the hilarious comedy, Bridesmaids. Directed by Paul Feig this knee-slapper of a movie is what I'd like to call, "the female version of The Hangover." And if you haven't seen The Hangover...well, you have been deprived. The main concept of that movie basically includes a group of groomsmen and a groom who find themselves in funny and weird situations.
     So, back to Bridesmaids. This movie captures the life of Annie (Kristen Wiig) as she is lonely and her best and childhood friend named Lillian (Maya Rudolph) is getting married. Lillian asks Annie to be her maid of honor and she joins the rest of the bridesmaids who are all different in many ways. And of course just like The Hangover, they make for an entertaining group of women. Amidst all the craziness, Annie finds herself competing for her own best friend by another new friend of Lillian's named Helen (Rose Byrne). But eventually, like most comedies, there is a satisfying ending of happiness.
     I have probably watched this movie about ten times, and I will continue to watch it until I am utterly tired of it (which honestly, I don't think will happen). The randomness of it is what makes me laugh so hard to the point where I can't breathe. However, it is not a movie for younger viewers due to the use of sex and profanity, but I would definitely recommend this film to anyone able to view it and enjoys a nice laugh.

Rating: 1-10: 10

The Hunger Games.

     Over Spring Break, my family and I traveled to Arizona. While there, we decided to go see a movie together as a family since we hardly get the chance to. We decided to watch the midnight premiere of The Hunger Games directed by Gary Ross.      Now, I had heard about The Hunger Games book series before and knew that there was a movie based on the book coming out, but I never completely understood the concept. The story takes place in a future where the Capitol selects a boy and girl from the twelve districts to fight to the death on live television. The main character, Katniss Everdeen played by Jennifer Lawrence volunteers to take her younger sister's place for the latest match and is faced with the battle of her life.
     Once we got to the theatre, we found our seats and waited an hour for the movie to begin. From the start of the film, I was immediately drawn in. The emotions that were portrayed by the amazing cast also including Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth.
     The camera work and the amazing visuals helped make an exceptional movie. I absolutely loved this film. I believe it is suitable for all ages and I encourage everyone to watch.

Rating 1-10: 10

Exit Through The Gift Shop

This past week we viewed Exit Through the Gift Shop. This documentary directed by the famous masked artist, Banksy captures everyone's attention when it addresses the issue of art. Through the eyes of Thierry Guetta, a French, wannabe film maker, the viewer is given a behind the scenes look of the world of graffiti. Thierry tells several famous graffiti artists including Banksy himself, Space Invader and Shepard Fairey that he is filming them to make a documentary (in which he had no real intention of doing). Turns out, Thierry ends up trying to take a crack at it as he basically conjures up similar looking art in comparison to Banksy’s. Once he realizes what Guetta’s real intentions were, Banksy cleverly put together this documentary, depicting Thierry as, well…a crazy man.

 As I began to watch this film, I thought to myself “oh great, another documentary about art.” However, this wasn’t the case. As the story develops, we see the direction of the documentary take a sharp turn to a more controversial issue: What makes someone an artist? To me, an artist is someone who puts time, energy and emotion into a creation they truly believe in. Artists do not stop working until they get exactly what they imagined. This wasn’t what the amateur French man focused on. Instead, Thierry came up with the idea to hold an art exhibit of his own, where he would showcase hundreds of items of his work. Only there was a small problem, 99% of the work contained no trace of originality or personal effort from him. Guetta focused more on money and popularity, over the true aspects of art and reasons of holding an art show.

When the film concluded, I held a very strong opinion about Thierry Guetta and still do. Although he may consider himself an artist, he should in no way be taken seriously due to his lack of contribution to “his” art and his (excuse me) stupidity. However, besides the ignorance of this person shown, I still believe the film was very well put together and for the most part, enticing.

Rating: On a scale from 1-10: 6.5

Elf.

   For my holiday movie review, I chose the film Elf directed by Jon Favreau and written by David Berenbaum. This fun and comedic story is about a boy named Buddy who ends up in the North Pole and is essentially raised by elves. Since he is human, he finds that there are many things that set him apart from Santa's little helpers. When he grows up to be a man (Will Ferrell), he finds out that he isn't an elf and was given up for adoption when he was born. Buddy then learns about his father, Walter Hobbs (James Caan) who lives in New York City. The confused man then wants to travel to New York and meet his dad. But there was just one flaw in his imagined "perfect" father; he is on the naughty list. Devastated, Buddy then makes his way to the big city and finds that there is alot for him to learn about the human world.
   This film has always been a favorite of mine. I probably watch it about five times during the holiday season. The way Favreau and Berendaum develop a story that is much different from all other Christmas movies, makes it one of the best in my opinion. The story is so original and the humor stands for jokes that anyone will remember. All in all, Elf is and always will be my favorite holiday film.

Rating: On a scale from 1-10: 100 (;

Insidious.

      When I first heard about this film, I thought "Really? A movie about a little boy who gets lost in his sleep? Boring." So, as you can see, my expectations were not that high. However, my mind-set was in the wrong place.
      In the movie, the main goal for two parents, Josh (Patrick Wilson) and Renai (Rose Byrne), is preventing evil spirits from trapping their comatose child, Dalton (Ty Simpkins), in a realm called "The Further." Through a mode of sleep-travel, called "astro-traveling," Dalton is able to explore the immortal would, thinking he is only dreaming. Later on, we learn that Josh had passed on the ability to astro-travel to his son. So he has to travel into the further and essentially save Dalton.
     With every scene that crept by, Director James Wan knew how to pull a viewer in. The music and sound effects were probably one my favorite parts of the film. From sudden, loud and erie sounds to background music that crept its way up in volume, these sound effects definitely added a very important touch to the film. Along with a thriller, comes creativeness. Now-a-days, it is very hard to please everyone and keep people interested. But Wan's ideas for his immortal figures intrigued me and kept hold of my attention.
     All in all, I believe this film was very well thought out and executed. I honestly have nothing negative to say about the film, except that it may only be one of those movies that you can only watch once. But I would most definitely recommend the movie to a friend.

Rating: On a scale from 1-10: 9

Easy A

This rainy Wednesday, I curled up in some blankets and watched the film, Easy A. This movie is based upon the book The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The main character, Olive is a high school student just trying to fit in like everyone else. While trying to do so, she lies in confidence to her best friend that she lost her virginity. Not thinking about the consequences of her actions, her single fib turns into a web of lies that she is ultimately lost in. Along the way, she learns that it is essentially better to just be yourself, rather than lie to make people like you. I really enjoyed this movie because the characters and their stories are relatable to any high school student. The lesson learned is an important moral to remember no matter how old or young you are. The comedic storyline also kept me smiling and laughing. I would recommend this flick to any teenager, or even a grown adult. This is definitely going in my list of faves.