Porco Rosso : Hayao Miyazaki *** 1/2

A Fellini-esque autobiographical comedy delights with fantastic planes, lovable characters, absurd premise, comical undertakings and unique perspectives on life.

The Hunger Games (2012) B

May The Odds Ever Be... Oh Shut Up!

                   I'm not a fan of sports. To me, they involve competition and it advocates that in order to win you have to beat the heck out of someone or pulverize another team. I'm not that type of blood thirsty person. Sadly, our entire culture devotes itself to that kind of bleep. Sorry that I had to say it because it's true when you consider the fact that a very popular movie has the plot of a whole country obsessed with a fatal sport. It's called Fun-In-A-Box from The Cat In The Hat. Just kidding. It's really called The Hunger Games from Suzanne Collin's book of the same name.
            To be honest with you, I haven't read the books. I just found them too gruesome and they're not my cup of tea. In fact, I would probably wouldn't have watched this if you guys didn't tell me to review this. So let's get started.
            After a catastrophic war  destroys North America, a new nation comprised of twelve districts emerge from its ruins to be called Panam. (No relation to the airplane industry that was ahead of my time.) Sadly, all of the districts are ruled by the insanely rich/evil Capitol. How evil is it? Well for starters, it decrees that every year, every district will send "one courageous man and woman" to an arena where they will  all fight to death on a televised show. (In other words, it's like if The Truman Show, The Most Dangerous Game, 1984,The Minotaur Myth, The Lottery, and basically every adventure story were invited to party where Battle Royale was its theme.) Simple really.
          Anyway, Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) volunteers to go fight when her sister, Primrose, is chosen. What follows is her preparation and training for the big battle, which happens for half of the movie. She also falls in love with her fellow tribute named Peeta (Josh Hutcherson). Then, the battle begins, and I pose this question to you: Will she live or will she die? If she lives, does that mean that she have to watch her love one die?
          To say it again,  I've never been a fan of the original book, since it was too disturbing for my taste. Yet, I love the fact that kids are willing to think about issues even more. Issues like feminism, religion, class system, governments, war, and of course how they will get over the fact that Suzanne Collins used to write for the popular T.V. series, Little Bear. (I'm not kidding on the last statement.)
               I hate the way that in the beginning, the director decided to use hand-hand camera , which really is annoying. No one wants to feel seasick from the cinematography. I also agree with Light Camera Jackson's opinion that the ending is a "a cop-out ending." Sorry for the spoiler, but I had to do it. I really hate those kind of endings. Plus, I also agree with Roger Ebert who wished for more social commentary, which would made it even more interesting. Does that mean that you should skip it? Nope.
            The directing awesome, the sets remind me of Metropolis, which is a high compliment, and it's so suspenseful that my knees were shaking all of the time. In fact, I'm very glad that Suzanne Collins co-wrote the script, for it always help if the original creator wrote the script. (It makes it more fun for the reviewers and audience.) But, my favorite part of this is the acting! All of the acting were great, and for some reason I was always interested with Elizabeth Bank's character, which I have no explanation for. Maybe because she looks good in those clothes.
          The real scene stealer is Jennifer Lawrence! She had the strongest acting and she was lovely and feisty as Katniss. Yet, she's got a heartbreaking side as she will do anything for her sister's survival. Plus, most reviewers/fans have noted that they knew that only she could pull the role off perfectly as Clark Gable did with Rhett Butler in Gone With The Wind.
        Note for those non fans , like me : This movie will not change your opinion of the books. It's just too disturbing/violent , and since most non fans have that idea, you will not be won over. However, there are exceptions , like my mom wants to know what happens next. So, that makes a fan who will probably see this movie for the 74th time. For non fans: May The Odds Ever Be In Your Favor.
    8/10

Midnight In Paris (2011) *** 1/2

I love you Paris!

          After my hometown, Paris has got to be one of my favorite cities ever. Its magic, beauty, and great food have always made me feel romantic about it. That's coming from someone who hasn't been there yet! :( Luckily, there's Woody Allen's masterpiece, Midnight In Paris.
            Gil, a successful screenwriter, and his fiance, Inez, goes to Paris for a trip. However, Gil (Owen Wilson) wants to stay there, but Inez (Rachel McAdams) wants to go back home. She also discourages him from writing his first novel, and spends a lot of time with a charming, yet inaccurate "pseudo-intellectual" , who's played so brilliantly by Micheal Sheen, that you want to take him along for your vacations. Unless he's arguing with the tour guide and annoying everyone. Not a good idea, then.
         Feeling stressed out ( and drunk), our budding/doomed writer goes on a walk through the streets of the enchanted city. Through a bit of strange and wisely unexplained magic, he finds himself time traveled back to the golden days of Paris, when famed writers like Hemingway, and Fitzgerald were admiring Paris. A time when Picasso  was painting famous masterpieces for Gertrude Stein. A time when....okay, I'll stop. It's just that I know all of the famous people he meets when he goes back to his favorite period. Yeah!
        Soon, he falls in love with the magnificent Adriana, (Marion Cotillard) which makes big trouble with Inez. Especially, if she can't go back in time, which makes her think that Gil is becoming weird. After all, he has been walking a lot at midnight, and strange things have happened since last night. I could tell you more, but I want you to experience this charming, lovely little film for yourself.
        Everything about this movie is as perfect as it already can be. The music scores a truer portrait of Paris than most other wanna-bes, like you Monte Carlo. The cinematography, costume design, and set designs were very accurate for the time period of both now and then.
           However, the comedy in here might be a little too rich for some viewers. While I could identify most of the historical figures, (I'm a history fan), I only chuckled at 67% of the jokes. That's because Woody Allen wants the viewer to observe and feel the city of lights as it illuminates into their deepest translations of their souls. Yet, he should have the jokes more apparent, for this is after all a comedy, and comedies make people laugh.
          Yet, this is a very superb comedy. The reason why I personally love this flick is because for three reasons. My first reason is that all of the actors and actresses played their roles with such enchantment that the audience falls in love with their personalities. Owen Wilson, and his leading girlfriends can play comedy and romance at the same time with wonderful grace, and they convinced the audience much more than the stars in Water For Elephants. At the same time, all of the icons that Gil meets are played just as wonderfully by Kathy Bates, Alison Phil, Corey Stooll, Tom Hiddleston, Sonia Rolland, Adrien Brody, and many more. If they do have movies in Heaven, then all of the people played to amazement would have loved this dearly.
           My second reason is Woody Allen, whose script and direction combines the right amount of ideas and illusions that whenever the words are spoken, they seem to flow along with the music of Paris, as it echoes with joy. In fact, that's my final must-see reason. This film is a love poem of all the great and astounding sights of Paris, which makes it even more special.
     

Dolphin Tale (2011) (PG) B+



We humans always loved our dolphins

         According to an old legend, when some people fell off a rainbow bridge, a goddess transformed them into dolphins before they got killed in the water. Cool. But what's even more cooler is this movies, which tells an even more impressive tale.
          "Dolphin Tale" tells the true life story of Winter, a dolphin who had to have her tail amputated in order to save her life from an accident. However, she might die from a muscle bulge from swimming without her tail. So, the entire hospital staff that's taking care of her have to save her by putting on a prothestic tail, which had never been done before.
            This movie is also about this lonely kid named Sawyer, who's worried about his cousin going into the military, and is more concerned about Winter--- whom he found--- than summer school. ( Oh, come on. I know that you would care more about animals than school.)  Soon, he starts to have a loving and caring relationship with Winter.
          Even though this movie has some cliques, like the annoying bird that somehow always appear in family movies these days, this movie is solid and makes you care about the characters in here. Plus the actors are really good. Ashely Judd ( Sawyer's mom), Harry Connick, Jr. ( the manager of the hospital), Morgan Freeman ( the man who helps with the new tail), and Nathan Gamble (Sawyer) all play convincing, yet loveable roles. Even Winter ( who's played by herself) is a great actor. The cinematography was perfect, and it reminded me of flowing water. That was cool. :)
          Despite these good things, this movie isn't perfect. There were too many subplots than the average movie, and some of them didn't even happen in real life! They include : money problems ( boring), war veterans ( oh no), school troubles ( d'oh ), and a minor storm called a hurricane. Yikes!
         Watching this "tail" reminded me of my life. When I was two, I got autism and severe gross motor problems. I couldn't walk, talk, or do anything "normal". Luckily, thanks to God and my whole entire family, I managed to get all of these priceless gifts back. Just like moi, Winter had a lot of trouble, and she was helped out by a lot of people. Thank you, Winter. :) I'll give Dolphin Tale a B+, which means see it!
      8/10