My Week with Marilyn

My Week with Marilyn in a true story based on a diary kept by the lead actor and slight interest of Marilyn, Colin Clark. A rich kid that wanted to get out on his own and work in the film business. He got his break on the movie The Prince and the Showgirl with Laurence Olivier. It details his time on the set and the interactions he had with her. Colin quickly became sought after by Marilyn as some one she could trust and depend on, as she thought all the people in the movie was against her.

I'll admit it, some times a movie like this peaks my interest in trailers enough to make me want to see it. It's been out a while now, 2011, so it took a while to get around to. It kept my interest the whole way. The little I know of Marilyn Monroe, because of my age, the actress Michelle Williams, seamed to hit it just right. I saw lots of facial expressions that I do know I've seen the real Marilyn make in movies and clips I've seen.

I enjoyed the story. I liked the movie as well. The acting was pretty good I think when comparing it to a lot of movies I have seen lately. There were a few actors I recognized from smaller rolls but I didn't see any BIG stars in it other than Emma Watson and Judi Dench (James Bond).

After writing this I looked up Michelle Williams past movies and seems like she's had a pretty nice career.

Entertainment - 6/10
Visuals - 5/10
Story - 6/10

World War Z

World War Z was a very heavily anticipated movie. The graphic novel was huge. I never read it and heard of it many times just to give you and idea and chances are you did too. Also it fits the mold of what is hot now, zombies. Every thing is zombies.....better then seeing more teenage vampire movies in my opinion.

I thought this movie was absolutely great. I enjoyed the entire thing. There isn't as much action as I would have thought there to be but Im not sure exactly what I was expecting anyways. It centers on Brad Pitts character as he travels across the entire world trying to track down a cure to a zombie like infection that is taking over the world. These aren't the normal zombies you see in movies and shows such as The Walking Dead (must see!). These zombies run and climb over each other and any thing else to get to you.

The film shots were great. There were plenty of "epic" style shots. Such as when the helicopter was over Jerusalem and the zombies where at the wall (seen in the trailer). Which I think goes hand in hand with the special effects of this movie. Amazing! They did a great job with the mobs. As a 3D Artist I can tell you it's no easy task to make a crowd that big look like they belong in the scene. They did a terrific job across the board.

Entertainment - 8/10
Visuals - 7/10
Story - 8/10

Hancock

I recently got to see this movie and I still think this movie was very under appreciated. I think it's a pretty good movie, it's original and the story was pretty good. Not sure why it didn't do so well at least as far as word of mouth. It did make over $600 million though. It's a Will Smith movie that came out during the 4th. He's the 4th of July kid after all.

Like I said I think the story was pretty original. With out giving too much away, it's a movie about a modern day super hero. Only he is not a very well liked one. He isn't a criminal....not really, he just screws things up in the way he tried to help. As seen in the trailer. He throws a whale back into the sea only to hit a boat in the distance. It's basically about a man finding his was and learning about who he is. I think that's what most people had a problem with the most. They were expecting an action movie and instead they got more of a coming into their own type movie.

Visually it was shot really well. I enjoyed the camera work and the special effects looked great and still holds up very well, not that it's all that old, 2008. It's worth a watch for sure but not in the must watch category but it is very close to it.

Entertainment - 6/10
Visuals - 7/10
Story - 7/10

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

This is the second go around for the new Sherlock Holmes franchise. Looking back at the first one and the success it had it was easy to see this one was going to do just as well and at over $500 million world wide I would say it did just that.

This go around revolves around the marriage of Dr Watson and is what brings the two together and sets them on their journey in this story. I still see this franchise as taking the playbook away from the Pirates franchise. Pretty much the same formula. Smart but quirky main character with smart side characters to help him and push him in the right direction.

The look of the movie was fairly average. Nothing really jumped out at me and wowed me. To me it's a pretty average action flick and is some thing to try to see if you are a fan of the Holmes universe. Plenty of good acting and the story isn't so bad.

Entertainment - 6/10
Visuals - 5/10
Story - 5/10

Elysium

Elysium is a movie that has been heavily promoted. I've seen many mixed reviews on this movie and after finally seeing it I can understand. The trailer does make it out to be pretty epic. It's not quite on the same scale a District 9, which was directed by the same man, but it's still a very good movie.

When it comes down to it this is a movie about a boy and a girl. Matt Damon plays the boy part, neat twist right? He grows up with one of his close friends played by Alice Braga. He's an ex convict that is living on Earth, like most people. How ever there is a disc in the sky called Elysium where the rich and the "citizens" live. They have machines that can fix any medical issues. They allude to the fact that it may even keep you alive indefinitely. I really didn't have any issues with the story. It makes good towards the end and finishes in a way that is predictable.

As far as the look of this movie. If you have seen District 9 it's looks almost exactly like it. That is why there has been so many comparisons and why people have been bringing up a District 9 sequel. In many parts of the movie you could easily say hey, this is the sequel. The ships were great, Blomkamp seems to know how to make a world and make all things mesh and look believable.

I really enjoyed the movie but find my self on the edge as far as slapping my "must see" tagging to this movie. I really want to but then when I look at other movies I've added it to I think it falls juuuuuust shy, but, I'm going to give it a must see but only by a hair.

Entertainment - 6/10
Visuals - 8/10
Story - 6/10

The Woman in Black

So we get to see the young Potter in action chasing ghosts around instead of lil golden Quidditch balls. The trailer gave the impression that this was a scarey movie. I will tell you there were points that will absolutely make you jump. The problem is that most of these points were generally because of a loud noise and not because of something popping on the screen. It happens, just not that often.

One thing this movie has going for it is the DP did an amazing job. The movie was shot extremely well, like....rrrreally well! So many shots had me thinking how well it was framed.

The story was some thing I had problems with. Really it wasn't the stories fault but it was just very, very slow at the beginning. I purposely looked at the timer when I felt it pick up and it was well into an hour (95 minute movie) from the start. The second part of the movie is much better than the first. So if you can make it through the first hour the pay off is there. I didn't exactly expect the ending to go the way it did but it kind of made some sense. I felt like there was a few ending points to the movie. I just looked up the box office and it was $127,730,736. My guess is a lot of Potter fans ran out to see it. Not a movie to avoid but not one to run out to get to be scared by either.

Entertainment - 5/10
Visuals - 8/10
Story - 4/10

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

If you saw the major full length movie of the same guy and fell asleep give this one a go! I hear this one more closely represents the real Abraham Lincoln anyways. This movie is very entertaining. If follows Abraham Lincoln through his life but it shows us a side that we were never told about. He was trained to fight vampires. Our Civil War? It was just one big vampire battle...of course. It was based off of a book not to many years ago I believe, 2010?

It's a Tim Burton movie so if you are a fan of his you will like this one. It's shot very well, it's dark. It very much fits the Burton mold. The action sequences were spot on from Honest Abe swinging his axe to the many different action sequences that I rather not give away.

I never knew of this movie until I saw the trailer since I didn't know there was a book, since I never read, and I was very excited to see it. I saw this some time ago and just came across it again today while watching the free HBO weekend and stopped to watch the whole thing. Very enjoyable movie! I'd recommend a look see whenever possible. You'll be thoroughly entertained by the action and the dialog is just fine.

Entertainment - 7/10
Visuals - 6/10
Story - 6/10