Toy Story 3

Title: Toy Story 3
Year: 2010
Director: Lee Unkrich
Lead: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen
Rated: Rated G

Woody, Buzz and the rest of Andy's toys are dumped into a daycare center when Andy leaves for college.

I was 5 years old when Toy Story blew the doors off of every theater in America, 9 when Toy Story 2 did it again. I am nearly 20 now, and I can safely credit those two Toy Story films to my chosen career path in the film industry. When I was a kid, I just watched movies; I sat there and I just watched. These days, I am picky, I pick things out, I critique everything I see, its not really by choice, Its just kind of in my brain now. This morning I sat down in the theater, the lights went down, and the familiar faces of Woody, Buzz, Slink, and everyone else came up on the screen; I was a kid again, I just watched. Toy Story 3 is the best film of 2010, and I will tell you why. Pixar brings characters you know back for the third time, they integrate them with new characters in a story that is written so flawlessly that you don't even know your watching a movie. TS3 provides some of the most genuine feelings that I have ever felt in a movie. A lot of real life films cant even pull off moments like Pixar did with this film. The landfill scene is one of the most hopeless scenes I have ever watched, and the closing scene made me cry harder then I have cried in a very long time. Toy Story 3 will get a best picture nomination, and don't be surprised if it wins. Toy Story will live forever as the best trilogy of all time. Toy Story 3 is well worth the money to see it in 3d, its well worth the money to see it 3 times, go see it in theaters, and buy it on DVD, Blu-ray, whatever you want it on, maybe both. Toy Story 3 gets 10 out of 10

Fargo

Title: Fargo
Year: 1996
Director: Ethan & Joel Coen
Lead: William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi, Frances McDormand
Rated: Rated R for strong violence, language and sexuality.

A car salesman plans a harmless crime that goes horribly wrong after both him and his hired henchman make terribly stupid mistakes.

Fargo is awesome, its a film that should be on everyone's list, the description does the film NO justice, you need to just watch this ridiculous story unfold on-screen. The script is amazing, the little things make this movie great, its things like the funny Canadian/Minnesotan accent, and the awkward silences, and Marge's husband waking up in the morning, and many other fun, quirky bits in the script. This film starts out really harmless and things are very lighthearted, but the mood soon shifts, things get crazier and crazier until everything breaks. Steve Buscemi is one crazy guy, he has shocked me in his role as Mr. Pink in Reservoir Dogs, he's such a great actor, he's so great in this movie. The cinematography in Fargo is really cool, a couple days ago I was talking to my dad about splitting the frame, as in, there are two actors on the screen but they are split by a wall or something where they cant see each other, the Coens did this in Fargo, in the breakfast scene when Marge gets up and walks out to her car, and her husband is sitting at the table, its really cool. The Coens can do no wrong in my mind. Burn After Reading, A Serious Man, Big Lebowski, all of them are hits along with Fargo. Buy Fargo, watch it, put it on your movie shelf, right in the front, show it to all of your friends... let me warn, their are some disturbing scenes, I'm not going to spoil them, but they are graphic, and the language is out of control, but it makes this movie great. Fargo won 2 Academy Awards for Best Actress in Frances McDormand, and Best Screenplay by Ethan & Joel Coen. Watch Fargo! 9 out of 10

Repo Men

Title: Repo Men
Year: 2010
Director: Miguel Sapochnik
Lead: Jude Law, Forest Whitaker
Rated: Rated R for for strong bloody violence, grisly images, language and some sexuality/nudity.

Your heart gives out. Fortunately there is a company named "The Union" that makes artificial hearts (along with every other organ). Unfortunately the heart costs $973,000. Fortunately "The Union" provides financing and payment plans. Unfortunately you get behind your payments, so they send out one of their Repo Men to cut you open, and take the organ back.

Repo Men was a very edgy, dark, cool movie. Jude Law is fantastic, he plays his role very well. The blood in this movie is incredible, they used so much movie blood. Repo Men is a great film, the fight scenes are very well shot, they were fresh, something new. I really liked the final fight scene where Jude Law's character says "Hacksaw" and the hacksaw is seen sliding across the ground, but the camera is following it, that caught my attention. I really liked Repo Men a a lot, the script was well written, and the camera work was cool, the action is very cool, and I really enjoyed all the blood. One downer is the ending. I'm not going to say what happens, but it is very disappointing to see such a cool film end like it did. On a lighter note, this film is very good, it is very dark, but very humorous. I'm not sure the writers intended this film to be funny, but it is, very funny bits of dialogue. Go see Repo Men. 7 1/2 out of 10

Alice in Wonderland

Title: Alice in Wonderland
Year: 2010
Director: Tim Burton
Lead: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway
Rated: Rated PG for fantasy action/violence involving scary images and situations, and for a smoking caterpillar. ("and for a smoking caterpillar")

Alice returns to her childhood fantasy world, "Wonderland". She reunites with her friends, and fights to end the Red Queen's reign.

Throw all the bad things you heard about this movie out the window. Alice in Wonderland is great! I heard a lot of people say to me, "it's nothing like the original." Well, no kidding, its nothing at ALL like the original. The first difference, there are real, living, breathing actors. Second, its not the original story, this is a new Alice adventure, shes older than the first Disney animation. Its very original while still pulling things from the old Alice. Its very fun to watch. All the actors are great, especially Johnny Depp and Bonham Carter, they are the core of this film. Mia W. is quite fantastic as well. Tim Burton really shows off his genius by creating a fresh Wonderland. CGI is a very interesting tool, and if your good at it, you can do amazing things, whoever put all this together is quite good. This is a great story, great movie, don't let anyone talk you out of seeing it, in fact, see it twice, why not! Alice in Wonderland is fantastic, and very fun to watch! I will certainly buy it when it comes out. GO SEE IT! 8 1/2 out of 10

A Serious Man

Title: A Serious Man
Year: 2009
Director: Joel & Ethan Coen
Lead: Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind
Rated: Rated R for Launguage, Some Sexuality/Nudity and Brief Violence

A dark comedy about a man whose luck seems to be cursed.

A Serious Man is a very cool movie, its really funny if you like black comedies. I really enjoyed this movie, it reminded me a lot of the Coen brothers previous film, "Burn After Reading". The soundtrack is very awesome, they use the song by Jefferson Airplane "Somebody to Love" a lot, and I really like that. Cinematography is on, its a very easy film to look at, the scene where the second rabbi is telling the story about the goy's teeth is shot very well, (I love dutch angles). This is a movie that you can watch multiple times, however, some might be a little bored, this movie never really picks up, and there's no real resolution either, just to warn you. I enjoyed it more the second time then I did the first time. Acting is very good, Michael Stuhlbarg is very good, he plays an unlucky man very well. I think everyone should see this movie at least once, especially in a day and age where we have Netflix and Redbox, and all that on-demand stuff, you should all be able to pick this movie up somewhere. I bought this movie without knowing a whole lot about it, other than "It's a Coen bro's film" that sold me. You wont be disappointed. A Serious Man was nominated for 2 Academy Awards including, Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture. See this movie 8 out of 10

District 9

Title: District 9
Year: 2009
Director: Neill Blomkamp
Lead: Sharto Copley
Rated: Rated R for bloody violence and pervasive language.

An alien race is forced to live in slums named District 9, after their ship becomes stranded over Johannesburg, South Africa.

This movie was rad! I started watching it and literally turned it off because it was too weird, but sure enough, there I was the next day, sitting in front of the couch, unable to get enough. This movie blew my mind, it was so cool. The documentary feel really made this the most realistic unbelievable story Ive ever seen. I felt like I was watching the craziest show on Discovery Channel. The gore in this movie was really crazy, the alien's weapons were so deadly that they literally blew people apart. Since this film was shot "documentary" style, the blood splattered all over the camera. The story is pretty out there; aliens that live in the slums, and an alien builds a ship under his house, flies back to the mother ship, while a human that was transforming into an alien, fights other humans. Sounds really stupid, but it is not stupid at all, it is downright awesome. It makes me want another film to tie up the ends that were left open with this film. Maybe... hopefully... District 9 is the cooler version of Avatar. Let me just say, that every one of the Best Picture nominees that Ive seen after Avatar, have made that movie less and less cool, they all seem to trump Avatar in every way, making me really dread the award presentation, hoping that they don't call Avatar for best picture, and instead one of the other BETTER masterpieces released this year. District 9 probably wont win best picture, but it is an awesome, must see movie, that everybody should see, its visually stunning, and instead of fake aliens in a fake world, this is real looking, believable aliens in a real world, one that isn't all roses like.. um Pandora... District 9 is real world entertainment. Fantastic piece of cinematography work. D9 is nominated for 4 Oscars including, Best Editing, Best Visual Effects, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Picture. Go see it 8 1/2 out of 10

Precious

Title: Precious
Year: 2009
Director: Lee Daniels
Lead: Gabourey Sidibe, Mo'Nique, Paula Patton
Rated: Rated R for child abuse including sexual assault, and pervasive language.

A girl is born into an abusive home, where her father rapes her, and her mother physically and verbally abuses her. She aspires to make something of herself and get out.

I didn't like this movie. It does not deserve its hype, nor does it deserve its best picture nomination. Yes, it is sad, its too bad that the human race can be so scummy, and yes I do feel sorry, but I don't need a film like this to remind me of the terrible parts of society unless there is a point. In this case, there is no point. This movie feels unbearably long at 110 minutes, it seems to drag in many places. There were plenty of moments where Precious is seen walking around without any dialogue, the walking serves no purpose, and I found myself looking at what some of the extras in the shot were wearing, this, to me, is unnecessary. There were a few funny bits that gave some much needed comic relief from the language. The language is almost unnecessarily pervasive, yes it does serve a tiny purpose, that is to illustrate the verbal abuse that Precious was going through, but for it to continue and drag in multiple scenes is, in my opinion, also unnecessary. ("we don't need to see a heroin addict make the heroin then inject himself with the needle to understand that he is, indeed a drug addict" - my film teacher) There was never really any point to any of the scenes in this film, nothing really culminated, the story never really turned for the better or worse. I felt like Precious was probably going to end up just like her mom in the long run. I was not satisfied with this movie, and if it wins best picture, I will be sincerely disappointed with The Academy. Yes there was some great acting, but unfortunately it did not make up for the lack of distinction in this screenplay. Some things should not be put up on screen, and this, unfortunately for Lee Daniels and Oprah Winfrey, is one of those things. I saw this film at the three dollar theater, I paid with quarters, and I am still disappointed, and it seems like the more I write/talk about this film, the less I like it. Therefore, I will stop before my feelings turn to absolute hatred. Precious was nominated for an unbelievable 6 Academy Awards including Best Director in Lee Daniels, Best Editing, Best Actress in Gabourey Sidibe, Best Supporting Actress in Mo'Nique, Best Adapted Screenplay, and the REAL shocker, Best Picture. Don't waste your time, or money - 4 out of 10