This is a DVD & movie review of the 2011 movie, Martha Marcy May Marlene.
Martha Marcy May Marlene comes from Fox Searchlight Pictures and runs 102 minutes, and is rated R, and yes, it’s a heck of a title to try and remember!
It’s written and directed by Sean Dunkin (Afterschool) and stars Elizabeth Olsen (Silent House) as Martha, Sarah Paulson (The Spirit, Joss Whedon’s Serenity; on TV: Deadwood) as Martha’s sister, Lucy; Hugh Dancy (Confessions of a Shopaholic, Our Idiot Brother) as Lucy’s significant other, Ted & John Hawkes (Winter’s Bone; Eastbound & Down (TV series)) as cult leader Patrick.
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Martha Marcy May Marlene is a surprisingly dark and captivating drama that focuses on a young girl named Martha (Olsen), who escapes from a cult and goes to live with her sister, Lucy (Paulson) and husband Ted (Dancy). The trailers I’ve seen don’t quite do this dramatic piece justice, while the movie oozes this quiet, low-key tone of desperation for Martha.
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This is a movie review of Chronicle.
Chronicle stars Dane DeHaan (True Blood, In Treatment), Alex Russell & Michael B. Jordan (Red Tails, Parenthood, Friday Night Lights) and is directed by Josh Trank.
I was worried about coming into Chronicle because of what looked like limited experience of the director, Josh Trank. His resume on IMDb shows his only directorial experience is the 2007 TV series, The Kill Point and after that, he fulfilled roles such as photo researcher, sound editor, and second unit director in projects prior to Chronicle.
No fear… Trank took this puppy and ran with it very well.
The film summary on IMDb reads:
“Three high school friends gain superpowers after making an incredible discovery. Soon, though, they find their lives spinning out of control and their bond tested as they embrace their darker sides.”
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This is a movie review of The Ides of March, and in a word, this movie is worth catching, no matter how you get to it.
The Ides of March has a running time of 101 minutes, is rated R. The cast includes Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Philip Seymore Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Evan Rachel Wood and a role where Marisa Tomei is not getting naked or acting silly! It’s directed by George Clooney, who also co-wrote the screenplay.
The Ides of March is centered around Stephen Meyers, played by Ryan Gosling, who starts out as an idealistic political party staffer. He’s a staffer for Governmor Mike Morris, played by George Clooney. Meyers staff boss is Paul Zara, played by Hoffman.
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This movie review is about the 2008 movie, What Doesn’t Kill You. It stars Mark Ruffalo, Ethan Hawke, Amanda Peet, Will Lyman and Brian Goodman. It’s written and directed by Brian Goodman.
What Doesn’t Kill You is the story about two childhood friends from South Boston, who as kids, grew up in a life of crime. As adults, they try to branch out from their bosses circles and try to work for themselves. Things don’t go too well, but the movie isn’t about the state of their heists but the state of the personal lives of Brian (Ruffalo) and Paulie (Hawke).
We follow the two of them, with a bit more of a focus on Brian, his wife Stacy (Peet) and his kids. It’s the impact that his lifestyle has on him and his family and how he tries to deal with it that the viewer is shown.
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This is a DVD movie review of In Time, starring Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried.
If you like the premise of a futuristic or new take on the tale of Robin Hood (Steal from the the rich, give to the poor) or the gutsy action of Bonnie and Clyde, then I think you will absolutely love In Time. Especially if you love watching the eye candy that is Timberlake or Seyfried.
In Time runs 109 minutes, is rated PG-13 and is written, directed & co-produced by Andrew Niccol, whose resume includes movies such as Lord of War, The Truman Show, and Gattaca.
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In Time is about a man named Will Salas (Timberlake) who lives in a world where the rich get richer and the poor get manipulated by a system designed to not be beatable. And Salas doesn’t like it. But in this futuristic world, everyone is genetically engineered to live to the age of 25. Once you hit 25, your body clock starts up with exactly one more year to live before it counts down to zero and then you drop dead… you die. It’s up to that individual what they do to either let their clock tick out, or figure out how to get more time.
In this world, it’s possible for the rich to be able to live forever. In fact, the balance of this world is predicated on the very system of the people scrambling through their day-to-day routines doing things to get more time. People beg for time, pay for their goods with time, get jobs that give them time, but barely enough time to survive, as we watch Salas working to provide for his mother, played by Olivia Wilde (House, Tron:Legacy), and himself.
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This is a movie review of a DVD screener of Tornado Alley.
Right now, (January 2012), Tornado Alley is playing at the The Hackworth IMAX Dome Theater at the Tech Museum in San Jose, CA, for the month of January.
And if you appreciate storm chasing and a decent documentary, you will enjoy this IMAX feature.
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The opening scene of Tornado Alley is a wondrous visual of a developing storm, which is one of many expansive, beautiful scenic imagery of storms presented to the viewer.
The viewer is then introduced to the 40-vehicle storm chasing team of Vortex 2, or V2. The team of vehicles include radar trucks, equipment deployment teams and other tools of the storm chasing team.
With all the equipment at their disposal, they hope to collect data from the entire life-cycle of a tornado.
It’s the collection of this data that helps the science community learn more about these storms, enabling more efficient early warning systems that can save lives.
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This is a movie review of Contagion…
Contagion cast includes Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Marion Cotillard, & Kate Winslet amongst a larger ensemble.
The movie is directed by Steven Soderbergh (We Need to Talk About Kevin) and has a runtime of 106 minutes and is rated PG-13.
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This is a movie review of the movie, Seven Pounds. It’s an older movie that moved me enough that I felt compelled to share.
Seven Pounds (2008) stars Will Smith, Rosario Dawsom and is directed by Gabriele Muccino (The Pursuit of Happyness) and written by Grant Nieporte (8 Simple Rules). It has a runtime of 123 minutes and is rated PG-13.
It starts out in such a compelling fashion that you need to keep watching, need more, to understand what the bloody heck is happening. I say that because for the longest time, we have no clue who or what Ben (Smith) is. We see opening scenes that show us a man filled with angst, wonder and a helful side, all the while, there’s something hinted at that is very dark underneath it all.
That’s the mystery of the film.
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This is a movie review of Limitless, after finally catching it on VoD. It’s rated PG-13 and has a runtime of 105 minutes
Limitless is a visually acute experience, depending on what part of the movie you’re watching. But watch you must… as our lead character gets knee deep in troubles from being too smart, and not too bright, all at once.
Limitless stars Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, & Abbie Cornish and is directed by Neil Burger, whose past directorial projects include The Lucky Ones and The Illusionist.
Limitless is a movie about Eddie Morra (Cooper) who runs into an old associate who gives Morra a drug that wires his brain so that he becomes super smart and can pretty much do anything. Anything that he’s been exposed to whether it’s via reading or watching, he can recall or act on. It’s pretty appealing, not only to Morra, but I’m guessing to the movie-goer.
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This is a movie review of The Help. The surprise hit movie starring Emma Stone.
The Help is rated PG-13 and runs 2 hours and 17 minutes long. But don’t worry, that movie runtime is not too long for this very entertaining movie. It stars Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jessica Chastain and others in this movie directed by actor/director Tate Taylor (Pretty Ugly People)… who also penned the screenplay.
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I finally got a chance to catch The Help, and I had the opportunity to watch it with someone who read the book. It was interesting to hear what she had to say about the differences between the movie and the book, but for the most part, there seemed to be more details up front in the story in the book. But the details were also things that could either be surmised from what was being seen in the movie, or more or less presumed from other aspects that the movie goer may bring to the movie experience. Like in this movie review.
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