W. (DVD)

W.” Perhaps I should’ve read the reviews and the synopsis for this movie before developing my own expectations. But what fun would that be? What I thought was going to be a more informative film about the former president turned out to be a mere showcase of all the collaborative efforts to expose W’s indiscretions and idiosyncrasies (and I said idiosyncrasies). Some descriptions of the plot claim that the movie is a “chronicle on the life and presidency” of Bush, but I have to say that I really didn’t learn any more than what I’ve heard from the tabloids and the gossip columns.

Sure, he loved women and booze, but what all-American guy doesn’t? I found it rather entertaining that throughout the movie, the writers did very well to throw in Bushisms here and there. In one scene, W. was talking about his plot to finish off what his father didn’t—the war in Iraq , and W. said something like, I’m tired of him (Saddam Hussein) misunderestimating me.

Aside from showing off what he thinks about Bush, Mr. Stanley Weiser isn’t very shy with expressing his opinions of the rest of Bush’s advisers either.

To truly enjoy this movie, one would have had to study presidency, the Bush clan, their connections, and the best and worst of the years 2001 through 2008 to have a better understanding of what this movie was about.

From Karl Rove’s role in W.’s campaign and presidency to Dick Cheney’s suspected involvement in monopolizing the oil industry in the Middle East, the movie did a great job on expounding on the common conspiracy theorist’s idea of the Bush regime in all its glorious eight years.

I’d give the film 4 stars for entertainment and 1 star for any true educational or even intellectual value as it seems like the plot was put together through the bits and pieces that were reported on the daily during W’s terms as POTUS.

The Day the Earth Stood Still (DVD)

I was actually intrigued by the idea of aliens coming to earth to save the planet from its unappreciative human inhabitants, but I found much of this film to be a chore to watch. In many of the reviews I’ve read across the web, The Day the Earth Stood Still had been compared to its 1951 predecessor directed by Robert Wise. Having never seen the original, I had hoped to watch this film without bias and/or prejudice, but by its midpoint I understood why it received such poor ratings.

My first reaction after screening the film was that it definitely could have been done alot better. It actually started off quite well and maintained a sort of mystique and sense of wonder until the initial human contact with extraterrestrial life. From there it completely loses its credibility. There were just so many things wrong with this film. The character development was non existent, the plot was filled with many holes, and the ending was completely bland and uneventful.

In comparison, this film distinctly reminds of M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening. Shyamalan’s attempt at environmental awareness was quite admirable, but the film itself was just mediocre at best. Thats the best way I can describe this remake. One thing The Day the Earth Stood Still definitely reaffirms is this : All the special effects in the world can never replace good logic and excellent character development and dialogue. Just ask all the fans of the 1951 version.

Quarantine (DVD)

quarantine_xlgWith the increase in “reality” entertainment in the past few years, I seem to have gotten lost in the shuffle. Sure, some reality TV shows are entertaining in a guilty pleasure sort of way, but when they try to apply similar concepts to movies, I just don’t really get it.  A recent example that springs to mind is the movie ‘Cloverfield’, which is told from a first person camera view point. I just couldn’t get into the movie due to the shaky cam effects. It wasn’t so horrible that I started vomiting or got motion sickness, but it just seemed way too contrived. When I first saw previews of Quarantine, the movie looked pretty interesting. From what I could gather, it seemed to be a smart sci-fi/horror thriller with probably a few plot twists thrown in for good measure.  The actual movie, however, was nothing like I thought it would be.

Quarantine is the story of a young reporter named Jennifer (Angela Vidal) who is tagging along with a crew of firemen (Jay Hernandez and Jonathan Schaech) as they make their rounds. The story starts off interestingly enough, beginning with some footage of Jennifer getting to know the firemen at the station, attempting to establish the relationships and humanity of the characters from early on. The firemen get called to an apartment building where police are already on the scene for reports of an elderly resident screaming in pain from within her apartment. Once they enter the apartment, they are immediately attacked by the old lady. To make matters worse, the building is suddenly on lock down from the outside, leaving the news crew, the police officers, firemen, and building residents trapped within.  We then find out that the building is in a state of quarantine due to a suspected viral outbreak from one of the residents.  The rest of the film is about the survivors trying to fight off the infected and find a way to escape from the building.

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