Seven Pounds (Theaters)

The Pursuit of Happyness was such a huge success that it didn’t surprise me when I found out Will Smith would be teaming up with director Gabriele Muccino for a second run at the box office.

Although Seven Pounds started out fairly slow and had a few obscure scenes, as it progressed and unraveled itself it turned out to be an excellent film that most moviegoers will not easily forget.

The cast was really what made this film work. Will Smith, Rosario Dawson, Barry Pepper and Woody Harrelson all put on outstanding performances in this feature and it would actually surprise me if Seven Pounds were not nominated for several awards by the start of the new year.

I’d would have liked to go a little more into depth with the storyline, but I think I would give away a little too much and ruin the film for alot of readers here. The secretive and ambiguous nature of this film definitely was the reason why it was so special for me and I’m sure its will be that way for others who have yet to see it.

On a final note, just be sure to bring alot of tissue if you decide to catch this in theaters. I won’t say much except that the film definitely toys with your emotions and its definitely a film to be viewed with a spouse or significant other.

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Eagle Eye (Theaters)

eagle_eye_ver3_xlgNow here’s a movie that had so much promise. It had a nice cast in Shia LaBeouf, Michelle Monaghan, Billy Bob Thornton, Rosario Dawson, and Michael Chiklis. The trailers had the right mixture of mystery surrounding the plot and action to hold your interest. After watching it though, I couldn’t help but imagine how much better it could have been if there were a few changes in the storyline. Nonetheless, it’s still a decent watch and much better than other action/cyber-thrillers that have been fed to the masses.

We’ll start with the negatives. First of all, there really is no air of originality in this movie. None. It borrows heavily from many other big budget movies, most notably Enemy of the State and I-Robot. There’s a bit of The Matrix flavor in there as well. So there’s more than just a sense of familiarity with this movie. Without getting into specifics, there are also quite a few scenes that have “cliché” written all over them. The storyline is decent but it’s definitely not as smart as it seems to think it is. It won’t leave a lasting impression.

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