Movie Review: Crossing Over

Crossing Over is several stories about immigrants in the United States. The first is Harrison Ford as Max Brogan, a immigration officer who tries to get an illegal immigrant her young boy back.

The second is Claire Shepard (played by Alice Eve) an Australian actress who wants to make it big in the U.S. and meets Cole Frankel (played by Ray Liotta) an immigration official.

Another story is Gavin Kossef (played by Jim Sturgess, Across The Universe) a friend of Claire, also seeking citizenship, and is using his Jewish faith to get in.

Taslima Jahangir (played by Summer Bishil) is a member of a family who is partly illegal and ends up being arrested for a school report she did. She is taken care of by Denise Frankel (Ashley Judd, Double Jeopardy) who is an immigration lawyer and takes care of another immigrant child.

Finally Cliff Curtis plays Hamid Baraheri who is involved with a death in a family. And the last story is an Asian family, who's eldest son is getting involved with gangs, only weeks before he's to become a citizen.


Overall they're all kind of enjoyable, but it doesn't really stand out on it's own.


Acting: 8/10
Story: 7.5/10
Atmosphere: 7.5/10
Overall: 7.5/10
Rated: 14-A (ONT) R (USA) Good stories

P.S. I was annoyed with the opening speech by Taslima. Also I didn't realize that Austrailia was such a hell hole.

Movie Reviews x3

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

There are just some movies I know that I'll enjoy. Indiana Jones is one of those movies. A lot of people thought Harrison Ford was too old for the role. This was completely wrong. He was great in the movie. The only thing that could've annoyed me about the movie was Shia Labeouf. Luckily he speaks as little as possible. The story is great in my opinion, to summarise it Mother Russia is funding projects to find ancient artifacts. This is done by Colonel-Doctor Irina Spalko (Kate Blanchett), a paranormal expert from the Soviet Union. She captures Indy and takes him to an Area 51 like place (which you may have seen previously). She finds what she is looking for and a race between her and Indiana happens. Along the way Indy meets Mutt, who is looking for his mother (Karen Allen). The movie is a great mix of comedy and action. It was enjoyable throughout.

Acting: 9/10
Story: 9/10
Atmosphere: 9.5/10
Overall: 9/10
Rated PG (ONT) PG-13 (USA) Good ole fashioned action movie, they don't make them like this anymore.


The Happening

If you know me, you should know that M. Night Shyamalan is one of my favourite directors. And if you know me, you should know that disaster movies are on of my favourite movie genres. Independence Day, Day After Tomorrow, Deep Impact, Jurassic Park, Cloverfield etc. are movies I love. The Happening also has a second thing I love. Mystery. Again much like Cloverfield, you have no idea what's going on. Which is great. The idea of dumping the main characters in a rural area with a disaster going on and them having no idea as great. At one point the main character Elliot Moore (Mark Wahlberg) shouts "Give me a second! Why can't anyone give me a second!" He doesn't have all the answers. His girlfriend Alma (Zooey Deschanel of Elf fame) and himself are going through relationship trouble and that adds more character development. (John Leguizamo (Luigi Mario from Super Mario Bros.)) plays Julian, Elliot's friend who has a daughter and wife as well. The movie has many creepy scenes. I don't want to give anything else regarding the plot away so go out and see it.

Acting: 9/10
Story: 10/10
Atmosphere: 10/10
Overall: 9.5/10
Rated 14A(ONT) R(USA) Great creepy disaster movie. Loved it.

P.S. I've read that M. Night is highly influenced by Alfred Hitchcock, well this movie is a lot like The Birds.

Hancock

This one I saw last night. I thought it could've been better. About mid-way through the movie it takes a turn that you don't really expect. I just didn't like the second half as much as the first. The comedy pretty much died in the second half. Will Smith is great though, I loved the acting it all seemed pretty believeable. It's a good movie, but could have been much better.

Acting: 9/10
Story: 7.5/10
Atmosphere: 8/10
Overall: 8/10
Rated PG (ONT) PG-13 (USA) Great first half but missteps in the second half.