Movie Review: Bottle Shock

Bottle Shock is a movie about the taste testing contest between French and Californian wines in 1976. The movie stars Chris Pine (Star Trek) as Bo Barrett the son of Jim Barrett (Bill Pullman, Independence Day) who is following his dream of owning a successful winery. Rachel Taylor plays Sam (fitting perfectly as a California girl) an intern at the winery. Freddy Rodríguez play a young man who has a passion for wine and is friends with Bo. Eliza Dushku plays a small part as a local bartender.

Finally the one who steals the show is Alan Rickman (Harry Potter) as an English "wine snob" trying to run a wine store in France. He comes up with the idea to do the blind taste contest and begins searching California for the best wines. Every scene he's in is excellent

However most of the movie revolves around the troubles of the Barrett winery and the relationship between Bo and his father. There's also a small love story but it seems kind of uneccessary.

Overall the movie is great.

Acting: 8/10
Story: 8/10
Atmosphere: 8/10
Overall: 8/10
Rated 14A (ONT) PG-13 (USA) Very interesting movie

P.S. Alan Rickman is also in one of my favourite movies Galaxy Quest

Movie Review: Revolutionary Road

Revolutionary Road starts off with the Wheelers, Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio, Titanic) and April (Kate Winslet, Titanic also), having a fight, and you immediately know that the gloves are off for this movie. The movie for the most part revolves around them. The other standout performer was Kathy Bates. The rest play more minor roles but do well none the less.

April has dreams of going places, not staying in your standard 50s suburban neighbourhood. Frank, also had these dreams but that part of seems has given in to the pessimism of working at his job (the same company that his father did too).

Both Leo and Kate do exceptional here. Director Sam Mendes (Jarhead, Road to Peredition) does a great job with the camera. The fifties clothing and settings were also done very well.

Acting: 9/10
Story: 7/10
Atmosphere: 9/10
Overall: 8/10
Rated: 14-A (ONT) R (USA) Well done movie

P.S. Didn't realize this was based off a book

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 Review: Fanboys

Eric Bottler (played by Sam Huntington, Superman Returns) reunites with his old high school buddies Linus (Christopher Marquette, The Girl Next Door), Hutch (Dan Fogler, Balls Of Fury) and Windows (Canadian Jay Baruchel, Tropic Thunder) and refire their dream to go to Skywalker Ranch and see the Phantom Menace before anyone else.
Zoe (Kristen Bell, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) is a co-worker and friend of Hutch. The gang heads west in their van and get involved with a ton of hijinks.

I loved the movie for it's various cameos, Star Wars related humour and humour. I definitely reccomend seeing it.

Acting: 8/10
Story: 8/10
Atmosphere: 8/10
Overall: 8/10
Rated: 14-A (ONT) PG-13 (USA) Hilarious movie

Movie Review: Nothing But The Truth

Allison (played by Kate Beckinsale, Click) is a journalist on the verge of releasing a huge news story: the wife of a government official is a CIA agent. backed by her editor (Angela Bassett, ER). She goes ahead with the story, knowing it will cause controversy. Immediately the government wants the source from her, getting a special prosecutor for the matter (played by Matt Dillon, Crash). Things go downhill from there.

Noah Wyle (ER) plays the lawyer defending her for the newspaper. While Alan Alda (Aviator) plays a lawyer defending her and does a really great job. I thought Kate did a really good job too. David Schwimmer (Friends) plays her Allison's husband and one of the stand outs was Vera Farmiga who plays the ousted CIA agent.

Nothing but the Truth suffered the same problem that Stop Loss had I felt. The movie is good but it doesn't really provide answers.

Acting: 8/10
Story: 6/10
Atmosphere: 7.5/10
Overall: 7.5/10
Rated: 14-A (ONT) R (USA) Overall an okay movie

Movie Review: Adventureland

Adventureland is a good mix of teen comedy and drama. Set in 1987 James Brennan (played by Jesse Eisenberg) is just leaving high school, looking forward to college. But his parents are short on money, so he picks up a job at the local theme park. There he meets a unique cast of characters including Bobby the manager (played by Bill Hader, Superbad), co-worker Joel (Martin Starr, also in Superbad) and Mike Conell (a shady guy played by Ryan Reynolds, Waiting...).

But James sets his eyes on Emily Lewin (played by Kristen Stewart, Twilight) and they begin a relationship.

The acting is fine, mostly because of a good supporting cast. I think Kristen did well for one of her first movies and Jesse also did well for one of his first big movies as well. The story moved at a good pace and it wasn't raunchy like most teen comedies are. A little moreso than Juno.

Acting: 7/10

Story: 7/10

Atmosphere: 8/10

Overall: 7.5/10

Rated 14A (ONT) R (USA) I liked it

P.S. Why do I always mix Ryan Reynolds with Dane Cook?

Super Spectacular Edition of the Stinger503's Movie Fiesta!

That's it! I have a huge backlog of movies that I've seen and haven't reviewed. I'm doing them all right now.

28 Days Later
Excellent movie. **Possible spoilers**- The final 'standoff' scene was very surreal because you had the girls in these strange dresses and it took place in a renaissance type of mansion with paintings and such. With the rain, which looked like Sin City and the infected running around
*End spoilers*
Although it's not an actual Zombie movie it was very good, definitely a horror classic. I think a great thing about this is that it doesn't really use any cheap scare tactics like things popping out at you and musical 'shocks' that you see so much in modern movies. I think a reason for that is the infected themselves are very scary. Although **spoilers** I thought it was kind of cheap to have the one guy turn infected by getting a drop in the eye. Also it was sort of stupid that the guy started the air raid siren and the army guys freaked out and went after him. Like wouldn't you say "Um...that isn't hurting us. Let's stay here."
**End spoilers**
In the end it was just a good ole fashioned horror flick. Definitely in my top 20 of all time. I can't wait to see 28 Weeks Later.

Acting: 8/10
Story: 8/10
Atmosphere: 10/10
Overall: 8.5/10
Rated 18A (ONT) R (USA) Great horror movie!

August Rush
This was a little heartwarming movie. It's about music more than anything. Basically these two musicians (the guy from the Tudors girl from MIII and Waitress) get together (honestly weird though, the guy sings Moondance and the girl has sex with him). And surprise surprise a kid (charlie from charlie and the chocolate factory) is born. The girls father is protective of her talent and has the kid sent to an orphanage!

Now I haven't really spoiled anything for you because this is pretty much what happens in the first 20 minutes (aka on the back of the box). Robin Williams plays a dickhead who, what's the word...exposes, no... scams, no... exploits! There it is. He exploits children's talents but sort of mentors them in a nice way too. So the kid is good at music and is trying to find his parents. The movie is very vibrant and sounds really good. I sort of agree with critics that the plot is sort of coincidence filled but Roger Ebert puts it best "but it's supposed to be".

Acting: 7.5/10
Story: 9/10
Atmosphere: 9/10
Overall: 8/10
Rated PG13 Nice musical movie! Props for using Moondance as a major song too :)

Alien Versus Predator: Requiem (AVP:R)
I was glad this movie didn't play out like most horror/action movies do. This movie is pretty merciless. I think the problem for me was that the Aliens themselves are pretty scary but you need suspense for maximum effect. I think that really lacked in this movie.

SPOILERS AHEAD!



What bugged me was that there was only 1 predator! 1! I said to myself what the hell? That isn't going to do shit! And guess what I was right! I also felt sorry for the little girl who watched her father be eaten by an alien. Can you say "scarred for life".



End Spoilers

That acting felt sub par and you could see where the plot was going half the time. What I did like though was the setting. Unleashing Aliens on an entire town is 1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
times better than the group of explorers in Antarctica from the first AVP.

Acting: 6/10
Story: 8/10
Atmosphere: 9/10
Overall: 7/10
Rated R Okay scary movie. My girlfriend didn't like it.
P.S. I'm not big on Alien lore but isn't the face huggers the only thing that can make the warrior aliens (things that come out of stomach). And isn't the queen alien the only one that can lay eggs with face huggers? Because in the first Alien the alien couldn't reproduce by itself I thought but in this movie they could. Also little tid bit, part of the filming was in Coquitlam, BC.

The Big Lebowski
Strange, strange movie. I, at the same time, get it and don't get it. Was there anything to get at all? The Coens again directed this and boy do they know how to make a movie. Right now I'm reading an analysis by Rob Ager and if your unfamiliar with his work, get familiar!http://www.collativelearning.com/ or look up RobAg88 on youtube for his video anaysis.
To finish up acting was great, setting was great, story was great. Just a strange movie.
Acting: 10/10
Story: 8.5/10
Atmosphere: 9/10
Overall: 9/10
Rated R Strange movie but a classic must see nonetheless. P.S. I definantly have to watch again and find a couple Dude quotes.

In The Valley Of Ellah
Wow Tommy Lee Jones is my favourite actor of all time. He is my god. Look at the resume:

• The Fugitive
• No Country for Old Men
• Three Burials of Meliques Estrada
• this movie

There are a whole bunch more too.

Basically the movie is about a soldier coming back from Iraq who goes missing. And Tommy Lee, his father, goes looking for him. Now I don't want to spoil anything but the movie is very good and pretty powerful.

Acting: 10/10
Story: 10/10
Atmosphere: 9.5/10
Overall: 10/10
Rated 14A(Can) R (US) One of the greatest movies of the past year.

Call of Juarez (Xbox 360)
I wanted to review this when I got 1000/1000 but that's looking unlikely now. Overall the story is good. The voice acting was good. The gameplay worked well and it was very entertaining. The multiplayer was surprisingly good unfortunately there isn't very many people. Basically the plot has you playing two roles. Candleboy (can't remember his name) and a reverend. Basically the Reverend sees the kid and his murdered parents (the father is the revs bro.) and the kid runs assuming the rev would think he did it. He does think the kid did it and hunts him down. The gameplay has you as the kid basically jumping around, using arrows and the occassional gun. The Rev is a former gunslinger so you get this 'mini game' where you go into slo-mo and shoot people as your crosshair goes over them. It's fun. You also get shottys, snipes and the odd gattling gun/cannon. Riding horses is pretty fun too.
Programming: 9.5/10 : No glitches except for the voice overs.
Graphics: 8.5/10 : Not perfect but very nice
Story: 9.5/10 : Fun and not repetitive! Good variety of levels!
Atmosphere: 9/10 : Old west is always awesome.
Control: 9/10 : The rope was an ass but when you got used to it, it was okay.
Achievements:
Overall: 8.5/10 : The game is definantly worth a playthrough so rent or get it for teh chep $$!

P.S. Can't wait to read the Big Lebowski analysis!

Double Movie Review: Superbad (below) & Fargo

Fargo

Fargo was a fasinating movie. Directed by the Coen bros. (No Country for Old Men). I thought it definantly had some suspense. But the great thing about this movie is that it doesn't need it really. The movie is just telling us a story and tell it does. The Coens are masters of their art. William H. Macy, Frances McDormand are amazing, while Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare are creepy as ever as kidnappers. The movie was awesome. I can't wait for the Big Lebowski (This weekend I hope)

Acting: 10/10
Story: 10/10
Atmosphere: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
Rated R (ONT) R (USA) Dazzlingly Great Movie.

P.S. I found myself saying that with their accents I would think EVERYONE in that area is a liar. I don't know why but every time they talked with an accent it sounded like they were lying.

Movie Review: Superbad

Superbad
This movie had a lot of hype surrounding it when it came out. And I've only been able to get it now. I thought that it wasn't the funniest movie I've ever seen (Borat, Napoleon Dynamite) but it did have it's moments. It was very easy to get attached to the characters though, for me at least. I found the police characters to be kind of annoying. I think my problem with them was that they weren't antagonists. Because in the movie there isn't really a antagonist and that bothered me subconsciously I think. Nothing really got in their way at all. Still it had a heartwarming type of feel to it which I appreciate I guess you could say.

Acting: 9/10
Story: 6/10
Atmosphere: 8/10
Overall: 7/10
Rated 14A (ONT) R (USA) Watch it and you'll like it.

*P.S. What's up with all these good comedies that have a cartoony sort of look, Napoleon Dynamite started it. Here's the list of movies I can think of that fit in with it

• Nacho Libre
• Knocked Up?
• Anchorman?
• Borat
• Juno
• Superbad
• That's all I can think of I hope it keeps going though

Stinger503's Movie Fiesta!

Over the next couple weeks I'll be watching and reviewing several movies I've missed over the 2007 year (and some before that). Superbad, Blood Diamond & Last King of Scotland for example. So I figured I'd start off with The Departed being it Saint Pattie's Day a week ago (actually I just made that reason up after watching the movie).

My God did it ever deserve Best Picture. There wasn't a moment were I wasn't riveted to the movie! It was simply amazing! Alec Baldwin, Martin Sheen, Leo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlburg, all at the top of their game. The story was extremely gritty but realistic. The directing by Martin Scorsese was great, he had definantly learned from Goodfellas and even though these movies are both about organized crime, you wouldn't know it. In all this movie was just plain brilliant!

Acting: 10/10
Atmosphere: 10/10
Story: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
Rated 18A (CAN) R (USA)
Highly recommended!

*EDIT*:P.S. I have to commend the sound people for their taste I music as this movie featured both "Gimmie Shelter" by the Rolling Stones and "Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd