The Family (Malavita;2013)

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This film is based off the novel Malavita written by Tonino Benacquista. The Manzoni family are in the witness protection program in Normandy, France. The family is finding it difficult to adjust in this new community. But, the old life is close to finding their hide out. 

This film was directed and written by Luc Besson. This film has a very familiar story set-up for a dark comedy. However, this film would have benefited much more if it just stuck to being a mafia drama. It tries to depict a more comical version of mobsters while keeping it dark. The comedic scenes do not achieve more than a snicker, because of its frequent shifts in tone. The film has disorganized story telling, is neglectful of its secondary plots, and has an undefined back story. The characters remain nothing more than remorseless psycho's with no further development.There is plenty of action and violence in the film. There is also some sexuality in it. However, this film does gather its strength from its impressive cast. Unfortunately, it could have gained more by creating more defined and terrifying villains. Robert Di Nero played the role of Fred Blake/Giovanni Manzoni. He did great creating a highly sarcastic mobster. His character is very familiar to the mafia genre, but has a hint of a humorous twist. Michelle Pfeiffer played the role of Maggie Blake. She was good at making her character unapproachable. She had the perfect persona for the character, but lacked any heart. Dianna Agron and John D'Leo played the roles of Belle and Warren Blake. They were great in their familiar roles of child mobsters. 

I give this film 3 out of 5 stars! The acting makes this film worth watching. But its greatly hindered by its lack of a well thought out story.

Answer to last blog: Actress Rose Byrne, Insidious: Chapter 2, starred in the horror film 28 Weeks Later.

Que: What other film has actor John D'Leo starred in?

The Wrestler
Iron Man
Gran Torino
The Reader

Insidious: Chapter 2

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This film is a sequel to Insidious. The haunted Lambert family find refuge in Josh's, their father's, old home. They quickly discover that their troubles have followed them into this new house. As this entity seeks death on the Lambert family, Lorraine Lambert, the grandmother, tries to uncover the secrets of this entity.

This film was directed by James Wan. This film is a direct sequel to the events in the first film. This film uses more imagination to carry its audience further into this new realm, but it doesn't present any new horrifying creatures, and only produces one new creepy ghost. This films continued creativity makes it feel more like a continuation instead of a retelling of its predecessor. However, there are far fewer deaths in this film. Making un-terrifying. The eerie setting and the eerie images of the ghosts keep it moderately scary. This film is highly predictable, and it keeps its characters uninteresting to watch. Patrick Wilson returned to his role as Josh Lambert. He was good, but not great. He did present some mental changes in the character when it was necessary, but failed to make it a physical change. Rose Byrne returned to her role as Renai Lambert. She was good at being highly predictable. After having experienced this once before, her character should have grown more. Barbra Hershey played the role of Lorraine Lambert.She was good in her limited role. Her character brought together all the loose pieces of the film. Tom Fitzpatrick played the role of Bride in Black and Old Patrick. He was good at being scary, but it was just odd seeing him on screen. Showing the back story of this character only made him strange and creepy. Stephanie Pearson played the role of Dark Haired Woman. She was great creating all the horror for the film. Too bad she did not appear more often.

I give this film 2 out of 5 stars! It is a creepy film, but it does not offer enough adequate scares to make it a horror film. 

Answer to last blog: Actor Hal Yamanouchi, The Wolverine, starred in the film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. 

Que: What other horror film has actress Rose Byrne starred in?

28 Weeks Later

1408

28 Days Later

Eight Legged Freaks

The Wolverine

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This film is based off the Wolverine character created by Marvel hero comics, and is the sixth installment to the X-Men film franchise. Logan, Wolverine, is summoned to Japan by an old war acquaintance, Yashida. Logan protected Yashida from an atomic bombing. Logan soon finds himself fighting his past demons and fighting to keep his immortality while protecting Mariko Yashida.

This film was directed by James Mangold. This film servers as a sequel to the X-Men series and a prequel to the new X-Men film about to be released. This film keeps its cartoon like style, but mixes it with emotional heart and highly computerized animation action. This film's story focus' more on recovering the character's soul while testing his emotional and psychical limits. I think about having seen the Wolverine as pretty much the lead in the X-Men films, and a prequel of his story, his character had been over used. There are other X-Men out there.This film just makes his past even more complicated than before. However, there are several moments when the story goes against set in stone facts. It also shows very few other mutants. This film has plenty of intense action. It also has plenty of computer animation. 

Hugh Jackman returned to his role of Wolverine. As always, he makes the film worth watching. He has discovered some new angels of the character to play and build off. Tao Okamoto played the role of Mariko. She was good but she did not do anything to make her stand out in the film. It unfortunately, made her character feel unimportant. Rila Fukushima played the role of Yukio. She was good in her very limited role. She created a new personality that is almost never seen on film. Svetlana Khodchenkova played the role of Viper. She did great creating one of the must disturbing mutants in the franchise. Hal Yamanouchi, Haruhiko Yamanouchi, played the role of Yashida. He was good for the very short amount of time he was on screen.

I give this film 3 out of 5 stars! It has a lot to create an even more complicated story for Logan, but it doesn't feel important to the franchise. 

Answer to last blog: Director Seth Gordon and actor Jason Bateman, Identity Thief, both worked together on the film Horrible Bosses.

Que: What other film has Hal Yamanouchi starred in?

Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind
Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
The Aviator
Sideways

Identity Thief

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Business man Sandy Patterson travels from Denver to Florida after he discovers that his identity has been stolen. His goal is to find the woman who stole his identity, Diana, and force her to confess to her crimes. This proves even more challenging when Diana is being hunted by other criminals and a bounty hunter.

This film was directed by Seth Gordon. This film follows a recent trend in having identities stolen, and takes it a step further into finding the culprit. It is a fun and original idea that gets bogged with too much unnecessary additions. Having the criminals and the bounty hunter, that is never really explained, is too much for the story, They are only added to keep comedic action in this film's story. The emotional elements of the film feel too forced. A lot of the comedy comes from its physical comedy, and actress McCarthy's general over the top nature. The film is highly predictable with its adult humor. Jason Bateman played the role of Sandy Patterson. He plays the familiar straight laced business man role that everyone is familiar with. He is good in this familiar role, but isn't highly likable. Melissa McCarthy played the role of Diana. She returned to her familiar over the top role. The emotional parts of the character feels way to forced.

I give this film 3 out of 5 stars! It does have it moments of humor. Its a bit too over the top, and is bogged down by some unneeded characters.

Answer to last blog: Actor Josh Hutcherson, The Kids Are All Right, starred in the film Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant.

Que: What other film has director Seth Gordon and actor Jason Bateman worked together?

Horrible Bosses
Four Christmases
Paul
This Is 40

The Kids Are All Right (2010)

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Joni and Laser decide to visit their sperm donor father, Paul. This leads to difficulties with Jules and Nic, their lesbian (bisexual) mothers.  

This film was directed by Lisa Cholodenko. This film follows a familiar story and changes it. It shows that lesbian families can face the same problems as any other couple. No matter how different the story is, it contains all the heart and spirit of a dramatic family film. The story does find a nice balance between drama and humor. This film does contain some sexuality in it. This film is very predictable, and it is has predictable characters. Annette Bening played the role of Nic. She created the highly familiar controlling partner who is losing control. Julianne Moore played the role of Jules. She created another familiar role in a partner looking for comfort. They played off each other very well in this film. Mark Ruffalo played the role of Paul. He did good opposing Bening and supporting Moore. Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson played the roles of Joni and Laser. They were good playing the typical teenage roles.

I give this film 4 out of 5 stars! It creates the image of a modern family, but it follows a very familiar story of family values.   

Answer to last blog: Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman and Actress Catherine Keener, A Late Quartet, starred in the film Capote.

Que: What other film has Josh Hutcherson starred in?

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

The Blind Side

Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant

Star Trek

A Late Quartet

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Peter Mitchell, Daniel Lerner, Juliette Gelbart, and Robert Gelbart are a part of the renowned musical quartet known as The Fugue. On their 25th anniversary they discover troubles within their relationships with one another, and within themselves, which is causing disharmony in their music.

This film was directed by Yaron Zilberman.This film is geared more to those who enjoy listening and composing great music. The musical references are understandable to all audiences. This film's story follows these four people as if they were a pieces of music trying to find harmony within each other. The characters turmoils are very familiar to dramatic romance stories. The ending concert sequence was amazing to watch, because it told so much in just a few simple movements of music. The music is great to listen to on screen, because it adds to the telling of the story. It is also generally just good to listen to. Christopher Walken played the role of Peter Mitchell. Naturally, he was great in creating this character fighting against old age while trying to keep the group together. It is a general standard role that he brought lots of emotion to. Mark Ivanir played the role of Daniel Lerner. He created a character of control, and who could not live accordingly without it. Catherine Keener played the role of Juliette Gelbart. She created the standard role of a career driven mother. She had lots of heart in the role, but didn't do much to stand out from the rest of the cast. Philip Seymour Hoffman played the role of Robert Gelbart. He did great keeping from his general controlled chaos. 

I give this film 5 out of 5 stars! It might follow a familiar story line, but the acting and the music makes it worth the watch.

Answer to last blog: Actor/Director Ben Stiller, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, directed the film the Cable Guy.

Que: What other film has actor Philip Seymour Hoffman and actress Catherine Keener star in together?

Into the Wild
Capote
Almost Famous
Watermarks

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)

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This film is based off the short story, with the same title, written by James Thurber, and is remake of the 1947 film with the same title. Walter Mitty works for Life magazine, but spends most of his life fantasizing about romance, heroism, and action. Walter finds his job at risk if he can not obtain a missing photo from Sean O'Connell. To locate this missing photo, Walter sets out in search of O'Connell, and discovers the adventures his life has been missing.

"That is the purpose of life." This film was directed by Ben Stiller. This film was made to be an adventure comedic film. However, the story focus' a lot on drama trying to bring more substance to the story. There are plenty of comedic moments, and one scene that is hilarious. However, many of the plot points that needed to be important were hindered by the script. The grand scheme of the story is a great concept. The grandeur of the backdrops adds to the scheme of the story. The cinematography in this film is great because it reminds us of the vastness of the world. The film did get bogged down by its acting. Ben Stiller played the role of Walter Mitty. This film really does feel like a one man show. Ben began the film great, but it never felt like his character truly evolved. 

I give this film 4 out of 5 stars! It is a great imaginative film with moments of humor. It is hindered when it attempts to reach for dramatic moments.

Answer to last blog: Director Paul Thomas, The Master, directed the film Boogie Nights.

Que: What other film has Ben Stiller directed?

Flirting with Disaster
Happy Gilmore
The Cable Guy
Black Sheep