Sunday, January 18, 2009

August Rush

I really liked this movie the first time I saw it, but by about the third or fourth time it was even better. I like dramatic love stories for some reason.. guess it's a bit of the romanticist in me :) But anyway, the story was well-plotted, the acting was great, and the music was awesome. It's the incredible story of a little boy that lives in an orphan home, but he knows his parents are out there somewhere. His parents don't know he exists, because his dad never knew about him, and his mother was under the impression that he had died at childbirth because her dad thought that would be best. Anyway, the boy hears music in everything, and longs to be able to play out what he hears in his head. Eventually he ends up getting a guitar, learning sheet music, and after only 6 months of musical involvement he was considered a child prodigy and had his own concert in New York city square. Well, all through the movie it builds up to a major climax at the end, although it's a bit unexpected when it comes. I kept getting closer and closer and my fingertips started getting whiter and whiter, and by the end I had chewed my nails off!! haha.. yea.. I get into movies just like I do with music. Anyway, I didn't know weather to laugh or cry at the end, but I knew I had to own it.. now I do, and I've watched it several times :)
The involvement of extramarital sexual relationships that is the baseline of this story may not be appropriate for young kids, but nothing graphic is shown, so i didn't think it was too much of a problem.
Anyway, I think due to awesome story, and great attention-grabbing capacities throughout, i have to award this one a 10.. definitely for older kids it merited a 10.

Tim Burton's "Corpse Bride"

Well, the name of this film might scare you off, but actually it was really cute and funny :) It's a kid's cartoon, but it has enough to keep teens and adults interested too. Basically this guy is betrothed to be married to somebody he's never met for monetary reasons, but on meeting it was love at first sight. However, when he was out in the woods practicing his wedding vows for the following day, he accidentally places the ring on the finger of a girl stuck in an enchantment because he thought her finger was a branch. Anyway, the story twists and turns and you never know what to expect next, but it all ends out good ;) The dead people are not gross or anything, and there's lots of funny parts.. like toward the end this old granny is beating on one of the skeleton dudes, and he's like "sweety pie! buttercup! gertrude!" and she looks at him and realizes it's her husband.. it was pretty funny :) anyway, I think there might have been one place where there was a word slipped in, but it was hardly noticable.. overall I think that this is a good family film :)
I say it gets 7/10

Hitch

Well, I typically like any movie with Will Smith in it, and this one wasn't much different :) It has a little bit of language in it, but otherwise it was pretty clean. It follows the life of a "love coach" who helps guys create openings to get the girl they love to notice them. Love is his job, but he never expected it to find him again after a messed up high school crush he had once had. Well, he ended up falling in love, and his tactful wittiness and charm that he had learned over many years of working with other love life situations did him well. However, a series of great misunderstandings nearly ruined his job, love life, and reputation. The movie shows a lot of things guys have to get through when trying to impress a woman.. in fact, both sexes will find lots of humor when it exposes stereotypical attitudes/reactions from both men and women. There were plenty of laugh out loud moments and a few times that had me sitting forward dying to know what was going to happen next. Too bad that it had to have language or I could totally approve it for family viewing..
Anyway, I say it deserves a 6/10 rating