The Adjustment Bureau

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: When a politician (Matt Damon) finds out about a secret society that keeps everyone's destiny on track, he is forced to choose between a successful career and true love.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Anthony Mackie, Terence Stamp, John Slattery, Michael Kelly, Anthony Ruivivar

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Go! Not since Titanic has a film so successfully merged high action for the dudes with high romance for the ladies. And just for good measure, The Adjustment Bureau also throws in religious innuendo, to make sure there is no demographic left behind.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: The humor is quirky and unexpected, and exists primarily to demonstrate why these two people are so strangely perfect for each other.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: If the premise of this movie is true, and we really have no say over the direction of our lives, that would be enough to throw even the strongest of us into a good cry. Thankfully, we humans are too willful to ever choose to believe in the lack of free will. So who cares if we have it or not!

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: It's a good thing that Woody Allen has quit filming in New York, because this year would have been a big loss for him in the "I ♥ NY" category.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: I would be curious to know if Emily Blunt does her own dancing, because if she does, I'm very impressed. And if she doesn't, I'm still impressed by the seamless special effects that would've had to have been used to make it look so convincingly like she's doing it all herself in the full body shots.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: First time director, George Nolfi, shot 90 locations around New York in 60 days. If you know anything about film-making, you too are inwardly saying, "Wow."

Q: How is the story/script?

A: It all holds together, except for one annoyingly unexplained Hollywood moment in the end. It's slight, and can be easily over-looked, if you accept what comes immediately after it.

Q: Is there anything else worth mentioning about the movie?

A: This is the kind of film that will be remade in 20 years. See it now, so that when the new version comes out, staring some "it" kid who's not even born yet, you can talk about how great the original was, and how they shouldn't even try to live up to it.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: The Adjustment Bureau Trailer

Back To Top

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: An orphan gets plucked from the streets and made a prince in the Persian Empire. But when he grows up, he gets framed as a traitor by someone trying to steal a magical dagger, in order to gain power in the kingdom.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, Ben Kingsley, Alfred Molina, Richard Coyle, Toby Kebbell, Gisli Orn Garoarsson, Steve Toussaint, Reece Ritchie

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. There is something very strange about trying to figure out what this movie wants to be. It requires too much suspension of disbelief for adults, but is possibly too mature and convoluted for kids. The special effects and warfare style are jarringly modern, despite the fact that the story and weapons are from the 500s B.C.... But I'm pretty sure that's the kind of confused mess you're gonna get when you try to make a movie about the Ancient Persian Empire that's based on a video game.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: The special effect that shows the time shifting might. Especially when you consider that a committee of people sat around for days-- possibly months-- planning what it was going to look like. Ha! Losers.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Brotherhood is a beautiful thing. And the more refined version of this movie might have got ya', but by the time this version gets around to that stuff, you're not taking it seriously enough to let it touch you. It's a lot like some dates I've been on.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Cleanest Shower-less Sand-Dwellers Ever! Even the dirty people look like they've recently encountered soap and water. And if you're royalty, forget it, even blood can't stick to you!

Q: How is the Acting?

A: There's something about Jake Gyllenhaal, where even when his muscles are bulging and covered in dust, he still looks like he was plucked right out of modern times. I think it's his snarky know-it-all smile. Diametrically opposed to that, I am always amazed at how Alfred Molina manages to slip into any role, in any place, and any time period, in such a way that most people still have no idea who he is, despite the fact that he's in nearly 50% of all Oscar nominated movies, and 70% of all blockbusters.*

Q: How is the Directing?

A: The special effects are distracting and confusing, both in their workmanship and in the choice to use them so obviously for acrobatics that should've been made to look like they had actually been accomplished.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: The story has some good twists, which might seem vaguely clever if the dialogue didn't spell it all out for you in excruciatingly on the nose exposition. But you know where I could have used a little on the nose exposition? In the explanation of why this character can survive deadly jumps and scale walls and single-handedly defeat whole armies. Does he have superpowers? Or is he a regular man, as the narration tries to imply? What's his deal and how did he get that way?

Q: Is there anything else worth mentioning about the movie?

A: *The percentages in the Acting section are completely made-up by me, and only based on my own personal observation of how brilliant Molina is at both acting and picking parts in commercial movies as well as indies that cause him to blow your mind without ever noticing that the dad in An Education is the same guy who played Doc Ock in Spiderman 2.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/prince-of-persia-the-sands-of-time/30387/trailers

Back To Top

Terminator Salvation

(Guest Review by Russ)

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: Future savior, John Connor (Christian Bale), leads a human resistance in a war against Skynet machines in order to save mankind.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Moon Bloodgood, Anton Yelchin, Helena Bonham Carter, Bryce Dallas Howard, Common, Jane Alexander, Michael Ironside

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. The Terminator franchise, which now consists of four movies (and one TV show, RIP), includes two bona fide classics (the first and second films), a boring one I can’t even remember (#3) and now Salvation which lands somewhere in the middle. The action is pretty cool and the machines are sort of like transformers with no paint, but the biggest thing missing is still James Cameron in the director’s chair.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: If you've heard the recording of Christian Bale's on-set freak out, then it probably already has.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Isn't it enough to know that he made his cinematographer cry? And he should be very proud of that, too, because it would certainly be the first time anyone has laughed or cried at one of his films.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: It actually already won a secret underground award for Film Most Likely to Make you go Deaf. And it turns out someone snuck out a snippet of audio from Bale's acceptance speech. I have titled it, "Ohhhhhhh, good for you!" (*warning: contains foul language) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrvMTv_r8sA

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Does anyone care about the acting in Terminator movies? Maybe James Cameron once did. Sam Worthington who is the real star of this movie actually makes an impression and from what I can tell he does it all by himself since the script did him no favors. And speaking of James Cameron, he cast Worthington as the star of his next movie, which is called Avatar and is supposed to blow everyone away when it comes out on December 18th. Proving once again James Cameron knows good acting. Anton Yelchin pops up in yet another summer blockbuster and you’d never know he’s the same guy who played Chekov in Star Trek – the kid has a future. Moon Bloodgood has a cool name and gives a cool performance to go with it. I think maybe Christian Bale is in this movie too, but he did not have pointy ears and a cape so it was hard to tell.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: McG can definitely direct action, and boy is there a lot of it in this movie. Pretty much wall-to-wall and some sequences are genuinely riveting. But there is so much of it, it only makes you recall what made the first two Terminator movies so good; namely the subversive humor, suspense, character development and quiet between the big action set pieces. There is no salvation from the noise in Salvation, and we learn almost zero about any of the characters. I mean, Bryce Dallas Howard plays a pregnant woman who is in a bunch of scenes with Christian Bale, but by the end I still had no idea if she was his wife or his maid. (And really, it didn’t matter either way but I’m thinking it should have.)

Q: How is the story/script?

A: The story is sort of interesting and has a decent twist to it, but it could have been way better and executed for more suspense. It all revolves around Marcus Wright, the Sam Worthington character and the less you know about him going in the more satisfying it will be. There is still that whole time-travel tripiness to the story, so it helps to have seen the first two films (at the very least). Maybe the fact this movie isn’t horrible is a triumph in itself. Or have my expectations for summer movies just fallen way too far?

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/terminator-salvation/31561/trailers

Back To Top