Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightnight Thief

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman) discovers that he is the Demi-God son of Poseidon, and that it is up to him to find Zeus' lightning bolt and save his mother from Hades' clutches before the Gods go to war and destroy the Earth for good.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Logan Lerman, Brandon T. Jackson, Alexandra Daddario, Jake Abel, Sean Bean, Pierce Brosnan, Steve Coogan, Catherine Keener, Rosario Dawson, Melina Kanakaredes, Kevin McKidd, Joe Pantoliano, Uma Thurman

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Go! Come on, just from the description you can tell this film has it all: adventure, battle, and a really cute new teenage leading man!... boy.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: I think it's funny that I went to see a movie aimed at 10 year old boys and liked it.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: I'm not confessing to anything... but to be fair, it's not my fault, it used the same trick that got me choked up in Valentine's Day, and that trick gets me every time, because it's so easy, it's practically like cheating! Plus, I was already feeling vulnerable from all the scary creatures that had me jumping out of my seat on a regular basis.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: It could probably get a Kid's Choice Award on Nickelodeon. But if not this time, then I imagine the sequel will... No, they haven't made it yet, I'm just assuming that was the point.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: No one does anything all that incredible, but I'm always impressed when people under 18 can do anything at all.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: There are a lot of beautiful special effects made out of the elements: The skies, the water, the fire, and the debris floating in the air of the Underworld.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Everything is set up in exceedingly obvious ways that a 10 year old could see coming, but at least it always pays off. And the adventure genuinely gets you wondering how they're going to get out of some of the precarious situations they get into.

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

A: NSFW: When Pierce Brosnan reveals himself to be a centaur and his bottom half becomes that of a horse, it looks like he has a gigantic package where his human parts would have been. Did I just say that out loud?

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/percy-jackson-and-the-olympians-the/32797/trailers

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Waltz with Bashir

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: Waltz with Bashir is an animated documentary with subtitles about trying to remember being a soldier in the first Israeli-Lebanon war of the early 80s... Have I sold you on it yet?

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: The writer-director, Ari Folman, and a bunch of his friends, therapists, and battle-mates.

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. If you weren't scared off by the parts of the description that mention animation, documentary, subtitles, war, Israel, or Lebanon, then you are probably into highbrow, art movies about serious matters that make you think about what they're trying to say instead of just telling you, and you should absolutely see this movie because you will think it's a masterpiece.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Has Beirut ever been funny?

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Only if you cry at trivial little things like genocide.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: It won almost all of the Israeli Academy Awards, so it follows that it is Israel's official submission for the foreign language category at the Oscars.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: I was given a program at my screening, which included a director's bio that describes how he went off to travel the world for a year, and after two weeks, he realized he hated traveling, so he settled down in Southeast Asia and spent the rest of the year writing letters to his friends pretending to be in all the different places he was supposed to have gone. His point was that his ability to use his imagination to fabricate these letters was what lead him to decide to become a filmmaker. My point is that I don't buy that this is a documentary. I think the use of animation is the perfect cover-up for the fact that this story and these characters are in part or in whole totally made up. Now that that's been cleared up, I can tell you that the acting is fine.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: The animation is captivating from the first frame to the last.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Another way in which the writer covers up the fact that this story is (allegedly-- according to me) invented and fabricated, is by starting the movie out with a fascinating tid-bit about how the human memory works. One of the characters explains how when the mind can't remember something, it fills in the rest with whatever fits into the parts it remembers. This is then used to justify the fact that all the first person accounts of what supposedly happened in the various battles, 20 years ago, could also be in part or in whole totally made up. That said, the way in which this film examines the faultiness of memory is what I found most intriguing about it.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/search/waltz%20with%20bashir/trailers

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