REVIEW: Green Lantern 3D

MOVIE
Green Lantern

CAST
Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively

RATING
PG-13

RELEASE
June 17, 2011

DIRECTOR
Martin Campbell

STUDIO(S)
Warner Bros. Pictures,
DC Comics

RUNNING TIME
1 hour 54 minutes



STARS
**









REVIEW:

It's Father's Day weekend and what better way to spend time with your dad then to go see a big budget superhero movie? Warner Bros. and DC have decided to release the much anticipated superhero flick, 'Green Lantern' in all of its 3D glory this weekend. This latest superhero adaptation stars Ryan Reynolds as the sometimes cocky and sarcastic pilot Hal Jordan, who suddenly is granted the responsibility of defending the universe as a Green Lantern. Back in November when Harry Potter 7 came out, a negatively received teaser for Green Lantern came out and there seemed that there was no hope for a good Green Lantern movie. However, our negative thoughts were flushed down the toilet as three fantastic trailers came into the spotlight. So now we have the final product, and the result is pretty mediocre. As much as I wanted to like Green Lantern, in the end there was nothing more than a good lead, killer visual effects, and spectacular 3D. Everything else is just bad in the movie. As much as this movie had going for it, Green Lantern might possibly be the worst superhero movie I've seen since Spider Man 3.

SYNOPSIS (Courtesy of ComicBookMovie.com)
In a universe as vast as it is mysterious, a small but powerful force has existed for centuries. Protectors of peace and justice, they are called the Green Lantern Corps. A brotherhood of warriors sworn to keep intergalactic order, each Green Lantern wears a ring that grants him superpowers. But when a new enemy called Parallax threatens to destroy the balance of power in the Universe, their fate and the fate of Earth lie in the hands of their newest recruit, the first human ever selected: Hal Jordan. Hal is a gifted and cocky test pilot, but the Green Lanterns have little respect for humans, who have never harnessed the infinite powers of the ring before. But Hal is clearly the missing piece to the puzzle, and along with his determination and willpower, he has one thing no member of the Corps has ever had: humanity. With the encouragement of fellow pilot and childhood sweetheart Carol Ferris, if Hal can quickly master his new powers and find the courage to overcome his fears, he may prove to be not only the key to defeating Parallax…he will become the greatest Green Lantern of all.

It seems that Warner Bros. is having a bad year so far with their movies, in terms of quality. So far this year from the studio, we've had movies like Sucker Punch and The Hangover Part II. Both movies were over hyped, but turning out to be poorly thought out movies. Since I never saw those two movies, I can only believe what I read. Many have criticized Sucker Punch for a terrible script and being nothing more than cool special effects. The Hangover Part II was criticized because it was apparently the same movie as the first, just with a different location. I believe that Warner Bros. is purposely making mediocre movies in anticipation of making the final Harry Potter film the best it can be. Without Harry Potter come July 15, WB will have to start making more decent movies. Green Lantern is luckily the last movie in this trend, so let's hope for some good movies in the future.

I've never been a fan of sub-plots in movies ever. Sometimes they work in movies that have quirky characters and a smart plot. However the other 90% of movies that are bad have unnecessary sub-plots. Green Lantern unfortunately is no exception to this curse. I can't even remember exactly how many sub-plots there were in this movie, all I know is that they were all useless in this movie. These plots ranged from Hal Jordan trying to live up to his father to Hector Hammond (the Big Headed dude) be envious of Hal and having a crush on Blake Lively. That's why I had to get a synopsis for this movie from another website. Even on the website I used there were about five paragraphs worth of a summary. When a movie needs that much space for a single summary, you know that there's a story problem with the movie. There was even some supposed sentimental moment in which Hal is talking to his nephew just like his father talked to him as a kid. This moment wasn't needed at all, but I'm guessing that it was put in there for the sake of generating a family audience. In fact, I think that only die hard Green Lantern fans and general family audiences will be able to enjoy this movie. I've never read a single Green Lantern comic, but I expect the story in the comics to be far more superior to the cluttered storylines featured in this movie.

A bad story is only backed up by the cast in its movie. The worst thing about this movie was the somewhat large supporting cast. The supporting cast includes the undeniably sexy Blake Lively, the well known Peter Sarsgaard, and Tim Robbins. Blake Lively is clearly in this movie just for show, just like with Megan Fox in Transformers. Even though I can live with staring at these women for two hours each, there's no denying that they are both bad actresses. Like Natalie Portman in the Star Wars prequels bad. However I can give props to Lively for actually being a better actress than Fox. Believe it or not, Lively was not the worst actor in this movie. That position is a tie with the father and son roles of Peter Sarsgaard and Tim Robbins. They may good actors, but they are used poorly in this movie. Sarsgaard looks like Morgan Spurlock in the terrible makeup job and is laughing in almost every scene he's in with company. Tim Robbins is incredibly unbelievable as the father of Hector. I'm not sure if he just didn't want to be in the movie or if he was purposely acting bad throughout, but the truth is that he was unneeded in this movie and served no purpose being here in the first place.

Mark Strong is also in this movie playing Sinestro, the supposed arch enemy to the Green Lantern corps. He was only in the movie for about 20 minutes, including a stupid after credits scene that didn't make any sense to the movie at all. I think he was just in the movie to play a role in a possible sequel. The worst thing about Mark Strong in this movie is that he wasn't good as Sinestro at all. He was like an even more emotionless version of Professor X in the X-Men movies. In summary, all of the supporting actors were terrible in this movie. The only saving point in terms of acting is Ryan Reynolds in the lead role. Reynolds was very good playing a cocky pilot turned superhero in this movie. Sure he may not be another Tony Stark, but he was acceptable for what the role required. Like I said before, I never read a single Green Lantern comic, so i have no idea whether he perfected the comic book role. All I know is that Ryan Reynolds got the comedic timing right, as well as be a badass superhero. However, it seemed like he was trying to copy Christopher Reeve in the original Superman movies. That's when it got very corny. other than those moments, Reynolds was a good presence in a mediocre superhero movie.

The 3D and visual effects in this movie were good, but nothing spectacular. Sure seeing the planet Oa in 3D looked really cool, but that took up about 15% of the entire movie. For the rest of the movie we get three fight sequences and a slew of terrible dialogue in every scene in the movie. There was one scene on Oa where Hal projects a machine gun to battle off Sinestro for training that looked really cool in 3D. Actually all of the things Hal projected out of his mind looked incredibly cool in 3D. Well, the Hot Wheels like sequence in one of the big battle scenes was a bit cheesy. but still, the visual effects and 3D were really cool. They aren't any cinematic accomplishments, but they were just cool for the type of movie this is. However this superhero movie should have been much more than cool visual effects/3D and a fun main lead.

Despite having a strong main lead and some cool 3D effects, Green Lantern disappoints with a weak supporting cast, an awful script, and one of the most useless after credits scenes in recent memory. I had so many expectations for this movie because the trailers made this movie look like an epic of epic epicness. Instead, I just got a very corny, very stupid superhero movie that leaves me on the verge of asking for a refund. This isn't as bad as Batman & Robin, but this movie is just as bad as Spider Man 3. Spider Man 3 had many storylines too, as well as a bad script. This movie is the Spider Man 3 of DC movies. If you hated Spider Man 3 for all of the reasons I mentioned, you may hate Green Lantern. I think I hated this movie because I expected an action packed superhero film, like Iron Man and The Dark Knight. If you go in expecting a movie like Iron Man, you will be disappointed. All I know is that I didn't enjoy Green Lantern. People may enjoy this movie for the corniness it is. I am just one of the many who didn't. I will give the movie props for awesome 3D. But nevertheless, Green lantern is so far the most disappointing superhero movie in the last ten years. This movie isn't the most disappointing movie of the year. No no, that position is taken up by Mr. Popper's Penguins...




PREVIEWS YOU MAY SEE:

Transformers:
Dark Of The Moon

Horrible Bosses

Harry Potter And
The Deathly Hallows: Part 2

Cowboys & Aliens

Conan The Barbarian

Moneyball

REVIEW: The Art Of Getting By

MOVIE
The Art Of Getting By

CAST
Freddie Highmore,
Emma Roberts

RATING
PG-13

RELEASE
June 17, 2011

DIRECTOR
Gavin Wiesen

STUDIO
Fox Searchlight Pictures

RUNNING TIME
1 hour 23 minutes




STARS
***










REVIEW:

Predictable, short, and unoriginal. These are only a few of the words to describe The Art Of Getting By. The Art Of Getting By premiered at Sundance 2011 under the name 'Homework,' later being picked up by 20th Century Fox's indie company Fox Searchlight Pictures. You would expect from a premiere at Sundance and a distribution deal from the company who brought us 'Slumdog Millionaire,' 'Napoleon Dynamite,' and 'Juno' would be a surefire tour de force, right? Unfortunately, you're wrong. This movie is far from being terrible, like how it seems I'm saying it to be. However, this movie's not terrific either. They get the whole "I have no idea what the hell I want to do in the future" concept right, and the chemistry is good between the two leads. However there are many problems I had, including lack of originality and predictability. Despite the many flaws this movie had, coming especially from an admirer of the Sundance Film Festival and Fox Searchlight Pictures, the chemistry between the two leads, the light humor that comes from the characters, and the realistic life question "What am I supposed to do with my life?," make me like 'The Art of Getting By' just enough for me to recommend it.

The story goes like this: lonely senior boy meets eccentric senior girl, and girl helps boy see better side of life. Nothing new or original, but satisfying enough for what the movie was. Just to get it over with, allow me to explain my problems with the movie. The first one is a combination of the running time and the pacing of the movie. How can you make a teen dramedy only 83 minutes and just keep jumping through time every 10 minutes? I don't know what the director was thinking, but all I know is that I got lost a bit at one point in the movie. One minute you're at a party on New Year's Eve, the next minute you're at a dinner on Valentines Day without any explanation on where we are in time. The movie shows the course of about six months in 83 minutes. However I must say that this movie didn't feel as short as Beastly, which squeezed an entire year into a short 86 minutes. That movie also jumped around the timeline in a matter of minutes, much more than this movie did. The short running time and quick pacing of the movie only took away from my experience.

Wouldn't we all like to see something original, rather than it being based off of already existing source material? The romantic aspect of this movie is the same one we've been watching on the big screen for nearly two decades. In every love story, there will always be the loving phase, then the break-up phase, and the let's get back together phase. That's the basic formula in every 21st century romantic dramedy. Then there's always that terrible "running through the airport" scene at the end that is so overdone. Luckily, this movie doesn't exactly have that airport sequence. But we can all agree that romantic movies lack any kind of originality whatsoever. When can we get a romantic dramedy as good as the ones in the 90s, like Sleepless in Seattle or Almost Famous? Luckily, this movie does have a bit of originality put into it. The only original and refreshing thing in this movie is Freddie Highmore's character, George.

Freddie Highmore is a natural as George. He plays a character who is socially awkward and doesn't give a crap on what may be in store for his future. The character barely shows any emotion, which is why I love the character. He's not afraid to be his own person, and it never seems that he's asking for any kind of friendship. In my opinion, he is a combination of the male protagonists from both Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and Napoleon Dynamite. I believe that this character can relate to the two male leads in each movie because they are both outside of the usual teen boundary, not swearing all of the time and are not in any cliques at school. They just do their own things, and most of the time they can accept that. I liked Emma Roberts, the niece of Julia Roberts, in this movie. She plays a typical teenage girl, where you don't quite know exactly know what they're thinking at that particular moment. For being in a middle school filled with girls like Emma Roberts in this movie, you understand what their deal is. The movie also had a strong supporting cast, including Rita Wilson and Blair Underwood, who are quite good in this movie. They may have to work with an uninspired script, but for what it's worth they acted very well. The casting was probably the best thing the movie had to offer.

So the movie was uninspired, incredibly predictable, and sometimes a bit mediocre. However, the movie is saved by the casting, a sweet chemistry between the two leads, and the universal question that every teen has to ask: What the hell am I doing for my future? This is the story about a kid who doesn't know what he's going to do, so all he can do is slack around and do absolutely nothing. Although it's not good at all, kids in the real world are like Freddie Highmore, George in this movie. This movie shows what can happen if you let yourself go and find someone to call a friend, possibly something more than that. If you like someone as George likes Sally, Emma Roberts in this movie, go for her before someone else does. Unfortunately George suffers this fate about halfway into this movie, but this is a romance so we all know what's going to happen in the end. Even so, we all can't help but get a big chuckle about even the slightest erection joke in your average movie. It worked in Austin Powers, and it also works well here.

So is this movie a must see? No. Is this the movie that I would choose on a weekend to see with all of my friends? No. However, is it a good 83 minutes well spent? Yes. This isn't something to rush out to go see, but it's a nice movie for what it is. I doubt that you will crown this as the greatest movie of 2011, but it's just a sweet, sometimes sad and real movie with some quirky moments and a nice romance between the two leads. If there's nothing else out in theaters or on DVD and you just want to watch something, then out of the many choices, I would definitely choose to watch this one again. What are you going to do for your future? Are you going to slack off for the rest of your life, or are you just going to live?

REVIEW: Super 8: The IMAX Experience

MOVIE
Super 8

CAST
Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning

RATING
PG-13

RELEASE
June 10, 2010

DIRECTOR
J.J. Abrams

STUDIO(S)
Paramount Pictures,
Amblin Entertainment,
Bad Robot Productions

RUNNING TIME
1 hour 52 minutes





STARS
****












REVIEW:

From the mind of director J.J. Abrams, the supervision and hope of Steven Spielberg, and the sense of originality that we haven't seen in many moons comes Super 8. Super 8 takes regular nerdy kids, puts them in a late 1970s setting, and have them witness a massive train explosion while making a amateur zombie film using a Super 8 camera, hence the title. Even from the early teaser shown with Iron Man 2 a little over 13 months ago, I had a strong feeling that this movie would be fantastic. The trailer that showed actual footage just made the movie my most anticipated film of 2011. Now after seeing the final feature, I'm am excited and happy to tell you all that Super 8 succeeded my expectations as it had thrills, chills, laughs, and heart. This may be pushing it a little, due to us only being through mearly half of 2011, but I believe that Super 8 is not only the best film of the summer, but the best movie of 2011, period. Sure, we have harry Potter, Transformers, and Tintin coming out during the rest of the year, but I believe that Super 8 will still go down as the single best movie of 2011 by far.

In 1979, Steven Spielberg had already come out with Close Encounters and Jaws, with only Indiana Jones and E.T. being a few years away. Super 8 revolves around the story of six kids trying to make a low budget super 8 zombie film in the summer of '79. On one night while they're shooting the movie at the local train station, they soon become the only witnesses of a massive train crash that destroys almost everything around it. The kids then soon find that someone or something has escaped from the train wreck, soon roaming around their quiet little town. Pretty soon the U.S. government comes to town to investigate the crash, while at the same thing keeping something bigger under wraps. Pretty soon one of the kids' fathers, the town deputy gets more and more suspicious of why the government is roaming the town.

Imagine if Stand By Me, E.T., Close Encounters, and The Goonies had a baby together, and had J.J. Abrams nurse it for its first few years. That's basically the layout of Super 8. If you're going into Super 8 expecting a full fledged sci-fi thriller, you may be disappointed. The real story and emotion from the movie comes from the six kids making the super 8 movie. That's right, a summer blockbuster with more heart than action. The kids in this movie, despite most of them being newcomers to this type of movie play their parts to perfection, and feel so real when watching them. The kids, to me were the best part of the entire movie. I'm going to give you a challenge right now prior to seeing Super 8: try to find yourself amongst the six kids in the movie.

I could relate to each kid, and feel their excitement, pain, and fear experienced throughout the movie. These kids are going to have a great future in movies because of Super 8. The best thing about the kid characters in this movie is the chemistry between Joel Courtney, who plays Joe (the main character) and Elle Fanning, who plays Alice (his love crush). With experience from the point of view of Joe, I think that they're chemistry was pitch perfect, showing a slowly bonding friendship that soon becomes a young relationship. The devotion that Joe has to Alice is very beautiful to see on screen, because he acts like how every adolescent boy reacts to seeing his crush. For those who currently have secret crushes, whether you're 12 or 35 can relate to Joe and Alice in this movie. That's why this movie is so great. Even if you're an adult watching this movie, you still feel your inner childhood being immersed into this sci-fi spectacle. For the biggest heart in a sci-fi movie since E.T., Super 8 is allthemore worth the theater experience.

J.J. Abrams' inspiration for Super 8 comes from Steven Spielberg's early movies, and that is clearly shown throughout the movie. This movie takes elements of such Spielberg productions such as Close Encounters and The Goonies and brings those themes into the modern age. For young ones who haven't seen a more mature Spielberg movie like Jaws or Close Encounters, this could be a good start for them. Kids would be able to understand the older movies better, as well as not get bored during Close Encounters, which happens to be a slow movie at some parts. However, this movie is not a kids movie at all. I'd say let those over the age of 10 see this movie, therefore they won't be as traumatized. This movie will make everyone in the theater jump a lot, which adds to the fun for most moviegoers. Kids may get scared by the monster in this movie, better yet the numerous attacks by the monster. But at least these scares aren't as intense as they would be in The Goonies, Cloverfield, or Poltergeist. For kids over 10 who are just getting an intrest into horror movies, then Super 8 may be a good start for kids seeing thrillers on the big screen. However for those kids who are experiencing a thriller/horror film for the first time, don't pay the extra money for The IMAX Experience.

I got the chance to see this movie during a sneak preview in IMAX. While most movies aren't exactly qualified to become a part of the IMAX experience, I believe that Super 8 is a definate must see in IMAX. It's not because of the picture resolution or immersion that something like The Dark Knight had, but it's because of sound. I've never jumped so much in a movie before and lived to tell the tale, but Super 8 is that breaking point. Seeing Super 8 in IMAX not only immerses you into the story, but it also makes you feel a part of the train wreck and the cahos that comes after it. The sound loves to be jammed into your ears, so i say let it. Although the usual IMAX ticket varies from $15-$20 a person, I believe that you may not have as much of a fun time jumping in an average movie theater as you would in IMAX. So if you have the money for a single ticket, I say go see Super 8 in IMAX and let the soundwaves do the rest.

With the biggest heart to come in ages, a teriffic homage to Hollywood's biggest director in history, and some of the most likeable kids to come since The Goonies, Super 8 is the must see movie of the summer. Everyone can relate to the characters in this movie, because we were all in a similar situation like these kids are in before. We all had first crushes, and obbsessions over many things. All J.J. did was add a sci-fi element into the movie to draw more of an intrest to the modern audience. I distinctly remember the movie Flipped, which also dealed with first crushes and obsessive best friends. I love these kinds of coming of age movies because I can relate to them so well. I've had many crushes in my late elementary school/early middle school days, and I do have a couple of cocky, self absorbed friends who I don't care for most of the time. The movies released these days about coming of age play these types of modern age settings perfectly, yet also adding a bit of excitement to the characters involved.

Adults, you have all been in the types of situations that these kids have been in at that type of age. Well, you never fought off the U.S. government to find a runaway monster, but I think you know what I mean. Kids will be kids, and that is clearly shown in Super 8. It works as a sci-fi thriller and has a coming of age story. For those who don't get that aspect of this movie, then stop expecting too much out of movies with kids as the main protagonists. As a kid, I believe that Super 8 is the best film of 2011. It brings out your inner childhood and helps you revisit some of the best times you had as a kid. There is a brief part in this movie where the five main boys are sitting around singing 'My Sharona,' and that's when I knew that this was a very realistic movie. It shows kids just doing what kids do for fun: goof off and sing great songs. That's why Super 8 is the absolute must see movie of 2011. I cannot wait to see this movie again and again and revisit these likeable characters. Plus, I need to get me one of those Super 8 cameras, if you know what I mean.




PREVIEWS YOU MAY SEE:

Cowboys & Aliens
(Non-IMAX)

Transformers:
Dark Of The Moon

Puss In Boots

Real Steel

Cars 2

Harry Potter
And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2

REVIEW: X-Men: First Class

MOVIE
X-Men: First Class

CAST
James McAvoy,
Michael Fassbender

RATING
PG-13

RELEASE
June 3, 2011

DIRECTOR
Matthew Vaughn

STUDIO
20th Century Fox

RUNNING TIME
2 hours 12 minutes






STARS
***3/4












REVIEW:

I never saw the critically acclaimed films Kick-Ass or Layer Cake. but those movies, directed by the X-Men series' latest director Matthew Vaughn were both very well recieved by audiences and critics alike. That was one of the many perks that X-Men: First Class had before it was released. However, the rushed shooting dates and average trailers made this movie seem less enjoyable than it was eventually going to be. Yes, I am very happy to report that X-Men: First Class is quite an excellent movie. It has the concept that the first two X-Men movies, the charm of any Marvel movie, and the bad-ass-ness of any superhero movie in existance. This movie is the perfect prequel to the X-Men franchise, and in my opinion may be the best X-Men movie of them all. I liked Thor a month ago, yet I noticed many of its flaws while watching. Now it's a month later, and I absolutely loved X-Men: First Class.

Before we called him Professer X, he was known as Charles Xavier, a gifted indivitual who can read minds. Before we called him Magneto, he was known as Erik Lehnsherr, a survivor of the Holocaust who can control all kinds of metal items and isdesperately seeking revenge on the man who killed his mother during WWII. As World War III is quickly being formed, Charles and Erik recruit a group of extraordinary kids with special powers, other known as "mutants." The man responsible for creating another war is Sebastian Shaw, a mutant who also happens to be the murderer of Erik's mother. While the mutants are being recruited, Erik is secretly planning to take revenge on Shaw for killing his mother. It is the events in this movie that supposedly set off the chain of events to occur in X-Men and X2. (let's just forget that 'The Last Stand' and 'Wolverine' ever happened, okay?)

A little over two years ago, another fantastic origin story came onto the spotlight. That movie's name was Star Trek, and I would be surprised to find people who didn't like it at all. The reason why I mention Star Trek is because this movie is the Star Trek of 2011. For people who love to revisit younger versions of characters whom they grew up with, this is an absolutely excellent movie. This may be the best superhero movie I've seen since the original Iron Man. Thats right, I'm cpnsidering this movie far more superior to The Dark Knight. I like this more than The Dark Knight for a few reasons: the first reason is that I believe that The Dark Knight was a bit overrrated, due to the fantastic preformance of the late Heath Ledger. The second reason is that I'm not as much a DC fan as I am a Marvel. The third and final reason is that DC always is too realistic for superhero films. Marvel films are just made to be unrealiastic superhero films. They're fun, witty, and sometimes over the top, yet most of the time they are purely excellent. Take Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Elektra, The Punisher, and the two other X-Men films out of the mix and you can consider all Marvel movies to be excellent.

I like how all of the recent Marvel movies these days have superb acting. Ever since Iron Man came out, the main lead actors have always been award worthy. The most notable mention must be Robert Downey Jr. as the title role in both Iron Man and Iron Man 2. Fox superhero movies have never had teriffic acting, with 2009's X-Men origins: Wolverine and 2005's Fantastic Four being prime examples. Finally, we have a Fox superhero film with fantastic acting. There is no singular main character, there are only two main co-stars. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are fantastic in this movie. They are funny, interesting, and most importantly, they are incredible badasses! James McAvoy shows a side of Professor X that we've never seen before. He doesn't seem so emotionless as he does in the first two X-Men movies, despite still being such a brainiac. In this movie, you see Charles being a college student: drinking and hitting on women. He sort of reminds me of a smarter Tony Stark in the 60s. Michael Fassbender actually may be the show-stealer of the movie. Even though I mentioned that these two stars are fantastic co-stars, there's something about Mr. Fassbender's performance as Erik/Magneto that steals the whole movie. You actually gain feelings for this troubled character, despite the destiny he has coming for him. He is now possibly the coolest supervillan of all time. All of the acting in this movie was great, but it was the two leads who were undeniably fantastic.

Despite my desire to give this a perfect four star rating, there's only one reason why I cannot. Despite being a prequel, this movie had no relations to X-Men: The Last Stand or X-Men Origins: Wolverine. This may be entering spoiler territory, so those who haven't seen this x-men or the previous two should stop reading this paragraph NOW. At the end of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, you see the young mutants escaping the science facility encounter Professor X. X can walk, yet he has no head of hair on him. At the end of this movie, Charles loses his ability to walk, yet still has his head of hair present. At the beginning of X-Men: The Last Stand, we find Charles and Erik meeting a young Jean Grey, who plays a significant part in the original trilogy. In this movie, she is not present anywhere in this movie, thus erasing her story in X-Men 3 from that storyline. I felt that Matthew Vaughn, the film's director should have revisited the original four movies and try to incorporate those stories into this one. After all, the mediocre third and fourth X-Men movies are still a part of the series. Still, this was just one wrong doing in this movie, and it never affects the way you enjoy the movie at all.

So with the charm of Iron Man, the special effects and awesome action of the first two X-Men movies, and the single best use of the "F" word in cinema history, X-Men: First Class is with no doubt one of the best movies of 2011. The movie makes you learn about the past of some of the most iconic superheroes in recent history, as well as give you explanations on how characters become the way they are. The cameos in this movie help give the audience some great laughs and small hints of characters that will be in the first two X-Men movies. There are four superhero movies coming out this summer. If Marvel plays their cards right, they may have one hell of a good summer. However, Green Lantern sure looks amazing. I believe that this movie may havde a strong shot as the best superhero movie of the summer. I'm saying this because I thought that Thor was just an o.k. movie. Thor might've just been o.k., but X-Men: First Class was a spectacular movie. Even if you're not an X-Men fan, you will still enjoy this movie because of the historical content this movie has. The summer is getting better and better by the week, and we're barley through June yet. I officially declare X-Men: First Class as one of the best movies of the entire year.





PREVIEWS YOU MAY SEE:

Green Lantern


Mr. Popper's Penguins


The Change-Up


Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes


Real Steel


The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

REVIEW: POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold

MOVIE
POM Wonderful Presents:
The Greatest Movie Ever Sold

CAST
Morgan Spurlock

RATING
PG-13

RELEASE
April 22, 2011

DIRECTOR
Morgan Spurlock

STUDIO
Sony Pictures Classics

RUNNING TIME
1 hour 27 minutes




STARS
****








REVIEW:

The Greatest Movie Ever Sold is exactly what it is. That may not sound like much, but just allow me to explain. This film, from Morgan Spurlock, the director of the acclaimed Super Size Me is attempting to make a movie about advertising, while selling sponsorship funds to various companies for advertising bits in this movie. Companies like Sheetz, MovieTickets.com, and POM Wonderful all paid to be in this movie. That's how this entire movie was funded, and that's how this movie was made. This film is about the making of the film that's being presented on screen. This sin't the usual type of movie I would pay to see, but I'm glad I did. Even though it took me a half hour and my grandfather's company to get to see this movie, it all paid off in the end. The Greatest Movie Ever Sold is pure excellency. I couldn't stop laughing at some of the gags that Mr. Spurlock showed on screen. I laughed, I learned, and I loved this movie.

This movie isn't just a documentary, it's also a fantastic comedy. I laughed in this movie as much as I do in any Will Ferrell or Adam Sandler comedy. Mr. Spurlock is a gifted director, and a gifted comedian, making us laugh with the in-movie commercials and commercial ideas he gives companies like Sheetz and POM Wonderful. The audience in my movie, which might have been around 15-20 people, was also laughing very hard at the in jokes presented. I couldn't stop laughing at some moments, because Spurlock really knows how to entertain his audience. I believe that this is a movie for regular movie goers who enjoy comedies. Just go into this movie and think of it as a comedy with true facts.

It's amazing to think that we are persuaded by companies to buy their products without even knowing it. In an experiment that Morgan did in the movie, he was put in a "Clockwork Orange" stage where he was presented with three types of scenes: horror, comedy, and sex. In the end, Morgan had the strong urge to have a bottle of Coke. This was fascinating to me because humans buy many things everyday, most of the time because they are persuaded to without even realizing it. We as humans watch too many movies and television shows, so we get ideas of buying or seeing things implanted into our brains without even taking notice of it. Why do you think that when you see a Marvel movie like Iron Man or Thor, you see so many product placements for Burger King and Dr. Pepper? Because those companies pay to be featured in the movie, with the assumption that people will be influenced to buy their products. Unfortunately, this has worked for a long time, and won't be stopping any time soon. This movie, like Super Size Me is a gift to America. This is teaching America about what is going on behind the doors of businesses. We are being brainwashed by corperate businesses, and this movie is just the arrow pointing this out.

Whoever is over the age of 12 and hasn't seen Super Size Me should be out at the local video store as we speak. I had to watch Super Size Me for a 6th grade health class, and I loved it, despite seeing a very graphic surgery and orange vomit. (Ewww) The best part about my experience of that movie was that my entire class was really into it. They were absorbed into this realistically funny story, like they should've been. Now this movie comes along, and nobody has even heard of it. This is disappointing to me as a critic because I'm supposed to guide people to great movies and keep them away from the crappy ones. I want everyone who loved Super Size Me, and just documentaries in general to see this movie. This is possibly one of the best things playing out there right now, yet I don't exactly know how many theatres are left showing this movie in the country. It's not just the fact that this movie has been in theaters for more than a month, but the movie was just never popular among the movie-going crowd. The movie was only at the closest indie movie theater for two weeks before it was pulled. That's why I had to go all the way to Philadelphia (a half hour drive) to see this movie. And while it was worth it, I still wish that more people got to experience this movie. I hope it does better on DVD, at least.

Whoever is near a theater playing this movie should really go out and see this movie. This is THE documentary to see this year. I'd guess that this movie is out of most theaters by now, so I'd suggest seeing this movie when it comes out on DVD. I think that this movie will obtain a strong cult following, kind of like comedies like Bill & Ted and The Big Lebowski. Spurlock won't obtain the status that Jeff Bridges got when he played "The Dude," but he will obtain status as one of the best documentary film directors in recent history. I can't wait to see what he thinks of next. And believe me, I will be one of the first people in line to catch that movie. Who knows, maybe it will be about what makes people get interested in a particular movie. We may have to wait a couple of years to see that movie. So for now, do yourself a favor and check out POM Wonderful Presents: The greatest Movie Ever Sold.



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