ElPrez's stats
- Review count21
- Helpfulness votes1
- First reviewMay 16, 2009
- Last reviewJuly 6, 2013
- Featured reviews0
- Average rating3.8
Overall rating
4
/
5
More Poignant than Funny
PostedJuly 6, 2013
ElPrez
from Los Angeles
Age:45 to 54
Gender:Male
Goes to the movies:weekly
Dialogue
4
/
5
Special Effects
3
/
5
Art Direction
3
/
5
Acting
4
/
5
Story
4
/
5
Camerawork
4
/
5
You have to detest movie marketers who aren't confident enough in their own film that they feel compelled to trick the audience into believing it's something that it's actually not. Thank God for Sam Rockwell, who's a fantastic character, and to a lesser extent Steve Carell, who plays a reciprocally rotten creep. It's not the offbeat hijinks-ensues one would expect of some of the comparisons, clips and tag lines used to get people into the theater. It's instead a really nice, poignant, coming of age story about a boy dealing with the aftermath of his family's divorce and the awkward attempts to build a new family out of either Carell's lousy excuse for a pseudo father or the colorful characters and his boss (Rockwell) at the local water park. A nice film. Not a laugh-out-louder or offbeat Wes Anderson film.
Pros great story, great actors
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Overall rating
5
/
5
Wonderful Escape into True Insight. Loved It.
PostedMay 26, 2012
ElPrez
from Los Angeles
Age:45 to 54
Gender:Male
Goes to the movies:weekly
Dialogue
5
/
5
Special Effects
3
/
5
Art Direction
5
/
5
Acting
5
/
5
Story
4
/
5
Camerawork
5
/
5
From the moment Bob Balaban introduces you to New Penzance Island, a place with no paved roads and where only footpaths enable it's offbeat denizens' lives to interconnect, your heart surrenders to a coming of age innocence so difficult to find in today's Facebook, X-Box Live and digitally interwoven world. Imagination and the undying power of initial attraction, suggestion and -- yeah -- the Khaki Scouts of New Penzance on the eve of the Hullabaloo, propel a typically oddball but enlightening cast through a tight, sound adventure toward the restoration of true love for all. And the world weariness of bare-chested but befuddled dad Bill Murray going out to chop down a tree in hopes of understanding his pre-teen daughter is not to be missed.
Pros great story, great actors, anyone who loves wes anderson will love this
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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Overall rating
4
/
5
Best in "Impossible" Series
PostedDecember 24, 2011
The "Mission Impossible" series may have begun a little slow and convoluted in #1 and #2 but definitely righted the ship for good in #3. "Ghost Protocol" lacks the intense villainy of Philip Seymour Hoffman, but the great news is that it packs that much more international intrigue and action. In fact, "Ghost" seems to have take a cue from the Daniel Craig school of James Bond. There are hot girls (Paula Patton), brooding moral conflict versus bad-ass redemption (Jeremy Renner) and a gizmo expert just shy of "Q" (Simon Pegg). But make sure to see "Ghost" in its full IMAX glory. Seeing the Dubai sequences in bigger-than-life is what puts the film well over the top.
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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Overall rating
4
/
5
Guys, No Need to Stay Away
PostedAugust 11, 2011
I'd not read the book. I'd never known the concept. And my wife didn't need to drag me to opening night. The theater was certainly dominated by women, but guys, there's no need to stay away. You might even earn some points with your wife and enjoy the film all the same. Emma Stone's her usual straight-forward charming self, standing up to the sort of two-faced conniving of the high and mighty bridge playing set. Set against a civil rights backdrop, an all-too-real story of how catty self-righteousness aggregates into true cultural malaise -- until a few find the courage and will to strike back. Very good film, and there's lots of good laughs to keep the story propelling forward.
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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Overall rating
5
/
5
Best of the Three, IMAX a Must
PostedJune 30, 2011
The other two "Transformers" had Megan Fox and a lot of effects but too often struggled to piece a credible story together. "Dark of the Moon" is a serious across-the-board upgrade (as much as it pains me, even to Fox). But don't waste your time seeing it in 2D or less than the IMAX. It DEMANDS both added features to truly appreciate. This is the exact kind of film they had in mind when Hollywood began exploring both of the relatively new conventions. Anything less and you're losing out.
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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Overall rating
2
/
5
Beautiful, but Disjointed
PostedMay 28, 2011
Which is probably, maybe possibly (?) the point. Or is it? Terrence Malick deserves credit for assembling a series of deft visual tone poems, and yet their flow, unity, cohesion or whatever else you might want to call it are rarely apparent, even for the extreemly self-disciplined and attentive. The film is like walking through a hall of impressionist art; sometimes wondrous, sometimes tantalizing, but after an hour or so alternating between illumination and further confusion, irritatingly vacant. If the goal of "Tree" (like the Great Pyramid) is to create a blank slate for each of us to impress our own feelings and therefore find wonder in our self-congratulation, then it succeeds. But every point typically has an arrow, mentor, artist or conspirator to deliver it, and in that role, Malick is surely absent.
No, I do not recommend this movie.
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Overall rating
5
/
5
Easily, the Best Film of 2010
PostedDecember 2, 2010
Simply a superb film, both in conception and execution. The enormous accomplishment of "The King's Speech" is the subtlety in which its ultimate power is conveyed. Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush are often astonishing, and yet simply another two members of a stellar cast. With one look, Helena Bonham Carter transforms stifled hopes to bountiful aspiration, for herself, her family and for an English nation. Flawless and all too rare in that it actually invokes contemplation.
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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Overall rating
4
/
5
It's a Winner
PostedOctober 9, 2010
Seeing "Secretariat" with my wife and two sons brought back memories of my being ten years old and having a poster (not a Fathead, but a poster) of Secretariat on by bedroom wall. How a horse could become a hero to a young boy has somehow later translated to the big screen 35 years later. "Secretariat" is simply heroic, and the film uses all of its colorful (and some wooden) characters to define it. DIane Lane as the patriarch of both her farm and her family is a pantheon of "Girl Power" to the middle aged set. Moms will love her (and she's easy on dads too) and the kids will learn something very important about going the distance.
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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Overall rating
3
/
5
Slow but Sure
PostedSeptember 4, 2010
Amazing how this film is called "The American," because if you're expecting fast-paced, action and intrigue typical of a big studio end-of-summer Hollywood film, you won't find it (at all). "The American" instead has all the makings of a very fine international film, including a lingering (and often beautiful) visual exposition and slowly growing appreciation for the emerging and lonely existential themes. For those willing to fall into its involving embrace, you'll enjoy it. For the many others who expect action and thrills, you unfortunately won't.
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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Overall rating
4
/
5
Good, Not Great
PostedAugust 6, 2010
It's been a pretty bad summer for movies, and we were definitely hoping that this one could deliver. With low expectations, it did quite well. I'd have enjoyed seeing more of Samuel Jackson and The Rock, who'd have been pretty funny foils. However, Ferrell and Wahlberg did not disappoint. Worth seeing, but don't expect one of Ferrell's all-time hits.
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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