Guilty or Not Guilty?? That Is The Question!!

So this past weekend I went back to my hometown Houston, Texas. I do not go home a lot so I was excited to see all of my friends and family. I still did not know what movie I wanted to see but it was OK because my parents chose for me! My parent's movie pick of the week was (wait for it) The Lincoln Lawyer. The film, directed by Brad Furman, stars Matthew McConaughey (Mick Haller), Ryan Phillippe (Louis Roulet) and Marisa Tomei (Maggie McPherson).

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Review
The Lincoln Lawyer, based on the best-selling novel by Michael Connelly, is about a Los Angeles criminal defense attorney named Mickey Haller (Matthew McConaughey) who operates out of the back of his Lincoln sedan. Haller has spent most of his career defending garden-variety criminals, until he lands the case of his career: defending Louis Roulet (Ryan Phillippe), a Beverly Hills playboy accused of rape and attempted murder. But the seemingly straightforward case suddenly develops into a deadly game of survival for Haller.

The Good
The casting director, did a great job selecting this cast. Everyone in the movie did a fantastic job acting their part but the stand out star of the movie was definitely Matthew McConaughey. Now normally I am used to see him running around shirtless, which I do not object to, and being a playboy in most of his movies. So it was a drastic change for me to see him take on such as serious role! Even though it was a serious movie, he still found a way to add his own touch of humor to it. This is definitely his strongest leading role he has done as of now. Every movie has some kind of love story, and this film is no different. Maggie McPherson (Tomei) is Mickey Haller’s (McConaughey)  love interest in the movie. They had good chemistry and they made their connection seem very believable. Another good thing about this movie is that it had fantastic storyline which included surprising plots. It was like a roller coaster and I had no idea where the story was going to take me next.

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The Bad
I do not have a lot of bad things to say about the movie. The one critique I would give it is that it was pretty long. The previews and the movie together had a running time of 2 hours and 15 minutes.

Overall
Since it was my parent’s choice, I was neutral about seeing the movie.  I hadn’t seen many previews or promotions for this movie, so I was not quite sure what to expect. Now normally I do not like roller coasters, but I thoroughly enjoyed The Lincoln Lawyer. There was not a time during the movie where I was not sitting on the edge of my seat or trying to guess what was going to happen next! The Lincoln Lawyer gets a whopping 9.1 on the Chan-o-Meter. The movie also had great reviews; Peter Travers from The Rolling Stones said the Lincoln Lawyer was a "slam bang twister of a legal thriller”. Even though the movie had great reviews, Deadline.com reported that it came in 4th in the box office on its opening weekend bringing in $13.3 million. Even though it didn't do that well on its opening weekend, I suspect after the word gets out about how great this movie is, it will bring in a lot more money before it leaves the theaters.

On To The Next
So far I have seen a love story (Beastly), a thriller (Red Riding Hood) and a drama ( The Lincoln Lawyer). As you can see, I like a lot of different genres of movies! Next week I plan on seeing the new action packed movie called Source Code. I have seen a ton of commercials and promotions for it, so we will see if it can top the Lincoln Lawyer! Do you think the Source Code will be better?

What Big Eyes You Have Grandma!

During spring break I had a lot of time to do whatever I wanted!! I watched plenty of movies on Netflix and an abundance of Lifetime movies. But as I said in my last post, the movie of choice in the box office this week was Red Riding Hood. The movie was directed by Catherine Hardwicke and stars Amanda Seyfried, Gary Oldman, Billy Burke, Shiloh Fernandez and Max Irons.

(Picture retrieved from www.englishtap.com)

 

In this version of the classic kids tale, Red Riding Hood is a girl named Valerie (Amanda Seyfried), who lives in a small village called Daggerhorn that has been plagued by the curse of a werewolf for years. Valerie is a beautiful young woman torn between two men. She is in love with outsider Peter (Shiloh Fernandez), but her parents have arranged for her to marry the wealthy Henry (Max Irons). Unwilling to marry Henry, Valerie and Peter plan to runaway together until Valerie’s older sister is killed by the werewolf which broke the truce the beast had maintained with the people for years. Hungry for revenge, the people call on werewolf hunter, Father Solomon (Gary Oldman), to help them kill the wolf. But Solomon stirs things up when he suggest that the wolf, who takes human form by day, could be any one of them. As the death toll rises, panic grips the town as Valerie discovers that she has a unique connection to the beast making her both suspect and bait. 

(This movie poster in from http://xernest.com)

The Good

Ok so I have seen hundreds of movies and I think I have gotten pretty good at predicting how a movie will turn out. I would say I have about a 65 percent success rate but I did NOT accurately predict Red Riding Hood. Throughout the movie, they try to frame different people who might be the werewolf. I thought I knew who the wolf was but I was wrong .I love a movie that has a twist that I do not predict because it adds more value to the movie for me. This movie also did a good job on putting a spin on the classic story of Little Red Riding Hood. It had all of the major focus points of the original story but integrated them differently into the movie.   

The Bad

It was clear to me that the director Catherine Hardwicke (the director of the first Twilight film) was trying to cash in on the current Twilight craze by targeting the movie towards teenage girls. If they would have aimed at a broader target audience it would have been better and possibly added more depth to the movie. On another note, even though I thought the movie had a great storyline, I think they could have put more thought into the dialogue. It was blan and seemed like it was mostly delivered as if this were a high-school play.

Overall

I went into this movie not expecting much because of my disappointment with the previous movie Beastly. Going in with low expectations, I was pleasantly surprised. Red Riding hood was generally a good movie with a great story line. The storyline was intriguing but they could have drawn me in more with better dialogue. Therefore, Red Riding Hood gets a 7.9 on the Chan-o-meter. According to www.deadline.com, Red Riding Hood came in a disappointing third place, to Battle of Los Angeles (first) and Rango (second), bringing in $14.1 million.

                     

On to the next

I have not decided on what movie I want to see next. There are a lot of movies I want to see that hit the theaters recently but I cannot decide which one I want to see!! So I want yall to decide for me! Which of the following movies do you think I should see next Limitless, The Lincoln Lawyer, or Sucker Punch?? Comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated!!

Modern Day Fairy Tales

My name is Channing and I am a self proclaimed movie junkie! I love going to see the latest movies, so I thought why not blog about them?? Every week I will go to see a new movie and write about what I thought was good and bad about it and how it rates on my Chan-o-meter.

First movie up, drum roll please.... Beastly. Beastly is a modern day take on Disney's classic fairytale Beauty and the Beast and is based on Alex Flinn's 2007 novel. The film is written and directed by Daniel Barnz and stars Vanessa Hudgens, Alex Pettyfer, Mary-Kate Olsen and Neil Patrick Harris. The movie is about a egotistical rich New York teen named Kyle (Alex Pettyfer) who is transformed by a witch (Mary Kate Olsen) into a hideous monster. In order for him to return back to normal he has to find true love within a year or he has to stay a monster forever!!

( Beastly movie poster of costars Vanessa Hudgens  (left) and Alex Pettyfer (right). This photo is from beastlythemovie.com.)

 The Good

Neil Patrick Harris was the highlight of the movie. As Kyle's tutor, he had impeccable timing with all of his jokes. He acting came natural to him unlike some of his fellow costars. Mary- Kate Olsen was also a pleasant surprise! I haven't seen her in a movie in years and thought she did a good job acting as the mischievous witch. Another good thing about the movie was that Alex Pettyfer had his shirt off most of the time and was very easy on the eyes when he wasn't a monster!

The Bad

This was supposed to be a tear jerking heartfelt love story but the cast as a whole did not deliver. The movie was another teeny bopper movie that "tried" to rival Twilight and the storyline was very predictable. I felt like Alex Pettyfer did a horrible job with his role. None of his scenes seemed real or sincere. Most of his lines were awkward and it just seemed like he was trying to hard. He should have taken more acting classes before he took on this role. Vanessa Hudgens (Kyle's love interest in the movie) did not impress me either. I was expecting more from her. Vanessa's performance was flat and was just another pretty face in the movie. 

Overall

Initially, I was excited to see Beastly because I am a sucker for fairy tales with happily ever after endings, but overall this movie disappointed me. According to boxofficemojo.com, Beastly finished third in the box office on its opening weekend to Rango and The Adjustment Bureau. It brought in a little under $10 million. I think if they would have put more thought and effort into the movie, it would have been better and more successful! Therefore, Beastly gets a whopping 5.0 on the Chan-o-Meter. I might have been a little harsh on Beastly but hey I had high expectations!! Do yall think I was harsh?? What are your comments about the movie?

Next Movie on Deck

The next movie I plan to see that premieres this coming weekend is a spin of another classic fairytale, called Red Riding Hood. We all know the story about a young girl and the big bad wolf, but this remake seems to have more of a darker mid-evil twist than the original story. The previews look good so hopefully this movie will impress me more than Beastly!!