Movie Monday: The Sister Act

This week for Movie Monday I’m back with a comedy film. It’s The Sister Act!

Plot: The plot is pretty silly, although there are some very serious parts to it, like the reason that Deloris needs to go into Witness Protection in the first place. Still this is mostly a Musical Comedy, so expect lots of singing and goofiness.

Casting: The casting is pretty spot on with Whoopi Goldberg being the lead star in her role as Deloris. The rest of the cast is equally well done.

Cinematography: This didn’t have much special effects in it, it wasn’t a Sci-Fi or Fantasy movie after all. But it was pretty well shot nonetheless.

Music: The music was the main draw of this film and it was pretty awesome. That’s all that need be said.

Overall: A fun, and sometimes serious movie, with plenty of songs that the whole family can enjoy.

For those who like: Musical Comedies, Whoopi Goldberg.

Not for those who don’t like: Either of the above.

Movie Monday: The Prestige

This week for Movie Monday I’m back with a really depressing movie. It’s The Prestige!

Plot: This is a movie all about stage magicians, and the only reason I remembered ever watching it was because someone mentioned the name Tesla recently and I remembered watching a movie about magicians with him in it. In fact even looking up this movie made me remember how utterly depressing this particular movie is. I won’t reveal the trick, because spoilers; and that’s just not what you do with magic tricks, but I will say this is not a movie with a happily ever after.

Casting: The cast has some pretty big names, like Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale and Scarlett Johansson. They all play central characters and while I enjoyed them in their role, it didn’t take away from the utterly depressing mood of the film which just goes to show how well they can act.

Cinematography: The cinematography is pretty amazing, it’s not up there with something like the Star Wars films but it was good nonetheless.

Music: The score is decent, it fits the film but isn’t anything amazing.

Overall: This is a really depressing movie, but has some really well done acting and cinematography. If you can handle the former the latter is definitely worth watching for.

For those who like: Being really depressed, Amazing Acting, Great Cinematography.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

 

Movie Monday: Armaggedon

This week for Movie Monday I’m covering a movie I saw on the TV recently after having forgotten about it. It’s Armaggedon!

Plot Synopsis: A massive meteor shower destroys the orbiting Space Shuttle Atlantis and bombards a swath of land around the North Atlantic. NASA discovers through the Hubble Space Telescope that the meteors were debris propelled from the asteroid belt by a rogue asteroid roughly the size of Texas, christened “Dottie” by its discoverer. The asteroid will collide with Earth in 18 days, causing a second extinction event. NASA scientists, led by Dan Truman, plan to trigger a thermonuclear detonation at least 800 ft (244 m) inside the asteroid to split it in two, driving the pieces apart so both will fly past the Earth. NASA contacts Harry Stamper, considered the best deep-sea oil driller in the world, for assistance. Harry insists he will need his full team to help execute NASA’s plan…

Plot: The plot isn’t that great, it’s highly inaccurate to science and plausability of NASA actually being able to do anything. Something that many critics have noted before I’m sure, in fact Roger Ebert hates this film so much that it even beat out Spice World for the worst movie of 1998 for him.

Casting: Bruce Willis is the star of the movie, and while he does a good job, I just couldn’t get into his character as it’s a bit too gruff for my tastes. Actually I didn’t really care about any of the characters, frankly I’m not a fan of the movie in general. The cast has some depth, but some of it is stereotypical.

Cinematography: The special effects are mediocre, not amazing, but not super terrible either.

Music: I didn’t remember much of the music, although the few bits I caught having seen parts of the movie on TV recently were okay. That being said it was during a family get together and I had much better things to do than watch a flop of a film.

Overall: A movie not worth watching in my opinion. Some Apocalypse junkies might enjoy it though.

For those who like: Apocalypse Settings, Sci-Fi, Bruce Willis.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

Movie Monday: Shanghai Noon

This week for Movie Monday I’m covering a movie that I had some real trouble remembering the name of. It’s Shanghai Noon!

Plot Synopsis:In 1881, Chon Wang (pronounced as John Wayne) is a Chinese Imperial Guard in the Forbidden City. After Princess Pei-Pei (Liu) for whom Wang has affection, is abducted and taken to the United States, the Emperor of China sends three of his guards along with the Royal Interpreter to retrieve her. Wang is not one of the three, but he tells the Captain of the Imperial Guards that it was his fault the princess was kidnapped and insists on joining them. The Captain first refuses, but when the Royal Interpreter, Wang’s uncle, offers to allow Wang to come help with the baggage, the Captain agrees in the hopes that the “foreign devils” would get rid of Wang. In Nevada, Roy O’Bannon is an outlaw who, with his gang, hijacks the train Wang is on. When Wallace, a new member of Roy’s gang, kills Wang’s uncle, Wang chases the outlaws down.

Plot: The plot is nothing amazing, but pretty fun to watch with plenty of martial arts scenes mixed in with the classic western shootouts.

Casting: The cast is awesome, with Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson in the lead roles. They are both hilarious. The rest of the cast is just as great, but really don’t get nearly as much attention as the two lead stars.

Cinematography: The production is awesome, with some amazing martial arts sequences that are quite a lot of fun to watch, in addition to the western shootouts. There aren’t a ton of special effects used, but those that are, are done fairly well.

Overall: A fun movie to watch, but don’t expect an amazing story.

For those who like: Westerns, Martial Arts, Comedy, Action, Adventure, Jackie Chan, Owen Wilson.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above, but how can you hate all that?