The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Review

     Ben Stiller's most recent directorial debut is The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. A movie I would like to call the biggest surprise of the year. A pleasant, sweet surprise. I was really looking forward to this film, but it far exceeded my expectations. 

     Stiller also starts in the film as the title character Walter Mitty. A day dreamer who often escapes reality. He feels like he has done nothing "Noteworthy or Mentionable." When he realizes that, it comes up at a time where his job at Time magazine is at jeopardy. He decides to go out into the real world and embark on an adventure to defy who Walter Mitty really is. 

     Stiller was able to create a character that was fun, loveable, and able to skateboard away from an exploding volcano. As ridiculous as that might sound, it worked. This film felt a lot like Forrest Gump in the sense that the story is so creative and never takes a break. The scenes are so diverse and distinct from each other, but at the same time they are related with each other. Which makes it be able to avoid plot holes. Pretend the whole movie/story is one whole puzzle. Each individual scene is a piece of that puzzle. They fit together perfectly with no space in between. 

     This movie is also like Forrest Gump in the way that there are so many characters that are critical to the story and the actors/actresses that portray them don't seem like they were last minute casting decisions. It actually looked like they put time and effort in to casting each and every person to make it a phenomenal ensemble cast. One of the best if not the best all year. Lets now praise the incredible acting of Kristen Wiig. Is it an Oscar worth performance? Of course not. The little parts she was in brought a whole different tone into it. She made the character have so much depth. I can say the same about Stiller's portrayal of Walter. Maybe it helps that he was also the director. Stiller always puts 100% of his effort into his characters. There is something new Ben brings to the table in this film. I don't know what it is, but he does.  This has been a passion project for Stiller for at least 8 years. And he did everything but disappoint.   

     Lets talk about the minor things that people really should pay more attention to. The score and cinematography. The little things can do a lot for you. Those things completely immerse you and make your moving going experience ten times better with out you even knowing it. The camera shots play perfectly to where this movie is partly filmed. Greenland and Iceland. I never thought I'd say this, but I want to go to Greenland and Iceland know. 

     This is my second favorite film of the year. It was a pleasant delight and I enjoyed every moment of it. I am really proud of giving this one a 9/10. 

     

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Review

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

The latest installment in the Hunger Games Cinematic Universe is Catching Fire. My first impressions are it was the fastest 2 hours and 20 minutes of my life, the movie flew by, and it didn't bring anything new to the table. It was basically the same thing as it's predecessor but with a twist like all sequels should be. 

    This movie is not a perfect one by any means, but it was still hard to find a problem with it. Francis Lawrence did everything to make this movie a great one. It was the way they executed things that was the problem. It seems like the love triangle between Katniss, Gale, and Peta should have been stronger and more distinct. It was hardly noticeable! It just seemed like a missed opportunity to bring something great to the table. They only touched on it throughout the movie, and when they did it seemed like it was at the parts that ruined the mood of the movie. When I say it was the fastest 2 hours and 20 minutes of my life, It is a good and bad thing. Everything just seemed so rushed. They needed to spend more time on the love triangle (like I said before) and everything else. For example, the other tributes. They just could have spent at least 3 minutes for us to meet the other tributes. Characters were underused. Cinna, Johanna Mason, and even Beetee. The characters that were underused were the ones I liked the most. Finnik was underused in a way and they could have used him a whole lot more.  
The main problems were the lack of character development. They didn't expand on characters when they needed to most and when they did it took away the mood or tone from the movie. 

The thing that bugged me they most was the horrible cinematography! When there was 5 people or less in a scene(which is the majority of the time) the camera was held 1-12 inches away from there face! No joke! I know what they were trying to go for by telling a story through facial expressions. I get that. It just didn't have to be the whole dang movie! It was pointless. We can see the facial expressions on their faces when the camera is 3 feet away from them. I thought they would learn from their mistake the made in the first 20 minutes of the first one, but they didn't. They just made it worse. There is no use for the camera being held 3 inches away from their faces. Again, it was poorly executed. It took away from my enjoyment from the film.  Not to mention it took 1 hour and 30 minutes to actually get to the games!

     The one thing I really appreciate they did was the learned from the first. They didn't have any shaky camera. One of the few complaints I had from the first one was when the action was going on, the decided to show the action by shaking the camera rather than letting the actors do their job and act. Catching fire had no shaky camera. The action scenes (for the most part) were clean and not painful to watch. 

As I said above there were characters that were poorly developed. However, there were some that were well developed such as the characters played by Hutcherson, Lawrence, Seymour Hoffman, and Sutherland. Those 4 people were the things that brought this movie back from the dumps. They were the redeeming quality that saved this movie. Lets start of with Phillip Seymour Hoffman's portrayal as Plutarch Heavensbee. He was such a  convincing character. He was a great part of the film. He was not overused or underused, and he did awesome in his role. This was the movie for Josh Hutcherson (Peta) to shine. As we get to experience the trials that Peta faces as he struggles to overcome them brings a welcome depth to his character. Donald Sutherland's portrayal of President Snow made me hate him with all my guts. (It's actually the only thing I hated in it that made it good.) The best thing about this movie (I know this is stereotypical) but I have to say Jennifer Lawrence. She is so beautiful in this movie. Not only that I think she gives a performance of a life time. Is it Oscar worthy, probably not. This is the best we have seen her. She is so beautiful and such a talented actor. I would go see it just because of her. 

     Over all this film was just a little bit disappointing. It did have it's redeeming qualities (I forgot to mention they way they showed the arena and the visuals in the arena were outstanding. That was another awesome part about it) that saved it from the dump. It was a fast 2 hours and 20 minutes, and at times it was hard to enjoy the film. I give it a at 6.2/10.

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Thor: The Dark World Review

Thor:The Dark World Review

     The latest movie in "Phase 2" of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) is Thor: The Dark World. For those of you that don't know what I mean when I say the MCU, I mean all the movies that Marvel/Disney have made that are part of one big story. So far There are Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America, The Avengers, Iron Man 3, and now Thor: The Dark World. 

     Thor was my 2nd favorite film before the Avengers (behind the Incredible Hulk)so the sequel had a lot to live up to. It didn't disappoint. It was so much better then its predecessor. 

     The head of the dark elves, Malekith is waiting for The Convergence. An event that happens every 5,000 years that causes the 9 realms to align. Malekith planned to use this event to release the Aether at its full potential and the make the 9 realms return to darkness. Right before Malekith was going the release it, Asgardians came and stole the Aether from him. Malekith and the rest of the dark elves failed. Malekith went to sleep for another 5,000 years. When he woke up again, it is now the present day and a time for another convergence. The Aether became the focal point for war. Portals began to appear from one realm to another. When Jane Foster fell threw one of those portals, she found the the secret vault of the Aether. The Aether bonded to her. When Thor brought Jane to Asgard the Asgard's doctors could not do anything about it. So, Malekith came back from his sleep and tries to reclaim the Aether. So the main focus of the movie is Thor trying to save the 9 realms from Malekith and the Aether.

     Every movie has the negatives, every movie has the positives. I'm going to start out with the negatives I had. Lets start of with the music. To me music is one of the most important things that make the enjoyment of the film for the better or the worse. The music in this film was nothing to be excited about. It was not what superhero music should be. If music doesn't affect your enjoyment of movies or you just really don't care for the music you should be fine. The music didn't make me me rate it lower than it would have been, I just wished it would have been better. Another is the actual character Malekith. They missed the perfect opportunity to use one of my favorite villains in MARVEL comics played by Christopher Eccleston. I wished he would have been used more than a character to move the plot along. He was more of a plot device than an actual character. They had a missed a perfect opportunity to use a fantastic character. Going along with that they underused Sif and the Warriors 3. Jamie Alexander is awesome in the roll as Sif. They especially under used her. I guess that's due to the reason she had some on set injuries that limited her filming days. I still would've liked to see more of a love triangle between Thor, Jane Foster, and Sif. You don't need any action to show the "hatred" between Jane and Sif. There was just a bunch of underused characters which, I could have made fit together with no problem. Maybe if they changed the length of the move an hour and 54 minutes to even 2 hours and 15 minutes. One character I do believed that they overused was Kat Dennings character. They tried to hard to make her funny and it did not pay off. Every line she said was not funny. It was a joke (not in a good way.) 

     Now the positives! Alan Taylor was a perfect director for the film since Kenneth Branagh left who directed the first one. With Taylor's background from directing several Game of Thrones episodes, the action was great. Chris Hemsworth's portrayal of Thor was the best in this film. The depth that Thor's character had to experience would have been very hard to portray. The character development is some of the best I've seen. The best part of this movie has to be obvious. Tom Hiddleston. Loki has to be one of my favorite villains in cinematic history. Same as Thor, the develop of the characters make you feel for them. I can't say much with out spoiling it. The comedy was awesome (besides Kat Dennings.) I love the way MARVEL is so good at putting their movies in reality and fantasy at the same time. The way the comedy was structured to make it fit into reality made it ten times funnier then it would have been. The visual effects were always very good. I liked how you got to see more of Asgard in the Thor sequel. The story line is one of the best I have seen in a comic book movie. The thing that really stuck out to me was the relationship between Thor and Loki. The banter between those 2 was probably my favorite thing of the movie! It is a very love hate relationship which we all love to see in a Thor movie. Again, I can't say much with out spoiling the movie. I guess you are going to have to go see it your self!!

     Over all this is a great fun movie. The story was exciting, most of the acting is what you wanted to see. The action and comedy is exactly what you want to see in a MARVEL film. When you go don't forget to stay after for both of the after credit scenes!! I give this movie a 4.7/5, a 9.3/10 or a "A".

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Top 10 Films You Should Be Looking Forward To For The Rest of the Year

Just because the summer is over, that does not mean it's the end of big awesome films. I am going to give you 10 films you should be looking forward to. Some have major Oscar potential, some are just fun films that the fan boy in all of us will love. 

10.The Wolf on Wall Street

In this film based on a true story Leonardo DiCaprio plays Jordan Belfort and his story about rising to a wealthy stock broker living the life involved with crime, corruption, and the federal government. Starring besides DiCaprio is Jonah Hill, Cristin Millioti, Jon Favreau, and Matthew McConaughey who recently stared in Mud, my 3rd favorite film of the year. And you can't forget the incredible Martin Scorsese who is directing it who has been nominated 8 times for best director at the Oscars and won with his film, The Departed. I'm pretty sure this is the film DiCaprio will finally win an Oscar for, but I also think that McCounaughey will out shine Leonardo in this film. For the brief time he is in the trailer, I think McCounaughey will be one of the few people in history that is nominated for Best Actor in a Leading role for Mud, and Best Actor in a Supporting Role for the Wolf on Wall Street. This film has Oscars written all over it which makes me intrigued for this film. It comes out on November 15th. Here is a link to the trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iszwuX1AK6A

9.Hunger Games:Catching Fire

I was a huge fan of the first movie. I didn't read Catching Fire just because I didn't want to fall in love with it so much that I compared it to the book. The only thing I did not like about the first movie it was they used the "Shaky Camera" to make the action more believable. But with a new director, Francis Lawrence, hopefully that will change. You can never go wrong with the the acting of Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson. This film is definitely one to be looking forward to. It comes out on November 22nd. Here is a link to the most recent trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keT5CRhhy84 

8.The Monuments Men

I'm just going to start off listing the cast in this film. Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett, George Clooney, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Hugh Bonneville. If that list of phenomenal actors does not make you excited for this film, I don't know what will. This film follows a crew of museum curators and art historians in a race against time as the try to protect precious pieces of art and monuments before the Nazis get to them. It also looks like it will have a little bit of humor in it. This is another film that seems like it will be Oscar Heavy. It's a movie that takes place during WWII. The academy loves those types of movies (Saving Private Ryan.) I almost guarantee this film will be up for at least 5 Oscars. This film comes out on December 18th. Here is a link to the trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CreneTs7sGs   

   7.The Saratov Approach

This film is about 2 missionaries that are kidnapped and held for ransom while they are serving in Russia. This film does not have a big name director or any big name stars but the trailer and the plot intrigues me. It comes out on October 9th. Here is a link to the trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V84ZyMsQ1Pc

6.The Hobbit:The Desolation of Smaug

The adventures of Hobbit Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit:Desolation of Smaug. It picks up where the first one left off. They escaped the Misty Mountains and are continuing their quest to retrieve their gold from the dragon Smaug (voiced by the amazing Benedict Cumberbatch.)I was a fan of the first Hobbit. I was little disappointed it was not up for as many Oscars as I hoped it would be but I really enjoyed it. Martin Freeman plays a perfect Bilbo. Hopefully this one will be nominated for at least 3 Oscars. The adventures to Middle Earth are some of my favorites in film. I love how Peter Jackson expresses it. It comes out on December 13th. Here is a link to the trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPVWy1tFXuc  5.Frozen

The latest film by Disney Animation Studios is Frozen. It is about a person named Anna on a quest to find her sister Elsa who trapped her kingdom in eternal winter. Traveling through Everest-like conditions, she is joined by a comedic snow man Olaf and other people. This film is a guarantee for nomination of best animated feature, and it's made be Disney!! Disney is awesome at everything they do. The trailer is funny and it just feels like a Disney Classic. It comes out on Thanksgiving. Here is a link to the trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbQm5doF_Uc 

4.Captain Phillips

Tom Hanks. Enough said. Tom Hanks is amazing in everything he is in. In this film Hanks is playing Captain Phillips in the true story of the 2009 Somali pirate hijacking of the Maersk Alabama, the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in 200 years. Name one thing you didn't like with Tom Hanks in it. You can't (yes, there might be exceptions) he is incredible with everything he does.The trailer is scary. It makes you feel like your on the boat. And that is only in the trailer! Paul Greengrass who did the Bourne Supremecy, and The Bourne Ultimatum. I'm a big fan of The Bourne Supremecy so I am excited to see what he does with Captain Phillips. Tom Hanks is in it. That alone makes me want to see it. It comes out on October 11th. Here is a link to the most recent trailer  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp6jpeDeQmE

3.Thor:The Dark World

Thor is my favorite MARVEL "Phase 1" film besides the Avengers. MARVEL as an excellent track record. Every one of their films have been fantastic. This film looks like it has the potential of being better than Avengers and that says a lot. One of my favorite villains of all time Loki is returning! Christopher Ecclestion playing Malekith the villain in the film. I'm a comic nerd. And Alan Taylor will do a fantastic job directing it. Chris Hemsworth does a fantastic job of playing the god of thunder. I'm excited to see where this will take the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Here is a link to the trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvKjS2s1v0k

2.Saving Mr.Banks

Tom Hanks is in it. Enough Said. Hanks plays Walt Disney in this film where Walt tries and gets the rights to make P.L. Travers book Marry Poppins into a movie. But we figure out the she based Marry Poppins on her difficult child hood. This film is about the journey and adventure of the production on the film of Marry Poppins. Emma Thompson is an amazing actress portraying P.L. Travers, Tom Hanks is playing Walt Diseny, (I think he is a perfect fit) and you cant forget the awesome Paul Giamatti. I wouldn't be surprised if Tom Hanks gets nominated twice for Best Actor in a Leading Role. One for Captain Phillips and one for Saving Mr.Banks. This is another film i see being very Oscar Heavy. It comes out on December 13th. Here is a link to the trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5kYmrjongg   

1.The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Ben Stiller stars and directs in the Secret life of Walter Mitty. Ben Stiller stars as a day dreamer by the name of Walter Mitty, who lives inside varieties of fantasy worlds while living an adventurous life. I'm a big fan of Ben Stiller. This has been a passion project for him for about 8 years. Imagine all the work he was put in to this. Ben stiller wants this to be amazing. And I have no doubt that it will. The first time I saw this trailer I was intrigued. Ben stiller will do an amazing job. This is my most anticipated film for the rest of the year. It comes out on Christmas. Here is a link to the trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGWO2w0H2V8

Some Honorable Mentions are Grudge Match, 12 Years a Slave, Enders Game, Free Birds. 

Comment down below of the films you think are worth seeing.

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Gravity Review

Gravity

     Gravity, a film about 2 astronauts Ryan Stone (Played by Sandra Bullock) and Matt Kowalski (Portrayed by George Clooney)as they are in space trying fixing a Hubble telescope. But a near by satellite blew up and debris from that satellite is coming towards them. In a hurry they try to save them selves but as you probably could have guessed, they did not do it fast enough. The debris hit their rocket and it caused Ryan and Matt left floating in space. 

     You might be thinking this film is just about people floating around in space. But its not. Its about survival. He have seen different movies and television shows about survival, but we have not seen it like this. Imagine an episode of Survivor in space. Conditions are 10x worse and there is always a risk of random debris coming towards you faster than you can blink an eye. It was a movie based on a survivor. 

     I can see this movie being nominated for at least 7 academy awards. This is going to be a Oscar heavy film. It has a 98% critic rating on rotten tomatoes. Critics love it. 91% of the audience loved it. I would not be surprised if this gets nominated for a whole bunch of Oscars. The first one I see it being up for is the Musical Score. One of the most important things to me when watching a movie is the score. The score adds so much to the film. Gravity would be nothing with out it. It adds so much to the movie going experience and makes it so much more enjoyable.

     The next two Oscars I see it being up for is Best Visual Effects and Best Cinematography. You can imagine all the work on the visual effects that went into this. After all, there was hardly an ounce of reality in this! It takes place in space the whole time!!! It's incredible how the visual effects crew executed this so perfectly. The visual effects would be nothing with out the way they are shown off. You have to just go see it for your self to see how incredible it is. 

     Next Best Directing, Best Actress in a Leading Role, and Best Actor in a Supporting role. Lets start off with the director Alfonso Cuaron. The director is the head of the film. He dictates how to use the visual effects. He did a fantastic job of doing that. He did a good job of directing the actors to make them feel believable. He deserves just to be nominated. Same with George Clooney as supporting actor. He made the parts of the film he was in awesome. My favorite part of the film were the scenes with Clooney. He added a whole bunch of "character". Bullock has to win for best Leading Actress. 80% of the movie was just her. Bullock and nothing else. How she carried the whole movie with being just by herself? She is amazing. She played the role absolutely perfect. I don't think any one else could have played it better. She carried the whole freaking movie by herself. That's incredible. If she does not at least get nominated, I will be so furious. 

     The 7th Oscar this film deserves is Best Picture. Yes, a film a bout trying to survive in space can win Best Picture!! This film is one of the few films I give the title of "Perfect Film" to. There was literally nothing wrong with it. It's my number one film of the year. Everything came together as it should, Clooney and Bullock gave a stellar performance. I give this film a 9.5/10 or a A++++. 

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MARVEL STUDIOS SUCCESS

            You better know that comic-book movies are all the rage right now. They are making the most money and are usually the best all around film. But the studio who has mastered the formula is obviously MARVEL studios. What is the formula? The secret is plan  a head. In 2010 President of Consumer Products for MARVEL said he has the master list for their movies planed out as far as 2017 and they were going to tagline it around the phrase "Avengers Assemble." Since that time Captain America, Thor, The Avengers, and most recently Iron Man 3 have all come out. You can tell there plann has been working because Avengers is the 3rd highest grossing film right infront of Iron Man 3.
    Kevin Feige recently sat down with WIRED and Kevin (the president of production at MARVEL) told them "I could arguably say that we're planning for the year 2021. Will that happen? I dont know. But what we planned for 2015 in 2006 is happening." Moving forward, they want us to establish relationships with the new characters other than the core 5 we have right now. Kevin later stated that "Five years ago, looking ar our plan, we knew that if Avengers was going to work, the movies had to stand alone. Now we have to prove to the studio that we're more than just theses five characters, these five franchises." And it seems like that they have stuck to their word because we are going to see a Guardians of the Galaxy on August 1st, 2014 and Ant-Man on November 6th, 2015.
    You can tell Marvel has lots of confidence in their films because Captain America:The Winter Soldier comes out on April 4th, 2014. This film comes out really close to 2 other superhero films. X-Men days of Future Past which comes out on May 23rd, 2014 and The Amazing Spiderman 2 on May 2nd, 2014. Lets see if Marvels success can continue. The first Amazing Spider-man made $752million dollars world wide, Captain America made $368million, and X-Men:First Class made $353millon. Comment down below if you think The Amazing Spider-man franchise will continue its reign or will Marvel dominate the spring with Captain America:The Winter Soldier. Comment down below your 2014 spring movie winner. 
    Feige has been recorded many times this year saying that the studio needs to keep crafting movies that are different. He is sticking to that word because in the future we will see a Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man and Dr.Strange coming in the near future. I just wonder what they are going to do through 2021. Im really hoping for a Black Panther. After all he is one of the founding Avengers and the "theme" for Marvels movies is "Avengers Assemble." Comment down below which film you would like to see before 2021. I really dont think it will end then.

    Remember to check back at theteenmovieguy.blogspot.com for your latest movie news and reviews.
      

Percy Jackson:Sea of Monsters review

     The latest installment in the Pecy Jackson series The Sea of Monsters came out. This movie fallows Pecy Jackson a demi-god (half god half human) on a quest to save his beloved home Camp Half Blood, the only place in the world where Demi-gods are save. But when the wall that protects the camp is broken every Demi-god is in danger.  Then they figured out they need to retrieve the golden fleece from the Sea of Monsters (or the Bermuda Triangle. ) So Mr.D sent out Clarisse to lead a quest towards The Sea of Monsters. But Percy is not on this quest. Later on Percy figures out that there is a prophecy about him. Then he leads his own quest to The Sea of Monsters with his friend Annabeth, his satyr friend Grover, and his new cyclops brother Tyson. But when Grover gets captured there quest not only is to get the Golden Fleece before Luke (who wants to unleash Kronos) but to save Grover. 

     I love the Percy Jackson books. And I completely have forgotten what happens in the 2nd book. So I didn't re-read it so I didnt compare the movie to the book like I did with the first one. You don't need to read the book before you see the movie!

     Ok. Lets start off with the few negatives this film has. Let's move on to the positives.

     Now let's talk about how genius this film is. Lets start off with the little things. The music was great. For every scene it was appropriate. The director did a really good job for picking the songs/music to set the mood. They way the film started was awesome. It explains to you the whole demigod and camp half blood thing so you can understand the film with out reading the books. Then there is a flashback to make you understand even more. But when it comes to the present day the movie starts off how I like every movie to start. Action. And even better the chemistry between the characters! The first real thing that stands out is the chemistry between Percy and Clarisse. The real rivalry between the 2. And then between Tyson and Percy. I love it when you can feel what the characters are going through.  They did an excellent job casting. The new characters they brought in we awesome. The played the characters exactly like they should've by making the main and important characteristics of each of them to stand out. The story was creative. The way the director made it so the main points of the book are the main parts of the movie was pure awesome. 

     Over all this film is one of my favorite of the year. It is fun and they did a good job for making this enjoyable for Percy Jackson and non Percy Jackson fans. Over all I give this film a A, a 4.7 or a 9.5. 

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