Frozen (2013)

Frozen is the new animated Disney film, not the Adam Green horror film. The film stars Idina Menzel and Kristen Bell in the Princess roles. The story is about a coming of age queen that basically has the powers of ice and snow.  The film is a return to the classical way Disney films are made with the songs and the magic of Disney.

To start off, the film is a musical with a grand total of around 10 songs. All of them are good. I mean, I enjoyed every song that was played in the film. My personal favorite of the film is "Let It Go". I have that song still stuck in my head about 3 hours after the film. The animation in the film was perfect. It was gritty and it added a great layer to the film. The pace and the tone were great. It was very fast paced and it hit that great classic Disney tone. That Disney tone is one of the hardest tones to hit and this team of people hit like a hammer to a nail. It really is just impressive in it of itself. The pace is fast but works for the film and keeps you from getting bored. The voice acting and the characters themselves were very good. My favorite character, Elsa (Menzel), was great and really brought life to this film. Another great character was Olaf. He comes into the film and just pushes this film from good to great and turns it to an instant classic.  The overall theme of the film, love, works very well into this film.

My problems with film are very few. My biggest problem of the film is that the songs all feel very unbalanced. The beginning of the film  is jam packed with songs, just one after another, and it's almost like stepping over into Le Miz. Then, it just stops for a long time and eventually brings it back for one song. It just really took me out of the film. My other problem, which is just a personal one and may not apply to everyone, is the fact that I really wanted to see more of Elsa. She is in the film a lot and is one of the main characters of the film, but I just wanted a little more like one more song from her or another scene. That being said this easily my favorite animated film of the year. With that being said I am going to give it a

RATING
3.25 out of 4 Ticket Stubs

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Catching Fire is the next in the Hunger Games series and it's going be 4 films long and stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, and Liam Hemsworth. There is also a huge slew of side characters with great actors in their roles. The biggest difference between this film and the first is that the director from the first, Gary Ross, has fallen to the new man in the chair, Francis Lawrence.

With that new man in the chair, we get a much different feel and a little bit of a different tone. The first thing that you will notice all shaky cam is gone. Instead, we get a great looking and well shot film. A lot of dark night photography and it all looks great. I mean, I have seen better but still much better than the first film. Now, the tone has changed but only ever so slightly. The first one is so dark and serious with very little humor and this film puts a little more humor into the film than the first one. I think the humor is both good and bad. They had the perfect amount of humor in the film and all of the jokes work and hit well with me. I think the pace of the film is amazing. It is close to two and half hours and it really doesn't feel that long in the theater. Also, I really enjoyed all the acting. No one is bad in the film. There are a few stand outs. One being Hutherson (I bet you thought I was going to say Lawrence). I liked him in the first one. In this one, I enjoyed him even more than in the first film. He seemed to have lost many of the teenage attributes of his character so I really enjoyed him and his character. Lawrence on the other hand was amazing like she always is. For example, she hits so many emotional moments in the movie and does it with grace and perfect timing. One of my favorite moments is the very ending shot and shots in the tubes (you'll see what I mean when you see it).

Now, my biggest problem with the film is this I really wanted to spend a lot more time in the Capital. I loved the Hunger Games part. It is action packed and very well done but the story that I want to see is the is revolt against the Capital. It is a very minor problem and it has nothing to do with the writing of the film just the way the books are done.  Also, the film has so many themes that it is trying to get across to the audience is just a little too much. All of them are done simultaneously and their is too many of them. Maybe pick and focus on just that one at a time could make it better but I really don't know. Not taking much away from the overall score of the film but it was just a minor thing that I noticed. Overall, this is easily the best action movie of the October, November, and December season so far. Don't miss it.

RATING
3.5 out of 4

Thor: The Dark World

Thor: The Dark World is the sequel to Thor. It stars all the people from the first film and is directed by Alan Taylor.  The story of this film is simply. The dark elves have come back form the deepest parts of space. They come to destroy and put the world back into darkness using the Aether.

What this film had going for it was the director and the cast of Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston. I loved Hiddleston in this damn movie. I mean I almost thing he really saves the film for me. The man truly loves the role and you can tell. Then Hemsworth really is Thor. It will be really hard to ever replace that man. Then there play back and forth was so prefect and well timed. I mean every time Loki (Hiddleston) is on screen he just kills it. You actaully really care for his character in the end of the film. Also the direction by Taylor works so well you get that super fantasy and epic feel from his background work Game Of Thrones. The action which there is a lot of comes fast and hard and very well shot. I also thought the pace that he set in for he film worked over all.

Now this film has a few really big problems. I biggest problem with the film was the tone. Its not like it is a dark tone and it just didn't work but it was the villains. Like the villains were this super sci-fi bad guy. Like there were moments when I was swear I was watching Star Wars. SPOILERS DO NOT READ HERE ON IF YOU DON'T WANT THINGS SPOILED. I WILL PUT READ HERE FOR NO SPOILERS.  The moment when a star ship comes flying in and starts to shoot lasers at the the home base and almost destroys it. Really took me way out of the film and if you get pulled out of the a Thor movie it must be something that is really out of place. READ HERE. Now there are other problems with the film as well. Like I said above the back and forth between Loki and Thor is amazing and perfect.  I wanted so much more of it. Like that was the moment in the film that I realized I was watching a comic book movie and it felt so good, but it comes and goes sadly.

My final thoughts are this Thor: The Dark World is a good action film for Nov. I think if you enjoyed the first you will really enjoy this film and if you didn't like the first one. You may like this one better. It isn't the best Marvel movie but it is still a good time at the movies.

RATING
2.5 out of 4 Ticket Stubs

12 Years A Slave

12 Years A Slave is a true story seen thought the eyes of Solomon Northup. The man was a free man in the in New York. When he joins a group of man to make some money. When he wakes up caught and about to be sold back into slavery. The film stars a lot of people. The main two actors in the film are Chiwetel Ejiofor (really happy I don't have to say that name aloud) and Michael Fassbender. The film is directed by Steve McQueen.

I am going to start off saying this movie is acted so well. I mean really well almost every person nears the praise that they are getting. Not just Fassbender and Ejiofor, but all the actors to me did amazing. They all weren't actors to me they were the characters they were trying to be so for that I gave my highest praise. Fassbender was not on screen that man is my favorite actor in right now he has not done a bad job in any of his films. That man can act and will be doing so for awhile. Now Ejiofor was equally as amazing as Fassbender was. There are so many times where the shot was set up were it was just his face and you got to see the real emotion on his face and feel with the character. The credit for that goes to McQueen and Ejiofor.  McQueen has made more art house films in the past. Like Shame and Hunger. I have never seen Hunger but I have seen Shame and that was one of best movies of that year. Now with that being said the art house isn't completely gone McQueen's style is felt all over the film, but it is more held back as it were. I think this really help the film a lot it was able to focuses on the story it was trying to tell and emotions it wanted you to feel.  McQueen sets up some amazing looking shots. Some of the transitions were just amazing as well. The editing was just perfect all the shots last the perfect amount of time.

The pace and the tone are perfect to say the last. I will admit that the pace is slowed down at times, but it really didn't bug me that much. Like it doesn't happen many times and I also saw this film at a later time so that could have effected the pace of the film. Now also the violence in the film is hard to watch. McQueen really wanted you to see the brutally of it and he shows it with no remorse. It made for a much better movie and set up everything so well. This film is easy one of my favorites of the year. Please if you have the chance go see this piece of Art.

RATING
4 out 4 Ticket Stubs.

Ender's Game

Ender's game is based off the book written by Orson Scott Card. The film is centered around Ender Wiggin and the world that he lives in. The world he lives in is earth in the future after a massive war with the evil alien race. So the military fearing the fearing of another attack by the them start to enlist this very gift kids to train and fight for them in this war.

Now to begin. I think this film is a really well done science fiction tale. It creates a great world and a very cool enemy. I also think the films action is really well done. It has really great moments. I really enjoyed like the 30 of the film. It was really good and set up for a get end of the film. Another really strong part of the film was the acting done by the main two. I thought Harrison Ford and Asa Butterfield did a great job. Ford was super intense in the film. Then Butterfield I really enjoyed as a main character. He was clam and cool and just all around good character. I will get more into the characters in a little bit later on in the review. I also really enjoyed the way it was shot and the tone of the film that in credit to the director of the film Gavin Hood. I also liked the score to the film it created very hardcore and moving moments all at the same time.

My problems with the film is the pace. All the problems really go back to the pace of the film which is super odd. Like you can tell this is based off the book and they are moving really quickly thought the book to get to the end of the film. The only thing is the film is slow. I really don't know how Hood pulled that off. Like it was a slow film with a lot of fast and no breathing scenes. It made no sense to me in the theater.  Also since the pace of the film was so sloppy that you really don't get to know the characters. Then only people you care for is Ender and Graff (Ford). Also Ford really doesn't have much of an arc in the film maybe it is extended in the later books of the series, but I don't know the books.

I think this film is okay and is still a fun time in at the movies much like I thought Carrie was. This was better then Carrie. Which i saw just was unable to do a review. I think if you want to watch it go ahead. Its not you are going to walk of the theater mad you saw it, but if you aren't a fan of this type of film run fast.

RATING
2.5 out of 4 Ticket Stubs.

Carrie mini review.
If you wanted to see Carrie and ever saw it go see the new one. If you have seen the old one it is better so just stick with that.
1.5 out of 4 Ticket Stubs.