You Got Served 2 and Abduction (2011)

Okay so in the past few days I watched those two, You Got Served 2 and Abduction.

Starting with You Got Served - Beat the World (2011), a dance movie about three dance crews from Brazil, Berlin and USA that are getting ready to compete at the international Beat the World competition in Detroit.
I got to say I was a bit disappointed, I was hoping for more since this is the follow up to You Got Served from 2004.

The fact we have 3 different worlds is interesting but it gets lost because the transition between scenes and stories is not continuous. How do I say this? The stories are too detached for most of the movie and they shouldn't be as much. Of course they are from completely different backgrounds but they have dance in common, that passion, the work, routines, moves, ideas.

Other thing are the actors, there wasn't a connection between some when there should be. For example, Eric with everyone else, I wasn't feeling it. Okay he's good, he's cocky and all that but every scene with him was too forced, too unreal.

I really like Stephanie Nguyen's character Nina. Something about the way she moves, the way you can see how she is when she dances, how she expresses herself when she's sad, angry, calm... All that thru dance.

In the end, the Brazilian crew wasn't that good in my opinion, they could have picked up more Brazilian flavor, could have made it unique.
The parkour moves made a big difference, adding dynamic to Fusion's routine.

Overall it wasn't the movie I was expecting, I was hoping for something much better, with sick moves and a good story.


->Up next Abduction

So about Abduction (2011), movie about a teenager that discovers his face in a missing persons website and starts questioning all his life, his parents and himself. A lot of action involved, secrets, lies, CIA, Russians and of course a girl.

There's not much to say.
This was better than the other movie, it was what was expected, a movie with drama, thriller and action.The story was good, not that many loopholes, somewhat predictable since we knew from the beginning what would probably happen but even so... It was entertaining to watch.

The fight scenes were good, almost thought they would break the train lol
But it was a good movie.



I've seen many movies between the last post and this one but hadn't had the time to put up my reviews and comments. Will try to be more consistent since I see movies every week :)

See ya

oh boy so many movies

hey there, well since July I've seen tons of movies and I can't remember half of them lol

Not because I didn't like them but because I just can't remember their names. I've a few post lined up to publish very soon but I want to double check them before doing so.

Just so you know, 127 Hours, No strings attached, burlesque, Little fockers, streetdance 3d, Fast Five, friends with benefits, among others.


See you soon.

I'll be back

Hey there, so much work, not enough free time or will to write about the movies I've seen lately.

I promise I'll write soon, this week if all goes well

Bye for now
Rita

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)

And here I was, going to the movies to see "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" with the unpredictable Captain Jack Sparrow.


As you surely know, this is the 4th movie of the Pirates of the Caribbean series, with Johnny Depp returning as Cap. Jack Sparrow and a new addition to the main cast with Penélope Cruz.


This time they are in search of the Fountain of Youth, its water can restore you a few years with a slight footnote.
There are two chalices, one gives life and the other takes life, someone always dies for the other to live...


Well let me tell you what I most like about this movie, might not be the obvious things.

First I really like Syrena and Philip's bond, a man of faith and a being from another world. The worry about another person's well being, I really wish I could see that more often in the real world.
Other thing I like was to have Jack finally admitting to have feelings for someone, even if that was the way it ended, with me laughing at the end :)


Really funny movie, blockbuster so far, you should really see it 

The Life Before Her Eyes (2007)

I saw this movie in December 28th of 2008. I had this review in another blog and I just found it so here it is.

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I have to say I didn't expected it. Uma Thurman and Evan Rachel Wood in an amazing movie.

You should see the movie The Life Before Her Eyes, but really see it, don't read anything about it (like what I write next lol), don't make up your mind about the type of movie you are going to see... Just watch it, feel it and you might realize what I'm talking about.

Is is true that your life passes before your eyes when you are in the face of death? But is it your past or your future? What do you see?

My sister doesn't like movies like this one, she likes something, how can I call it, solid, with a "the end". I liked the movie, maybe because it surprised me, it made me thing about lots of things, it made me come here and tell you about it.
I don't want to ruin it and start telling scenes and events but it's hard to explain what I felt without doing so.

When you're young, being an adult is so far away, you have your whole life ahead and it seems that everything is possible. You have your friends, you make your own mistakes and you learn from them, you grow up, you begin to see what life is about.
I never thought about my future, what I would do or how I would do it.

An event like that one in the movie, it changes everything. I've never heard of such thing happening in Portugal, only in the US and one European country. I have no idea how I would feel or react to that situation.
What makes a person do that? How mad, angry, disappointed, hurt would you have to be to hurt so many people? It's something I don't understand.
And this movie just skips it, it takes you to a single moment in time, the moment where you choose, the moment you find out what you're made of, how big is your heart, those seconds where you can see everything.
I really thought I was seeing her life, with her guilt, her sadness, her choices, her friend's dream life but I was wrong.

You should see the movie "The Life Before Her Eyes", but really see it! Just watch it, feel it and you might realize what I'm talking about.

It's time to go.
See u soon
bye
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I stand by what I wrote then, I really loved this movie.

Source Code (2011)

It's been a while, I've so many movies to review and so little time...

This weekend I went to the movies with my friend Jo, we saw Sorce Code with Jake Gyllenhaal and Michelle Monaghan.

It's a story about a soldier, Colter Stevens, that wakes up in a body of another man, named Sean, while on a train, and has to find out how planted the bomb that's gonna explode in 8 minutes. The funny thing is that it already happen, he is remembering/living this other man's memories over and over again until he can figure out what happened on that train. In the meanwhile, there's Christina a woman who has traveled on that same train many times with Sean. Colter starts falling for her as those 8 minutes go by.

So, this is not the typical time travelers movie, you can't go back and change what happened, it doesn't work like that. What the source code does it allow you to relive the 8 last minutes of someone's life, over and over again, in other to figure out what happened before they died. You can investigate for those 8 minutes, until the bomb explodes.

It's interesting to see the changes, they various ways Colter tries to figure out what happened. Each time he goes back he learns a bit more, it gets to know everyone a bit more. They all look their hiding something, maybe it's a big secret, maybe it's nothing important... His persistence is amazing and, has a true hero, he wants to save them, wants to save her, even though they are all already dead in the real time.

I'm not gonna tell the end lol Action, romance, mystery, some sci-fi to the mix and we have a great movie.I really liked it.

Love And Other Drugs (2010)

Just finished watching this one, Love And Other Drugs with Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway.

1996, Jamie, a smart guy loses his job at an electronics store after hooking up with his boss' wife. He soon turns to another career, drug rep, in a new town. Maggie is a free spirit who won't let anyone or anything near her. She has Parkinson's Disease and tries to keep everyone away so she can't get hurt. They crash, she trying to keep him away, he relentless trying to win her over.

So why did I like this movie?
The obvious answer would be because is a romantic comedy and I love those but it's not just that. What I like here is what happens underneath all that comedy.
You have a beautiful, smart, young woman with a disease without a cure, how do you deal with that? how do you deal with the fact that at 26 you have this problem and it won't go away? I've no idea. I guess she tried to protect herself from everyone, from more pain, from disappointment, from the pain of a broken heart.
On the other side we have Jamie, he's what you would call a jerk, or at least he looks like one. He turns out to be a good guy, one of those that cares a lot about you, that wants to help you no matter what.
What starts as just sex turns into love (she's not to happy about it at first) and than the weight of the illness crashes into them.
I think this happens with everyone in this situation, you try everything, every trial, every new experiment because there has to be a cure, it's not fair if there isn't one. That weight is just too much sometimes and that's what happened here, she breaks up because she can't take it, Parkinson's can't be her life.

What I really like is the fact that even after he got what he wanted, that big job, he just wanted her. Nothing like a little video to show you what is really important, he just wants her before anything else and that's what I love in these movies, that commitment.

It's going to be a hard road, it won't be fair, but it's their choice, it's their life.

The Tourist (2010)

 Now a different one, The Tourist with Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie.


A woman named Elise is being trailed in Paris by French police working with Scotland Yard. At a cafe, she receives a letter from Alexander Pearce, a former lover, with explicit directions to board a train to Venice, Italy, pick out a man who resembles him and make the police believe that this man is Alexander Pearce. The man she chooses is Frank, an American tourist visiting Italy for the first time.

They spend the journey with each other and in Venice they take a boat to a hotel. At night Elise kisses him and that puts a target in his back, both the police and the mob are after him now. After that, several things happen: Frank is chased trough roofs, we find out a little more about Elise and other things.

I really liked this one, it's entertaining, funny, has action, romance, just my type of movie :)
I miss Venice, seeing those buildings again, the river, those narrow streets...

You can guess the end but I got to say some of it was a mystery until really late.
Really good movie, I recommend it

The Joneses (2009)

okay so this weekend I saw a few more movies, this was one of those, The Joneses with David Duchovny and Demi Moore.

It's a story about the perfect family living the perfect way of life, with the perfect house, cars, cloths, gadgets...they are the envy of the neighborhood. It turns out they are not a family, they are there to sale their life style. It's a commentary on our consumerist society, where you must have the lasted version of everything to be popular or recognized.

I like the movie, it's the typical story: a fake family, four strangers acting as a team, and at the end feelings emerge, bonds are tied and the four strangers are not longer that, they become a family.

I have to say the ending is not that great, it's too disguised. There's the big scene, the 'lets give this a shot' but the resolution is too quiet... I was expecting something bigger or at least more visible than a car in the middle of the night.

Overall I liked it but was expecting a bit more at the end.

August Rush (2007)

Yesterday night it was time to see some music so this was the choice, August Rush with Freddie Highmore, Keri Russell and Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

This is the story about an orphan, a little boy that believes in music, that music will bring him his parents back. Lyla and Louis, two musicians from different backgrounds, fall in love one night and never see each other again. One night was enough, she's pregnant, they can't stop thinking about each other. The pain is too much and they both give up on music, she has an accident and her father tells her the baby didn't survive.

All this has a soundtrack of moving sounds, gentle music. The boy is alive and, just like his parents, loves music, loves to sit still and hear the sounds all around him, a footstep, the cars, the subway, people talking, electricity...

Music brought his parents together that night and his music will bring them together once again, this time it will bring them to him.

One of the things I like about this movie is that is shows different realities: two lovers separated, the man that can't forget that night, a mother whose child she thinks is dead, a kid with such a love for music, street kids with no parents, with only a wizard to take advantage of them. What I like about this movie is simply the music, that love for music, the belief that with that one concert, that one moment, music will reach everyone.
I wanted a bit more from the end, that felt too short, ending so soon.

For me music is the soul's window, it can move you, embrace you, take you across the world, music can help you when you're sad or happy, music is the soundtrack of life.

"Music is all around us, all you have to do is listen"

When in Rome (2010)

okay so today I was in a different mood so it was time to watch When in Rome with Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel.

I'm a romantic so I love this type of movies: the girl/guy with a broken heart, that moment when they meet, when they really see each other, the falling in love, the obstacles in the way, the almost happy ending before a that final test and the moment everything is okay, that final step towards happiness...


I believe there is someone out there for everyone, our soul mate and all of those that threw a coin into that fountain believe in that too, they believe in love, in that feeling we have when we are with that person, in it's power.

They all learned something, they all had a reason to make that wish and in the end all took a lesson from what happened.  I was in Rome a few years ago and I loved it, it's a beautiful city and the italian do drive that way lol

I like the fact that she would put her happiness on hold just so he could be happy, so he could have his time to really see what was going on. You love someone so much that you'd do anything to see then happy, to make sure they know the truth. It turns out it was real, all of it, their love was real.

That's the thing, I, and I think everyone else, just assumed that the poker chip was his, that what he felt wasn't true because she had that chip, just like with the other guys.

Many people think real like it not like the movies, that you are not going to me that perfect guy that will take your breath away. I think that these movies exist because of real life, because many lived these stories, they happened somewhere, maybe without that much drama, but I believe real life was the reason all these romantic movies showed up.

People believe in love, they want to believe in happy endings.

I know I do....

Rita

Iron Man I (2008) and Iron Man II (2010)

So, these two: Iron Man I and II featuring Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Madness, big egos, action, special effects, explosions, weapons, humor...a big combination.

Well I admire Pepper, not everyone has that amount of patience for someone like Stark. He is a genius, I'll give them that, and he knows how to have fun and all but he's not reliable, he is unpredictable, has no control.

The kidnapping in the first movie made him change, made him care more about people, about the victims of his creations but his big ego got in the way at the end, he had to be in the spotlight, he had to be recognized as the hero, the superhero.
In the second movie, that escalates, it's a solo act. What I like about this is that he finds out more about his father, more about himself. It's a process, from the beginning til the end he changes a bit more.

Great moves by Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow. Love to see Happy struggling with one guy and she taking out the rest lol

I like action movies, I like seeing stuff get blown up, the bad guys trying to hurt someone, the good guys fighting back and wining at the final minute, that last second save of the hero's lover (yeah I'm a romantic lol)

I always root for the good guy, that he will do the right thing.

Rita

Carolina Moon (2007)

Based on Nora Robert's book by the same name, Carolina Moon stars Claire Forlani, Oliver Hudson, Jacqueline Bisset and a few others.


A story about a young woman with physic visions that returns home after 18 years to make piece with herself and others. Her best friend Hope was killed when they were kids and she never came back until now. With her visions she knows what people thing, what they did, she can see past and present in their minds.


A gift and a curse at the same time.


After 18 years much has change but a few things remain the same like Cade's love for her. Faith becomes this friend always there to help, finally admitting her feelings for Wade.
I saw bits of this movie last week and today I had some time so I watched it. The loss of a child, sister and friend is never easy, not for you and not for their family.

I think one of the things I like about this movie is Tory's strength, to keep herself calm and together when all she hears/sees around her are accusations, hatred and dislike. It's not easy having people's thoughts pushed into your mind all the time, everyday.

Most times your own thoughts are too much to bare, let alone others...

I haven't read the book but I'll soon, not to compare with the movie like most people would do. I like to read the books to see how the writer saw the characters, to understand them a bit more, to see how they were in paper before the big screen.

Rita

I Am Number Four (2010)

So yesterday, my friend Jo and I went to the preview of I Am Number Four with a few known actors: Alex Pettyfer, Timothy Olyphant and Dianna Agron.

So John is one of the nine survivors of planet Lorien, a planet that was exterminated by the Mogs, and now they are back to kill them. Each one of the Loriens is a number and they can only be killed by that order, John is number Four and he's next.

I didn't had any expectations when we went but I got to say it's a pretty good movie, action, great characters, love and adventure. Loved the special effects, specially Six's disappearing power.

This is one of those stories where their life it set, they have no other choice. They are the sole survivors of their entire planet, saved for a reason and there's no way around that. They are heroes by fate, it's something they have to do and they do it.
Each character has a reason to be there, they play an important part in Four's history and choices: his guardian, protector and teacher Henri, the love of his life Sarah, his lorien "sister" Six, the best-friend Sam, the high school enemy who turns out to be a friend Mark and the enemies, the Mogs.

They are all pieces of a big puzzle and I can't wait to see the next movie.

Rita

Passengers (2008)

I just watch this movie, Passengers with Anne Hathaway and Patrick Wilson.
It's about a  young grief counselor that's in charge of helping the few survivors of a plane-crash. I liked it and I recommend it, first because I like Anne Hathaway and second because the end was unexpected, at least to me.

It was interesting to see the different types of reaction by each survivor: the way they appeared when the plane was going down, what they saw, what they feel.
All these feelings and memories, the confusion, the notion that "I survived a disaster. But why me? What makes me so important?"

How do you deal with that? I guess some people never recover, some change their lives completely, some pretend everything is okay when it's not. I  have no idea about what I would do.

Back to the story, I can honestly say I wasn't expecting that ending although now that I think of it, there was something in the beginning that felt strange. He knew her name, her first name, and she didn't say it when she introduced herself.


I thought it was the other way around, that her family was on that plane, that was the reason her sister wasn't calling back, the house was empty... Guess I was wrong.


The conspiracy theory, the cover-up, the lies, the misdirections, all those people, the "ghosts" following them, it was all to help them, to get them to come with terms of what had happened.
No one survived the plane-crash. These five (six with her) needed to be at peace with that fact, their loved ones where there for them.

Knowing that you have someone waiting for you, a loved one, family or friend, that will help you when your time comes... that's a comforting feeling.

Have you seen it? What did you think?

Rita

a new beginnig

Hey
my name is Rita, this is my new blog.

Here I'll post my reviews on the movies I've seen, a while back and recently. I love going to the cinema :)

I also love sitting at home, at night, and be transported to these other dimensions, these fantastic places where everything happens, from where you can always take something important, where you recall a memory of a someone or an event... For that hour and a half you get to know different people, different realities, you learn something new.

I guess that's what attracts me to movies. They may contain spoilers so beware lol
Hope you like this,


Cheers
Rita