‘Argo’ finally makes it to #1

After being three weeks in the box office ‘Argo’ jumps to number one with $12.4 million dollars, earning a total of $60.8 million dollars. It had stayed steady at number two, until it finally made its way to the top. Perhaps current events with Iran, have spiked people’s interest along with perfect reviews.

The children’s movie ‘Hotel Transylvania’ also made its way slowly back to the top, getting back to number two with $9.5 million dollars. The film has moved up and down the box office, making $130.4 million dollars, becoming Sony Pictures Animation highest earning film.

‘Cloud Atlas’ premiered at number three with $9.4 million dollars, the three hour confusing film probably won’t make back its production costs. This novel adaptation starring Tom Hanks and Halle Berry among others, had high hopes, but so far it’s a flop.

The Top 10 Movies in the Box Office are:

1. Argo – $12.4 mil

2. Hotel Transylvania – $9.5 mil

3. Cloud Atlas – $9.4 mil

4. Paranormal Activity 4- $8.7 mil

5. Taken 2 – $8 mil

6. Silent Hill: Revelation 3D – $8 mil

7. Here Comes the Boom – $5.5 mil

8. Sinister – $5.1 mil

9. Alex Cross – $5.1 mil

10. Fun Size – $4.1 mil

Chasing Mavericks (Movie Review)

‘Chasing Mavericks’ is packed with life lessons and inspirational quotes that are glued to this true life story making it a little too “fairy-tale” like and similar to most sport films. There are fantastic shots of the ocean on the surface as well as below and of these massive waves that are really astounding. The story isn’t bad the problem is that it has too many clichés attached to it that make it your typical PG drama film and don’t let it stand out from the rest. The film feels like a lazy project that decided to lay back and not fulfill its full potential.

 

This movie is based on the life of a man well known in the surfing world Jay Moriarty played by Jonny Weston, a guy that since he was a kid wanted to do nothing else but surf. With the help of surfing legend Frosty (Gerard Butler) he learns all the necessary things to be able to tackle and survive the world’s biggest waves off the coast of Santa Cruz known as Mavericks.

 

The film has a slow pace showing how Jay’s passion began as a child as a way of escaping a broken home, where he’s basically his own parent. Similarly surfing is also Frosty’s escape, although the film doesn’t go deep into it, as Jay is the focus. The first part is sweet and innocent showing how a child that didn’t let anything stop him grew up to be the same kind of man. It finds its ground once Jay reaches adolescence; the problem is that this is when most of the clichés begin. Such as his loneliness, bullying, puppy love, sappiness and some unnecessary drama.

 

There are a couple of scenes that were inserted to create drama that feels pushed and overreacted, in just the same way there are some dramatic scenes that exist to create sympathy for the characters and although there’s one in particular that gets to you some others are too sappy and kind of silly. I was annoyed at some of the cuts between scenes, as the screen changed suddenly from a dark frame into a really bright one which was an abrupt undesired changed.

 

The acting gives as much as the script asks it to; Butler’s character is too much like Yoda with all his life philosophies and teachings making the relationship between the two main characters unnatural and pushed. At some point in the film there are too many stories taking place making it feels unfulfilled, as we are not given insight into many of them and some are left with loose ends, while others transform magically without any explanation. Also, unfortunately for us girls there are almost no shirtless scenes.

 

Undoubtedly the best moments in the film take place in the water, seeing these massive waves and humans that actually ride them is thrilling. Knowing what’s at risk thanks to all the research shown on screen makes it the more exciting. The film spits out plenty of life lessons and philosophies which most are easily forgotten, the only one that resonated with me is that we need to inspire ourselves to reach our goals even if it means pushing the limits, whilst being careful and conscientious.

Silent Hill: Revelation 3D (Movie Review)

It is so hard to find a good horror flick nowadays and unfortunately ‘Silent Hill: Revelation 3D’ doesn’t change the norm. There are so many things wrong with this movie that it’s easier to speak about the good it has, it certainly has cool looking monsters and some of the 3D effects pop out beautifully. There is nothing scary or startling about this film, it even gets boring; sure the storyline could be a little spooky but it in no way will traumatize you despite of some of its strange scenarios. The film is based on the videogame and that’s easily perceived, as many of the scenes are taken straight out of a videogame; my opinion is that they should just have left it as a videogame as it is only then that it’s actually entertaining.

 

This is a sequel to ‘Silent Hill’ from 2006; here Heather Mason (Adelaide Clemens) and her father Harry (Sean Bean) are starting yet a new life in a new town. On her 18th birthday her nightmares come true when her father disappears and she discovers who she really is; with the help of Vincent (Kit Harington) she enters the world of Silent Hill, which she might not be able to escape.

 

The scenes in Silent Hill where there’s ash falling from the sky really pop out and create a beautiful peaceful, yet eerie effect, there’s also a scene with faceless nurses that plays out so artistically in a form of “death†dance, which I really enjoyed. Interestingly enough in our interview Adelaide confirmed that the women in this scene were in fact dancers and contortionists and it was hard to shoot since they couldn’t see much with the masks. The monsters are cool looking, from pyramid head to a lady that has swords as hands, seeing them battle each other is pretty cool and very videogame like. There’s also a scene of a lady that turns into a plastic mannequin, which it’s well executed.  

 

This movie is just like a videogame in every way, from the music to the lack of dialogue to some of the sequences. There’s not a lot of dialogue and the bits of it is just awkward and stiff. At no point do you feel scared or anxious for the main character, as she just seems to be going through the motions, when she’s in the creepy town of Silent Hill there’s nothing scary about it. There’s no sense of urgency as Heather passes through every obstacle so easily.The script itself gets extremely complicated, ridiculous and boring, I can see it working well in a videogame atmosphere but in the big screen it tries to be so over the top that it looses the bit of charm it has.

 

It pained me to see Carrie-Anne Moss be a part of this because here she just makes me laugh unintentionally by her ridiculous role. This film doesn’t produce any scary scenes at all; it should be ashamed to call itself a horror movie. The only thing that this movie incited me to do is to go play the videogame, as I can clearly see how all of these different scenarios and monsters would create an awesome game experience.

‘Paranormal Activity 4’ spooks at the box office

‘Paranormal Activity 4’ premiered at number one with $30.2 million dollars, which for a film that only cost $5 million dollars to create is a high profit. Despite of the figure it is the film in the whole franchise to earn the least, either way Paramount has announced we will have a ‘Paranormal Activity 5’ around this same time next year.

Ben Affleck’s ‘Argo’ held on tight to the second spot with $16.6 million dollars, certainly the buzz its earned has helped it remain here. The film is close to reaching its budget cost, so this sophomore project needs that extra international box office boost.

Surprisingly ‘Hotel Transylvania’ was bumped up one spot to number three earning $13.5 million dollars. Perhaps since we are approaching the end of the month, many decided to be a part of this Halloween party.

The Top 10 in the Box Office are:

1. Paranormal Activity 4 – $30.2 mil

2. Argo – $16.6 mil

3. Hotel Transylvania – $13.5 mil

4. Taken 2 – $13.4 mil

5. Alex Cross – $11.7 mil

6. Sinister – $9 mil

7. Here Comes the Boom – $8.5 mil

8. Pitch Perfect – $7 mil

9. Frankenweenie – $4.4 mil

10. Looper – $4.2 mil

‘Taken 2’ #1 for second week

‘Taken 2’ is number one for the second weekend in a row with $22.5 million dollars, definitely inciting the studio for a third installment. Liam Neeson is pure gold and without a doubt recruited many followers not only for himself but for the franchise with ‘Taken’.

Ben Affleck’s political thriller ‘Argo’ premiered at number two with $20.1 million dollars. This movie has earned plenty of great reviews because of its perfect execution, regardless its R rating limits it but then again it’s mainly aimed at adults and Affleck showed his great directing skills once more.

One of the best scary films of this month if not this year ‘Sinister’ took the third spot with $18.2 million dollars. The movie did very well when it premiered Friday, as it was the leader of the box office, but quickly began falling from the top.

The Top 10 Movies in the Box Office are:

1.Taken 2 – $22.5 mil

2. Argo – $20.1 mil

3. Sinister – $18.2 mil

4. Hotel Transylvania – $17.3

5. Here Comes the Boom – $12 mi

6. Pitch Perfect – $9.3 mil

7. Frankenweenie – $7 mil

8. Looper – $6.3 mil

9. Seven Psychopaths – $4.3 mil

10. The Perks of Being a Wallflower – $2.2 mil

Here Comes the Boom (Movie Review)

Surprisingly ‘Here Comes the Boom‘ has a solid enough storyline to keep you entertained with laughs and tough fight scenes that will make you cringe. Slapstick humor really is what drives the film, but the combination of that with the fights gives it enough balance to make it fun. There are plenty of typical comedy movie skits and characters we’ve seen in other films, so there are some predictable situations, which doesn’t separate it from the rest. The thing that pushed me to like this movie besides the comedy was the overall message of the need for a community to work together to inspire our youth.

Biology high-school teacher, Scott Voss (Kevin James) used to be a good teacher at the beginning of his career but now he’s not the best of teachers as he’s given up on his students and has no desire to change his ways, until he’s inspired to become a mixed martial arts fighter to help with his school’s music budget to save his colleague Marty Streb (Henry Winkler) keep his job.

James not only looks physically ready for this role but perseveres inspiring the audience to fight for what they want. Salma Hayek plays a high-school nurse as well as James’ long time crush, she isn’t made up here in like most of her movies, she’s mainly shown with just a hint of make up and although she’s still eye candy she’s the voice of reason in the film as she pushes Scott to be better; these two give a refreshing love story not typical in comedies. Henry Winkler is adorable and is the heart of the movie, since his character portrays everything the movie represents. I have to mention Charice because she also plays a small role in the movie’s inspiring message; this girl has such an amazing voice and in a way represents some of the challenges immigrant children go through. 

There are plenty of scenes in the movie that will make you laugh out loud, in particular Scott’s second fight and although the movie crosses the line at some points, it is all mainly in good fun. The fights get more intense as the film develops, you will feel pain for James’ character. There are also plenty of cheesy moments as well as easy unrealistic solutions. At times it seems to loose focus as it tries to handle too many stories at once, which messes with the flow of the film.

This is just a good time at the movies with laughs, moments that will make you say “ouch” and a sprinkle of motivation. Some of the images are a little too violent for younger kids; it is more appropriate for children 13 and up. So grab the popcorn and enjoy a comedy that has some hard to watch fights with a positive message.