Posts Tagged ‘Warner Brothers

29
Jun
10

Total Eclipse Of The Heart

By Chi_Ho Leave a Comment
Categories: Now Playing, Summit Entertainment and Warner Brothers
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Turn around….

Every now and then I get a little bit nervous about big pop culture phenomena that creates masses of crazy fans. In my tween years it was boy bands, but of course these days it’s vampires and werewolves and wizards. Today movie theaters around the country are losing their minds trying to deal with females of every age who are dying to see the 3rd installment of The Twilight Saga. I haven’t  had the privilage to see Twilight Eclipse yet (8pm tonight I will have the honor; it is my favorite book in the series and the guy who directed 30 Days of Night is attached to this installment so I have my fingers crossed), but let’s talk about what I have seen… The latest Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows trailer via Film School Rejects which is supposed to be attached to today’s release of Twilight.

I was stunned into silence by this trailer. David Yates and Warner Brothers are sending Harry Potter out with a huge bang and you can feel how enormously epic this ending is in just these brief two and a half minutes. To be completely honest with you, the release of this trailer on MSN before Twilight’s opening has reshuffled my excitement. My immediate thoughts following the trailer was “screw Eclipse, I want Deathly Hallows”  which can only make me wonder how many other Twilight moviegoers may feel the same? Obviously the Twihards won’t care, but what about the rest of us? Could this trailer outshine Twilight Eclipse? Ok maybe I’m getting too excited. Honestly the Twilight fandom is so intense and rabid, I doubt this would be the case nationwide… But for some people (boyfriends and husbands being dragged to see Twilight), it may just be the highlight of the evening… along with Taylor Lautner being shirtless… yummy.

Whatever team or franchise you support its a great day for all. New epic film and new epic trailer… another great day at the movies.

25
Sep
09

(23) Movies of Summer

By Chi_Ho 1 Comment
Categories: Reviews
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As of Tuesday, Summer is officially over. Though most movie critics and bloggers have already done their summer 2009 movie recap, I decided I wanted to wait. I wanted to cherish the movie blitz we get from May – August and savor the tastes… both sweet and sour. But now… it is time.

May 2009 | Star Trek

In total, I have seen 23 movies in theater this summer (May 2009-August 2009)… some for work, more for pleasure and is it just me or was this summer like March Madness… you knew which films were favored going into the dance but there were a lot of underdogs that upset the favorites. After 15 min of looking at my list of summer movies, I was able to pick 5 that made this summer worth living for… Here are my top 5:

I’m a girl and I’ve never been a fan of Star Trek… I don’t have a really good reason why… I thought it was boring when we used to watch it on TV (but this was also when I was a little girl playing dress up and sneaking lipstick out of my Moms make-up box). So when they announced that JJ Abrams was doing a Star Trek movie, I just went – “meh”. Opening weekend was a smash and everyone had nothing but great things to say about the film… I still remained “meh”. But finally, I couldn’t avoid it any longer as my fellow Red Band Project blogger convinced me that I needed to see it…so I went… and I lost my socks. I was rocked so hard and sucked in so badly to this movie. It had action, comedy, and a story that really hit home for me(I’m a sucker for time travel). As a n00b to the Star Trek world, I didn’t get any of the lingo but I didn’t leave the theater feeling excluded from the story, which I thought was amazing. It felt like I didn’t miss anything and that this was just the beginning  of my love for Star Trek.

May 2009 | Up

May 2009 | Up

Disney and Pixar… oops you did  it again. Up was such a great film that took me on a roller coaster of emotions… it was the first time that I cried in a movie because I was sad and happy. At first I thought the story was too heavy, but at the very end when everything came full circle, I realized the perfection of the movie. Just thinking about it makes me all fuzzy inside in a sad but happy way. Amazing.

June 2009 | The Proposal

June 2009 | The Proposal

I’m going to be totally honest… I thought The Proposal was going to suck so badly. I had to see it for work (4 times mind you) and I remember the first time I sat through it I went home with a smile on my face.  I was shocked by how well Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock clicked. They were so funny and awkward at the right moments… it felt like real life. I thought Sandra Bullock was going to be too old for this role, but obviously she still got it… I mean, did you see her bod? She gave Ryan Reynold’s a run for his money. I loved it.

August 2009 | District 9

The teasers for District 9 that came out early in the summer did not excite me. I thought it was going to be another stupid sci-fi movie… nothing special. But then I went to Comic Con and Peter Jackson made me a believer. What I loved the most about this film was the evolution of the main character, Wikus. Sharlto Copley was so believable  that I felt like the film could’ve been real life… it really felt like a true documentary. Ok and I will say the same thing that everyone else said, the special effects were awesome. I especially liked the way that people disintegrated when they were shot by alien weapons… very impressive.

July 2009 | (500) Days of Summer

I saved the best for last…. I cannot put into words how much I loved (500) Days of Summer. It was so witty and funny and aggravating at the same time. Can I just say that I looooove Joseph Gordon Levitt (not in G.I. Joe…no.) and have loved him since 10 Things I Hate About You….  I just needed to put that out there.  My favorite scene from this film was the dancing in the street to Hall & Oates “You Make My Dreams Come True”…. *sigh* it was the highlight of my summer of movies. I think this movie was the first enjoyable Chick Flick from the guys perspective. Usually the girl is always the one getting screwed, but it was really refreshing to see it flip-flopped. This was my absolute favorite for the summer and potentially the year.

That’s my 5 favorites… I would write about the movies I hated this summer but it’s not even worth it. You all know which ones sucked… (Dance Flick, Year One, Wolverine… I could go on) and I think we should go into Autumn with only happy thoughts. So instead tell me which films were your favorite. I’ll be checking in.

16
Jul
09

Do You Believe In Magic?

By Chi_Ho Leave a Comment
Categories: Reviews and Warner Brothers
Tags: , , ,

HP_line

Excitement is in the air as Harry Potter fans storm theaters around the country to see the 6th installment of Harry Potter better known as Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (I shall refer to it as HP6).  Last night midnight screenings across the US grossed $22 million, which is astounding considering fans were seriously thinking about protesting the film due to Warner Brothers’ decision to push back the release from November 2008 to 2009. I was fortunate enough to attend the advance screening of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, but figured I’d wait until the release date to post something. I thought it would be cruel to write about the movie, get everyone excited, and still they would have to wait… so now that everyone can see it here we go…

I am a Harry Potter movie and book fan, that read Half Blood Prince in the fall of 2007 immediately after reading Order of the Phoenix. I couldn’t stand how emo Order of the Phoenix was. If you’ve seen the movie you know that it was a heavy story (if not go here to catch up)… I remember leaving the theaters feeling incomplete and depressed. I missed the magic. I wanted Harry to finally catch a break. I felt like all hope was lost…On Monday night at Ward Consolidated theaters, I saw a light at the end of the tunnel (and no it’s not a fast approaching train). Harry is back!

The thing I was most impressed with in HP6 was how well the story was translated to film. I’m sure you’ve been a victim of this… you read an amazing book, you go to see the motion picture, you leave disappointed (i.e. Da Vinci Code and Twilight). David Yates did a great job in selecting crucial moments in the book and building the scenes from the book in real life. To me the movie was exactly what I envisioned in my head when I read the book. The one fatal flaw, as always, is you can never fit all 704 pages of a book into 2 1/2 hours. In this movie, you don’t really get to see the story of the Half Blood Prince, nor do you get to see all of the memories of Lord Voldemort, but we all knew they were going to have to leave things out. Was the story of the Half Blood Prince that important in the grand scheme of things? Not really.  If you want to know all the nitty gritty details, read the book, but if you don’t and you just watch the movies, you’ll still get all the main points.

HP6 breathed life back into the Harry Potter Film series… its not the studio or director’s fault that the movies hit an emo point, its just how it was written by JK Rowling. Life can’t be happy and magical all the time, you know.

Harry_OrderofPhoenix

In the previous movie, everything sucked for Harry… Dumbledore distanced himself from Harry, an annoying lady took over Hogwarts, Harry struggles to find good in himself, and in the last big battle of the movie, Harry loses his God Uncle, Sirius Black, who was the one person Harry looked to as family. How could any of that make you feel good? Director David Yates and his team (with a little help from JK Rowling) brought everything we loved about Harry Potter back in Half Blood Prince. Everything seems to go back to normal…Dumbledore is back in command and once again Hogwarts is the one safe haven for Harry and his friends. YES! JUSTICE! But wait it gets better. Throw in the first awkward puppy love moments, a serum that makes you totally lucky, and memories showing the origins of the evil wizard known as Voldemort and you get the perfect come back. Oh and did I mention they brought back Quidditch, the awesome wizard version of soccer/football?

The story is not all warm and fuzzy… there is death and there are tears, but you’ll understand that the loss suffered in this movie gives Harry a purpose in the next two movies. Harry is no longer this helpless kid that cheats death with the help of Dumbledore. Harry is now the “Chosen One” forced to take on the mission of bringing down, Lord Voldemort and saving the rest of the wizarding world. You almost want Harry to end the movie by saying, “Fate rarely calls upon us at a moment of our choosing” with Ron and Hermione at his side as the screen fades to black… with the Optimus Prime voice of course.

To keep this short, Half Blood Prince brought hope back to the film franchise and will leave you anxious for the last installment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. So forget your principals and all your anger at Warner Brothers for pushing it back… get to the theater. You won’t regret it.

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