Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Shrek The Final Chapter: Re-Donkey-lous

Dreamworks
Official Site:www.shrek.com
Director(s):Mike Mitchell
Writer(s):Josh Klausner, Darren Lemke
Producer(s):Teresa Cheng, Gina Shay,

Starring:Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Antonio Banderas, Julie Andrews, Jon Hamm, John Cleese, Walt Dohrn, Lake Bell,(IMDb). PG-93 min.


Shrek has become a family-man, with a wife, and several green creatures which he calls his kids. Although Shrek appears to have a blissful life, emotionally, Shrek is not fulfilled. He misses the days when he was a reclusive menacing ogre, and people were actually afraid of him. Feeling that his life has become something akin to a tourist attraction, Shrek deeply yearns the life he had before rescuing Princess Fiona, and the opportunistic Rumpelstiltskin grants him that life for a day through a contractual obligation accompanied by dire consequences.

In contrast to the preceding films, Shrek: The Final Chapter, although satisfying, was not as funny. The humor in the previous films was more adult oriented; it was difficult to detect such humor in this latest and final release of the series. With the humor being more sanitized, or designed for a younger audience, the older fans of the series may have felt, this comedy was amusing in a sophomoric manner. Using the term sophomoric appears harsh, however it is not intended to be pejorative, but that, the humor seemed rather simplified.

The story was more satisfying than the humor. Indeed this was a beautiful story of loss, redemption, and appreciation. Over all the film had a good pace. All the major characters are as lovable as they have ever been. According to Metacritic, the filmed earned average or mixed reviews, and Rottentomatoes.com granted the film 65 fresh tomatoes to 56 rotten ones thus far. Definitely worth seeing, I'll grade it an 83. Stay tuned, movieporium.blogspot.com




Saturday, May 22, 2010

The Secret In Their Eyes: Can't Seperate A Man From His Passion

Official Site: http://www.sonyclassics.com/thesecretintheireyes/
Director(s):Juan José Campanella
Writer(s): Eduardo Sacheri
Producer(s):Mariela Besuievski, Juan José Campanella, Carolina Urbieta.

Starring:Ricardo Darín, Guillermo Francella, Soledad Villamil, Jose Luis Gioia, Pablo Rago (Moviefone.com). Rated R-127 minutes.

A former official of Argentina's Justice Department, Benjamin Esposito was struggling to write a novel about a rape-homicide case from decades ago. As a frustrated Esposito labored to find the right words to write on his notepad, he could not help imagining the screams of the rape victim, which was the antithesis of the idealistic, soft, and poetic thoughts he tried to write. This case was special to Esposito; he simply could not shake off a brute intuition, that there was something more to this old case. Following his intuition, Esposito visited his former boss, Irene, and they talked about old times, and reminisced about the case. Revisiting the case as a novelist, Esposito ultimately discovers something shocking and unprecedented.

The Secret In Their Eyes, is the Academy Award winner for best foreign language film, marked by excellent character development, smart writing, and balance. Characters drive the film, but not to the extent that they are the focus feature of the film, because the investigation of the rape-homicide is also captivating, but so is the writing. The dialogue is cogent and aphoristic, and one could argue that there is truth in the saying, " can't separate a man from his passion". Excluding the investigation, other elements of the film did not dominate the main story or the plot, but they were present and resolved. For example, Esposito was in love with his boss, Irene; this aspect of the film was resolved, without overshadowing the investigation which was the center aspect. Overall, the pace of the film was just was right , there was no lag, and it was absolutely captivating. According to metacritic.com, the film received generally favorable reviews, and Rottentomatoes.com granted the film 66 fresh tomatoes to 6 rotten ones. This masterpiece is a 95. Stay tuned to Movieporium.