Role Models: Whispering Eye

Official Site: www.rolemodelsmovie.com
Director(s): David Wain
Writer(s): David Wain and Paul Rudd...
Producer(s): Luke Greenfield, Mary Parent, Matthew Siegel, and Scott Stuber.

Starring: Sean William Scott as Wheeler, Paul Rudd as Danny Donahue, Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Augie Farks, Bobb' e J. Thompson as Ronnie Shields, Elizabeth Banks as Beth, Jane Lynch as Gale Sweeney(IMDb). 99min, Rated-R.

Wheeler and Danny work as promoters for an energy drink company, and their current project is to travel to schools on a "say no to drugs" campaign while simultaneously trying to gain a share of the youth market. Wheeler is incredibly happy being the company mascot, but Danny is not so happy. He feels he is in a dead-end job that is unacceptable for a man who is 35 years old. As a result Danny is very pessimistic, a pessimism that annoys his girlfriend Beth greatly. An incident in a coffee shop led Beth to realize how much of a "dick" Danny really is, and a break-up followed at Beth's law office. Being distraught and agitated from the break-up, at their next school promotion, Danny's antics resulted in a court order that required him and Wheeler to perform community service at a foundation where they both meet their "littles".

Again, this is another movie that I was not too excited about seeing that surprised me. The irreverent humor was not so witty but straight forward. The punchlines were not cerebral, but their delivery was well executed. The impetus of the dialogues in relation to its comedic value, was how the humor was delivered properly in context, and with good timing. In scenes featuring Jane Lynch (Gale Sweeney), her character was so strange, and she induced so much awkwardness that it makes one laugh. Over all , the story was great. The pace of the film was just right, and so was the casting. Funny but not hilarious, Role Models is definitely worth seeing. According Metacritic.com this film received mixed reviews, and according to Rottentomatoes.com this film received 86 fresh tomatoes to 27 rotten ones thus far. Good stuff, I'll give it a C+. Stay tuned, Movieporiumblogspot.com.

Quantum Of Solace: Bond, James Bond

Quantum of Solace was a film that I was eagerly anticipating. And my anticipation was not met with disappointment. There was action in this Bond from the beginning to the end. The production of the film was amazing although there was not as many gadgets in this Bond film in contrast to the previous Bond films. Technologically the film was not as sophisticated as the others, but the rugged action sequences compensated for that greatly, because the absence of the gadgets were not noticeable unless serious thought was invested. In addition to the gadgets, the classic trademark "Bond, James Bond", was also missing. Daniel Craig is certainly not a pretty Bond, but he does possess a rugged elegance that works well. Unprecedented, Craig is muscular and the previous Bonds were not. Seemingly this bond was tailored to perform acrobatically. I'm a huge James Bond fan, and I love the change. I give this film a B+ because the action scenes were very entertaining, and the dialogue was rich, but I'm critical of the hand to hand combat scene, that was way too reminiscent of the scene in the last Bourne film.

Blindness: Third Ward

Official Site:www.blindness-themovie.com

Director: Fernando Meirelles

Writer(s): Jose Saramago and Don Mckellar

Producer(s): Andrea Barata Ribeiro, Niv Fichman, and Sonoko Sakai

Starring: Julianne Moore as Doctor's wife, Danny Glover as Man with eye patch, Mark Ruffalo as Doctor, Alice Braga as Woman with dark glasses, Gael Garcia Bernard as king of ward three, and Yusuke Iseya as first blind man(IMDb).Rated-R 120 minutes. 

Mysteriously the film begins with an Asian man who is causing traffic on account of sudden blindness. After being accompanied by an altruistic man ,who later becomes blind, the Asian man, hours later, along with his wife went to see a doctor who could not provide a diagnosis as to the cause of the blindness. The following morning the doctor became blind along with an increasing number of people who were ultimately sequestered into a ward where they had to struggle to survive.  

The acting was amazing. The desperation of the people who were subject to the blindness was conveyed well. Julianne Moore was riveting and brave in he role as the doctor's wife. Speaking of doctors, Ruffalo was just right for the part of the soft spoken but logical would be leader. Glover as the wise and gentle man was also testimony of good casting. 

Certain scenes in this film made me so uncomfortable, not because they were bad because they were crafted in tuned with situations and conditions that would challenge our morals. Such scenes beg the question, does morality or survival take precedence in the midst of uncomprisable circumstances? This was one those films where as a movie watcher one could not help but feel intense sympathy toward  some of the characters. According to Metacritic.com the film received mixed reviews. I like this film. B+. Stay tuned, Movieporium.blogspot.com.

Eagle Eye: Big Sister is Watching

Official Site: www.eagleeyemovie.com

Director: D.J Caruso

Writer(s): John Glenn and Travis Wright

Producer(s): Pat Crowley, Alex Kurtzman, Edward McDonnell, and Robert Orci. 

Starring: Shia Labeouf as Jery Shaw, Michelle Monaghan as Rachel Holloman, Rosario Dawson as Zoe Perez, Michael Chiklis as Defense Secretary Callister, Billy Bob Thorton as Agent Thomas Morgan, and Ethan Embry as Agent Thomas Morgan(IMDb). Rated PG-13, 118 min.   

Jerry Shaw is an average hardworking wage earner at the Copy Cabana who is struggling to pay is rent on time. One day he went to withdraw some cash at the ATM, and surprisingly his account ,which usually reads insufficient funds, was endowed with over $700,000 dollars. After withdrawing almost all the money he runs to his apartment only to receive a phone call from a woman warning him that the FBI will be at his door soon, as he noticed all sorts of materials that could be used for making bombs in his apartment. Later, after being apprehended and broken out of custody with the aid of the mystery woman on the phone, Shaw encounters others who are in the same position that he is. 

If you wish to continue using using your cell phone, your Internet, and your computer, the advice to not watch this movie is in order. This film induces serious thought about how much of our activity is recorded with or without the threat of terrorism. Almost every aspect of our economic lives is known in some capacity through our purchases and our cyber-activities. I seems the film is asking people to be mindful of their privacy. 

This was  a good action film that had plenty of chases to deliver what it promised. Labeouf was great in this film, and his chemistry with Monaghan was delightful. The story was descent, and it was entertaining, but again this film was not extraordinary; it was simply a good movie. According to Metacritic.com the film received mixed reviews, and according to Rottentomatoes.com the film earned 25 fresh tomatoes to 75 rotten ones thus far. I will grade it a C+. Stay tuned, movieporiumblogspot.com.   

Righteous Kill and Lakeview Terrace

A quick review on Righteous Kill, It was great to finally see Dinero and  Pacino acting side by side, but I wish it was in a film that was consequential. Certainly  the preceding wish is not asserting that this film was not satisfactory. Seeing these two greats in an awesome movie rather than a film that was simply satisfactory was how I would have liked to see these magnates of the acting world perform side by side.  I will grade this movie a C+ because it was not extraordinary, but it was worth seeing.

Lakeview Terrace was surprisingly intense. Samuel Jackson played his role so well he made me feel uncomfortable. I truly disliked his character. He was annoying and controlling, but worst of all he thought he was righteous when he was not. The subject matter of interracial relationships was the basal conflict contributing to the acerbic and intrusive disposition of Jackson's character. The family conflicts that are quite often endemic to interracial relationships is also explored in this film. This film was surprisingly good although the ending was rather predictable. I will grade it a C+.