Despicable Me

* This review is for the first movie. For the second one, come here next week.

“Rapha, did you know that you talk just like the Minions?” – said my friend.

“Minions? What are Minions?” – I replied.

“You know, from the movie ‘Despicable Me’? The yellow creatures?”

“Really? I never watched that movie. How do they talk?”

“They don’t talk. Well they do, but you don’t understand them.”

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha…

If you’ve seen the movie you will know that my friend wasn’t insulting me. And if you have ever talked to me, you will know that what she meant is that I’m very expressive when I talk…  that sometimes when I talk I am better understood by my expressions and gestures than by my actual words :)

Needless to say, her comment made me extremely curious to watch it, even though I’m a not a huge fan of animated movies, but I did.

And I LOVED it!

It’s the story about this man who, since he was a boy, dreamed of going to the moon and making his mother proud of him. He craved for her approval.

But nothing he ever did made an impression on her. So since being good didn’t work, he decided to be bad and become a famous villain. He seems to be heartless and care about no one, except the scientist who helps him in his inventions and the Minions (the yellow creatures we were talking about) who help him in his plans.

Then he crosses paths with three little girls who live in an orphanage.

He doesn’t care about them, but because they are the only ones who can help him with his latest plan, he decides to adopt them. And now you have to watch it to find out the rest ;)

The whole movie is very nice and so, so funny! I laughed so much! And I simply fell in love with the Minions hehehe… But what I liked the most about it is the message it conveys. Even though it’s a movie made for kids, it seems to me that the message was more directed to parents.

It clearly shows the importance of a family.

Some of us are brought up in a nice and caring family, others unfortunately are not, but it’s us who decide what we are going to do with that. Are we going to be cold, angry, bitter and treat our own family the way we were treated? Are we going to give more importance to the things in our lives than the people in it?

Whether you received a lot of love or not when you were growing up, someday you will have to make a choice of who YOU want to be for your family and your kids.

There are many things that are important and necessary in our lives, but everyday we have to choose what’s MORE important. For some people, it’s their studies, their careers, establishing themselves as a professional in the field they chose. For others is making a lot of money or being famous. Some others consider their family the most important thing in their lives and for some, God is the most important One.

But it doesn’t really matter what we say it’s the most important thing. We may think it’s something when in fact it’s something else. So how do we know for sure?

It’s not what we say that shows what we REALLY want. It’s what we do. Everyday.

Then you may ask: “And you got all this from a cartoon??”

Yep!

Believe it or not.

Jack, the Giant Slayer

I wish all movies were like this.

The kind that does not make you uncomfortable with all the cursing, nudity and violence.

 The ones you don’t have to cover your children’s eyes when they are watching.

Such is the case with Jack, the Giant Slayer.

It’s the story we all have read about but with a modern twist.

Here’s what I like apart from what I said above:

It has a plot and it’s not predictable.

It has a bit of romance, which every good movie should have hehe

It has the action, but is not violent… well… the giants do eat people and step on them… and there are some giant killing… does that count? Lol

 What I mean is, they don’t show these things in a violent way, there’s no blood or anything.

And it has the funny bits… watch out for the cook, that’s all I’m going to say :)

And a happy ending.

Sometimes you want to go to the movies and not be at the edge of your seat with all the suspense, or racking your brain to understand the plot or cringing at all the punches being thrown everywhere or even crying because of all the sad events going on.

Sometimes you just want to watch a nice movie with your friends. Or be able to take your kids to watch a movie where you don’t have to worry about the bad scenes and wrong message. Sometimes you just want to have some entertainment and enjoy a nice day out with your friends or family.

If that’s what you are looking for this weekend, Jack is the movie for you ;)   

Skyfall

Since Skyfall is coming out on DVD now, I thought I’d take the opportunity to talk about it.

007 movies huh? What do you think my opinion is going to be?

Let me start by saying that I was never interested in these movies. All I remember from when I was a kid was that the things James Bond could do were just too much, too unreal and as my dear father used to say, it was just “uma mentirada danada”, which translated means “just too many lies”.

After I grew up I wanted to give it a chance and see for myself what the deal with James Bond was. So I watched “Die Another Day” with Pierce Brosnan… O_o

My goodness! What a terrible movie!! It was just… ridiculous. The whole plot was awful and that did it for me. No more 007 movies!

But when they released the first trailer of “Casino Royale” I couldn’t resist and went to watch it.

Loved it!!

Yeah… I’m into these secret agent movies hehehe.

I like it a lot because, apart from the fights, which I also like by the way (no, I’m not a violent person, I just happen to like watching choreographed/fake fights), it usually has an interesting plot, a mystery to be solved. And that’s exactly the case with “Casino Royale”. In my opinion they chose the perfect actor for it.

Anyway, needless to say I changed my opinion about 007 movies… as long as they keep the same actor, that is. After that, I don’t know.

So, I watched the next one, “Quantum of Solace” and obviously I just HAD to watch Skyfall as well!

And I really, really liked it :)

It’s quite different from the previous two. It doesn’t have a lot of fights or car chases, but there’s A LOT of story. A lot of unanswered questions throughout the movie and the plot develops quite nicely. The kind that makes you want to solve the mystery.

I know this is more of a guy’s type of movie (or so I’ve been told) but I just love the whole “my name is Bond, James Bond” thing lol

So if you are also into movies like this, this is the movie for you to watch this weekend.

But if you are not… hey, here’s your chance to try something new ;) 

The Twilight Saga – Breaking Dawn Part II

It’s over people! After 4 years, the Twilight Saga is over.

But hey, we can still talk about it ;) Do you know how?

Through the Twilight Series I started here on the blog sometime ago but never got to finish.

Here’s what I wrote so far:

So the lion fell in love with the lamb

Mind over Matter

You are my life now

I’m nothing if not traditional

Here’s what’s still to come starting next Thursday:

You are only human

Edward X Jacob

Do I dazzle you?

Twilight - The conclusion

But going back to Breaking Dawn – Part II, here are my thoughts on the last movie of the saga:

I think it ended well. Of course there’s no comparison between the movie and the book but I thought they still did a good job.

I’d like to have seen a little bit more of acting though. It seemed to me that there were more demonstrations of what kind of super powers people had than actually people having conversations.

I didn’t like the fact that Jacob is almost nowhere to be seen in this movie. I say this because, well if you read the book you know that good part of this story was told through Jacob’s perspective and not Bella’s. I was really looking forward to hearing him saying all the funny things he says in the book, but no… they didn’t include that. Pity.

I loved the twist at the end though. Very clever!

What else can I say?

It was good. I liked how it ended and I’m happy that it did…

It was time :) 

* The crazy twilight fans probably don’t agree with this last statement… but what can I do? It’s true hehehe

Argo

Answer fast: What’s the one thing that happens to all big blockbuster movies right before they premiere?  

Promotion.

There’s usually a lot of buzz around the movie. They create websites, teasers, trailers. They send the main actors on talk shows and international tours, hold premieres in different countries, etc, etc. And all with one single objective: Get the public interested in watching the movie. But I don’t remember a lot of promotion being made about ‘Argo’, which immediately made me think that it was probably not a good movie.

Besides, what kind of movie is titled “Argo”?

I watched the trailer and it seemed interesting, but the question was, was it interesting enough? But I went to watch it anyway.

VERY GOOD MOVIE!!!

The story happens in Tehran, Iran. People were working normally and going about their day on the US Embassy in Tehran, until lots and lots of protesters invade the Embassy and take everyone hostage, except six Americans who escaped through a back door and hid in the Canadian Ambassador’s house.

Now the CIA must devise a plan to rescue the six Americans and bring them back safely to the United States. But how can they do that without anyone in Iran finding out? How can they even pass through immigration without being recognized as Americans? It was quite an impossible mission. 

Lots of agents present their ideas, some good, others ridiculous, until one agent, Tony Mendez (played by Ben Affleck) has the idea of using a movie to rescue them.

That’s right. They were going to produce a fake movie, use the excuse that the best place to shoot the movie was Tehran, go there and come back with the six Americans with the pretense that they were part of the movie crew.

I don’t want to tell you anymore otherwise I will end up spoiling it for you. But let me tell you what I like about the whole movie:

·     It’s a very intelligent plot. It makes you think, ponder, pay attention.

·      It gives a nice message about responsibility, commitment and honoring your word.

·      The outfits and glasses are hilarious.

·      And my favorite: It gives you the idea of how everything in Hollywood is a big lie. They show what they want you to see and they make you believe in whatever they want you to believe.

That’s why I think it’s so important for us to choose carefully the movies we watch and most importantly, understand the message behind it and separate the good things from the bad.

I recommend Argo because it is quite a nice movie, except for all the cursing (well, it’s Hollywood after all, what do you expect?).  It has a message, it has something we can take from it and it’s very entertaining.

I tell you, if I had the habit of biting my nails, I’d probably have left the theaters with no fingers… it makes you really tense hehehe…

Safe House

This is a R rated movie

After watching The Vow, which was not very good, I went for some action.

What can I say about Safe House…?

Denzel Washington is in it, which is already a reason to believe that the movie is going to be good. 

And so it was.

I really liked it but it was not so much because of the plot, but more because of the action. It’s definitely the kind of story we have seen before, but good nonetheless.

There are fights 90% of the time, so if you are not in the mood for something slow and mellow, Safe House is probably the movie for you to watch.

It’s kind of like ‘Bourne Trilogy'. The fights look very real and the guy actually gets hurt… A LOT lol.

I like movies like this (not the kind where people get hurt of course, but the ones that keep you on the edge of your seat), but I understand that not everyone does.

So, for those who liked Bourne, I recommend it. You will probably like this one as well.

If not, then maybe you should just stay away from all the fighting ;)

The Twilight Saga - Breaking Dawn Part I

I find it quite difficult to write a review about a Twilight movie. I don't know, maybe it's because the whole Edward thing seems to have a lot of girls going crazy these days...

Since it's hard to fully express my opinion in only one post, I'll be starting next Thursday a series of posts about it. So, if you are those people who really like Twilight, stay tuned every Thursday. If you are not, stay tuned anyway so you can share your opinion as well.

There were a lot of mixed reviews when Breaking Dawn came out, most critics hated it, some liked it and some had crazy ideas about it. This is what I think:

I liked it :)

I liked it because they stayed quite true to the book, just like New Moon. I don't particularly like the whole Renesmee story and I think it just spoiled something that was already good, like 'raining on the wet' as they say in Portuguese, but I'll let it pass lol.

I think the actors were very good, much better than in all the other Twilight movies.

I LOVED the wedding! But I don't think that Bella's dress was supposed to be like they showed it in the movie... too revealing for Bella's character and my taste.

I also enjoyed all the speeches at the wedding, especially Charlie's!! I think he's so funny (don't ask me why) both in the books and in the movies and I think they chose the perfect actor for his character. 

The soundtrack was nice, especially the wedding song... it's so beautiful!

The honeymoon... what can I say about the honeymoon in Brazil? Well, it was in Brazil, so of course it was going to be nice lol (just joking). Again, very close to the book, feathers and all.

There are some things that you don't understand though if you haven't read the book. Some things are not explained right, like when the wolves are talking and Jacob refuses to obey Sam; if you don't know the story, you are quite lost in that scene. Just like the friends that went with me to watch it. I had to keep explaining things throughout the movie, it was hilarious!

But apart from that, I liked everything else. It was good enough for me :)

But I must tell you that there is something about Twilight in general that I DON'T like. I think I even hate it... But anyway, if you want to know what it is, come back next Thursday.

Have you already watched it? What did you think? 

Leave your comments. I reeeally want to hear them!

Abduction

I watched this movie a couple of weeks ago… there was not much option and so I chose one that had action.

I have to be honest, I didn’t expect much of this movie. You know… Taylor Lautner, the wolf from Twilight… trying his first movie as the leading character… probably not much there.

But the movie was quite nice…

It’s the story about this guy Nathan(played by Taylor), who has a nice family and a normal teenage life, but after seeing his picture on a Missing Person’s website finds out that his life isn’t so normal after all.

Here’s what I liked about it:

* The fights were more real, the guy actually gets hurt after being punched (if I’m not wrong, he even passes out after receiving a punch), which hardly happens in movies and that helps give it a touch of realism, different from the Mission Impossible type of movies – There is a new one coming out soon by the way… will surely write a review about it 

* The guy and the girl like each other but don’t sleep together, which should be the normal thing in a relationship. The ‘couples sleeping together because they love each other’ kind of thing gets really tiresome/boring/tedious/fake/ridiculous sometimes and this movie didn’t have it, which in my opinion was a big PLUS to the whole story

* There is action, feeling, family and the plot develops nicely

What I didn’t like about it:

* It shows that ‘typical’ teenage life with parties, drinks, popularity, which is just non-sense. This part spoiled the movie a bit… but it was only in the beginning, so you can just ignore it completely after the first 10 minutes

Abduction is an ok movie, but you should probably wait to watch it when it comes out on DVD.

It’s was no Bourne Trilogy but it was good enough.

Thor

Here I go again with another super-hero movie review lol

Thor is from another world and as the son of a king he grows up learning everything necessary to inherit the throne some day. He was taught the best lessons and received the best training. He knew how to use his authority as a prince; he was strong, skilled and influential.  He was good at fighting battles; he was brave and very intelligent. The problem with him is that he often followed his impulses instead of his head and ended up paying a high price because of it.

I really liked watching Thor – have watched it twice actually. I liked it because instead of focusing on the super powers and all the things that can be achieved through it, it focuses on the fact that if you are foolish, you can lose everything… regardless of how powerful you may be.

There is no nudity and no cursing in this movie, which is always a plus. It has the fights, the lessons, the comedy and even some romance for those of us who just can’t go without it when watching a movie. Nice combination, isn’t it?

Include Thor on your list of movies to watch and have a great weekend!

Limitless

This movie came out on DVD some time ago and I was never really interested in watching it, until a friend suggested it...

The movie is about this guy Eddie, who is a loser, not going anywhere in life, just going through the motions of everyday, until he is presented with a pill, that supposedly expands the full capacity of his brain, in other words, makes him really intelligent. I know, I know, sounds strange... But that's what happens, he becomes really smart and his life completely changes after that.

Fiction aside, what I really liked about this movie is the idea of how much a person can do and achieve in life when he just THINKS! The problem with many of us is not that we are not smart enough, is just that we are too lazy to think sometimes.

There's something the guy said in the movie that really stuck to me. As he was explaining the effects of the pill, he said 'my shyness, my fears are now gone'. Because he started thinking more, those things could not hold him anymore. How true is that?

If you THINK about it, shyness, doubts and fear are things of the heart and not of the mind. When you follow your reason and not your emotions, you can overcome those things; you can see that they just don't make sense and will never get you anywhere.

We should start thinking more and feeling less. That way we will achieve much more in life, much quicker.

All in all, a very nice movie. It certainly made me want to THINK more...

Green Lantern

As I have mentioned before, I really like the super-hero stuff. Any comic book made into a movie and sure thing, I’m going to watch it or at least want to.

However, when the Green Lantern trailer came out, I wasn’t very interested. I saw a lot of ugly creatures and I thought, ‘who likes to go to the movies and see ugly things?’ But my husband said he remembered the story from the comic book and that it should be interesting.

So, I went to watch it not expecting much from it and to my surprise… well, I was really surprised.

The Green Lantern is not like other super-hero movies I’ve watched before, who always seem to evolve around the girl or how much the guy gets beat up or how much he struggles before he can finally overcome the enemies.

It’s not about the girl, it’s not about the super power, it’s about something we all face every single day of our lives and that’s what makes it so good!

This movie has a clear message, it’s like the whole story was written to pass one specific, direct, strong message and the whole movie focuses on that.

I liked it very, very much and recommend it to everyone. I had a couple of laughs, but that’s just because I find Ryan Reynolds very funny in all his roles and his face is always funny somehow.

I will not tell you what the message is though; otherwise I’ll just spoil it for you.

You should go, watch it and then write your views here in the comments section.

So, would I watch it again? Oh yes! WILL I watch it again? ABSOLUTELY!! 

The Fighter

After weeks of not being able to post anything on this blog, here I am to tell you about The Fighter.


All I can say about this movie is that it is hilarious, I laughed the entire time! But the thing is that it's not a comedy, it's supposed to be drama, but I couldn't help myself. The situations and the conversations (more like yelling) are so real that they are funny.

It's a true story about two brothers who play boxing. The older got famous at one point in his life after winning a fight against a famous fighter, but that was all he achieved. Now comes the younger brother trying to follow on his footsteps.


Just think of a big family; everyone talking at the same time, always having an opinion about everything and always, always arguing about something... This is what you see in The Fighter... a lot! And that's what makes it so interesting, so real. The actors portrayed the characters really well, specially Christian Bale, who in my opinion, was the funniest of them all.


I liked this movie very much, would definitely watch it again but I cannot say that it is inspirational but it shows the reality of people's lives. So if you just want to be entertained, this is the movie for you!