Up

Up is one of the best cartoon movies I have seen in a long time. It is full of love, comedy and good morals. The movie starts off with Carl Fredricksen (Edward Asner), a shy and quiet young boy who meets a young loud and energetic girl named Ellie (Elie Docter). They discover that they both have the same hobbies of exploring. They plan explore all over the world. Ellie tells Carl of an idea to movie their club house on a cliff right next to a water fall in Paradise Falls, South America.

Ellie and Carl wed and grow old together. For years they saved up for South America, but never made it there. Ellie dies of old age and leaves Carl in the world alone with no reason for living. He is still living in their house that they built together years ago, when he is court ordered to move into Shady Oaks Retirement Home because he attacked a construction worker outside of his house.

78-year-old Carl decides he is going to keep his promise to his wife and go to South Africa. He ties thousands of helium balloons together and have they pour out of his house. With the balloons Carl plans to fly his house to Paradise Falls. After Carl is in the air he hears a knock on his front door. He finds 8-year-old Russel (Jordan Nagai) who is trying to earn his final merit badge for "Assisting the Elderly," on his front porch. With no way of getting home, Russell is along for Carl's journey.

The both of them encounter hilarious adventures while trying to make it to Paradise Falls. I found this movie to be heart warming and amazing. It really should the love a marriage has and how far a person will go to show their love. According to Rotten Tomatoes, Up made over $292,979,556 and received a review of 98%. This just goes to show how truly wonderful this movie was. Its perfect for all ages and keeps your attention the entire time. Pixar really knows what they are doing when it comes to making cartoons.


Check out the trailer below:

The Bounty Hunter

The Bounty Hunter is a romantic comedy starring Jennifer Aniston and Gerrard Butler. Butler is stars as Milo Boyd, an ex-cop and recently new bounty hunter. Milo receives his dream job when he is given a case involving his ex-wife. He must go hunt Nicole Hurly (Aniston) and bring her to jail because she jumped bail. Nicole is an independent reporter who is working on what she believes to be a murder case.

Milo goes to Atlantic City and finds Nicole at the horse races. Once she realizes what Milo is planning on doing, Nicole makes a run for it. The rest of the movie involves more running away, leads on the murder case and a rekindle of a relationship. This movie is full of action, romance, and comedy.

Personally, I did not like the movie as much as I thought I was going to. Knowing that Gerard Butler was starring in this movie, I had to see it. I thought the comedy would be a lot like the Ugly Truth, but it wasn't. This movie was more about the love and mistakes a couple makes in life. The action is awful and the film was two hours long when it should have been a lot less. I found this movie to be dragged out and over-all boring. According to BoxOfficeMojo.com, The Bounty Hunter only came in as number three this weekend. The movie was given only a C+ and many reviewers hated it.

Recently there has been talk about Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler dating. I believe that these rumors have only surfaced for publicity. Both actors claim that they are just friends, even though in the spotlight they look like they are a lot more than friends. Aniston better be careful because just like every other guy she decides to date, Butler is a wild and horny man who can't hold anything back. According to Perez Hilton, Butler said, "But here's the thing - while they're accusing me of being with Jennifer, I've probably been off somewhere else doing some damage with someone else." I think that they would make a beautiful couple and have beautiful babies, but lets face it Aniston never gets the guy and this movie sucked so they needed some type of good publicity.

See the movie for yourself and give your own opinions. Check out the trailer below.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince based on the series, written by J. K. Rowling, was of course just like any other Harry Potter movie, very good. This movie resembled action, jealousy, darkness and emotion in just two and a half hours. Its series have come far in telling the life of the young wizard Harry Potter, who is played by Daniel Radcliffe.

The movie starts off with the wizard Harry Potter beginning his 6th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft. He comes across a book titled “This is the Book of the Half Blood Prince”. He uses the book that is filled with many different spells, to succeed further in his class assignments. Meanwhile Draco Malfoy (played by Tom Felton) is ordered by Lord Voldemort (played by Ralph Fiennes) to kill Albus Dumbledore (played by Michael Gambon). Albus Dumbledore takes the job of trying to get Harry Potter ready for his final battle with Lord Voldemort.

Harry potter and the half blood prince bring you into action and keeps you up in your seat. Every second you wonder what will happen next. The movie begins as a thriller and ends in an emotional conflict. This movie is based mostly off of romance verses adventure. In this movie every character is falling in love with another, even the old Dumbledore asks Harry about his love life.

Personally I found this movie to be more of a transformation movie, to bring us to the final book. I believe the other Harry Potter movies were a lot better than this movie because they related more to the book. There was a lot more that happened in the J.K Rowling story of the Half-Blood Prince that this movie did not offer. The Washington Post says, "Alas, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," though not without its excellent moments, doesn't tell the two stories that, at heart, the book tells. It doesn't present a compelling portrait of the birth, life and descent into inhumanity of the villain who has haunted this series from its opening scenes: Voldemort. And it doesn't make the budding romance between Harry and Ginny feel inevitable and true." I have to 100% percent agree with the Washington Post and their critics of this movie.

Check out the trailer below:

The Proposal

The Proposal is a hilarious romantic comedy starring amazing comedians Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. Sandra plays Margaret Tate, a bitch editor for a New York magazine. Ryan stars as Andrew Paxton, Margaret's slave and assistant who has been working for her for the past three years, giving into anything she asks for. He is working so hard in hopes of becoming an editor himself.

One day Margaret finds out her visa has been denied and she is being deported back to Canada. Nervous to be sent back and lose her job, Margaret tells her boss' that her and Andrew have been intimate for a couple months now and are engaged to get married. Andrew is freaking out but is unsure of how to react. Margaret tells him that if he pursues the marriage than she will make him an editor, otherwise he will lose his job and all his past three years of hard-work will mean nothing.

Andrew agrees to the fake marriage. In order to prove that they are not getting married just so Margaret can stay in the states, they have to actually convince everyone of their marriage, including Andrew's parents. Andrew and Margaret are on their way to Alaska for Andrews grandma's 90th birthday party and in hopes of convincing their family that they are in love.

Personally some parts of this movie I found to be a little bit too cliche, but over all I found it hilarious. My favorite part in the movie is when Andrew's grandma is in the woods with Margaret and tells her in order to let her stress and anxiety go she must dance. Margaret proceeds to dance to the song, "from the windows, to the wall, till the sweat drops down my balls."

This has been a huge year for Sandra after winning an Academy Award for best actress. She has been all over Hollywood this year, starring in amazing films including The Blind Side. The New York Times says, "America's Sweetheart and ''Miss Congeniality'' was repeatedly anointed as Hollywood royalty this year, sweeping awards season and capping it off with an Oscar for her role as a devoted mom in "The Blind Side."'Although the Blind Side was a more serious movie, check out the Proposal to get a more comedic performance from Sandra Bullock.

Check out the trailer below:

Casino

Casino is a movie that I never even heard of until my friends decided to watch it the other night. A main reason of why I probably never heard of it is because I was five years old when the movie was in theaters. None the less, in the opening credits it said "directed by Martin Scorsese," and I was hooked.

The movie is based off Nicholas Pileggi's book, Casino, which is inspired by a true story. My favorite types of movies are when they are based off of a true story because it makes the film seem more real and believable. The beginning of the film is a little slow and hard to follow. I actually had to watch it twice before I entirely understood the plot. The first hour of the movie explains all the characters and how they contribute to helping the Chicago Mob take over Las Vegas from 1970-1980.

The bosses convince Sam 'Ace' Rothstein (Robert De Niro) to come to Las Vegas and run the Tangiers casino due to his reputation as a gambling handicapper. Ace has many of his mobsters friends come help him run the Tangiers in order for them to steal profits from the casino without any authority noticing. Ace's childhood friend Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci) is sent by the bosses to overlook Ace and make sure all goes well. These mobsters are living the life by stealing millions everyday.

Ace's life takes a turn when he falls in love with a hustler, Ginger (Sharon Stone). He is trying to live a civilized life, secretive of all involvement in the Mafia, but his new wife Ginger makes it impossible for him due to all of her obvious scandals. Like Ginger, Nicky's ego grows even bigger when he comes to Las Vegas. He is constantly hustling the locals and murdering people because of his uncontrolled temper. Ace is unaware of the plans Nicky has for Las Vegas.

This movie is full of violence, disloyalty, cheating, money and the Mafia. Each part of Casino keeps you on edge, just wondering what these wild mobsters will get themselves into next. The acting is phenomenal, especially Robert Di Nero and Sharon Stone. Sharon Stone really transforms herself into a drug addict hustler who's only goal in life is to cheat her way to the top.

Learning that this movie/book is based off a true story, I had to do research for myself. I found an article called, Meet The Real Sam 'Ace' Rothstein: The Life of Frank Lefty Rosenthal. This article explains the real story behind the movie. Ace's character is based off of Frank Lefty Rosenthal, whose real life is very well portrayed in Casino. Nicky's character is based off of Anthony Spilotro, exactly like the character, Spilotro was a mob enforcer with a huge anger problem.

What I found most shocking when comparing this article to the movie is how at the end of the movie Ace goes to start his Cadillac Eldorado and it blows up. However, Ace survives the assassination because of the metal plate GM installed under the drivers seat in all their Cadillac's. When reading this article, the same story is told about the real Frank Lefty Rosenthal. It is extremely fascinating to me that he could survive such a deathly attempt of assassination.

I EXTREMELY recommend renting this movie, it will take you on a adventure like no other. Check out the trailer below.

Alice in Wonderland (2010)

Millions of people, including myself, saw Alice in Wonderland last weekend. The movie has made a record breaking $116.3 million, at the box office. Although Avatar set the record for highest grossing film of all time, it only made $77 million during its opening weekend. Despite Alice in Wonderland's record breaking earnings, it still does not match up to the films budget of $250 million.

There were many mixed reviews for Tim Burton's film. Some say you feel as though you're in Wonderland, while others claim Burton created a great canvas but not a great film. Personally, I believe the reason for so many disappointments contributes to all the high expectations of the movie. I thought the movie was amazing from beginning to end, however, I feel that Burton should have added more elaborate colors because when watching Alice in Wonderland your suppose to experience a psychedelic trip.

This Alice in Wonderland is not consistent with the original. Alice (Mia Wasikowska) comes back to Wonderland as a 19-year-old girl. She is all grown up and is convinced that she is having the repetitive dream she has had since she was a little girl. Like the Disney Cartoon, Alice is chasing a white rabbit when it jumps into a rabbit hole. Leaning over the rabbit hole, Alice falls all the way down the hole and into Wonderland. She meets various talking animals, including the Blue Caterpillar (Alan Rickman). The Caterpillar tells the other animals that she is not the right Alice.

Alice continues on her journey through Wonderland where she is constantly shrinking, growing and meeting new friends through strange encounters. She attends a tea party where she meets the Madd Hatter (Johnny Depp). The Hatter tells her that she is not the right Alice, yet. Alice is told the story of how the Queen of Hearts (Helena Bonham Carter) took the crown from the White Witch (Anne Hathaway) and consequently has made all of Wonderland mad. In order for the White Witch to redeem her crown, she must chose her strongest competitor to compete against the Red Queen's Jabberwocky.

I understand why many viewers may have had trouble with Tim Burton's film because it was not based on the Disney cartoon, but a combination of the cartoon and Lewis Carroll's poem from his story, Through the Looking Glass. I feel that Burton's twist really added something to the movie. It was not the same film that has been remade over and over again, but more like a sequel. Johnny Depp was absolutely outstanding in his role as the Madd Hatter. He truly became his insane character, making you have to look twice in order to actually see that it is Johnny Depp.

Despite all the reviews, I would go see Alice in Wonderland 100 more times. Each time you see this movie, you notice something new. I highly recommend that you don't listen to all the negative feedback and go see the film for yourself. If you have been living on another planet for the past year and haven't seen the trailer, check it out below.