I pretty much knew what I was getting before I watched it. It’s a cool looking movie with great effects, but a lame or unoriginal story. I liked the first scene, when we’re still adjusting to 3D, then all of a sudden we see a drop of blood or water floating in the air. At first I thought it was just some insect. Unfortunately I didn’t wear my contact lenses, so wearing two glasses was a bit annoying. After the movie ended I did feel slightly dizzy for some time.

There are many other scenes where the 3D is used to good effect. But apart from 3D, the CG visuals are just stunning. The Navi feel like real people even though they’re completely computer generated. Even better than Gollum, thanks to the new face capture technology. So visually this is a stunning movie that’s worth watch on the big screen.

Now on to the story, it’s just not that great. It’s not bad either I guess, but there are too many familiar situations and characters. I really didn’t get much out of it. I think the nature of the relationship between the world and the fauna was an interesting revelation, a balance between magic (or religion) and science. But the last scene with Jake’s transformation went over to the magic side.

Again, it’s well worth watching this movie just for the visual effects, but it’s definitely not a great movie.

Rating: 3.5 Stars

There’s also a look at the life of comedians, both ones that are successful and ones that are just starting out. It was interesting to see how comedians write their jokes, it’s not just something that pops in their head and it’s ready to be used. An idea comes up, but then they have to work on it and polish it with more ideas and thought.

I’ve never been a fan of Sandler, he was just too over the top for me. But here he’s more relatable as a human being, which is ironic because his character is kind of a jerk. Seth Rogen is likable and the one we identify with. He’s surprised and in awe of Sandler’s life, just like we poor people are. But he also knows how much of a jerk he is.

That’s all in the first part of the movie and I enjoyed it a lot. Unfortunately the second part of this very long movie (too long) just drops in quality. There’s almost a change in tone that transforms the movie into a more traditional comedy. Things get crazy, characters make decisions that don’t make much sense, and it all just feel a little bit forced. It doesn’t go completely over the top, but it’s enough that it doesn’t feel right.

It’s a pity because the first part was very good, worthy of a 4 stars rating. In the end, it’s just worth watching, but it couldn’t have been Apatow’s best movie.

Rating: 3 Stars

He was right, he’s the funniest comedian I’ve ever seen (though I don’t know that many comedians). His particular type of humor though, is perfect for my sensibilities. He is a Canadian of Indian origins, so his jokes revolve around non-American people, their language and culture.

But he doesn’t just invent jokes to make fun of us, he learns about the many different cultures and contrast it with American culture. For example, he talks about how Asian parents beat their children whereas American ones don’t. Or about how cheap Indian people are.

He also has a talent for imitating other languages and accents. His Indian accent is obvious, but never fails to make me laugh. His Cantonese accent is my favorite though, anything he says in that accent just makes me laugh hysterically. He can also imitate other languages, even though he doesn’t speak them. His Italian sounded very good, as did his African. All of these appealed to my family (between my wife and I, we know Italian, Chinese, English, a little bit of African languages).

Here are the shows we’ve watched.

- Comedy Now (2004): the first one we watched, one of the funniest. Much about different races and many good accents. South Africa, Italy, Hong Kong, Indian… Asian parents beating their kids…

- Show Me The Funny! (1997): this being an older show, he had a few good jokes, but he wasn’t totally focused on multi-cultural jokes, and the other jokes weren’t that funny.

- Outsourced (2006): this one repeats a few of the good jokes from Show Me the Funny, but it has many more funny ones. Definitely as funny as Comedy Now.

- Red, White and Brown (2008): this is the most recent show, and it might be the funniest yet. It’s long, but he keeps the laughs coming.

If you’ve never seen Russell Peters, I suggest to watch it as soon as you can.

Rating: 4 Stars

It doesn’t deal with all other political problems Mandela dealt with, at least not extensively. It instead focuses on the role that rugby had in trying to unite the new nation under Mandela.

It’s an inspirational sports movie that revolves around Mandela and partly around the captain of the SA team. Throughout the movie we see many rugby scenes, but it’s only in the final that we follow a match from the start to finish.

Morgan Freeman as Mandela was a clear casting choice, even though sometimes he slips out of the SA accent, he’s still very good. Matt Damon was also good, though he has a smaller role (his accent was better).

It’s a fine movie that I enjoyed, but it doesn’t go beyond that. This story had the potential to be a masterpiece, but it’s missing something. It almost is afraid of going deeper into the issues, or the characters.

Rating: 3 Stars

Even though the politics are the basis for the premise of this story, this is mainly an action movie. The first part is all setup, it is shot as if we were watching a documentary about the arrival of the aliens 20 years ago and their current conditions.

Wikus is at the center of this story, and once he is infected and starts to become an alien, this feels very much like other alien/action movies. There are plenty of explosions and guns, with a robot showing up in the final act. It’s all well made, and it reminded me of Transformers.

But what it does much better than other empty action movies, is character development. Throughout the movie we follow Wikus and go through all the crazy things that happen to him. So by the time he becomes the action hero, we care about him and what happens to him.

Recommended to fans of action movies with good character development.

Rating: 3 Stars

There are many characters in this film, all having their own issues. But by the end of the film they all learn something about themselves and other people. It’s a very abstract film, there’s not much of a plot, and admittedly it can be boring at times.

But it’s clear that writer/director/star Miranda July has something to say with this movie. It is not a movie for everyone, just like art, it won’t connect with everyone. I think I was more on the “bored” side, but I can appreciate its uniqueness.

Rating: 2.5 Stars

At the heart of it it’s about our connection to other people, the fundamentals of a human being. That’s what’s missing in Ryan’s life. Thanks to the arrival of two women in his life, he realizes what he’s missing.

But the end of the movie is unconventional, surprising and puzzling. I like all of those qualities in a movie. I did find the revelation about Alex a bit weird, though it made for a great ending for Ryan.

This is a great movie that I think everybody will enjoy. But is it deep enough to be more than a poignant romantic comedy? I guess it doesn’t matter, I enjoyed it a lot.

Rating: 4 Stars

At first I was confused as to why a 20-30 year old man dating a 16 year old girl wouldn’t be considered unlawful. But times were different, and even her parents weren’t against it.

I like that David wasn’t portrayed as exactly evil, he seemed to have real intensions for Jenny, and even though he wasn’t a saint, Jenny knew about his business dealings. She also helped David’s masquerade with her parents, which makes her guilty as well at the end.

Both leads are good but they look a lot like other actors: Carey Mulligan looks like Katie Holmes, but she manages to infuse Jenny with both the innocence of a 16 year old as well as the wise ness of an older girl. Peter Sarsgaard looks like Ewan McGregor, his voice too.

I must say the very end of Jenny’s journey felt too easy, there didn’t seem to be a lot of drama and she seemed to remedy things quickly and easily. Other than that, I did like this story.

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Sugar is a Dominican young man who is chosen to go to US and play baseball. He starts in a minor league, but he’s under a lot of pressure. This is not just a game for him, it’s a way for him to make a living and give money to his family at home. Basically he has nothing else in life, so it is very serious for him.

As expected things don’t go so well, and he decides to leave and try to start a life in New York by himself. Up to this point I liked the story, but once he gets to NY it feels things are going a little too well for him. I’m not saying he’s super successful, but I just felt he didn’t struggle that much.

Maybe I’m just used to very dramatic movies where characters go through hell, which is not very realistic. Sugar instead, might be more realistic.

In the end I did like this movie, it was certainly felt different than many other sports movies.

Rating: 3 Stars

Even though the subject of this story is cooking, it didn’t feel boring to me (I don’t cook, I only eat) because it was more about the characters and how they relate to cooking. Also there is one more aspect of it that I feel close to: blogging.

Julie’s thoughts about starting a blog and continue to write it were interesting to me, since I also blog. Of course my blog is not read by anybody since it’s not that interesting, but I still share some opinions with Julie.

I like that at the end we don’t get the Hollywood happy ending with the two characters meeting and having a great time, but that’s not thanks to a great script, it’s just what happened in reality. But at least they didn’t change it.

This is a fun little movie, nothing too deep or outstanding.

Rating: 2.5 Stars