TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Maleficent

I can't believe it has snuck up on us again, but here is this week's TRAILER OF THE WEEK. For this week I chose a Disney film due out next summer called, Maleficent, which stars the wondrous Angelina Jolie. This film is centered around the villainous Maleficent from Disney's classic tale, Sleeping Beauty. This film looks at the events that hardened her heart and drove her to curse young Princess Aurora.

Now why did I pick this film for this week's Trailer of the Week? Well as a kid I had always watched Disney movies. You name it, I most likely have seen it. My mom has our old VHS's all locked up in a closet somewhere because as a kid we loved these movies and would watch them over and over. As for the Sleeping Beauty, I will have to say I always liked that one quite a bit to be honest. I loved the story of it, and I always remember the three fairies in the movie. Thats something that is embedded in my memory from my childhood. Now this movie is a twist on the whole story!

Like with Oz: The Powerful, it is kind of a prequel and first of all part of me hates that. The other part of me though loves the back story to all of our favorite classic films from forever ago. Now this movie seems interesting enough. It is going to center around the Maleficent from the classic film and that seems interesting enough. From what I can remember about Sleeping Beauty, there really wasn't a reason to why the Maleficent did what she did. In this movie though it seems like they are going to explain why she was so evil and why she hated or did the things she did to the beautiful princess.

There are a few things I hope to see from this movie though. One of them would have to be, the whole story from the perspective of the Maleficent. What I mean by this is the exact tale of Sleeping Beauty told from the Maleficent's point of view. I wanna see the dragon again! That would just be awesome because I just love that fantasy creature. Another thing I want to see from this movie is well for it to be good and not some crap-ass Disney movie just trying to make some money. I want it to have all the right elements, and be one damn enjoyable movie. Thats all I can hope for!

Well I have added this movie to my watch list! What about you? What did you think of the trailer? Will you be checking out this movie next summer? I will try. Well make sure you stay tuned for more . . . coming soon.

Noah Mark Bitney

The Big Wedding REVIEW

Well it is time for another review even though it is a little late this time. Today's review is for the 2013 romantic comedy, The Big Wedding. In this movie a long-time divorced couple must act like they are still married to try and impress there foster kid's real mother right before his wedding day. As you can expect there are many things going on right before the wedding and it all comes crashing into this one weekend. Secrets are revealed, trusts are broken, and love is in the air.

For as corny and ridiculous this movie is, I will have to start off by saying that I actually did enjoy this movie quite a bit. Sure there are a few things I would change and like to have happened differently, but overall I really did enjoy this movie A LOT! What about it did I enjoy? Well the characters really, and everyone who portrayed them. The couple that are getting married are played by Amanda Seyfried and Ben Barnes and they had decent chemistry. I mean you believed it but there was nothing special. I like how they eventually end up doing there wedding, but I do not want to give any spoilers. I will have to say that picking my favorite couple in this film it would have to be between Robert DeNiro and Susan Sarandon. They just seemed to me, the most believable in this entire movie. They had some great chemistry and I loved to see them bicker back and forth between each other. Now I could go on all day about the characters and the actors playing them. They main this I want to convey is that throughout the movie I actually cared about the characters. I wanted to know more about them and cared what happened to them.

This I guess would have to do with the story of the movie though as well. Justin Zachman wrote and directed this movie and I think he did a great job with it. He made it enjoyable and just a feel good romantic comedy. Sure it is not prefect, but hey sometimes I just want a movie where I can sit down and enjoy it. Not every movie has to be perfect. Now what about the script is not perfect? Well for starters I would say that is is kind of predictable. In the beginning of the movie I knew these couple things were going to happen and needless to say they did happen and I was right. So that could have been improved. The other thing I wanted to mention is that this has all been done before. What I mean by that is that there is nothing special about this movie that really stands out from the movie. We have seen all these elements in other romantic comedies before, and I am sure we will see them again. So yeah that could have been worked on, but again this movie was still pretty enjoyable. It has been awhile since I have torn a movie apart because I have been watching some decent ones lately, but wait till my next review, I have a movie to rip apart.

To warp up this review I want to say just a couple things. This movie is enjoyable, not special. I would recommend only a renting this movie, as what I did, because that is really all it is worth. It works for a movie rental night with either your girlfriend, maybe even your family (just not younger kids). I will also say this movie works for a rainy day. Its not something you are like, "OH, I want to watch The Big Wedding." It just isn't a waste of time if you end up watching it, and is in no way a must-see movie. For the rating out of 10 stars I will give, The Big Wedding, a 6/10 star rating.

Well I am hoping that you have enjoyed this review. I know it is not when I promised but I didn't have time this morning. I am hoping to get a review out tomorrow along with the NEW Trailer of the Week already. So stay tuned for that as well as that movie I have to rip to shreds (that I had mentioned above earlier). Stay tuned for lots more . . . coming soon.

Noah Mark Bitney

Thor: The Dark World REVIEW

Well it is finally time to review another Marvel film, this time starring the Avenger from another world. Here is my review of Thor: The Dark World, starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Christopher Eccleston, and many more great actor/actresses. In this film Thor is faced with an enemy that even Odin and the forces of Asgard cannot withstand. Thor must reunited with his beloved Jane Foster and his tricky brother to try and stop the forces of Malekith, the evil dark elf. He must sacrifice everything to save us all.

Now lets start of this review by me saying that this movie is freaking enjoyable. I enjoyed every single part of this movie, from the beginning to the end. That being sad lets talk about this movie. This movie brings back most of the original cast for an epic return to the world of Thor. Chris Hemsworth continues the role of the god of thunder, Thor. As said in my other review of, Thor, he pulls of the role perfectly. When casting these Marvel movies the could not have done a better job. They got all amazing actors to portray these amazing roles. The breakout performance in this role again though would have the be Tom Hiddleston as the god of mischief, Loki. Tom Hiddleston as Loki is like Heath Ledger as the Joker in The Dark Knight. They were practically born to play these roles and they do it just perfectly. I will get to more with Loki later though. Now the one performance in this movie, as I had also mentioned in my review of Thor, that I wasn't really happy with was Natalie Portman's. My real issue with her is just that I could see any actress playing the role of her character. Natalie doesn't become the character, and really I just do not see her as Jane Foster. I don't know what it is, I just don't see her as this character. Other than that everyone else does a great job in this movie. I love how Kat Dennings was back in this movie, and the fact that she had a bigger role in this movie than I thought she was going to have. The last person I want to mention is Stellan Skargård as Dr. Erik Selvig. Again he pulls of the role and I could not have been happier with the twist they added to his character.

Moving on I want to mention the story of the movie. Let's start of by saying that I absolutely loved each and every single twist involved in this movie. Almost every single twist I never saw coming. I predicted some things before I went into the movie, and I thought I was right on several occasions but then I ended up being wrong because of the twist. I wasn't wrong with a few things though, I was right on a couple things. Now the only couple things I would have to complain about from this movie would have to be the fact that it left you hanging with a lot of things. The end scene you were like, "WHAT!?!?!" Then the end credit scene you were really confused with as well? I really hope we get a good explanation later, unlike the end credit scene with The Avengers. We still really don't know how that is tying in with that scene yet. I thought this movie would, but so far there has been nothing. The last thing I wanted to mention about this screenplay would have to be that it is just your basic ordinary superhero movie storyline. There is nothing spectacular about it except the twists that are thrown in with the movie. I did like how the story was a lot more humorous though. The comedy in this movie worked and it was well enjoyed. Loki was really the star of the comedy in this movie, which I loved even more.

Now there are a few last minute things I do want to mention. These would include the visual effects, the cinematography, and then music. Yes as with almost every Marvel movie the special effects are pretty darn incredible, but I love a movie with good special effects. I can't stand a movie with bad special effects these days because we know the technology is there now and this movie proves it. I never noticed one bad special effect scene in this movie. Moving on to the cinematography of this movie I just really wanted to mention how I love the gritty look of the movie along with the whole feel the movie gave to the watcher. Kramer Morgenthau did a great job with this movie I will have to say, that is for sure. Now Brian Tyler did the musical score for this movie and he had also done the musical score for Iron Man 3. I thought the music seemed similar, and lucky for Brian I loved the score from Iron Man 3. So the score from this movie was just as good. It is one that I really would buy to listen to. I love the musical score of movies and this is another good one.

Summing up this review, I will say that Thor: The Dark World is a very welcomed return to the world of Thor. It is super enjoyable and the action scenes are epic as heck! I will be seeing this movie in theaters again because I love Marvel movies and this is a great addition to the Avenger series! Now for the ratings I will have to say that this movie is a MUST-SEE FILM, if you are a Marvel fan and a fan of the Avenger series. Like I had said it is a great addition to the series. Thor: The Dark World also deserves a buy on Blu-Ray rating. Now I did see this in 3D but really there is no need, so I will say that this movie is worth the ticket price for a movie night. So go out an see it, right NOW! Now for the rating out of 10 stars, I will have to say that it deserves an 8/10 star rating. 

Well I am hoping that you have enjoyed this review of Thor: The Dark World. It really is a good movie to go see in theaters. It really is worth it. Now make sure you stay tuned for more reviews. I have a couple movie waiting to get reviewed. So make sure you stay tuned for those reviews . . . coming soon!

Noah Mark Bitney

TRAILER OF THE WEEK: The Lego Movie

It's a little late but it is time to talk about this week's new Trailer of the Week. For this week I decided to choose a little older released trailer, but it is still new and fresh to talk about! So I chose the trailer for The Lego Movie. This movie is about an ordinary LEGO minifigure, mistakenly thought to be the extraordinary MasterBuilder. He is then recruited to join a quest to stop an evil LEGO tyrant from gluing the universe together (courtesy of IMDb). This film is due out on February 7th, 2014, and stars, Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnet, Morgan Freeman, Will Ferrell, Cobie Smulders, Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Liam Neeson, and quite a few other well known actor/actresses.

Now why did I choose this movie to be this week's Trailer of the Week? Well as a child I grew up with LEGO toys. I loved them so freaking much! I would build things, be proud of what I built, then keep it for a few weeks, then build something entirely new and awesome! Then after I grew up they started coming out with LEGO video games for certain movies like, Star Wars, Harry Potter, and many others. I owe both Harry Potter games and most of the Star Wars ones. They were just the greatest games you could buy because they were all just so much fun and creative. Anyway getting a little off topic, this movie connects to my inner child and I am really excited to see how and where they take this movie. So far from what we have seen in the trailers released thus far, it seems like a pretty legit and awesome movie. Has an awesome cast to talk for it, and I am excited to see how it pans out come February. I hope it does well because maybe (and we all know if it does do well) we will see a series come out of this.

Apart from the inner child in me though, this movie seriously does look good, and quite funny. So it defiantly has been added to my watch list, and it should be added to the rest of yours too. It is on my radar and we will just have to see where this movie takes us. Hopefully it is down a good movie road, instead of some crappy movie. Well now make sure you stay tuned for some more movie talk along with some more reviews . . . coming soon.

Noah Mark Bitney

Olympus Has Fallen REVIEW

The Motion Picture Buff would like to present a review for the film starring Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, and Morgan Freeman, called, Olympus Has Fallen. In this movie Gerard plays a disgraced former Presidential Guard. After an attack on the white house, he uses his skill and knowledge from his previous job to try and save the president from bend kidnapped by North Korean terrorists.

Well well well . . . I want to start of this review by saying that this movie is an enjoyable action movie, but it has nothing else going for it. The cast is good yes, but they aren't great. They just make the film able to watch. Before I get into the acting involved in this movie though, I want to talk about the main bad thing this movie had, and that would 100% have to be the special effects. Oh my goodness, the effects in this movie were just absolutely terrible. Now this movie came out back on March of this year, 2013. So personally I do not understand why the graphics would be that bad, because the special effects of today have progressed immensely. There wasn't one scene in this movie where I wasn't saying, well thats fake. My guess is that the budget of this film was wasted on the well-known actors in this movie that they couldn't pay for the great special effects, because honestly they were just terrible. The effects in this poster I have above are better than the whole movie. I just wanted to mention that because that was the main negative throughout the whole thing.

Moving on I want to talk a little about the acting in this movie. Olympus Has Fallen, has some pretty well known actors in it. As mentioned earlier, Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, and Morgan Freeman, are all in this movie and they do a good job. They don't do anything special though. Its not like they were giving a performance of their career. I would have to say that Gerard Butler's performance I enjoyed the most because he just seemed more believable in this situation. Gerard has kind of taken over Bruce Willis in the roles that Bruce used to perform in.

Which brings me into the screenplay of this movie, or the story I suppose. What I want to mention is the fact that it is a little bit predictable. You know what is going to happen, you know they aren't going to let something happen that they are trying to trick you into thinking happened. The story is your basic and generic disaster/action film that you have seen countless times before. You still enjoy the ride which makes this movie a great popcorn movie night movie, which is what it became for me when I watched it.

Now wrapping up this review I want to say that Olympus Has Fallen, is an enjoyable film that serves a good purpose. That purpose is to be a good popcorn movie night film. It works perfect for a rental movie and thats what I did with it, so that is the recommendation I will give it. Only rent this movie, it really isn't worth a buy. You are going to enjoy it once and then there will be no need to watch it again. Anytime you are trying to think of a movie to rent for a popcorn night with a girlfriend, group of friends, or anytime, this movie gets my recommendation for that. I will also say that this movie gets a 5/10 star rating.

Well I am hoping that you have enjoyed this review of Olympus Has Fallen. Tonight will be a post about why The Lego Movie trailer is this week's TRAILER OF THE WEEK, so you are going to want to stay tuned for that. There are also more movies to be reviewed, so stay tuned for more . . . coming soon.

Noah Mark Bitney

What's Eating Gilbert Grape REVIEW

As promised it is time for another review tonight, and the second review is for the 1993 film, What's Eating Gilbert Grape. In this film Gilbert, played by Johnny Depp, has to take care of his special brother, Arnie, played by Leonardo DiCaprio. He is also in charge of making sure his obese mother is taken care of. When Becky comes into his life, he becomes irritable about all the responsibilities that he doesn't want to have.

(Applause . . . applause) This movie is seriously just fantastic. I was engaged in the story right from the beginning. The screenplay follows the story and mind of Gilbert Grape who is way more complex than we are led to believe. I love how everything in this story actually has a point to it, and there is no excess things that are pointless. There were a few points in the movie though where the movie drags on a little bit. You want it to pick up its pace but it takes a little bit before it goes onto the next thing. Now the last thing about the story I wanted to mention was the fact that the love story in this movie was good. It wasn't great and it was a little unbelievable, in my eyes it seemed kind of forced into the story. With all that being said you still root for Gilbert and Becky to end up together in the end.

Next I would like to give a HUGE round of applause to Leonardo DiCaprio for an AMAZING, AMAZING, AMAZING, performance in this film. Leonardo DiCaprio plays a mentally challenge 18 year old kid, and I seriously was shocked by his performance. If it was me I would have given Leonardo DiCaprio an Oscar for this performance because he literally blew my mind. He really became his character in this film and he made me super emotional which is just beyond great. Now the chemistry between Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio is fantastic as well. For a moment there you really think they are brothers, they just do a great job together as brothers. Those two main things being said I want to generally say that each and every single cast member in this film does a great job. I could and would not complain about a single person's performance in this beautiful film. A few people who stand out are of course Johnny Depp, Juliette Lewis, Darlene Cates, and Mary Kate Schellhardt.

Now the last thing I would like to mention is the direction of the movie. Before I get into that though I want to mention how great this movie is. Leo's performance is seriously the greatest part of the movie, but when it comes to the direction it is only okay. I mean I love the story and I love the acting in the film, but the way Lasse Hallstroöm does this film could have been better. I just felt like some of the things in this film were way to obvious and I could tell what was happening. Do not get me wrong, still a GREAT movie, but there are always little things that could have been better.

Wrapping up this movie I will say that What's Eating Gilbert Grape is a fantastic film with little flaws. It has an amazing cast with one breakout actor in the film that you would have never expected. For the ratings I will give this movie a buy on Blu-Ray rating because it is one of those movies that is a classic that should be seen by everyone because it is a MUST-SEE film. Sometime in your life you should definitely see this movie. I will also rate this movie as a perfect popcorn movie night film, but it would be even better for a rainy day. Be prepared though it is an emotion draining movie, like you have to be in the mood for it. Now for the rating out of 10 stars I will have to give this film a 9/10 star rating. 

Well I hope you have enjoyed this review of What's Eating Gilbert Grape. I highly recommend this movie because it really is very enjoyable. Well I hope to get at least one more review out tonight or tomorrow mooring. So stay tuned for that, but also stay tuned for this week's Trailer of the Week, coming out tomorrow. There is so much to stay tuned for, so stay tuned for more . . .  coming soon.

Noah Mark Bitney

The Paperboy REVIEW

The Motion Picture Buff would like to present a review for the 2012 film, The Paperboy. In this film a newspaper writer returns home to investigate a case with a victim on death row. This film stars Nicole Kidman, Zac Efron, Matthew McConaughey, and John Cusack.

This is a tough film to review to be honest. The first thing I want to mention I suppose is the fact that this movie has an amazing cast. As per mentioned above the cast is pretty darn incredible. They aren't just a good cast, they have amazing characters to portray and they portray each role perfectly. Who really stands out in this movie is Zac Efron though. Zac Efron plays Jack Jansen in the film who is love with Nicole Kidman's character, Charlotte Bless, who is a 40 year old woman married to the prisoner who is on death row, played by John Cusack. They way Zac looks at Nicole in this movie is just perfect. You can see it in his eyes that he is really in love with this woman, and he would do anything for her, which he does. I also do want to mention John Cusack's performance in this movie. I have never seen John play a bad guy really before, and honestly I don't think I could have ever seen him play one. In this movie though John Cusack plays a complete jackass and pervert. He does it perfectly as well, I was literally disgusted with this character.

Now the tough part to review for this movie is the story/screenplay. The plot of this movie is actually quite intriguing. I was always interested in this movie and the movie did a good job with it. I like how the two brothers get along together and work together to solve the crime. At the same time I like how Zac's character falls in love with Nicole's character. I think it just adds a great element to the film. What was annoying about this movie though was that it was extremely slow and the screenplay seems just sloppy. There are points in the movie where I lost interest and started working on other things, like my homework. Whenever that happens in a movie, I think the movie is just way worse. I like a movie way more when it can keep me hooked the whole way through instead of losing and gaining interest on and off.

So there are a few things I would like to mention before I wrap up this review. These few things would include the cinematography of the film, the beginning of the movie, the narration. Starting off the cinematography in this movie is actually pretty darn good. I like the look and feel of this movie is just perfect for the time zone of this movie. Now in the beginning of this movie it starts off with Zac's character narrating the story, and throughout the film we will catch her narrating the whole thing. I really did enjoy this in the movie because it works for the whole feel of the movie. It kind of works in with how Matthew's character is trying to solve a case. It just feels right for the movie.

Wrapping up this review I will say that The Paperboy is an enjoyable film that works perfectly for a rainy day. It has a great cast that create great characters that you will care for and root for in the end. For the ratings I will give this movie a rent worthy rating, only that though. I am glad I did not buy this movie because it is only worth watching once. You will enjoy it though, that is for sure. Now for the rating out of ten stars I will have to give, The Paperboy, a 7/10 star rating. 

Well I hope you have enjoyed this review of The Paperboy. It isn't my best work, but this movie to be honest was hard to review. Anyway I plan on doing a couple more reviews today to catch up on my list that I have. Make sure you stay tuned for them and for more . . . coming soon.

Noah Mark Bitney

The Man in the Iron Mask REVIEW

It is review time!!! Today's review is of the 1998 film, The Man in the Iron Mask. In this film the evil and cruel King Louis XIV of France has a secret twin brother who he had locked away and his face covered. After the King has angered to many of the old Musketeers, they form up again to make a swap with the innocent brother and the cruel King that doesn't deserve the throne.

Well now first thing I want to say about this movie is that it is very enjoyable. If you ever need a movie one night to watch that you will enjoy the crap out of, this one will work perfectly. The story of this movie is actually kind of good. I like what this movie is about. As for the screenplay though, there are a few issues. I mean it seems like a cheap movie, the bad writing and dialogue really do show in this movie. The dialogue is choppy and doesn't flow very well in my opinion. I would also have to say that it is extremely corny in spots. There are points in the film where I laugh and then say to myself, "Did he really just say that? What was the point of that." That does not stop this from being a good movie to enjoy though. The cast of the film really makes the movie in my opinion. If they wouldn't have gotten the people they had gotten for each role, this movie would not be as good as it is.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich, Gérard Depardieu, and Gabriel Bryne are the main cast in this film and they do a great job with each of there roles. They are really what make this movie. Leonardo DiCaprio always does a great job in any one of his movies, and again in this movie he does a great job. I love how he portrays two roles in this film. When he has to switch characters and become the other brother, you can really see it in his eyes and I just love it. The chemistry between each on of these actors is good as well. I love when they bicker and banter back and forth, they do such a good job with it.

I also wanted to mention a couple last things in this review. One thing is that the cinematography really didn't work for me in this movie. It seemed to modern to me, and didn't portray the time zone of the movie very well in my opinion. With that being sad I also noticed a few things in the movie, prop items, that really weren't time zone appropriate. The sprinkler system, I mean, did they really have that technology then? I don't think so. Last thing I wanted to mention where the costume designs. They seemed lazy in my opinion, and not very good. What I mean by this is that they seemed to look fake instead of clothing from that time. The hair as well looked like it was ready to fall of some of the characters. This is my opinion though and I am just bickering.

Other than those few things this movie was extremely enjoyable. I love the story and the actor/actresses in this movie portray characters and a story that you will enjoy anytime you need a good movie for a movie night with the family or friends. For the ratings I want to give, The Man in the Iron Mask, a popcorn movie night rating. I would have to say that this movie only gets a DVD buy worthy rating, its worth a buy on DVD but not Blu-Ray. I will also like to say that this movie is perfect to rent . . . it is on Netflix though so if you have Netflix, just check it out on there. Now for the rating out of 10 stars I will give, The Man in the Iron Mask, a 6/10 star rating. It gets this for being an enjoyable story, and having a great cast to support the story. Enjoyable, in my opinion, is the strongest thing to have for a movie.

Well I am hoping that you have enjoyed this review of The Man in the Iron Mask. Have you seen this movie before? Let me know what you thought of in on the Motion Picture Buff's Facebook page, RIGHT HERE, or even leave a comment below. Now make sure you stay tuned for more . . . coming soon.

TRAILER OF THE WEEK: About Time

After a week it is now time for another Trailer of the Week, and this week's trailer is another romantic comedy, About Time. This movie stars Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams, Bill Nighy, and other. About Time is about Tim, played by Domhnall Gleeson, and Tim at the age of 21 discovers he can travel in time and change what happens and has happened in his own life. His decision to make his world a better place by getting a girlfriend turns out not to be as easy as you might think (source:IMDb). 

Now I picked this movie for a couple reasons. These reasons would be the fact that l am a huge softy for romantic movies, the premise is incredible, Rachel McAdams, and the trailer is just absolutely enticing. So to start I want to say again like I said in last week's trailer of the week, that I am a huge lover of romantic/romantic comedy films. I grew up with four sisters in my house, so I am guessing that is why. They just interest me and I am a romantic myself to be honest. Well I think I am at least. So this movie kind of grabs my attention in that aspect. Next I want to mention the premise of this film. I love time travel and this movie seems like it is going to do a good job with it. I love how in the trailer he says that it was going to be all about love, but then he finds out there is complications with time travel. I am really excited to see how they are going to take this movie. Rachel McAdams is seriously an amazing actress. She has done a lot of different romantic movies and it seems like she is going to do a good job in this film. The chemistry between her and Domhnall looks like it is very good, but time will tell when I go to see this movie. Not the last thing I wanted to mention is the trailer itself. In my opinion it is a very good trailer. There are some trailers where they don't get you excited for the film at all, but the film itself is actually really good. With this trailer it gets me excited to see this movie, which I am hoping that the movie will actually be very good as well. 

About Time is due out on November 8th, 2013, which is next week. That is the main reason why I picked this for the Trailer of the Week. I have seen this trailer back in May and I thought about putting it for my Trailer of the Week to help promote it because I am going to make sure that I will be seeing it next week when it comes out. So yes I do give this movie my recommendation to see because it looks really good, so make sure you go check it out next week. Well after you see Thor: The Dark World, of course. So stay tuned for more . . . coming soon. 

Noah Mark Bitney 

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Continuing with the series here is my review of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. In this film Captian Jack Sparrow must race to get Davy Jones's heart to avoid being sucked into giving service to Davy Jones. This quest brings all other friends and foes together on the quest to see who will control the ruler of the sea, Davy Jones.

Well starting out this review I want to mention that the cast again is still fantastic. From the first film the return the cast and everyone does a great job. Johnny Depp really is the perfect Captian Jack Sparrow. As I mentioned in the review of the first film, the cast does a really good job at portraying their characters perfectly. There could be no one better to play each one of these characters. A couple new characters are introduced in this movie though. As mentioned above the character Davy Jones is in this film and he is played by Bill Nighy. Bill Nighy seriously does a fantastic job as the bad guy in this movie. Sure there is a lot of CGI when it comes to the character, but Bill Nighy has the greatest voice for this character along with just the look in his eyes. I know that is a weird thing to say, but you can just see the emotions in his eyes. Now the other character I want to mention is Lord Cutler Beckett, who is portrayed by Tom Hallander. Tom doesn't have a huge role in this movie, but in the next Pirates film he will. As for his performance, you have just got to love it. His posture is perfect. The character is a huge prude and Tom Hallander plays the part perfectly.

Now the other main thing I want to talk about story of the film. This is actually a huge negative for the film in my opinion. Do not get me wrong I really did enjoy this film, but I want to mention how choppy and slow this film is. There are scenes within this film that seriously make no sense on why they would be in the film. They just seem like added pieces to increase screen time, so I think they could have cut out quite a few scenes in this movie. You sit there in the film wondering, "Why is this important to the film?" Then there are also parts of the film where the order of things really does not make sense in the slightest. Like why is that there, when it should be there. Basically in my opinion the screenplay could have been written way better. Sure it is an interesting story but there are parts that could be touched up, rewritten, and taken out.

Now the last few things I want to mention are the special effects, the cinematography, and the music. So firstly I want to talk about the special effects in this movie. Actually this movie had won an Oscar in 2007 for it's visual effects. They are pretty darn good in my opinion as well, because the Kraken in this film is spectacular. Its hard to believe how good and real everything looks even though this movie was made in 2006. Next I want to mention the cinematography which I always appreciate in a movie. This movie does a great job with its direction of photography who was done by Dariusz Wolski. He has done some great work in the past and now future as well in, Prometheus. In my review for that film I mention how good he does, and with the Pirates series he also does very well. Now lastly I want to mention the musical score of this film, which for this film is under the hands of Hans Zimmer, instead of Klaus Badelt who did the first film. Hans Zimmer is seriously a great composer right alongside of John Williams. He takes some songs from the original score from the first film and gives it his own spin. He does a great job with the score and in my opinion it is worth a buy. I always have a thing for the musical score's of movies.

Summing up this review I will say that Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, is a seriously enjoyable return to the world of Captian Jack Sparrow. We get all our favorite characters back along with a few new enjoyable ones. Sure it has its flaws but it is seriously a good movie. It is not great but it is good. As for the ratings I will still give this film a must-see rating because the Pirates trilogy are a classic film that everyone should see. I will say that it is worth a buy on Blu-Ray, but there is not need if you do not have the money or technology. It is just as good on DVD. The visuals will just look better with Blu-Ray. It also makes a perfect popcorn movie night. Sometimes I get together with friends for a Pirates of the Caribbean movie marathon. Now for the rating out of 10 stars I will give it a 7/10 star rating. 

Well I hope you have enjoyed this review of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Sure it is not perfect but I hope you enjoyed it all the same. I will try and take some more time out of my days to make good quality reviews. Later today I will have the post about this week's trailer of the week. So stay tuned for more . . . coming soon.

Noah Mark Bitney

The Heat REVIEW

Hello everyone . . . sorry about the delay in this review. It has just been one busy week for me, but lets just get straight to this review shall we? Today I would like to present a review for the 2013 summer comedy, The Heat. This film stars two amazing actresses: Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy. In this movie Sandra plays an uptight and know-it-all FBI agent who must team up with a local Boston Police Officer, Melissa' character, to stop a ruthless and violent drug lord. 

First of I want to mention how freaking hilarious this movie is. Oh my goodness, you will be laughing all the way through this movie. The humor isn't that stupid and annoying obvious humor. It is some darn right good writing that you will enjoy for being creative with it. Sandra and Melissa do an amazing job in this film. They take each one of their characters to a whole level of there own, and you are emerged into their characters. You actually do care about them and you want to see them succeed. Sandra and Melissa as a pair together are just absolutely perfect. They have some of the best chemistry in a movie I have ever seen. I would like to see them in another movie together, and this dream does come true because, The Heat 2, has actually been announced so I will be excited to see where they are going to take that. This movie didn't leave it up for another one, but you know how with buddy cop movies, if it does we'll, or is well liked, that they will make a series out of it. An example of this situation would be the Rush Hour series, which actually are pretty good ones. 

Moving on in this review I want to mention a few things about this movie. As I said the acting was great between the leads. The rest of the cast it enjoyable. Of course they are nothing special, but each other scene with these characters have there funny moments to convey. Mentioning that I would say that this movie is a little choppy. What I mean by that, is that each scene that this movie includes serves a purpose and sometimes the purpose is just to convey a joke or a crucial piece to the main plot, but then cut quick to the next scene to convey that next thing. It doesn't take its time in telling the story, and doesn't in my opinion flow smoothly. That being said this movie is still damn enjoyable. If you don't laugh at least once throughout this movie, something is wrong with you. 

The Heat does drag on a little bit with its story and the movie as a whole. There are a couple points where it could have wrapped up a little bit sooner and the movie would have been a little shorter, but yet you still enjoy the humor in those scenes. Now the last couple things I want to mention in the end of this review are the direction and the cinematography. Now yeah its the boring part of a movie that no one really cares about, but with some movies I can notice where I really do enjoy it and then where I do not. I think Paul Feig is a great comedic director. He has done many in his past, one of his most notable is the comedy, Bridesmaids. With this movie he has done a pretty good job at capturing the humor that we all love. Lastly now, Robert D. Yeoman, was the director of photography for this film, and I think the camera angles where just right for this film. In my opinion I just think the way we got the look at our characters can really help, where as if it wasn't enjoyable.

Concluding and wrapping up this review, I mainly want to convey that, The Heat, was an absolute hilarious film that anyone and everyone should see. Sandra and Melissa have amazing chemistry together and you will be laughing the whole way through. It might have some slow points, but it is still a great movie. For the ratings I am going to give it a must-see film rating for sure. You won't regret it. Is it buy on Blu-Ray worthy though? Why yes of course it is. It just snagged that rating, if you don't have the money and really want to get it go ahead you won't be missing to much with purchasing on DVD, I am just saying that it is worth the price of a Blu-Ray. Now for the rating out of ten stars. I will give The Heat a 7/10 star rating. 

The Heat is one of the funniest movies that came out this year, it is actually right behind This is the End in my opinion. Well I hope you enjoyed this review. It might not be my best, I am just spitting this out without proofreading to give you all a review because it has been awhile since one. I will try and do one again tomorrow morning though and a better quality one as well. So make sure you stay tuned for more . . . coming soon. 

Noah Mark Bitney 

TRAILER OF THE WEEK: A Case of You

It's that time of the week already . . . time for a new TRAILER OF THE WEEK. This week's trailer is for a romantic comedy starring Justin Long, A Case of You. This film has already been out at a film festival back in April of 2013, but will be getting another release (a limited one) on November 6th. This film is about a young writer who tries to impress a girl he meets online with an embellished profile. She ends up falling for him which leaves him in a mess because he has to keep up the act.

Well now why did I pick this trailer to be this week's trailer of the week. Hm well it is really simple actually. I absolutely am a sucker for romantic movies, and this one got my attention right away to be honest. I think Justin Long is a decent enough actor and it seems like he might do a good job in this movie. I like the story of how he is putting on a charade to impress this girl, but then she ends up falling for the fake him instead of the real him. I am curious to see where this movie could go. When looking at this movie on IMDb, it does not seem like it has a good rating, it has a 5.1/10 star rating, but that does not mean it will be bad. I have seen movies on IMDb before with like a four star rating and I absolutely loved it. With movies it is usually just your opinion no matter what anyone else says. It is all based on your personal opinion of the movie.

So, A Case of You, is a movie that is definitely going to go in must-see list. I will keep it on my radar because it seems like a good romantic movie, and I just LOVE romantic movies. Yeah I might be a guy but I am a sucker for them. Well what did you think of this week's choice for a trailer? What kind of movie would you like to see on next week's trailer. Stay tuned to find out and for more reviews . . . coming soon.

Noah Mark Bitney

Just saying THANK YOU!!!

Well well well. About four days ago my review site here just passed a great milestone! I had just passed 5000 pageviews. When starting this movie review site I would never had guessed that in just over a year I would have hit over 5000 views. It may not seem like that much, but to me I think it is. I love on some days how I can hit over 100 pageviews. It doesn't matter how bad of mood I could possibly be in but it just cheers me up.

Mainly I just want to say thanks to everyone who has been reading these reviews. I am glad I can entertain you with my reviews. If you have been with me from the beginning I want to make sure I apologize for not posting very many reviews from November 2012 to September 2013. I hated not reviewing movies and I am glad I am back to give you my opinion on movies and some movie news.

To thank you I am planning to release a few different things for the blog. It all depends on when I get the time, but for right now I am going to stick with reviews and my trailer of the week posts. I want to bring back the movie list page and possibly a must-see movie page where I have movies that are coming out that I want to see. Time will tell though.

Well again I want to say thanks again for helping me hit 5000 pageviews. The next milestone I want to hit is 10,000. Well hopefully you stay around to help and find out when. So stay tuned for more . . . coming really soon.

Thanks again, you are all awesome,

Noah Mark Bitney

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl REVIEW

Well welcome back to the Motion Picture Buff again. Today I would like to present a review for the first Pirates of the Caribbean film, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. In this film an eccentric blacksmith teams up with notable and recently captured pirate, Captian Jack Sparrow, to save a girl to whom has been captured by a group of pirates that used to be Sparrow's allies.

Now most people I know have seen this movie before. You had to have seen it right? This is a classic film that everyone must see. Why? Well because it is literally a very enjoyable film that keeps you interested the whole way through. What about it is so interesting? Lets first talk about the cast in this film. Johnny Depp acts with serious perfection in this film. This is the role he was born to play because in movies he acts to today in, I still see a little bit of Jack Sparrow in his role (which isn't good). Anyway, Johnny Depp, plays the character of Captian Jack Sparrow, and they did a great job picking him for this role. I was glad to see Johnny getting a nomination for Best Actor Oscar for this role. Kiera Knightley is also in this film and I looked it up, she was only 17 years old when they did the filming for this film. For 17 years old, Kiera did a great job in this film. She is an amazing actress and this is where it practically all began. She just portrays the role of Elizabeth Swan amazingly. When picking the cast for this film, they could not have done a better job. I could go on and on about all the actors and actresses in this movie, but lets just say they all do a fantastic job with their roles to bring an amazing movie to us viewers. Some other notable people in this film would include: Orlando Bloom, Geoffrey Rush, Lee Arenberg, and Jack Davenport.

Next I wanted to mention the story for this film. It is a decent story, its nothing grand and spectacular. It is an enjoyable ride though. I enjoy this movie every single time I watch it, and trust me, by now I have had to have seen this movie well over 20 times. Director, Gore Verbinski, does a great job with this film. He portrays the movie beautifully and he keeps us on our toes throughout the whole movie. At the end of the movie you are begging for more, which as most people know, we do get (more on that later though). The cinematography in this movie is really good to. I love the way the movie looks and feels. It has the right look and feel for it, I wouldn't want it any other way.

The last few things I want to mention about this movie are probably what I love most about the Pirates of the Caribbean films. The musical score for this film is just wonderful. Klaus Bedelt does a great job setting up the perfect theme song for a good series of movies to come. The rest of the score as well is just perfect for the film. I can find myself humming songs from this movie all the time, especially right after watching it. Now the other thing I want to mention is just how enjoyable this movie is. It has all the right pieces to a perfect popcorn movie. It has humor, action, adventure, romance, and just a kickass cast pulling of the wittiest of characters. It may not be a perfect film, but it is a sure enjoyable ride.

Now rating this movie I will give Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl a well deserved popcorn movie night rating. It also deserves a must-see film rating because personally I think everyone must-see this film. It is for sure a instant classic. People will be enjoying this movies for years and years, as they already have been. It is a film you will watch over and over again, and so it does get a buy on Blu-Ray rating as well. Now for the rating out of ten stars I will give, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, a 8/10 star rating. 

Well I hope you have enjoyed this review of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Stay tuned for the reviews for the other films in this great series. Make sure you also stay tuned for reviews of other movies and of awesome movie news. If you have been enjoying, the Motion Picture Buff, make sure to like us on Facebook right . . . HERE! If you would like to chime in and tell me what you thought, comment to me on Facebook, or even leave a comment in the section below. Thanks again for reading and stay tuned for more . . . coming soon.

Noah Mark Bitney

Pacific Rim REVIEW

It is time to bring you a review of one of my favorite movies that came out this year . . . Pacific Rim. In this movie a war between mankind and a alien race that is emerging deep within the Pacific Ocean, is heating up. Us humans create an advanced giant robot to fight the ginormous alien creatures. Years past and the aliens evolve and are beginning to win. Where our story begins is when a former pilot and a trainee must fight together to save mankind.

Now as mentioned above this is literally my favorite movie I have seen so far in 2013. Normally science-fiction movies are not the greatest, but when they are good, they are normally GREAT. To mention a few would be: Avatar, Star Wars, and Star Trek. Well Pacific Rim is another GREAT science-fiction film. To start off why I freaking love this movie I would have to mention the fighting scenes. In this movie they had a huge special effect budget and the special effects in this movie are fantastic. Seriously there is not one scene were I could complain about the special effects, which makes a great movie in my opinion. Director Guillermo del Toro does a great job with this film as well. Within the fight sequences you just feel the enormity of the robots and aliens. The angles in which they use the special effects really adds to the movie. Now with the action sequences between the robots and the aliens you will just love. I could seriously watch them all freaking day. They are WAY beyond badass, I honestly love them.

Now the next nice thing about this movie is that it isn't just about the fighting sequences. The story behind this movie is also great. In the beginning they give you all the information you could possibly need before they get to the real stuff. You also actually care about the characters in this film. Charlie Hunnam plays the main character, Raleigh Becket. I personally loved him in this movie. Some people didn't but I think he did a great job for what they movie is. Everyone in this movie did a great job. The girl in this movie, Mako Mori, is played by Rinko Kikuchi, and she personally is fantastic. When seeing the trailer for this movie I didn't think I was going to like her character, but I ended up loving her character and I think that is because of Rinko Kikuchi. Idris Elba, Diego Klattenhoff, Charlie Day, Burn Gorman, Ron Perlman, and many others do a great job in the movie. Sure in this movie there are a few points where the acting is a little corny because of the story, but somehow it sort of works for the film.

Now there are a few things more I would like to mention about this movie and how these things make the film BAD-FREAKING-ASS. First thing I wanted to mention is the score of this film. Seriously the score is absolutely perfect for this film. Ramin Djawadi, who also did the musical score for Iron Man, does a perfect job for Pacific Rim. It just works great with all the action sequences and again it adds to the enormity of the scenes. Next I also wanted to talk about how BADASS this movie is. Seriously if you have any kid part of you left in your body you will find this movie outstandingly BADASS. How the Jaeger's (the robots) fight the Kaiju (the Aliens) is seriously the coolest thing ever. Lastly I wanted to talk about how much I really loved this move. I just want to make sure how clear I am saying that this movie is clearly one of the most enjoyable movies I have ever seen. What makes a great movie in my opinion is how it can take you out of your world and put you in a complete other world and let you forget your problems. Pacific Rim does this perfectly and it is one of the baddest ass movies of all time.

Summing up this review I will have to say that this movie is an enjoyable ride through and through. I will seriously watch this movie time and time again. So for sure it is going to get a MUST-SEE film rating as well as a buy on Blu-Ray rating. Watching it on Blu-Ray makes the movie look so freaking awesome. Pacific Rim is a perfect popcorn movie night film, and if you have seen it before that is fine because it is enjoyable no matter how many times you see it. I just watched it last night and I plan on watching it again after this review is complete, that is seriously how much I love it. Well as for the rating out of ten stars I will give Pacific Rim a solid and well deserved 10/10 star rating.

Well thanks for reading this review of Pacific Rim. I really hope that you have enjoyed it because seriously this movie has now been added to my top ten list. It is just something you can't fully describe on how badass and awesome this movie is. Well stay tuned for more reviews and movie stuff . . . coming soon.

TRAILER OF THE WEEK: American Hustle

Its Wednesday and that means it is Trailer of the Week time!!! This weeks trailer is for a movie due out also on December 25th, 2013, and it is for American Hustle. This film is about a con man, Irving Rosenfeld, along with his seductive British partner, Sydney Prosser, is forced to work for a wild FBI adent, Richie DiMaso. DiMas pushes them into a world of Jersey power-brokers and mafia (source: IMDb). 

Well now we get to why I picked this trailer this week. There are a few reasons why I picked this film, and one of them is being the cast of the film. The main cast of this film includes: Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Robert De Niro, and Jeremy Renner. I love each and every one of these actor/actresses. They are all fantastic in everything they do and now we have a movie with all of them together. Next I wanted to mention the director of this movie. David O. Russell is a great director. Silver Linings Playbook last year was absolutely fantastic and I am really excited to see what he does with this movie. I love mob movies like my favorite movie of all time, The Departed. This story of the movie seems like a very good mob movie and I am excited to see this film. This movie should definitely on anyones radar because it is for sure going to be up for Oscar talks.

To watch this trailer, just check out the sidebar this week to see it, otherwise go check it out on YouTube. I have already added this movie to my watch list and I recommend if you like serious dramas and mob movies you should do the same. It seems like a very good film and we will just have to wait and see how it is on December 25th, 2013. Well make sure you stay tuned here at the Motion Picture Buff for the review of American Hustle because I will be checking this movie out in theaters. Make sure you also stay tuned for more reviews and movie talk . . . coming soon.

Noah Mark Bitney

This is the End REVIEW

As promised the Motion Picture Buff would like to present another review today. This second review is of the 2013 comedy starring James Franco, Jonah Hill, Seth Rogan, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride, and Craig Robinson, This is the End. In this film James Franco is hosting a party that everyone is invited to. While attending the party the end of the world begins, and these comedy lords must learn how to live together and find a way to live in this demon infested world.

Now usually I am not a huge fan of comedy. I hate pointless stupid comedies, but This is the End is not a pointless comedy. This movie was so enjoyable I was laughing the whole way through. Comedies are usually overdone and just literally not funny. In This is the End, the comedy was enjoyable and it actually made me laugh and smile. Normally I hate 50% of the cast in this movie, but actually I did not hate one person in this movie. I enjoyed each one of their performances. It might be because they were making fun of themselves instead of trying to be funny in another way. Each actor/actress in this film is playing themselves instead of a certain character, this makes the film so freaking funny. Micheal Cera plays a complete douché in this film. It makes it funny because when seeing the roles he plays you would never guess that it would be how Micheal Cera acts. I am sure that it isn't how he acts in real life, but it helps the movie be more funny. One last thing about the cast I would like to mention is that they all have amazing chemistry together. I can really see all these guys hanging out in real life, it really works for this movie.

Moving on in this review is the story. The premise behind the movie is great, and the storyline works for a movie of this comedy. I mean sure there are plot holes in the movie and sure it isn't like Oscar worthy, but the plot works for this movie. The nice thing about comedies is that it doesn't have to be a perfect story, it just works for what it is. The other thing I wanted to mention about the story is that I like how it sort of centers around Jay Baruchel and Seth Rogan's relationship. You would never expect it and throughout the whole movie it makes it even funnier.

So there are a few more things about this movie I would like to mention these would include, the cameo's, the music, and the special effects. For starters then . . . the cameo's. In this movie there are a bunch of famous actor/actress's in this film. The main part of the film centers around the six mentioned in the script above. Other than those six there are a few people who really stand out though. I mentioned one above which is Micheal Cera. I absolutely LOVE Emma Watson in this movie. It is hilarious after seeing her play Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films. The last cameo I want to mention is Channing Tatum in this film. I do not want to spoil to much more about Channing Tatum's role in this film, but I will say when you see him . . . you will laugh your ASS off. Next I wanted to mention that the music choices for this movie added to the comedy. Near the end the one song was seriously the GREATEST choice ever! So finally I wanted to mention the special effects in this movie. Lets just say this movie probably didn't have a huge budget for special effects. The special effects were SO fake, but actually in a way it did work for the film. It is hard to explain but the bad speical effects for some reason added something to the movie I just cannot describe.

Now summing up this review I have got to say that this film is HILARIOUS in ever single way. I was not irritated in anyway, which I usually am with comedies. This is the End was for sure the funniest movie of 2013 so far. It is a MUST-SEE film for sure as well. This is the End for surely would be an absolute perfect popcorn movie night film. Need a funny movie to watch some night? This movie works perfectly, and if you have seen it before it still works because it is just that funny. When buying this movie though . . . make sure you buy it on Blu-Ray, it is worth the money. As for the rating, This is the End, deserves a strong 9/10 star rating.

Well I hope you have enjoyed this review of This is the End. It is a good movie and I give my recommendation. Have you been enjoying my blogs so far? Please leave your comments in the comments section below. Thanks again everyone for reading. I promise to continue my reviews. So make sure you stay tuned for more . . . coming soon.

Noah Mark Bitney

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey REVIEW

Welcome back to the Motion Picture Buff! I would like to present my review of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. In this film a young and unwilling, Bilbo Baggins, is recruited on a "unexpected journey" to the Lonely Mountain. He goes out on this journey with a bunch of spirited dwarves who are out to reclaim there mountain back from a vicious dragon.

Well starting this review, I would like to start out saying that it is refreshing to be brought back to Middle Earth. It was just last year that I watched the Lord of the Rings Trilogy for the first time and I enjoyed the journey so freaking much! This movie has a lot lighter tone than the Lord of the Rings movies, but yet it is truly enjoyable. Martin Freeman is seriously the greatest Bilbo Baggins. Yeah sure Ian Holm is a great Bilbo Baggins, but he plays the older version of Bilbo. Martin is the perfect version of a younger Bilbo Baggins, he even looks somewhat like Ian Holm. Anyway it is great to see Ian McKellen again as Gandalf the Grey. Now talking about all the acting in this movie, I have got to mention the dwarves. They were all fantastic for their roles, but the best one of course was the dwarf Thorin who is played by, Richard Armitage. He is prefect for the character he portrays.

Now the story in this movie is pretty good. There were a few issues I had with it. The first one would be the beginning of the movie. I felt like the beginning of the movie took forever. It was literally just so slow. The beginning to forever to pick up and get exciting, about an hour into the movie is where the movie began to get interesting. Then the other two things that bothered me later on in the movie were there were two action sequences in the movie where the dwarves and everyone were running away from bad guys. With both of these scenes they just seemed ridiculous and way over the top. The first one seems like a children's movie and is just hilarious instead of serious. It was one of the things that I really did hate about this movie.

Lastly in this review I would like to talk about the music, cinematography, and direction of this movie. First off the score of this movie is perfect. Howard Shore did a great job with Lord of the Rings score's and I am glad they brought him back for The Hobbit scores ahead. Next I wanted to talk about the cinematography in this film. In the LOTR movies the cinematography was dark and gritty. In The Hobbit films they are a little lighter and not at all gritty. This works for the movies, as they do have a lighter tone to the whole story. So lastly I wanted to mention director Peter Jackson. With most of his movies he is a very good director, for example, King Kong and The Lord Of Ring Trilogy. With this movie Peter Jackson excels again at giving us an enjoyable movie and an a perfect trip back to Middle Earth.

Summing up this review I would say that The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is a perfect addition to the films that take us to Middle Earth. It is a good start to another trilogy about the character Bilbo Baggins, and his adventures he was in back in the day. Sure its a little slow and over the top in some parts but other than that you will enjoy it pretty well. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey isn't a must-see film. I would say if you are a fan of the LOTR trilogy then it is a must-see, but other than that I would say it works one night for a popcorn movie night. It is worth owning and I would recommend buying it on Blu-Ray, just in case you wanna watch it sometime. As for a rating I would give The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey a 7/10 star rating.

Well thank for reading . . . this didn't seem like the best review but I hope you enjoyed it anyway. I hope that you will continue to enjoy my reviews. Stay tuned later tonight because I plan on doing a couple more tonight yet. Well thanks again, and stay tuned for more . . . coming soon.

Noah Mark Bitney

Iron Man 3 REVIEW

To catch up with all the currently released Avenger films, the Motion Picture Buff would like to present his review of Iron Man 3. In this film Tony Stark's world is torn apart when he threatens the terrorist, the Mandarin. He has to build himself from the ground up to try and stop this merciless villain.

As so of you might know, I am a huge Iron Man fan. I loved the first film, was a little disappointed with the second, and The Avengers is one of my favorite movies of all time. Now back in May, Iron Man 3, hit theaters and I absolutely was thrilled with this movie. I saw this film at midnight and in IMAX 3D, so it was pretty darn epic. Since then though I have seen the movie countless times, since it is now out on Blu-Ray and DVD. Why was I so thrilled with this movie? Well that is easy because it was a nice and extremely enjoyable ride back to Tony Stark's story and just Tony's story. Robert Downey Jr. is one of my favorite actors out there right now, and he just kills it again as cocky badass Tony Stark. In every film Robert Downey Jr. is in he really just consumes himself into his role. I don't see Robert Downey Jr. being a quite awkward person, I see him as Tony Stark. This makes him perfect for the role. The other actor/actresses in this film like, Guy Pearce, Don Cheadle, Ben Kingsley, Gwyneth Paltrow, Rebecca Hall, and others did a great job. This film has a great cast and makes the film so much more enjoyable. Even the child star in this film did a good job, and I usually hate the little kid actors within films like this.

Now there are a few things I want to touch on in this review. The first being director Shane Black. Jon Favreau directed the first two Iron Man films. In this film Shane Black brought something to Iron Man that I just absolutely loved to be honest. There was a darker tone to it, and the way he told this story was just great. I was very happy with Shane Black's direction for Iron Man 3. I will be honest I was nervous before the movie, but now having seen the movie I can't complain.

Moving on I do want to talk about the story of this film. A lot of people have gripes saying that it is a lot like Pixar's The Incredibles, what I have to say to this is that a lot of movies are like a lot of other movies out there. Its hard not to have some similarities to other movies now a days. There are just so many movies out there. The next thing with the story is there is a point half-way through the film where the movie takes a direction that most would advise against. Most people hate what they did, but personally I absolutely loved it. I would have never seen it coming, and I love when a movie completely throws you for a loop. It just made the movie so much more enjoyable.

Next I would like to talk about  the special effects in the movie. In some scenes they were really good, and in others they weren't the best. I noticed that when they were battling scenes between the suits and Killian's army, the special effects excelled. When the helicopter is blowing up Tony's house though, there are a few times were everything looks CGI and extremely fake. I felt it took away from the experience a little bit. In talking about the suits though I do want to say the end fight was probably the most badass Iron Man scene ever, I freaking loved it. I was entertaining and extremely enjoyable. The last 30 minutes of this movie is just complete awesomeness. If you didn't or don't like it, something is seriously wrong with you.

One last thing I did want to touch on is that the music/score of this film is perfect. Brian Taylor did a great job with coming up of a theme for this movie. I can find myself humming it long after I have finished the movie. It is going to be one of those soundtracks I will have to buy.

Summing up this review (dragged on a bit) I would say that Iron Man 3 is a solid addition to the Iron Man films. It has a good story to it, with amazing actors to help portray some awesome characters. IT has all the twists and action you could ever hope for. You had better buy this film on Blu-Ray when you decided to watch it because it is a must-see film! It is also a perfect popcorn movie night film, so keep that in mind. For the rating I will give Iron Man 3, a solid 8/10 star rating.

Well I hope you have enjoyed this review of Iron Man 3. For my review of other Avenger films click there names HERE: Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captian America: The First Avenger, and The Avengers. Well stay tuned for more . . . coming soon.

Noah Mark Bitney

TRAILER OF THE WEEK: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Well hello my fellow readers! As I was trying to figure out what trailer to pick for this week's, TRAILER OF THE WEEK, I decided to reinterate one of my old traditions. If you have been with, THE MOTION PICTURE BUFF, from the beginning you will remember my old blog posts called Trailer Talk. For an example . . . click HERE. Anyways in, Trailer Talk, I pick a random/new trailer to talk about in depth.

Now this is not going to be the same as my old trailer talks. Instead I am going to link it with my, TRAILER OF THE WEEK, item I do every Wednesday. I will still talk about why I like this trailer, what intrigued me, and continue to talk in depth about it. The only serious change is that this is going to do with the, TRAILER OF THE WEEK. There might be an important trailer every once in awhile that I might want to talk about later or sometime else in the week, when that happens I will call is Trailer Talk though. This new segment is going to be called TRAILER OF THE WEEK, and dedicated to only the current TRAILER OF THE WEEK. Well shall we get started now?

This week's, TRAILER OF THE WEEK, is for a movie do out this Christmas season and stars Ben Stiller and Kristen Wigg. The film is question is called, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. It is based off a short story written by James Thurber, and is about an office worker who lives inside fantasy worlds where he gets to live and adventurous life while romancing his co-worker sets off a global journey to fix things when both of their jobs are threatened (source: IMDb). This film is directed by Ben Stiller and is a remake of a 1947 film.

So why did I pick this film to be this week's TRAILER OF THE WEEK? Firstly I want to say that it was the first trailer I picked out to watch. I was just captivated by the story that I said, "Yep this is going to be this week's trailer." Secondly the trailer didn't convey that much information like most trailers do today. It left me with questions and leaving me with wanting more. I went to IMDb after and looked it up and read more about it. It looks kind of good, but I could see the movie being really bad as well. I might see it in theaters but lets just say that it has spiked my interest. I am definitely adding it to my watchlist. I love Kristen Wigg and she would just be a perk about this movie.

In summary, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, is a movie coming out on December 25th, 2013. It is a movie that I am genuinely interested in. The story seems interesting enough, and it takes a interesting story to really catch my attention in a trailer. I do normally HATE Ben Stiller, but I am going to give him a chance with this movie. So check out the trailer in the sidebar.

Oh and one last thing before I go, stay tuned for more . . . coming soon.

Noah Mark Bitney

Gravity REVIEW

The Motion Picture Buff would like to present a review of the new film, Gravity, written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón. This film is about a medical engineer and a astronaut stuck adrift in space after an accident destroys there space shuttle. Gravity follows their story to see if they can survive this terrible ordeal.

(Hands Clapping) Well firstly I would like to go into saying that Sandra Bullock really did an outstanding job with her role in this movie. What I mean is that I was really captivated by her performance in this movie. For almost half the movie I was stuck on the edge of my seat wondering if she was going to make it. Sandra really took hold of this role and made it her own. Her emotions really transpired into the viewers because what she was feeling was pretty much what we were feeling. There is so much I want to say on her performance, but at the same time I do not want to give anything away. To sum up her performance though I will say this, if she does not at least get nominated for Best Actress for the 2014 Oscars, I will be shocked and terribly upset. Oh and someone is going to need to get punched in the face because she excelled at this role.

Moving on, the story in the movie was just fantastic! I loved how they really made us care about these characters in this film. You really connected to them and you were stuck on the edge of your seat rooting for them the whole way through. The beginning of the movie was really good and got you hooked right away. I loved the set up to the event that sets Ryan Stone and Matt Kowalsky adrift in space. It worked because it got you some insight into your characters before the chaos. In excitement to see this movie, when reading about it I also heard that George Clooney was perfect for his role, and of course I would have to quite agree. He just seems like the perfect astronaut, and he, like Sandra, really pull of some of the best acting I have seen any movie this year. George is usually good at anything he does though. Back on subject though, the story/plot of this movie all just makes sense and connects perfectly. When the characters are doing something you understand why they are and what the purpose is. Ryan Stone's story too, really gets to you and you really do care about her. You really want to see her succeed and make it back on the planet safely.

Now a couple last things I want to touch on before I end this review is the special effects, Alfonso Cuarón, and the sound effects. So firstly I want to say that the special effects in this movie were OUTSTANDING (yes all capitalization is necessary). You really felt like you were in space with them. So many stars out there, and the view truly was beautiful. If this movie isn't nominated for those special effects, something will be seriously wrong with the academy. Next Alfonso Cuarón and his son, Jonás Cuarón, wrote a beautiful film that I will make sure to enjoy countless times. The dialogue is flawless in the movie, I love it so much. The fact that Alfonso directed this movie is great to because I was a fan of his work since Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. He did a good job then, but he has done a great job with Gravity. Lastly I want to talk about the sound effects. I love how in this movie they used the actual physics of space and put no sound when something happen in space. The space shuttle getting attacked . . . just random debris crashing into it, but yet no sound. I think this really added something to the film to make it more enjoyable. That sense of isolation I would say.

Summing this review up I would say that there would be nothing wrong with it. I thought long and hard about it before I did this review and I couldn't find one thing that I did not like. Sandra Bullock pulls off an amazing performance with a movie that Alfonso and Jonás Cuarón wrote. I would for sure give Gravity a must-see movie rating. With that it also is a perfect movie night film and you had better buy it on Blu-Ray because it going to look and be 20 times more amazing than DVD. When seeing it in theaters I will say that it will be fine in 2D, but it is totally worth the 3D ticket price because it adds a perfect level of depth. As for the rating out of 10 starts, Gravity deserves a solid 10/10 rating.

Well I hope you enjoyed this long and extensive review of Gravity. I really enjoyed the film and I completely recommend that you check it out this weekend. So stay tuned for more everybody, because it is . . . coming soon.

Noah Mark Bitney

Vanilla Sky REVIEW

The Motion Picture Buff would like to present a review for the 2001 film, Vanilla Sky, starring Tom Cruise. In this film a successful publisher who has it all gets into a car accident, when he tells a jaded lover of his that he doesn't want to be with her. After the accident his whole life takes a turn in the wrong direction.

Before I start this review I want to say that I am going to format my reviews a little differently. Before I used to do one paragraph on negatives and another on the positives. Now I think I want to meld the negatives and positives together and just write how I feel about a movie in different but similar paragraph format. This is just a warning if your a little confused on why it was different all of a sudden. I just want to see how this works, and if I don't like it (or you don't) I will go back to my old way. I will still do my summary of the review at the end though. 

So this movie was quite interesting to be honest. Part of me was enjoying this movie, but then there was another part of me that was like . . . "WHEN IS THIS MOVIE GOING TO END." I found this movie to be very slow. There were points in the movie where I thought of shutting it off because I found no value in what was going on the screen. Tom Cruise though did an excellent job with his character, which kept me somewhat involved in the movie. Tom Cruise has always been a great actor, and he does a great job in this movie, he is what is driving this movie in my opinion. With his character he has to jump from one emotion to the next and to the next. The character he plays, David Aames, has experienced an emotional roller coaster and Tom plays out it perfectly. The chemistry between him and Penelope Cruz is great as well. You can see it in there eyes, that they actually do care for each other. They worked perfectly together.

Now I always like to talk about the story of a movie. In, Vanilla Sky, they had an interesting story, but it was extremely boring and not to mention extremely confusing. Throughout watching this entire movie I never really knew what the heck was going on. From the very beginning I was just down right confused. I was asking myself, "Why is this happening? What does this have to do with the story?" In the end of the movie everything was somewhat explained, but I was still in a general confusion of what happened. Director, Cameron Crowe, really played around with the storyline of this script and in my opinion made the movie so much more confusing than it needed to be. The end of the film, like the last 20-30 minutes is probably the best part of the film because you start understanding the whole thing, but in the end you still finish the movie thinking what the heck did I just watch.

Each and every movie in my opinion has a lesson, a tone, or even a feel to this movie that drives it. Usually you can pick that up near the beginning of the movie, in this movie you don't get what is driving the idea behind this movie until the very end. I like what is driving this movie but I feel like if the movie had hinted at it earlier along in the film, I think everyone would have understood it more.

Summing up this review I would have to say that it is somewhat enjoyable and interesting once you get to the end and start understanding it. It has some pretty good acting in it that I did enjoy, but the whole ride of the movie leaves you with so many questions. Watching this movie you might want to shut it off, but stick around for the end because that it where it gets more enjoyable. I would give this movie a rent worthy rating. It is not worth a buy in my opinion because you are only going to want to watch it once and that is it. Vanilla Sky is one of those movies you should make sure you are paying attention to the whole time though, just to make sure you don't get more confused than you already are. As for the rating I would give Vanilla Sky a 5/10 star rating.

Well lets hope you enjoyed this review of Vanilla Sky. It was a little different talking about it in this way but I hope it works. Leave you comments below or even on the Facebook Page. I look forward to hearing what you have to say. Well stay tuned for more . . . coming soon.

Noah Mark Bitney