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

Star Trek: Into Darkness REVIEW

The Motion Picture Buff would like to present a review for the summer blockbuster of 2013, Star Trek: Into Darkness. In this film James T. Kirk, is on a hunt for a man who has declared war on Star Fleet. This hunt lands the crew of the Enterprise on the border of Star Fleet's nemesis.

Let me start off by saying this movie is pretty darn spectacular. It has all the right formulas to a great blockbuster. Not only is this movie a good blockbuster, it is a very enjoyable film. So the first thing I would like to mention is the acting in this film. Everyone involved in this film does a great job. The cast includes Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Benedict Cumberbatch, and others. Each one of these actors do a fantastic job. The chemistry between Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto is perfect.  I love how they bicker back and forth but then when it comes to the emotional stuff they can still pull those scenes off. Now one actor who really stands out in this movie is Benedict Cumberbatch. He does a FANTASTIC job as Khan. The facial expressions he uses when he talks are just great. They help bring a perfect performance and help make the movie WAY more enjoyable. You forget that these people aren't actually these characters and that they are actually other people in this world. Thats what I like to call good acting. Now moving on the action and the way J.J. Abrams does it is perfect. It flows perfectly with the story of this film. Speaking of the story behind this film I would have to say that it is amazing. I was emotionally attached to this film in so many ways. Sure it is an action film, but the film makes you really care about the characters. This film has ups and downs, and there is a point in the film where it gets really emotional and you really feel it. The actors, the story, the direction, it all makes the scene perfect. J.J. Abrams does a great job with the movie . . . he takes Star Trek: Into Darkness in a whole new direction than his first Star Trek film. The name of the film says it, it is a way darker film. The feel of this movie is great too. I love how they took Star Trek up a notch with this movie.

Now even though this movie is very, very good, I have to say that this movie has one flaw. The flaw in this movie would have to be the ending of the film. Here we are in a huge action scene, and then it suddenly ends and that is basically the end of the movie. The movie just comes to an abrupt halt. That would probably be the only bad thing I could mention from this film.

Summing up this review up I would say that this film is pretty darn enjoyable and probably one of the best films to come out during the summer season of 2013. There is only one movie I can think of that I enjoyed more over the summer season. I will review that movie later though. You for sure should buy this movie on Blu-Ray, it is totally worth buying on Blu-Ray. I own it on Blu-Ray and it looks incredible. This movie is also a perfect popcorn movie night film. Make a bowl of popcorn, grab a blanket, and pop in this movie. For the rating out of ten stars I would give Star Trek: Into Darkness a 9/10 stars.

Well I hope you enjoyed this review of the newest Star Trek film. To see my review of the first of the new Star Trek films, CLICK HERE. So make sure you stay tuned for more reviews, I know they haven't been as often as I said, but I still plan on doing them . . . so stay tuned for more coming soon.

Noah Mark Bitney

Hanna REVIEW

The "Motion Picture Buff" would like to present a review for the motion picture, "Hanna" starring Saoirse Rohan. In this film, a 16-year-old girl, Hanna, was raised by her father to be the perfect assassin. She is dispatched on a mission all across Europe. She is being followed by a ruthless intelligence agent and her operatives. Along the way Hanna begins to learn what she has been missing, and learns about her shaky past.

So lets talk about the negatives of this film shall we? Well the first thing I really want to point out that bugged me the most was the score of the film. It just seemed so intrusive of the story and what was happening in the film. I found it annoying and throughout the whole film I just wanted it to stop. The next thing that had bothered me was the plot, not a whole lot though. I would have to say here just the beginning really. If you watch this movie not knowing what you are in for at all, you will be a little confused for the first quarter to half of the movie . . . after that though things will start to click. The last thing really is the camera angles in some shots where just unnecessary and weird. I feel like they messed with the tone of the film a little. In some spot I felt like the film was very serious, but then you got that disturbing music and then a weird camera shot that ruined the tone.

Now we can move onto the positives that I really enjoyed within this film. Well lets just say again (like my "Fantastic Four" REVIEW) I really loved the cast of this film. Saoirse Rohan did an amazing, AMAZING job as the character of Hanna! She just consumed her character with greatness. Like I always say, "A good actor/actress is one that becomes there character and makes you believe that both of them (actor and character) are one." Eric Bana did a great job as Erik Heller. Then there is someone who really gave it her all too, Cate Blanchett. I thought she did incredible in this film. Of course there is more people in this film to consider like these actors who did a great job: Tim Beckham, Paris Arrowsmith, and Tom Hollander. Who really stood out as a newer actress was Jessica Barden as Hanna's friend. I thought she did pretty darn good. Now moving of the topic of acting I thought the action sequences and action scenes were AMAZINGLY well done. They didn't seem way to over the top and they made it very realistic. So props to Joe Wright for doing a good job directing them. I will have to say that besides what I mentioned above, I found the story of "Hanna" to be quite intriguing. The story of "Hanna" was brought to us by, Seth Lochhead. It kept me interested throughout the entire film, and I was always wondering what was going to happen next. One last thing I do want to mention is that I loved the ending of the film. At first I thought it was going to end in a really dumb spot, but in the end of the film I think it does the whole film what I like to call "justice."

So all-in-all what am I going to give the film "Hanna" directed by Joe Wright? Well I can say that this movie is worth buying on DVD. If you enjoy a good story where you DO have to pay attention and enjoy the film, this is a good film to purchase. On the scale out of five what is this film going to receive? I give "Hanna" a well deserved three point five out of five (3.5/5).

Well I would like to say thank you for reading this review of the motion picture, "Hanna" and I hope you have enjoyed. I would like to mention a few things though before you leave. If you have not seen my TOP TEN LIST yet make sure you check it out HERE. This list includes my top ten favorite movies of all time (to date) that I have seen. So make sure you check it out, I will be adding onto the list in days to come. Well again thanks for reading and thanks for the continued support. Now, make sure you stay tuned for more . . . coming soon.

The Motion Picture Buff