Fantastic Four REVIEW

The "Motion Picture Buff" would like to present a review for Marvel's "Fantastic Four." In this film, a group of astronauts get superpowers after being exposed to a cosmic radiation storm that they were originally going to do tests on. They learn they need to use these powers to oppose their enemy, Doctor Victor Von Doom.

Well I decided to watch this film because I was in a superhero mood last night, and well here are some of the positives I got from this film. Well I loved the cast in this film. I thought Ioan Gruffudd did a really good job as Reed Richards or a.k.a. "Mr. Fantastic." There was also Jessica Alba in this film . . . to whom I thought did a decent job with her character. She wasn't as good as the rest of the cast, but I thought she did alright for this movie. Chris Evans was born to play the character of Johnny Storm a.k.a. "The Human Torch." He just pulls of that cocky care-free attitude perfectly. So well done Chris. We also have Micheal Chiklis as Ben Grimm or "The Thing." He did excellent as his character. Like I said this was the perfect casting for the "Fantastic Four," but of course every hero need a villain and Julian McMahon plays the role as Dr. Doom perfectly! He is 100% a perfect villain. One other thing I liked about this film is its key way to keep you somewhat interesting (with the powers they have), and it's attempt to make this whole thing a little more real. I thought it did a decent job with it.

Now the negatives. Where shall I start? Well the plot is just to obvious and blunt. You know where this film is headed right from the beginning. If you haven't seen this or have never even read the comics, you will know the bad guy like instantly. It wasn't interesting really at all, and I just feel like there was no creativity going into the making of this. All the big problems in the action scenes, or what should be a great epic fight scene just has a quick and easy fix to it. Which to me is really annoying, because you watch this whole movie waiting for a huge fight scene and then BAM easy fix . . . all done. The the special effects within this film are so outdated. You can so tell almost everything is done with special effects, for which this movies time is pretty bad. The dialogue and love story within this film is super cheesy. You feel like this movie is a comic in itself. Most superhero movies these days (even for this movie) have a dark tone to it. "Fantastic Four" tries to have a dark tone to it with "Dr. Doom" but it fails at it miserably.

So all-in-all this movie has a great cast who do a good job with there characters, but the plot and story they are portraying is not good enough to make it a good film. It may keep you somewhat interested because of the cool powers, but in the end you might want to rent this film if your having a superhero movie night. It would be enjoyable with friends so you can talk and won't be hurt if you miss anything. On a scale out of five, I am going to give "Fantastic Four" a two out of five.

Well thanks for reading . . . I hope you have enjoyed this review of Marvel's "Fantastic Four." Now if your new here please help me out by spreading the word about this review site (if you have enjoyed them so far). I would greatly appreciate it, as it helps me continue to review movies for you all. I would also like to say make sure you vote on the poll in the sidebar . . . time is running out. Thanks again for reading and now make sure you stay tuned for more . . . coming soon.

The Motion Picture Buff

R.I.P. Micheal Clarke Duncan

I am sure you have already heard the sad news about the passing of a great actor, Micheal Clarke Duncan, but I thought in honor I should do a blog post. He passed away Monday after a two month long struggle with a heart attack. "He suffered a myocardial infarction on July 13 and never fully recovered," said Micheal's personal representative. Micheal Clarke Duncan was 54 years old and engaged to marry Osmarosa Manigault-Stallworth. I am saddened to report this news to you all. It saddens me to report the loss of someone who had so much talent, especially since he was still pretty young and had a lot of life before him yet.

Micheal's motion picture history includes "Planet of the Apes (2001)" as Attar. He was also nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting role for his performance as John Coffey in "The Green Mile." He most recent work was in the TV series "The Finder." His most recent work in the movie industry is in the film "In the Hive" which has been completed and is expected to be released in 2012.

Dwayne Johnson had this to say about Micheal's passing, "I will miss you my brother." Its sad to see that he had to leave this world. All I want to say is thank you Micheal Duncan for your amazing contribution to the motion picture industry. You will be greatly missed, and I send my condolences to his family and close friends. Rest in peace.

The Motion Picture Buff

Get Smart REVIEW

The "Motion Picture Buff" would like to present a review for the comedy "Get Smart" starring Steve Carell. In this film Maxwell Smart, performed by Steve Carell, becomes Agent 86 for CONTROL. He battles against the evil forces of KAOS with the more-competent Agent 99, Anne Hathaway, at his side.

So shall we begin with the negatives of this film? Hm, well firstly I want to say that this movie is stupid. Ever seen "Austin Powers" starring Mike Meyers? It isn't that much stupid funny, but this film does have some key stupid funny parts within it. I like funny and I thought this movie had its funny moments, but there were some time where it got to be a little ridiculous. Then there was the fact being that the screenplay/plot wasn't really that good at all. Plot seemed a bit jumpy in spots and just wasn't that great. If you left this movie for a few minutes or fell asleep you wouldn't be upset that you missed anything. Its not the most compelling of stories. Moving onto the acting in this film though . . . I would have to say that only two peoples performances bugged me. Terry Crews as Agent 91 and David Koechner ad Larabee were really the only two that kind of bugged me the most. They are just annoying, and don't seem to put to much into there performance.

Moving onto the positives from this film I am going to have to say that I loved the performances by Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway, and Alan Arkin. They all seemed to perform very well in this film, and they most definitely became there characters. Everyone else in the film seemed to do decent in my eyes.  I do want to point out though that Anne Hathaway seemed to steal the show in this movie. I really love her performance in this film. Continuing on I do want to say that this movie did a very good job at making me laugh at points (except for the things I mentioned above). So it is a good laugh movie that for sure that you don't need to really stay attentive through. The score of this film was pretty decent, I really liked the theme song for this movie. The action in this movie to is really good, director Peter Segal did a good job with it. It keeps you on your toes through the film. Keeps making you want more and there is also the gadgets Agent 86 and 99 get. Of course everyone loves a good gadget, and they thought of some unique gadgets actually for this film. I like it when they use something original and not something that is over used.

So all-in-all what did I think about this film? Well if your having a comedy night with some friends this film would do some good. Check it out at your rental place of choice. "Get Smart" isn't going to get a buy worthy rating, its a decent film. On the scale out of five, "Get Smart" I will have to give a two point five out of five rating.

Well thanks for reading this review of Peter Segal's take on "Get Smart." I hope you have enjoyed my review, and you are going to come back for more in the future. If so make sure you subscribe by email in the sidebar, so you will be emailed when I update the blog with a new post. I would like to also mention to check out my TOP TEN LIST if you have not yet. I had just changed the tenth film on there recently. So thank you again for viewing and make sure you stay tuned for more . . . coming soon.

The Motion Picture Buff

The Truman Show REVIEW

The "Motion Picture Buff" would like to present a review for a film starring Jim Carrey, "The Truman Show." In this film an insurance salesman/adjuster discovers his entire life is actually a reality television show.

 Well lets begin with the positives for this review even though I really don't have ANYTHING negative to say about this film. Lets start with Peter Weir as director of this film shall we? Oh wow he has also directed "Dead Poets Society," but let me just say that he does an amazing job with this film. What makes it great is that he uses just so many camera angles for this film, that just helps pull you into the emotions of the film. The score for this film done by, Burkhard von Dallwitz, was just absolutely engaging. It helped make scenes more emotional, and I will be making sure to check out that soundtrack as soon as I am done with this review . . . no joke. Lets move onto the story and the plot of this film (which includes the screenplay written by, Andrew Niccol). Let me just say I find the idea of this story extremely intriguing. Just the idea of someones whole life being fake and that everything he grew up around was all just a stage and none of it was real at all. Then there is the way Andrew wrote the film that just makes you want to stay involved in the film, that I just love. At first you aren't sure how or what is happening but in the end they do an amazing job of explaining every single thing that you could have possibly had questions about. The dialogue too just seemed to flow great. Oh such a good movie here that includes amazing acting. I was always surprised to find out that Jim Carrey never got a nomination for his role within this film. I always thought his portrayal as Truman Burbank in this film was 100% Oscar-worthy! Then we have Ed Harris who also does an amazing job as, Christof, the director of "The Truman Show." He just is outstanding in this film, and he deserves his nomination for "Best Actor in a Supporting Role" nomination from the Academy. Everyone who is this film I just love. Noah Emmerich as, Marlan, is just GREAT too. This film also includes: Paul Giamatti, Laura Linney, and Holland Taylor (who usually is just SUPER annoying). They all seemed to do a great job with their characters, which helps make a great film that you will enjoy.

The only possible thing I could say bad about this film is that I wanted more out of the ending, which really isn't a negative. It's just I wanted more in the end.

So all-in-all what does this mean since I didn't really have anything negative to bad to say about this film. Well I never thought of this film when creating my TOP TEN LIST, but watching this film tonight has already made me change the list, and it has been addd to NUMBER TEN on the list! So yes "The Truman Show" is a 100% "Must-see film" and I would 100% recommend purchasing this on Blu-Ray! A very good popcorn flick for a movie night one night. So on the scale out of five what is this film going to receive? I am giving "The Truman Show" of course FIVE OUT OF FIVE!

Well thanks again for reading . . . I will make sure to get as many posts up as I can in the coming days. Oh I would also like to mention thanks for all the views . . . I have now done 50 posts in a little over two months, which to me is amazing since I already have over 1200 views, so thanks for everything. If you are new here though I hope you enjoyed this review enough to comeback again for more in the future. Seems like I will be doing more reviews than my other posts though, but I will try to slide other variety of posts in there once and awhile. Make sure you vote in the poll on the sidebar, oh and also make sure you spread the "word" . . . only if you enjoy my posts though. Again thanks for reading and make sure you stay tuned for more . . . coming soon.

The Motion Picture Buff

The Possession REVIEW

The "Motion Picture Buff" would like to present a review for a genre of movies that I will review few of "The Possession" which is a scary movie. In this film a young girl makes her father purchase an antique box at a yard sale, not knowing that inside the box lives an ancient evil spirt. The girl's father and ex-wife team up to find a way to end the curse upon their child.

Well hm I might as well get the negatives out of the way in this film even though there are quite a few within this film. Well I want to start with the way the film flowed. It seemed to move really slow most of the time. This wasn't just due to the screenplay, which wasn't really the greatest (seemed kind of blotchy), it was due to the direction of this film. There were scenes where the camera just paneled around something, and when it did that it seemed to take forever. I think the director, Ole Bornedal (perviously done: "Nightwatch") was trying to build the scary moment, but when in reality he was just slowing the movie down more. Then there were some scenes that I feel like it should have showed more and didn't or it just wasn't as scary as it could have been. Then there was actually one thing about the script or story I guess that had bothered me quite a bit. There was this very relevant character to the plot in the whole film, then something happened to him but you never really knew what happened to him. Moving onto how scary was this movie, well it was creepy (more on that later) but I feel like they used to many "jump scares" which in a scary movie I feel like they shouldn't use to many of them. Then there was one person's acting in this film that was just on and off. Jeffrey Dean Morgan played, Clyde (the father), and his acting was really good at some points, but then there was sometimes within this film where I wanted to punch him for being so bad.

Now good things from this scary movie. Well I am going to have to say that this movie is a good creepy scary movie. It does scare you, but in a creeped out sort of way. If you know what I mean? So I do give it some credit for that because scary movies I have been watching lately haven't really creeped me out or scared me except for making me jump. This film though had me freaking out from a minute into the film. I did like how in some scene though that the would just BANG cut to the next! It gave the film a more creepy edge to it. Then the acting by Natasha Calis, was spectacular . . . oh she played Em, the girl who was possessed. I felt like she did a very good job being EXTREMELY creepy in some scene. Ugh she just creeped me out. One last thing I do want to say is that this film does have a good story to it that kept me somewhat interested. Could have been better, but wasn't really a negative (almost).

So all-in-all I think that this is an excellent movie to watch for a scary movie night! Probably want to start with it at the beginning, and then continue on with better ones from their on. So if your having a scary movie night, this would be a great film to pick up at your local rental place! That's it though, thats all I would give it for that. On the scale out of five though . . . I would give "The Possession" a two out of five.

Well thanks for reading this review, I hope you enjoyed it. Sorry haven't been doing reviews and other posts, been so busy with friends leaving for college. Seems like now I am going to have more time to do reviews though . . .  and to watch movies. I do want to say thanks if you have been trying to get the word out about "The Motion Picture Buff Reviews" I really appreciate! Every page view helps me continue to do this. So make sure you subscribe by email in the sidebar, so you will be emailed when I update the blog with another post! I do want to say thank you again for viewing and to make sure you stay tuned for more . . . coming soon.

The Motion Picture Buff