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

Captian America: The First Avenger REVIEW

The Motion Picture Buff would like to present a review of Captian America: The First Avenger. This film is about a man who is a solider at heart but is deemed unfit to serve. After countless of attempts to be enlisted he is chosen to become a new breed of super soldiers. This turns him into a solider who is branded by the USA to defend the United States, becoming the worlds first superhero.

So I am going to go out and say it that this Avenger film would have to be my least favorite. Like I had said in my Thor review, this film has way to much of a comic book feel to it. It is really childish and just silly. The whole feel of this movie just does not seem to be right in my opinion. This movie has a hard time trying to find what it exactly wants to be in my opinion. At one point it is focused one thing, but then it moves to the next and then the next. The movie (in my opinion) does not flow smoothly together. It seems choppy. The other thing about this movie is that it is boring. The villain (played by Hugo Weaving) is acted well by Hugo, but you don't care about the villain. He doesn't seem to have a reason for what he is doing and you don't get enough action with him.

Moving on I do like who they picked for the Captian America in this film. Chris Evans has been in a Marvel film before, as the Human Torch in Fantastic Four. He is a good superhero actor and it is nice to see him in a lead role. He pulls of the emotionality that is Captian Rodgers. Captian Rodgers isn't just some arrogant person who got picked to be a super solider, he was a wimpy kid who was shorter than most women even. Chris Evans did a great job. Most of the acting in the film was done great. They picked the right cast for this film. Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Stanley Tucci, Sebastian Stan, and many other were all just great in this film. The other things I did like about this movie was, how it really tied the rest of the Avenger movies together. The way they played out the movies actually did work and I am glad that Captian America: The First Avenger was the last one right before The Avengers. The last thing I wanted to mention was that I actually did enjoy the cinematography in this movie. It seemed to work for the feel this movie was giving off.

Now all-in-all Captian America: The First Avenger was a decent movie that with quite a few tweeks could have been a lot better. I mean it is a fine addition to the Avengers franchise, but it could have been a lot better. I will of course give this movie a must-see rating because it is a must-see in order to see The Avengers. I would say that it is really only rent worthy though, or I will go even as high as a DVD buy worthy. It works for a movie night, but its not a movie you want to watch over and over again, it is just not that good. As for the rating I will give Captian America: The First Avenger a 6/10 rating.

Well before I close this I want to say sorry about the lateness of this review, I hope you do enjoy it. I am trying to do more reviews . . . so I hope you will stay tuned for those. I plan on seeing Gravity tomorrow night so stay tuned later tomorrow night and into Saturday for the review of that movie. I am really excited for that movie. So again stay tuned for more . . . coming soon.

Noah Mark Bitney