It’s all quiet up in here.

January 27th, 2011

So it’s been like a week since anyone posted anything and I just wanted to let everyone know that we’re still alive and still working on this. We’re just kind of busy with the closing of the store and all the snowstorms and such.

So a real quick rundown:


See

If you exist:
Red
Seriously, this movie is excellent and I haven’t talked to anyone who saw it who didn’t think it was incredibly enjoyable.

If you’re a Beatles fan:
Nowhere Boy
It’s a pretty interesting look at the early life of John Lennon.

If you, like me, totally love movies that are so bad they’re good:
Season of the Witch
This movie had very few actual redeeming qualities except that it was so much fun to make fun of. Imagine taking a buddy cop movie starring Nic Cage and Hellboy and setting it in the 1300s and not changing any of the dialogue. It’s pretty much that.

Don’t see
Takers
This movie wasn’t horrible it just wasn’t really all that good but definitely not bad enough to make it good again.

So this is the bad-good spectrum:
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This is the bad-good spectrum with the movies from this post inserted into it.
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Hi, My name is Katie and I watched “Buried”

January 19th, 2011

Hi everyone! So, my name is Katie, and ironically I too work at Blockbuster. Actually, maybe it’s not so ironic. Anyway… For the most part I’ll give every movie out there a chance, but I usually prefer Horror movies. Also, I should probably apologize to everyone in advance: I’m sorry if some of my sarcasm shines through in these reviews, but I will try to keep it under control!

I’m going to try to keep this review short, because this is definetly one of those movies that is fairly easy to spoil…

So, the basic plot of Buried is this: Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds) is an American truck driver. During a job in Iraq, Paul and a convoy of other drivers are attacked by a group of Iraqis. Paul is taken hostage and soon wakes up underground, buried in a coffin with nothing but a lighter, a knife, a pencil and a cell phone. As soon as Paul discovers the Blackberry in his coffin, he tries to call the emergency phone number his employer had given to him incase a situation like this should happen. Unfortunately, the number was taken from his wallet by his kidnappers (No surprise). So he attempts to contact his family, his employer, as well as the FBI in hopes that someone will be able to locate and save him in time before his oxygen runs out.

I really enjoyed Buried, actually. The first thing I’d like to say, is that I applaud the director (Rodrigo Cortés) for the camera work in this. You sometimes do forget (well, I did) that you’re supposed to be stuck inside of a coffin-sized box for an hour and a half because of the way it was filmed.

I loved the simplicity of the movie though, and surprisingly I never felt bored with it. Considering it is 95 minutes long, and the entire film does take place inside of a dark coffin, the plot managed to keep my interest. I think part of that is the fact that you can’t help but try to put yourself in Paul’s position. How would you react to being in that same situation? Yes, it’s slightly depressing, but it’s interesting to consider!

Also, I’m sure it can’t be easy to be the only actor in a film with so little space and/or props to work with, but Ryan Reynolds did a good job of carrying the movie.

Yes, it has it’s flaws. It does have one or two “No! What are you thinking? That’s a terrible idea!!” moments (such as the fact that he decides to keep his lighter lit through 85% of the film, because otherwise it just feels “so dark”. It’s not like he needs to try to conserve oxygen or anything, right?), but all in all I thought Buried was decent. It’s very simple, but well done. It definetly isn’t for everyone, but if the plot interests you at all, and you don’t mind dark indie thrillers, you might also enjoy this. Just don’t go into it expecting something “inspirational”, and you’ll be fine.

Happy movie watching!
-Katie

Bob’s Green Hornet Review

January 16th, 2011

Hey everyone, Bob here. I guess I should start with an introduction. I’m the night guy at Blockbuster and if you’ve been there in the last five years, you probably know me. I’ll pretty much watch every type of movie as long as it doesn’t have a couple standing back to back on the cover or a woman with the face of a horse in it. Actually, while I’m on the subject, I’m also going to rule out flicks starring women who have already gone through menopause and act in a sassy manner as this is just intended to nauseate the viewer (in my opinion.)

I just got back from seeing “The Green Hornet” and was (surprisingly) not disappointed. If you’re not familiar with the character, Seth Rogen (every Judd Apatow movie ever) plays Britt Reid, the playboy son of James Reid presumably the last unbiased news reporter and the owner of The Daily Sentinel. After his father dies unexpectedly, Britt decides to honor his family name by taking up arms against the criminals running the streets of Los Angeles. Of course, all super heroes without powers need a sidekick and Britt is no exception.

He quickly gains the assistance of his father’s old mechanic Kato (Jay Chou), who just happens to be an expert in martial arts and weapon creation. Anyway, so Britt and Kato take to the streets. Britt dons the moniker of The Green Hornet and Kato assists as his nameless sidekick. The Green Hornet differentiates himself as a hero in one very different way, he wishes to be seen as a villain. This allows for him to infiltrate the underworld and destroy it from the inside. The main villain in this world is Chudnovsky played by Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds.) Waltz manages to toe the line between extremely over the top and downright scary quite well, especially considering the fact that later in the movie he starts to refer to himself as Bloodnovsky.

Despite the fact that Hornet is a superhero movie and was marketed as a family film, the first 10 minutes will clearly show that it is a strong PG-13. In this reviewer’s opinion, there is quite an overuse of foul language. Obviously any movie starring Seth Rogen is going to have some semblance of comedy in it and this one is no exception. The problem lies in the fact that most of the comedy boils down to sex jokes and euphemisms. However, I was happy with the fact that unlike other superhero movies, Hornet allows itself to show that there are repercussions to what the heroes actually do. Most heroes tend to live in some fantasy world where the villain knows who they are and they the villains, but nothing seems to happen. In the Hornet’s world, however, which is one of violence, the filmmakers were not afraid to show that people do tend to die when violent things happen. Once again I do not recommend this one to families looking to bring the smaller kids out for a nice weekend movie.

Despite some of it’s faults, “The Green Hornet” succeeds in being a fun, albeit over the top, action comedy. Chou does a great job of filling Bruce Lee’s shoes as the butt-kicking sidekick and Seth Rogen was convincing while beating the crap out of people, though Kato does most of the work. The only other shortcomings were some ridiculous stunts that didn’t make sense, I’m looking at you setting off missiles while buried underground. In summation, “The Green Hornet” is a fun little hero flick, just make sure you leave the young ones at home.

Introduction to Leslie and review: Alpha & Omega

January 12th, 2011

Hello there! So my name is Leslie. If you come to Blockbuster between 9 and 5 you probably know me. I like chick flicks and kids’ movies which makes me kind of in charge of those things on this website full of manly men like Bob and Ted. I do have pretty high standards with kids’ movies, I don’t have any actual kids around me so I base my opinions on how much I personally enjoy them, if I do kind of dislike a kids’ movie please keep in mind that I’m describing the movie as it applied to me and that if you’re looking for a movie for children they’ll most likely enjoy it just fine.

I don’t think I’m gonna copy Ted’s review format, mostly because I started writing this review before he posted his and I didn’t feel like going back and changing it.

So here’s my first attempt at a review for Alpha & Omega.

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So this first thing I almost shouldn’t bother telling you because you’ll notice the second the movie begins. This movie was meant to be in 3D. It’s chock full of gimmicky “OH MY GOD THINGS ARE FLYING AT MY FACE!” moments. Or they are if you have a 3D tv and get the 3D version. In the 2D version they’re really just obnoxious and distracting.

So the story is about two wolves Kate (Hayden Panettiere) and Humphrey (Justin Long) from the same pack but separated by rank, she is an Alpha wolf and he is an Omega wolf. It is never explained how the ranks are chosen except that Alphas are not allowed to, how did they put it? “Howl” with Omegas. But two Alphas can…howl and the resulting child can be an Omega. Really it makes no sense but whatever.

Speaking of howling, they actually do. A lot. But it’s not like regular wolf howling, oh no, it’s much better . They sing. It comes completely out of nowhere and doesn’t fit with the feel of the plot at all. I honestly cannot imagine why they thought it worked in the movie.

So anyway Kate is promised to marry the son of the rival pack leader to make peace between the packs and prevent war and Humphrey is destined to be the comic relief of the pack forever. They’re both completely ok with this plan until, SHOCK OF SHOCKS! something goes horribly awry. They are kidnapped by nature preservationists and taken from their home valley in Canada to a nature reserve in Idaho to “repopulate”. There they meet two French-Canadian ducks, well I think one of them is supposed to be a goose, honestly it’s not very clear, who love to play golf and know the way back to the valley.

Really the movie should end there but it wouldn’t be a very good story, not that it really is anyway, so of course the two wolves fall victim to their own stupidity and go through ridiculous trials that could easily be avoided if they would think for half a second.

Now I realize I’m being rather harsh but I have always believed that a movie made for children can be enjoyable for adults without being too adult for children. This movie is completely unsure if it wants to be for children or adults and it kind of fails on both levels. Children will probably enjoy it but I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone over the age of 9 or so. It’s just not very well put together.

So if you are a child, have children, or like awkward animation, random wolf singing, and Hayden Panettiere’s voice, definitely check this out.

Otherwise you can probably skip it.

Tuesday 1/11/11 – The social Network

January 11th, 2011

See it… I say that everyone should see this one. It was really an excellent film.

Avoid it… If dialogue heavy storytelling or the dark, neo-noir style of Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club, Benjamin Button) fails to agree with you.

I have to say, I really enjoyed this movie. Stunning imagery and skilled editing bring a look to the film, a crispness and structure that was so clean as to almost be a little unnerving. An amazing script from Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men, The West Wing). It was full of his high intelligence, almost machine gun firing dialogue, but also carried dry sadness and dark wit with it. The perfect blend given the movies characterization of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerburg as a brilliant but tragically socially detached student at Harvard who’s desire to, and failure to, be a part of an exclusive club drives him to use his tremendous skills to create one within the world wide web.  All of this is topped off with a chilling score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross to create one hell of a story.

It’s amazing to realize that when these events were going down, when these guys were battling it out in court over ownership, Intellectual Property, and other legal issues, that these were all guys who were under the age of 21. It is amazing just how far we have come in this world.

Little factoid, during the film it’s mentioned that the creation of facebook made Zuckerberg the biggest thing on the campus of Harvard that included a movie star. This star, while unnamed within the confines of the film was actually one Natalie Portman, who was enrolled in the school at the time all of this was going down. She actually provided script writer Sorkin with information about what was going on at the time on campus, including details which had not previously been published publicly before.

For readers in the Northern NJ area, there is still a chance to see this one on the big screen. At least for the rest of this week the Kinnelon Mall Theater will be showing the movie at 7:20pm. I know I’m definitely going to attempt to go see it before it leaves. This film is begging for you to see it in the Theater, even if you have to brave another dreaded winter storm to do so.

-Ted

The Social Network Trailer

Official Movie Site

The Staff

January 7th, 2011

I would like to introduce two members of the staff, Both of whom are also senior reviewers, and fellow refugees from the Former Butler NJ Blockbuster.

First up is Bob.  On top of his movie and TV reviews, he is also our resident expert on Video Games. He will also be posting the occasional retail mega-deal so keep an eye out for those.  More often than not, Bob will function as the primary counter to my own reviews. We rarely agree with our positions on movies, even when we agree a movie is good. lol

Second up is Leslie. She will be providing her own unique spin on the reviews as well as a planed “dinner and a movie” segment where she will combine her culinary skills with her love of movies and TV.

1/9/11 Update: Announcing another member of the staff, Mike. He will be adding his voice to the site as an associate reviewer. Though not as well versed in movies as myself, he is always working on expanding his knowledge base. This also means that he will be approaching many classic movies from a “new viewer” perspective and not that of someone who has seen them many times over. This fresh take on things makes him a valuable asset to the site.  Mike is also a skilled artist, so that should give him some unique perspectives on things.

All introduced staff should be along soon to introduce themselves. I know I can’t wait to see what they have to say. Also, in the coming days their may be a few more staff announcements as well.

1/29/11 Update: Been a little busy of late but this should be the last staff introduction update for a while.

Already self introduced above is Katie, she joins the staff as the resident horror film fan.  Also added to the staff are L Bird, who may not be as active as the rest of us. He’s sort of our Jay Sherman (The Critic) in that he rarely likes anything, and when he does few agree with him. 😉 Last but not least is T-Diddy, who with Leslie developed the “good, bad, bad-good” scale for movies.

Welcome!

January 4th, 2011

Welcome to Movie Review Den, where we watch everything so you don’t have to.

It is our goal to make this your one stop shop for recommendations on Movies and TV shows. Our staff of reviewers are die hard fans of entertainment media and love to share their opinions with anyone willing to listen, so why not harness that talent to make your lives just a little bit easier. Consider us your spam filter, saving you from the let down of a bad movie night. We are an eclectic bunch, with differing views. One of the features you will find in the future is the counterpoint review. We understand that enjoyment of Movies, TV shows, and other entertainment is all about opinion, when our staff disagrees on a movie we will provide both sides arguments for you to view, and decide for yourself. As time passes, and you get a better feel for the individual reviewers and how their opinions line up with yours this tool will become less necessary. However, I’m sure some enjoyment will come from the ensuing arguments themselves.

In any case, I look forward to the future of this site.

Ted – Senior Reviewer and Founder.