Multi Review: (500) Paranormal Inventions of Moon 123
Over the past week I’ve been spending most of my time either studying for exams (which is the main reason for the lack of updates) or watching movies.
Most of them were 2009 releases which I didn’t get the chance to watch. I figured I’d just toss all of them into one huge review so here we go. These are in no particular order:
(500) Days of Summer
I heard many great things about this movie before finally getting the chance to see it and it certainly did not disappoint. (500) Days of Summer is not your typical romantic comedy. There’s something that sets it apart from the rest and you really have to see it for yourself. The plot is simple – boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, girl doesn’t.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel are outstanding, very likable leads. The soundtrack is fitting and has a laid back sort of feel to it. The story is, in my opinion, relatively true to life – everyone’s had or has their own version of Summer Finn, that girl you want but just can’t have. And I think that’s part of what makes this movie so uniquely enjoyable. Let’s not forget this movie is also a comedy and has some hilariously great lines. I don’t think there’s anything negative that can be said about (500) Days of Summer.
This is easily the best romantic comedy ever.
Rating: 5/5
Paranormal Activity
Several of my friends apparently could not sleep after watching this movie. Having already attained a DVD copy of the movie, I held out on watching it and tried to maximise the “fear factor” of the movie by waiting for a local cinema release. While it was moderately enjoyable, I thought the movie was rather disappointing and overhyped. I honestly did not find it that scary like some others did. Only the last three or so nights were creepy while the rest were just ripping off the audience while they wait for something crazy to happen – so much for the moving door. Furthermore, some of the things that the characters are (or rather, aren’t doing) seemed rather stupid considering the situation they’re in.
Alright maybe the fact that I watched it with two of the biggest jokesters I know might have spoiled the scares, but it definitely was not the scariest movie I’ve ever seen. However, Paranormal Activity certainly isn’t that bad of a movie. It’s better than some of the stuff Hollywood’s been churning out lately, but I felt that it had much more potential to be creepier and scarier. Perhaps my expectations were just too high? If you haven’t seen this movie though, I recommend you watch it alone at night or even during the day, but alone. I fired up my DVD the same night after watching it in the cinema and it was way creepier watching it alone in the dark.
Rating: 3/5
The Invention of Lying
The trailer for this movie certainly made it look funny and interesting, but to be quite honest I found it rather boring and not quite as funny as the trailer made it out to be. The last Ricky Gervais movie I saw was Ghost Town and I didn’t particularly enjoy that either. He’s unique in his own way but I guess it doesn’t quite fit for me. There were a couple of decent lines here and there but The Invention of Lying is nowhere near as enjoyable as (500) Days of Summer.
While the concept is interesting and reminded me somewhat of Jim Carrey’s Liar Liar, it eventually started to drag on too far. He tells lies, people believe him. And so on. With all that said though, other people will probably find this funnier than I did.
Rating: 3/5
Moon
Space themed mystery/thrillers seem to have their own unique atmosphere. Sunshine was one of my favourite movies of 2007 and after hearing all the good things being said about Moon, I simply had to check it out. Before watching Moon I watched another movie of similar genre, which was Steven Soderbergh’s Solaris. While Solaris seemed to bear much similarity to Sunshine, it was much less enjoyable. I’m not going to write a full review for Solaris but I’d give it a 2.5/5.
With only a budget of $5 million, Moon is one of those indie movies that deserve much more attention. Sam Rockwell plays a Lunar Industries worker named Sam Bell, who’s 3-year contract puts him solo on the moon to mine Earth’s biggest and cleanest Helium-3 energy source. The plot of Moon is very character-driven and focuses on events that occur during the last two weeks of Sam’s contract.
I thought this movie was pure brilliance. Everything was done well from the SFX, the acting, the atmosphere and the music. Moon doesn’t actually bring anything new to the table, but takes old formulas and twists it into something unexpected. Moon is without a doubt one of the best sci-fi movies I’ve ever seen. Highly recommended
Rating: 5/5
The Taking of Pelham 123
This movie is actually a remake of a 1974 movie of the same name where armed men takeover an NYC subway demanding a ransom. I’m not sure what to say about this movie as I didn’t really enjoy it. Pelham 123 wasn’t terribly bad but to be honest it wasn’t that good either. Swearing often adds flavour to dialogue but John Travolta’s character seems to overdo it in this movie. I didn’t think there was anything special about Pelham 123 and most of it seemed to be standard issue. If you like suspense-driven movies then you might enjoy The Taking of Pelham 123, but there are certainly better movies to check out.
Rating: 3/5
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