Want to find out about a movie before you spend your hard-earned money on it? MovieReviewMaven will tell you the good, the bad, the ugly and the inspiring, so you can decide if it's right for you or your family.
In a Nutshell: I’m embarrassed to admit that I love disaster
movies. This predictable end-of-the-world
drama follows the cookie-cutter formula, resulting in a movie that self
destructs. After being delayed many
times, this movie is the difinally hits the Big Screen as the directorial debut of Dean Devlin.
Uplifting theme:
Those
who are interested in global warming will appreciate the premise of the
film, which shows the world in chaos because of natural disasters. The narrator at the beginning (Hannah
Lawson played by Talitha Bateman) announces, “Everyone was warned, but no
one listened.”
Talitha
states at the end of the movie, “No single nation could solve this.” There’s a theme of togetherness and
international unity. “One
planet. One people.” Wouldn’t it be amazing if we all really
could work together in peace?
Family
is most important.
Things I liked:
The
space station was called “The Dutch Boy” named after the old story of the
Dutch boy who saved the town by putting his finger in the dike to stop the
leak.
It
gives new meaning to the world wide “net”.
Cool
gadgets and technology. I
especially liked the “holoframe” cell phone things.
Talented
cast includes Gerard Butler, Jim Sturgess, Abbie Cornish, Andy Garcia,
Richard Schiff, Ed Harris. Too bad
the material isn’t as good as they are. My problem with casting is that the two brothers and their roles are not very believable.
When you start to get bored, you can entertain yourself by watching Gerard Butler's changing color and size of facial hair, due to the many re-shoots.
Things I didn’t like:
A lot
of the humor fell flat.
·Some good special effects, but not much we haven’t
already seen before. Almost every scene was green screen.
·A lot of things simply don’t make sense and are
laughable.
·It could have been fun if the movie took itself
less seriously. One of my favorite disaster movies of all time is Independence Day It's a perfect example of drama, comedy, special effects, and heart.
* Politicians are evil and stupid.
Tips for
parents:
Profanity,
including some that a little girl says.
I hate that.
In a Nutshell: If you don’t remember the real events from
when this true story happened, you learn that the oil rig’s blowout lasted 87
days, making it the worst oil disaster in U.S. history. Director Peter Berg is great at creating
tension and action sequences that make it hard to look away. This is the second time he and Mark Wahlberg have filmed a true story action flick (Lone Survivor), and they have another one hitting the big screen soon (Patriot Day).
It’s truly stunning how they filmed this movie, because it
looks and feels so real. It took over $100 million
to recreate this man-made disaster that shook the country in 2010.
Uplifting theme:
Family
is everything.
Hope,
greed, sacrifice for others, friendship, grit and determination.
Things I liked:
Impressive
machinery and rough working conditions will make you respect the men and
women who work on oil rigs. The
film does a good job paying tribute to the people in this tough industry.
There
is some humor in the beginning that allows you to sense the friendship and comradery among the team workers and allows you to begin to care about
them.
John
Malkovich gives a great performance with an interesting Southern drawl.
I’m
always so impressed with people who are calm in an emergency.
It’s
great to see Kurt Russell in movies.
The first time I saw him in a movie I was a little girl and thought
he was so handsome. It was nice to
see him and Kate Hudson together in the same movie. Don’t we all miss Goldie Hawn?
I love
Gina Rodriguez from the hit TV show “Jane the Virgin” for which she won a
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress. It’s great to see she got another gig
in a movie. She learned to rap for
her role in the indie film Filly Brown in 2012.
The
touching reunion scene at the end of the movie got the audience crying all
around me.
You
get to see pictures of the real people who died in this disaster.
Mark
Wahlberg is the perfect actor to play this rough and tumble oil rig worker
with a heart.
There is a powerful scene when Kurt Russell and John Malkovich just look at each other, yet volumes are spoken.
Things I didn’t like:
Sometimes
people talk really fast and slurred, making it hard to understand what they
say.
It’s
often difficult to see what’s going on, because there is fire, mud, oil,
and debris flying everywhere.
If you
want to see this movie, do it at the theater. Some of the scenes are dark and will
look terrible on your computer screen.
There
is a lot of facial hair in this movie!
Why is that such a popular thing right now? Just a little bit of scruff is sexy, but
when you can hide jelly beans in your beard, you know it’s too long.
The
audience won’t always be able to understand the technical jargon.
Interesting lines:
“Hope
ain’t a tactic, Don.” – Mike Williams (Mark Wahlberg)
Funny lines:
“I don’t
know if it’s stupid, but it ain’t smart.” – Caleb Holloway (Dylan O’Brien)
Tips for
parents:
2
F-bombs and lots of other profanity.
Bloody,
deep wounds, people in perilous situations, death, destruction.
In a Nutshell: Based
on the true account of 33 Chilean miners who were trapped far below the surface
of the earth, this feel-good movie shows the human spirit and the power of
hope.
At the beginning of the film, we’re told that every year,
12,000 miners die from mining accidents.
This movie is a tribute to all miners, as well as The 33
who endured a horrifying
ideal that captured the attention of the entire world in 2010. If it happened today, everyone would be plastering the Chilean flag all over their Facebook profile pictures. :)
Uplifting theme:
Faith & Hope. "Super" Mario, played by Antonio Banderas leads the miners and constantly inspires them to remainful faithful and hopeful. At one point when some of the men begin to falter, he tells them, "I believe it, because I choose to believe it." The only other option is despair, right? That doesn't do anyone any good, right?
"Moving on!" - Mario
Things I liked:
Antonio
Banderas. Men want to be him and
women want to swoon over him.
I
loved being able to see the real miners at the end of the movie.
There is some decent CGI during the big cave-in scenes. When everything has collapsed, the screen goes black and the audience sits in still darkness for almost a minute. Then, you hear a cough. Then, you finally see one of the headlamps of the miners. It's a powerful scene done well.
It's refreshing to see a government official who truly cares. The handsome Rodrigo Santoro plays Laurence Golborne, the Minister of Mining in Chile.
There is a sweet scene that shows the miners praying for the safety of their families. That touched me, because they kept their faith and they were more concerned about their families than themselves.
Smaller parts played by other actors included James Brolin, Lou Diamond Phillips, Bob Gunton, and Gabriel Byrne. The cast is actually very international, including actors from Argentina, Spain, Ireland, America, France, Chile, and more!
I remember watching this story on the news, so it was really interesting to see what was going on down in the mine when we were only seeing what was happening above.
Juliette Binoche's character sells empanadas on the street. I watched this movie on an airplane while flying home from a trip to Panama, where their empanadas are made with corn meal flour. I hadn't had those before. Juliette's empanadas were the more familiar kind made from regular flour. They looked delicious.
Things I didn’t like:
It’s
really hard to create suspense and tension for an audience that already
knows how the story ends.
Casting
Juliette Binoche as a Chilean street vendor was a very odd choice. Jennifer Lopez was originally cast for that role, but had to leave the film because of scheduling conflicts with her role as a judge on American Idol Season 11 Highlights
.
There are a few cheesy, overly dramatic moments.
One of the miners is married with a mistress on the side. We see the women have a cat fight over him, among other bad behavior. I'll never understand a cheating man. Just as bad, I'll never understand a woman who tolerates it. The story line is supposed to provide some comic relief to the movie, but it just disgusted me.
There isn't as much character development as I would have liked. We only get to know a few of the miners, while the rest remain mere faces in the crowd.
Funny lines:
“If we're really hungry, we can always eat the Bolivian. I hear they taste like chicken.” - miner
“Hatred is for children.” - Jose henriquez (Marco Trevino)
"Elvis is in the building!" - Yonni Barrios (Oscar Nunez)
Interesting lines:
"This is why we are here. I can taste it. Cooper and gold." - Mario
"That's a big rock!" - miner "That's not a rock. that the heart of the mountain. She finally broke." - Mario
"It's not about us. I believe we have a moral responsibility. Thirty-three is a lot of people." - Laurence Golborn
"We can pray together." - Jose "I don't know the words." - Dario "God doesn't care." - Jose
"Family is all we have." - Mario
Tips for
parents:
* This is a family-friendly movie with no profanity. * Other than the initial collapse of the mine, there isn't a lot of action and so, young children may become bored.
Grade: Special effects = A, Plot = C, Dialogue = C
In a Nutshell: There
are a lot of moving rocks in this movie, but the best one is Dwayne “The Rock”
Johnson who is so big and strong that he could probably pull California’s
tectonic plates together single-handedly.
Seriously, the guy is gigantic and just doggone fun to watch. You get to see him rip a door right off of a
car, as well as a bunch of other life-saving stunts.
His box office draw is also huge: this film
took in $53.2 million dollars opening weekend, completely crushing the
competition.
Pay a little extra to see this one in 3D. The CGI team was incredible. I remember when the 1974 Earthquake
movie
came to a new theater near my house when I was a little girl. The theater boasted that you could feel the
shaking. I could and was immediately
addicted to disaster movies.
If you want that same experience, upgrade to IMAX. If you’d rather save money, have your buddy
sit next to you and bump into you every 3 minutes while you watch this silly
popcorn flick.
Uplifting Theme:
·Be prepared! Paul
Giamatti plays a professor at Cal Tech who is researching earthquakes. He tells his class “It’s not a matter of IF,
but WHEN.” Later he laments “No one
listens to us until the ground shakes.”
Sadly, that’s true. You need to
start preparing now. It wasn’t raining
when Noah built the ark…
·SPOILER ALERT:
There is a moment at the end of the movie where you see an American flag
unfurl to show off the great American spirit and resolve a la post-9/11. One character asks “So, what now?” Another person states “Now we rebuild.”
·We have to help each other. In the movie, in order to survive, the
characters have to move to higher ground.
That’s not just physically-speaking.
We need to be better and kinder to one another.
Things I liked:
·I get a kick out of Paul Giamatti, who
consistently gives us good performances.
I’m currently watching his mini-series John Adams
and recommend it to
anyone who wants to learn more about one of America’s Founding Fathers and
presidents.
·The beautiful Alexandra Daddario plays Blake,
The Rock’s daughter and the eye candy for the film. Her acting and looks are more mature than when
we last saw her in Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief
.
·Did you notice the purple trees surrounding the
buildings at California Institute of Technology? They must have taken those aerial shots over
the campus last spring when the Jacaranda trees were in bloom. Beautiful. Why would I even notice that? Hey, I live in the desert in Las Vegas and
notice anything that blooms! Notice the heart necklace floating in water at the very beginning. It’s important.
·If you’re a disaster freak, you get to see
earthquakes, fires, and even a Tsunami.
Sorry, no plagues or pestilence.
·I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, so it
was fun to see some of my old stomping grounds, although I wasn’t happy to see
most of them destroyed! Here’s a picture
I took of Coit Tower when I visited there with my parents a couple of years
ago. It’s featured as one of the
landmarks in the movie.
Things I didn’t like:
·Product placement in movies always kind of
annoys me. I had to snicker when every
single student in Lawrence’s college classroom owned a Mac.
·Super dramatic music. The movie takes itself very seriously.
·I seriously wanted to shave Paul Giamatti’s
scraggly beard. Hey, I saw this movie in
IMAX, so those fly-away facial hairs were all over the place!
·I have to admit that some of the material was
pretty ridiculous.
Funny lines:
·“It’s been awhile since I got you to 2nd
base.” – Ray says to Emma while they’re standing in San Francisco’s famous
AT&T baseball stadium
·“Elgin, if you move any faster, you’re going to
break a hip.” – Ray
·“Contrary to popular belief, scientists don’t
know everything.” - Lawrence
·“I can’t wait to be 20.” – Ollie, as he watches his big brother kiss a beautiful
girl
·“Who wants an A in an independent study class I’m
starting: “how to hack media outlets!”?
- Lawrence
·“If you’re not already dead, I’m going to F-n
kill you!” – Emma (Carla Gugino)
Tips for Parents:
·The PG-13 rating is for intense disaster
sequences, a pretty high body count, and, as you can imagine, a lot of people
swearing as they try to survive the death and destruction. Most of the profanity is when people say “OMG”
when they realize how serious a situation is, but Emma (the mom) gets the honor
of dropping the only F-bomb in the movie because she’s ticked off that someone
hurt her daughter. Hey, you don’t mess
with mama bears.
·The college professor gives you a short history
of the biggest earthquakes in the history of the world at the beginning of the movie. Did you know the largest earthquake in North
America was a gigantic 9.1 in Alaska?
Prepper tips based on this movie:
·Be married to a hulk of a man who has easy
access to a helicopter to save you.
·“You need to drop, cover, and hold on because
your life is going to depend on it.” - Lawrence
·Learn how to hotwire a car
·You need a plan
·“Every city has a tactical channel.” - Blake
(Get yourself a ham radio or GMRS radio so you can communicate with your
loved ones when the cell towers are down.)
·Learn to run fast. Surviving a disaster involves lots of
running.
·Learn CPR and First Aid. When your loved ones are hurt, you’re going
to wish you knew how to help them.
·Don’t wear flip flops before disaster
strikes. Ha ha (Both leading ladies are conveniently wearing
boots.)
·Don’t text and drive.
·Know what the threats are to the city in which
you live. I live in Las Vegas where
people were completely shocked when we had a 4.8 earthquake last weekend. The city sits on SEVERAL fault lines! If you want to see where the most recent
earthquakes hit in the world TODAY, go to http://earthquaketrack.com/recent
SPOILER ALERT: Hoover Dam is completely
destroyed in the movie, which is pretty spectacular to watch, but not something
I hope ever happens. I just drove across
that amazing bridge last weekend on my way to visit my son in Arizona! It’s so high and scary! It snapped like a toothpick in about 2
seconds in the movie after a 7.1 earthquake.
EEK! I hope it takes a much
bigger earthquake than that to crumble the surrounding area. Fun fact: Alexandra Daddario pronounces the state
of Nevada incorrectly in the movie….it’s not Nevoda people!
·Know how to commandeer an airplane and boat.
·Keep a map of your city on you. Nope, the cell phone navigator probably won’t
work.
It's a perfect example of drama, comedy, special effects, and heart.
It's a perfect example of drama, comedy, special effects, and heart.
.
movie
came to a new theater near my house when I was a little girl. The theater boasted that you could feel the
shaking. I could and was immediately
addicted to disaster movies.
If you want that same experience, upgrade to IMAX. If you’d rather save money, have your buddy
sit next to you and bump into you every 3 minutes while you watch this silly
popcorn flick.
and recommend it to
anyone who wants to learn more about one of America’s Founding Fathers and
presidents.
.