And The Oscar goes to...

2012

Best Actor 

Jean Dujardin (The Artist)

Best Actress 

Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)

Supporting Actor 

Christopher Plummer (Beginners)

Supporting Actress

Octavia Spencer (The Help)

Best Director

Michel Hazanvicius (The Artist)

Best Picture 

The Artist

Twilight Saga : Breaking Dawn Part 1

I did not rush out to the theater to see this 4th installment that has only one more film to complete the saga. It just didn't look that appealing to me compared to the previous 3. I will say the only one I saw in the theater was New Moon and it was everything I thought it could be. I boo'd, I cried, and I was surprised at the ending of New Moon. Talk about a cliffhanger. This one didn't give me any of those emotions. I felt flat the whole time I was watching it. It wasn't bad, it just was underwhelming. I mean, I am easy overwhelmed, but hardly underwhelmed, and I don't recall anything that has just made me feel whelmed. To the future. As for Edward and Bella, they finally get married...YAY. Now Bella can finally give Eddie her virginity and they can live for the rest of their lives, aka ETERNITY, in misery. I will say that I was excited for this one to come out before I saw any of the trailers. From what I hear, the 4th book is a bit off the chain. They (The readers of books) tell me Stephanie Meyer sort of threw all sense out the window and wrote whatever she wanted, and though it wrapped the series, it didn't necessarily fit with the other 3. That is what had me antsy for it. Unfortunately it seemed right in line with the tween reputation it earned for itself. Breaking Dawn has way less action and way more pregnancy. Oops..I should typed "Spoiler" before that last sentence. So we are to believe Bella conceives on the honeymoon, when in fact there is no way that can be accurate. The baby is way too big for a 1 day old in the womb. I think she lost her virginity before the vows were said, she still wore white (Liar), and they "HAD" to get married. Just my opinion. Either way, Bella is still Human and Ed thought he was sterile. Now she is carrying a Vamphetus. She cannot survive this pregnancy and the majority of the film shows her in labor pains, or something of that nature. I guess I just didn't care about them jet setting around the globe for an hour of the film. The wolves, which are the best, are almost absent entirely, but don't worry, we do get to see Jacob pout in every scene he is in. I don't know what I wanted out of this film. All I know is Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse all left me very satisfied. Even to the point that I do not mind watching them when they are on, even if my wife is not around. This one, however, I don't see myself watching anytime in the near or distant future. I will also say this, what Part 1 is leading into should be very good and when I see part 2 maybe my opinion of the flow of story in Part 1 may be realized. I hope Part 2 really overwhelms me and retires the series on a great positive note . I'd like to see The Volturi come in and destroy some stuff too. They are cool and mean.


NBM rates Twilight Saga : Breaking Dawn Part 1 - Great
**Here are my reviews for the other 3 films**
Twilight
New Moon
Eclipse

The Guard

Every once in a while we are blessed with a film from across the pond that enhances our life. Usually once per year a film really grabs the attention of the Americans and the most recent offering is the smash Action/Comedy/Drama, The Guard. The Guard is referring to one man really. His name is Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleeson) and he is anything but orthodox when it comes to his job. I will call him a police officer, though I am not sure if this term is the correct where he lives in rural Ireland. The film gets right into it inside of the first 30 seconds. This is where we learn all we need to know about Gerry's mentality about his job and how he sees things. This film is an obvious UK film. Kind of dry witted, great jokes that may go unnoticed, or even not understood. Not like they are so brilliant we don't "get" it, but literally, we can't understand what the Feck they just said due to thick accents and dialect of the region. I got to hear Gaelic for the first time also. Apparently so does Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle). Cheadle is most unexpected in the film as he is the only American actor present. He plays an FBI agent hot on the trail of drug smugglers transporting 500 million dollars worth of illegal narcotics. That's Half a Billion. When Agent Everett shows up in the small Irish town, he is insulted almost immediately by our anti hero, Gerry. Gerry never holds his tongue no matter how crass he is being, he doesn't much care. If it's his day off, don't bother him, and if you don't want the truth wrapped up in an extremely sarcastic, smart ass fashion, then don't ask him a question. He is old school. He does what he wants and throughout the film we get the feeling he is a dirty cop, but we are never sure. He doesn't seem to respect the badge or any of his co-workers for that matter, but he is a brilliant detective. Everett ropes him into helping him, though he feels Everett doesn't listen to half of what he says. Once the gangsta drug dealers get involved the film amps up a bit, and it is definitely a film that needs to be viewed at least 3 times to catch all the cheeky dialog. Whether its the dialect or the fact it is hard hear over your own laughter, it is definitely worth every one's time.

NBM rates The Guard - Phenomenal

The Vow

I had no problem going to see The Vow for a few reasons. My wife wanted to see it, and I love movies. Plus Rachel McAdams!! Until recently Channing Tatum would not have mattered, but I have grown a profound respect for the actor who is gonna be the face of cinema for 2012. Every time I see him act, I like him more. He has range, and I'll admit every time I see the trailer for 21 Jump Street I wanna see it more and more. Back to The Vow. I knew a little about it, while at the same time, I knew everything about it. Two very attractive married people have a car wreck and she no longer remembers him. There, now you know the basic plot. Where will it go from here is the real question. It does a great job of flowing. The opening scene is a rather impressive car accident, and then from here our pretty couple are in the hospital. He's banged up, she's in a coma and then  we get a very interesting narrative that will be called back to every 20 minutes or so. I was only 20 minutes into the film when it was very easy to see how good of a film this was going to be. All they had to do is execute the plan the writers had drawn out. They did exactly that. I still don't know why critics crap all over romance films? All films of that genre I automatically compare to The Notebook. This one is no different. Chemistry. I always talk of chemistry between the actors and Tatum and McAdam's have great chemistry. They must be madly in love and then strangers in the blink of an eye, and they pull it off wonderfully. Leo (Tatum) and Paige (McAdams) have known each other for 4 years and have been happily married for an unknown length of time when she is taken from him. Anyone who has been in Love, Married or not, can have a deep sympathy with this film. These two go from being as happy as humanly possible to never having existed (in her mind anyway) and Leo does not know if he will get her back. The worst part is she doesn't have amnesia. She just doesn't remember the last 5 years. She still thinks she is engaged to someone else. Her parents, played brilliantly by Sam Neill and Jessica Lange, step in to save the day, though this is not what Leo wants, Paige just wants to be with the people she does know. As wonderful as Tatum is, McAdams is the true winner in her performance. She has to be Jekyll and Hyde and she does is so effortlessly. If you have ever been in love or loved anything for that fact, then The Vow will strike a chord with you. I enjoyed it immensely and was anxiously awaiting the final outcome. Would Paige fall into her old life and disregard her marriage to Leo or would she go out on a limb and believe this stranger and his stories of their epic love? What a fantastic film for Valentine's Day, that above all else, will help you to realize something as precious as True Love should never be taken for granted.

...And for the ladies, I present RATINGS...I mean Channing Tatum 

NBM rates The Vow - Phenomenal

Act of Valor

That's right, Act of Valor. Though it does not get officially released for two more weeks, I was able to view this film tonight. It appears The Jester is a Real critic, or he just knows the right people. Anyway, I treat you tonight in hopes that you can contrive whether or not you feel like watching this film, that to me, seems like a labor of love more than anything for the people who made it. The hook this film has going for it is that all the "actors" are active duty Navy Seals, so as the audience, we are suppose to believe this is as real as it gets. Well, as skeptical as I was that actual Seals were able to film a movie while being active duty, I still wondered. Within the first five minutes of dialog between the two main characters, I realized, Hmm maybe they weren't fibbing. These guys CANNOT act!!! It seems they barely know how to speak to each other. This had me worried. I had no real idea of any of the plot points, but all I could focus on was the horrible delivery of words. Luckily it got better. This film has several things it made me think of. It does have good production quality, but it feels like the TV show "Human Target" at first, and then quickly guides its way into Jack Bauer territory. Let me explain further without giving much away. We meet our Seal team and then they receive a mission. An extraction of a "Person of Interest". Once target is acquired, the bigger picture comes to light leading into the real mission. The way Act of Valor is selling itself is all based on the action it delivers, but in my opinion, they should really start to market the plot. It is very solid. I feel the way I'm going to sell this to you (readers) is going to have very little to do with the plot. I have said it is solid and it flows extremely well. Way Better than I expected it could. The way I'm gonna sell it is all based on visual stimuli. I don't know if my emotions are too heavily invested due to the military man (Hey Bro) in my family, but this may be the greatest action film of all time. The way it is shot and pieced together is second to none. The intensity it puts out will make you quiver to your core. Most of us cannot imagine what its like to be a soldier in battle, but if Valor is at least 25% of what it shows us, then we should all have a pretty good idea of what it may actually be like. There were times it got so intense I found myself chewing my hair. Now I have a bald spot where I used to have beard. Ya, it's that good. That tactics displayed are not Hollywood glorified, and though I didn't fathom what these guys do, it certainly seems like the number one military in the world would institute these tactics. I mentioned earlier how the film was shot. Imagine a seasoned director who could use so many camera angles that are perfect. Now, mix those in with "X" number of soldiers wearing helmet cams. This is called the POV shot or Point of View. The nerds would call it "First Person Gamer." Always staring down the barrel of your weapon is what we get. To shoot an entire film that way would be hard for the audience to watch. I would say they used the POV for about 20% of the final cut and that paired with regular camera angles made one beautiful film. It felt like a documentary at times and I mean that in a good way. Why do we love documentaries? Because they are Real. This feels real. No or low music during the ops help with the intensity. All we hear are the men breathing. Good stuff These guys are the best at what they do, and Valor shows what they can do. I mentioned earlier these guys couldn't act. Well, when you put them in full gear, shouting commands, taking orders, falling in and doing what they are trained to do, Well, it's flawless. It seems so fluid. It was really hard for these guys to simply talk to each other in front of a camera, but when it comes to their task, there is no better than The Navy Seals. When it was over I was left with so many emotions, and I think it will be different for everyone. This is the best Military movie I have ever seen. No cheesy speeches (That we inevitably love), Top notch action, a Great plot that will hit close to home with anyone who watches this, and some very Heart tugging moments. If you don't get the slightest bit emotional, you are not human. I don't care whether it's Happy, Sad, Angry, Depressed...This film will make you feel something. I am disappointed the film makers released in the month when the least amount of movies are viewed, but at least by June, you should be able to rent it/Own it.
Direction - Work of Art
Acting- Good to Phenomenal (The Bearded commander is Great at acting and he has the best scene in the film)
Action- Work of Art
Story-Phenomenal
NBM rates Act of Valor - A Work of Cinematic Art

Let Me In

This is not the typical Vampire film. I know it seems like I review loads of vamp films, but it's not my fault. Vamps are hot right now, so you can't swing a sharpened stick without hitting one in the heart. Let Me In just happens to be a remake of a Swedish film called "Let the Right One In", and though the Swedish version is as well reviewed as a film can be, this one is also very much liked by everyone. The story is as old as time, but the details in Let Me In are very well thought out. It was so much fun to watch and see how this vampire would be different from others we know. Sure, the same things usually apply with all Vamps, but the things that change are what keep me interested in seeing every, well every Rated R film, in the blood sucking genre. I think Vampires dumbed down to PG-13 or less is an injustice to what this breed represents. Instinctual slaughter and no remorse is what we wanna see. Am I wrong? Abby is our Vamp in this film, and though she is only 12, she still needs to be feared. She rarely goes out, and until absolutely necessary, she doesn't hunt. She has a Father figure that brings her the nourishment she needs. Almost to say she has a conscience, but I thing it is way smarter than that. It is about survival. If people begin dying in gruesome fashion, then the public will change. They will begin to hunt whatever it is that has been doing this and that could be bad for her, so she lets her "father" take care of her. When she meets a boy about her age, we don't know who is worse off. He hates his life. Constant bullying is pushing him to the brink,  but when he meets Abby, things get better. He finally has something to look forward to. The story is told in such a way that we don't know her intentions for the boy. Does she just want a friend, or is it something deeper. This is a fantastic take on the immortal beings we have read about for decades and I think you will all enjoy it. I'm all in to watch and read the Swedish version as soon as I get a chance.


NBM rates Let Me In - Phenomenal

Haywire

I really thought I missed my opportunity to watch this, but at the same time, I also originally planned Haywire for a DVD rental. Then a buddy of mine stated how much he loved it and I trust him, so less than 24 hours after he said that, I was watching the newest Hollywood butt kicker, Gina Carano, do exactly that. I also realized today that when a film is as hyped as this, sometimes I don't know anything about it. This is how I explained it to my Mother. It's an Action movie with Michael Douglas. Good reviews and a Great Director and that is good enough for me. I really enjoyed getting into this film not knowing where it was going, and where it took me was rather enjoyable. The one thing I really enjoyed was seeing Soderbergh's newest cast ensemble masterpiece form one scene at a time. As you know he assembled one of the best casts of all time with Ocean's 11,12, and 13. Haywire was just as astounding. Soderbergh is a master Director. The way he forms the story is awesome. The opening scene we meet two of the many players in a coffee shop. A coffee shop that doesn't sell beer...Thank you Channing Tatum. Tatum plays Aaron and as you know I have never met an Aaron I didn't like. This guy on the other hand is a little off. He sits across from Mallory (Gina) and within minutes it goes from great conversation to a brawl and we still don't know why. Then Soderbergh does what he does. He tells a story in flashback till we catch up live for the final half hour of what is to come. She is being set up, but by who and why are her questions. Kenneth (Ewan McGregor) is her boss and through him she meets mostly not nice people. I was thrown by the review board on RT. 81% of critics liked it and only 43% of users liked it. This is backwards by the way. I did figure out the split right quick though. Soderbergh essentially made an artistic action film. Great music to no music at all. Long, drawn out scenes that could have been shortened. Over explanation. Haywire has the longest foot chase in film history, which I enjoyed, but is very unusual in today's films. If Ronin has the longest car chase in history, then Haywire is it's equal, only with feet instead of wheels. I swear she chased that guy for 6 minutes, and it wasn't like a Bourne chase through buildings and breaking windows and rooftops. No, just chased him through the streets. The movie really picks up steam when Fassbender shows up as an MI6 operative and from this point on, it doesn't slow down. At only 90 minutes, it is quick and concise. Other power players include Antonio Banderas with a very nice beard, and Bill Paxton as Mallory's Father. If you can't tell by now, I loved Haywire. I wanna rate it a Work of Art, but I don't know if that is justified. I need to watch it again and really absorb all the artistic aspects of this film. On a side note, the fights and the choreography are the best I HAVE EVER SEEN! Maybe it's Carano's previous job that made me really get into it. I see Jolie fight in a lot of her films, but I always doubt a 100 pound femme fatale could really do that much damage to everyone she encounters. Gina on the other hand is built for it. The fight scenes themselves, which are many, are first class. The punches landed sound real, and the length of the fights are awesome. She doesn't just punch them out for the count. Oh no, she gets her ass handed to her in each fight, and like I said, I believe it. The fight scenes are a Work of Art, but the film as a whole...
NBM rates Haywire - Phenomenal