The Minority Report - "50/50" (2011)

“50/50” does its name justice. It is a brilliant balance of humor and complete sadness. It does what most movies can't—capture the essence of life and how, in tragedy, there is great pain and yet someone can still find glistening hope and, yes, still laugh. It is a tale of pushing through hard times with the support of family and friends, finding out who you really are, and discovering the true character of the people around you. It can easily be said that this is one of the best movies of the year and should definitely be watched.

Do you remember the Adam sandier film "Funny People"? It tried to create a sense of juxtaposition between sadness and comedy—a dramedy, so to speak. But it failed miserably with a piss poor passing, a hard to love main character, and a multitude of other issues. It is almost as if “50/50” took all the mistakes of that film and reversed them. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a character who anyone can easily relate to; he is not in your face, and plays back on acting. He is a normal 27 year old, unsure of where he is and wants to be in life and is trying to figure everything out, but in this tempest, he finds out he has a rare form of cancer. The story follows him through the slow realization that cancer has highs of optimism and lows of hopelessness. It is a complicated affair and shows just how severely an occurrence like this can take a toll on a person. Seth Rogen plays his best friend, who at times can be hard to like, but at others melts your heart with his charm and humor. Anna Kendrick also has what is possibly her best acting debut to date, as an inexperienced psychologist that accompanies Gordon-Levitt throughout his emotional rollercoaster.

Cancer can inspire a multitude of effects. It can leave an individual weak and hopeless. Near death can truly bring out who you really are, but it also causes ripples of emotions to the ones around you. This is what this movie is about. Sure, the main character is suffering from an illness, but it is a true observation on how an illness can make the others around you sick, and how to rise above everything even if faced with death, and look towards life and live. In short, I laughed, I cried, and came out of the theater still bogged with the feelings the movie inspired in me. This movie is not like watching paint dry.


By V-Dawg

The Minority Report - "Buried" (2010)

“I need one million dollars by nine o'clock tonight or I'll be left to die in this coffin!”
This was a movie that both V-Dawg and I were dying to see. He would always bring it up when talking about movies and bother me to no end saying, “when are we gonna see ‘Buried’?!” Finally, we saw it, and I must say that I was very impressed with Ryan Reynolds’s acting in it. He frequently delivers sub-par movies, but he did an excellent job with this one. In all honesty, the beginning was a bit flimsy on his part, but he recovered excellently afterwards. I came in expecting an honest drama, but came out realizing that it was a suspense thriller bordering on sheer horror. It was intense and enjoyable if you like the feeling of claustrophobia continually throughout the movie.

The story revolves around a man by the name of Paul Conroy. He used to be a truck driver working for a company in the Middle East. His truck convoy was ambushed and some of his friends were killed. Paul awakens inside a coffin with only a lighter and a BlackBerry, being apparently buried alive. He was kidnapped and placed there by insurgents attempting to get ransom money by burying Americans in different locations. Paul ends up going through hell to attempt to figure out what exactly happens and how he can get out alive. Reaching everywhere, from the State Department and FBI to his family and friends, he attempts to find help wherever he can. Instead, he discovers that ineptitudes and lies are closer to him than the coffin in which he lies.

Possibly one of the most brilliant movies I have seen in a while, I fully recommend it to anyone that isn’t afraid of feeling incredibly sad. The mood throughout is one of desperation and it makes you feel the true confines of possible solutions. The coffin is used very well as a cinematographic device. In some scenes, the camera zooms out, and all you can see is the outline of the box in the middle of pitch black. Other times, the camera keeps flying upwards, and the walls of the box stretch with it, higher and higher. It can successfully transmit the feeling of claustrophobia, or being trapped in an endless hole with the same, wooden walls stretching to infinity. This movie is definitely not like watching paint dry on the sand within a coffin, buried somewhere in the Middle East.

By Kulguy

The Minority Report - "The Expendables" (2010)

"Next time, I'll deflate all your balls, friend."
Guns, women, blood, violence, coarse language, action, explosions, and, of course, tons of old actors that primarily did action films. I have just described for you the film, “The Expendables.” “The Expendables” is nothing more then an action flick, but it certainly is nothing less than an action film. In fact, I could have walked in with a checklist of action movie stereotypical scenes and there would have been multiple checks next to each one. This does not mean this movie is boring; it just means it is predictable.

Let us be honest here…if you walked into this movie looking for a profound experience that would alter your entire existence, you obviously have never seen an action movie. Action films are about big, flashy scenes of crazy explosions, shallow dialogue, awesome stunts, and fight scenes galore. The story is about mercenaries (Stallone, Statham, Li, Crews, and Couture) that have to overthrow this general who is in cahoots with a rogue FBI agent (Eric Roberts). The plot is that simple, and it rolls with it. There are also some twists and various events that spice up the standard action template that this movie follows so diligently.

This movie could have afforded to break the mold even a little bit, but instead, it just pumped the movie up with pure star power. There are so many action legends that it is enough to satisfy your action needs for years to come. This movie is perfect for you and your guy friends. With a group of dudes, you will come in with a grin and come out high fiving. Go with a girl on a first date and you will leave without the girl, as she left after the extremely gory (yet epically awesome) ten minutes. So this movie is not like watching paint dry, it is more like looking at a mural that includes every action star ever and throws it together in a familiar setting.

By V-Dawg

The Minority Report - "Hard Candy" (2006)

“Strangers shouldn’t talk to little girls.”
This movie is a psychological thriller. But unlike any you have seen. It is not revolutionary as far as the genre goes. It has its shocking, make-you-jump moments, the make-you-cringe moments, and of course the “What the F*$#?!" moments. Now what makes it different is the simplicity and ease these moments come from the unlikely sources. This movie can be summed up in two words, “F*$#ed up.”

Ellen Page ("Juno", "Whip It") plays a fourteen year old girl who likes to chat with older men. One man especially, played by Patrick Wilson ("Lakeview Terrace", "Watchmen"). Some Dateline worthy conversations take place between the two and they eventually meet up. From here the creeper factor just ramps up to disturbing. Then, it hits a hard left turn. The next events will leave you stunned and bothered, exactly what makes a good psychological thriller.

Ellen Page does a great job playing this profound, yet mysterious character. She alludes and has the ability to get under your skin and crawl. Patrick Wilson strikes a good balance of creepy, yet slightly sympathetic. Emotions will be created and change throughout the experience. David Slade (Director of the "Twilight Saga", "30 Days of Night") gets his start in this indie film and out does any of his over budget Twilight work. This is his real element: horror and thrill, not campy and lame. Enough taking low blows to the Twilight Saga and back to “Hard Candy,” this film is a diamond in the rough as far as thrillers go. “Hard Candy” is psychological eye candy. This movie is like watching paint dry, if the paint was creepy, disturbing, but more importantly, unique.

By V-Dawg

The Minority Report - "Repo! The Genetic Opera" (2008)

“I'm the monster. I'm the villain. What perfection. What precision! Keen incisions, I deliver. Unscathed organs, I deliver. Repossession, I deliver. I'm the Repo! Legal assassin!”
Set in a post-apocalyptic earth, this indie movie gives a chilling representation of the decrepit nature of the human race after an epidemic of organ failures. Coming before “Repo Men,” this movie is the first adaptation of The Reposession Mambo. With a cast of interesting and fairly unknown actors, the movie does well to show the pain and suffering of this distraught world kneeling before a totalitarian corporation. This movie is, in fact, a rock opera, so it is structured like a musical. The interesting thing is that they meld both opera and modern rock into one. The singing is very well done, with many fantastic singers in a well organized way. The emotions are conveyed as they need to be, and the father-daughter relationship was etched very well into the viewers mind.

The story centers around a man by the name of Nathan Wallace (Anthony Steward Head) that works for a megacorporation in 2056 called GeneCo. This corporation, run by the deathly ill (ironically) Rotti Largo (Paul Sorvino), solved the problem of organ failure by providing artificial organs as pseudo loans. Basically, one has to make monthly payments to GeneCo for survival and maintenance of the organ to be guaranteed. If payments are missed, in comes the Repo Man. These people are very specialized assassins whose one and only job is to kill the owner of an organ that hasn’t been paid for and reclaim it for GeneCo. Nathan Wallace just happens to be one of those Repo Men, and is very conflicted about his work and his daughter, Shilo Wallace (Alexa Vega). Shilo has a very strong opposition to GeneCo and doesn’t know that her father repossesses organs. The quest for her own identity brings her into conflict with the megacorporation and with her own father.

With many colorful characters such as the fantastic real-life opera singer, Sarah Brightman (who plays Blind Mag, a woman who owes her whole life and career to GeneCo), to the writer, director, and producer of the film, Terrance Zdunich (playing the narrator, GraveRobber), to the amazingly awful Paris Hilton (who plays Amber), this movie has its highs and lows. Although the characters (not Nathan and Shilo) and the world of 2056, itself could have been explored more, this movie did a pretty good job of providing a glimpse into a ruined world. More budget and a stronger plotline (location and setting wise) could have made this movie much better and enjoyable since the action was slightly jumpy and incoherent at times. Overall, though, the movie achieves its purpose of grossing one out, while maintaining the viewer’s pity for the man whose job it is to legally murder other people. This movie is like watching paint dry on a wall that has been cut open and is missing an organ.

By Kulguy

The Minority Report - "Daybreakers" (2010)

“Living in a world where vampires are the dominant species is about as safe as bare backing a 5 dollar whore.”
This movie was a pleasant rescue from an otherwise doomed vampire genre thanks to the likes of the “Twilight Saga.” Instead of offering a world where vampires are hiding from the ever-present human race, or attempting to live a semblance of a normal life amongst the humans, this movie examines what a society of vampires would be like. Everything from blood banks to life at night has been, in essence, reverse engineered to reflect what it would be like to live in a world where, like the above quote says, vampires are the dominant species. It all boils down to vampirism being as common as the sun during the day and the stars at night.

The story centers on a pandemic that converted most of the world’s populace into vampires. The few humans left are fighting desperately to survive, and the United State’s marines have been reassigned to capture humans in the blood wars. Because of the scarcity during these days, there is much research into a blood replacement that can be made synthetically and mass-produced. Because of the lack of blood, many vampires have begun a horrible transformation that turns them into savage beasts that resemble most vampires from ancient lore. In comes the protagonist, Edward Dalton (Ethan Hawke). He is a hematologist and is working for a cure to the dwindling supplies of blood and the security of the continuation of their species. He is a straight-edge vampire and secretly refuses to drink human blood because of his ever-present respect for them. This puts a strain on familial ties with his brother, who belongs to a group of vampires who hunt humans. Soon, because of his sympathy for the human plight, he meets a group of people attempting to survive, and a man who says he is cured.

This movie, though a legitimate vampire movie, doesn’t focus on the romance, or the secret lives of vampires. Instead, it is about the plight of both the vampires and the humans. While it makes its way through, one gets glimpses into the vampirical society. This was perhaps my favorite parts. They seem to thrive on examining aspects of the vampire collective that one would not typically think of—vampire suicide, daytime driving, the stock market, and forest fires, among others. Apart from the societal aspects, the movie has many sequences that are very artful and elicit a noticeable “lack of light” feeling. All in all, it kept me very entertained, and the slight lack of character depth did not bother me. Its construction imparted the thought that the people knew where the plot was going from the beginning and they wanted to create an atmosphere of darkness so powerful, it was almost representative of solitude. This movie was like watching paint dry, but the paint was of a science fiction future where vandals had drawn fangs on all the people.

By Kulguy

The Minority Report - "Kick-Ass" (2010)

I just got out of the movie “Kick Ass.” I will be honest I am going into this review a tad biased as I have been hyped to see this movie after the first murmur of its creation. For me, the movie had to live up to a higher expectation than a regular viewer. It succeeded and surpassed my expectations—no, it seized my expectations and shredded it with its all around greatness. This movie grabbed me, shook me, and then finally shot me out of a window with a bazooka.

The story starts off slow (which is not a bad thing), introducing the main character of Dave Lizewski. Dave is a very average teenage kid. I can not describe him any more than that, he really is that average. The only thing that sets him apart from others is his dreams of being a super hero. Not a super hero that has special powers or abilities, just an attitude and straight morals. He ends up caught up in this self made world of masked vigilantes and a surprisingly deep conspiracy. The other “super heroes,” are not exactly what you expect, and have much character depth; especially the pair of Big Daddy, played by Nicholas Cage (giving one of his best performances in a long while), and Hit Girl, played by Chloë Moretz ("Diary of a Wimpy Kid", "(500) Days of Summer"), who gives one of the best and most profound performances that I have ever seen in a child actress. Do not expect a simple action movie from this, it’s not (but the action still rocks), the story rivals the best in the genre.

You must go see this movie. There are some things to be wary of before going to see this film. There is a lot of cursing and violence. This movie truly earns the “R” rating, so I implore you not to take your children to this movie, even though it may be tempting with the super hero subject. This movie does what Zombieland did with the zombie genre, but with super hero movies. It may be funny, but it still has an inspiring tale. In fact, I would even dare to say it is easily on par with “The Dark Knight,” a super hero movie with a highly more recognizable character, and a much larger budget.

Lionsgate has truly found the formula for success. They do not have a large budget and don’t need one. They simply need a good story and a compelling telling of the story. The director did a fantastic job with this movie, with its multiple turns and plot changes. I noticed a hint of inspiration from other action orientated directors and movies like “Sin City” and “Kill Bill.” I really must say that it is very rare for me to come out of a movie with absolutely zero complaints. Simply put “Kick Ass,” kicks ass. This movie is the Da Vinci of super hero movies and is not like watching paint dry, in fact this movie makes watching paint dry kick major ass.

By V-Dawg

The Minority Report - "Repo Men" (2009)

What can be said about Repo Men? One could say that it is the movie adaptation of the novel The Repossession Mambo, which was penned by Eric Garcia who also wrote “Matchstick Men.” One could also write this movie off as a simple rip off of the fairly unknown, yet inventive, “Repo! The Genetic Opera” One could also take the movie at face value as an action movie staring Jude Law in an interesting, futuristic world that will surprise you with its gritty feel. One thing for sure is that this movie did hold my attention either through its atmosphere, intense gore, or white knuckle action for the full hour and fifty minute running time.

Repo Men is set in a futuristic world where organ failure is a spreading epidemic. Thank goodness that “The Union” exists. This company will loan out artificial organs at ludicrous prices that people must pay, or else hired “Repo Men,” will go out and reclaim the loaned out organ. The story focuses on one “Repo Man,” named Remy (Jude Law) who is the best of the best, until a fateful accident leaves him with a loaned out Union heart. As the story continues Remy cannot afford the payments and is left to run from the company he once worked for, which includes his best friend, Jake (Forest Whitaker). The story begins to take a turn after this point, and it takes some time getting to it, though I find it nice to explore this interesting world and delve into these would be, two dimensional characters.

Even though this movie is definitely not the best ever made I still found it entertaining in a “one-night thrill” sort of way. It will make for a good evening on the couch when you are craving some gritty, no holds, action. This is not for the weak of stomach as some of the scenes are very gory and the amount of blood is copious. I actually enjoyed the use of blood in this movie as it was realistic, not excessive, or too little (well until the end, but that is purposeful).

As far as the story goes I really did enjoy the first half of the movie. It does not happen very often, but this truly is a movie of halves. There is the first half, where the story, action, and dialogue are very tight and realistic; and, the final half, where aforementioned things begin to lose much of what made them good (which may be the intention, or not…I don’t know). The first half was the set up for the story and characters which was actually very entertaining, while the second was more about the action which was not that great, especially after the reveal of the ending, which will leave some with a sour taste in their mouth.

All in all, this entire movie was a strange mixture of cool atmosphere and Jude Law just kicking some ass. Take it for what it is worth. If you are looking for a good movie to quench your thirst for action and need a fresh story and environment this is your fix. For the others, avoid this film. This movie is like watching paint dry, but the paint is from a unique pallet and there are some drops of blood splattered across the canvas.

By V-Dawg