Movie Review Report

I went to go see this movie at the cheap theater to make up for the fact that I paid so much money to see such a horrible movie (Please refer to my review of The Happening) and for once I was very pleasantly surprised. It definitely made up for The Happening.

Plot summary from All Movie Guide:

Forest Whitaker, Dennis Quaid, William Hurt, and Matthew Fox star in director Pete Travis’ Rashomon-style thriller in which an assassination attempt on the president of the United States is detailed from five unique perspectives. As the president arrives in Salamanca, gunshots ring out. An American tourist (Whitaker) has captured footage of the would-be assassin on videotape, and now, as the stories of the other four witnesses unfold, each essential piece of the puzzle quickly falls into place. Only when all of the stories are told will the chilling truth to this shocking crime finally emerge.

This is definitely my kind of movie. It had a great story line, interesting characters, it was highly entertaining; everything I’m looking for in a movie. And it had something to do with a conspiracy to kill the president? I love that kind of stuff! I really have no complaints. Well, except for the fact that I hate Forest Whitaker. He was really good in The Last King of Scotland and now I just can’t stand him in any other movie. His character was really weird in this movie too; he was acting really strange. Maybe he was supposed to be in The Happening…

Anyways, the whole idea of showing the turn of events from multiple points of view was so cool and made the story so much more interesting and intriguing. It made it much more suspenseful too. I just recently watched the first (and sadly, only) season of an awesome TV show called Boomtown which also shows the story from different points of view and I think that is such a cool concept. I’ll have to do a review of that show later on.

I’ve seen this movie getting some pretty negative reviews and I don’t get it. They must be from movie snobs. And I also heard a lot of people praising Forest Whitaker’s performance, which I found annoying and strange. Further reason for me never to listen to other people’s point of view because I never agree with them.
I would say you should definitely check this movie out once it comes out on DVD; I doubt you’ll regret it. And if nothing else there are some really awesome car chases which are completely unbelievable but very entertaining.

My Rating:

Really Liked it

Review: Boomtown: Season One
Review: Shooter

Vantage Point, movie review, Forest Whitaker, Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Vantage Point movie review, The Happening

I had to go see this movie as soon as it came out because I love Mark Wahlberg and I was really excited to see him in something new. I rarely go out and spend the $10 to see a movie when it first comes out… and now I know why.

Plot summary from mymovies.net

Humanity is under threat in this chilling story which focuses on a middle school science teacher (Mark Wahlberg), his estranged wife (Zooey Deschanel), best friend (John Leguizamo) and his daughter as they fight to stay alive while a powerful neurotoxin creates global chaos.
What exactly is going on here? People all along the Eastern Seaboard of the United States are just dropping down dead. Is this some kind of new terrorist attack perhaps? Or is it something else? Something insidious and embedded in nature itself? Something has taken control of the world‘s animals and plants and that something also has plans for humanity. Cut off from the rest of humanity, the small band of survivors must rally together and determine the source of this strange pandemic.

This movie was not good. I was actually shocked by just how “not good” is was. As I’ve said before, I’m a huge Mark Wahlberg fan but this was by far the worst movie I’ve ever seen him in and also by far his worst performance. The acting was laughable (no really, I was in the theater laughing). Most of the characters were pointless and there was absolutely no character development. The plot was extremely weak. I just can’t believe that they thought this was going to pass off as a scary movie. It was not scary at all. There were definitely a few disturbing images but they were few and far between and also not really scary at all. I will say there was one part that was pretty creepy but I was already laughing at the movie by that point so I didn’t care.

I feel like this must have been M. Night Shyamalan’s fault because the whole movie had this really ridiculous vibe. Why does he get so much recognition when The Sixth Sense was his only good movie? And I’ve already completely forgiven Mark Wahlberg, because since all the acting was horrible I blame that on the director as well. I know Marky Mark is at his best when he’s being a bad-ass, but I’ve seen him do very well in other types of roles so I really have to blame this on poor direction or something. I don’t know, they were all acting really weird. You really have to see this movie to really understand what I’m talking about. The dialogue is HORRENDOUS. Nobody would ever say any of those lines in real life.

I’m sad, because I thought this movie had such potential and it was just not executed properly.

There’s nothing more I can really say. All the hype you’re hearing is completely unfounded. They made it look so good in the previews and they get me every time! Curse you enticing movie trailers!

I would say, you have to see this movie to believe it… but wait until it comes out on DVD.

By the way, these are the exact faces that both of these characters are making throughout 90% of the movie. I kid you not.

My Rating:

Didn’t Like it

Review: Shooter
Review: We Own the Night
Review: The Departed

The Happening, Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, M. Night Shyamalan, The Happening review, movie review