MOVIE REVIEW: ParaNorman

I came to watch ParaNorman without any expectations and the only thing that I know of that's on the positive side was that it was from the makers of Coraline, one of the best stop motion animated pictures in recent memory. Good thing for that thought for I came out of the theater in good spirits, for ParaNorman is the best (so far), animated film that came out this year and is highly entertaining and funny too with sharp writing that can even be compared to Pixar's greatest films. It is also unexpectedly a feel-good film too!!

Norman Babcock (voiced by Kodi Smit-Mc Phee) is a boy with a gift: he can see and speak to dead people. His family, and everyone else thinks his weird except for his friend Neil. The gift eventually will be put into good use for he has uncovered a curse in their small town in which he will play a big part in removing it permanently.

ParaNorman is like Haley Joel Osment's character the Sixth Sense smashed with touches of a Tim Burton flick plus the look and feel of the B horror movies of the 50's. It's also very funny too!! This is one of 2012's best films for me and should be a contender for Best Animated Feature come awards season time.

MOVIE REVIEW: Sparkle

I never saw the original Sparkle made in 1976 which starred Irene Cara and even the recent movie that is also being compared to which is 2006's Dreamgirls which was a box office hit and won some Oscars too but based, on the synopsis of what I'd read from the movies mentioned, this 2012 Sparkle, despite all the cliches is one highly entertaining film. I was never bored watching every single minute of it.

The film setting is 1960's Detroit and Motown was still the dream of aspiring songwriters and singers who wanted to be recognized by the legendary recording company. American Idol season 6 winner Jordin Sparks plays the titular character, the youngest of three sisters raised alone by Emma (Whitney Houston in her final film), a strict religious lady who doesn't want her daughters to commit the same mistakes she did when she was young thus preventing her kids for pursuing whatever they want. Her performance here is way different from the other three movies that she did. A film with Whitney Houston isn't complete without her singing and her rendition of the classic "His Eye is on the Sparrow" is a great swan song for a life that maximized her talent but cut short by vices.

Eldest daughter named Sister (Carmen Ejogo) is the good looking one who fell in love with some bad decisions straining her relationship with her mom. The sassy one Dolores (Tika Sumpter) is the trail blazing one in terms of fashion sense but is always still there for her family. The two actresses gave outstanding performances in the movie and hopefully in the future be given good roles in better films. It helps that their characters are the flashier ones therefore leaving Sparks acting as bland.

MOVIE REVIEW: The Odd Life of Timothy Green

Disney's latest live action offering "The Odd Life of Timothy Green" is certainly the most original offering the studio has ever made in recent memory and yet it is also the weirdest. Married couple Cindy and Jim Green (Jennifer Garner and Joel Edgerton of Warrior) had exhausted all efforts to bear a child so one night, before closing the chapter and moving forward with their lives, they wrote all the qualities they wanted if they had one, put it in a wooden box and buried it on their backyard.

A few hours later, after a freak storm, a young boy (CJ Adams) comes out of the spot where they buried the wooden box and the Green couple suddenly have an instant son Timothy.

Parents all of a sudden, the Greens find ways to integrate their son into the world that they revolve: the small all-American town of Stanleyville.

Peter Hedges who wrote the brilliant screenplay adaptations of "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" (based from his own novel) and his Oscar nominated script of Nick Hornby's About A Boy ably directed his film for this is his forte. Jennifer Garner and Joel Edgerton bring in credible performances. 2-time Oscar winner Dianne Wiest's grumpy matriarch of the company where the Green couple work, M. Emmet Walsh's Uncle Bub and Ron Livingston, channeling his iconic role in the cult classic Office Space are the standouts among the supporting cast.

However, the best performance in the film comes from Timothy Green himself, the child actor CJ Adams. Appearing only in his second film after 2007's Dan in Real Life, Adams gives the right amount of charm as the unusual titular character. He was born to play this role. If there are any awards for best performance of a child actor in 2012, CJ Adams is definitely a surefire nominee.

A dark bittersweet unusual family film, The Odd Life of Timothy Green gives the right amount of sentiment that's fit for a family day at the movies. 

MOVIE REVIEW: The Campaign

In time for the upcoming US presidential election comes "The Campaign", a comedy about the congressional race in the 14th District of North Carolina where the long-time Democrat incumbent Cam Brady (Will Ferrell) is facing his biggest challenge yet after a scandal shot down his popularity.

Two CEO brothers (Dan Aykroyd and John Lithgow) with some huge business interests in the district decided to find an opponent that can beat up Brady and yet make him their back and call protecting their investments. They found that man in Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis) the local naive tourist guide who gladly accepted the challenge because he simply wanted to serve the district and make his father proud of him.

Directed by Jay Roach (Meet the Parents, Meet the Fockers and the Austin Powers trilogy), it uses every possible gag that can be used in an election campaign and surprisingly it works. This is due to the fact that both Ferrell and Galifianakis have great chemistry. I can put this film along Ferrell's best (Talladega Nights, Anchorman and The Other Guys comes to my mind). Galifianakis is just doing a rehash of his role in Due Date (with the dog as props) and it compliments his character as the surprise opponent for Ferrell's Brady.

Jason Sudeikis plays it straight as Cam Brady's campaign manager and also the voice of reason. Dylan Mc Dermott is suavely evil as candidate Huggins' manipulator.
If you love the jokes from the previous films of the two lead actors then by all means watch The Campaign.

TEASER TRAILER: Zero Dark Thirty

The Hurt Locker's Kathryn Bigelow's follow-up film after making history as the first female to win the Academy Award for directing. Opens this December in the US.

MOVIE REVIEW: Killer Joe

Based on the off-Broadway play by Tracy Letts, Killer Joe is the story of the dysfunctional stereotypical white-trash family in Texas: the Smiths. Drug-dealing son Chris (Emile Hirsch) owes a substantial amount of money putting his life in danger, he enlists the services of Killer Joe to end the life of his biological mother, who is separated from his dad Ansel (Thomas Haden Church) who got married to another lady Sharla (Gina Gershon) who absolutely hates Chris with a passion. He got a little sister Dottie (Juno Temple) who becomes a pawn in all of this. Once the kill is done, they would get a big amount from his Mom's insurance since he's been told that her little sister is the main beneficiary. All of them gave outstanding performances that pushes the boundaries on what they had done before on their respective careers on film.

Secrets are revealed and it all comes down to the gut-wrenching finale that either one would love or hate. You will never look at a KFC drumstick the same way again after watching a movie.I still can't believe that this film was directed by William Friedkin, who made two of the best films in the 70's: The French Connection and The Exorcist. Killer Joe is a mash-up of Quentin Tarantino movies mixed with the same feel of the Coen Brothers' No Country for Old Men. 

If 2012 is the year of Channing Tatum in the US box office with three $100 million plus grossing hits in a span of six months (The Vow, 21 Jump Street and Magic Mike), the year is turning out well too for his Magic Mike co-star Matthew McConaughey in terms of acting performance. After an Oscar-worthy performance as Dallas in the Steven Soderbergh directed film, he comes up again flawlessly in the title role of Killer Joe. I doubt if the Academy would notice his performance given it's restricted NC-17 (No children under 17 admitted) rating here in the US but he completely erases the romantic comedy actor image he held for so long after Magic Mike and this film.