MOVIE REVIEW: Rise of the Guardians

What if our childhood icons Santa Claus, The Tooth Fairy, The Sandman, The Easter Bunny and Jack Frost actually know each other and they form a group known as the Guardians and they protect all the children all over the world from a risen force of darkness? That's the premise of Rise of the Guardians, an animated movie based on the book "The Guardians of Childhood" by William Joyce and the film is a visual treat in 3D, one of the few times that it's worth paying the extra surcharge for.

When Pitch aka The Boogeyman (voiced by Jude Law) comes back after years of neglect, it's up to the Guardians to save the kids happiness from disappearing into darkness. What's original about the film is that each Guardian has a distinct characteristic of it's own. Except for the Sandman who did not utter a single word, but still his character is lovable and sympathetic, Santa Claus (voiced by Alec Baldwin) is nicknamed North and has a Russian accent, the Easter Bunny (voiced by Hugh Jackman) is a macho rodent with an Aussie twang and the Tooth Fairy or Tooth for short (voiced by Isla Fisher) sounds like a fan of Justin Bieber. Jack Frost (voiced by Chris Pine) has the Peter Pan vibe and the story does revolve around him.

Santa's elves though are poor copycats of the lovable Minions in Despicable Me and as an avid moviegoer, that's easily recognizable. That was the only flaw I saw in the film.

Rise of the Guardians caters to every age group for their are kids out there who needs some fun at the movies and as for us adults too because at one time we were once kids too.

MOVIE REVIEW: Hitchcock

An entertaining and intelligent character study of famed director Alfred Hitchcock (Anthony Hopkins) and his film editor wife Alma Reville (Helen Mirren) as they collaborate in filming what would turn out to be one of the best films of all time.

After achieving both critical and commercial success in 1959's North by Northwest, Alfred Hitchcock was offered left to right films that producers want him to direct, among them an adaptation of Ian Fleming's novel Casino Royale but he refused all of them and insisted on doing a gruesome novel inspired by psychotic murderer Ed Gein called Psycho. Big studio refused to fund the project for it considers the book gruesome and exploitative.

From sourcing funds to film his dream project, to casting and defying the norm in film making, Hitchcock delivers the goods with the powerhouse duo of Oscar winners Hopkins and Mirren. Sir Anthony Hopkins does resemble him and Mirren gave life and vibrance to a true-to-life person in which most of us are not familiar of (including me). Their wit and affection for each other as their character gives the movie it's heart.

Scarlett Johansson is at her bombshell best as the actress Janet Leigh whom Hitchcock cast as a way to shock the moviegoers. Famous for being one of America's sweetheart, Leigh jumped on the iconic role of Marion Crane to mature as an actress and it did turn out well.

British actor James D'Arcy does resemble Anthony Perkins aka Norman Bates and Jessica Biel gives her best performance yet as actress Vera Miles.

Part fantasy but mostly a true story, Hitchcock is a great film about behind the scenes in the making of a great film.

MOVIE REVIEW: Anna Karenina

Director Joe Wright and actress Keira Knightley's 3rd collaboration after Pride and Prejudice (in which Knightley got an Oscar nomination for Best Actress) and Atonement, Anna Karenina looks good on paper with Jude Law and Aaron Taylor-Johnson in the supporting roles but it comes out short for the vision that Wright wanted for Leo Tolstoy's classic tragic novel about an upper-class Russian wife and mother in 1874.

This version has the film being presented inside a theater like a stage play that transitions to some scenes in wintertime Russia and back again on inside the stage.

Unfortunately, adapting a film whose main character has complex emotions and flaws could not connect in a set-up that's best suited for musicals like Moulin Rouge in which the lead also had a tragic ending. Baz Luhrmann's musical and it's production numbers though best suited the theatrical background.

Keira Knightley gives a commendable performance in a film that does not know where to go. Her Anna has the face the vulnerability and tragedy and given a better directed film, she would have shone more.

MOVIE REVIEW: Skyfall

From the action-packed opening scene in Turkey to it's heartbreaking finish somewhere in the United Kingdom, Skyfall is two and a half hours of pure entertainment unlike any other James Bond movie that you have seen.

Oscar winning director Sam Mendes of American Beauty is the right man to helm Bond into the 21st century. After rebooting the series in 2006 with Casino Royale with Daniel Craig as 007 and a disappointing Quantum of Solace in 2008, Skyfall stands out as the best among the three with a story that is more personal to the main character and sets up the stage for more movies in the franchise in years to come with new characters and deviating from a typical James Bond film.

Judi Dench (as M) is the Bond girl in this film and is given more ample time than any other films that her character was in due to the fact that when secret agents of MI6 began to disappear and getting killed at the same time, her mother figure comes out to protect 007 from an enemy never before seen: cyber terrorism in which gadgets and technology can also be used as weapons of mass destruction. This is one of Dench's best performance in her stellar and I dare say better than some films in which she was nominated for an Oscar.

And speaking of gadgets and technology, the film also introduces us to the new Q (Ben Whishaw), a younger college baby-faced looking one compared to past two ones in the role: the late Desmond Llewelyn and John Cleese and unlike in the previous films in the series, Q does not provide flashier gadgets for Bond to use and he is more of an computer whiz rather than an inventor.

No Country for Old Men's Javier Bardem also continues his streak of playing bad guys with bad hair as Silva, a former MI6 agent gone rogue. Over the top with his looks and dialogue, the Spanish actor gives Skyfall a memorable villain. Ralph Fiennes is also in the cast as Mallory, a government official that us moviegoers won't be seeing the last of him.

With Daniel Craig, two Oscar winning actors (Dench and Bardem) and a two time nominee (Fiennes), Skyfall is an actors showcase that compliments the action scenes and exotic locations that the Bond series is known for.

MOVIE REVIEW: Lincoln

A word of advice to those who are not familiar with American history: do some research first on the last four months of Abraham Lincoln in office and you'll have a clearer understanding and appreciation on how great the man was and the legacy he left not only in the United States but also the world.

Daniel Day Lewis gives another outstanding performance as the revered 16th President of the United States in the Steven Spielberg directed film. Unlike his past two acclaimed flashier performances in Gangs of New York and There Will Be Blood in which he received his second Oscar for Best Actor, Day Lewis is much restrained in his interpretation of Lincoln. He humanizes the man that most Americans consider the greatest President they had and puts a persona that most of us only knew him through his iconic stature and built. It also helps that guided by make-up artists, he does look like the one we see on a five dollar bill.

The film focuses more on the two legacies of Lincoln: the abolition of slavery and the end of the Civil War. Even though the film was set in 1865, the political dealings on and the way Washington DC politics works still applies to today in every part of the world. It was an eye opener to see through the film and aided by Tony Kushner's elegant script on how a key piece of legislation was passed during the days where life was so simple in which there were no machines and gadgets to instantly update the citizenry.

Sally Field (as First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln) and Tommy Lee Jones (as Abolitionist Congressman Thaddeus Stevens) are outstanding in their supporting roles. Joseph Gordon Levitt, Hal Holbrook, James Spader, Lee Pace and David Strathairn also gave commendable performances in their roles.

Lincoln is unlike any other Steven Spielberg that I had seen before. Cinematography, Art Direction and Production were inspired by those indie British historical films. The only signature scenes from the director that I noticed in the film was President Lincoln's bonding moments with his youngest son Willie (played by Chase Edmunds).

Lincoln opens this Friday November 9 in limited release and goes wide on the 16th all across the US.

MOVIE REVIEW: Wreck-It Ralph

Wreck-It Ralph (voiced by John C. Reilly) is the bad guy in a Donkey Kong like video game Fix-It-Felix, whose lead character of the same name (voiced by 30 Rock's Jack McBrayer) repairs the broken windows of the apartment building that he destroys and after accomplishing the task gets a pie from the tenants and a medal as well. On the other hand, they throw Ralph off the building. He's tired of being overshadowed by the lead character and always being the bad guy so on the time of the games 30th anniversary, Ralph opens up all his hang-ups to fellow video game villains to an Alcoholics Anonymous inspired group meeting. The result is him going into other video games looking for that medal and ultimately recognition that he did not get from his own game.

From video games characters of the distant past such Pac-Man, Street Fighter's Ryu, Ken and Zangief, QBert, Tapper, Super Mario Brothers' Bowser and many more, Wreck-It-Ralph is such a joy to watch for us who grew up playing them. Add to it the new video games and characters from the movies such as Hero's Duty, inspired by Call of Duty and the Japanese anime inspired Sugar Rush and a funny wisecracking and entertaining script, added by soon to be well-known characters Vanellope von Schweetz (voiced by Sarah Silverman) and Sergeant Calhoun (voiced by Jane Lynch), Wreck-It-Ralph may be not that original, I can see some traces of Monsters Inc., Toy Story, A Bug's Life and Who Framed Roger Rabbit in it, but it doesn't disappoint and gives the right amount of fun and entertainment to people of all ages.