THE REVIEW CORNER

Starring: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Doona Bae, James D'Arcy, Hugh Grant, and Susan Sarandon Directed by: Tom Tykwer, Lana and Andy Wachowski Screenplay by: Tom Tykwer, Lana and Andy Wachowski Based on the novel by David Mitchell       When I first saw the trailer for this film, I was blown away by many things and started to have high expectations for this film.  Were they met?       The story of Cloud Atlas takes us through the lives of two souls who are reincarnated again and again throughout the ages as different people.  These people seem to meet each other and share a very special bond in all of these time periods.  And they will take audiences on a wild ride in each of these different time periods.       This is a film that must be seen more than once in order to fully understand the story.  Each subplot  is vastly different from the others and each i...

Starring: Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, and Ezra Miller Directed by: Stephen Chbosky Screenplay by: Stephen Chbosky Based on the novel by Stephen Chbosky       This movie simply has to stick as close to the book as humanly possible.  I mean, the same person wrote the book and made the movie.       Charlie (Logan Lerman) is about to become a high school freshman.  He's had a tough time in middle school making friends and being a normal kid.  He meets a group of people who, while they've had their fair share of tough times as well, seem to be good friends to Charlie.  We will see how Charlie deals with all of the issues of being a high school freshman while having a group of seniors as his close friends.       Everyone has had a tough time in high school.  None of us would be normal if high school was a breeze.  This is clearly expressed in the chemistry among the characters in the film.  Th...

Starring: Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, and Christopher Walken Directed by: Martin McDonagh Screenplay by: Martin McDonagh      I think the title of the movie explains itself.  You know you're going to be seeing something weird.      Marty (Colin Farrell) is a Hollywood screenwriter struggling to write a good film called Seven Psychopaths .  But, he can't seem to come up with seven characters all to be psychopaths.  His friend Billy (Sam Rockwell) decides to help him come up with these seven crazy characters.  But Billy and Hans (Christopher Walken) kidnap missing dogs and return them to their owners.       Then Billy kidnaps a Shih Tzu belonging to a gangster (Woody Harrelson) and he doesn't want to give the dog back.  So we have this crazy gangster who's willing to do anything to get his dog back, a screenwriter just trying to write a good story, and a few psychotic guys in general.  ...

Starring: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, and Alan Arkin Directed by: Ben Affleck Screenplay by: Chris Terrio and Joshuah Bearman Based on a true declassified story      This is the second movie about someone attempting to rescue people that I've seen in a week.  Only this one is much better than Taken 2.        It's 1980 and the Iranian revolution is in full swing.  The U.S. Embassy has just been taken over by Iranian revolutionaries and the Americans working in the embassy have been taken hostage.  But six of the Americans escaped through a back door and are being sheltered at the Canadian Ambassador's home until they can find a safe way out.       Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) is a CIA exfiltration specialist.  Basically, it's his job to rescue people from hostage situations.  So this time, he's in charge of making sure these six Americans get home safely.  At first, the CIA consid...

Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, and Emily Blunt Directed by: Rian Johnson Screenplay by: Rian Johnson      The year is 2074 and time travel has finally been invented.  But it's only used for one thing.  When the mob wants to get rid of somebody in the future, they simply blast them back in time 30 years to be shot by a looper.       Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is one of these loopers.  His job is to shoot everyone who is sent to him without hesitation.  But when he has to close his loop (by killing his future self (Bruce Willis)) like all loopers eventually have to do, will he be able to do it?  What happens if he doesn't?       Time travel is a concept that fascinates me like no other.  And since it doesn't yet exist in our world, it's only up to people's interpretation of how it will work and who will use it.  As a fan of Sci-Fi, this concept of time travel always catches my at...

Starring: Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen, and Maggie Grace Directed by: Olivier Megaton Screenplay by: Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen     A few days ago, Liam Neeson was a guest on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.  Stewart told Neeson that he thought his character in Taken 2 was being a bit reckless with his family because they are targeted again for kidnapping by the same people as in Taken (2008).     In the first film, Bryan Mills's (Liam Neeson) daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace), is kidnapped while on a trip in Paris.  This time, the family is in Istanbul and the people who kidnapped Kim are out to kidnap Bryan.  But Bryan and Lenore (Bryan's ex-wife (Famke Janssen)) are the ones who are kidnapped and now it is up to Kim to rescue them both.      In a way, this film is a little different from the first film.  But I would think that after the first film, taking a family vacation in Europe wouldn't be a necessarily smart ...