The Descendants Review

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My apologies, but given my lack of time, this review will be shorter than usual.

The Descendants will probably come across as a regular all too far often seen drama that deals with unfortunate family issues. However, where other movies have struggled to set themselves apart from being ordinary, The Descendants succeeds and ends up offering one of the year’s best films. It is led by an emotional and Oscar-worthy performance by George Clooney, with strong performances from the rest of the cast, including his daughter, played by Shailene Woodley.

The film begins with George Clooney’s wife being hospitalized after a serious injury leaves her in a coma. The rest of the film centers on Clooney and his two daughters, and how they deal with the tragedy. With such a plot, you can expect a lot of emotional and heavy scenes, but they are balanced nicely with humorous lines in the movie and strong performances. The direction is good, but I would still have to give the Oscar to Refn for the amazing job he did with Drive. The only thing that could have been changed in the direction of The Descendants is the number of scenes where his wife is shown. Her position does not change, and as unfortunate as it may be, it is unpleasant to get constant close-ups of her lying in her hospital bed.

The music is smooth and fits appropriately with the film, with a few Hawaiian tunes, and many pleasant instrumentals. In terms of the acting, which I’ve already mentioned, I think it is time for the Academy to award Clooney his second Oscar, and his first for a leading role (he previously won best supporting actor for his performance is Syriana). Clooney is forced to display dramatic emotions many times throughout the film, and delivers fantastically in these scenes. He might not have won for his performance in Up in the Air, but the performance he puts on in The Descendants is much stronger and more worthy of an Oscar.

The Descendants isn’t a movie you need to see in theaters, but it is a movie you should check out. There have been a number of terrific films this year that may or may not get nominated for an Oscar next year, and even though the Academy may pass on nominating The Descendants, it still stands as one of the best films of the year, and a film worth seeing when you get the chance. You won’t be disappointed.

Score: 8.8/10

Cowboys & Aliens Review

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Possible spoilers ahead (I’m not going to mention what did happen, but rather what didn’t happen in the movie, so not much is being given away).

James Bond joins Indiana Jones on the big screen for a movie where the two of them fight against aliens. It sounds ridiculous, yet exciting at the same time. The idea is original to some extent, since it takes place in a Western setting with aliens; however, it’s still the same idea as every other alien movie (they attack the humans). The commercials weren’t very convincing for me; I was on the fence about whether or not to see the movie because I had no idea how good or bad it would be. Westerns are rare these days, but so are quality alien movies (Battle: LA was alright, but nothing special). It’s the first time in the last few months that I went into a movie not knowing what to expect and how much I would like it. I’ve stopped caring too much about what critics think, because it really doesn’t matter unless a movie is rated so low that you know it’ll be bad. Even poorly rated movies can satisfy, depending on your taste. This movie is not a 44% as its rating on RottenTomatoes stands, but you do know what you’re getting when you go see this movie. There are no major surprises.

If you don’t know the premise for the movie, aliens attack a Western town and kidnap some of the residents. Daniel Craig teams with Harrison Ford to go chase after the aliens and find those who were kidnapped. For the majority of the movie, Craig is unsure of who he is, or where he got the bracelet that’s powerful enough to destroy the alien ships. He has flashbacks throughout the movie which explain his past so you don’t have to worry about that part not being explained. Harrison Ford plays a tough cowboy who’s pissed off for most of the movie (which makes him pretty funny). He also one of the stupidest, yet funniest lines in the movie: “Gold? That’s ridiculous! What’s he going to do with it? BUY SOMETHING!?” I mean, it’s kind of obvious that he’s going to buy something with it. It doesn’t serve very many purposes. Regardless, both actors were solid in the movie and made it more entertaining. Olivia Wilde was looking good as always, and Sam Rockwell is known to be a good actor. When you have Craig and Ford together in a movie, you don’t really need any more well-known or popular actors to make the movie good, but their inclusion (Wilde and Rockwell) made the movie better.

There are some things that tick me off though about the movie. One of the characters is not human, but takes the form of a human (nothing has been given away, don’t worry), and it is never explained exactly where they came from or what their true form is. You just have to sit and watch this character, knowing they’re an alien, but dying a human. A little more explanation would have been appreciated. The second problem I have is with the aliens’ decision to come to the planet. They come for one of our resources and I don’t see how it would be beneficial to them. It’s not explained why they are mining this resource; so again, you’re left with no explanation. At least in Battle: LA, you know that the aliens came for our water (with which the Earth is abundant) and that it helps power their ships and devices. Regardless, those are the main two issues I have with the movie, as a proper explanation would have made the movie more understandable. As it stands, all I can say about the movie is that it’s an entertaining summer flick, but clearly the writers were too lazy to think of any ideas to help explain the movie.

The CGI wasn’t done properly either in some scenes. At times the aliens looked real, but then at other times you could tell they were computer generated. The aliens are fairly important in the movie (they’re also in the title), so I don’t know why they chose not put more money into making them look more real. This movie had a greater budget than District 9, yet in that movie, the CGI was done almost to perfection. Maybe they were too focused on assembling a great cast rather than working on the smaller things, but there are clearly small improvements that could have been made to make the movie better than what it is.

It really depends on your taste whether or not you’ll choose to see this movie. The beginning is purely a Western, which I didn’t mind, and it seemed to have decreased in quality once the alien chase began. It’s entertaining, with solid actors, and I don’t mind having spend $12 on the movie. I enjoyed it, and if you’re a guy, you should too.

Score: 7/10

The Problem with Adjusting Movie Grosses and Ticket Prices for Inflation

Tweet The adjusted-for-inflation list of box office figures is always said to be the more correct list and the list that should be analyzed when determining the highest grossing movies of all time. To some extent, this is correct, but it also brings about another statistic, which is constantly being used to compare older movies with the newer ones. This statistic is the audience: the number of people who viewed the film during its theatrical release. Each time a new movie grosses a similar amount to its prequel, and today there are many sequels being made, it’s always mentioned that even though their amounts are similar, the sequel had lower attendance due to inflation, and it probably did. However, the numbers are getting more and more ridiculous and the gaps are widening more than they should be. In order to determine the audience figures, ticket prices are adjusted for inflation and divided into the movie’s total gross. According to inflationary statistics, since 2004, money has decreased in value by approximately 26%, and this is the figure they use to estimate the size of the audience. Yet, back in 2004, ticket prices at the nearest theatre to where I live were $13.50, and according to the way average ticket prices are measured, tickets should currently be priced at $17 each; however, they are actually $12.75 each. Instead of inflating by 26%, ticket prices deflated by about 6%. This theatre might be an exception, being the only theatre in North America to see a deflation in its ticket prices. In any case, it’s evident that inflation is rising faster than ticket prices and even though it’s the most reliable statistic to use in determining audiences, it is too flawed. The whole audience category should be disregarded because in the end, it serves little importance to the general public. Producers and studios are concerned about making money, and those figures are accurately reported every single day. The viewers bring in the money, so I understand the desire for studios to analyze the number of viewers, but when a category is as inconsistent as the audience category is, it needn’t be reported to the general public.