Box Office Movie Review

Ridley Scott’s incarnation of Robin Hood starring Russell Crowe is a prequel to the story we’re all familiar with – so it may not be the legendary story you’re expecting.

The film opens in 12th century France, where Crowe plays Robin Longstride, an archer in the army of King Richard. The King is on the last leg of the Crusades, “bankrupt and plundering his way back to England” (that’s right, not quite the version of King Richard we’re familiar with). We are introduced to Robin here, establishing that he is a moral man of honor and not afraid to fight.

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Let the summer begin! Iron Man 2, the sequel to 2008’s Marvel blockbuster (grossed over $570 million worldwide), is a sensational way to give the season a kick start. This follow-up has a lot on its plate, with Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark now outed globally as Iron Man and an array of new villains coming out of the woodwork to compete with him. It may not be in 3D but look for this 2nd visit to Marvel’s latest cash cow to top the original, not only for ratcheted up action, excitement and pure movie fun but also at the box office and beyond.
The new film picks up about six months after Tony Stark revealed his top secret Iron Man identity to the world. Now with incredible fame, the billionaire playboy/weapons inventor/superhero is trying to relaunch his late father’s (John Slattery) Stark Expo, an event that focuses on the humanitarian aspects of revolutionary technology. Unfortunately for him, the U.S. Government wants him to turn the Expo over to the military and has called him to a Senate hearing to try to force the issue.

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Animal Kingdom is the gritty and violent debut feature from talented writer/director David Michod.   Set in the dangerous Melbourne underworld, Animal Kingdom revolves around a young man thrust into a family of crime and the severe consequences that result.  Michod has crafted a near great yet slightly flawed film.
Michod's visual style is beautiful, a mixture of a young Danny Boyle with a bit of P.T. Anderson.  The images he and DP Adam Arkapaw create are both natural and gritty, yet thoughtfully composed and  assembled.   The film is a bit similar in nature to another strong entry this year, Daniel Barber's Harry Brown (starring Michael Caine).  Both films explore similar topics such as the cyclical nature of violence and the effects of violence on teens.  Both directors also create a dark, natural (and at times ultra-real) backdrop for the main characters to exist. Of the two, Barber's effort feels a bit tighter, the story a bit more focused.  But Animal Kingdom, which views the violent world from the perspective of the criminals (versus Harry Brown, which sees the world through the eyes of its vigilante good Samaritan protagonist), sets a slow and steady pace that really makes the audience realize the oppressiveness of living such a violent lifestyle and the extreme difficulties of finding a way out.

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The main theme of the film’s revenge. The film is set in an alternate history of the Second World War in which the entire top leadership of Nazi Germany, namely Hitler, Goering, Goebbels and Bormann attend a film premiere in Paris celebrating the exploits of a German sniper who had managed to kill 300 American soldiers in Italy. Most of the film’s duration is set in early June 1944, after the D-Day landings but before the liberation of Paris.
The film tracks the separate attempts to kill Hitler by two disparate forces, one being the “Basterds,” a motley crew of Jewish American soldiers out for revenge against the Nazis. The Basterds have a modus operandi whereby each man must cut off the scalp of a dead Nazi soldier, with orders to get 100 scalps each. The Basterds allow one German soldier to survive each incident to spread the news of the terror of their attacks. However, the Basterds carve a swastika into the forehead of that German. The other force concerns Shosanna (MéLanie Laurent, the exclusively survivor of a Jewish family killed by the Jew Hunter, who plots her own revenge on the Nazis. The Basterds and Shosanna remain unaware of each other throughout the film.
The film opens in 1941 with Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) of the Waffen-SS, proudly well-known as the “Jew Hunter,” interrogating Perrier LaPadite (Denis Menochet), a French dairy farmer, over rumours that he had been hiding a Jewish family. Landa manages to break down LaPadite and locates the hiding place of the Jews underneath the floorboards. He orders his soldiers to fire into the floorboards, killing all but the teenage Shosanna.

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Whoever said "mediocrity sells" is right, as The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is gearing up for its second week of release $200 million richer. It's amazing what cheesy dialogue and pouty characters can do for a movie. Bella, Edward and Jacob return for the third movie in the four-and-a-half-part series, and thankfully it's no New Moon: it actually has a plot, climax and purpose for existing.
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse starts off where the last one left off, with Bella (Kristen Stewart) head over heels for her vampire boy-toy Edward (Robert Pattison) but frustrated by the lack of Jacob (Taylor Lautner) in her life. Jacob finally does show up, but only to profess his undying love for Bella - oh, and that Victoria has returned to kill her. Victoria has retreated but is building a vampire army in Seattle to take down the Cullen family (and their werewolf neighbors) and get her revenge. The Volturi is also lurking nearby, threatening to take action on their own, but Bella has bigger concerns on her mind: Team Edward or Team Jacob. In one corner, you have a sparkly, cold-blooded, pale dead guy who likes to eat raw meat, and in the other, a tan, warm-blooded guy who can transform into a wolf. The choice seems logical to me, but blame Stephenie Meyer for giving Bella the ability to make all the wrong decisions all the time.

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The story revolves a young man, portrayed by Bow Wow, living in the projects who has to survive a three-day weekend after his opportunistic neighbors find out he's holding a winning lottery ticket worth $350 million.

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The Last Song has Miley Cyrus playing a rebellious and moody teenager who has a certifiably disturbing passion for sea turtles and who has been forced to spend the summer with her father. She is determined to hate it, even though he lives on a beach. Of course, her days brighten when she meets a rugged-but-rich dude who wants her as well, and the two engage in a rocky-but-meaningful relationship. There's some subplot about Miley Cyrus refusing to attend Julliard, and, since this is a Nicholas Sparks story, you know one of the main characters is going to die.

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