Wreck it Ralph Movie Review-TheCrackedNation

WRECK IT RALPH

Parents Guide:
Sex: One kiss and a couple very minor references
Cussing: Same as Pixar films
Violence: More than normal for an animated movie, nothing much though.
Age: All ages

It's been a great while since a great animated movie has been released, but this week finally brought that to an end. Wreck it Ralph is and will be the best animated movie of the year, and probably the best animated movie since Toy Story 3. This movie had the feeling of the old school Pixar movies, perhaps not quite as good, but pretty stinkin' close. There are two things that make this movie great, the characters and the cleverness. Ralph is who the movie is centered around, he's a massive dude that is always wrecking stuff and he's getting tired of it. He just wants to be a good guy for once, but no matter what he does he always comes across as the bad guy. So the whole movie is about him trying to become a good guy for once. John C. Riley is the perfect voice for Ralph, he nails all the lines and just fits the character. I really connected with Ralph, much like I felt connected with Sully from Monsters Inc. Ralph wasn't the only character that I loved either, there were many others that were great. Vanellope, Felix, and King Candy added great depth to the story and were just the comedic relief needed. There was one character that I didn't think I would like that ended up being one of my favorites, Calhoun voiced by Jane Lynch. I'm not a fan of Lynch's work at all, but the character that she portrays was actually really funny and added something to the movie that I can't put my finger on. Again I would say that the characters in Ralph were on par with the old Pixar ones, especially like the characters in Monsters Inc.
The second this was the cleverness of the film. Remember when animated movies were clever because they did things that had never been done before? Ya I can hardly remember the last time either. Ralph brings the inner nerd out of everyone, the video game references and clever use of words really make this film special. There are so many classic video game characters and references to games that it's almost impossible to not like this film. I keep going back to Monsters Inc. because there are so many similarities, but what makes it unique is how even the similar things are done in a unique way that makes it ok. I don't want to tell you too much about what the movie is like because it's way better if you don't know what you're in for. I'll just say that it's Pixar good, maybe not as good as the best Pixar, but it's really close.
I did have a couple minor issues with the movie. It got a little slow in the middle, not in a boring way, just didn't seem to keep up with the beginning and end. The other issue is one that isn't really a big deal; I was expecting a lot more real characters from real games. I said earlier that they referenced a lot of real video games and that some of the characters were it it, and to some extent that is true, but not as true as I wanted it to be. I was just expecting a little to much with this film. Again that's not really a complaint, just something that I didn't expect (or expected, depending on how you read that last sentence).
I recommend this movies to EVERYONE! It's a great clean film that every aged person will enjoy, or even love. Don't miss this movie. I give Wreck it Ralph a solid 9.5/10. The movie slowed down a little bit in the middle which is why I can't give it a perfect rating. Other than that I don't have any complaints.

Oscars: Best Animated Film (Winner)

Thank you for reading, let me know what you think :)
                                                                                   Caleb Henry (TheCrackedNation)


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Pitch Perfect Movie Review-TheCrackedNation

Pitch Perfect Movie Review

Parent Guide: Rating PG-13. I recommend 15 and older.

Sex: Lots of References, lots of cleavage. 

Violence: None

Profanity: Quite a few PG-13 words, a hand full of "S" and "B" words.

 

What makes this movie a success isn't the acting or directing; what makes this movie a success is the extreme amount of fun it is to watch. Too many times movies try and be something they aren't, they try and over perform. Pitch Perfect knew exactly what type of movie it was and they didn't try anything more then they needed. Not very often can I watch a movie and not critique it, but while I watched Pitch I didn't feel like I should critique it. The only thing that I felt like critiquing was the singing, but not int he way I would critique most movies. I felt like critiquing the singing from the standpoint of a judge of a competition, focusing on the dancing as well as the singing. After every performance in the movie I felt like standing up and clapping. It was a feeling that I haven't felt in a long time. Is Pitch a musical? Not really. It's a movie about music and the majority of the movie is singing, but it's not a musical. In musicals the singing tells a story and the actors sing at weird times throughout the movie, but a movie like Pitch the singing is only done at times that make sense, during auditions, while performing and such. The singing was so good that I felt like singing along during the movie, especially because the singing is all a cappella and I love a cappella. It was obvious during the movie that the actors and actresses were not singing the songs, that they were all pre recorded and lip synced. And to tell you the truth it didn't bother me because there was no way they could make this movie while having the actors sing the songs live. The rhythms that they make in the film are great, a ton of the songs are remixed and sound great, actually I'm listening to the soundtrack as I write this. Other then having a ton of great singing, this movie was extremely funny. Rebel Wilson (Bridesmaids, The Bachelorette) delivered one of the funniest female performances that I have ever seen in my life. Every line was delivered with pitch perfect timing (see what I did there :). What happens in a lot of comedies is that the humor will start strong and then die off during the middle of the film, but in this movie the humor was consistent through the whole thing. Although most of the acting is just average and the story ins't very compelling, I found this film to be a great success. I recommend it to any person that enjoys good singing. If you don't find good singing enjoyable then you might not like this movie, but I don't know a single person that wouldn't like it to some extent. Don't expect too much and you will have an extremely enjoyable time at the theater. Please leave comments letting me know what you think.

Rating: I give Pitch Perfect a solid 7/10. No Oscars here, just a lot of fun.

I hope you enjoyed this review and thanks for reading,

                                                                                      Caleb Henry (TheCrackedNation)

The Grey Movie Review-TheCrackedNation

The Grey 

Perent guide: Age-18+
Sex- a couple references, all dialogue.
Violence- Lot's of violence, hard R.
Profanity- 160+ F-words

     Maybe the biggest love/hate movie of the year so far. What I mean is that you either love the movie or you hate it, there is no in-between! Before seeing this movie you should ask yourself these questions: "Do I like movies that have no real plot?"(all they do is run away from wolves) and "Can I handle not knowing exactly what happens at the end?" those two questions are huge , if you answered yes to both, than you will love this movie! If you answered no to one of the questions, than you probably will not like this movie. Sorry to say it so blunt, but it's just the truth.
     The gist of the story is Liam Neeson's character is a security guard for an oil company somewhere in Alaska, and his job is to keep the workers safe from wolves, so it's safe to say that he's a wolf expert. But during the flight back to Anchorage their plane crashes in the middle of nowhere; and when I say nowhere, I mean NOWHERE! So the next 90mins is about them trying to stay safe from the wolves, as  well as the weather. Does this story sound familier? It might, but it's more of a mix of movies than a single one. Take I Am Legend and switch the zombies for wolves, now shoot the movie in -30 degrees, and give them a 1 in a million chance of survival. Now that's what kind of movie The Grey is. But while watching it you think "they might get out of this alive" and that's why you keep watching. As long as Liam Neeson is in a movie, there is always a chance of survival.
     Let's talk about the acting first; Liam Neeson is amazing in this movie (as usual), his presence in the film is almost overpowering. He's become the modern day Clint Eastwood, the actor that no matter which director or writer he's working for, he always delivers his lines perfectly and always gives an Oscar type of performance. The Grey is no exception. Neeson is backed up by actors Frank Grillo (Warrior) and James Badge Dale (the Pacific) who, because of Neeson's presence, got over looked. Their acting, along with others, is fantastic in this movie. I couldn't have picked better actors for the parts.
     The second thing is the directing; what a fantastic piece of directing Joe Carnahan (the A-Team, Smoking Aces) put together for this film. To be able to take a story like this, and turn it into an Oscar type of movie takes a tremendous amount of tallent. Think about that for a second; it's a survival movie about a group of guys that are stranded in Alaska somewhere, and it's an Oscar quality film! The cinematography is top notch; it's in the top 3 best filmed movies of the year (Prometheus, The Dark Knight Rises). I don't know how much Joe Carnahan had to do with the cinematography, but he sure did a good job making sure the right people were hired for the task. The movie felt very real, and I found out later that the location of the shoot was in British Columbia and that the conditions were that of the film. I always love it when directors stay away from CGI and can still come out with a great film.
     The third part is the ending, SPOILERS!!! Skip this paragraph if you don't want the ending ruined. Many people that have watched The Grey hated the ending, and I can see why. After a long time in the wilderness you expect Neeson and company to either escape, or to get killed. Those seem like the only two options right? Wrong! In my opinion the ending is a fantastic piece of directing, and I couldn't have thought of a better way to end it. After all the other members of the cast have been killed, Neeson decides that he's going down with a fight. He constructs a weapon out of broken beer bottles and a knife, and charges at the Alpha male of the wolves. But just as they are about to colide, the screen goes black and the movie is over. Did Neeson kill the wolf? Did the wolf kill Neeson? It's almost an Inception type of ending, except that there is one last scene after the credits that makes this ending so great. All you see is Neeson's head lying on the wolfs body, and the wolf is still breathing. So what does this mean, well I have come to the conclusion that Neeson did kill the wolf, because earlier in the film you see a wolf that Neeson killed still breathing it's last breath. I believe that the wolf was dying and Neeson was lying on his pray, but because of how much exhaustion Neeson would have been feeling, he died right there as well. But Neeson didn't die by the Alpha wolf, he died because of the conditions. Neeson proved that the Alpha Man is stronger and tougher than the Alpha Wolf. That's how I interpreted the ending, and I hope you take in into consideration.
     Overall I will give The Grey a 9/10. I really loved this movie, and I don't think any director could have made it better.

Oscars: 

Liam Neeson (Nomination, best actor) Joe Carnahan (Nomination, Best Director) Masanobu Takayanagi (Nomination, Best Cinematography) and maybe a couple minor nominations. I don't think any of these should win, but they should be nominated.

Thanks for reading,
                                Caleb Henry (TheCrackedNation)

The Walking Dead TV series review

I recently watched The Walking Dead TV series, and to tell you the truth, I really liked it. Now I have to say that I'm not a zombie expert by any means, I love zombies and all, but I haven't really watched many zombie movies and I don't know much about the "lor" behind it. There are a couple reasons why I really liked this show; first off I really liked the acting. All of the acting in this show was pretty much great, none of the acting was weak or pore. I really enjoyed the performance by Norman Reedus (The Boondock Saints). Everyone of my friends that have seen this show say that Reedus is their favorite character, and he has the littlest screen time out of all the main characters. That was really my only big complaint in this show, even though him having such little screen time made him that much more awesome. Another little complaint I have was that there was way to much drama, and I know it's a drama TV show, but come on there is already enough of that in it. But those two things don't hold the show down that much, because there are plenty of zombies that still get there heads shot off and guts blown out! The zombies aren't your average slow, lame, and stupid zombie. No these guys will use everything they have to kill you, and they won't stop till you kill them. So I have to say that I was always at full attention while watching this show, and they aren't afraid to kill main characters off at any time. I hope this is insightful, and have a great day :)

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