Machine Gun Preacher

Date viewed: Sunday 15th April
Rating: 5/5

With my new and first ever real job as a waitress at a bar and diner, it is becoming increasingly difficult to watch movies as I have a shift almost every night! I often come home to Mum and Dad half-way through watching a movie, most often a movie I have been dying to see for ages. So when I come home to find the 'rents in the middle of 'Machine Gun Preacher' I jumped up and down and flapped my hands like a spastic teenager after seeing a pair of lovely shoes on a shopping trip and exclaimed loudly several times how Gerard Butler was one of my favourite actors and how I was dying to see the movie.

Unfortunately last night I did not get to see Machine gun Preacher as the movie 'Death Race' had come on television, coincidentally starring my other favourite actor. However, this morning I did! I somehow got it into my mind that this movie would be a fictional hard core action with Gerard busting down doors and gunning all the bad men and taking revenge on all that is eeeevil. I wasn't too far off the point, but it is actually a true story, and not so much gunning down bad men with cheesy lines like in the Terminator, but more so the saving of many orphans' lives in Sudan, Africa, and building them hope and a chance at life.

I found this movie to be very intense, several times I almost cried at the horrific abuse, torture and pain that many suffered. I did however enjoy when payback was brought to some of those who inflicted the horrors whenever Sam Childers (Butler) picked up his guns and fought back. Sam Childers defended those children when no one else would, cried for them, felt their pain and then built them a sanctuary and fought tooth and nail to help them survive. His family back home were surprisingly very understanding for most of the film, Childers' wife Lynn encouraging him to carry on.

I enjoyed the movie as a whole, it was well constructed and always made sense/ was easy to follow. It was one of those movies where I wanted to jump in and help. I felt the urge to protect, to join in the fight for freedom. In some sense I think this is what pushed Sam Childers to help, although he did not live in the country he still wanted to fight for what was right. At the end of the movie I was left with the feeling of relief that someone was out there making a difference, and also with shock for how anyone in the world could so much as harm a child and not even show a flicker of remorse, and could keep on harming as if a switch somewhere inside had been turned off and forgotten.

Fast Food Nation

Date viewed: Saturday 26th June

Rating:

Okay. so you may have noticed I have not rated this. You cannot put a rating on this movie. This movie IS the truth and we all know truth rates higher than just five little stars. I warn you I will expose just SOME of the horrid detail in my review, so if you are prone to easy queasy feelings, or are just plain ignorant, don't read on.

'Fast Food Nation' directed by Richard Linklater, is a movie about the truth of what our fast food industry are feeding us; Lies. Lie upon lie upon lie. Crawling, writhing, seething lies. Literally.

Do you know how your patties in your burger are made? Do you know how they treat the cows that are the supposedly 'sole' ingredient in your patties? Do you even know how they treat the people who make them?

You, dear Sir/Madam, need to watch this for the truth. it will disgust you, it will make you queasy, and feel free to avert your eyes and ignore the cruelty dealt to both animals and workers alike, if you wish. I wont stop you. Your heart might, when it has an attack after enduring the revolting food you stuff your body with.

So basically this is a document slash movie, with a lot of big actors in. Featured are Bruce Willis, Greg Kinnear, Luis Guzmán, Paul Dano, Avril Lavigne, Kris Kristofferson and many more. They show you deep down into the industry that create your burger patties, how they brutally pack millions upon millions of cows tight into small enclosed areas with no grass at all, how they kill the cows INhumanely, how your most likely to have a huge chance of having cow manure smeared and blended into your patties, how the patties are INJECTED with flavour and colour and are practically perfumed to smell right, and how the workers are abused and imported like goods to work in horrid conditions, in a factory that is crawling with bacteria, blood  all over the floor mingled with feces. 

Do watch, for your health's sake, for your family's health's sake, for the poor cows' sake, for the abused workers' sake. Spread the truth. Help save lives by starting with your own, and turn this world right again.
Please. For our children. For their children. Help make this right.

Love and Other Drugs

Date viewed: Saturday 21st May
Rating 3/5

Woaaah so had a pretty hectic weekend, went to a mates birthday party!! Had a mean feed, went to the hot pools, got home late and watched a movie with her. 'Love and Other Drugs' is just another average Rom Com... with Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway starring together? At first I thought 'hmm, not such a good mix..' but actually they did okay together. Infact I usually don't like Anne Hathaway's acting so much, but she suited her role in this movie, and didn't do such a bad job. So Jake is Jamie, a pharmaceutical salesman who falls in love with a complicated and fierce Maggie (Anne Hathaway) who doesn't seem to want to allow anyone get close to her.

I did enjoy the movie, it had a quirky storyline and an interesting plot. But after a while it all just seems the same, like a recurring dream. Nothing new or interesting happens, no unexpected twists. Jamie's love confession to Maggie seems unreal, as they barely even get to know eachother. Jamie's brother is extremely annoying, and has no relevance in the movie whatsoever.

Overall the movie was okay. Was pretty funny, but nothing made a lasting impression and after finishing the movie, as there wasn't really any significant or extreme/major incidents that made you go 'Wow!' to make it a memorable movie. I did however, like the idea of that a player like Jamie stuck by Maggie's side even though her sickness was a major setback for his career.

Moral? Hmm, a hard one to think of. Maybe the moral is for all those Maggie's out there, not to push away those who want to be by your side and help you. If they've made up their mind and they want to stick by your side, accept they will be in your life.

Morning Glory

Date viewed: Saturday 14th May
Rating: 3/5

Snuggled up in bed after a looong day walking around in high heeled boots and aching feet (Oh how I vow never to do that again.. for the next few weeks at least), with my best mate and watched a movie on my laptop! 'Morning glory' is your average romantic comedy featuring a young woman, her job, her obsession over her job, her fight to maintain her job, and of course... her love interest.

We had a good laugh- over Mike Pomeroy's (Harrison Ford) emotionless banter with his co-host, and the insane stunts the weather vane man endured, and especially enjoyed it when Becky Fuller (Rachel McAdams) spots Adam Bennett (Patrick Wilson) and waves really enthusiastically and in the process flips her cellphone high into the air and desperately tries to catch it. I've faced similar embarrassing stunts and could relate to that, I guess thats why I found it so funny. Although I thought it wasn't anything special, we enjoyed this film, it was good humor and a fun, quirky story.

I think the moral here is that new is good, bringing in a little or even a whole lot of new to anything, is good. Make work interesting and fun with new ideas, change something small in your life, create new pathways and open doors to a better future. Also, don't let work completely take over your life and prevent you from socializing. ;)

Sucker Punch

Date Viewed: Friday 6th May
Rating: 5/5

Sooo I got a text from my mates and was invited to go to see a movie! fun fun fun ;) we went to the' Tauranga Bay City Cinema'. After long.. seconds of deciding, we chose 'Suckerpunch'. I have to say I was expecting.. a boring, confusing and over animated girlie movie. But my expectations were punched away very quickly. It completely blew me away! Best darn movie I've seen on the big screens in a long time. I was actually shocked that other reviews I have looked at, they seem to think this movie has no plot, and is pointless!! All I can say is that either they have no imagination and find difficulty in enjoying fantasy and good-hearted action, or they just really lost their sense of thought in a Lobotomy and are mind-dead zombies.

So at first it was confusing (ha. ha.) but it all falls into place pretty quickly. Babydoll (Emily Browning), is submitted into a mental facility by her abusive step-father and battles for freedom. Siiimple ;)

I found the graphics to be amaazingly good, almost realistic! I enjoyed the epic samurai fight where Babydoll goes up against THREE massive giant samurai's, one of them in possession of.. a machine gun? :D She gets a good beating but seriously kicks ass, not bad for her first dance. The battle I really enjoyed was where they were in WW1 and they had to get the map. Sooo much action and fighting, they are like ninjaaas!!

Okay so the moral in this story? hmm, I think it is that perseverance and determination is like the weapon against all that is bad. It is what gets you through life, it is what gets you through a battle, it is what gets you through work, its what gets you through relationships, and its what gets you through School, College and University.. and all those darn essays.

Easy A

Date Viewed: Tuesday 26th April
Rating: 4/5

So today was a perfect day.. for movies. The rain created a lovely opportunity for me and my 'rents to sit down and watch a movie together. We picked out 'Easy A'  and I was thinking that maaaybe it might not be the best choice to watch with your folks, seeing as the back mentioned.. well, not quite a topic you would like to be viewing along side your parents. But actually, it was quite fun, and did not have any seriously 'awkward' and uncomfortable moments where you shrink down on the couch and think ''Oh god. Oh god. Ew. My parents are sitting right next to me and she (the character in the movie) just mentioned 'it'.." Poor example, I know, but you get my meaning don't you?
I found 'Easy A' to be funny, witty and clever. I enjoyed the way the credits were set out, blending into the scenery and actually making them interesting to read. I thought that the moral of the story was pretty clear and made sense to me, and I liked the message it was giving. In fact, it gave quite a few messages that a lot of teens can relate to, such as you don't need to be anything but you, you don't need to be popular and gain attention through lies and through doing bad things, because you are the person who will succeed in life and you only. Look at the people around you and see them for who they are, and who really care for you. The ones who care for you are the only ones who count. Not the fakes and the fair weathers.
Emma Stone (as Olive Penderghast) plays her role really well as the main character. I think she was well chosen. I would recommend this movie to any family with teens, this is a fun movie for all.