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All's I'm saying is that it would be worth-while to delve into well-roundedness by writing up a primarily negative review. 
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John Milton, Paradise Lost
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Changeling (Clint Eastwood, 2008)
Synopsis
Changeling is the recent provocative drama from Clint Eastwood. It starts off with Christine Collins spending time with her little boy, and showing her work. She promises to take him to a movie, but instead she’s called into work and has to work a couple of hours. But when she gets home from her shift at work she finds that her little boy has gone missing. Months pass and her little boy has still not been found, she doesn’t stop looking for him though. Then one day the LAPD say they found him and give him to her. But this little boy is not her little boy, and the LAPD won’t listen to her, so she has to find help from someone else. So Reverend Gustav Briegleb steps in to help her out, because he’s dealt with the LAPD before. The two of them begin fighting this so that Christine can get her son back. But once she decides to go public about this, Captain J.J. Jones doesn’t like it and throws her in an insane asylum. While this is all happening though, Detective Lester Ybarra finds a boy that’s confessed to something that leads to some big events. Gustav then gets Christine out of the asylum and with the help of the best Lawyer in town; they plan to sue the city. Christine still has hope that she can get her son back though. Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich, Michael Kelly, Jeffery Donovan, and Jason Butler Harner all star in this great drama.
Acting/Characters
The acting in this is very strong from the entire cast. Angelina Jolie stood out the most out of the cast, but that’s already sort of a given because she’s the main star of the movie and is in more of the movie than anyone. I’d be surprised if she didn’t at least get a ‘Best Actress’ nomination at the academy awards this year, I could definitely see her winning though, I still have a few more movies that seem to be getting academy awards buzz though, so I may find someone better. John Malkovich was amazing in this, that’s really the only way to describe. He definitely deserves ‘Best Actor’ I don’t see him winning though, because I’ve seen some better performances this year so far. His character was my favorite character in the movie though; the way he talked was just so powerful that it actually made me smile with what he was doing. Michael Kelly was also great; he was probably my favorite character after Malkovich and Jolie. Just because he was one of the only cops actually trying to do the right thing, he wasn’t corrupt like the rest of the LAPD was. I hated Jeffery Donovan’s character, his acting in it was pretty good, but I just really hated his character. Jason Butler Harner was great, I was surprised because I’ve never seen him in a movie before, but he was amazing in this. Hopefully he can do this great in some more movies.
Plot
The story right from the very first scene was great, I didn’t get bored one bit, I couldn’t even go to the bathroom during it because I was just so into it. I do feel that it could’ve ended like 25 minutes before it actually ended, I didn’t hate the last 25 minutes or anything, I just felt some of it was unneeded. But the last 10 minutes were great, I was really happy that it explained what happened. For the most part though, the movie was intense because you wanted to see what happened next, and it kept delivering on what happened next. I really wasn’t disappointed by this once, every scene was great and what I had expected from a movie directed by Clint Eastwood.
My Thoughts On It
Overall I loved it; it really did deliver on my expectations for it being a Clint Eastwood movie. Once again, I think this is probably tied with Benjamin Button and Revolutionary Road as my favorite of the year, but as I said earlier in this review, I still have a few movies from 2008 to see, and I still haven’t watched my second most hyped movie for 2008 yet. Clint Eastwood has made another amazing movie and any fan of Clint Eastwood I’m sure would like this. This movie wasn’t really disappointing at all, except maybe the ending, which if it is it’s just a little bit. And if you have any interest in seeing this, then I’d highly suggest you do so, because it definitely lives up to expectations that you might have for Changeling.
Synopsis
Changeling is the recent provocative drama from Clint Eastwood. It starts off with Christine Collins spending time with her little boy, and showing her work. She promises to take him to a movie, but instead she’s called into work and has to work a couple of hours. But when she gets home from her shift at work she finds that her little boy has gone missing. Months pass and her little boy has still not been found, she doesn’t stop looking for him though. Then one day the LAPD say they found him and give him to her. But this little boy is not her little boy, and the LAPD won’t listen to her, so she has to find help from someone else. So Reverend Gustav Briegleb steps in to help her out, because he’s dealt with the LAPD before. The two of them begin fighting this so that Christine can get her son back. But once she decides to go public about this, Captain J.J. Jones doesn’t like it and throws her in an insane asylum. While this is all happening though, Detective Lester Ybarra finds a boy that’s confessed to something that leads to some big events. Gustav then gets Christine out of the asylum and with the help of the best Lawyer in town; they plan to sue the city. Christine still has hope that she can get her son back though. Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich, Michael Kelly, Jeffery Donovan, and Jason Butler Harner all star in this great drama.
Acting/Characters
The acting in this is very strong from the entire cast. Angelina Jolie stood out the most out of the cast, but that’s already sort of a given because she’s the main star of the movie and is in more of the movie than anyone. I’d be surprised if she didn’t at least get a ‘Best Actress’ nomination at the academy awards this year, I could definitely see her winning though, I still have a few more movies that seem to be getting academy awards buzz though, so I may find someone better. John Malkovich was amazing in this, that’s really the only way to describe. He definitely deserves ‘Best Actor’ I don’t see him winning though, because I’ve seen some better performances this year so far. His character was my favorite character in the movie though; the way he talked was just so powerful that it actually made me smile with what he was doing. Michael Kelly was also great; he was probably my favorite character after Malkovich and Jolie. Just because he was one of the only cops actually trying to do the right thing, he wasn’t corrupt like the rest of the LAPD was. I hated Jeffery Donovan’s character, his acting in it was pretty good, but I just really hated his character. Jason Butler Harner was great, I was surprised because I’ve never seen him in a movie before, but he was amazing in this. Hopefully he can do this great in some more movies.
Plot
The story right from the very first scene was great, I didn’t get bored one bit, I couldn’t even go to the bathroom during it because I was just so into it. I do feel that it could’ve ended like 25 minutes before it actually ended, I didn’t hate the last 25 minutes or anything, I just felt some of it was unneeded. But the last 10 minutes were great, I was really happy that it explained what happened. For the most part though, the movie was intense because you wanted to see what happened next, and it kept delivering on what happened next. I really wasn’t disappointed by this once, every scene was great and what I had expected from a movie directed by Clint Eastwood.
My Thoughts On It
Overall I loved it; it really did deliver on my expectations for it being a Clint Eastwood movie. Once again, I think this is probably tied with Benjamin Button and Revolutionary Road as my favorite of the year, but as I said earlier in this review, I still have a few movies from 2008 to see, and I still haven’t watched my second most hyped movie for 2008 yet. Clint Eastwood has made another amazing movie and any fan of Clint Eastwood I’m sure would like this. This movie wasn’t really disappointing at all, except maybe the ending, which if it is it’s just a little bit. And if you have any interest in seeing this, then I’d highly suggest you do so, because it definitely lives up to expectations that you might have for Changeling.
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Gran Torino (Clint Eastwood, 2008)
Snyopsis
Gran Torino is the new amazing drama from the master Clint Eastwood. Gran Torino starts with a funeral, this funeral just happens to be for the wife of Walt Kowalski. You can tell from right then that Walt isn’t exactly a man that you could become friends with very easily. Walt and his family really don’t seem to get along very well. But it turns out that he lives next door to a Korean family which he really doesn’t like. But when the boy that lives at that house, Thao, starts getting harassed by a Mexican gang just walking around the neighborhood, his cousin and his gang comes over there to help him. But after that they want Thao in the gang with them, but Thao doesn’t want to be in the gang. So then he decides just to try, and for his initiation into the gang, he must steal Walt’s Gran Torino. But Walt stops him from doing so, and the gang decides to give him a second chance. This time he says no though, and a fight breaks out in Walt’s yard, and Walt doesn’t like that, so comes out with a rifle and gets them all of his lawn. Walt then finds out that it was Thao that tried to steal his car and Thao must work for him for a week to repay him. Walt and Thao then start becoming friends and the rest of Thao’s family seems to like Walt now too. But when the gang tries to get Thao again, and ends up hurting Thao this time, Walt then goes over to teach them a lesson to stop. But the gang doesn’t like this and decides to retaliate. But can Walt just continue to let this happen? Clint Eastwood, Christopher Carley, Bee Vang, and Ahney Her all star in this new Clint Eastwood movie.
Acting/Characters
The acting in this phenomenal, especially from Eastwood, but I already expect something like that from Eastwood. Now this is supposedly Clint Eastwood’s last movie, and if it is, he sure went out with a bang. He’s amazing in this, like he is always is, some of the movie it felt like he was playing Harry Callahan or The Man With No Name again, and those are my two favorite characters of him. He really shined in this one, and I’ll be upset if he doesn’t get ‘Best Actor’ this year at the academy awards, because of the movies this year I’ve seen so far, he’s had the best acting as the main actor. Christopher Carley was also very good in this; I really loved his character though. His character never gave up on what he was trying to do and all he was trying to do was to help Walt, Walt never really took his help until the ending though. He played a preacher very well, I’m glad they decided to put him in the part. Bee Vang was very good, especially because I’ve never even seen him in a movie before. I don’t even think I’ve ever even heard of him before this, but he really shined in this. I can definitely see him getting some more roles in movies after this one. Ahney Her was also very good in this, like Bee Vang, I’ve never seen her or anything or even heard of her before. I think she deserves to get a role in some more movies as well.
Plot
The story was incredible; I sort of had already expected that too. Most movies that Clint Eastwood directs seems to have some great stories, Mystic River or Unforgiven is a great example of that. But the ending to this just blew my mind; I definitely did not see it coming. It’s not the traditional Eastwood ending that you might’ve expected from the trailer. But this movie had me hooked to it right from the very beginning, I couldn’t stop watching it or pause it even if I wanted to. It was just that amazing; this is one I’d definitely recommend if you’re looking for a movie with an incredible story.
My Thoughts On It
Overall, this lived up to all the hype that I was giving it. This is top 10 material for me, and I’m pretty sure that it’s going to make it onto my top 10 when I finish my list. If it doesn’t quite make it onto my top 10, it’ll probably be just outside of it. I think I’ll actually be upset if this doesn’t snag ‘Best Picture’ this year at the academy awards, but with how it’s looking right now, I don’t even think this will be nominated for ‘Best Picture’. But as some of you may know, I’m already a huge Clint Eastwood fan, so that may be where some of my rating is coming from. I don’t think so though, I’m just thinking it may. And like I said earlier in my review, it doesn’t really have the typical Eastwood ending that you may expect, but I loved it for that, because it was something new that we haven’t seen yet. It’s just sad to see this knowing it’s going to be Clint Eastwood’s last movie though, I wish we could see him in some more movies after this. I think he’s probably just going to be sticking to directing from now on though. But if you’re trying to find a great movie to watch sometime soon at a theater, this would be the main one that I’d recommend.
Snyopsis
Gran Torino is the new amazing drama from the master Clint Eastwood. Gran Torino starts with a funeral, this funeral just happens to be for the wife of Walt Kowalski. You can tell from right then that Walt isn’t exactly a man that you could become friends with very easily. Walt and his family really don’t seem to get along very well. But it turns out that he lives next door to a Korean family which he really doesn’t like. But when the boy that lives at that house, Thao, starts getting harassed by a Mexican gang just walking around the neighborhood, his cousin and his gang comes over there to help him. But after that they want Thao in the gang with them, but Thao doesn’t want to be in the gang. So then he decides just to try, and for his initiation into the gang, he must steal Walt’s Gran Torino. But Walt stops him from doing so, and the gang decides to give him a second chance. This time he says no though, and a fight breaks out in Walt’s yard, and Walt doesn’t like that, so comes out with a rifle and gets them all of his lawn. Walt then finds out that it was Thao that tried to steal his car and Thao must work for him for a week to repay him. Walt and Thao then start becoming friends and the rest of Thao’s family seems to like Walt now too. But when the gang tries to get Thao again, and ends up hurting Thao this time, Walt then goes over to teach them a lesson to stop. But the gang doesn’t like this and decides to retaliate. But can Walt just continue to let this happen? Clint Eastwood, Christopher Carley, Bee Vang, and Ahney Her all star in this new Clint Eastwood movie.
Acting/Characters
The acting in this phenomenal, especially from Eastwood, but I already expect something like that from Eastwood. Now this is supposedly Clint Eastwood’s last movie, and if it is, he sure went out with a bang. He’s amazing in this, like he is always is, some of the movie it felt like he was playing Harry Callahan or The Man With No Name again, and those are my two favorite characters of him. He really shined in this one, and I’ll be upset if he doesn’t get ‘Best Actor’ this year at the academy awards, because of the movies this year I’ve seen so far, he’s had the best acting as the main actor. Christopher Carley was also very good in this; I really loved his character though. His character never gave up on what he was trying to do and all he was trying to do was to help Walt, Walt never really took his help until the ending though. He played a preacher very well, I’m glad they decided to put him in the part. Bee Vang was very good, especially because I’ve never even seen him in a movie before. I don’t even think I’ve ever even heard of him before this, but he really shined in this. I can definitely see him getting some more roles in movies after this one. Ahney Her was also very good in this, like Bee Vang, I’ve never seen her or anything or even heard of her before. I think she deserves to get a role in some more movies as well.
Plot
The story was incredible; I sort of had already expected that too. Most movies that Clint Eastwood directs seems to have some great stories, Mystic River or Unforgiven is a great example of that. But the ending to this just blew my mind; I definitely did not see it coming. It’s not the traditional Eastwood ending that you might’ve expected from the trailer. But this movie had me hooked to it right from the very beginning, I couldn’t stop watching it or pause it even if I wanted to. It was just that amazing; this is one I’d definitely recommend if you’re looking for a movie with an incredible story.
My Thoughts On It
Overall, this lived up to all the hype that I was giving it. This is top 10 material for me, and I’m pretty sure that it’s going to make it onto my top 10 when I finish my list. If it doesn’t quite make it onto my top 10, it’ll probably be just outside of it. I think I’ll actually be upset if this doesn’t snag ‘Best Picture’ this year at the academy awards, but with how it’s looking right now, I don’t even think this will be nominated for ‘Best Picture’. But as some of you may know, I’m already a huge Clint Eastwood fan, so that may be where some of my rating is coming from. I don’t think so though, I’m just thinking it may. And like I said earlier in my review, it doesn’t really have the typical Eastwood ending that you may expect, but I loved it for that, because it was something new that we haven’t seen yet. It’s just sad to see this knowing it’s going to be Clint Eastwood’s last movie though, I wish we could see him in some more movies after this. I think he’s probably just going to be sticking to directing from now on though. But if you’re trying to find a great movie to watch sometime soon at a theater, this would be the main one that I’d recommend.
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I have one friendly question... How many films are you going to put in Your Top Ten? 
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I have one friendly question... How many films are you going to put in Your Top Ten?
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I hear ya, but by next week, you may have 30. 
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I hope by next week, that I'll almost be finished with my top 100.
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Nice review on RR, I see we agree on a lot of it.
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I used to be addicted to crystal meth, now I'm just addicted to Breaking Bad.
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John Carpenter’s The Thing (John Carpenter, 1982)
Now I keep hearing this called ‘the scariest movie’ ever, well it does a really great job at scaring you, but I definitely wouldn’t call it ‘the scariest movie ever’. I do agree that it has to be one of the goriest movies that I’ve ever seen, I wasn’t even expecting something as gory as it was, so it really surprised me when I found out that it really was that gory. Now today was the first time that I’ve ever saw this movie, I keep hearing about how great and scary it is, so I’ve been really interested in seeing it for a while now. And I’m actually blown away, because I’ve never been too big a fan of the horror genre, for some reason it just doesn’t entertain me as much I wish it could. But I really haven’t seen many ‘classic’ horror movies, and I’ve been seeing a lot of them recently, and for the most I’ve been pleasantly surprised.
Now I’ve also heard people calling this a B-horror movie, maybe it’s just me but I didn’t really see it. When I think of a B-horror movie, I end up thinking of Evil Dead, and I wasn’t too big a fan of Evil Dead. The effects for The Thing, I guess could be considered ahead of it’s time, because I don’t even think many movies that come out today have great effects like The Thing did. The actual ‘creature’ it self is really disturbing, I mean it’s done so well, that it just looks so real. Well I’m not sure that it looks exactly ‘real’, but that was just a way to show how amazing the effects were. I also think that I may have not gotten a B-horror movie feel from it was because that I haven’t really seen much B-horror movies besides the Evil Dead series.
Kurt Russell was amazing in this; he was perfect as the ‘hero’ of The Thing. I actually really haven’t seen him in much, so I didn’t what to expect. I was actually sort of surprised at seeing him as the ‘hero’ because the main thing I know Russell for is Death Proof, and in that he’s the villain not the ‘hero’. This was also the first Carpenter movie that I can remember seeing, I saw Halloween when I was much younger, but I really can’t remember it any. But I hope to see some more of his movies in the future, because I’ve heard that he’s supposedly to the best horror movie director, now I’m not really sure about that, I do think he’s the most known horror director. I think Halloween is the next one of his I want to see, because I remember as a kid that I loved it. Besides Russell though, none of the actors really ‘stood out’ for me.
It did a few intense scenes though, mainly the one where MacReady is testing everyone’s blood to see who’s one of the creatures and who’s normal. There are a few other intense and great scenes, but I don’t really feel like mentioning them all right now, and some of them could be considered spoilers, so that’s another reason why I’m not mentioning them. But even with this one viewing, I think I can consider this one of my favorite movies. With me getting so close to finishing my top 100, I think I’m going ahead and going to put it on my favorites list, and I’m positive that it’s going to make it very high. It may even make it into my top 10, I loved it that much. I can definitely consider it one of my favorite horror movies, I think this and Dawn Of The Dead (2004) are my two favorite horror movies. But as I said earlier in the review, I haven’t really seen much horror movies yet.
Now I keep hearing this called ‘the scariest movie’ ever, well it does a really great job at scaring you, but I definitely wouldn’t call it ‘the scariest movie ever’. I do agree that it has to be one of the goriest movies that I’ve ever seen, I wasn’t even expecting something as gory as it was, so it really surprised me when I found out that it really was that gory. Now today was the first time that I’ve ever saw this movie, I keep hearing about how great and scary it is, so I’ve been really interested in seeing it for a while now. And I’m actually blown away, because I’ve never been too big a fan of the horror genre, for some reason it just doesn’t entertain me as much I wish it could. But I really haven’t seen many ‘classic’ horror movies, and I’ve been seeing a lot of them recently, and for the most I’ve been pleasantly surprised.
Now I’ve also heard people calling this a B-horror movie, maybe it’s just me but I didn’t really see it. When I think of a B-horror movie, I end up thinking of Evil Dead, and I wasn’t too big a fan of Evil Dead. The effects for The Thing, I guess could be considered ahead of it’s time, because I don’t even think many movies that come out today have great effects like The Thing did. The actual ‘creature’ it self is really disturbing, I mean it’s done so well, that it just looks so real. Well I’m not sure that it looks exactly ‘real’, but that was just a way to show how amazing the effects were. I also think that I may have not gotten a B-horror movie feel from it was because that I haven’t really seen much B-horror movies besides the Evil Dead series.
Kurt Russell was amazing in this; he was perfect as the ‘hero’ of The Thing. I actually really haven’t seen him in much, so I didn’t what to expect. I was actually sort of surprised at seeing him as the ‘hero’ because the main thing I know Russell for is Death Proof, and in that he’s the villain not the ‘hero’. This was also the first Carpenter movie that I can remember seeing, I saw Halloween when I was much younger, but I really can’t remember it any. But I hope to see some more of his movies in the future, because I’ve heard that he’s supposedly to the best horror movie director, now I’m not really sure about that, I do think he’s the most known horror director. I think Halloween is the next one of his I want to see, because I remember as a kid that I loved it. Besides Russell though, none of the actors really ‘stood out’ for me.
It did a few intense scenes though, mainly the one where MacReady is testing everyone’s blood to see who’s one of the creatures and who’s normal. There are a few other intense and great scenes, but I don’t really feel like mentioning them all right now, and some of them could be considered spoilers, so that’s another reason why I’m not mentioning them. But even with this one viewing, I think I can consider this one of my favorite movies. With me getting so close to finishing my top 100, I think I’m going ahead and going to put it on my favorites list, and I’m positive that it’s going to make it very high. It may even make it into my top 10, I loved it that much. I can definitely consider it one of my favorite horror movies, I think this and Dawn Of The Dead (2004) are my two favorite horror movies. But as I said earlier in the review, I haven’t really seen much horror movies yet.
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I love that you ditched the 'formula' for writing. I usually don't like formula reviews.
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Yo MM, I like the review. Do you like it being in Times New Roman font while everything else isn't, though? Looks kind of odd, to me.
Yo MM, I like the review. Do you like it being in Times New Roman font while everything else isn't, though? Looks kind of odd, to me.
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Oh okay.
You know you can edit your posts, right?
Oh well, I'll just leave it at that. Can't wait for your next review.
You know you can edit your posts, right?
Oh well, I'll just leave it at that. Can't wait for your next review.