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rileye-wilson
Reviews
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009)
Riley's Review: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaur
This movie agitated me. Yes, I know its for young kids, but the script was annoying. The Ice Age series should be extinct now. Yes the first one was good, but they have stretched this concept too far. Queen Latifah's character was annoying and the lines were so cliché of kids movies.
There's not much more to say about it. The movie was definitely the worst out of the three. The movie is boring and story line is predictable and is quite lame. Watch Wall-E and compare, this Ice Age isn't even close.
Ice Age needs to be extinct.
Public Enemies (2009)
Riley's Review: Public Enemies
Let me first say Gangster movies are my type of cinematic genre, thus bias was a component of my high rating of this movie.
Another reason why I think this movie is the best of its kind since 1987 (The Untouchables) was the good selection of actors. Whenever you have Johnny Depp you are bound to not have a bad performance. Stephen Graham's facial expression and delivery as acting as Baby Face was merely sensational. Christian Bale is Christian Bale. You may hate his off the camera antics, but he did an adequate job. I think Marion Cotillard (Billie Frenchette) did an amazing job acting as an emotional woman falling in love with the infamous Dillinger.
The art direction was one of the best I have seen. I felt like I was in 1933 Chicago. The action scenes with the tommy guns were awesome. Thus, the action component of a typical gangster movie was fulfilled.
So far this is summer 2009's best.
Crossing Over (2009)
Riley"s Review: Crossing Over
Upon looking at the cover of the DVD case, I was quite skeptical about how good this movie really is. It seemed like it would be sub-par because of the fact that Blockbuster sponsored its release to DVD. Also, the fact that Crossing Over is a lame and cliché title for a immigration movie added more reasons to my skepticism.
Anyways, I popped the DVD in. Harrison Ford playing his usual role, a law enforcement/cop/detective actually gave a good performance. I am a big fan of the character of Amid in this film. His emotions were real and his performance during the hold-up scene in the Korean Convenience store was suspenseful and emotional.
I felt some connections to Crash; with all the interconnectedness between the characters. Despite the cool and intriguing effect of the relationships between the characters, it still wasn't amazing as Crash's.
If I had to pick a scene, no doubt would I choose the Koreantown convenient store scene. One of the best I have seen.
I am shocked that this movie was on limited release. If you want to explore a new topic in illegal immigration, with good performances and recognizable actors then this movie is definitely worth the rent. The overall message of this movie is pro-immigration, but it is an interesting and emotional ride to catch a glimpse of the hard and sacrificial life of an immigrant.