The Next Three Days

            The Next Three Days is a 2010 crime drama written and directed by Academy Award winning writer/director Paul Haggis (Crash), and stars Russell Crowe (Gladiator), Elizabeth Banks (Zack and Miri Make A Porno),  Liam Neeson (Taken), and Olivia Wilde (Tron: Legacy). 

            John Brennan (Crowe) is a happily married college professor who is madly in love with his wife Lara (Banks) and together are raising their son Luke (Ty Simpkins).  One morning when getting ready to leave for work, John and Lara's home is breached into by police and SWAT team officers.  They quickly arrest and leave with Lara saying that she is being arrested for the murder of her boss.  After a few years of unsuccessful appeals and trying  to prove Lara's innocence, the courts decide that it is now time to take Lara out of city to a higher security prison.  John then decides that it is time that he figures out a way to get Lara free.  After meeting with a mysterious man who has escaped prison before, he then decides that it is time that he get his wife back.

            Surprisingly, the film was pretty well done.  One of the strongest aspects of the film was the performances by Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks.  It was very surprising to see that Elizabeth Banks could do such a good job  in a dramatic performance, and that she wasn't her usual type casted comedic character.  Most of the film seemed to flow rather well with not very many sequences that seemed to "drag".  However, there is one sequence in the film that is so over the top dramatic and poorly executed that it came off rather cheesy and comedic rather than the climactic sequence it intended to be.  This one scene alone definitely seemed to throw the film off track, and the film then has to spend a few scenes after this particular sequence setting the pace again.

            In conclusion, The Next Three Days is a pretty decent crime drama that will definitely be entertaining for many audience members.  Not to mention that the film features strong performances by its two lead actors Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks.  The film doesn't have too many problems, but has one sequence that really needed to be left out as it really seemed to bring the quality of the film down.  Overall, The Next Three Days gets a 3.5/5.

           

Due Date

            Due Date is a 2010 comedy directed by Todd Phillips (The Hangover, Old School) and stars Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man) as Peter Highman, and Zack Galifianakis (The Hangover) as Ethan Tremblay.

            The film is about a Peter (Downey Jr.) as he journeys home to his pregnant wife who is going to have a C-Section delivery when he gets home.  However, while on the plane to Los Angeles, Peter meets Ethan and as a result of Ethan's behavior gets the two kicked off of the plane and put on the "No Fly" list by NSA.  Unfortunately for Peter, he was not able to grab his wallet off of the plane as he was being kicked off.  Stranded with no money, identification, or credit cards, Peter decides to take up Ethan on an offer to drive him home to Los Angeles.  Peter then embarks on a journey home that gets him into even more trouble than he ever could have imagined.

            The film is probably director Todd Phillips' strongest feature yet.  However, it is not his funniest film.  The production has a pretty solid story that follows the proper formulas of your usual "Golden Fleece" and "Buddy Love" pictures.  At times it does seem to get a little out of hand, but manages to do it in a way to where the audience laughs rather than rolls their eyes.  The problem that I fear most viewers are going to have with this feature is that they are going to expect it to be as funny as Phillips' previous film The Hangover.  As I mentioned earlier, this film is definitely not his strongest comedy piece, but has a stronger story, stronger acting, and better directing that makes it a better film.

            As mentioned, the acting in the film is very solid.  However, the best performance in the film surprisingly is not Robert Downey Jr.  I was very surprised to see just how wide actor Zack Galifianakis' range really is.  Two of the strongest dramatic scenes in the film are performed by Zack Galifianakis and makes this roll a huge step up for his reputation as a strong actor.  With that said, I also found it very interesting that the funniest moments in the film are performed by Robert Downey Jr.  Downey Jr. has always been funny in many of his previous comedic roles, but part of me feels that this was his best comedic performance.

            Overall the film was really enjoyable.  It showed some very strong performances by the two lead actors and some great directing from Todd Phillips.  There is a particular dramatic scene in the film that features a great performance by Zack Galifianakis that directors can only dream of getting out of their actors most of the time.  Overall, a solid film.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

            Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 is a 2010 adaptation of the final book written by J.K. Rowling and directed by David Yates.  It stars Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, Emma Watson as Hermione Granger, Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley, and Ralph Fiennes as Lord Voldemort.

            The film is the first half of a complete film in which Harry Potter and his friends go on a journey to destroy the horcrux's that Lord Voldemort has placed around the land. These horcrux's were made to protect himself from being defeated at the hands of Harry Potter.  In the beginning Harry is being protected in a stronghold but soon is teleported away from the rest of the group when Voldemort finds him and tries to attack Harry and the group that is helping him move.

            First and foremost, the fact that the film is split into two sections was a huge mistake.  The filmmakers knew before hand that they were going to be splitting the film up.  With that said, they should have actually formed this first part into a full structured film.  The other aspect that I found irritating  was that nothing really happens in the film.  For roughly forty five minutes of the two hour picture the film takes place in a tent.  A lot more development could have been done with some of the important characters rather than spending the majority of the film in a tent.  Also, there is entirely too much exposition throughout the film.  In one instance a very important event occurs to a very important character in the story and rather than showing us, the film simply tells us in exposition.

            The film definitely has several flaws.  I find this inexcusable due to the fact that they split the story into two parts so that they could show you everything, rather than just tell you everything.  Instead there are too many sequences of people just talking.  This film had absolutely no reason to have so many issues, but it still does.  Rather than being the best part of the franchise is does nothing but show a couple drops of blood to separate it from the rest of the franchise.

            The one really positive thing I do have to say about the film is that the cinematography was very solid during the film.  Even the boring sequences in the tent were still very well lit.  Also, the special effects done for the film was also top quality.  There is one particular sequence in the film where a story is read to the cast and it is completely animated, I found this part of the film to be particularly well done.

            Overall, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is a film that had every reason to be great, but failed.  Half a structured story, a terrible cliffhanger that even soap opera writers would scoff at, and entirely too much exposition really make this film feel very flat.  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is in no way shape or form the "Godfather: Part II or Empire Strikes Back" of the series.

Megamind

            Megamind is a 2010 animated family comedy.  It stars Will Farrell (Step Brothers) as Megamind, Brad Pitt (Inglorious Basterds) as Metro Man, Tina Fey (30 Rock) as Roxanne Ritchi, and Jonah Hill (Superbad) as Tighten.  The movie was directed  by Tom McGrath who is also known for making the hit kids films Madagascar and Madagascar 2.

            The film is about two aliens who's planets are being destroyed by a black hole and are sent into outer space towards Earth by their parents so that they have a chance of surviving.  The two aliens end up being Megamind (Farrell) and Metro Man (Pitt).  The two infants crash land on Earth and Metro Man ends up in a upper class mansion and as where Megamind crashes into a prison.  As the two of them grow up, Megamind, having landed in the prison, grows up to believe that he is supposed to be a villain, and that he should hate Metro Man because he has everything.  As the two grow up they rival each other and as adults their rivalry's scale becomes much larger than playground bullying.  One day when doing their usual theatrics, Megamind ends up killing Metro Man while the entire city watches via cameras recording the event live.  With Metro Man dead, most would expect Megamind to celebrate, instead he feels rather guilty and bored over the death of his nemesis and also begins to fall for Metro Man's girlfriend.  Now Megamind embarks on a journey to create a new hero for Metro City to worship, as well as a new nemesis to keep him entertained.

            The film had some pretty solid comedy.  And most of the voice work was very solid.  Especially Will Farrell's performance.  However, the voice recording for Jonah his was absolutely terrible.  His voice and the facial expressions of the character do not match at all most of the film.  I found this to be extremely annoying and very distracting while watching the film.  The other thing that I had an issue with while watching the film was some of the character models.  Tina Fey's character model definitely did not suit her voice.  The expressions matched the audio's delivery, but the character model didn't match Tina Faye's voice.

            Overall, the movie is pretty good.  With some pretty solid family comedy and good performances from Will Farrell and Brad Pitt.  However, a poor voice performance from Jonah Hill and poor character design for Tina Fey's character cause some irritation while watching the feature and prevents it from becoming as memorable as it could have been.