‘World War Z’ Trailer Review – June 21, 2013

We Switched Sites!

http://RetrospectRealm.com/

IMDb lists this as “A U.N. employee is racing against time and fate, as he travels the world trying to stop the outbreak of a deadly Zombie pandemic.” Besides the fact that this trailer shows us absolutely nothing as to why there is a zombie outbreak is beside the point. This actually looks kind of awesome. Not that I’m saying it was be a genuinely good movie, but it will be entertaining. Zombie’s mimicking the Spongebob episode of Plankton’s army joining forces to bridge up to something. Well, yeah, of course they weren’t mimicking that, but that’s what it reminds me of when I watch the trailer.

The film stars Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, and David Morse with it being directed by Marc Forest, written by Damon Lindelof, and adapted from the novel by Max Brooks. I’m not too excited about Brad Pitt. I’ve just never really liked him much so that’s just me.

Some people are dissapointed for this trailer because ‘it isn’t like the book’. Aren’t all book adaptions never exactly like the book? I’ve never read the book, but I don’t really care. I’m just excited to see the movie.

‘World War Z’ hits theaters June 21, 2013.

‘The Dead Zone’ 1983 Review – AMC Fearfest

• Plot: A man awakens from a coma to discover he has a psychic detective ability.
• Director: David Cronenberg
• Writers: Jeffrey Boam (screenplay), Stephen King (novel)
• Stars: Christopher Walken, Brooke Adams and Tom Skerritt | See full cast and crew

Story: I was really surprised by this one. The poster looks kind of stupid and the trailer is very misleading. The trailer makes it seem like if you touch this man’s hand, then you’re going to die. But no, in fact, you could be saved from dying. Also, not only does he just see into the future, he can see in the past too. Whoever they chose to market this did not do a good job, but it doesn’t matter since the movie is good.

Now I did not know that Stephen King had so many movies and tv series after his books. Heck, I didn’t even know ‘The Shining’ was based off of a Stephen King book. Well, ‘The Dead Zone’ proves to be one of the best of the wave of Stephen King film adaptions of the early 80s.

With an interesting story and a great performance from Christopher Walken who is scary and friendly at the same time, this film would not have been the same without him. Martin Sheen plays a maniac who is running for president and after touching Walken’s hand in the film, Walken sees that he will become president and he will choose to bomb other countries when a diplomatic solution was offered right in front of him. Martin Sheen’s career and campaign for president was over after putting a baby in front of him as a shield from bullets you thought? You were wrong! (*wink wink* to West Wing fans).

Verdict: A chilling story from the mind of Stephen King on film with a great performance from the limping Chrstopher Walken who knows how to play a scary and caring man at the same time, ‘The Dead Zone’ proves to be one of the better Stephen King book adaptions.

‘Donnie Brasco’ 1997 Review – AMC Mob Week – Movie Friday

Story: I was very impressed by this one. It’s based on a true story and it was very good. Going into this, I was thinking “Hey Johnny Depp is a cool guy, Al Pacino has a goofy overcoat”. That’s all I thought. I really didn’t know what it was about either, except that it had something to do with the mob. But to my suprise, I loved this movie. The ending was a little ehhh, but yeah, you know. They tried to stay to the real story and be as accurate as possible. They even got the real Joseph Pistone to be an advisor to the film to make sure they were staying true to the real story.

Visuals: The cinematography, lighting, and colors of the film were a little bland at parts, but overall, it was good.

Music: I didn’t notice much music really. I even tried paying attention to try and hear music. But I heard very little background music throughout the film. The opening credits music really fit with all the snapshots of Brasco and Lefty though. I even looked up that song after finishing the film.

Characters: Based on a true story, the characters were very interesting. Going into this, I couldn’t really imagine Johnny Depp playing a serious role after seeing films of his such as Pirates Of The Carribean, Willy Wonka, Alice And Wonderland, Edward Scissorhands, etc. As for Al Pacino, I did not like his big, fluffy, goofy coat he wore throughout the film.

Rewatch Value: Moderate. I’ll probably watch it again with my dad and so I can fully understand the story.

‘The Godfather Part III’ Review 1990 – AMC Mob Week – Movie Wednesday

Story: The story of this movie is more based off of continually than the past two movies. The story follows the events after part II and Micheal is shown more as a old man than a mob boss. This might have to do with the fact that Coppola didn’t want to do this movie, as he felt Part II did it nicely, but since he ran out of money, he took the long standing offer to make the third one. The story acts more like a unnecessary addition to the movies rather than a nice wrap up.

Visuals: The director of cinematography from the first two come back the third, and did a pretty decent job at it. I don’t feel that it is as good as the first two, but it could also be because we’ve seen a similar style in the past two movies.

Music: This music was composed by Coppola’s father this time around, and while it isn’t as strong as Rota’s music it isn’t bad. Of course, we would all rather have Rota do it.

Characters: Now, the Characters aren’t strongly portrayed in this. In the part II we’ve come to see Micheal Corleone as more of a bad guy, but in this movie, he is more of an old man. He isn’t the center of attention either, and we’re more focused around Vincent, his nephew, who has a clear goal, and possibly the strongest character of the film. Not because any of the Actors are bad, but they are given weak, and somewhat confusing roles.  Mary, Michael’s daughter is also a very weak character, which is strange seeing how she plays a somewhat important role. Overall, like stated before, the actors of the movie are good, but the characters given aren’t as strong as the actors could make them.

Rewatch Value: The rewatch value to this isn’t very strong. The story is weak, as are the characters. It also doesn’t help that this wasn’t originally planed during the making of the first two, but rather a way for Coppola to make a quick buck.

‘The Godfather Part II’ Review 1974 – AMC Mob Week – Movie Day

Story: There actually wasn’t a novel this movie was based on. Author Mario Puzo and director of the first Godfather movie just went on with the story. Puzo did write another Mafia-type novel called “The Sicillian”, which did mention the events in The Godfather Part II a bit, but not much since it was about different people. Fun fact, The Sicillian was also made into it’s own film, directed by Michael Cimino. Anyways, this is almost just as good as it’s predecessor, The Godfather, except it just isn’t quite as perfect. Mainly because Vito and Sonny Corleone is dead and Michael turns into the badguy in this film. One of the major positives of this film is the story of Young Vito Corleone. I absolutely loved EVERY moment of Young Vito. His beginning story was amazing, part of the reason being the performance by Robert De Niro, but I’ll get into that when I get to the characters.

Visuals: As the first one was, this one has beautiful cinematography. The Salt Lake City setting in Utah is nice too. I loved it.

Music: Nino Rota does it again. I think I’d actually say that this has a better soundtrack than the first. The other used most of the same song layed over and over and over again. This film, with the variety of locations such as New York, Utah, Sicily, etc. , the music is specially composed for each setting.

Characters: Don’t even get me started on how much I loved Robert De Niro’s performance. Oh wait, you just did. De Niro was so amazing at portraying Young Vito Corleone in this movie, with his look to his voice, I loved everything he did. His performance in this movie is in my top three favorite actor performances in any movie ever along with Heath Ledger as the Joker in 2008’s ‘The Dark Knight. De Niro even learned Sicilian dialect and lived in Sicily for 6 months prior to filming so he could be the best Young Vito he could possible be, and he accomplished it. Al Pacino, John Cazale, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, and Talia Shire also had amazing performances I loved.

Rewatch Value: Like The Godfather, I also watch this quite frequently. Every time I see this on TV, no matter what I’m doing, I HAVE to watch this.

‘The Godfather’ Review 1972 – AMC Mob Week – Movie Monday

Story: How can you even review The Godfather or it’s sequels this day in age? No matter if somebody says they hate the movie or like it, EVERBODY and I mean EVERYBODY knows this is a great movie. It’s been regarded as one of the greatest films of all-time for so long, I mean, I can’t even explain how much I love this film. It is my number one favorite movie tied with The Dark Knight and Star Wars Episode III (Yes, that’s right, one of the prequels). Based on the novel written by genius, Mario Puzo, The Godfather is like Italian Star Wars. It has the perfect amount of love, violence, hatred, symbolism, and everything a film could possibly have. Not to mention, the film is like 2 hours and 55 minutes. That’s freaking long and almost 3 hours. Usually films that are long like this you get uncomfortable in your seat and just want it to end, like James Cameron’s 2009 flick, Avatar. But this, this is just great, you are on the edge of your seat the whole movie just watching the beginning Michael Corleone’s downfall. This movie proves the quote “Even the greatest of men can be corrupted” (Except Don Corleone, of course 😉 ).

Visuals: For a 1972 film, this has amazing cinematography. The Director Of Photography was Gordon Willis. He didn’t do much or any really memorable work after his camera work on The Godfather trilogy, but let me tell you, his cinematography in these movies are some of the best I’ve seen in all movies, period. From the first scene when we first see Don Corleone, in that dark lit room where he just see the shadows and creases of his face is amazing. You can’t get better than that.

Music: Composed by Nino Rota, I actually listen to this soundtrack every other day. That’s how amazing this soundtrack is. From the theme to some faint background music, everything is beautiful about this.

Characters: This has some of the greatest cast any movie has ever had. Marlon Brando and Al Pacino as the starring roles? Two men among the greatest actors of all-time. Robert Duvall, John Cazale, Diane Keaton, and James Caan. Almost all of those actors became some of the biggest stars in Hollywood after The Godfather came out.

Rewatch Value: I actually watch this quite often to be honest. I only first saw this in March when AMC had their “The Godfather 40th Anniversary Week”. I absolutely love this film, and you should too.