Rio 2 (2014)

3/5

Rio 2 is a lot like Rio, but with more blue birds. The movie brings back Blu (Eisenberg) and Jewel (Hathaway), now married with three kids: a bookworm (Stenberg), a daredevil (Gagnon), and a singer (Crow). They actually remind me of someone else's three kids, although those kids are much cooler than these birds =). They find their way back to Jewel's home, where she reunites with her father (Garcia) and a smooth-talking childhood friend (Mars). But their time together is about to be cut short (literally) when an amoral businessman has plans to destroy their rain forest home to make a profit.

The new characters all feel rather stereotypical, like clichés added in to fill a gap nobody cared was there. Instead of writing the story first, figuring out who was important and why, it felt like financiers and producers told the creative team to incorporate a celebrity singer and characters that fit mold x, y, and z. They were just stuffed in to an already crowded cast without much added value. Bruno Mars seems to have been brought in solely for his singing voice (although his acting isn't too bad), as he headlines almost all the songs.

All in all, the movie is still fun--it's actually a great way to spend the afternoon--but it's just not the same novel experience that the first one was. With its star-studded cast, it certainly has one or two famous actors or actresses you'll enjoy watching.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2357291/

Rio (2011)

4/5

Rio is an insanely fun adventure flick with a fantastic cast and delightful animation. The movie takes place in Rio, as you might expect, where a blue macaw (Eisenberg) is brought by an ornithologist (Santoro) to mate with a female macaw (Hathaway) and save their species. Unfortunately, the pair are stolen by exotic animal smugglers who want to take them out of the country and sell them to the highest bidder!

The best part about the movie is how beautiful it looks. The cinematography is inventive and liberating, letting us fly through scenes with its feathered cast. The colors are bright and the editing is fine-tuned. The Latin music feels authentic and invigorating. But the characters are generic and the acting is only adequate. I can't help but see the actors instead of the characters. The story isn't the most imaginative in the world, but the script is full of both terrific visual gags and hilarious witticisms. All in all, Rio is a whole lot of fun and a great way to spend an afternoon.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1436562/

Henry Poole Is Here (2008)

3/5

Henry Poole Is Here looked so promising from the trailers. The plot follows Henry Poole (Wilson) after he moves into an old bungalow in LA. There's something odd about him. He wants to pay the full asking price, without any negotiations. He does not want it to be re-stuccoed, as he repeatedly states that he will not be staying there long anyway. He keeps his eye on another house across the street, his first choice for where he wanted to live. He buys large amounts of liquor on a daily basis, just for himself, at the same grocery store with the same cashier (Hines). When his neighbor Esperanza (Barraza) sees an image of Christ on his wall, he writes it off as a stain. She brings her pastor (Lopez) and the rest of her congregation to his house to see the miracle, but he gets so frustrated with all the attention that he tries to remove it with a high-pressure water spray. That only makes it more visible. His other neighbor Dawn (Mitchell) witnesses the events and her daughter Millie (Lily) starts recording him from across the fence.

Onto more technical aspects. The cinematography and editing were well-done, although very "indie" in its artsy compositions and lingering scenes. The acting was appropriate, but nobody really stood out. All the pieces are in place for a quirky independent dramedy, but the movie plays much more slowly and predictably than I assumed it would. I wanted something that would speak to all faiths and beliefs, something that would let anybody take what they wanted from the movie. But it's hard to argue when a blind person sees, a mute person talks, and a dying person lives. It just felt a bit heavy-handed with respect to faith and miracles. I guess my big issue with this movie is that it was not as good as I was expecting it to be. I gave it too much credit. Feel free to watch it if the trailer or the plot interested you, but don't get your hopes up too high.

Note: I had about 60-70% of a bottle of wine over the course of this 90 minute movie, which I started watching at 11:30pm, so I was a little tired and inebriated. Still, I stand by my rating within 0.5 stars.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1029120/

Valentine's Day (2010)

3/5

Uhh, I have no idea why Valentine's Day has been getting such terrible reviews, but it is utterly undeserving of such negativity. It was a fine romantic comedy, equal parts predictable (Kutcher and Garner) and equal parts unpredictable (Cooper and Roberts). It had cliches, but it also had surprises. (Perhaps the biggest surprise is that Ashton Kutcher plays a charismatic hero with aplomb and sympathy.) And it made me laugh and smile, which is exactly what it set out to do.

The plot is too complicated to type out here (or maybe I just don't remember all the details), but that doesn't really matter. Just know that it's about a bunch of men and women who get into and out of relationships on Valentine's Day. The technical aspects are nothing to write home about. The characters were simple but the acting was good. Some of the stories were not as good as some of the others, but the ones that were good were very good. There was some repetition and it felt just a tad too long, but all in all it was a solid romantic comedy. Watch this movie if you're interested in it; I don't think you'll be disappointed.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0817230/