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Treydle
 
 
 
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    November 10, 2011
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    June 30, 2013
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    November 10, 2012
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Treydle's Reviews
1 2 3 4 5 ... 11 >>
 
Gus Van Sant's Finding Forrester comes to DVD with a widescreen anamorphic transfer that preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1. Closed-captioned English soundtracks are rendered in both Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital Surround, while a French soundtrack has been recorded in Dolby Digital Stereo. Subtitles for both of those languages are accessible as well. Supplemental materials include the HBO making-of featurette, deleted scenes, theatrical trailers, cast and crew biographies, production notes, and (most interestingly) a short featurette abut the discovery of Rob Brown, the unknown who delivers a fine lead performance in the film.
 
Customer Rating
5 out of 5
5
Amazing
on June 30, 2013
Posted by: Treydle
from Saratoga Springs, NY
What’s the biggest secret you ever kept? Sneaking out past curfew, smoking pot behind the garage? What if this secret wasn’t yours to tell? Do you think that would make it easier or harder to keep?
Jamal Wallace (played by Rob Brown) is a basketball player in the Bronx. When we enter the story, he’s recently taken academic assessment tests and, in contrast to his work in class, has scored high enough to gain the attention of the school board. On top of this, it is mentioned that Jamal (Brown) is an exceptional basketball player. One night, after a successful game, he is sharing a meal with friends at a restaurant. They discuss, among other things, a neighborhood resident who is something of an urban legend, referred to simply as “the window” because he never leaves his apartment. A common tradition among the group is for one member to dare another. One of the men dares Jamal to break into “the window’s” apartment and return with something from inside. Jamal enters the apartment and sees a letter opener shaped like a knife but, much to his surprise, “the window” catches him, yelling loudly and inspiring Jamal to flee. Until his mother makes him aware of the fact, he never realized that he left his backpack in the apartment. That’s set aside, briefly, when he meets with an admissions officer from an expensive private school, as a result of his test scores. When his mother says they couldn’t possibly afford the tuition, the school official says that if Jamal were to continue playing basketball with the same skill for his new school, that tuition will not be an issue. In the time since, Jamal’s backpack was unceremoniously dropped from “the window’s” apartment and the notebooks inside, all containing creative writing of Jamal’s, now with editorial comments written with a red pen. Jamal approaches the apartment, this time using the front door, and asks “the window” if he would read more of his writing.
I truly love this movie. Brown as Jamal Wallace is a character you cannot help but like, despite his momentary foray into delinquency. “The Window” who is later identified as a renowned author who became a recluse decades before we’re introduced to him. “The Window”, played by Sean Connery, is a very sympathetic character and, as he takes on the role of mentor to Brown’s character, the audience is given the opportunity to see it change both of their lives for the better. Until recently, I hadn’t watched this film for some time. Since watching it again, I have no idea why it took me this long. You should see this movie as soon as you can.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+1point
1of 1voted this as helpful.
 
Customer Rating
5 out of 5
5
Very Good
on May 27, 2013
Posted by: Treydle
from Saratoga Springs, NY
Have you ever felt like a disappointment to everyone you know? Someone your parents and peers think of as an anchor dragging the rest of them down or as a mere inconvenience? How do you get past that?
Berk is a small, Viking village located near the Arctic Circle. At least, that’s an assumption I made based on the main character’s statement that “it snows nine months of the year and hails the other three”. That main character, Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel) is the only son of the village chief, Stoick the Vast (voiced by Gerard Butler). The village is under near-constant siege by outside forces. Those outside forces being dragons. Hiccup (Baruchel) is short, slim, and in no way strong. The one trade all villagers learn in their lifetime is the art of hunting and killing dragons. Gobber (Hiccup’s employer and the proprietor of the village armory, voiced by Craig Ferguson) suggests that Hiccup stop all of “this” while gesturing to all of him. Gobber (Ferguson) is a man who has lost several limbs over the years, all during encounters with dragons. Hiccup, being seriously lacking in physical strength, designs and constructs a machine to propel the weapons that the other villagers simply throw by hand. Of course, during a trial run in front of Gobber, the machine strikes a villager. Hiccup takes that same apparatus to a mountaintop, fires on one of the few species of dragon that’s never been captured or seen and, miraculously, causes that dragon to fall to earth. Overjoyed by this victory, Hiccup shouts in triumph but is soon set upon by a species of dragon that can breathe fire and produce fire throughout its entire body. He’s rescued by his father who expresses disappointment in his son and disbelief in Hiccup’s claim to have landed a blow against a Night Fury. He treks through the woods the next day, determined to find proof of his accomplishment, but finds something far more significant.
Now, unlike a lot of “adults” I maintain my affection for “children’s” movies. This is not to say that I like all, or even most, children’s movies. For example, Despicable Me, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and Eight Crazy Nights disappointed me to a degree that I cannot express in words. But, in spite of its flaws or maybe because of them, I loved How to Train Your Dragon. Casting Baruchel as Hiccup was genius. Hiccup’s peers, voiced by Kristen Wiig, Jonah Hill, America Ferrara and others, fit the roles they’re given perfectly. If you have children who haven’t seen this movie, you should take steps to remedy that. If you don’t have children but can enjoy movies that are produced for them, like I do, check it out.
I would recommend this to a friend!
0points
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Customer Rating
5 out of 5
5
Galifianakis. Who knew?
on April 30, 2013
Posted by: Treydle
from Saratoga Springs, NY
What were your teen years like? Sleepovers, baseball and paper routes? For a startling many, the teen years are the exact opposite of that. But, when all that stress becomes too much to handle, what do you do?
Craig Gilner (played by Keir Gilchrist) is a sixteen year-old who’s contemplated suicide many times. One night, he dreams of riding his bike to the Brooklyn Bridge. In the dream, before he can jump, his mother (played by Lauren Graham), father (played by Jim Gaffigan) and little sister appear on the bridge. After a brief conversation, Craig loses his balance and falls to the water below. He wakes up after that and heads to the nearest emergency room. The admitting nurse, who was on the phone at the time of Craig’s arrival, hears him state that he intends to kill himself and simply hands him a clipboard with attached admitting forms. While sitting in the waiting area, a man in scrubs in a lab coat (played by Zach Galifianakis) strikes up a conversation and then leaves abruptly. When he is actually examined, his doctor (played by Aasif Mandvi) does not believe that Craig is a threat to himself but Craig is adamant and, as such, is admitted for evaluation. The part of the hospital usually reserved for mentally ill teens is undergoing renovations so Craig is placed with the adults. His roommate, a middle-aged Egyptian named Muqtada (played by Bernard White) rarely leaves his bed and has not left his room in weeks. The initial shock provokes feelings of “buyer’s remorse” in Craig but the hospital staff is not permitted to release him without evaluating him, which will take several days. In that time he becomes acquainted with other patients such as fellow teen, Noelle (played by Emma Roberts) and the man he encountered in the waiting room, Bobby (Galifianakis) who regularly leaves the ward, without permission, dressed in scrubs to avoid being escorted back.
I love this movie. Gilchrist masterfully portrays, in my opinion, a young adult grappling with issues that are far beyond his comprehension who is trying desperately to conceal that at the same time. Graham as the caring, over-emotional mother is someone we feel great sympathy for. Zach Galifianakis, for the first time in his acting career, scales back on the eccentricities we usually see in him and, surprisingly enough, shows talent as an actor. It seems odd that the least eccentric character that he’s ever portrayed would be a mental patient, but that doesn’t make it any less true. To sum up, It’s Kind of a Funny Story is a near-brilliant film and I would advise anyone who found my review intriguing in the slightest to see it at their earliest possible convenience.
I would recommend this to a friend!
0points
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Customer Rating
5 out of 5
5
One of Cusack's Best
on April 14, 2013
Posted by: Treydle
from Saratoga Springs, NY
What are your passions? Travel, fine food, family and friends? What if you decided to forsake everything else in your life to make a career out of those passions? Looking back, what would you think?
Rob Gordon (played by John Cusack) is a lifelong Chicago resident and owner of his own record store. The store, Championship Vinyl, attracts very few window shoppers and almost as few intentional customers. The staff consists of Rob, Barry (played by Jack Black), and Dick (played by Todd Louiso). Originally hired to work two days a week, Barry (Black) and Dick (Louiso) decided instead to show up every day. Their personalities are complete mirror images of each other, Barry being loud and opinionated (one of many reasons that Jack Black was perfect for the role) and Dick being soft-spoken and deferential. What they and Rob have in common with each other is an almost encyclopedic knowledge of music and a superior attitude as a result. When we join the story, Rob is being dumped by his live-in girlfriend, Laura. Laura (played by Danish actress Iben Hjejle) has chosen to leave in the evening and Rob, vehemently opposed to the idea, elects to shout out the window as Laura drives away. Rob then proceeds to list the five most devastating breakups in his romantic past, purposely excluding Laura from the list. Noticing that all those relationships ended at the urging of the other party, Rob decides that he is doomed to be rejected. He reaches out to his first girlfriend, a girl he kissed for two hours a day for three days before finding her kissing someone else on the fourth day. While he fails to find his middle school love, her sister informs him that the boy Rob saw her kissing on the first day is now her husband and that they live in Australia. In fact, the woman he speaks to is under the impression that her sister’s husband was actually her first boyfriend. Rob tries to disabuse her of this notion but the sister, believing him to be delusional, hangs up. Rob, now believing that his circumstances are the result of fate and not any sort of failure on his part, plans to reach out to his other former partners. Penny Hardwick (played by Joelle Carter) who would not allow the intimacy between them to progress past kissing, Charlie Nicholson (played by Catherine Zeta-Jones) who rejected him and began a relationship with a coworker, and Sarah Kendrew (played by Lily Taylor) who found the ideal relationship with each other, both having been rejected and fearing they would never find their true soul mate. Sarah found someone else while still with Rob and ended things with absolutely no warning.
This is one of those rare comedies that displays truly inspiring performances. Jack Black is, well Jack Black, but he is a valuable addition to the cast and the story. Cusack as Rob plays a character that we lose sympathy for on more than one occasion but ultimately find ourselves rooting for. And, as is typically the case with movies that feature multiple music aficionados as characters, the soundtrack is incredible. Thirteen years have passed since the release of this film and I enjoy it just as much if not more than I did when it was first released. THAT is the mark of true greatness.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+1point
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Customer Rating
5 out of 5
5
Remember remember
on March 24, 2013
Posted by: Treydle
from Saratoga Springs, NY
What can anyone do in the face of true tyranny? When simple criticism is outlawed, what chance does a revolution have? How do you inspire a nation that’s been bullied into silence?
The story begins with a comment on the power of an individual idea. Additionally, we are given a brief history of a failed rebellion in Great Britain and the man behind it, Guy Fawkes (portrayed by Clive Ashborn). Next, we flash-forward to an unspecified point in the United Kingdom’s future. A future in which a man by the name of Lewis Prothero (called The Voice of London and played by Roger Allam) has his own nightly broadcast and uses it to espouse his own political beliefs which always ends with the phrase “good guys win, bad guys lose, and, as always, England prevails”. Prothero is shown to the viewer on two different screens being watched by two different people. One of them, Evey Hammond (portrayed by Natalie Portman) is preparing for an evening out and turns off her television as she leaves, saying “That’s quite enough of that. Thank you very much.” The other viewer is left unidentified. Once Hammond has left her home, a public address system notifies the citizenry that a “yellow coded” curfew is now in effect. Worried that she might face consequences if she is discovered, Hammond suddenly hurries. Unfortunately, she is accosted by two men. Soon after threatening her, they identify themselves as government officials and make it clear that they intend to assault her. All seems lost for Ms. Hammond until a masked man, (voiced by Hugo Weaving) intervenes on her behalf. Our man in the mask subdues Ms Hammond’s attackers and then tells her that she may call him V. V claims to be a musician on the way to a concert and asks Evey to join him. V appears delusional to Evey at first, conducting a symphony that she can neither see nor hear, when the same public address system that informed of the curfew begins playing Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture. Before the song is finished, she is surprised again by an explosion which destroys the Old Bailey, home of the Central Criminal Court and an iconic piece of London architecture. As V revels in the destruction of the Old Bailey, it becomes clear to Evey that he was responsible and as government officials observe her next to V in the surveillance footage, they incorrectly assume Evey was somehow involved.
When V for Vendetta was first in theaters, it was the source of much debate. Fans of the graphic novel complained that it took liberties with the story. Others worried that it justified terrorism. Having not read the graphic novel, I can’t comment on the first part. On the second part, at the time it occurred, people might’ve seen the Boston Tea Party as terrorism. In a totalitarian state, where dissent is a criminal act in and of itself, terrorism might very well be the best vehicle for change. And it’s because of that, an engaging and suspenseful story, and stellar performances from the main and supporting cast that I count V for Vendetta among my favorite movies. I have seen it many times since it was released on DVD and I will, no doubt, watch it many more. If what I’ve written intrigues you at all and you haven’t seen this film yet, you absolutely should. Just one man’s opinion.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+2points
2of 2voted this as helpful.
 
Customer Rating
5 out of 5
5
Loved it
on March 9, 2013
Posted by: Treydle
from Saratoga Springs, NY
Could you build a new life with mistakes of your past haunting you? What if you had to do it more than once? Everyone has a breaking point. What if you reached yours and had further to go?
Jean Valjean (portrayed by Hugh Jackman) stole bread to feed his starving family and, while serving his sentence, tried to escape. So, nineteen years after his initial incarceration, a guard known simply as Javert informs him that he is free to go. Javert (played by Russell Crowe) believes that Valjean (Jackman) is a born criminal and that he will return to jail eventually. After spending almost twenty years in prison, Valjean is unable to find work and resorts to sleeping on the street. He is taken in by a bishop and spends a night in a church. He steals the church’s silver in the night and is arrested but the bishop lies to the authorities, claiming the silver was a gift, thereby facilitating Valjean’s release. Valjean breaks parole and is reborn as an honest man but Javert vows to find and arrest him. Eight years after the bishop’s kind act, Jean has become a factory owner and the mayor of a small town. One of his workers, Fantine (portrayed by Anne Hathaway), is exposed as an unwed mother and fired by her lecherous foreman. Fantine (Hathaway), with no other options, resorts to prostitution to support herself and send whatever she has left to her daughter Cosette. Seen arguing with a customer by the rigidly moral Javert, who is now police inspector, Fantine seems destined for imprisonment. Luckily, Valjean intervenes and brings Fantine to a hospital. Despite initial suspicions that the mayor is Valjean, Javert arrests another man he believes to be Valjean and offers the mayor his resignation. Valjean declines, exonerates the man believed to be him and goes on the run. Rather than concerning himself solely with his own freedom, Valjean seeks out the daughter of the now-deceased Fantine who is being “cared for” by a pair of unscrupulous innkeepers. Those innkeepers (portrayed by Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter) extort a large sum of money before allowing Valjean to leave with Cosette and then inform the police who are hot on his trail. Nine years later, Cosette (who has, of course, grown and is now portrayed by Amanda Seyfried) is still being cared for by Valjean and, after a chance encounter with a revolutionary, falls in love instantly. That revolutionary (Marius, portrayed by Eddie Redmayne) is the object of a one-sided crush by the daughter of Cosette’s former caretakers. Her name is Eponine (played by Samantha Barks) and while she has little or no interest in politics, she joins Marius’s revolution almost immediately.
I can go either way where musicals are concerned. I couldn’t stand Chicago, but I loved Dreamgirls and eventually bought it on DVD. Also, while I’d heard of it before and knew it was a musical, my first introduction to the story of Les Miserables was a film starring Liam Neeson and Geoffrey Rush which altered the original story and abandoned the musical aspect. I really liked this film. All the actors in this film, to varying degrees, are competent singers. In fact, Anne Hathaway was shockingly good. What I liked better about the Liam Neeson film is that it supplied explanations. Even so, if you can appreciate musicals, you should see Les Miserables.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+21points
30of 39voted this as helpful.
 
Customer Rating
5 out of 5
5
Daniel Day does it again
on March 9, 2013
Posted by: Treydle
from Saratoga Springs, NY
You make it your mission to rid your nation of its most shameful human rights violation. While fighting a war to achieve that goal, you’re simultaneously trying to pass legislation in furtherance of that goal. What if you fail?
Abraham Lincoln (played by Daniel Day-Lewis) has brought the south to the edge of defeat in The Civil War but has yet to pass the thirteenth amendment which will outlaw slavery and involuntary servitude. He feels that he can’t end the war without first passing the amendment. His cabinet, in contrast, feels they will not be able to pass the amendment if they are not trying to end the war. His Secretary of State, William Seward (played by David Strathairn) tells him that peace and the amendment are mutually exclusive. Debates among congressmen rage on the floor on a constant basis with arguments in favor of abolition being voiced by Republican congressman Thaddeus Stevens (played by Tommy Lee Jones) and arguments opposing abolition coming from Fernando Wood (played by Lee Pace) and George H. Pendleton (played by Peter McRobbie). Behind the scenes, operative William N. Bilbo (played by James Spader) is constructing backroom, and in some cases backwoods, deals that will ensure anyone who may vote for the amendment will and anyone who won’t will abstain. As far as any struggles Abraham Lincoln is dealing with in his home life, his son, Robert Todd Lincoln (portrayed by Joseph Gordon-Leavitt), has abandoned studies at Harvard to join the Union army. His mother, First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln (portrayed by Sally Field) is foursquare against the idea of her son going to war, as she is still dealing with the loss of two sons. Edward Baker Lincoln who died in 1850 and William Wallace Lincoln who succumbed to typhoid fever one year prior to the Emancipation Proclamation.
I cannot overstate how much I enjoyed this movie. Some actors simply play themselves while answering to different names and others disappear into a role. Where Bruce Willis is the former, Daniel Day-Lewis is most definitely the latter. Makeup or no, this is not an actor’s portrayal of Abraham Lincoln, this is a brilliant man transforming himself into the most courageous politician this country’s ever known. Likewise, Tommy Lee Jones as Thaddeus Stevens, a man even more devoted to the cause of abolishing slavery but far less concerned with matters such as tact and courtesy steals every scene he is in. There is no justification for foregoing this movie for this long but, if you haven’t seen it yet, you should. It is brilliant.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+19points
20of 21voted this as helpful.
 
Customer Rating
5 out of 5
5
Hilarious
on March 5, 2013
Posted by: Treydle
from Saratoga Springs, NY
Have you ever felt like you were stuck in a role you never wanted to play? Constantly subjected to scorn and ridicule simply for performing the only task available to you? What if you could change that?
Fix-it Felix Jr. has been a popular game in Litvak’s for years. The hero and titular character, Felix (voiced by Jack McBrayer) has a magic hammer that can repair any damage done by the game’s villain, Ralph. When the game is over, Felix is given a medal while Ralph (voiced by John C. Reilly) is tossed off the roof by the tenants of the building he failed to destroy. When the arcade closes and the game is turned off, Ralph returns to his home atop a garbage heap in the nearby dump. For recreation, he visits Tapper’s, a vintage game that assigns the player the role of a bartender. Also, upon our introduction to the story, Ralph makes his first visit to a support group for video game villains. Among the villains in attendance at Bad-Anon, we see M. Bison and Zangief from Street Fighter (voiced by Gerald C. Rivers and director Rich Moore respectively), a ghost from Pac-Man (voiced by Kevin Deters), and a zombie (Raymond Persi). During that meeting, he announces he no longer wants to be a bad guy. With the 30th anniversary of Fix-it Felix Jr., the tenants throw a party and “forget” to invite Ralph. Ralph crashes the party, in every sense of the word, and leaves soon after. Before he’s left, he vows to return with a medal, something denied him by Felix and the tenants of the building he destroys. He seizes the opportunity to travel to a new game, a first-person shooter game called Hero’s Duty, when a character from that game passes out in the bathroom. While at the center of Hero’s Duty, Ralph is overwhelmed by the violence in modern games and refuses to heed the orders of his superior, Sergeant Calhoun (voiced by Jane Lynch). Once the arcade closes and the game ends, Ralph decides to forego the usual hurdles of Hero’s Duty and steal the medal typically awarded to the winner. After stealing the medal and, unwittingly, bringing a menacing enemy insect known as a Cy-bug with him, Ralph heads to the kart-racing game Sugar Rush. It’s there that he encounters the perpetually glitchy and terminally annoying Vanellope von Schweetz (voiced by Sarah Silverman). Despite the initial friction, Ralph and Vanellope (Silverman) bond over their shared status as outcasts.
There is, of course, more to the story including Felix’s pursuit of Ralph into the various other games and his budding romance with the no-nonsense Sergeant Calhoun, the true origin of Silverman’s character, and an eventual revolt in the world of Sugar Rush. All of it, and I do mean all of it, had me riveted. I will say that, as a fan of old-style video games, I would’ve preferred seeing the character of Ralph travel to more than just the two different games besides his. Regardless of my criticisms, Wreck-It Ralph is hilariously entertaining and fun for viewers of all ages. Check it out.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+4points
4of 4voted this as helpful.
 
Customer Rating
4 out of 5
4
Not as good as Cast Away, but...
on February 22, 2013
Posted by: Treydle
from Saratoga Springs, NY
Who among us doesn’t want to be remembered? To make an impact that will last lifetimes? It turns out everyone’s life does, just not necessarily the way you might like or to the degree you might hope, or so says this latest offering from the creators of The Matrix trilogy based on a novel of the same name by David Mitchell.
Chronologically, the first character we’re introduced to is Adam Ewing. Ewing (played by Jim Sturgess) is an American lawyer travelling to the South Pacific to conduct business on behalf of his father-in-law. He witnesses the enslavement of the native islanders, offers passage to one who stows away on the ship, Autua (played by David Gyasi) and falls ill as a result of exposure to a parasite. Once incapacitated by his illness, Ewing is “cared for” by the maniacal Dr. Henry Goose (played by Tom Hanks). Eighty-seven years later, we’re taken to the UK and introduced to a young man whose wealthy father sees him as an embarrassment and has disowned him. That man, Robert Frobisher (played by Ben Whishaw), dreams of being a composer. While hoping to achieve that, he takes a job dictating for a man whose already achieved fame of his own, Vyvyan Ayrs (played by Jim Broadbent), whose eyes are failing him. Despite Ayrs unpleasant demeanor, Frobisher proves up to the job and it allows him time to further his own ambitions. Flash forward another thirty-seven years, we meet Luisa Rey. Rey (played by Halle Berry who also portrays relatively minor characters in the previous storylines) is a second-generation journalist writing a story about a nuclear power plant that is opening in her hometown of San Francisco. Unexpectedly, she meets Rufus Sixsmith (former lover of the now-deceased Frobisher played by James D’Arcy). Sixsmith (D’Arcy) is a nuclear physicist who knows that the plant is unsafe and hopes to relay his knowledge to Rey and provide evidence to substantiate it. What neither Ray, Sixsmith, or Dr. Isaac Sachs (another whistleblower played by Tom Hanks) are aware of however, is that they are all being hunted by a man whose employers wish to see the plant open, no matter the risk to the environment or local residents. Once again, we jump ahead. This time, thirty-nine years to the present. There we meet Timothy Cavendish (played by Broadbent). Cavendish is a publisher at a publicity event for an author named Dermot Hoggins (Hanks). During the event, Hoggins sees a critic who panned his work and throws him off the balcony. While he is sent to jail for his actions, his book begins flying off the shelves resulting in a financial windfall for Cavendish. Members of the Hoggins family wish to take the proceeds Cavendish is receiving from the sales as a result of Dermot signing away his rights to them before going to jail. Cavendish goes on the run and his brother Denholme (played by Hugh Grant who, like the others, played roles of varied significance in the previous stories) sends him to an establishment that he mistakes for a hotel but that is, in fact, a secure home for the elderly. Rather than capitulate, Cavendish plots his escape with help from other unhappy residents, one of whom only says two words over and over during the planning of the escape and the escape itself.
There are two more storylines which, together, span a time of two-hundred nine years into the future. Rather than describe them both, I’ll simply conclude here with my thoughts on the film as a whole. Cloud Atlas, while not as brilliant as the hype made it out to be, is a great film. Hanks and company play all of their roles expertly. And though the connective tissue between them strains credulity at times, they each leave the viewer with a sense of hope and optimism that, in the end, things will work out somehow. That’s not a large part of my particular worldview, but it’s beautifully depicted and highly entertaining, nonetheless. See it.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+10points
11of 12voted this as helpful.
 
Customer Rating
5 out of 5
5
Wondrous
on February 19, 2013
Posted by: Treydle
from Saratoga Springs, NY
What would you do if you found yourself orphaned, alone and in the middle of the ocean? Drown, surrender, pray? Now imagine you had company in the form of a dangerous predator.
We join the story of Piscine Molitor Patel in adulthood. Piscine, known as Pi (played by Irfan Khan) is an Indian living in Canada. One day, a young novelist comes to his door after being referred by a friend of his. Named after a swimming pool by his parents, Piscine came by his nickname after exhaustive chiding of his given name by classmates in school. His father ran a local zoo and Pi took an intense, and as far as his father was concerned, unhealthy, interest in the zoo's sole tiger. Named Richard Parker as the result of a clerical error, the tiger is fed a live goat while Pi bears witness in an effort by his father to instill an appropriate amount of fear. Though raised as a Hindu, Pi (played as an adolescent by Ayush Tandon) discovers Christianity as the result of a dare from his older brother and, by sheer chance, discovers Islam sometime after. As an adult, he refers to himself as a Catholic Hindu. At 16, Pi's father decides to close the zoo, sell the animals and move the family to Canada. This is a crushing development in the life of our main character as he has just fallen in love for the first time. The family and the animals make their journey west on a Japanese freighter. Woken by a severe storm, Pi goes to the top deck to marvel at the magnitude of the waves, wind, and rain. It is that extremely questionable decision which lands him in a lifeboat while his family and the rest of the crew sink with the ship. All this would make his chances of survival slim enough, but for better or worse, he's not alone in the boat. With him is Richard Parker the tiger, an orangutan he refers to as Orange Juice a zebra and a hyena.
This is an incredible movie. Some would say elements of the story are too fantastic to be believable but, with the first film in The Hobbit trilogy and the alleged final chapter in the Twilight saga currently in theaters, those objections seem hollow, to say the least. The struggle between man and beast and the eventual development of a symbiotic relationship between the two make for an extremely gripping tale. It's made even more so by the trials and tribulations they both encounter in their fight to survive. I thoroughly enjoyed Life of Pi, and wish I'd seen it sooner.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+19points
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Treydle's Review Comments
 
Overall4 out of 54 out of 5
Great superhero film
By Treydle from Saratoga Springs, NY
Can you reboot a franchise that once held the record for largest opening weekend in history? Can you create something original using a character who was first introduced to the world in 1962?
Peter Parker, age 4, (played by Max Charles) is playing hide and seek one night when he discovers someone has broken into his father’s study. His father, Richard (played by Campbell Scott) sees this and takes some important papers, his wife Mary (played by Embeth Davidtz) and his son to the home of his Aunt May (played by Sally Field) and Uncle Ben (played by Martin Sheen). Peter is left in that home for his own safety and never sees his parents again. At least a decade later, Peter (played as a teenager by Andrew Garfield), is being bullied by an athlete named Flash Thompson (played by Chris Zylka) and has a crush on a student named Gwen Stacey (played by Emma Stone). When Peter returns home at the end of the day, bruised and beaten by Flash, he finds papers in his father’s briefcase that show he once worked with a man named Dr. Curt Connors (played by Rhys Ifans). Connors works at a company named Oscorp, so Peter disguises himself as an intern to gain access to the lab and, hopefully, Connors. Little did he know, the tour for new interns was led by Gwen Stacey. She knows immediately that the ID badge that Peter’s wearing belongs to someone else, but allows him to continue on the tour regardless. Peter sneaks away from the group and finds a lab filled with genetically-modified spiders that are producing biocable. As is often the case with people who bother animals for no reason, Peter gets bitten. Security eventually finds him and escorts him out of the building. While on the subway, he discovers that he gained far more than knowledge from his visit.
Now, I saw the 2002 Spider-Man film starring Tobey Maguire and the 2004 sequel. I liked it initially, but over time, I grew tired of it. I thought 2004’s Daredevil was a much better film, despite mixed reviews from moviegoers and critics. Not to mention, I believe Kirsten Dunst gave a less-than-stellar performance as Parker’s love interest, Mary Jane Watson. Not to mention the irony of having blonde Kirsten Dunst dye her hair red to play Mary Jane Watson and then having redhead Emma Stone dye her hair blonde to play Gwen Stacey. Forgetting all that for a second, this was a much better film than the one we got from Sam Raimi. Director Marc Webb and company have created something with a much darker, more serious tone, a better story, and a solid conclusion. I enjoyed this film very much.
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Treydle
Saratoga Springs, NY
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November 10, 2012
Not on Sony's payroll. Or anyone else's for that matter. As for Sam Raimi, I have great respect for his work as the writer/director of "Evil Dead 2", "Army of Darkness", and "The Hudsucker Proxy". The "Spider-Man" film series, on the other hand, turned webbing into something that just came along naturally with the spider bite and turned Mary Jane Watson into a damsel in constant distress who spoke in a whisper most of the time. Whether Dunst was chosen by Raimi or forced on him by the studio, I believe the film was worse as a result. As for having a pleasant day, while it has little if anything to do with you, that seems unlikely. At any rate, I appreciate you saying that you respect my opinion and find my comments well-written. Perhaps you could submit a question with regard to a film on which we are of like minds. To sum up, feel free to respond or not and thanks for the input.
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