Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole

Soren is a young owl enthralled by his father's epic stories of the Guardians of Ga'Hoole, a mythic band of winged warriors who had fought a great battle to save all of owlkind from the evil Pure Ones.
While Soren dreams of someday joining his heroes, his older brother, Kludd, scoffs at the notion, and yearns to hunt, fly and steal his father's favor from his younger sibling. But Kludd's jealousy has terrible consequences—causing both owlets to fall from their treetop home and right into the talons of the Pure Ones. Now it is up to Soren to make a daring escape with the help of other brave young owls. Together they soar across the sea and through the mist to find the Great Tree, home of the legendary Guardians—Soren's only hope of defeating the Pure Ones and saving the owl kingdoms.

Okay... This movie is definitely visually stunning and I can't fault it on its cinematography, 3D effects or story line.   That being said.. I just can't find much love for this movie.  That could be just me though.  The character's just didn't grab me and so I never found much sympathy for them.  (3.5/6.0)

Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage

As many of you know I have a bit a picky outlook to 3D movies.  I like 3D but it needs to be done correctly and can't be done as an after thought.  My point was proven with Sammy's Adventure, which in my mind, has just surpassed Avatar as the BEST 3D movie ever.   I got to see this movie as one of the screenings at the Toronto International Film Festival and man am I glad I went to see it.   I went in not expecting much, except an enjoyable animated movie and left totally floored.   The 3D in this movie was totally immersive, transporting the viewer into the world of Sammy as he grows from a baby sea turtle to adulthood.   What was cool was that because this was a TIFF event, following the movie there was a QA session with the film's director/producer.   Ben Stassen has been making 3D and IMAX movies for the last 20 years.  His company leads the world in IMAX movies, having produced 9 of the currently available films.   So he has a boat load of experience with the 3D medium.  What was interesting was to learn that there are actually two techniques to producing a 3D film.  The more common (especially today) method is to use a special camera (convergent camera) to film the 3D action.  The other method, used by this movie, is the dual camera method.  In essence filming the action with 2 cameras shot from different perspectives, like the human eye works.  Stassen states that this latter method is superior BUT harder to do correctly, without experience.   Without experience a 3D film shot with the dual camera method can become unwatcheable.. (making the audience motion sick) so most directors opt for the convergent camera method.   Let me tell you...  though.. you can DEFINITELY tell the difference..   the quality of the 3D in Sammy's Adventures was SUPERIOR to anything I have seen to date.  I  would recommend anyone who can get to see the final showings (Sat, Sun) at TIFF should do so.  It's definitely worth the price of admission.  The sad thing is that the distribution of this film is somewhat in doubt..  the chances of it going mainstream are small, which is a shame.  

As for the other aspects of the film, they too are extremely good.  The voice acting, plot line, and likeability of the film were high.  I left the theater with that feeling I so love when watching movies.   Leaving with the.. WOW.. that was AWESOME, feeling.   You can always tell a GREAT film from a GOOD film when that feeling still persists days after, and that is true with this movie for me.    (6.0/6.0)

Casablanca

Some of you maybe surprised but I had never seen this movie before last night.  I know, I know...  Casablanca is a CLASSIC film if ever their was one.   Some of the best lines ever have come from this movie.  "Here's looking at you kid", "Louis, this looks like the beginning of a beautiful friendship", and "Of all the gin joint's in the world, she had to come walking into this one."  I guess I just never got the chance to see it...  some many good movies and so little time.  Last night, that changed as TIFF played it on its last open air summer movie behind the Light House center... in Metro park.   I must say I wasn't disappointed.... and I can definitely see I was missing out.   What a fantastic movie.  Romantic and full of drama.   I wish I had seen it earlier.   So this is the second Bogart I have seen this year... the other being The African Queen....  I think I will need to make a point of catching The Maltese Falcon now... another movie I have yet to see.   Can't wait.   (6.0/6.0)

The Expendables

Okay, now this has got to be the most EPIC action movie I have seen in years.  Definitely a  "man" movie, Stallone set out to make one last 80's style action movie.  Getting together all of the old school action stars, (Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Dolph Lundgren) mixing in some of the newer action stars (Jason Statham, Jet Li, and then making the ultimate action movie.  One of the best scenes in the whole movie is a three way conversation with Stallone, Willis and Schwarzenegger, who after all these years finally agreed to share screen time with Stallone.   Man was that ever satisfying... let me tell you.  I have been wanting those two to be in the same movie forever.  I am a firm believer that the 80's was the decade of the action movie.  Today's action movies just don't hold up to the ones of the past and The Expendables proves it.

So as I alluded to...  the action scenes MAKE this movie.   Stallone's skill in capturing the action can be seen throughout the movie.  The scenes are well choreographed and shot to give the watcher the maximum thrill.   That being said the story line is definitely pretty shallow.   Basically there is enough there to get the characters from one action sequence to the next.. and that is about it.   Of course I wasn't expecting Shakespeare going in...  :-)   Where the movie excels is in the acting.   Stallone was able to recruit the BEST action stars from both the past and present and you can definitely see it.   These actors are COMFORTABLE in their roles.   My only complaint, if you can call it that.. is that there is SO many cool stars that sometimes I felt that they each didn't get enough screen time for themselves.

I definitely recommend going to see this movie at the theaters...  just to see history in the making...  Stallone and Schwarzenegger together was worth the price of admission.  (5.0/6.0)