"Hannah Montana: The Movie"

“SHE HAS THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS…NOW SHE HAS TO CHOOSE JUST ONE.”

 

“Hannah Montana: The Movie” came out in 2009 aimed towards the tween generation who fell in love with the Disney show “Hannah Montana.”  Hannah Montana’s popularity has reached an all time high and its starting to get to her head.  As she becomes a bigger and bigger diva, Miley’s father forces her to go back to her home town of Crowley Corners, Tennessee.  When she arrives back there, it is a big reality check that living the life of Hannah Montana (Miley Cyrus) has changed her from her real life person, Miley Stewart.

On her trip back to Crowley Corners she is being followed by a man who wants to discover her secret.  Being back in Tennessee Miley is forced to be herself, and stay away from her alter ego Hannah Montana.  The town is faced with losing its Southern appeal and being taken over by mini-malls.  Miley mentions to a friend that she’s friends with Hannah Montana and she is now faced with having to get Hannah Montana there.  Miley begins to realize that living the life of Hannah Montana is not everything.  When it comes time for Miley to perform as Hannah Montana she could not do it.  Being Hannah has forced her to lie to loved ones and lie to her home town of Crowley Corners.  Once she gets on stage, she shares her secret with her town, that she Miley Stewart is actually Hannah Montana.  They agree that she should still be Hannah Montana and that they will keep her secret too.  Miley leaves Tennessee with the faith that she can still live her double life.

 

-Ally Laudage

"Beauty and the Beast"

“Cause who could ever learn to love a beast”

In 1991 the beloved Disney classic, "Beauty and the Beast" was released to the world.  The movie starts with an old beggar woman who casts a spell on a prince.  He was too busy with judging people by their outside appearance, to give them a chance to see the person within.  The woman puts a spell on the prince, which turns him into a hideous beast.  The only way to break the spell is for someone to fall in love with him or he will stay this way forever if the last petal falls.

            We met Belle (voice of Paige O’Hara) a beautiful young girl who loves to read books.  She is the daughter of Maurice, an inventor.  Gaston, the stud of the town has his eye on Belle and will do whatever it takes to get Belle to marry him.  Once Maurice gets his new invention working, he goes off to the fair and on the way gets lost and comes across an enchanted castle.  Upon entering he meets Cogsworth and Lumiere the talking clock and candlestick.  The Beast (voice of Robby Benson) throws Maurice into the dungeon as his prisoner.  Belle gets word of her father being in trouble and finds him.  She finds him in the castle and makes a deal with the Beast that she will stay as his prisoner if he lets her father go.

            Belle now lives in the castle as the Beast prisoner, at first resenting everything about him.  She is forbidden from the West Wing, which is where the enchanted rose is.  She slowly begins to see a different side of the Beast and allows him in a little.  As they both begin to get to know one another, they start to fall in love.  As all this is going on, Maurice has made his way back to town and is letting everyone know about the Beast and how he has Belle.  Gaston, with the help of the town’s people, plan an attack on the castle.  It’s a battle against, furniture who can speak and humans.  The big battle is against the Beast and Gaston.  In the end the Beast wins, but it’s too late, the last petal has begun to fall.  Belle sees her love beginning to die in front of her eyes and she leans in for a kiss, and with that the spell is broken.

--Ally Laudage

"Battle Los Angeles"

                                     

      If your are into jam packed action from start to finish, blood/gore, epic war scenes, and amazing acting, "Battle Los Angeles" is the movie for you. I saw "Battle LA" the day it came out and i cannot stop talking about it. The movie was mainly about an alien army that attacks the world and what a certain platoon goes through in order to save Los Angeles from total annihilation. In the beginning, the audience meets a plentiful amount of characters and you just know that half of them are soon to meet their doom. As the movie goes on, marines are being gunned down left and right from the opposing alien enemy. The aliens were extremely well equipped and it almost seemed impossible to kill them. But a twenty year veteran of the Marines, finds out the exact way to kill them, which was a huge turning point in the battle. Now, knowing where to shoot the enemy, the marines could eliminate and destroy the enemy ten times quicker to ultimately achieve their main objective. The marines main objective throughout the movie was to find any civilians left in the city and escort them to the safe zone. While on this mission the marine soldiers encounter many hardships along the way.
     A great advantage that the aliens had was technology. It seemed that the aliens were way better equipped with weapons and armor that put a brutal force upon the marines. Many marines learned through out the battles that the alien planes weren't even manned. This meant, that the plane's were being flown by a computer miles away. The marines couldn't even fathom that these planes were killing their fellow soldiers and friends so quickly, and when they learned that they planes didn't even have a pilot, it absolutely crushed them. Imagine fighting something for hours, with it successfully killing your other allies, it trying to kill you, and finding out that no one is even flying the aircraft, and that it is being remote controlled from something miles away... What would you do or think?
      A critical part in the movie is when the marine soldiers find the aliens main controlling tower. They knew, that if they took out this main tower, it would block off all communications the main alien base had with its army. When the marines finally destroyed the main tower, it wasn't too long after that, that the alien enemy started to retreat. It was the dedication of these marines that made the ending battle of the movie so epic. Through out the whole movie, you saw American marines just get completely over run by these aliens. Your heart just went out to each and every soldier and you could only think about your family and friends who are in the armed forces and what they must be going through in battle today.
      A real cool thing about the movie, was that it had modern day weapons and fighting. I love old war movies, but the new age war weapons and fighting tactics are just so much cooler to me. The U.S. is so technologically advanced, it's super cool to actually see it first hand in this movie. A cool fact about the movie is that the singer/song writer "Ne-Yo", played a key roll as a marine from New York. Ne-Yo wasn't the only cool actor in the movie, other actors included...Michelle Rodriguez, Aaron Eckhart, Ramon Rodriguez, Cory Hardrict, and many more!

Author- Patrick Keegan

"Saving Private Ryan"

     The movie "Saving Private Ryan" was directed by Steven Spielberg and was released in July 1998.  The movie casted many know actors such as Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore and Vin Diesal.  The opening scene of the movie is probably one of the most realistic reenactments of war ever displayed in a movie, it shows how intense and horrific war really is.  It also portrays the terrified expressions the American troops were just moments before the gates on the boats open and they storm the beach in Normandy.  The extremely real footage keeps you on the edge of your seat taking your breath away. 

     After the intense opening scene was over and the American took command of the hill, a special group of soldiers were put together to find the whereabouts of Pvt. James Francis Ryan (Matt Damon) Pvt. Ryan is one of four brothers who are all serving in war and he is the only one who is still alive.  A direct order was given from the Army Chief of Staff, George C. Marshall to find him and bring him back home to his mother.

     During the movie there are many horrific battles and stressful attempts crossing through enemy filled towns.  Within them are hundreds of food solders, massive machine guns, tanks and snipers.  With some casualties the squad finally found Pvt. Ryan defending the last of two bridges from the Germans.  In the attempt to bring Pvt. Ryan back with them he refused saying that, “The men whom I am standing next to right now are my family now”

     In the end the few American troops were able to defend the bridge and hold off the waves of German troops just as reinforcements and air cover came into help.  Tom Hanks who plays the leader of the squad looking for Pvt. Ryan dies at the end of the battle.  The movie ends in modern time with Pvt. Ryan as an old man with his family around him.  He begins to grow very emotional as he looks at the tombstone of John H. Miller. (Tom Hanks)

     I thought that this was a great movie and I would recommend it to anyone who hasn’t seen it already. The movie will keep you on the edge of the seat from beginning to end.  It shows you what people went through to give us the freedoms that we have today.  

--Carl Oberle

"Repo Men"

                                                                   

A big corporation known as The Union provides people with hope, dreams, and life by selling synthetic, robotic organs to replace their old and decrepit ones for a hefty price. When people can't keep up with the payments, The Union sends the "Repo Men" to retrieve their product any way they can. When "Repo Man" Jude Law finds himself with a Union heart and can't keep up with the payments, he goes on the run from his Repo friend Forest Whitaker and former Repo boss Liev Schreiber alongside his artificial organ-filled new lady friend Alice Braga. Let the Repo hunt begin!

There's a lot more than meets the eye going on in "Repo Men", and that's part of why the film mostly works. On one level, it's a hardcore sci-fi thriller, one that's aimed at a more adult audience, featuring exciting chase scenes; gritty knifes fights, a somewhat sappy love story, and plenty of humor. On another level, it's a grim and cynical look at the state of the world we live in, and a nightmarish glance at where we could be headed, in terms of both the economic and political climate.

But don't think of this as an action movie; while there is action in it, there's not enough for it to be considered an "action movie." It's more like a chase movie with a little less chase than expected and a little more of nothing going on whatsoever, that's the film's biggest flaw.  Both Whitaker and Schreiber, each delivered fine performances as the film's not-so-obvious antagonists. Whitaker is funny yet savage, playing a guy who's scary and a little off balance, yet a guy you wish you were friends with. The chemistry between Whitaker and Law is that of a well-orchestrated buddy cop movie. Schreiber plays the greasy salesman masterfully, making him both a despicable and likable guy you can't help but love to hate. Besides the unconvincing love story between Law and Braga (which isn't worth getting into), and the film's bore of a second act, "Repo Men" is an enjoyable sci-fi thriller that could have benefited from a little more action and a little less moping around. The film kicks off hard and ends with a bang, and features a cool concept, cool characters, and just the right amount of humor.

Thomas Principato

"Finding Nemo"

FISH ARE FRIENDS NOT FOOD

       Take a dive into the ocean with Disney/Pixar for 2003’s "Finding Nemo".  Take a journey with Marlin, the clown fish as he searches for his son Nemo.  Nemo (voice of Alexander Gould) has an abnormally small fin, which causes his father Marlin (voice of Albert Brooks) to worry about his son’s ability to swim, or even do anything.  After years of being over protected, Nemo finally has a chance to go to school with the other fish and a chance to be away from his father.  When the teacher takes the school of fish on a trip to the reef, Nemo and his friends swim away from the group.  Nemo starts to swim out to sea, when suddenly his father, Marlin appears.  He begins to yell at Nemo to come back in, and the more he does the further out Nemo swims.  Suddenly, FLASH!  A camera flash goes off, and next thing we know Nemo is scooped up by a scuba diver and taken up above the water.

            Now Marlin has to find his son Nemo who has just been taken away from him.  As he swims through the ocean searching for his son, he comes across a little blue fish named Dory (voice of Ellen DeGeneres).  Marlin soon learns that Dory is very forgetful, but she tags along in the search for his son Nemo.  They come across the mask of the diver and inside the strap it says “P.Sherman 42 Walaby Way, Sydney.”  While Marlin and Dory are searching the ocean, Nemo is on land being put into a fish tank with other fish.  He makes friends with these fish, all who came from pet stores.  They come up with a plan to try and escape, so that Nemo can make his way back into the ocean to be with his father.

            As Marlin and Dory make their way closer and closer to Nemo, they come in contact with a few new friends.  A shark named Bruce, who has come to realize that “fish are friends not food”, a turtle named Crush, who was swimming in the EAC with his family and a seagull named Nigel, who has heard plenty of stories of the two fish in search of Nemo.  Nigel helps the two, to see that Nemo is inside a tank at the dentist office, when they approach the window they see Nemo inside a bag, dead.  After seeing this, Marlin leaves Dory and decides to swim home.  Once he leaves Dory, she begins to forget again.  Nemo and the gang inside the tank had planned for Nemo to act dead so that he would be flushed down the toilet, and would be able to make his way back into the ocean to find his father.  Nemo has finally found his way back into the ocean, when he sees Dory.  She has forgotten all about how she was trying to help Marlin find Nemo, when she sees a pipe that says “Sydney.”  Suddenly it all comes rushing back to her and she decides to help Nemo get back to his father.  After all that Marlin finally stops being so overprotective of Nemo, and finally trusts him out in the ocean.

-Ally Laudage

"Planet 51"

 

       Planet 51 was a cartoon movie that had just recently came out on video. The movie was about an alien planet that had been recently intercepted with a human being in his space craft. The human was coming from earth to explore space and landed on the aliens planet. Little did he know, the planet already had a life form on it. As the astronaut steps off his space module, he walks about ten feet, plants a U.S. flag, and then looks up to find a whole alien race just living their every day lives in their 50's style neighborhood. The human astronaut freaks out, and starts running and hiding for cover. The whole movie is based on this one alien boy who is determined to help this human back to his ship which the alien government had abducted. The movie relates a lot to kids in that, it teaches them not to judge a book by its cover, and that someone shouldn't judge someone else on their looks. My favorite part of the movie was when the alien boy finally got the alien girl that he has been dreaming of for so long. The whole movie you see this young alien boy, heart throbbing over this one alien girl...It was great to see him finally succeed in getting what he always wanted, her love.
     The movie also had extremely well played characters as the voices such as... Jessica Biel, John Cleese, Gary Oldman, Dwayne Johnson (The Rock), Justin Long, Sean William Scott and many more!

     I am personally not a cartoon lover, but this movie, "Planet 51", really hit it home for me. I connected with it, and couldn't stop watching it. I would see this movie a million times over, back to back... That's how much I enjoyed it.

Author- Patrick Keegan

"Take Me Home Tonight"

     On March 4th 2011 the long awaited movie "Take Me Home Tonight" had come out featuring Topher Grace, Anna Faris and Dan Fogler.  The movie is about a set of twins and their best friend who are floating aimlessly in life with no direction after college.  Matt Franklin played by Topher Grace, is seeking for his high school dream girl through out the crazy Labor Day Weekend bash.  His sister Wendy Franklin played by Anna Feris is torn by an overpowering boy friend and her dream to become a writer.  Their friend Barry Nathan played by Dan Fogler, plays a young man who went off into the work force instead of going to college.  In the opening scene he gets fired from his job working at a car dealership.  Throughout the movie they are all faced with their challenges but in the end they all come out successful.  Matt Franklin lands his high school dream girl despite working at Suncost Videos and not being a hotshot banker.  His sister denied the proposal from her overpowering boyfriend who does not want her to follow her dreams.  Their friend Barry, despite loosing his job, learned a lot about who he is and the direction he wants his life to go in.

This was a very good comedy that had a good base line and story.  The actors looked like they had good chemistry working together in it.  I would defiantly recommend this movie for anyone who is looking to have a movie night in the upcoming weeks.  

-Carl Oberle

"Law Abiding Citizen"

     "Law Abiding Citizen" is a great crime thriller with lots of twists and turns and an exciting and unexpected plot.  In "Law Abiding Citizen" the director F. Gary Gray did a fantastic job of holding  the viewers attention resulting in a truly impressive conclusion. "Law Abiding Citizen" is a fantastic film because the lines between good and bad are so unclear you don’t know who to root for throughout the entire film. The victimized father? Or the city that is under attack by a crazy and extremely dangerous killer out for vengeance against a system that failed him.Jamie Fox who plays Gerard Butlers adversary in the film also had a great performance.These days crime thrillers have become incredibly boring and unoriginal. To see anything truly interesting you need to watch fantasy-crime-thrillers like Smoking Aces which lack any element of realism.  It has plenty of realism to it and is the definition of a classic thriller. Easily one of the best thrillers I have seen in awhile.
  -Thomas Principato

"TOY STORY 3"

NO TOY GETS LEFT BEHIND.

After fifteen years since the release of "Toy Story", viewers have enjoyed "Toy Story 2" and now get to continue the journey with Andy, Woody and Buzz in "Toy Story 3."

We first fell in love with Woody (Tom Hanks) and Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) back in 1995, and again in 1999; and they are back for some more adventure in 2010.  These movies are based on toys that come to life when their owner Andy leaves his room.  They have adventures and give children a glimpse into a world outside their own.  Woody and Buzz have lived an adventurous life with their own Andy, but after all these years it’s time for Andy to go off to college.  Who does he bring?  Who does he leave?

The movie starts off with a recap of the great life all these toys lived.  Including all our favorites from the past; Woody, Buzz, Jessie, Bullseye, Rex, Hamm, Mr.&Mrs. Potatohead and Slinky Dog.  And then comes the drama, Andy is packing for college and is faced with the decision of what he should do with his toys.  He throws them all into a garbage bag, except Woody who he plans to bring to college.  The bag is intended to make its way to the attic when mom mistakes it for trash.  Like the movies in the past, it’s always an adventure with these toys.   They make their way to Sunnyside Day Care where they meet Lotso Huggin’ Bear, Big Baby and Ken.  They are told that they will be played with daily by the children, shining a bright light on day care life.  Where these toys mistaken! Their first day there they took a beating.  Once Woody makes his way to the day care to save his friends they battle Lotso, Big Baby and Ken to make an escape from Sunnyside.  Battling other toys, rehashing Lotso's rough past and escaping death, making their great escape from day care.  In the end all the toys make their way back to Andy who decides that instead of keeping his beloved toys trapped in the attic he will donate them to a family friend.  The movie ends with Andy and Bonnie playing with the toys, just like Andy did as a boy.

--Ally Laudage

"Spartacus: Gods Of The Arena"

     
     To start, "Spartacus: Gods Of The Arena", the prequel to "Spartacus: Blood and Sand", was the most epic prequel to any STARZ mini series ever created. The whole season was jam packed with fighting, blood/gore, drama, and etc. The show takes place in the ancient roman empire, making it extremely vivid in its settings. I almost felt as if I was really in Rome with the characters as the show was playing. I am a very big believer in movies/shows displaying their scenes in vivid detail, and this show was all about it. The fight scenes were incredible! In the scene when "Gannicus" had to fight the opponent blind folded, Gannicus completely crushed his enemy and shoved the guys own sword down his throat. The cool thing is, that the blood and gore looked so real I thought it was a home video. The whole prequel showed the life of, " The House Of Batiatus" before the character "Spartacus" entered its walls. I was extremely doubtful of the series because the new episodes were going to not have some characters from the old series. But the show brought everything I loved about the first season into its new season, so everything about it was great. Two thumbs up to the mini series on STARZ, "Spartacus: Gods Of The Arena".

            For anyone who is into the ancient roman empire, good fight scenes, great action, superb drama, and excellent actors all jam packed in one STARZ mini series, "Spartacus: Gods Of The Arena" is your show!
Actors include: John Hannah, Lucy Lawless, Peter Mensah, Manu Bennett, Dustin Clare, and many more!

Author,
Patrick Keegan