Friday, December 10, 2010

CHRONICLES OF NARNIA 3 NOW AVAILABLE

HERE IS THE SUMMARY FOR THE MOVIE CHRONICLE OF NARNIA 3 FROM IMDB

Lucy and Edmund Pevensie return to Narnia with their cousin Eustace where they meet up with Prince Caspian for a trip across the sea aboard the royal ship The Dawn Treader. Along the way they encounter dragons, dwarves, merfolk, and a band of lost warriors before reaching the edge of the world.

HERE IS A REVIEW FOR THE MOVIE CHRONICLE OF NARNIA 3 
Young wizards casting spells? A lengthy quest involving the retrieval of all-powerful weapons? Seems like the production of "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" wanted to keep this third installment of the fantasy franchise as familiar to family audiences as possible. And who could blame them after the sleepy antics of 2008's "Prince Caspian" effectively halved the box office intake of 2005's "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe." Financial matters were heading in the wrong direction, necessitating a shake-up across the production, leaving the new film refreshingly energetic in the early going, but powerless to fight off the frigidity emanating from the source material.
As war rages across England, Lucy (Georgie Henley) and Edmund (Skandar Keynes) have moved in with their uncle, while enduring the pestering presence of their snotty cousin, Eustice (Will Poulter). When the magical land of Narnia requires their return, the trio is pulled back into their lost kingdom, arriving on the Dawn Treader, a massive ship belonging to Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes). Learning of an exceptional evil that necessitates the collection of seven royal swords to eradicate, the team sets sail for the edge of the world, bringing along mouse soldier Reepicheep (voices by Simon Pegg) for protection. On this journey, the group is haunted by their fears and envy, exploited by the powers of a dark island while Eustice, struggling to learn the rules of Narnia, is accidentally transformed into a dragon.
The world that C.S. Lewis laid out for "The Chronicles of Narnia" has been treated with white-gloved respect throughout these three pictures, but it's a museum appreciation, lacking distinctive cinematic firepower to launch it skyward. "Dawn Treader" makes a significant effort to up the action quotient of the material, setting sail on a sequel that's mindful of forward momentum and swashbuckling efforts, compelling director Michael Apted to crudely cram in character progression along the way. For the first act, there's electricity here that elevates the franchise, finding a new adventurous purpose beyond the observance of Narnia wonderment. For 40 minutes, the picture parries, leaps, and sprints around, pushing the characters to work up a healthy sweat as the quest is established, arcs commence, and Aslan (the droning Jesus-lion, voiced by Liam Neeson) is blessedly nowhere to be found.
Once the gang busts up a slave colony and kicks off the hunt for the swords, the excitement of the film deflates rapidly, with the script quickly weighed down by the needs of adaptation, creating little moments for all voyagers involved to keep them busy. It's a question of maturation and vanity for Lucy, an internal struggle with heroism for Edmund, leadership blues for Prince Caspian, and general pissing and moaning from a disorientated Eustice. Pausing the special effects kills the established oomph, bestowing tedious exposition to actors who aren't skilled enough to make their transformations interesting, led around by an overwhelmed Apted, who shows a shocking disregard for metered reaction. If it isn't a slack-jawed, bug-eyed close-up of wonder, it's not in this movie. A hardcore demonstration of obnoxious behavior emerges from Poulter, who wildly overplays his role as the runt of the Narnia litter. The young actor is pure agony to watch, shrilly stomping around the frame without a leash to make points of discontent that demand a more refined touch of humiliation. Poulter's scenes are simply unbearable, rendering Eustice's journey from brat to fire-breather something to dread, not enjoy.
Cameos from previous Narnia residents help the continuity out, and Pegg's interpretation of the pirate mouse is expectedly rich with wit and friendly tones of animated encouragement. While the star power is welcome, it can't fight spirituality, as the subtleties of the Christian themes that flow throughout the series are decidedly more pronounced for the third round. Talk of belief, faith, sin, and a few appearances from God himself, Aslan, helps to broadly underline the real quest of the characters: to reach Heaven. The spiritual sentiment isn't the offense, only the primitive delivery, destroying the mystery of Narnia and its all-holy cat.
Cursed with a bothersome 3D overlay (placing annoying sunglasses on ace cinematographic work from Dante Spinotti) and ho-hum monsters (an attacking sea serpent looks pulled directly from "Predator"), "Dawn Treader" has many obstacles to hurdle before it finds an ending. Mercifully, there's a tone of finality here, at least for most of the characters. Barring a box office disaster, the franchise will live on, albeit in the clammy hands of flared-nostril wuss Eustace.
Aslan, take me with you!


Tuesday, December 07, 2010

FASTER NOW AVAILABLE

HERE IS THE SUMMARY FOR THE MOVIE FASTER FROM IMDB
An ex-con sets out to avenge his brother's death after they were double-crossed during a heist years ago. During his campaign, however, he's tracked by a veteran cop and an egocentric hit man. 

HERE IS THE REVIEW FOR THE MOVIE FASTER FROM DVDTALK
Spending the last few years of his career trying to make family audiences adore him, Dwayne Johnson has elected to return to his action roots with the thriller "Faster." Wonderfully sleazy in spurts, R-rated, and filled with asphalt-peeling car stunts, the picture has enough nasty attitude in the early going to inspire unexpected confidence in director George Tillman, Jr. The woozy sense of sick doesn't make it to the very end, but it carries the picture far enough to extract a faint recommendation, especially to anyone feeling nauseated by Johnson's recent career choices.
Driver (Dwayne Johnson) has just served a 10-year prison sentence for a botched bank robbery that resulted in the murder of his beloved brother. Gifted a gun and Chevrolet Chevelle, Driver hits the road, planning to slaughter those responsible for the grisly death. Gunning down a range of perverts and scumbags, Driver finds his task challenged by Killer (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), a psychologically fractured hitman/former tech guru who hunts for pleasure, not for cash, taking the job despite protests from his new wife (Maggie Grace). Also in the mix is Cop (Billy Bob Thornton), a junkie detective partnered with Cicero (Carla Gugino), looking to bring Driver to justice.
"Faster" commences with a delicious monosyllabic opener dusted with a series of classic rock tunes. Here we meet the characters in purely visual terms, with the director covering their character beats using bits of style and shots of sweaty staring, establishing the murderous trio as separate forces to be reckoned with, all addicted to their own personal poison. "Faster" kicks off with a mighty grindhouse sweep, itching to raise some hell as caged animal Driver is unleashed from his cell, literally running away from prison to commence his "Kill Bill" odyssey of vengeful fury. It's a corker of an opening that seizes an atypical concentration for the genre, establishing an unflinching tone of revenge that refuses any sort of levity.
Driver's mission is brought clearly into view by Tillman, Jr., who keeps the first half of "Faster" efficient, bloody, and brooding, molding Driver after Clint Eastwood, keeping the gunfire high and the vocabulary low. Hulked out, Johnson makes for a swell shadow of doom, storming the locations with a hyperventilated fixation that makes for a few brutal showdowns, with additional thrills provided by rumbling car stunts that keep the engines revved and the tires squealing. Establishing the brute's mission, "Faster" doesn't have to gesture much to make an impression, observing Driver as he hunts down old enemies one by one. The relative simplicity of the first act makes for an exhilarating smorgasbord of junk food cinema tropes.
It's a crime screenwriters Tony and Joe Gayton aren't more secure in their vision. Despite establishing three vivid characters (bestowing Killer with surplus Brit eccentricity), the writers look to hang this violent display on something substantial, having Driver confronted with biblical forces when one of his old foes turns out to be a radio-savvy preacher. The AM-enabled hellfire taunts challenge the character's sense of handgun justice, thus throwing off the movie's squinted reign of terror. The development of a conscience slows "Faster" to a crawl, while stripping the film of its thrilling weightlessness. Suddenly there's a plot and dirty deeds to reflect upon, and all of it seems far too calculated to appease hungry actors demanding redemptive dimension.
"Faster" shifts into park for the snoozy conclusion, bringing down the experience in an effort to resonate with the audience through some faint type of spiritual awareness. Moviegoers don't need the moral reinforcement, as I'm positive a majority of viewers out there are more than happy watching Johnson rampage in a singular display of ass-kickery. Tepid characterization need not apply.
HERE IS THE DIRECT DOWNLOAD FOR THE MOVIE FASTER (NEWZBIN FILE).

CYRUS NOW AVAILABLE

HERE IS THE INFO FOR THE MOVIE CYRUS FROM IMDB
A recently divorced guy meets the woman of his dreams. Then he meets her son. 

HERE IS THE REVIEW FOR THE MOVIE CYRUS FROM DVDTALK


Filmmakers Mark and Jay Duplass and their superior cast have together created a memorable portrait of a very particular kind of familial dysfunction: the uncomfortably close relationship between a single mother and her grown son. In Cyrus, we watch this relationship go through a painful and trying transition through the eyes of an outsider - the mother's new boyfriend. With the ever-morphing interpersonal dynamics of these three characters as its sole concern, Cyrus succeeds both as an observational drama, a charming romance, and a teeth-grittingly funny comedy.

John (John C. Reilly) has been divorced for seven years from Jamie (Catherine Keener), who encourages her shy and lonely ex to get out and meet women. At a party one night, a very drunk John meets Molly (Marisa Tomei) and, seemingly against the odds, sparks fly immediately. Not long after their first few evenings together, John discovers that Molly has a grown son, Cyrus (Jonah Hill), still living at home. The first interactions of the three are chock full of awkwardness - factors here include Cyrus' age, the newness of John and Molly's relationship, Cyrus' over-dependence on Molly, and Molly's tendency to coddle her 21-year-old son. It soon becomes apparent that Cyrus has no qualms about manipulating Molly and her relationship with John, all in order to avoid taking responsibility for himself and facing life as an independent adult.

What is perhaps most remarkable about Cyrus is that it doesn't paint Molly and Cyrus' relationship as something that is merely creepy, or comical, or one-sided in any way. Both mother and son are culpable in the dysfunction at play here, even though Cyrus, whose behavior borders on the sociopathic, is certainly the focus of the conflict with John. Molly is slow to perceive Cyrus' manipulative machinations, but when she does, she also understands that she has enabled years of antisocial tendencies and we see her grappling with her own sense of responsibility.

This probably all sounds very heavy-duty, but what's so remarkable about the weight of the mother-son relationship is that it comes off as so authentic in the midst of truly funny scenes and skillfully balanced performances by Reilly and Hill. Reilly is the straight man here to Hill's Uncle Fester-inspired Cyrus. Their comic chemistry is fantastic, in moments both large and small - and particularly when John and Cyrus declare war on each other. Hill carefully modulates both insidious duplicity and youthful confusion, while Reilly's strength here is generating genuine "nice guy" vibes without overplaying a single line or gesture. As Molly, Tomei displays a loving obliviousness while Cyrus fucks with John early on in the story - but this turns into a credibly mature honesty when forced to confront her son about his actions.
The Duplass brothers have used a highly improvisational filmmaking style, not in order to allow these comic actors to find laughs, but to enable them to search for the real human drama beneath what is an otherwise comic situation. It's a highly collaborative technique, and all of the actors rise to the challenge beautifully. It's a brave, forthright approach to a character-based story that eschews visual flourishes of any kind. Working loose, with only a few actors and even fewer locations, the Duplasses bring off a film of impressive emotional depth that addresses a strange but wholly realistic situation. Summer comedies aren't typically known for providing audiences with true cinematic experiences, but Cyrus is an exception.


HERE IS THE DIRECT DOWNLOAD FOR THE MOVIE CYRUS (NZB FILE).