The Dam Keeper (2014)

MIMDB score: 6.9
Current IMDB score: 8.0

Disclaimer: This is an animated short.

Why I liked it:
I wanted to watch it again immediately after seeing it.  It made me really happy to see something portrayed the way I have thought about things.  So many times I have taken things out of context and assumed the worst in a conversation I barely hear.  It's too easy to assume people are making fun of you when people often make fun of you.  Not that I'm made fun of much anymore but I definitely used to and the defensiveness doesn't wear off to easily.

What stands out:
The music.  Seeing that the movie had very little dialog the music needs to be fantastic and it is.  It's so contemplative.  I could write books to just the "theme" song of the movie.  It reminds me of the music my 1st grade teacher played for class during "journal" time.

What I would change (if anything):
I can't give this any more than a 6.9 because it's a little too weird for a 7 and above.  If they could have made it less weird but kept the message it would appeal to a broader audience instead of mostly crazy people like me.  Don't know if that is possible though.  Mary & Max has a 8.2 on IMDB which is way above how weird that movie is so I might be off there.

Favorite Line(s):
Narrator: "Dad had always said, the job of a Dam Keeper to keep the darkness away. But he never told me what to do when it surrounds you.  The mask had protected me from the crowd but nothing I had protected me from the people."

Favorite Scene: The scene from the picture above when Foxy Loxy (as I like to call him) finds his book next to Pig.  He acts like he didn't cherish every picture and ensure that it was there for him when he got on the bus.  He looks away and smiles.  That's exactly how I would act and I love it when I do things like that. It's like how Amelie secretly does things for people.

Similar Movies/Tv Shows: Amelie, Mary & Max, Chicken Little maybe? (even though I haven't seen it), this Levi's commercial.

Side note: You can actually watch it here: Amazon Instant Video for $1.99.  It took me awhile to find it because at the time it wasn't out anywhere. Also their website is a little gem.  You can just listen to the theme song and you know, write books.

Disconnect (2012)

MIMDB score: 6.5
Current IMDB score: 7.6

Why I liked it:
The only real reason I'm reviewing this movie is because of the three staged climax scene of the movie.  The rest of it is just okay or even bad at times.  So let me describe the climax scene.  It was very much like Inception's three climax scene while the van was falling in the water.  Same level of intensity (except Inception is a way better movie).  There are three+ stories going on that all have to do with social media/internet causing problems.  Jason Batemen's story arc is he trying to find who leaked naked pictures of his son.  Nina who is trying to save this kid from being in naked internet webcams while writing story about it.  Lastly there's Cindy and Derek who are trying to find the person who stole there identity.  Jason Batemen during the climax finds the kid and is about to hit him with a hockey stick while Nina is getting roughed up by the kids pimp, while Cindy and Derek are trying to shoot the person that stole there identity.  The song On the Nature of Daylight is playing and it's the most intense part of the song playing when Jason Batemen hits the kid.  "How does life get to this point that you hit a kid" was all that was going through my mind.  It's just interesting to think about.  I don't know if he is justified in hitting a kid in middle school with a hockey stick but it's pretty close.  Most people in Jason Batemen's position would have for sure.  His son almost killed himself directly based on what this kid did to his son.  Of course if Jason Batemen had a better relationship with his son and talked to him about how you shouldn't send naked pictures of yourself to ANYONE because they can get out no matter what but nevertheless.

What stands out:
Jason Batemen's son attempted suicide scene and the three climaxes at the same time scene.

What I would change (if anything):
I can't give this any more than a 6.5.  Mostly because the statement this movie is trying to make is not great.  Disconnect from the internet wouldn't really solve these people's underlying problems.  "Guns don't kill people.  People kill people."  The internet didn't do these things.  People did these things.  If you want to stop all the bad in the world then fix people.  There's also the idea that disconnecting from communicating with people causes these type of problems but I think that's really only a relevant argument in the Jason Batemen story arc.
Secondly this movie just isn't super well acted and the plot lines are not great.  It's somewhat interesting but not to merit anything above a 6.5.
"Everything you do, someone out there can see."  That's really how I live my life.  If you don't want someone to know something about you then don't do it.  If you don't want your parents to know you drink then don't drink. It's a philosophical morality that I think works in 99% of life.  

Favorite Line(s):
Mike Dixon (father of the kid Jason Batemen hits with a hockey stick): "Everything you do, someone out there can see."

Similar Movies/Tv Shows: Inception because of story arcs lining up in the climax.  Valentines Day/New Years Eve because all the story arcs are loosely connected.  Love Actually or Crazy Stupid Love maybe.

Side note: On the Nature of Daylight is a fantastic song.

Gone Girl (2014)

MIMDB score: 7.7
Current IMDB score: 8.3
People you care about in the movie: Rosamund Pike, Baffleck, Neil Patrick Harris

Why I liked it:
Rosamund Pike all the way.  She did more than amazing.  I'm scared of her now as a real life person.  It's like how I'm scared of Claire Danes right now because of her eyes in Homeland.  She has crazy eyes now and forever on in my life because of how well she acted in this movie.  If you can write down on a post-it note whether you should kill yourself to get back at someone then I'm scared of you.  She is scary!  Looking back her voice in the movie the whole time seems so robotic and so not full of emotion.  The music is so eerie the whole time.  You don't really notice in the beginning and it just builds and builds till the most epic, punch you in the face, scene.  The blood scene.  I'm still haunted by that scene.  Just a another day for her afterwards which is what makes it so much more insane.  Her face is blank.  Most people would have had the face of "what did I just do" or "am I sure I should have done that?" It's like watching an actual psychopath do what she did.  She did so well in this movie because it was highly believable.

The movie does the "did he do it" well and it pushes you to believe he did it with also leaving doubt in your mind.  It's good if you like that type of mind play that movies do.  The movie has full control over what it shows you though.  Like any good movie they make it hard to figure out if he actually did it or not.  I really like the switch to her point of view in the middle though.  It's kind of fun to be both sides of the situation.

What stands out:
Rosamund Pike. She is fantastic in this movie.  BAffleck is BAffleck.  Hooray for him.

What I would change (if anything):
I don't get why he stays in the end.  I understand it makes the situation even more scary but any normal person would have left her no matter what.  I would have for sure.  I can't believe he stayed there the first night even.  He knows she is a stone cold killer with no real remorse.

I don't like how the guys have no reason to be assholes besides just being guys.  They are just assholes under STP (standard temperature and pressure).  Rosamund has to be treated poorly before snapping which seems reasonable.  For some reason to me it's more justifiable that Rosamund snaps than the guys just looking to get stick there dick in something.  Unfortunately from what I've seen that's not how most people are in the world.  I probably live a sheltered life though.  When people get cheated on after giving there all to a marriage things snap which makes sense.

I really wish the two "friends" at the hotel where Amy/Rosamund stayed weren't complete assholes. Amy says earlier in the film "Because you're you . . . .".  I think with her super cautious manner that was told to us she would have hid the money from others better than she did.  She shouldn't have made any friends when she was in the middle of framing her husband for murder.  Personally I would have only went out for food and been in a place with way less people.  Go Air b&b at some remote location.  Air b&b wouldn't have background checks at all and would not even ask for a license.  It's easy in hindsight and all that jazz of course.

Favorite Line(s):
Amy: "We're so cute.  I want to punch us in the face."

Similar Movies/Tv Shows: Return to Sender, Homeland (because of her eyes!), What Lies Beneath but Gone Girl is way batter.

Side note: This the first real movie I know of that has Dominion in it.  Not many Movies/Tv shows have good board games in them.  Minkus from Boy Meets World is in it!

Short Term 12 (2013)

MIMDB score: 8.0
Current IMDB score: 8.0

Why I liked it:
I really like movies that look at suicidal people.  Suicide is such an insane thing every time I think about it.  In real life it's way too real but in the movies I can dissect and really take in everything that's going on. Real life is too fast in that way.  Life moves to fast I think to fully process what's going on in the moment.  Life takes more thought than it allows.  Movies like this give you time to think about the situations that are occurring.  A lot of the time it's just classical music put to watching what people are doing just throughout the day.  It also plays a few chords when people are just thinking which gives you time to think about what they are thinking.  It's fantastic at times.  Some one once said if you make a movie you shouldn't have modern music because then the movie won't last and will show it's age in a few years.  This movie takes that into consideration it seems by not having anything besides a few notes.  I loved how they started and ended the movie.  Some people say how you start and end a story matters the most and if that's the case the start and ending could be why it's rated so highly by me and IMDB.

What stands out:
The two main characters.  I want to be that guy.  The Jim Halpert/Harper character (see the Office and Newsroom) has always been some one to look up to and this is the same type of character.  Mason (John Gallagher Jr.) didn't do any better than he normally does in stuff but his normal acting is fantastic.  He plays that role really well which I like to think is an indication of the actors actual personality (of course that's not always the case).  Grace (Brie Larson/the main girl) did fantastic.  In other movies she hasn't been as good/real as this movie.  She really shines in a few scenes.  To me it's her break-out role and I hope she does more things like Short Term 12 instead of her role in The Spectacular Now.

What I would change (if anything):
I wish Grace(main girl character) would have been nicer to Mason (boyfriend).  Mason is an all-star boyfriend/friend/person and she doesn't treat him near as well back.  I understand she is dealing with more things than him but she should not take it out on the person who treats her best in the world.

Favorite Line(s):
Mason: "Fucking Floyd."
It's just a funny line.

Marcus: "Look into my eyes so you know what's to like to live a life not knowing what a normal life's like."

Similar Movies/Tv Shows: The House M.D. Broken episode (Season 6, episode 1), Awakenings, It's Kind of a Funny Story.  All good movies and TV episodes.

Side note: Brie Larson is a pop singer.,  Yea it's kind of bad.

Introduction to movie reviews (2015)

What this blog is and what it intends to do.  Mission statement of sorts.

Disclaimer: The opinion expressed in this blog are mine.  Everything stated in this blog are complete truth.  It's meant to offend everyone that reads it in every way imaginable.  But seriously opinions are opinions and aren't meant to upset anyone.

Every movie review done by me was done after at least the second viewing and done while watching it at least the second time (usually will be more than two viewings).  Every review will have common headings that I would like to hear about movies myself that hopefully others will enjoy.  There will probably be spoilers and I didn't tip-toe around giving away anything.  I just said what I wanted too.

The idea also will hopefully be to better express my thoughts as well as become a better writer in general.  Good luck to me.

A description of what MIMDB score is and a description of IMDB ratings.  IMDB is a website that I know and trust.  I have my user profile linked here if you care to look at how I've rated things.  It's not as highly regarded as other sites that I don't understand like MetaCritic and RottenTomatoes. I've never used those sites so I won't talk about those rating systems as I don't think I understand those.  IMDB is based on popularity.  That's the main goal of it I think.  Others don't agree with a rating because they don't like a particular movie but it's a popular vote so that's the way it is.  Sometimes you don't like the popular movies.  MIMDB is what I think it will end up getting in the long run.  There is bias involved in all ratings/reviews and I try to remove that bias in MIMDB.  IMDB has bias of movies when for instance they just come out.  Most movies will either be higher or lower than they should because not enough people have rated the movie.  Low numbers/early voting bias type of thing.  I will generally describe my view of IMDB ratings in the following way:

1-5, These are movies that you will probably not like, especially more than once.  These are movies I have on when doing other things.  I know they are probably going to be bad so I just half watch them usually.  They sometimes have one or two good scenes.  There's one or two that will be unfairly rated because of whatever bias there is in the world but for the most part these won't have much redeeming qualities and will be hard to get through.  Especially the 1-4's.  5's have a closer chance at least being watchable enough.

6, These movies are good enough to watch once to some people.  There might be a few movies that everyone will need to see once but for the most part they are just kind of enjoyable to some people.  They are right below a 7.  To be a 7 they would need some reworking or would never make it in some cases.  Some movies aren't made to be good quality movies.  Some are just made for art and things like Birdman for instance should really be a 6.* instead of what it is.

7, These movies are good.  Everyone will enjoy this movie the first time they watch it.  If you can think of a person that wouldn't like it the first time through then it should be below a 7.  This is why a movie like Birdman in MIMDB should be below a 7.  7's are movies everyone should watch once as well.  They might not enjoy like them because they don't like that genre or whatever but they are movies good enough that they will be in pop-culture and you will need to have seen it to understand jokes/conversations later.

8, These movies are great.  These are the movies you would want to watch at least twice (if not more).  These are movies you should recommend to everyone because at the minimum people will enjoy them the first time no matter what.  Movies like Inception come to mind.  If you didn't enjoy that movie the first time then stop reading my blog.  Definitely don't rate movies on IMDB as you are messing up the rating system.

9, These movies are beyond great.  They are really near perfect.  They are movies that are so interesting it probably changes your life a little but also entertain you.  What you learned from the movie you think about it at least once a week type of thing.  There's only a few of these ever made because it's hard to get up this high.

10, These are not movies.  Just as in life, movies can't achieve perfection.  Based on how averages work everyone that rated this movie would have to give it a 10 which is impossible really.  The only way a movie could get a 10 is if it changed for each person that watched it which then it wouldn't really be a movie I don't think.