Surf's Up!

I'm choosing to write about a movie I saw this past summer, called Surfs Up. I think this was the most underrated penguin movie that came out in the past few years. I don't really think the people behind the movie marketed it to the right audience, and the movie was nothing like I had expected. I went into the theater thinking it was just anyother cutesy reminition of Happy Feet but after the first five minutes, I could tell that I was definately in for something else. Surf's Up is actually filled with tons of underlying humor that I found myself laughing hysterically at. Yeah, there are some scenes where a penguin slips and that is aimed at the younger children, but when the never mentioned, but obviously baked chicken character is acting like his own high self, that's something aimed at the older more teenage audience, that you would never expect. The movie is also shot in a documentary-style, which was in no part of the previews of the movie. Though it was animation, they made it seem like they were using a hand-held camera, with shakey scenes to make it all seem real. Over all I thought this movie was absolutely hilarious and I would definately reccomend it to anyone who has sly humor and a thing for penguins!

Journal #1

The review I chose to critique is by James Berardinelli and the movie he reviewed is called The Number 23.

The movie is a thriller about a man played by Jim Carrey, who has a severe obsession about the number 23 after finding and reading a book his wife bought at a second hand book store. He starts seeing parallels in his life to the number 23 and it starts to drive him insane. James did a good job of explaining the plot with out giving it all away, but I thought he should have explained the plot earlier rather than jumping straight to saying it was a bad thriller with a horrible twist. If I hadn't of seen the movie before reading the review I would have no idea what he was talking about. I definitely agree with James when he states that "the twist is telegraphed early but it is presented in a clumsy and unconvincing manner". He also goes as far as to say that you wouldn't have had to watch the whole movie to understand it, you just need to watch the last 15 minutes because you are apparently dragged through each event in those last 15 minutes after the twist has been re-revealed. That statement is one that I strongly disagree with because though I understand that it is a little repetitive with going through each event, it would be a total loss if the viewer hadn't of seen the whole movie and the longer version of each part, because there are many details that are necessary for the viewer to catch in order to put the movie into a certain perspective.
In terms of Jame's views on the character choice, he thought that the cast was put together just fine, but instead what sunk the movie was 'the writing and direction'. I completely disagree with him on this because never in a million years would I have seen Jim Carrey playing such a serious and psychotic character. One of my favorite movies is Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and it's because Jim Carrey is so funny, and to picture him in any other kind of serious role just feels so wrong. I think that the writing and direction would have been just fine if the producers had of picked a better cast.
Another way I related to Jame’s review was when he explained how the number 23 is really just a number that people had to ‘fudge’ around to find so many coincidences. I agree because I think you could really just do that with any given number, it would just take time. The idea to put it into a movie though and show people, I think is still cool.
Over all I think that James Berardinelli’s review on the movie The Number 23 is a little harsh and gives the reader a preconceived idea that the movie is absolutely horrible, but in reality, in my opinion, I think the movie is still interesting to watch and is one that certain people may enjoy.