Marley & Me is a movie based on a book written by John Grogan, which is also the name of the leading male actor in the movie. It was directed by David Frankel and the screenplay by Scott Frank and Don Roos. The movie is starred by two famous actors Owen Wilson (John Grogan) and Jennifer Aniston (Jenny Grogan) who, in the beginning of the movie, got married.

At the beginning of their joint life they follow the plan that Jenny wrote, which leads to moving to a warmer place and getting a house. John starts to work as a reporter but eventually becomes a very good columnist. In the fear of moving to the next step of Jenny’s plan, John decides to get her a puppy, a Labrador retriever, so that she wouldn’t think about having a child yet. They named the puppy Marley, who happened to be a total disaster, it eats the floor, chews the walls, drinks from the toilet, stays up all night howling when it’s a thunderstorm, gets kicked out of a behavior school meant for dogs etc. John’s boss wanted him to write a couple of columns and he couldn’t think of anything to write about but Marley. His columns were very liked, which lead to him being a columnist and he would almost in every column mention Marley. Despite Marley being a chaotic dog, it had a big heart and it loved Grogans very much. They had three children which made few years of their life very hectic but they managed to go through it even with Marley being part of their everyday life.

Jenny acts sometimes a bit selfishly when she herself doesn’t feel good and says and does what she wants, but when she realizes that she has done wrong, she honestly apologizes. John is sarcastic but very funny guy. He is also very honest and nice person.

The movie’s genre is both drama and comedy. I think that the most of it is comedy though it has a very dramatic ending. In my opinion, the movie is definitely worth of watching. I have watched it at least five times and I’m still not fed up with it, it always makes me laugh and in the end I cry my eyes out.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected journey is an fantasy adventure film released on 13 december of 2012. It is the first part of the trilogy, which is based on the novel ”The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkien.
The film was directed by Peter Jackson, who also directed ”The Lord of the Rings”-trilogy, which is also based on Tolkien’s novel. The Hobbit is a prequel to The Lord of the Rings.
The Hobbit was filmed in New Zealand and many of those who worked on The Lord of the Rings, were also involved in this film. Some actors did also star their previous roles again in this film.
Those being, for an example, Ian McKellen as Gandalf the Grey, and Andy Serkis as Gollum. The new main actors consist Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins, and Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield.
Weta Workshop created most of the props and Weta digital managed the visual effects. Soundtrack was composed by Howard Shore.

The story takes place in the fictional land of Middle Earth, where the Dwarwes have lost their capital town and the film follows a group of dwarwes who have accompanied with Gandalf and Bilbo Baggins.
Their mission is to kill the dragon that is staying inside the capital of the dwarwes and take their city back.
They meet all kinds of creatures and dangers while travelling across the Middle Earth. There is something bigger happening in the north as well, but it will not yet take a big part of the film.

I enjoyed the film a lot, and the lenght of the film didn’t bother me like it has bothered some of the reviewers. I didn’t get bored at all. The film was well made and it was quite accurate to the book and the feeling of the epic adventure was there.
It is easier to say what I didn’t like. I think that the film was made too much by using computer animation, and in some parts, it looked like it was closer to animation than a real movie. Many of the scenes were also made up in a very same way as there were scenes in the Lord of the Rings-trilogy.
The thing that troubled me the most was that the film was trying to be too much comedy. Even in the ”darker” scenes, there was something that was trying to get the viewer to laugh. There was also no blood at all, and it was really odd regarding the fact that the battle scenes was quite brutal besides that.
I would have liked a more serious view on the story. Now it seems that the film cannot decide whether it wants to be a comedy or a darker film. Now it doesn’t quite succeed on neither of these.
I wasn’t expecting anything like Lord of the Rings, so I’m still not disappointed on the film.
I liked The Hobbit a lot and I’m eager to see the following films of the series.

“Mamma Mia!” is a musical film and romantic comedy. It was released in 2008 and it’s adapted from a Broadway musical of the same name. The film is based on the songs of Swedish singing group ABBA. It was directed by Phyllida Lloyd and producer by Judy Cramer & Gary Goetzman. Movie was filmed in the Greek island Skopelos.

Plot

Sophie Sheridan (Amanda Seyfried) is a young woman who lives in Kalokairi with her mother Donna Sheridan (Meryl Streep). Donna is a single mother and owner of the old hotel. Sophie is about to get married but first she needs to find out who is her father. Sophie reads Donna’s diary and finds out that she has three possible fathers: Sam Carmichael (Pierce Brosnan), Bill Andersson (Stellan Skarsgård) and Harry Bright (Colin Firth). Sophie invites all the father candidates to her wedding ( without telling her mother) because Sophie is convinced that she will know which man is her real father as soon as she sees them.

All three men arrive on the island before the wedding. Sophie starts spending time with them and realise that she doesn’t have any idea which man is her real father. Sophie is trying to hide all three men, but it doesn’t work very well and Donna sees them. At the same time other wedding quests, like Donna’s best friends Rosie (Julie Walters) and Tanya (Christine Baranski) arrive to the hotel and Donna starts to figure out why all the men are on the island.

Soundtrack

The film genre is musical so it is obvious that there are many songs. Overall the actors sing about twenty different ABBA’s song during the film. Many of the actors are not professional singers but most songs still sound good (Especially when Amanda Seyfried and/or Meryl Streep are singing.) Unfortunately all men weren’t so good singers.

The plot is not that amazing but on the whole Mamma Mia is very bubbly and refreshing movie. I recommend it for those who like ABBA’s songs and those who just want to watch some happy and cheerful movie.

Written by MM

The Green Mile is a drama film directed by Frank Darabont in 1999. It is based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actor for Michael Clarke Duncan, Best Picture, Best Sound, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Plot

The film tells a story about “The Green Mile”, a death row at Cold Mountain Penitentiary during the summer of 1935. The death row is called “Green Mile” because the inmates waiting for their execution are said to be walking on “the last mile”. The corrections officer in charge of “the Green Mile” is named Paul Edgecomb. Edgecomb suffers from urinary tract infection, which causes him great pain.

One day, a prisoner named John Coffey arrives to the Mile. He has been convicted of killing and raping two young girls. Coffey is revealed to be shy, soft-spoken and emotional. He heals Edgecomps urinary tract infection with extraordinary powers and brings a mouse back from death. Later he heals the Wardens fatally wife. When he is asked to explain his powers, John only responses that he “took it back”.

Coffey puts the sickness that he took from the Wardens wife, and puts it into Percy Wetmore, a sadistic and unpopular guard. Percy shoots violent prisoner named ”Wild Bill” Wharton who is actually guilty of crimes that Coffey has been convicted. Percy falls into a state of permanent catatonia.

In the aftermath of these events, John Coffey shows to Paul Edgecomb what really happened to those girls. Paul asks Coffey if he should let him go, but Coffey answers that he is so tired of pain and is ready to rest. The next day, John Coffey is executed.

Characters

• Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks) is corrections officer in charge of death row. He is shown to be kind but stern man. He has wife and adult son. Edgecomb is the main protagonist in the movie.
• John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan) is an inmate who is sentenced to death. He has mystic powers to heal people just by “taking it back”. He is the secondary protagonist in the film after Paul Edgecomb.
• Percy Wetmore (Doug Hutchison) is a guard that everyone hates. The only thing why he is kept in duty is that he is nephew of the governor’s wife.
• ”Wild Bill” Wharton (Sam Rockwell) is the most violent and rowdiest inmate in the mile. He tries to piss the guards off any way he can.

Initial D is a movie that based upon a japanese comic. It was released in 2005.

Events take place in Akina mountain, in Japan. Akina mountain is fictional place. Actually it is a real place, but it’s name has been changed for the film.

In the movie cars play a big role. They are not living creatures. but their drivers trusted partners. Main character, Takumi, has an old Toyota Corolla, also known as AE86, which is a respected little car amongst car enthusiasts. AE86 is pictured as the second main character.

The movie tells a story about a boy who has developed to a really fast driver, and also has a very skilled driving style. He has been driving a lot because he has been delivering tofu for his fathers tofu shops customers. He has developed to such a good driver because he wanted to get the job done faster. He does the job by night so no one knows about his kills. Takumi’s high school friends are interested in cars and especially in mountain racing, also known as, touge.

The plot is interesting because Takumi gets drawn into touge, whitout him even noticing it and rises from an underdog to a respected driver.

What makes a movie interesting is the reality of it and the loss of so called hollywood efects. (Explosions, etc.) Exitement is achieved by slow motions and close-ups of drivers emotions and car parts. Kind of comic like. Some of the views on the driving scenes are made digitally.

Mainly the scenes take places between main characters dad’s tofu shop and his day-time job work place at the local gas station.

The movie is kind of touching because Takumi has to make a decision between love and career as a racing driver, like his dad had to made when he was young.

I would recomend this movie espesially for those who are interested in cars and driving.

The plot

Breaking Bad tells about middle-aged chemistry teacher, Walter ”Walt” White, and his family’s road through Walter’s cancer diagnosis to the state’s leading drug factory.

After diagnosis Walter, as responsible husband and father, tries to find way to provide his family after his death, which he thinks is unavoidable thing in the future. He ends up manufacturing methamphetamine, also known as ”meth”, with his former pupil Jesse Pinkman. Jesse is from middle-class family, but has ended up to living the life of drug abuser to his aunt’s old house. At the high school Jesse was hopeless at chemistry, but knows very much about ”streets’ laws” and dealing, so when he and Walt do combine their knowledge about chemistry and drug dealing, they become state’s greatest drug manufactor. But road to there isn’t that easy, it includes alot of blood because life of drug dealer is not dream. It takes alot energy from Walt to try keep drugs as secret from family because it requires endless amount of explanations for absences, which causes divorce. And finally drug manufacturing dawns to his wife, Skyler. Skyler has to join the keepers of secret for help Walt to avoid prison. Keeping secret isn’t easy, especially when Skyler’s sister’s Marie’s husband, Walt’s brother-in-law, Hank, is a DEA agent. At this point the fifth season of series is on the break and Walt’s alter ego’s, Heisenberg’s drug factory is about to reveal to Hank.

There was the main points of story’s plot. Story includes many people as smaller roles, for example Skyler’s sister Marie, drug people, Walt’s and Jesse’s lawyer Saul Goodman, Jesse’s girlfriend Jane etc.

Characters

• Walter ”Walt” ”Heisenberg” White is played Bryan Cranston. Walt is 50-year-old chemistry teacher who has diagnosed with lung cancer. He becomes great ”Heisenberg”, who scares everyone and makes best meth of the state.
• Jesse Pinkman is played by Aaron Paul. Young man from middle-class family who has ended up being drug dealer. Creates drug manufacturing duo with Walt, which doesn’t avoid necessary killing of dangerous people.
• Skyler White is played by Anna Gunn. She is Walter’s pregnant wife. They divorce but end up living together. Their baby girl’s Holly’s, who borns during series, role has no matter. Skyler also runs car washing company for laundry their drug money.
• Walter ”Floyd” White, Jr. is played by RJ Mitte. Floyd is Walter’s and Skyler’s teenager son. He has been diagnosed with CP, disease, which causes difficulties with speech and moving. He uses crutches.
• Hank Schrader is played by Dean Norris. Hank is a DEA agent, who takes that ”new drug king” thing to under his special investigate.
• Marie Schrader is played Betsy Brandt. Skyler’s sister, Hank’s wife, Walter’s sister-in-law. Affects on Hank’s and Skyler’s decisions with her never-ending nagging. Causes problems for Skyler by giving her present which is stealed.
• Saul Goodman is played by Bob Odenkirk. Saul is lawyer of criminals. His clients are mostly drug abusers and other down-and-outs. Helps characters with lawyer tricks.
• Gustavo ”Gus” Fring is played by Giancarlo Esposito. Gus is great drug boss and member of Mexican Juarez Cartel. Like Walt does, Gus lives two-faced life and runs fried chicken restaurant chain and does charity for avoid suspicions. Got killed by Walt.
• Mike Ehrmantraut is played  by Jonathan Banks. Mike is ex-police who works for Gus as ”security guard”. Does mostly murders for money. Got also killed by Walt.
• The Salamancas are drug family from Mexico. Connects to the cartel.
• Badger and Skinny Pete are Jesse’s old mates from drug circles.

Written by Robert

“Slumdog Millionare” is a British drama movie which directed by Danny Boyle and written by Simon Beuafoy in 2008. The movie is setting and filmed in India. The movie´s starring are Dev Patel and Freida Pinto. The movie has won many prizes, inter alia eight Oscar, seven Bafta and five Golden Globes.

The movie tells about Jamal Malik, who takes part in “How Wants to Be a Millionare” -game. Flashbacks allow him to remember his life and by them, he answers to the questions and progressing in the game. The story starts in Indian slum where young Jamal lives with his mum and brother Salim. Unfortunately the rebels kill their mum and they have to escape. With their new friend Latika, they will see the dark side of India. They will meet the bad people who don´t care anything else except money. They will experience things that anybody shouldn´t. They are forced to experience the prostitution, the violence and unscrupulous exploitation. Kids are driven apart and all of them have to survive now on their own. Jamal has never forgotten love his life, Latika and so he decides to found Latika. Finally he will take part in the very popular television game “How Wants to Be a Millionare” to find her. By his memories of his life, he answers to questions in a right way and proceed towards top price. That causes distrust with police and program makers who believe that Jamal has cheated to win money. This causes difficulties to Jamal, who isn’t interested in money but something totally else.

I think that the movie´s innermost-plot is very simply. The boy fallen love for the girl and the girl fallen love the boy but they can´t be together. Nevertheless the plot contains also many others things. It is a survival-story. The film makes an interesting fact that you can´t find the movie like that in anywhere. It is unique. The film is a thought-provoking storyline and it feels very realistic. Even it is very fast-moving, you can easily understand that and live in it. The end of the story is a little bit too predictable but it is full of plot twists and the end of the story has been succeeded to make touching.

In my opinion the director Danny Boyle succeeded well. He succeeded to create very credible and sometimes unfertile, beautiful and touching movie. He combines India´s different sides of impressive and credible entity. In fact my opinion is that “Slumdog Millionare” –is the best direction which he has achieved so far. No less he won “the best director Oscar” –award for his movie “Slumdog Millionare” and I think that he deserved it.

Dev Patel acts protagonist Jamal Malik. A child actors Tanay Chheda and Ayush Kheder act Jamal too. Both of them make impress me, especially their young age, qualified and credible actor performance. Patel acts very well in the movie but stay still a little bit vapid. He could be more credible and acts braver. Jamal´s brother Salim is acting by Madhur Mittal, Azharuddin Ismail and Ashutosh Gujiwala. Everybody of them acted very well. They look like each other in the film which creates credibility. The film´s beauty and Jamal´s love, Latika is acting by Freida Pinto, Rubina Ali and Tanvi Lonkar. Ali and Lonkar act younger version of Latika and their portion of the film stay very short and maybe that’s why they can´t make a big impress. Pinto makes the impress of her sweetness and abilities. She will stay positively in my mind. 

The film´s music is very inspiring. It fits perfectly almost in every part. It is avid. But on the other hand the dancing and the playing music in the end of the movie are unnecessary and it makes me wonder important of the all movie. And is a big fail for A. R. Rahman, who was responsible for music. 

Corresponds to the description of the movie is Anhtony Mantles, who has worked with director Danny Boyle in previous films. The film describes a lot of the landscape from the slums to the fine palaces. There is not much objectionable about description. It is enjoyable to watch and you can really feel atmosphere of the film.

All in all “Slumdog Millionare” –movie is very emotive, brave movie that everyone should see. Personally, it was one of the best movies I have ever seen and I recommend others also to watch it.

Written by toivonenn

Kick-Ass is an action comedy movie released in 2010. The movie is based on a comic book with the same name and directed by Matthew Vaugh. It tells the story of Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), a nerdy high school student who decides to become a superhero even though he has no super powers or training for it. Unfortunately for him, he soon attracts the attention of not only real superheroes but also the mafia, and gets pulled into a bigger mess than just returning cats to their owners.

Kick-Ass is an excellent movies for a number of reasons. Both the plot and characters are very well written. The movie dances on the fine line between being hilarious and dark, with many comedic moments but also brutal violence. The characters are all very enjoyable and interesting, above all Hit-Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz), a ten-year-old girl who can pretty much take down anyone on her way and use the crudest language while still being completely adorable. Really, I have never heard of anyone not being in love with her after watching Kick-Ass. Overall the whole movie is highly entertaining and it actually seems to get better the more times you watch it.

One of my favorite things about Kick-Ass is how well the camerawork and soundtrack work together while both being excellent on their own too. The soundtrack especially meets my taste almost perfectly and works very well to highlight different kinds of tension during different scenes and draws attention to the many fine details in the movie. Kick-Ass is also visually a very nice movie to watch, I loved the color layer in the movie and how its origin as a comic book is shown in, for example, doing a whole scene as a cartoon.

Kick-Ass is not a movie for everyone. It’s got some rather disturbing things in it, including all kinds of violent scenes, so if that’s not your thing then you surely won’t enjoy this movie. But if you do appreciate an overall well made movie with the edge of humor and some ass kicking, then Kick-Ass will definitely be a movie for you.