Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga`Hoole (2010)
A tale about how a young, idealistic owl gets caught up in a mythic legend that ends up being a part of the powerful and justice serving Guardians.
This movie is about owls, owls that just seem to be able to kick a lot of butt. Legend of the Guardians is a visually stunning film. The CGI is beautiful and lush with all the smallest details such as the feathers flowing in the wind and the background images. While essentially this may be based on a children’s series, it plays out as if it was a hybrid of the Lord of the Rings with owls. The tale follows a young owl who loves the stories about the Guardians, an elite group of owls that serves justice and fights against evil owls, and along with his brother and sister, gets trapped by the Pure Ones (the bad owls).
Of course, after watching this movie, I wished that the owls in real life were this awesome. Legend of the Guardians even shows the audience how an owl can fight (even the fight scenes were just gorgeous and full of beautiful images). I have to say that the animators behind this film have done a tremendous job creating the visuals of this movie. I highly recommend this movie a lot more for the visuals than the story, but it just looks so awesome, even with lots and lots of owls.
Jackie Brown (1997)
Jackie Brown, an airplane attendant, is involved in a money laundering deal involving illegal sales of weapons. As she tries to get away from the deal, the DEA, a weapons dealer, and his workers try to get to the five hundred thousand dollars that is waiting to be picked up by anyone.
If you have enjoyed seeing Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction, or even Inglorious Bastards, you will definitely enjoy Jackie Brown. Written and directed by cult favorite Quentin Tarantino, Jackie Brown is an entertaining movie with many great moments and fantastic performances. Just like other Tarantino films, the movie follows the same style and formula where the characters really stand out from the rest of the movie. Most of the scenes are long, but that does not hinder the ingenuity of the scenes.
The soundtrack is really a great listen. That’s the second best part of the entire film. The best part of the movie is when it shows the money grabbing from three different views. Jackie Brown is a refreshing film giving us a peak into smaller crimes that do not add up to millions and millions of dollars.
Collateral (2004)
A Los Angeles taxi driver picks up a hit man, and has to take him to five different stops for five different killings.
Collateral is a deep, philosophical film as well as a good movie with dark humorous moments and a great story. The film works on so many levels. Jaime Fox is a cab driver just trying to survive the night with Tom Cruise as a hit man with a personality that a pathological person would have. The film feels real, giving dimensions to all the characters and providing depth to what the repercussions the killing has on the City of Angels.
What I mean by Collateral being deep and philosophical is all the events that happen in the movie and the arguments the taxi driver has with the hit man. It’s a real odd pairing; a person who basically has big dreams, but little to show for it and a cold-blooded killer talking about life and the why of life. While most movies have a good guy and bad guy, they do not capitalize on their relationship (if any) and if they did, it was not necessarily the most important thing. In Collateral, almost throughout the entire movie, the protagonist and the antagonist have to deal with each other and rely upon each other just to get through the night. This is one of my favorite movies because of the deepness, but even without thinking too much; this is still a film to look out for.