Labor Day

I was very tense during the first few scenes. The level of danger within the story at this point was high, and I could almost feel it. As I watched Annabel (Kate Winslet) and her son, Henry (Gattlin Griffith)), subtly forced into taking home this strange man (Josh Borlin), I could practically  feel their fear. Anything the characters were experiencing on screen, I experienced as well. It was all very real.

The way Labor Day was filmed was rather interesting. The very first scene involved shots from a moving vehicle; passing trees, buildings, etc. The way the shots transitioned, however, kind of took me by surprise. The editor decided to have the shots fade into each other. This, to me, was rather shocking and made me a bit uneasy because it took me a moment to figure out what I had just witnessed. It was different, that's for sure.
Another thing that was different was the focus on detail. Whenever a new scene would start, there were often shots of the character(s)'s hands, or an item they were picking up, or something, before showing who was in the scene and what was happening. I didn't mind it, it was an interesting way to set the scene, and it allowed for them to experiment with close-up shots.

Only one thing bothered me in this film; the flashback scenes. At times, it appeared as if the actor(s) on screen was/were in CGI, or at least partially in CGI. I don't like it when they do that. Why can't you get someone that looks similar to the character and film them with makeup or something? Digital animation looks fake to me.

I give Labor Day (I keep wanting to type "labour" day #CanadianProblems) a 6.5 out of 10.

Monuments Men

There were some really cool "film moments" in this movie. The first scene hows shots of paintings that change whenever a loud bang is heard. Once all the paintings in the collection have been seen, the camera jumps to a man hammering something (hence the loud banging noise). It was really interesting seeing the noise synchronized with the camera shots. There was also a montage scene when the lead character is getting his Monuments Men together. The music suited perfectly, and the scene itself was a rather important/serious one, but with a hint of humour. I really enjoyed the scoring of this movie, and the camera/editorial work.

The story was good, very well directed and easy to follow. I love American history, especially its war history, and I was not disappointed by this at all. If you are into action, drama, or war history, I recommend watching this.

I give Monuments Men a 6.5 out of 10.

Winter's Tale

What my body went through during this, I can not even begin to describe. I was literally on the edge of my seat the entire time, and when I wasn't, I was hunched over, arms tightly wrapped around me, head tucked into my chest, knees pressed up against my stomach; tense, so very tense. Winter's Tale caught me by surprise. I went into the theatre anticipating an epic love story of some kind, but it was far more than that. I was drawn inside it's story from the very first scene, and stayed entranced until the very end of the credits. This is also the first film I've seen this year that I actually want to go out and purchase. I don't want to give anything away, but I very strongly recommend you see Winter's Tale. Just do it.

There was a very strong focus on light, which I loved to watch. You could see twinkles and such constantly throughout the film, whether it be insignificant in that background, or purposely right in your face. Since there was such a strong focus on light, this allowed the writers/director to play around with shadows (which they did). There was this one scene in particular, when Pearly is speaking to Lucifer...well, you'll just have to go watch it for yourself because I REALLY do not want to spoil anything!

I give Winter's Tale 12 out of 10. That's right, I just went beyond my rating limit.

That Awkward Moment

This was a lot more chick-flicky than I had originally expected. I mean, I knew it was a romantic comedy, but I had thought it would be more comedy than romance (to be honest, the comedy parts weren't all that comedic...) It was a sweet movie, though. Cute story, very well directed and filmed, the costume designer/director was a genius! They put Jason (Zac Efron) in allllllll the right wardrobe choices ;)

There were a couple nude scenes, and some gross sexual jokes/comments that I could have gone without. What I noticed most, though, that I didn't like is that there were a few lines that I remember hearing in the previews that were not in the actual movie. They were in the blooper-reel that played at the end. Why show a blooper in the previews? That is false expectation! I did not enjoy that.

Overall, it was a pretty good movie. I definitely don't regret watching it. But, would I recommend it? I don't think so. I mean, unless you're into Zac Efron and/or love stories with sick humour, than by all means, go see it!

I give That Awkward Moment a 5 out of 10.

Jack Ryan

This was SO much better than the previews!! The previews were good, but the actual movie was so much better! It was full of action, but nothing too extreme or gorey. There was a romance, but it wasn't the main focus. It was predictable at times, but my predictions were not 100% accurate (which is good, kept me on my toes).

I knew this was going to be some kind of FBI agent movie, but I didn't expect it to be based on real and recent events. It starts off in 2001 with the characters viewing live News footage of the Twin Towers being hit. It then jumps ahead to about 2012/13 and mentions the U.S.A is conversing with Russia (which also happened recently, although I can't be sure that this was based on that). It was very realistic, easy to follow, suspenseful, and moderately unpredictable.

There was nothing really unusual or significant that I took note of filming-wise. However, there was one shot that I'm quite positive they used a dolly for. At one point, one of the characters stabbed an insignificant by-stander and, as the knife went into his stomach, the by-stander was pushed up against a nearby building by the murderer.As he was pushed, the background moved very very quickly, but almost in the opposite direction than it should have (it seemed to go farther back instead of forward). It was a really cool shot. Other than that, there wasn't much else to take note of. I did, how ever, like the first verbal interaction with Jack (Chris Pine) and Viktor (Kenneth Branagh):

Viktor: "You Americans think of yourselves as direct; perhaps you are just rude."
Jack: "You Russians think of yourselves as poetic; perhaps you're just touchy."

I give Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit 8 out of 10.