Oz The Great and Powerful (2013)

***An iCheck Movies Listed Film***

Someone decided that 60yrs was long enough and the story of the Wizard of Oz has to be told from the wizard's point of view. Exactly who is the man behind the curtain? What are his motivations? Does he dream in Technicolor?

The Cast:

• Oz, charlatan magician/future king
• Zach braff, magicians assistant, future ape
• Theodora, the wickedest of all the wicked witches
• Elnora, creates witches, watches the throne like JayZ
• Glenda, the Good witch

The Situation:

Oz is a conman magician in a traveling circus during the Dust Bowl era of Kansas. He feels that he is better than he is and he shouldn't have to be performing in dusty towns. He wishes to be a great man and while running from some danger, he is caught in the middle of a cyclone and transported to the Land of Oz, where becomes their prophesied savior and saves the land from the terror of the Wicked Witch.

The Resolution:

Despite a rocky journey, he finds himself  defeating the witch and saving the land. He makes preparations for the future saviour because evil can never die.

Along the way, he becomes the man he's always wanted to be and the hero the world always knew he was.

 

   Oz hath no fury like a witch who's scorned...

Oz The Great and Powerful is a better movie and story than I thought it'd be. Idk what I expected, but I found myself pleased. It's an origin story that explains how and why one became wicked and the other became Zordon. On top of that, it movie looks and sounds amazing and is very well acted (even though the writing was hammy). It seemed like they had fun filming and surprisingly no one mailed in their performance, which tends to happen in movies like these. I'm giving special props to Mila Kunis. Her turn as the witch was amazing and she acted her ass off.

All the stuff is there, The Emerald City, The Yellow Brick Road, the flying monkeys, and the witch's water allergy. But there were only a few things that bothered me. Namely, Oz is propheczed to be the Wizard King of the land, but it's never made clear whether he's a king of all wizards or a wizard who is also a king.

Also the super hammy dialogue was a bit much: 

"You could be a good man, if you wanted to." But I don't. I don't want to be a good man, I want to be a great man." Ugh.

That's all I ever wanted for you, greatness." Double ugh. 

I'm like just get to the flying monkeys! and of course the flying monkeys are baboons. Baboons are terrifying.

Zach Braff? How did that happen? Maybe he's running out of that good Scrubs money? 

Nah. He probably always wanted to be a flying monkey or some shit.

 
Stray Quotage: 

- Let's go make some magic
- Of course I'll save this little talking money...in a bellhop's uniform.
- Are you really going to do this? 

         How hard can it be to kill a wicked witch?

    Hard. Really hard. Really really hard.

- Every lie you tell gets us one step closer to the emerald city dungeon.
      Then don't think if them as lies, think of them as stepping stones on the road to greatness

 

Violence? Eh
Explosions? Yes
Nudity? No

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The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013)

  Steve Carrell and Steve Buscemi as magicians? and Olivia Wilde? I'm in!

The Cast:

• Burt Wonderstone, Master Magician [Has the hair to prove it]
• Anton Marvelington, magicians sidekick/BFF
• Jane the New Nicole, aka the Magicians sexy assistant [Olivia Wilde]
• Steve Gray, The Brain Rapist a Kriss Angel type magician [Jim Carey]
• Rance Halloway, OG magician and Burt's inspiration.

The Situation:

A lonely, bullied little boy receives a magic kit on his birthday and falls in love with the world of magic, as he believes it will help people like him. He meets another boy who shares his interest and soon a magic team is born. Many years later they continue to perform their act, "Burt and Anton: A Magical Friendship," the to the delight of crowds worldwide.

Doing the same thing day in and out for nearly a decade, Burt has lost his passion for the business. Off stage he is moody, arrogant, apathetic. and his personality drives people away. When rival magician, Steve Gray appears on the scene, his act begins to take away their fans, and drive down their ticket sales, putting what appears to be the final nail in his career.

He aims to get himself back on track, but to do so,  he'll have to win back his friends, regain his passion and pull off his greatest trick, redemption.

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Stray Quotage:

"That trick just blew your mind, because that's what magic does. It blows your mind."

"Pretend I'm still here and tell me all about it."

"The world record for staring was 24 hrs, I've been doing it for 3 days and I'm bored. So I want to spice it up with some pepper spray."

"It's called a Magical Friendship. You can't be magical friends with yourself!"

"You're here. But what about your work with the poor?
Turns out they didn't want magic. They actually wanted food and clean water."

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Basically Burt Wonderstone is a redemption story wrapped inside of the battle of old magic versus new. Burt's rival, The Brain Rapist is about as much as a magician as David Blaine and his "tricks" Everything about him, down to his name is ridiculous and an affront to magic, but he gets results,  which unfortunately cannot be denied and it sets the stage for the battle between traditional and non traditional magic. 

As much as I'd like to, I can't really trash this movie. As far as the magic battle goes, both sides are given proper attention and it's tough to truly pick a side. The opening scene though, has one of my new favorite actors, Greg Heffley aka the Wimpy Kid as a bully in an odd turn off events. It's actually a pretty funny concept knowing his history.

Idk if that accounts for anything but whatever. This is my blog. Burt Wonderstone is a good move. Watch it, don't watch it, I don't care.

Violence? No
Explosions? No
Nudity? No

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The Apparition (2012)

Draco Malfoy and friends work to summon a demon into our realm. Dealing with Mudbloods just wasn't enough for Ol' Draco. He had to kick it up a notch.

The Cast:

Boy, handy Ben
Girl, sexy lil thang
Malfoy
Pepper the dog who sees dead people
Neighbors, because why not?

The Situation:

The Charles Experiment was a paranormal experiment carried out in the 70s where a few people tried to contact the ghost of a deceased teammate. Many years later, a group of college kids attempt to recreate the experiment. The first time they opened the door. The second, they attempted to contain the ghost but instead opened it wider. 

Now they are dealing with a malevolent spirit who wants to be in their world and won't stop haunting them until it gets what it wants.

Resolution:

Draco shows up and convinces them that they need to try to recreate the experiment but in reverse, hoping to close the door that the ghost came in through.

)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

The Apparition was the result of a college experiment to summon a spirit and capture it. I know they say that "College is a time for experimentation," but I'm pretty sure that whoever said that didn't mean that it was okay to summon demons. Still, ya gotta love the movies where ALL evidence points to a haunting and yet somehow, someone is able to convince everyone else that shit is cool, despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

My biggest gripe with this movie was the characters making very stupid decisions/statements and I've seen enough of this genre to know that if that's my biggest gripe, then you're okay as a film. They clearly tried to do the best with what they had and aside from its faults, it's actually a pretty creepy film. But shit like nailing yourself in a room with a ghost flat out ridiculous.

My lesser gripe being that they come up with a girl who is not only sexy, but talks trash, drinks beer and can whoop ass in Street Fighter 4. Then immediately threaten her life. That's my horror movie dream girl. You take your filthy spirit hands of her you Damn Dirty Demon! 

Being ghost smothered by a bed sheet is stupid but hilarious. I bet she regrets that 500 thread cotton.

Again, it wasn't a terrible movie, but it wasn't great. I thought the whole premise was that the ghost was thought into existence and needed them to believe it was real to survive. At least that's kind of how it was marketed, iirc.

Stray Quotage:

"We believed that we were studying this entity. But it's been studying us."

"Your house is not haunted. You are."

"What were you thinking?

      Well at least I didn't run away, act like it didn't happen.
I did not!" [Yeah, you did]

"Where are you going? You can't abandon this house. You're not even dressed!"

      Yes I can! There's no way I'm staying in this house tonight!" [She was seriously in a t shirt and panties. No stocks no shoes.]

"Do you want to leave?
      No. My parents are counting on us to look after their place. I can't tell then that their house is haunted." [Stupid reason]

"Your house killed my dog."

"I thought that if you didn't know anything, you'd be safe. I was trying to protect you." [Hiding a demon is different than scratching a car, dude]

[Walking in after seeing he's busted] "I can explain...[it's not what it looks like... Classic Defense]

 

Violence? Eh
Explosions? Of demon rage
Nudity? Teased, never delivered

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2 Coelhos (2012)

The Cast:

Edgar - Master planner
Maicon - Super gangster
Julia - Foxy double agent
Jader - Crooked politician
Pretty Raheem - Maicons right hand man

The Situation: 

A man has just come back from two years abroad. His plan is to rob the super gangster of two million dollars and link the politician to the crime, effectively killing coelhos(or rabbits) with stones. However, he senses that something is missing and he's waiting for the final piece of the puzzle before he can set things in motion. When he is mugged at a stoplight, he determines that the mugger is just what he's looking for and approaches him with an offer that he can't refuse. Shit gets real after that. 

Before he meets the mugger and while he's still looking for his catalyst, he introduces us to all the main players and catches us up on their situations. Exactly how they tie into his plan is revealed through the film, but he figures it's good to just get to know them first. 

 

As far as master plans go, you can always count on something to throw it off and or force it to be slightly altered.

I love it when a plan comes together and this movie blends things together seamlessly to create a plan and resolution that's actually entertaining and satisfying. It got a little clunky towards the end, but I only counted one loose string. 2 Coelhos takes you for a fun ride with its character work, and I'm digging the way everything worked out. Considering how many characters and directions this film took, something was bound to get lost in the shuffle.

Check out the trailer below:

Violence? Yes
Explosions? Yes
Nudity? Brief, but it's there.

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Killing Them Softly (2012)

The Cast:

Mark Trapman = Ray Liota. [Should have never opened his trap, man.]
Squirrel = mastermind
Frankie = Does jobs for squirrel. Has a greasy head
Russell = Australian dopefiend. Talks too much
Brad Pitt = Man in Black, hired to figure out/snuff out whoever robbed the card game
Counselor = Mouthpiece for the mafia
Dylan = The Gooch. Say his name, pants are shat.

The Situation:

Frankie and Russell are hired by Squirrel to knock off a card game. It had been robbed before and they never figured out who did it. Mark Trapman eventually confessed and in theory if they knock it off again, they figure he'll get the blame.

When the two guys reunite later on, Russell reveals that there's a contract out on them. Frankie realizes that he may have spilled the beans. So now he's looking over his shoulder and waiting for his number to be called.

Brad Pitt shows up as the guy the mob hires to sniff out and snuff out whoever was responsible. But when he shows up and is ready to get shit done, he finds himself hampered by men with a corporate mentality. None of them want a murder and he's completely dismayed by that.

Russell gets picked up by the cops and Brad Pitt finally catches up with Frankie leans on him a bit and pretty much tells him that he's got a decision to make: give up Squirrel, kill him and walk or feign innocence and get killed later.

The Resolution:

Everybody dies. Except Brad. He's way too cool for that nonsense.

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Killing Them Softly is a gritty thriller that was also surprisingly dialogue heavy, which is something I should have figured given its cast. There were also a political undertones, but laid atop a mafia movie.

The Mafia as an organization is portrayed  as a microcosm of the United States and the disruption of their card games is played similar to the plight of the U.S. economy. It's quite annoying to realize this at first, but as you're watching the film with this in mind, it becomes a bit more enjoyable.  

The main theme and plot of the film run parallel to the state of the U.S. and it's economy as the disruption of the mob related card games is shown to disrupt their personal economic stability yet they aren't willing to do what's needed to fix it. So it doesn't seem like I'm taking from my ass, here's a direct allegory: Brad Pitt was brought in to fix their problems, and he's eager to do so, but he finds himself hampered by politics and political pressure. This sound like anyone you know? *cough* Obama what? *cough* *cough*

It's pretty heavy handed, but even if you aren't in tune with the message consider this: At the very least, you'll get to watch Brad Pitt be handsome and shoot some goombas.

Stray Quotage:

"How about a tip?
     Here's a tip, put a condom on with your mouth. And you stop acting like your anus is a national treasure. You're a hooker for christ sakes."

"He's been here three days. What he hasn't fucked, he's drank. He was fucking drunk when I left him at 2:30"

"It's not so much what you've been doing, it's what guys think you've been doing."

"I'm living in America, and here in America you're on your own. America is not a country, it's a business. Now fucking pay me!"

Violence? Yes
Explosions? Of violence
Nudity? No. Surprisingly.

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Sweet Sweetback's Bad Assss Song (1971)

***An iCheckMovies Listed Film***

The Cast:

• Sweet Sweetback
• The Man aka Honky Devils
• The Black Community

The Situation:

After a murder, the police come down to the nearest negro community live sex show to "borrow" a man for their line up. He's just supposed to stand there and make them look good.

Sweetback is sent with the policemen and he stands by as they brutally assault anther black guy in front of him. He snaps, beats them to death and goes on the lam.

He's picked up immediately, but the community comes to his rescue and he flees once again. The police launch a city and statewide manhunt, to bring him in and Sweetback attempts to escape the state knowing he's facing certain death of the honkys catch him.

The Resolution:

He escapes because he's about as crafty as he is uppity. 

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 Mario van Peebles is one sorry looking mofo. And I don't mean that in the negative sense, 

I mean that like "this motherfucker just 'looks' Apologetic" sense.

Sweet Sweetback Bad Asssss Song has got to be one of the most ridiculous and pointless movies I've ever seen. This is the type of movie I would watch, then never tell anyone that I had seen it and yes I'm aware of the irony of that statement on regards to this blog. Somehow this was to be made to stick it to the man? I just don't get it. It's not about anything. A black dude beats up two white cops for beating another black dude. This leads to all the white cops in a city wide manhunt for him and all the Black folks helping him out. Funky handshakes and all. No one white can be trusted and all his problems are solved with his fists or his sex, which is literally him just laying still between a woman's legs.

I like the grindhouse/exploitation films because the shit these films could get away with could never be repeated in this era. Never. Case in point, This kid, no more than 12 is getting skins. He's told he has a Sweetback cuz his lovin is so good and he grows into a man before the end of the scene. Meaning that girl, (who is a pedophile btw) has pussy so good it can turn a boy into a man by the time he's reached his fist orgasm. Why is this movie not about her? [Seriously, a movie about cooch so good it can skip puberty and turn a boy into a full grown man? I'm bringing the beer and masturbatory aids.]

As for Sweetback, this man does nothing but lay perfectly still and somehow brings women to wildly orgasm. I figure that either his dick moves on its own and/or he's still 12 and that original pussy made him a grown baby. Seriously, wtf Melvin? Oh wait, let me guess, "you're sorry."

Aww. I can't stay mad at that. Apology accepted

Violence? Yes
Explosions? Of boredom
Nudity? Usually when someone is about to get the D.

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