YuBlog » Blog Archive » Sean @ the Movies: “The Fourth Kind” “2012″ and “Youth in Revolt”

Sean @ the Movies: “The Fourth Kind” “2012″ and “Youth in Revolt”

8 December 2009 No Comment

Do aliens exist? In my opinion, I do believe there is most likely some other form of creature out there in the universe. I have to say that if a movie has something to do with aliens, I am usually in and I like the movie. One of my favorite movies growing up was Fire in the Sky, a great movie about an alien abduction. Well there is one small exception to that rule, the newest Indiana Jones movie. That is all I am going to say. So The Fourth Kind is directed and written by Olatunde Osunsanmi and stars Milla Jovovich. The movie starts right off by telling you exactly what you should expect and the story behind the movie. It follows a psychologist, played by Milla, who is in Alaska following up on why there has been a large number of missing people and no explanation as to why. She begins to film people as they describe their encounters with something that they seem to have blocked from their memory, but they all remember seeing a white owl. As she begins to dig deeper, the testimony gets more intense and soon she is realizing that there is something not normal going on here, but no one seems to agree with her. She herself is trying to deal with the murder of her husband, while she was sleeping in the same bed, and yet she cannot remember what the attacker looked like.

the-fourth-kind-yublog This movie is based on real life footage and it goes so far as showing the real footage side by side to the actors portrayal. At first this is cool, but as the movie goes along, you start to realize that the borders are moving slightly and it starts to draw your attention away from the movie. I think I would have rather just seen the actual footage, which was rather scary at points. Speaking of scary, the freakin owl the people see, and that they show in the movie, is going to give me nightmares. After seeing this, I agree with the statement that they make at the start and the end of movie. They are just showing you the footage and you can decide for yourself if it is real or fake. There has been some grouping of this movie and Paranormal Activity, such as the fact they use life like footage to add to the realness and intensity of what these people are going through. I really enjoyed Paranormal Activity and I have to say I liked The Fourth Kind too. If you are into aliens and related stuff, this movie is for you. If the thought of aliens make you laugh, you will want to skip this one. But overall I am going to give this movie a high recommendation, just because I think seeing this in a dark theater with a group of people, will be a fun and scary ride that I don’t think seeing it on your TV will be the same.

Official IMDB:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1220198/

Official Page:

http://www.thefourthkind.net/

Disaster Porn. When you hear that phrase, you cannot do this without thinking about many of the film directed by Roland Emmerich. Few were good (ID4) and a few were bad (10,000BC), but they all had one thing in common: you knew you were going to see some awesome special effects as the poo is hitting the fan. The story was never the strong point, but you don’t ever go in expecting a great story. You just want to see things get destroyed. Well, his newest chapter into this genre is a movie called 2012, which is based on the Mayan belief that the world will end at the end of the calender year of 2012. They believe the world will end to due the solar flares on the sun increasing in size and causing some major problems for our planet. The cast includes John Cusak, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Woody Harrelson and Danny Glover.

2012-poster-yublog The beginning of this movie is very similar to the beginning of The Day After Tomorrow. There are some slight differences, but I thought I was watching The Day After Tomorrow a few times. We get a quick bit of the story until the stuff hits the fan. And when it does, it’s a freaking roller coaster ride of fun. Yes, some of it makes no sense and could never happen in real life but if you can get over that, it’s a great time. The CG is amazing and the detail in the destruction is awesome. This movie clocks in at just under 3 hours, but I did not look at my phone once to see what time it was. The human story was so-so, but it never distracted me from the destruction. There are some funny one-liners and a few some emotional scenes between some people, but not enough to get me to tear up. I am going to highly suggest seeing this movie in the theater because it will be a much better experience than on TV. So if you like seeing stuff being destroyed, this is the movie for you. One little thing that I would have loved to hear at any point in this movie, “It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.” Yeah I know a little cheesy, but would have been worth it.

Official IMDB page:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1190080/

Official page:

http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/2012/

youth-in-revolt-yublog So to end this review, my last movie is Youth in Revolt. I was able to get a ticket to an advanced screening of this movie and was looking forward to seeing it after some great reviews from some friends. This movie is based on a book and stars Michael Cera (who I am a fan of), with a great supporting cast which includes: Zach Galifianakis, Steve Buscemi, and Fred Willard. The story revolves around Cera’s character who is a teenager who wants to fall in love and lose his virginity. Yeah, I know we have heard this before. He goes away for a “family vacation” with his mom and her current boyfriend and meets the girl (whose parents are strict religious people) of his dreams, played by Portia Doubleday. She has an idea of what she wants in a guy (French badass) and he believes that he needs to act like a bad guy to keep her. So, what does he do? He starts to see his bad side show up (sounds familiar, doesn’t it) and lead him into the ways of the bad. This includes burning down a store, drugging her to make her sleep during classes and much more. But in the end, he learns the lesson we all learn in life: she loves him for him and not who he thinks he needs to be.

I pretty much have enjoyed all of Michael Cera’s films, partly due to his awkward style of comedy (I can relate), and I have to say Youth in Revolt was good, but not one of my favorite of his films. I think I would still put Juno and Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist above it. I still suggest seeing this movie; it was funny enough to keep me entertained. Like I have stated, the story is nothing you haven’t seen a million time before, but there are some small additions that make it worth a viewing. You may have to keep an eye on your local theaters to see when it opens, but I am sure you will find it entertaining. If not, check out Juno or Nick and Norah.

Official IMDB:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0403702/

Official Page:

http://youthinrevolt-themovie.com/#/home

Well that is it for this review. If all goes well, my next review should be of Fantastic Mr. Fox, Ninja Assassin, The Blindside or Precious. So be on the lookout for that. And until then, go out and see a movie!!

Sean