The Adjustment Bureau (3.5)

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A young man running for senate bumps into a slightly wild but incredibly beautiful dancer by chance one night. The more he tries to be with her the more it seems that fate doesn't want them to be together, what he finds out isn't fair from the truth. Now they must both decide if they can give it all up, if they have the courage to stray from their fates, in order to write their own; one where they can be together.

This was much more drama and romance than it was thriller and action. I'm glad that I read part of one review that had warned me about this because when you watch the trailer it seems like the whole movie is them running around and trying to hide (something more like the movie Uncertainty). That's not really the case.

I am generally a fan of Matt Damon, I really think he has done more good than bad. Especially after having seen him in True Grit and even in Invictus, you can sort of excuse movies like Hereafter and Green Zone. Still, I always feel like there's something missing from his performance. I can never know exactly what that is, maybe it's passion or maybe it's conviction, but regardless I feel it every time I see one of his movies.

I heart Emily Blunt. I really, really do. She is quickly becoming a favourite of mine. I didn't really recognize her until I saw The Young Victoria and from then on she has always impressed me. She most definitely out acted Matt in their scenes together but he has the action down so together they made a great on screen duo.

Story is a bit weak. I like the over all idea - the general basis of the plot - but other than that there were a few times I found myself rolling my eyes. I was looking forward to this film because it's based on a short story by the one and only Philip K. Dick who is one of my all time favourites, but it fell short. They tried, they really did, and it brought up some interesting points but it didn't have the bang that it could have. The ending was so lame that it almost ruined the rest of the film for me. It just seemed...sloppy. No, not sloppy. Like patch work. Yeah, patchy.

Anyways, it's a decent flick with some interesting parts and they did have some cool scenes tossed in there. Don't expect a thriller but don't expect a heart warmer either...think in between but with some eye rolls. You can wait to rent this one.

3.5/5

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Crash (4.5)

(Watch the Trailer)

A movie about racism in LA, the story revolves around the lives of a group of interlocking people. You never really know who a person could be, especially when all you see is what makes them different than you.

Directed by Paul Haggis this movie won Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing at the 2005 Oscars.

This is a fast paced, intense film. There isn't a calm moment in the entire movie as it shifts from one heartbreaking story to another with very interesting connections between characters slowly being shown and building on one another. I can definitely see why this won the Oscar for Best Screenplay, it deserved it. The amount of thought, passion and foresight gone into this script astounds me.

The acting over all was pretty amazing. I mean, the cast is amazing: Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Jennifer Esposito, William Fichtner, Brendan Fraser, Terrence Howard, etc. I can say that the over all story is what held my attention so it could have been that I just wasn't paying close enough attention as all the performances were only there to support this amazing script. Still, that being said, there wasn't once that I rolled my eyes at any one character, on the contrary I found myself tearing up over a few of their stories. Takes a lot for me to cry in a movie so I obviously felt connected to some of the people.

This movie is extreme though, it will make you angry, sad and depressed but also wake you up a little but out of that beautiful shell that most of us keep ourselves in. These things are still happening - racism is not going away, and the more we pretend that it isn't a problem in this "modern" day and age in North America makes it even stronger in our everyday lives.

I loved this movie because it looked at every type or person - all races, classes and sexes. I thought that the transitions from scene to scene were flawless and the stories and the characters that they were about raw and powerful.

Over all it left me with a message that I never really thought of with any amount of depth: that we are all victims and we also create victims without even knowing it. This movie will make me pay more attention to how I treat the people I may never see again...

4.5/5

(FYI: This movie is not to be confused with the 1996 film by the same title which is all kinds of messed up in terms of plot that I cannot say it was even particularly good)

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