Synopsis:
Chris Gardner (Will Smith) has had a string of bad luck. He sunk his life savings into a medical supply company that isn’t selling. His wife, Linda (Thandie Newton) resents him, and he can barely provide for his son (Smith’s real-life son Jaden), the center of his life. Things go from bad to worse when Linda leaves him, but Chris has a dream. He wants to be a stock broker for Dean Witter. Now he’s risking everything with an unpaid internship, taking a chance in the pursuit of happiness…..

Review:

Unfortunately, though I watched this on DVD and this should be a DVD review, I didn’t actually check out the special features (I watched a single disc widescreen copy from Blockbuster.) As a result, this review is going to be about the movie itself and not about the DVD. If I get a chance to actually check out the disc itself sometime, I’ll post an addendum to this review with details on special features and extras.

Plot: You can’t criticize the plot much because this movie is based on a true story. It’s hard to say real life wasn’t good enough. I thought the story flowed well and it definitely portrayed a man, down on his luck, who refused to let go of his dream. Though most of the movie was sad, with one setback after another, the overall story is uplifting. Surprisingly, there is a bit of comedy in the film and I did find myself laughing a few times. I don’t want to ruin the ending, though I think you can guess what it is. You’ll feel good when you’re done watching this movie.

Acting: The acting was great. I’ve always liked Will Smith, but this was definitely one of his best performances to date. He definitely produced Oscar-worthy work in this movie. He really shows the determination, fear, frustration, and hope that (I’d like to believe) the real Chris Gardner felt. I was also impressed by Jaden Smith. His role, though critical, doesn’t require great depth. After all, Christopher Gardner was only 5 years old. How deep can he be? Still, the boy acted well and I think the existing father/son relationship showed on the screen. The rest of the cast is inconsequential, though I really did get to hating Thandie Newton’s Linda.

Overall: I think that altogether this was a good movie. The story was great and the acting definitely left an impression. I would highly recommend you watch this movie if not purchase it. It’s definitely the type of movie that motivates you and keeps you hopeful. The movie has questionable replay value, but I think that being such a good film makes it a necessary part of a true move collection.

The Pursuit of Happyness (Widescreen Edition)

Overall Rating: ***

Final Destination 3 @ IMDB

Synopsis:
When Wendy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) has a premonition of a horrible rollercoaster accidents, she saves a handful of her classmates from a horrible fate. But when the survivors start dieing one by one, Wendy realizes its harder than it seems to cheat death. Can she convince everyone that death has a design for all of them? This is the third installment of the Final Destination series.

Review:
Some people are probably wondering why I gave this movie three stars. In fact I would bet that most people would give this movie one star, two if they were feeling generous. I have to be honest, I liked it. Probably because I’m a fan of the series. Plus its always fun to see what cool and sinister methods they develop to kill all the characters off. I never wrote a review for Final Destination 1 & 2. So if you’re not familiar with the series, here is the critical info: folks somehow cheat death, death’s not happy, death finds more complicated means of killing said folks. The only dissappointment I had with the previous films is that they killed Clear Rivers (Ali Larter) in FD2. I thought she was a good lead character (and potential tie between all of the films).
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Overall Rating: *****
Tristan & Isolde @ IMDB

Synopsis:
Rome has fallen and the tribes of England are stuggling to form a stable alliance against the brutal Irish King Donnchadh (David O’Hara). Tristan (Thomas Sangster/James Franco), the son of an English baron, finds himself as an orphan after a brutal attack from the Irish prevents the signing of treaty his father drafted. Taken in by the fair-minded Lord Marke (Rufus Sewell), Tristan grows in to a skillful and brave knight. When Tristan is injured in battle, he is taken for dead and is set adrift for a burial at sea. His boat washes up on the shores of Ireland where he is found by the beautiful Isolde (Sophia Myles), Princess of Ireland. As she conceals him from her father, she also nurses Tristan back to health. What follows is a tormented love affiar, which is only complicated when Isolde is married off to Lord Marke in a devious plot to destroy the fragile alliance newly formed among the English tribes.

Before Romeo & Juliet there was …… Tristan & Isolde.

Review:
Ok, I know what all you guys out there are saying: “This guy’s gone soft and started watching chick flicks!” Its true I have seen a few more chick flicks recently than I care to admit. But they’re not all that bad. This one was particularly good. I will admit that I watched this movie mainly because I really like the Gavin Degraw song on the soundtrack. Not exactly the best reason, but when you have a Blockbuster Movie pass, it really doesn’t matter why you want to watch a dvd.
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Overall Rating: ****
A History of Violence @ IMDB

Synopsis:
Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) is a quiet family man that runs a diner in a small town. When two murderous thugs come in to the diner and start to attack a customer, Tom springs in to action killing them both. Tom is quickly elevated from average joe to hometown hero. The media coverage, however, brings Carl Fogarty (Ed Harris) to town. Carl is a mobster claiming that Tom is really Joey Cusack, a hit man from Philadelphia. Fogarty’s persistence not only threatens Tom but his wife, Edie (Maria Bello) and their children. Does Tom have a real history of violence, or is he just a small town hero caught in a case of mistaken identity?

Review:
This was a pretty solid movie. I enjoyed it more than I thought it was. I wasn’t really sure what to expect. From what I’ve learned about David Cronenberg (the director) since I watched this movie, it seems that I got slightly lucky. Cronenberg has a tendency towards the graphic and perverse, but this movie was almost untouched by that particular problem of his. This movie is violent, not as much gore as you would expect, but still a lot. The thing is, the story requires it. Violence is at the core of this movie. It would be pointless if it didn’t look real.
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Overall Rating: *****
{Proof} @ IMDB

Synopsis:
Katherine (Gwyneth Paltrow) , a brilliant young woman, is forced to put her life second to that of her father (Anthony Hopkins), a once brilliant mathematician who has lost his mind. Taking care of him consumes her life and she is never able to truly persue her own ambitions in mathematics. When her father dies unexpectedly, her life changes drasticly. Her sister, Claire (Hope Davis), returns to settle her father’s affairs and one of his former students, Hal (Jake Gyllenhaal), starts to dig through his old notebooks. As Katherine struggles to deal with her grief, Claire begins to doubt her sanity. Did Katherine inherit her fathers brilliance and his insanity?

Review:
When I picked this up at Blockbuster, I thought that it would be either and uber-geek movie or a sappy drama/romance masquerading as an intelligent film. I have to say I was wrong. It was neither of those things. It turned out to be quite a moving story about someone who isn’t sure about who she is. Its about someone who’s lived her life for someone else for so long that she’s not quite sure how to live her own life now that he’s gone. This movie is apparently based on a play and I am tempted to seek out this show.
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Overall Rating: ***

Movie Review: The Goblet of Fire

This is the 411 on the DVD release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Being the fanactic that I am, I ran out and purchased the 2-Disc Special Edition dvd. To tell the truth, I don’t think there is much special about the 2-disc edition. Its a decent set, but its not all that a special edition should be.

The big thing that bugged me about this set is the menu system. Now, typical dvds will have sections like special features, behind-the-scenes, deleted scenes, games, etc. This set, and all of the other Harry Potter 2-disc sets for that matter, have sections called Hogwarts, The Maze, or The Black Lake. Though I appreciate the novelty of this layout, it makes it impossible to find what you’re looking for. I couldn’t tell if deleted scenes would be in Hogwarts or the Maze. I guessed and got lucky.
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