Toban’s Movie Reviews- Contraband |
Contraband
(Score: 7/10)
Summary (via IMDB):
Chris Farraday long ago abandoned his life of crime, but after his brother-in-law, Andy, botches a drug deal for his ruthless boss, Tim Briggs, Chris is forced back into doing what he does best, running contraband, to settle Andy’s debt. Chris is a legendary smuggler and quickly assembles a crew with the help of his best friend, Sebastian, to head to Panama and return with millions in counterfeit bills. Things quickly fall apart, and, with only hours to reach the cash, Chris must use his rusty skills to successfully navigate a treacherous criminal network of brutal drug lords, cops and hit men before his wife, Kate, and sons become their target.
Positive Elements:
Not many, if any at all. However that should not deter you from the film.
Negative Elements:
The movie’s entire plot surrounds every illegal substance you can think of. However they will be better explained in their respective areas.
Spiritual Elements:
None. The movie doesn’t really have time to dig into any deep conversation or topic due to its non-stop action/theft elements. This is actually a good thing because it doesn’t drag any unneeded elements into the film, which reminds me…..
Sexual Content:
…there is none. Here it is people, the first (in hopefully many) R-rated action movie that knows what it is there for and sticks with it. The movie has prioritized keeping you intrigued/witnessing action and does not stop ever for a moment of sensuality or sexual expression. It’s somewhat refreshing, even though the rest of the movie is completely about deception, drug running, and violence.
Violent Content:
People are shot, stabbed, threatened, and, quite frankly, devastated by physical beatdowns. As Chris goes through his plan he is forced into multiple gunfights and a heist on an armored van. People going to this movie will most likely know what to expect in the violence level, however (and I’m not going to spoil anything) there is a side plot, late in the film, that will put some people on edge. It is this plot that fills the “substance” hole that the plot has for most of the film.
Language:
The F-word is the only adjective known to society in Contraband. In more exact terms, I lost count of its occurrence once I hit 140. For real. S*** is used more than 50 times as well. Others just fill in the cracks.
Conclusion:
Contraband is a strange film. It inhabits theaters in a time of the year that I like to call “The Drought”. All the films from the Holidays are still in theaters, and those that wouldn’t have flourished during that time, are given a chance to open the New Year. Usually films of this period are the worst of the year, but Contraband contains a budget and quality I would have expected in the summer. With that said, it is a film I believe that many will be surprised with. However, that is not to say that all should see it just for that reason. The language is abysmal, the violence is over the top, and the characters aren’t very good guys. I would recommend this to a mature group of guys who are ok with language and just looking for some action. I saw it with my sister, her boyfriend, and another guy friend. The 3 guys thought it was entertaining. My sister, on the other hand, was very distraught about the violence and the “side-plot” I mentioned earlier. It defined the film for her and, combined with the language, ruined the movie overall. I, myself, thought it was just “ok”, however I understand the obstacles in production and timing it has and therefore enjoyed myself a little more than I expected. Had this come out at a time with a better movie line up, I would probably have been way more critical.
Toban’s Movie Reviews- Tower Heist |
Tower Heist
(Toban’s Score: 4/5)
Josh Kovaks has managed one of the most luxurious and well-secured residences in New York City for more than a decade. In the swankiest unit atop Josh’s building, Wall Street titan Arthur Shaw is under house arrest after being caught stealing two billion from his investors. The hardest hit among those he defrauded? The tower staffers whose pensions he was entrusted to manage. With only days before Arthur gets away with the perfect crime, Josh’s crew turns to petty crook Slide to plan the nearly impossible…to steal what they are sure is hidden in Arthur’s guarded condo. Though amateurs, these rookie thieves know the building better than anyone. Turns out they’ve been casing the place for years, they just didn’t know it. (via IMDB)
Positive Elements:
Few. This is not to say the movie is very negative. It just plays a very neutral field. Teamwork is basically the only thing you can attribute to positivism.
Violent Content:
Nearly none. A cleaning cart hits a security guard pretty hard. Also Josh attacks a car with a golf club.
Sexual Content:
Movies like TOWER HEIST are the reason I write these reviews. Seeing as this movie is PG-13, I thought it would be relatively clean….I thought wrong. Slide has a girlfriend named Rita, who displays ample amounts of cleavage. He states at one point that he’s going inside to have sex with her while Josh and the guys work at their lock-picking skills. Looking at a picture of a busty woman identified as a lesbian, Slide makes several crude mentions of his preferences for chesty women. I’m not just talking passive comments either. He uses provocative terms and describes his methods of dealing with their chests, as well as the reasons lesbians’ are better. Odessa, a Jamaican employee, uses sexual flirtations and double entendres to try to attract Slide’s attention. Josh tells a cheating resident (who has a prostitute on his arm) that his wife will be arriving soon. He also threatens to reveal an employee’s interactions with a resident “cougar.” In order to show he has the ability to steal, Josh walks into a Victoria’s Secret store that sports pictures of underwear-clad models. He steals several pairs of panties, shoving them down the front of his pants. One of The Tower’s guards is observed describing why French nudity is better while sporting a French version of Playboy. We see the magazine’s cover, which displays a woman in a top that basically looks like a basketball net, with nothing underneath. Also the word V——a is used 7 times in the film, during a discussion between Josh and another employee who is on a nervous tangent about his wife’s baby and how he thinks his wife is too small, like most of her family, to deliver it properly. References to male anatomy abound in this film as it seems those are the only tools capable of describing the temperature, weakness, strength, or potential of any one person during a male conversation.
Crude Language:
The movie’s favorite words are s— and a–. S is heard about 45 times, whereas I lost track of a–. Five or six times God’s name is combined with “d‑‑n.” The n-word is uttered a few times. Children call a man a douchebag and tell him to “S—k IT!”
Alcohol and Drugs:
Josh drinks a little at a bar.
Conclusion:
Tower Heist is a hilarious movie; don’t let this review make you think it isn’t highly enjoyable. I myself loved seeing Eddie Murphy steal the spotlight again, as well as some other actors who have been out of the game recently. The problem is, it also reminded me of how much has changed in movies. PG-13 isn’t very clear-cut anymore, and even though I review movies because of this, I am still surprised at what they get away with. This is not a movie to see with a date if you are at all offended by sexual references, played as jokes of course. I have a hard time putting my finger on what I recommend this movie for. It’s as if my mind has blocked those sexual moments from my memory in order to more easily convince me that the movie was great, much like the desensitization that we talked of this week at 19north. Overall I would say it is fine for a mature individual our age to see this, as long as you are ready for the awkwardness. I would see it again, but I’ll probably wait until the DVD so I can at least mute it and watch it with my sisters.
Toban’s Movie Reviews- The Three Musketeers |
The Three Musketeers
(Toban’s Score: 3/5)
The Three Musketeers tells the tale of a young boy named D’Artagnan who fights alongside three former musketeers, who have recently lost their drive to fight. The movie focuses on their exploits in England as they try to recover stolen jewels from a beautiful double agent named Milady and her employer before they seize the French throne and engulf Europe in a massive war.
Positive Elements:
This is an interesting element to focus on in The Three Musketeers. Though they are valiant and heroic in their actions, the characters aren’t all that good in nature. D’Artagnan fights for love and honor, but the rest don’t redeem their pre-movie qualities until the very end (which I cant explain due to spoiler guidelines).
Spiritual Elements:
Aramis the primary man of faith in the film. We witness him praying part of the Lord’s Prayer before he kills a number of men, later praying again for their souls. Aramis also says that there’s a difference between a man of the cloth and a man of God.
The clergy in the film is seen as corrupt. The primary villain is an archbishop and we constantly see him committing crime in the same room as a large crucifix. A ship has a large carving of a grim reaper holding a crucifix and wearing the holy garb.
Sexual Elements:
There are actually a lot of verbal sex jokes and double meaning behind conversations in the film right from the beginning. Milady is displayed as being willing to sleep with anyone to achieve her goals. At one point she and the Duke of Buckingham kiss, and he states, “Shall I search you for concealed weapons?”. Even I didn’t have to ask this question, due to all the effort the filmmakers went through to show cleavage, I knew they didn’t have any on them, even before he says this.
Violent Content:
The entirety of the show is violence but in a fantastical way, so as to not be overwhelming. Most is accompanied by witty one-liners and played off exactly as you would expect from the source material. Also there are so many explosions, Michael Bay would be jealous.
Foul Language:
3 s-words, 5 d—, 2 a—and –h—. Also one comical use of b——-d.
Alcohol:
Characters toast to things multiple times and there is no shying away from alcohol. However, they do not get carried away at any point in the film.
Conclusion:
The Three Musketeers was made for 3D, and I highly recommend that you see it that way, if you plan on seeing the film at all. I, myself, very much enjoyed the film. In no way is it a quality film, but then again I do not believe anyone walking into this movie is looking for anything substantial. It is a fun film, filled with humor and swashbuckling, a great movie to see with friends, maybe a date, though not a first one. The film did get a little out of hand with the double meanings and such, but they calm down as the film moves forward and it actually becomes a pretty clean film. There’s really no that much to explain about the film. It’s exactly what you would expect and doesn’t deviate from the “guideline” of such films. Hope someone gets out to see it, I’m interested to hear what you think.
IS THERE A SPECIFIC MOVIE YOU WOULD LIKE REVIEWED? EMAIL REQUEST TO TOBANMOVIEREVIEWS@GMAIL.COM
Toban’s Movie Reviews- Real Steel |
Real Steel
(Score: 3.5/5)
Set somewhere in the near future, where robot boxing is a top sport, a struggling coach and ex-boxer, named Charlie, can’t catch a break. To make matters worse, he’s in a mountain of debt and has recently found out that his ex-girlfriend, and mother of his child, has died, leaving him as the sole custodian of the child. However, he doesn’t want any part of it and quickly signs custody over to his ex’s sister…for a price. $100,000 dollars, but only if he watches his son until August. During their time together Charlie introduces his son to the world of robot boxing, and together they stumble upon a discarded, but promising robot that just may have a shot of going the distance. Together, along with Charlie’s friend Bailley, the take n the world with their eyes set on the World Champion, a robot named Zeus.
Positive Elements
The side-plot of this movie is the transforming of both Charlie and the relationship he has with his son. The movie contains many touching moments between father and son. As the movie progresses they become inseparable and form a fantastic team that takes the boxing circuit by storm. Charlie’s relationship with other characters, such as Evangeline Lilly’s (of Lost), grow as his relationship with his son changes his heart.
Spiritual Elements
Charlie suggest they pray for their robot as he enters his first league fight
Sexual Elements
There’s nothing to really worry about. At one point Charlie finds Bailey asleep. Having just faced a series of difficult events, he crawls into bed with her and gives her a hug. This is in no way sexual, but more of a comforting moment.
Violent Elements
The movie revolves around robots boxing, so there are many acts of robot violence. Other than that there is an ambush on Charlie by a person to whom Charlie owes money. The savagely beat him in front of his son and take all his money. That is the only real violence in the film.
Foul Language
No f-words. A couple sh–, a–, and d—, some by the kid. Other than that hell is used a few times.
Alcohol/Drug Content
Charlie drinks a lot at the beginning of the film.
Conclusion
Real Steel is actually a pretty good movie. Content/story wise, the movie is pretty straightforward. You get exactly what the trailer advertises. There are some good fights between the robots. The only real substance from this film comes from the relationship between Charlie and his son, which is the focus of the second half of the film. Sadly the film ends after the last fight, leaving the ending of the story between them in limbo. I expect this film will have a sequel, and hopefully we get to see their relationship continue to grow. Overall, I enjoyed this movie, but not enough to see it again in theaters. Good movie to see with friends, but bad date movie, as there is little a guy and girl would share interest in between the films two divided plots. That’s all from me. God Bless!
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Toban’s Review) |
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Tim’s Score: 5/5 (aka OUTSTANDING)
Rise of the Apes is an origin story in the truest sense of the term. Set in present day San Francisco, the film is a reality-based cautionary tale, a science fiction/science fact blend, where man’s own experiments with genetic engineering lead to the development of intelligence in apes and the onset of a war for supremacy. (via Metacritic)
Positive Moments
This movie contains so many positive depictions, its difficult to remember them all. Will’s love for his dad, as well as Caesar is refreshing to see in a lead character of a modern summer blockbuster. The entire story is fueled by this love, as well as Will’s lessens to Caesar about right and wrong.
Spiritual Content
None, but that is not something to be discouraged by. This film is pure fantasy set in a modern world.
Sexual Content
Will and his girlfriend kiss and we see the pair in bed. (Due to timeline progression it’s never stated whether they married or not.)
Violent Content
Trailers for Rise of the Planet of the Apes make it appear that this is a man-vs.-ape war movie. That could not be farther from the truth. There are some intense moments of violence, but what set this story up differently is that there is hardly any death. Monkeys fight each other, a finger is bitten off, a helicopter explodes mid-air (possibly killing one rider), and monkeys fight people near the films conclusion. This last example is not what it appears to be however. I use the term lightly because the monkeys do not kill anyone on purpose, they’re leader won’t allow them. However, this does not stop a particularly vengeful monkey from killing a main antagonist due to a “kill-be killed” scenario. Another death is present in the movie as an accident and is played for sorrow and surprise rather than a meaningful act of aggression. Again it is a means of self-defense.
Crude or Profane Language
God’s name is combined twice with “d‑‑n.” 1 or 2 uses of “a‑‑”. A man is cut of before finishing the sentence “what the …”
Drug and Alcohol Content
The drug variations ALZ112 and ALZ113—the medicines being developed in the film—are injected and/or otherwise transmitted to both apes and humans.
Conclusion
This movie is a must see for any fan of the Planet of the Apes franchise. The movie is the purest of any that captured the screen this summer and I, myself, have seen it 3 times in theaters. There is surprisingly nothing to worry about seeing in this film and I gladly watched it with my entire family.
I apologize this review has taken so long, now that school has started back up I plan to review the top 2-3 movies that come out every week. I would greatly appreciate getting requests of what you guys would like me to review. What are you planning to see this fall?
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Vimeo, iTunes, and Receive Texts |
