Blog Archives
Flash Movie Review: The Lucky One
After the movie ended and I had to climb over the woman dabbing at her moist eyes with a wad of tissues, I was wondering who was the lucky one. Maybe she felt fortunate for seeing this movie; I know I certainly did not, I was the unlucky one. My teachers used to tell me before you give a negative comment, always start out with something positive. I liked the coming attractions. Now that I got that out of the way, let me start with the lead character Logan played by Zac Efron(17 Again, New Year’s Eve). He was so wrong for this movie and shame on the director for not pushing Zac to at least try and act in this movie. I felt he was too young and pretty while he tried to portray a three tours of duty marine. After finding a photograph of a woman, Logan felt it was a good luck charm that protected him, keeping him alive during his military stint. He made a promise if he survived the war, he would find this woman and thank her. The photo he kept close was of Beth played by Taylor Schilling (Dark Matter, Mercy). Her acting was decent, but there was absolutely no chemistry between her and Zac. Besides being passionless to the point of almost painful, this movie was predictable. Syrupy music was used throughout as we were exposed to extended shots of the sun setting or rising. I did not read the book, but I think with a different cast and director this film could have been a better movie and a more believable story.
1 3/4 stars
Flash Movie Review: Act of Valor
One would think, with live bullets and real U.S. Navy SEALS, this movie would be a safe bet for excitement. Alas, that was not the case for me. The conflict scenes were well done and had a good amount of building tension with intense action. However, the in between scenes were simply dreadful. I knew going into this film that the military men were actual special force fighters not actors. And I was okay with that, realizing this story was not going to be actor driven. However, I do not care if military people talk like that in real life; it was absolutely corny and cliched. If you are making a movie, then you need a good script writer. For me, I felt I was viewing an extended ad campaign. It was a real shame, because with a decent script, this film would have had a steady balance of drama and excitement. Instead, I quickly became bored with the non fighting scenes. One thing I found very curious was the crowd’s reaction to a woman being tortured. I believe it made everyone more squeamish than if it was a man getting abused. If I were you, I would wait for this film on DVD, so you can fast forward through parts of it.
1 3/4 stars
moviejoltz 