Movie Review of Seven Pounds, Released 2008, Starring Will Smith, Rosario Dawson, Woody Harrelson. Absolutely NO SPOILERS in this review.

The movie Seven Pounds, released during Oscar Season in 2008 and woefully overshadowed by bigger guns such as Doubt and Revolutionary Road, had a poster that gave nothing away, except what it was not. It featured Will Smith, but it was not a blockbuster action movie, because he was simply attired in a business suit, as in The Pursuit of Happyness. There was no cute kid, though, just a very somber look on his face. Not a comedy, either, like Hitch. This is going to be one of those movies that make you think, I decided, and I love Will Smith (yes, even in Hancock, which actually turned out to be a rather touching movie), so I added Seven Pounds to my queue.

We saw it last night. I was right; it’s a movie that makes you think, and one that makes you feel. It’s a little heartbreaking and a little uplifting and a little awe-inspiring.

It’s also a mystery that must be unraveled; one of those movies that starts in media res with something very big indeed happening, but you have no idea what’s going on, at first. Then, bit by bit, things are revealed to you, and you start to piece things together and make educated guesses. Some of your guesses turn out to be right, and I would not be surprised if you are able to guess the main direction of the story a decent amount of time before it is openly revealed, but you never grasp the full extent until the very end. That’s one of the wonderful things about the movie: The pace at which things are revealed is satisfying, causing you to remain constantly engaged, yet never frustrated.

What’s the other wonderful thing? The humanity. The human face of tragedy and redemption, the integrity of Smith’s character, the vulnerability of Rosario Dawson, the surprisingly gentle Woody Harrelson in a rather small but brilliantly played role. This is an acting tour de force by Will Smith, who, even though he is playing a character who at times seems to be living a double life, never strays from the underlying relentlessness, the determination, that inhabits that character. I wish I could tell you what the title means, but it would give away the main idea. I wish I could tell you a little more about the plot, but like I said, it’s one of those movies you’re supposed to go into completely fresh, so don’t look up any other reviews, don’t look at any summaries, just watch it. You will not be sorry.

Image credit: https://www.pexels.com/@tima-miroshnichenko/

Review of Oz the Great and Powerful with James Franco and Mila Kunis (2013)

Disney's 2013 movie Oz the Great and Powerful is available on Disney Plus (Disney+), and I watched it this weekend. I had read a couple of iffy reviews about the movie, but I'm a sucker for big movies with awesome special effects, and this film paid off. Also, I'm not sure what people were complaining about, because it was really great! There are many very good, well-known actors in it--James Franco plays "the wizard", and Michelle Williams, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, Bill Cobb and Zach Braff do a wonderful job in their roles, as well.

This film is written to be the "prequel" to the 1939 original The Wizard of Oz. It answers the questions we all had as kids when we first saw the movie--how did the wizard get to Oz in the first place? How did he, a regular man, end up in such a powerful position? How did the people of Oz deal with having witches flying around the country? All these questions get answered, and we also get a chance to meet the Wicked Witch of the East, the sister who got smashed flat by Dorothy's house at the start of the original movie.

The makers of this movie have done a great job referencing the original, from the starts-off-black-and-white-and-changes-to-color effect to more subtle things, such as having the actors play dual roles of characters both in the real world and in the land of Oz. Disney also cracks me up by doing a little SELF-referencing: watch for the poisoned apple!

All in all, it's a great film for the family. It enhances the experience to have seen the original movie, but it's a great stand-alone film. Ali approves!

See what I thought of Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters

Movie Review - Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013)

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters is the sequel to 2010's Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief, both based on books from a wildly popular YA fiction series penned by Rick Riordan. This film has rather unfortunate ratings: 5.7/10 on IMDb, 42% on Rotten Tomatoes, and a paltry 39% on Metacritic. These are well-deserved, because as we know, the success of a book may not guarantee the success of a movie. And boy, did they take an appealing concept, likable characters and great special effects and completely ruin it with a script that stank.

I don't want to give spoilers, here, so I will try to be kind of vague, although I will state unequivocally that I would not recommend watching this movie. It's 106 minutes of your life that you can't get back; I'm just saying.

Throughout the entire movie, characters who are supposedly on an urgent quest to save not only the world in general, but the life of a very special individual in particular, show no sense of urgency in getting there. They stop to ask questions or get backstory when they could be actually moving right along while doing that. In one particularly urgent case, Percy stops to have a bonding moment when he could be quickly sprinting the last ten feet or so to prevent something that could destroy the world.

At other times, characters seem ridiculously oblivious: When Percy is pursued by a threat to the demigod kids' camp, he faces it down alone, even though everyone in camp could (and should) be rushing to his aid. After all, they're all demigods and should be well-qualified to assist him.  Indeed, when he returns to camp, no one even asks him what happened! 

There are plenty of other complete lapses in judgment and utterly stunning flubs: One character asks for help catching the bad guy's yacht while Percy seems helpless and hopeless, and yet soon after, we see that he had more than enough personal power to do that on his own. And an island and a whirlpool that were firmly established in the waters around ancient Greece show up in the Bermuda Triangle, of all places. Yikes!

The whole thing is just a mess. The producers who approved Marc Guggenheim's plothole-ridden screenplay should be slapped twice, and director Thor Freudenthal, who stuck with it instead of spotting the obvious inconsistencies, should be sent to bed without supper. It's mortifying, and I'm sure Rick Riordan can't be too pleased. The movie clearly sets up another installment to follow, but this sequel was such a wild mess that no more movies have been made. The popularity of the books remain, though, and there have since been some shorts, an animated, feature, and a miniseries. Apparently, a TV series is in production and planned for release in 2024. Let's hope it doesn't insult our intelligence like Sea of Monsters, which would be better off sinking back under the surface without a trace. 

Here are some reviews of things I didn't hate:

https://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2016/04/review-of-kaiser-chiefs-cd-yours-truly.html

https://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2020/02/my-review-of-beyond-thickburger-from.html

https://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2022/02/review-of-historian-by-elizabeth-kostova.html

Image Credit: https://www.pexels.com/photo/underwater-photo-of-bubbles-15537421/

What's in the Bucket? Tutorials, Reviews, Advice and More!

Welcome to my new blog! As a teacher, I have a passion for sharing knowledge and enriching people's lives. As a writer, I have a love for research and learning. I wonder about a lot of things, and I love to get answers and share the important stuff, and the interesting stuff, or, heck, maybe the goofy stuff, even. And yeah, I also like to hand out my opinion on various subjects. I mean, it's hard to experience things and not have an opinion, right? The problem is, there are so many different types of things to write about, and so many different things to learn, teach, and share--I couldn't make up my mind!

So instead of covering the more focused subject of my local city, as I do in What's Good in Greensboro?, or art, as I do in All Sorts of Art by Ali, I wanted to throw all the helpful stuff--news, reviews, tutorials, advice, and just general info--into one Big Ol' Bucket of Useful. Enjoy!

Image from Pixabay https://pixabay.com/en/bucket-water-for-time-metal-999973/