Caro the Movie Critic

Joel Kinnaman as RoboCop in action. The original ROBOCOP movie was a brutally violent and funny film that depicted a poor city of Detroit with no hope and taken over by goons. I hate to admit it but Detroit is merely the same in contrast to the movie with the city filing bankruptcy and companies doing poor business. But, anyway, I kind of liked the movie despite the over-the-top violence but I enjoyed the humor behind consumerism, blood squibs and the police force. I got the spoof. So, based on the advertisements and marketing, I broke my rule of going into the theatre with a closed mind. However, to my surprise, I enjoyed this very different version of the ROBOCOP remake. The movie opens with a television show hosted by Pat Novak (Samuel L. Jackson) discussing that every country except the United States has high-profile security with droids from a multinational business called OmniCorp. The audience witnesses suicide bombers successfully completing their mission by killing the d...

Kit Harrington as Milo. This story is rather familiar, as I learned this event from school as a teenager. The event was heartily impacting and devastating as I recollect my geographical memory that Pompeii was near the volcano called Mount Vesuvius. The eruption occurred in 79 AD as the volcano blasted with specks and heavy "asteroids" of hot magma and ash. It is one of the most cataclysmic surprises in philosophical and Latin history. Unfortunately, the director is sharply focused on the spectacular visual effects and cheesy melodrama that it is basically a philosophical "Pearl Harbor". The movie starts personally with a young boy named Milo witnessing the horror and chaos by the Romans invading his village and killing his mother and father. The evil Senator Corvus (Kiefer Sutherland) leads the attack and sees Milo's anguish and grief in front of him and orders him and the villagers to be killed. The Romans pile the bodies and Milo is believed to be dead,...

Well, the Oscars are less than two weeks away and alas, I've made my predictions on who is going to win this year. I have to say this has been one of the easiest years to predict in terms of who deservedly should win. So here are my predictions in the major categories in upper case letters: BEST PICTURE: American Hustle Captain Phillips Dallas Buyers Club Gravity Her Nebraska Philomena Twelve Years a Slave The Wolf of Wall Street MY PICK: TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE Should Win: Twelve Years a Slave Could Win: Gravity BEST DIRECTOR: David O. Russell (American Hustle) Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity) Alexander Payne (Nebraska) Steve McQueen (Twelve Years a Slave) Martin Scorsese (The Wolf of Wall Street) MY PICK: Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity) Should Win: Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity) Could Win: Steve McQueen (Twelve Years a Slave) BEST ACTOR: Christian Bale (American Hustle) Bruce Dern (Nebraska) Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street) Chiwetel Ejiofor (Twelve Year...

Gabrielle Wilde and Alex Pettyfer swimming and a little more than that. What is love? It is a song, yes, but who can succinctly define love? Maybe, a therapist or a marriage counselor. However, anybody who can define love is not an expert because each person who knows what love is explored it for themselves. Teenage love has been displayed so many times on-screen that now every story has become predictable. But, filmmakers try effortlessly to structure the whole story with different angles of the love story. For example, The Spectacular Now had an original story with realistic characters being in an awkward and huge predicament in terms of love. This movie, however, is totally the opposite. Jade Butterfield (Gabriella Wilde), an introverted high schooler, is graduating and she is going to attend to Brown University in the fall. And then from out of nowhere, David (Alex Pettyfer) notices her and is intrigued by her. David works as a valet at a restaurant as he observes her and her...

All of the Lego characters in one movie. LEGOs. One of the world's, if not the world's, leading lines in the toy industry. Many people will remember how enjoyable and entertaining the experience was to build an object with those little pieces of colored bricks. I first played with those toys as a little child and at first, there was no right or wrong way to build something. Legos are basically tools of imagination and creativity. Anybody can construct something vivid or bizarre. When a product is advertised on television, any kid would want to get their hands on a LEGO box and experience building a ship, boat, building or a character. The filmmakers worked effortlessly to construct their own movie with all these Legos. As a result, it sure paid off. The movie starts with Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman), a wizard protecting a super weapon from Lord Business (Will Ferrell), what a name for a villain, a company president of the Octan Corporation. Vitruvius sort of goes into this ...

Ah, Valentine's Day. The one day where you want to express your true feelings to someone you love and do something special, I mean, anything special. However, how do you want to spend your Valentine's Day? Going out to dinner? Surprise the person with flowers, chocolate, or whatever? Relax and watch a movie? Well, the movies coming out of the week are unmemorable, so I recommend some others if both of y'all can relax and want to watch something. You Tube Link:  Caro the Movie Critic: My Favorite Romantic Comedies/Dramas (Not all of them will be in the video that is on the post because it takes too long to film and edit.) Casablanca Titanic The Notebook When Harry Met Sally... Moonstruck Notting Hill Pretty Woman An Officer and a Gentleman Crazy, Stupid Love. The Proposal Grease Breakfast at Tiffany's The Great Gatsby Annie Hall Silver Linings Playbook My Big Fat Greek Wedding Amelie My Best F...

The cast is "Ocean's 14", I mean, "The Monuments Men". Remember Inglourious Basterds ? Quentin Tarantino worked on an impossible project and turned the result into one hell of a movie, spoofing the World War II setting during the reign of Adolf Hitler with original characters, dialogue, and situations. In relevance to that picture, I knew that a filmmaker, producers, and a studio will create a movie similar to that sort of genre. However, this movie is based on a true story, I mean, a real true story. George Clooney, the director, writer, and producer, is back to helm behind the camera and act with his fellow cast mates. The result is a disappointing history lesson with a shaky balance of sentimentality, action, and actual lessons about art. In the middle of WWII in 1943, the Schutzstaffel or SS soldiers arrive at a museum and steal some art paintings. In Germany, a high-ranking SS official observes and praises the art made by Stahl (Justus von Dohnányi), ...

I have to admit that this Super Bowl was sort of a pathetic game because it the Seattle Seahawks demolished the Denver Broncos 43-8. The match was a blowout. Seattle's defense won the championship, I mean, no question about it. The whole team was on fire and was totally prepared for the game. I mean, Malcolm Smith, a linebacker, was the MVP for the Super Bowl. But, however, everybody watching the Super Bowl on television are excited to see the advertisements. It was kind of a mixed year for advertisements, but I did find 5 very good commercials which are different from each other in terms of tone and the target audience. Here they are: 5. KIA I don't know why not many people love the commercial, but I thought it was entertaining and funny at the same time. Laurence Fishburne basically reprises his role of Morpheus from The Matrix  to perform something unexpected towards the end. The advertisement basically just focuses on how cool the car is. 4. Microsoft There...

Vanessa Hudgens as Abigail "Apple" Bailey. The true story displayed in the movie is very common to other girls in any other race not just around the nation, but, unfortunately, around the world. How can not just girls, but also guys not control themselves? A teenage couple has to think to know the precautions and consequences of sex. The consequences are more noticeable than the precautions, I'm afraid, because either one of them were not careful and thus, it ruins their flexible lives mentally and physically. But, if a young lady does not have the back-up, then she has to come to make vital and tough decisions on her own. However, this movie somehow clutters the clichés into one predictable tale of survival and redemption. Apple (Vanessa Hudgens) lives in an apartment in the ghetto area where she wants to get out. She makes a call at a pay phone and her abusive mother (Rosario Dawson) catches Apple and hits her. But, Apple manages to get in a taxi and depart away f...

Philip Seymour Hoffman's death was a very tragic loss in the Hollywood industry and. He was one of the best actors in recent memory giving one strong performance after another. Unfortunately, the drug overdose took his life way too soon. He was 46. It is very difficult for me to pick a favorite performance; therefore, I am going to display my 5 favorite performances from Hoffman. Capote (2005) Hoffman truly deserved the Oscar for his committed performance as the memorable American author Truman Capote. He really was Capote from the look and stature of the man to the mannerisms that he display while being in a conversation. The Master (2012) Even though Joaquin Phoenix is in the center of the movie, the movie really centers around Phoenix's character and Hoffman's character's, Lancaster Dodd's, relationship. His performance gets the audience attentive right from his entrance into what he is going to say to relax Phoenix and put some thought into our mi...