Rise Of The Guardians

        Rise Of The Guardians rekindles the imagination we thought we had lost

In a world outside of the norm, the North Pole to be exact, Santa and affiliates are forced to regroup in a bid to prevent the Boogieman from taking over the world. The only problem is they ain't strong enough; introducing Jack Frost to help the rise of the guardians!

Dreamworks creates yet another fantastic animation that shows once again Disney does not rule the imagination of the audience.

Jack Frost (Chris Pine) is bewildered to the fact he possesses a rare power, although it becomes a point of acceptance 300 years later. Given to him by the moon, his perks involve invisibility, flying and to pretty much turn everything to ice. However Jack is part of a collection of guardians but doesn't know it yet.

The North Pole is home to North aka Santa (Alec Baldwin). North is the Leader of the guardians;  Tooth (Isla Fisher),  Bunny (Hugh Jackman) and the Sandman who all thrive on making the lives of children very happy. However when Pitch (boogieman) played by Jude Law shows up, a year by year agenda of celebrations take a turn for the worse as he sets on vanishing any such beliefs in the guardians, creating an impact of nightmares for the children. It is then that the "Moon" decides to invite Jack Frost as the new guardian in a bid to save the world from utter darkness. Much to the dislike of Bunny and Co, the guardians are forced to accept Jack as their own in a desperate fight against the dark and brilliantly humorous, Pitch.

An original tale, Rise of the Guardians is brilliantly told through the eyes of Jack Frost and other imaginative characters we have all believed in. Santa is visioned far from the jolly old fella we have all waited on Christmas eve; he holds an egotistic personality with a funny accent. Both naughty and nice, the pros of being a historic figure to children is still referenced nicely through-out. Bunny, as in the Easter bunny was my favourite character. Ironically perceived as an Australian Kangaroo, make no mistake he is a grumpy bunny and even more so when he confronts Jack in numerous altercations.

Jude Law plays a boogieman that only a child could have imagined; making Rise of The Guardians all the more appropriate. Aside from Yetties instead of Elf's, and Bunny's boomerangs instead of Eggs, this short tale is a consistent ingredient of comedy and originality with 97 minutes of wonderful CGI animation.

Overall: Rise of the Guardians is beautifully constructed with scenes that pull off with, or without 3D glasses. Just one of many animated movies this year, Rise of The guardians will stand out in terms of the originality involved.

7/10

Contagion Movie Review 2011

Contagion, Directed by Steven Soderbergh (Ocean's Eleven trilogy) and starring Matt Damon along with an awesome cast including Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne and your bit on the side, Gweneth Paltrow.

The Story kicks off with a bang when Beth (Paltrow) returns home from a business trip in Hong kong and begins to suffer from severe sickness that she tends to pass off as a bad flu.

The cause of the infection is unknown to her and husband Mitch (Damon). 

The Infection takes a turn for the worse when Beth collapses and is hospitalized under severe protection as even the doctors seem bewildered to the cause of the sickness. Mitch gets his life turned upside down when he receives the tragic news that his wife had unexpectedly passed away with the cause of death unsolved.

Contagion gives a great plot to start with. A deadly virus that is rapidly spreading through America and the world. Scientists, Doctors, disease control, all seem confused when members of the public start dropping dead. The people you think might know the cause of death? Have literally no idea of the decent, or gravity this infection can have.....

It isn't long before the public get word of mouth about the killer virus, sending many into shear panic. Alan (Jude Law), a hilarious individual who labels himself a journalist, but many see him as a controversial character with nothing better to be doing than sitting around all day blogging.

Alan is your typical journalist, he is arrogant, inappropriate, and always looks to eavesdrop. Alan seems to get into trouble all the time, but when he claims to have a cure for this virus, all hell breaks loose.

On the opposite side is Dr.Cheever (Laurence Fishburne) and Irina (Daria Strokous?)

Dr.Cheever has his co.worker Irina hot on the trails of the virus, hoping to discover a cure, while at the same time trying to prevent herself from the sickness, as the death toll rises everyday.

The movie takes place in numerous locations telling the stories of people struggling to deal with the loss of family members, to the doctors and scientists under pressure to keep the story out of the media.

I felt Contagion could have done better. The introduction to the movie was quality, a great piece of acting, as we get a glimpse of the affliction the deadly virus will have through out. My only problem was I don't think it carried that same affection it had at the start. 

The movie had a great first half, with extreme tensity and realism, along with superb acting from Matt Damon and Gweneth Paltrow, but the movie needed more Gweneth Paltrow.

When I say it had superb acting, I mean from all of the cast, Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne and Daria Strokous were all quality. I just wanted more from the movie, more action and less fussing around! It Just wasn't  there for me.

So Contagion was decent to watch. I would not tell anyone to avoid, simply because of the actors involved.

The story was a great idea, very original, but do not expect to remember it 24 hours later. The End of the movie killed it for me, I won't go into the end of the movie right now though! :)

Good plot, Great actors, got boring half way through, and I believe the end was rushed!

overall. 6/10