ThePeebs

Prisoners was a fantastic, deeply emotional thriller. A superb lead performance by Hugh Jackman with great support from Jake Gyllenhaal, Terrence Howard, and Viola Davis. The plot is slow at times, but it builds up to a very satisfying conclusion.

I was astonished by how much I enjoyed this movie. The first Thor movie was my least favorite of all the phase one "origin" movies, so I went into this expecting more of the same. I was so wrong! Between the jokes (and there were a lot of them) and the action, I was hooked throughout the entire movie. Of course there were some cheesy lines here and there, but that's expected in a Marvel movie. Thor 2 ranks as my favorite Marvel movie to date, only behind the stellar Iron Man.

The premise of the film was original, but it was executed like your average feel-good comedy. The plot had your expected up and downs, and the jokes often didn't hit their mark. On the upside, Google was a fantastic backdrop and that alone made the movie worth watching. Also, the chemistry between Vaughn and Wilson was as good as expected and the small part by John Goodman was an added delight.

As a fan of book, I knew I would come out of this movie a little disappointed. And I was right. Movie adaptions are never as good as the book. Period. The issue is always with the cutting out of material to make the movie more appealing to the average viewer. As I can understand most of the changes, I was not pleased with how the battle school was handled in the film. By the time Ender reached command school, I didn't feel like he was commander material. Too little time was spent developing his skills and demonstrating how his mind worked. Besides that, I thought the movie fared well, especially the ending which was handled fantastically. If I had not read the book, I would have enjoyed the movie more. But, like everyone always says, the book is always better than the movie.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt shines with his directional debut. This is a very honest movie meant for a very mature audience. JGL and Johansson both gave incredible performances with Danza and Moore provided great support roles. The comedy in this film deals mostly with JGL and his porn addiction, while the drama comes from the problems that arise from his addiction. Thankfully, the ending wasn't your normal rom-com ending and it a was nice, unexpected change. This is a rom-com done right.

Once you get past the shaky camera, this movie shows off strong performances by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Don Cheadle, and Zooey Deschanel. The only gripe I had was with the plot development. At times the story felt like it wasn't really going anywhere. Even with that gripe this is still a good movie and I wouldn't let that keep you from watching it.