Movie Review: Burlesque

I never thought people would actually be waiting for my reviews. Well, here's my review of (drum roll) Burlesque!

Info

For those who may not know what Burlesque is, it's a kind of drama plus comedy with music. So you'll see some of performances going on that may seem ridiculous in nature. However, most of the performances done by the dancers are more towards the Neo-Burlesque concept, which is a kind of performance that combines dancing and striptease.

Spoiler Alert!

Burlesque is a movie about a small town girl named Ali (Christina Aguilera) from a small town in Iowa (of course), who decides to leave her boring, and vague life to chase her dream of becoming a singing performer. After a day long search for a job, she finally lands herself at a bar called Burlesque which adapts the concept, Neo-burlesque. Ali is forced to work as a waitress at first to increase our anticipation to see her on the stage, but later proves to her boss, Tess (played by Cher), owner of dying bar, that she has talent with her natural dancing skills and her solid attitude, and finally gets to be Christina on stage. Little did anyone know that Christi.. I mean Ali has one more trick up her sleeve that could save the bar from closing down.

Critique

I think this is a terrible movie. It's shallow, the characters aren't developed, the acting is third class, the plot is not well thought out at all. The only thing I like about the movie is the dancing and Stanley Tucci. Tucci plays Sean, Tess's best-gay-friend who seems to be the only character that makes any sense in the movie. Cher's character seems to be experiencing an emotional breakdown but doesn't really hit it well, and she seems to be dumb when it comes to financial management.

Christina's character is instant coffee. She's a small town girl who has no family? That's it? It's like the scriptwriters said "Well, we didn't want to make it too hard for Christina". There's only a picture of her mom and that's just just an excuse for her to cry on screen. He character is inconsistent. One moment she's a nice humble girl, in another, she's a *itchy flirt. I'm not talking about Christina, it's her character. Blame the writers. The love affair between her and Jack (Cam Gigandet) is just ridiculous, but it had to be there. So they might as well end it happily.

When I watched this movie, I was reminded of the movie Make It Happen [2008], starring Mari Elizabeth Winstead, Tessa Thompson, and Riley Smith. But the main character in this movie is more defined and deep.

This movie would have been great if it was just a documentary about the concept Burlesque. The dances and Christina's performances were over the top. There's no doubt about that. You actually get goosebumps when she tries to sing for the first time in the movie. Plot aside, this movie is fun to watch when you turn your brain off for a while.

Movie Fever...

Lately I've gotten hands on several new movies that's just come out on DVD and Bluray. Because of that, I kinda feel like writing a review for each one. I don't know what's come over me, I'm not that good at reviewing movies. But what the hey, I'll give a whirl.

Here is a list of Movies that I've just gotten and will be watching.

127 Hours

The Tourist

Burlesque

Unstoppable

Tron Legacy

Waiting for Superman

Movie Review: Due Date

I haven't done this in like forever. Let's see if this old noggin still works.

Likes: Robert Downy Jr. Funny at times.

Dislikes: Almost like watching Tony Stark on a really bad day. Can be annoying.

The movie is about an up-tight, hot headed, jackass architect named Peter Highman (played by Robert Downy Jr.) who’s trying to get to LA in time for the birth of his first son. That’s just too easy right? Unfortunately he meets an annoying, childish, misinformed man, Ethan Tremblay, (Zack Galifianakis) who gets him thrown off the plane that he’s suppose to take to end the movie and ends up having to travel across the country together facing all kinds of ridiculous obstacles.

When this movie started, I thought that it was just going to be another ‘Third Wheel Man’ or ‘Dinner for Schmucks’ which I dislike. But this movie sort of is, no, it really is actually. However, I did enjoy this movie a bit, partly because I’m a fan of Robert Downy Jr. and partly because this movie made me laugh quite a few times.

As an expectant dad, Peter has all the wrong personalities to be a dad. Sometimes it’s seems like he’s just plain crazy and lets of some steam by punching people’s faces in. Peter is the kind of person who’s easily pissed off and would easily piss other people off because of it and always ends up regretting. While Ethan is a childish grown man who seems to be naive and clueless about almost everything. Ethan basically gives Peter a glimpse of how life would be like around a child. It’s pretty much like hell.

That’s it I guess.. Cliff hanger!.. Will continue later.. Maybe...

Bending the Air...

The movie The Last Airbender isn't the worst adaptation movie I've ever seen, that would be the repulsive Dragonball Evolution. However, there are certain issues that disappointed me a bit.

1. This may sound racially offensive, but I assure you, it's totally academic. The ethnicity of the characters in the animated series were quite clear. I don't know how M. Knight could have mistaken an obvious Chinese ethnic for an Indian. I was looking for to see a Chinese looking people in the fire nation. Zuko's uncle was a tea obsessed Indian in the movie. I could have sworn that uncle was actually sipping a bowl of curry. Dush* The animated uncle had a very Chinese accent. I'm sure the voice actor put a lot of effort into it to convince viewers that Uncle was Chinese-ish. Something must have gone wrong while they were casting the characters because I think there was a different actor in that very same movie who was more fitting to be uncle. It's the man that Aang met at the Northern Air Temple who loured him into a trap. He could have been a great uncle! And he's Chinese-ish!

2. Many said that the acting in this movie was below par. I would have to disagree. The acting was ok, but not great. The only thing I don't like about the portrayal of the characters is that if they removed all the costumes and the names, I wouldn't recognize any of them, with the exception of Prince Zuko.
I hated Sokka's character. He's supposed to be witty and funny. Instead, we get an uptight serious man guy fellow.