Ellis at The Movies 3 Burn After Reading

This weeks film is

Joel an Ethan Coens Burn After Reading (2008)

A good movie is like falling in love for the first time. You realize that this person/movie is everything to you and whenever you think about this person/movie you just melt inside to me that is the experience i felt after seeing Burn After Reading. I fell in love with this movie.

Here is the description from IMDB.com

A disk containing the memoirs of a CIA agent ends up in the hands of two unscrupulous gym employees who attempt to sell it.

What i liked about this movie.
The performance of Frances McDormand and Brad Pitt as Linda and Chad two of the employees at Hard bodies Gym. I just loved how they played these two totally idiots who have no idea what they have gotten themselves into. A great example of this is the scene where they discover the memoirs of Osbourne Cox ( John Malkovich). They see it as a big break to something bigger for both of them I also enjoyed the set design by Jess Gonchor. I liked how he created the places where the characters lived. A perfect example is The Cox home i found it very tight and cold like the characters of Osbourne Cox and Katie Cox (Tilda Swinton). Another example of this is Linda's apartment it is really plain in its design just like Linda how Linda feels that she is plain to the rest of the world

What i didn't like about this movie

I found the movie to be to short. It clocks in at 96 minutes but i just felt it could have been longer. Otherwise a brilliant film from Joel and Ethan Coen

Final Thoughts
After a rough week at Ellis at The Movie headquarters. This was the perfect movie to get me out of my funk. I recommend this to anyone who has enjoyed the coen brothers films in the past or if you like a good dark comedy.

Ellis at the Movies final rating
Four our of Four stars See this movie and you will not regret it

Next week i will be back with a review of Woody Allen's Vicky Christina Barcelona and i will also share my top ten movies of summer. Thanks for reading and save a seat for me

Ellis at The Movies 2 Mamma Mia

In this weeks blog i have decided to review
Phyllida Lloyd's Mamma Mia.

When i go the the pearly gates st peter will ask me what my deepest darkest secret is. I will think for one second about my life in this mortal world and tell him that I was a sucker for a good musical. Werther it is watching Gene Kelly dancing with Cyd Charisse in Singing in the Rain or Tim Curry doing the time warp in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I have always been a sucker for a good musical

Here is a description from IMDB.com

20 year old Sophie is preparing to marry her boyfriend Sky at her mother's hotel on an island in Greece. She seemingly has it all -- a carefree life, a loving fiance, and happy friends -- but one thing has been missing all her life: a father.


What i liked about this movie.
I enjoyed the cinematography which was shot by Haris Zambarloukos who was the second unit director of photography on Batman Begins. The one particular moment i enjoyed was was the opening shot of the film in which Sophie the main character sings I Have a Dream The way Zambarloukos composes the shot like a painting of muse callening out to the gods for insperation.I also enjoyed the choreography which was done by Anthony Van Laast. who was the original choreographer on the west end version of Mamma Mia. The way he transitions the dance numbers from the stage to screen is amazing, One moment that stands out is the Money number. This is the song Donna sings after the Dynamos arive on the island. i like how Laast has the performers move around the island not as if they were on the stage.

What i didn't like about the movie.
There was really nothing that i didn't like about this movie



Final Thoughts
I don't plan on going to the pearly gates anytime soon but if i do i will still say to Saint Peter That i was a sucker for a good musical during my lifetime.I give Mamma Mia Four out of Four Stars for the stunningly beautiful cinematography and for the choreography which transitioned well from stage to screen.

Next Week
I will have a review of a new movie i haven't decided which one yet and Sunday i will have the DVD review of the Second Coming posted.

Thanks for reading and i will save you a seat

Ellis at The Movies # 1 The Dark Knight

0in;">Hello film geeks! For those of you that don't know me my name is Ben Ellis aka keptinben,Captinben or BobaBen in certain online forums. You see dear reader i have not done anything creative since the age of 18. I have just trudged along doing retail job after retail job and hating it. I felt like Luke Skywalker on Tatooine i was stuck doing the working on the mostiture farm/retail job without ever having the chance to join the empire or in my case be a film critic. So here i am doing it being a film critic no evil overlord aboard a Death Star or manger in a soul sucking retail job to stop me now.

The rating system.

Here at Ellis at the Movies i will post a movie review of a film i have seen in theaters and a dvd i every Friday. I will use a ratings system of four stars . Here is how the star systems works.

One star, This movie is not worth your time

Two stars There are bits of this film that you are going to like not all it but bits of it

Three Stars This movie is good but mabye it is more worth to rent on DVD

Four Stars See this movie and you will not regret it.

he first film i have chosen to review is.

Chrsitopher Nolans The Dark Knight (2008)

The year is 1989 a young geek by the name of Ben Ellis is in the Roseville movie theater in Roseville Minneasota. His mother has decied see a movie that his father and younger brother and himself would not want to see. The other choice a new movie based on the comic book/ Tv Show Batman. I was intrigued would his sidekick Robin be in it ? Would the Joker look like Cesar Romero? I would find out that both of these things wuld not be true . The movie that i saw was jaw doping to my young self as is at The Dark Knight

Here is a discription of the film from IMDB.com

Batman and James Gordon join forces with Gotham's new District Attorney, Harvey Dent, to take on a psychotic bank robber known as The Joker, whilst other forces plot against them, and Joker's crimes grow more and more deadly.

What i liked about this movie.

The writing by Christopher and Johathan Nolan is very poetic is almost like you are watching a Homer Poem on the big screen. An example of this is the many speches that Alfred The Butler portrayed by Michael Caine has in the film .It was like he was the greek cours that brought understaning of the film to the audience. I also enjoyed how they wrote The Jokers dialouges .A great example of this is the scene at Bruce Waynes party where the joker intrduces himself to Gothams ellite . I also enjoyed the preformance of Sir Michale Caine as Alfred Pennyworth Bruce waynes loya butler and friend. There is a lot of buzz around Heath Ledger getting a postumus oscar for his preformance as The Joker. However i would encourage acdamy voters to give Michale Caine a nomination since he was just so good in this movie.

Whay i didnt like about this movie

While the Nolan,s wrote good dialouge they all fell into a trap that a lot of movies fall into. They make certain points of the plot really obvious. (Spoilers begin ) Like the scene where The thug in jail and it seems like he is having a heart attack and then you cut to The Joker demanding to make his one phone call. When i was watching this it seemed to that two things had happened. 1. The Thug was having a heart attack 2. The joker had done something like planting a cell phone bomb inside the thug. What do we find out that happened The Joker did plant a cell phone bomb inside the thug(Spoilers end). I did not like the moments when you saw things like that and just knew what was going to happen they were Thats pretty much what i didnt like about the film.

Final Thoughts

When i was a kid in 1989 i walked out of the roseville theater thinking that the new Batman was the fucking bomb and as i walked out of the Lagoon Cinema in 2008 i realised that The Dark Knight is the new fucking bomb I give The Dark Knight Four out of Four Stars . For the preforman of Sir Michale Caine and brillant writing of The Nolan Brothers.

Next Week

I will have a review of Mama Mia and the frist dvd review on this site for The Second Comeing.

Thank you for reading this and i will save you a seat.

Complaints,Praise email it to ellisatthemovies@gmail.com

Ben Ellis July 26^th 2008