Flipped (2010)

Have you heard of this one beforeÉ There was one of those deals for VideoHub on my tablet again so I saw this little movie called Flipped.  I was for $9.99 and it looked cute.  I always like these little young romances.  They always have this innocence that can make me smile from my heart.  Although Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB seemed to differ in their ratings a bit, I still decided to go ahead with it and see how I felt about it.

Director: Rob Reiner

Cast: Madeline Carroll, Callan McAuliffe, John Mahoney, Aidan Quinn

Bryce Loski (Callan McAuliffe) moves into a new neighborhood when he was in second grade.  It was a day he would never forget because it marked the start of a strange little girl across the street, Julianna Baker (Madeline Carroll), who befriended him and from that day on had a big crush on him and his dazzling blue eyes.  She made him become the biggest embarrassment on the first day (and following year) at school.  All he ever wanted was for her to leave him alone so he tried every way possible to avoid her. Juli didn’t only follow him around but to him, she had strange ideas.  She wouldn’t climb out of a big old sycamore tree when it was going to be cut down and she grew chickens in her backyard for starters.  However, it seemed to get his grandfather’s (John Mahoney) attention, something that he couldn’t even get from him. This made him want to see Julie in another light to understand why his grandfather thought so highly of her.

This is an adaptation from a novel apparently.  I’ve never even heard of it so I don’t really know how to review this as an adaptation. As a stand alone movie, I really enjoyed it. I was in all ways a feel good movie from beginning to end.  It was young, cute and innocent.  I think its the fact that they did this in an original way, where we get the typical schoolyard crush but as we see Bryce’s side of the story, we also swap around after something happens and we get to see Juli’s side of the story in her narration as well.  For some, maybe it can be repetitive.  However, I’m just assuming because like I said, I found that very fun to watch.

Although it is a little fun young romance as the package, as we see both sides of the story, we also see how they grow up as individuals.  We see how their choices affect who they are.  What I really liked was the supporting actors. I think they were the ones that pushed me over to actually get this movie.  In the trailer, we saw Bryce’s grandfather was the inspiring figure in his household and he does a fantastic job at bridging the understanding between the two kids.  On Juli’s side, we have her father (played by Aidan Quinn) who really helps her and makes her understand new ideas and encourage her.  I’m starting to really like Aidan Quinn.  He has done some outstanding jobs in movies.  This one was probably the best that I’ve seen him at.  Maybe I’m alone but I stand by that.

I really connected the movie for personal reasons.  Some times, our situations and the people around us make us learn lessons and analyze the people and environment around us as well.  It doesn’t make them any less innocent, just makes them more insightful.  All simply, this movie brings out a reality of growing up in two different family situations. It shows us how our family, our friends and others that we associate with influence how we see and react to different things in life.  Sometimes, when we are young, we don’t really see it until we gain better perspective.

As for the young actors, Madeline Carroll and Callan McAuliffe, they both do a really awesome job in this flick.  They do narration mostly but in the context of conversations and reactions, they embody their roles very well.  It pulled me right into the movie and I was a nice fun ride to see them grow up during the movie.

Flipped is a recommendable story for those who like these sorts of movies. You might guess a good part of it but the process of the movie and the originality in the script from both points of views is refreshing and fun.  Its supported by both great young and older actors and they really bring out the essence of this movie.  As much as its cute and funny, its heartwarming and meaningful.  A lot of adjectives I like to give to movies.  This is going straight to my feel-good movie pile and I almost want to play it again right now.

Unknown (2011)

Have you lost track of how many movies Liam Neeson has done? I’m starting to see him in everything, action, adventure, crappy, good, romantic comedies…everything.  I’m trying to figure out how many movies I own/seen that he’s been in.  I mean just look at IMDB page, he has 3 movies in post production, 3 flicks filming, and 2 in pre-production.  Can you find someone who works as much as he does? I sure can’t… Just in the last few months, I’ve reviewed 3 of his movies: Dark Knight Rises, Love Actually and The Grey.

Director: Jaume Collet-Serra

Cast: Liam Neeson, January Jones, Diane Kruger, Aidan Quinn, Frank Langella, Sebastian Koch, Bruno Ganz

Dr. Martin Harris (Liam Neeson) and his wife (January Jones) land in Germany for a conference under the invitation of Dr. Bressler (Sebastian Koch).  When he arrives at his hotel and his wife is is inside checking in for the Eisenhower Suite at the Hotel, he checks over the suitcase that is unloaded and realize that one of them is left at the airport.  He quickly gets into another taxi to go back.  However, him and the taxi driver (Diane Kruger) get into an accident.  When Martin wakes up four days after the accident, he is in the hospital and all he has are flashbacks of his wife.  He doesn’t have any identification so the hospital wasn’t able to contact his wife.  Suddenly, when he remembers his purpose in Germany, he goes to find his wife at the hotel, to realize that she doesn’t know him and refers another man (Aidan Quinn) as his identity.  In confusion, he seeks to find the truth of why his wife doesn’t recognize him.  As he retraces his steps, he gets the taxi driver Gina involved as they try to find out what is actually happening and who Martin actually is.

This is a fast paced action mystery thriller where the process is way better than the ending.  I found the ending underwhelming for one.  I was engaged and intrigued by the story as more and more questions popped up during the flick.  The cast was all people that I enjoyed and recognized. This looked so promising in the beginning but ended in such an average fashion.

Liam Neeson was pretty good in this movie.  To me, this wasn’t as good as he did in The Grey, but that movie had an amazing plot.  This one lacked a little something.  However, he was still enjoyable to watch.  Aside from Liam Neeson, I recognized the man who is supposedly impostering him, Aidan Quinn.  He’s in one of my favorite new TV series, Elementary and I was extremely happy to see him in the movie. He’s totally awesome and he does decent with what he’s given.  Then we have the lovely Diane Kruger.  I first saw Kruger in National Treasure, I find her a charming actress and this one she’s did a good job.  I’d also like to share a love for the actor who played the private investigator that helped Martin search the truth, Bruno Ganz.  He was amazing. I think he was possibly my favorite character in this one.  The lines he got was just total awesomeness.  I have never seen him in anything prior to this but the appearance he made on the screen kicked up the suspense even more.

I don’t talk about the directors ever, because a lot of times, there’s rarely anything I want to say. However, for this one, our director is one Jaume Collet-Serra.  I know this man from his previous work that I saw during my Halloween month last year.  I didn’t write a full-on review of the movie but I loved it.  Its a little horror thriller called Orphan.  That movie sure thrilled me.  Although ranked in Rotten Tomatoes at about the same as Unknown, I found that one delivered more than this one.  The basis of that movie had a lot more mysteries and surprise moments that this one didn’t have.  But I’m not exactly sure comparing action thriller to horror thriller is along the same line…

I know there’s a lot of comparisons here making this sound like I didn’t enjoy the flick.  A good action thriller gives me entertainment a bit of suspense and gives me fun moments I had fun with it for the good part. However, my feeling of a movie always drops a bit when met with an unsatisfying ending.  The potential was there, and it could’ve worked alright but it just lost control of what it was doing and became slightly predictable.  I’m not exactly sure thats how I’d describe it, something just didn’t work for me but I’m can’t seem to pinpoint what.

I’m not going to  recommend this as much as I’d say that its a decent movie that you could catch if it ever presented itself.  Entertaining and action-packed for a good part supported with good cast makes it a decent watch.

What do you think about Liam Neeson? Whats your fave one? How about worst?