From Prada to Nada (2011) Review

Even just looking at the title and the poster
should tell you something about
the quality of this movie.

FROM PRADA TO NADA (2011)

Director: Angel Garcia

Writers: Fina Torres, Luis Alfaro, and Craig Fernandez

Producers: Deborah Del Prete, James M. McNamara, and Ben Odell

Editor: Brad McLaughlin

Music: Heitor Pereira

Starring: Camilla Belle, Alexa Vega, Luis Rosales, Adriana Barraza, Wilmer Valderrama, and Nicholas D'Agosto

Runtime: 1 hour 47 minutes

Rating: PG-13 (brief drug use, a sexual situation)

Genre: Romance, Drama, Comedy

Release Date: January 28, 2011

Before Watching the Movie: First of all, I want to apologize for not getting any reviews out lately. School has kicked in to high gear and my life has been kind of crazy of late. I'm going to try and get more reviews out soon, as I've started to see some movies again. Secondly, allow me to introduce a new term that may apply to some of my reviews. This term shall become known as the HM factor. HM stands for "heterosexual male," which I am. It refers to the slanted view of more female-centered movies (AKA "chick flicks") that I possess because I am a heterosexual male. In other words, these types of movies don't really appeal to people like me, so the HM factor points out the fact that I may rate some of these movies lower just because of my perspective. See visual representation below.

Things people may find “objectionable”: The main thing here is language. Though it is all mild (no f-words), there is a fair amount of usage. Also, there is one implied sex scene, but absolutely nothing is shown. There is also apparently a scene in which a character smokes pot, but I honestly don't remember that part at all. Either I just plain missed it or it must have happened while my friend and I were making fun of the screenwriters.

Intro: It's a wise and old saying that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. There are, however, some cases in which this saying does not apply. This movie happens to be one of those cases. Take 3 seconds to glance at the title and the poster. Now think to yourself: does this movie really have any potential to be anywhere near a cinematic masterpiece whatsoever? Your answer is correct if you answered with "no," or "yes, but very little," or something like those. Why, you may ask, did I watch a bad chick flick? Well, my spanish teacher actually showed my class this, since it deals with Mexican culture, which is a culture that speaks spanish. We were then to discuss the movie after we were done watching it. I don't know why he picked this movie of all the movies out there that are in spanish or relate to the culture of spanish-speaking countries (How about Pan's Labyrinth?), but he unfortunately did. Anyway, From Prada to Nada takes what little potential it has and squanders it with an overly formulaic plot, cheesy dialogue, and failed attempts at humor despite pretty good directing and music.

Plot: Two rich, spoiled, Mexican-American sisters living in Beverly Hills are living fairly carefree lives and are getting caught up in their rich, luxurious lifestyle. One day they go to their dad's 55th birthday party at his mansion. While dancing with the sisters, he dies of a heart attack. After the funeral, the sisters found out that their father lost all their money, so with nowhere else to go, the sisters move in with their aunt in East L.A. In East LA, the two sisters Nora (Belle) and Mary (Vega) must adjust to a new way of life and reconnecting with Mexican culture. Meanwhile, both try to make it back in the world as they pursue serious relationships with guys.

Ratings:

     -Directing/Cinematography: 7/10. This was really kind of a bright spot in this movie. The directing is really pretty good. I feel sorry for Angel Garcia because he didn't get a better movie to direct. He's maybe the only person aside from the composer that may actually be going somewhere.

     -Acting: 5.5/10. No Oscar-worthy performances here. The acting wasn't horrible, but it definitely wasn't great either. Some line deliveries felt kind of wooden. Then again, that might also be the fault of the screenwriters and their cheesy lines.

     -Writing: 2/10.

          -Story: 1/10. About as predictable of a story as you can get. Absolutely no unpredictability at all as far as plot and character development were concerned. If this movie were a murder mystery, you could probably figure out who the murderer is in the first 10 minutes in the movie. Yes, it was really that predictable. It was predictable to the point that as I mentioned earlier, my friend and I were making fun of the screenwriters.

          -Script: 3/10. AAAAAA!!!! The cheesiness!!! Make it STOP!!!!! This sums up my reaction to the writing in this movie. Was the writing as bad as that of The Last Airbender? No, but it was definitely getting there. It was extremely formulaic and in that regard matched the story pretty well.

     -Special Effects: n/a. It was clear that the movie had a small budget. There are no special effects to speak of, and I think the most expensive things on any set in the whole movie were the cars the girls owned in the beginning of the movie.

     -Music/Score: 7.5/10. The movie actually had a pretty good original score. It consisted mainly of music with Latin-American themes, which was pretty fitting since the story was mainly set in East Los Angeles and all the characters were Mexican-American.

You tell 'em, Spidey! This is an accurate visual
representation of the HM factor.

                                                                 -Power/Emotion: 2/10. I really didn't care about any of the characters at all. While the HM factor is alive and well in this rating, I really don't see how anyone could care too much about these characters, especially considering how predictable the plot was.

     -Adrenaline: 1/10. Pretty much no action at all except for an incident at the very end, and even through it, it was clear that the character(s) (Even though it's a crappy, predictable movie, I still want to keep my reviews spoiler-free) would end up fine in one way or another.

     -Mind-Bendingness: n/a. Only mind-bending if you think of it in terms of how mind-bendingly formulaic the writing is.

    
     -Humor: 3/10. A for effort, D for execution. I didn't find the movie overwhelmingly funny. There were a couple kind of funny moments, but that was really it.

     -Best Credit: Susana Altamirano as "Cubicle Head."

     -Final Score: From Prada to Nada is not a great movie. Though it's not great, I do have to defend the filmmakers on this one as they had very little good material to work with coming from the writers. The lazy, formulaic screenwriting and storytelling ruin the movie for sure. I would not recommend this movie, even to those who love chick flicks or movies like this, or even those who are immune to the HM factor. If you're going to watch a chick flick, at least do yourself some good by picking a halfway decent one.

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Source Code (2011) Review

SOURCE CODE (2011)
Director: Duncan Jones

Writer: Ben Ripley

Producers: Jeb Brody, Fabrice Gianfermi, and Howard Koch

Editor: Paul Hirsch

Music: Chris Bacon

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright, and Michael Arden

Runtime: 1 hour 33 minutes

Rating: PG-13 (some violence, disturbing images, language)

Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Romance

Release Date: April 1, 2011

Before Watching the Movie: This is a movie that is best to start watching with little to no prior knowledge. There's not a whole lot you really need to know in advance, since the movie explains it all. Since the movie's told from the perspective of Jake Gyllenhaal's character, you never really know more than he does. Because of this, it's best to no nothing going in. I'll include the plot section below, but if you want the "full experience," I suggest skipping that and the intro section.

Things people may find “objectionable”: Probably the worst moments the movie has to offer are during the explosions when it's clear the people are dying and Stevens has to watch this. There is also one use of the f-word and some violence as well. A couple people are shot, and Stevens gets into a couple fist fights throughout the course of the movie.

Intro: I really didn't know much at all about this movie when I saw it. All I knew was the very basic plot premise and that it had gotten really good reviews when it was out in theaters. It turns out that my lack of knowledge was a good thing, especially for this movie. Source Code is a movie that could have daily been terrible, but it's also one that is pulled off well very due especially to the writing, directing, and storytelling, as it's full of fun and mind-bending plot twits and is also exciting and engaging.

Plot: I'll keep this section brief so I don't ruin any of the plot twists. Colter Stevens (Gyllenhaal), a US Army captain who had been serving in Afghanistan, suddenly wakes up on a train in Chicago inside the body of a man named Shawn Fentress, sitting across from a young woman named Christina (Monaghan). After trying to get accumulated to his new surroundings, the train blows up from a terrorist bomb. Stevens then wakes up in a military capsule where he finds out he's being sent into the past via a system called Source Code and his mission is to find the bomber on the train before he or she wreaks more havoc on the city of Chicago. In the meantime, he becomes attached to the train's passengers and wonders if tries to wrestle with the fact that he's connecting with them yet they're all dead in real life.

Ratings:

     -Directing/Cinematography: 9/10. Very well directed. Jones picks interesting angles and shots and also paces the film really well and does a great job at telling the story.

     -Acting: 8/10. Decent acting by the entire cast. Everyone gives a pretty solid performance in their respective roles.

     -Writing: 9.5/10.

          -Story: 10/10. The story was definitely really cool and I loved all the twists and turns it took throughout the movie. The story was easily the strongest part of the movie and it's also what made Source Code a good movie instead of a mediocre one.

          -Script: 9/10. Very good and solid script to go along with the great story. Like I mentioned before, the writing is what makes Source Code so good.

If this is what you thought Source Code was going to
be about, you're probably a programmer.

     -Special Effects: 8/10. You could tell that the special effects were not the most up-to-date, but they still work well with the movie and it's easy to find them believable.

     -Music/Score: 10/10. The movie had a very good score that fit it quite well. It was really perfect for most of the scenarios, and it reminded me of the kind of score you would get along with a 40s or 50s mystery/suspense movie. In short, I really liked the score.

     -Power/Emotion: 8/10. All the characters were pretty likable and it's easy to feel for them, especially Stevens' character, who is caught in the middle of an unsolvable problem from his point of view, since he wants to save the people so badly, but know he can't with Source Code's 8 minute limit.

     -Adrenaline: 8/10. The movie is if nothing elementally engaging from start to finish. There are also quite a few exciting scenes, as this is an
                                                                                       action movie.

     -Mind-Bendingness: 10/10. The movie was basically one mind-bending plot twist after another w. This is definitely a movie that makes you think and always keeps you surprised, and I think this is part of why I liked it so much. I definitely like movies that make you think.

     -Humor: 2/10. There were a couple funny moments, but they were few and far between. This was definitely not the point of the movie. 

     -Best Credit: James A. Woods as "Aviator Glasses Guy."

     -Final Score: Source Code is that wonderful type of movie (according to me) that blends mentally engaging sci-fi plot twists with an exciting and fast-paced action story. Its directing and especially its writing make Source Code intelligent, engaging, and highly-watchable. I'd recommend this to anyone who likes intellectual and/or mind-bending movies movies or those who love fast-paced mystery and suspense movies.

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