10s Movie Review - Pompeii

Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Genre: Action/ Drama
Runtime: 105 minutes
Year: 2014
Starring: Kit Harington, Kiefer Sutherland, Emily Browning, Carrie-Ann Moss, Jared Harris, Jessica Lucas, Adewale Akunnuoye-Agbaje

Description: A slave-turned-gladiator (Kit Harington) finds himself in a race against time to save his true love (Emily Browning), who has been betrothed to a corrupt Roman Senator (Kiefer Sutherland). As Mount Vesuvius erupts, he must fight to save his beloved as Pompeii crumbles around him.

Review: Okay, I like honesty. The only reason I watched this movie is Kit Harington. Because I think he is perfect. And this movie definitely isn’t.
In Hollywood there is trendsetters and you have the ones that follow those trends. Directors like James Camermon and Ridley Scott are trendsetters. Their work has set the bar high for director of later generations. Like Paul W.S. Anderson, a definite follower of those trends. Most of his movies are lesser and more unoriginal versions of those films.
“Pompeii” is in fact a combination of “Gladiator” and “Titanic”. I love the first and hate the last, so that’s not good. And that’s kind of sad, because I think the Roman city of Pompeii deserves a good film. It has an interesting story.
You have to give it to him. Paul W.S. Anderson always has to work with a relatively small budget and they always make a whole lot of money. But they have never been very well received.
Since “Gladiator”, any movie about the Roman empire seems to deal with the concept of gladiators. And “Pompeii” is not any different. Kit Harington plays Milo, a Celtic gladiator, brought to Pompeii for a tournament. When he enters the city, he meets Cassia. She belongs to the Roman elite, but she someone sees through all the differences and off course they fall for each other.
The story is not special, the characters are one-dimensional and everything is really predictable. But Kit Harington is still perfect…

Rating: 2 / 5

Movie Trailer Sunday (116)

Here are this weeks trailers:

Reasonable Doubt
Description: District Attorney has his life turned upside down when he's involved in a hit and run and another man is arrested for his crime and charged with murder.
Director: Peter P. Croudins
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Dominic Cooper
Trailer: Trailer "Reasonable Doubt"
Comment: Sam Jackson never disappoints...

Beauty & the Beast
Description: 1720. After the wreck of his ships, a financially-ruined merchant exiles himself in the countryside with his six children. Among them is Beauty (Léa Seydoux), his youngest daughter, a joyful girl full of grace. One day, during an arduous journey, the merchant stumbles across the magical domain of the Beast (Vincen Cassel), who sentences him to death for stealing a rose. Feeling responsible for the terrible fate which has befallen her family, Beauty decides to sacrifice herself and take her father's place. At the Beast�s castle, it is not death that awaits Beauty, but a strange life in which fantastical moments mingle with gaiety and melancholy. Every night, at dinner, Beauty and the Beast sit down together. They learn about each other, taming one another like two strangers who are total opposites. When she has to repulse his amorous advances, Beauty tries to pierce the mysteries of the Beast and his domain. And when night falls, the Beast�s past is revealed to her bit by bit in her dreams. It is a tragic story, which tells her that this solitary and fearsome being was once a majestic prince. Armed with her courage, ignoring every danger, and opening her heart, Beauty manages to release the Beast from his curse. And in doing so, she discovers true love.
Director: Christophe Gans
Starring: Vincent Cassel, Léa Seydoux
Trailer: Trailer "Beauty & the Beast"
Comment: I'm a huge fan of the story (and the Disney version, haha) so I'm very excited to see this.

In Secret
Description: Therese Raquin (Elizabeth Olsen), a sexually repressed beautiful young woman, is trapped into a loveless marriage to her sickly cousin, Camille (Tom Felton), by her domineering aunt, Madame Raquin (Jessica Lange). Therese spends her days confined behind the counter of a small shop and her evenings watching Madame play dominoes with an eclectic group. After she meets her husband's alluring friend, Laurent (Oscar Isaacs), she embarks on an illicit affair that leads to tragic consequences.
Director: Charlie Stratton
Starring: Elizabeth Olsen, Tom Felton, Oscar Isaacs, Jessica Lange, Matt Lucas
Trailer: Trailer "In Secret"
Comment: Intruiging...

Pompeii
Description: A slave turned gladiator (Kit Harington) finds himself in a race against time to save his true love, who has been betrothed to a corrupt Roman Senator. As Mount Vesuvius erupts, he must fight to save his beloved as Pompeii crumbles around him.
Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Starring: Kit Harington, Emily Browning, Jessica Lucas, Carrie-Anne Moss, Kiefer Sutherland, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Jared Harris
Trailer: Trailer "Pompeii"
Comment: I probably won't see it, but it's visually stunning.

Barefoot
Description: The black sheep son (Scott Speedman) of a wealthy family meets a young psychiatric patient (Evan Rachel Wood) who's been raised in isolation her entire life. He takes the naive young woman home for his brother's wedding
Director: Andrew Fleming
Starring: Evan Rachel Wood, Scott Speedman, J.K. Simmons, Kate Burton, Treat Williams
Trailer: Trailer "Barefoot"
Comment: A simple, naive story which looks like a lot of fun.