The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor Movie Review

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is the third installment to the 1999 film, The Mummy.

The story takes place in the year 1946, just 13 years after the events of The Mummy Returns. The film stars Brendan Fraser as the explorer Rick O’Connell, Maria Bello as O'Connell's wife Evelyn, his son Alex, is played by Luke Ford, and Evelyn’s brother, Jonathan Carnahan is played by John Hannah.

The group's adventure involves stopping a resurrected Han (Dragon) Emperor, played by Jet Li, and his army from conquering the world. Originally, the Dragon Emperor of China along with his 10,000 warriors had been cursed by a double crossing sorceress named Zi Yuan. This curse caused the men to be encased in a pottery-like material, which caused them to become the Terracotta Army. Soon they were hidden away from society in the Emperor’s Tomb for over 2,000 years. But now that the Emperor has been awaken by the Eye of Shangri-La, which contains water from Pool of Eternal Life, he is now on a mission to restore his supernatural powers and finally, with the help of his army, bring order and greatness back to China.

It is up to the O’Connell’s along with the immortals of Shangri-La to stop the Emperor and his army from their impending conquest.

Brendan Fraser did a good job in reprising his role as Rick O’Connell. It’s a shame that Rachel Weisz didn’t reprise her role as Evelyn O’Connell in this film. There was a lack of chemistry between Fraser and Bello. This was definitely a miscast.

Though critics mostly gave negative comments about the film, it did do well in the box office making over $400 million worldwide. So more than likely there will be another movie. In fact, it is rumored that there will be three more "Mummy" films.

*Movie Spoiler Included*

The film’s ending implies that there will be a fourth “Mummy” film. The plot will involve mummies in Peru. There are rumors that the title will be The Mummy: Rise of the Aztecs.

Though the film’s story line is weak, it does have a lot of action and pretty good visual effects. This is a type of movie that you would enjoy seeing with the kids.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is rated PG-13 and contains action and violence.

Reviewer's Rating: 4.5 out of 10

Written by: Bridget Campos

Originally posted on February 22, 2009
Link: http://thecelebritycafe.com/movies/full_review/12808.html

Changeling Movie Review

A gripping drama from Clint Eastwood.

Changeling is a three time Oscar nominated film that is based on real life events in the 1920s.

The film was directed by Clint Eastwood, who also co-produced this film with Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, and Robert Lorenz.

The film stars Oscar winner Angelina Jolie, Jeffrey Donovan, Academy Award nominee John Malkovich, Jason Butler Harner, Colm Feore, and Michael Kelly.

The setting is in the year 1928 in Los Angeles, Ca. Single mother Christine Collins, played by Jolie, returns home to find her nine year-old son, Walter Collins, missing. Soon the case attracts media attention. Five months later, the Los Angeles Police Department tells Collins that they found her son in Illinois. A public reunion is organized and Collins anxiously awaits to have her son back. But the surprise ends immediately when she notices that the young boy is not her son. Captain J.J. Jones, played by Donovan, tries to avoid embarrassment from the media by insisting to Collins that the boy is really her son, and even pressures her to take the boy home to live with her.

Soon Collins diligently goes against the police department, with the help of Reverend Gustav Briegleb, played by Malkovich, to publicize the corruption of the police and how they went above the law to keep Collins quiet, rather than admitting that they made a mistake.

When you hear this story it's hard to imagine that these events really happened.

Jolie is absolutely stunning in this film and her acting is impressive, which is why she was nominated an Oscar for Best Actress for her role.

Jolie’s role in this film is quite different from her other movie roles. She usually plays as an empowering, independent, seductress-type of woman. But in Changeling, she comes off mostly quiet, modest, soft spoken, yet determined to find her missing son. Jolie really comes off as the underdog in this film.

Most people will enjoy the great acting from Jolie, Malkovich and Donovan in this movie.

*Movie Spoiler Included*

However, some might not be so happy with the film’s ending, because, like in real life, Collins never finds out what really happened to her missing son. Did he escape from the serial killer Gordon Northcott, played by Harner, or not? There is no final ending in this film, which does feel like a let down. But it does make you really sympathize with the single mother’s situation. When it seemed like she was about to get some type of closure, it failed to fall through. For some viewers this can feel frustrating, but this gave Collins hope that her son might still be alive.

Changeling is rated R and contains violent and disturbing content and language.

Reviewer's Rating: 8 out of 10

Written by: Bridget Campos

Originally posted on March 3, 2009
Link: http://thecelebritycafe.com/movies/full_review/12816.html

A Clockwork Orange Movie Review

The 1972 cult classic film A Clockwork Orange is considered to be one of the most influential yet controversial film of its time.

The film was directed by Stanley Kubrick, who also directed other controversial films such as Lolita, Dr. Strangelove, and The Shining. The film stars a young, twisted individual named Alex DeLarge, played by Malcolm McDowell. DeLarge's “droogs” are: Dim, played by Warren Clarke, Georgie, played by James Marcus, and Pete, played by Michael Tran.

Despite the film being rated X when it was first released; it was a success in the box office. It wasn’t until the film's re-release in 1973 that the movie’s rating system had changed to rated R. A Clockwork Orange was even nominated four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Critic’s view of the film was mixed. Some viewers had praised the science fiction-like film. Yet other critic’s didn’t see it as a film to be praised, but rather morally offensive because of the film’s graphic details of sex and violence.

In A Clockwork Orange the main character, DeLarge, did have an influence on the audience as the anti-hero in the film. Since then, this fictional character has had a strong influence on pop culture, and even in music of several genres, including punk and alternative. For some people, the movie had a negative, not to mention, violent influence on them, which caused them to commit crimes that were similar to scenes in the film. One incident occurred where a 17 year-old Dutch girl was raped in 1973 in Lancashire, at the hands of men singing "Singing in the Rain." Also, a 16 year-old boy had beaten a younger child while wearing a uniform, like DeLarge and his friends, made up of white overalls, a black bowler hat and combat boots.

Aside from the violent imagery in A Clockwork Orange, what’s interesting about the film is the story line. In the introduction of the film, DeLarge does all these bad things to people just for fun. He seems to live for violence, drugs, sex, and Beethoven- and at times, he enjoyed them all at the same time. After the experimental aversion therapy, what DeLarge enjoyed the most was now taken away from him. However, DeLarge is happy to turn his life around, since he is now “cured.” But afterwards, he ends up meeting the same people he harmed, which included his own family and “droogs” that end up turning on him. When they retaliate, he expects them to show mercy towards him because he is not the same person. This concept holds true to the old saying, “You reap what you sow.”

The only negative aspect of the film is the ending, which implied that viewers should feel sorry for DeLarge, because he was forced to alter his thinking in order to become a good person, which can be seen as inhuman. After the terrible incidents that occurred after DeLarge’s treatment, he ends up reverting back to his old ways. For him life would seem much better this way, because this is the way it ought to be from DeLarge’s point of view, which he now seems okay with. Because of this ending, some people could get the impression that if a person, like in DeLarge’s situation, changes to become a good person, the outcome can usually be in vain and can in fact have negative consequences instead. So a person might feel like what’s the point of changing their ways. So they may decide to give up and go back to their old ways with great anticipation like DeLarge did.

Reviewer's Rating: 9 out 10

Written by: Bridget Campos

Originally posted on April 5, 2009
Link: http://thecelebritycafe.com/movies/full_review/12846.html

Aggression = A Born Behavior or is it Learned?

“My child can be so sweet and loveable. Then all of a sudden, they will lash out for no reason at all. I just don’t understand why?” For some households, situations like this happen. Some parents have to deal with aggressive behavior from their little ones and/or teens almost on a daily basis. Is there any way to cope with the problem?

Aggression is defined as causing intentional injury or harm towards another person. But in order to find out the solution we need to know what causes aggression. Many psychologists have several viewpoints as to the cause of aggression. Some feel that the behavior is born within us, like that of animals, resulting in a cause and effect as to why a person reacts in an aggressive manner.

Some may ask, is there any way to stop being angry? No, since as humans, we are born with emotions that make us happy, sad, and angry; it would be difficult to stop being angry all together. An article in Health magazine by Dr. Georgia Witkin-Lanoil explains, “As the brain reacts to an infuriating event, the autonomic nervous system is aroused. Adrenaline, released from the adrenal glands, begins to pour into the bloodstream, increasing heart rate and respiration, and stimulating the release of stored sugars for energy. Actions we take under the influence of our own adrenaline are often overreactions. We scream, hurl hateful semi-truths, hit, and damage, destroy, or leave the scene in a huff.” Therefore, it is an inward inclination to be angry over an event or something we have no control over.

But we have to keep in mind that people's level of temperaments varies, as some of us appear to be more prone to anger than others. Ones that display high levels of anger are teenagers. Some of them turn to violence in order to cope with family problems, or, are involved in gangs, drug abuse, and/or suffering from mental illnesses.

In addition, younger children can display high levels of violence. Most of the factors that contribute to such violence in children is from being exposed to actual violence between family members, or violence on television, which has increased dramatically within the past decade.

It can really test a parent’s patience to remain calm when their kid is acting out towards them. Nevertheless, the worse thing for a parent to do is antagonize their kid, as a way for them to answer you immediately, if you are sensing something happened with them. Just walk away and let them (or you) cool off a bit, then afterwards try to communicate with your child to see what the problem is, and maybe find a way to fix it.

However, if the child is still acting aggressive, sometimes professional help is needed. The least thing a parent should do is retaliate in violence as well.

Whether aggression is part of our nature or is a learned behavior, keep in mind, we can have control over our anger. The thing that separates us from the animals is that we have the gift of free will. There is a line between calmness and anger; it is our choice which one we want to choose when faced with a stressful situation.

Written by: Bridget Campos

Originally posted on May 4, 2009
Link: http://sahmanswers.com/news.php?readmore=726