Raptor and Slackcer
The Paw Print
Raptor and Slacker love movies. They really love movies! And they have decided to share some of their movie thoughts with you. Sometimes They will watch new movies in theaters or on DVD, and sometimes they will watch some of their old favorites that they want to share with the world. If you have any suggestions for movies to review, please email them to raptorandslacker@gmail.com.
This week, they were inspired by numbers. They chose to recent movies that have numbers in their titles: “9” and “I Am Number Four.”
I Am Number Four (2011)
In “I Am Number Four”, John Smith (Alex Pettyfer, “Beastly”) is an alien known as Number Four. He and his guardian, Henri (Timothy Olyphant, “The Girl Next Door”) are on the run from the Mogadorians, a race of “bad guys” who invaded John and Henri’s home planet when John was a child. John is one of nine children who were sent to Earth. These nine are the last survivors of their race and they are being hunted by the Mogadorians. The nine all have unique special powers and can only be killed in order. The first three are already dead, so now it is John’s turn. John and Henry know that they are next in line, so they move from Florida to Paradise, Ohio. When they get to Paradise, John befriends Sam Goode (Callan McAuliffe) who is a conspiracy theorist. Sam begins to suspect something is up with John and soon discovers what he really is. John also meets, and falls in love with, Sarah Hart (Dianna Agron). Sarah’s ex-boyfriend is a bully and picks John as his new target.
The whole time, the Mogadorians are tracking John, and eventually find out they are in Paradise. The Mogadorians show up and begin to cause trouble. However, another one of the nine aliens shows up to help. She is Number Six and she has decided to go after the Mogadorians, instead of run from them. After a giant battle, the good guys win, with one exception. Henri is killed and John must go on by himself. But now he has help from Sam, Sarah and Number Six.
Raptor: The first time I watched this movie; I was not really excited about it. I didn’t know what it was about and I honestly didn’t have much interest in it. However, after watching it, I was hooked. I really liked the mythology that the story was set against and I enjoyed the plot. However, this movie wasn’t perfect. As much as it was a sci-fi, action movie, it was also a high school movie. A lot of the character interactions were based on very young ideas. This can be a turn off to some people and it generally is to me. I understand that the characters were high school age, and so that drama probably comes along with the characters, but I thought the movie would have been just as good without it. I give this movie a 6 out of 10.
Slacker: My friends told me I had to see this movie but I thought it looked so stupid that I did not want to watch it. It was actually good. It was a little too much high school drama but it did a good job of mixing science fiction in with the high school drama. It had a good story along with the good action scenes. It made me really want to be an alien with magical powers. The actors were hot since I know a lot of people watch the movies just to look at the hot actors. I give this movie 7 out of 10 only because there were some parts in the movie that there were just no words for expect “really”.
9 (2009)
9 is essentially a doll that was created by a scientist. The movie opens with the scientist giving 9 life and then dying. After an unknown amount of time, 9 (voiced by Elijah Wood, “Lord of the Rings”) awakens in a stranger world. He finds a talisman laying on the floor. It appear to be a post-apocalyptic Earth, but it also has the look of the World War II era. 9 ventures outside and soon finds another doll called 2 (Martin Landau). 9 realizes that he cannot speak and 2 gives him a voice. However, 2 is soon taken by the Cat Beast and 9 looses the talisman. 9 is injured and passes out. When he wakes up again, he is being healed by 5 (John C. Reilly). As he tries to explain what happened to 2, the leader of the group, 1 (Christopher Plummer), and his bodyguard, 8 (Fred Tatasciore), come in. 9 begs them to save 2, but 1 refuses by saying it is too dangerous. After 1 leaves, 2 continues to appeal to 5, and 5 finally agrees to go after 2.
They continue on their quest to save 2 and eventually come to a large fortress. Inside, they find 2 alive but trapped in a cage. As they work to free him, the Cat Beast attacks and is killed by a rebel/warrior doll, 7 (Jennifer Connelly). 9 finds the talisman that he had lost earlier, and he also finds the place he thinks it goes. He puts it onto a machine that comes to life. This is the Fabrication Machine. It immediately grabs 2 and sucks the soul out of him. The rest escape. Now, all the dolls must hide from the Fabrication Machine. But not all of them make it before figuring out how to get rid of it.
Raptor: I vaguely remember seeing previews for this movie when it was first coming to theaters. I didn’t pay much attention to it and eventually forgot about it until someone recommended it to me. I began watching this movie hesitantly because I didn’t know exactly what to expect. However, I soon discovered that it was a Tim Burton movie and my interest was piqued. I have to say that this is one of the best movies I have seen… ever. While there are a bunch of reasons to like this movie, one of the biggest ones for me was the symbolism that is incorporated throughout the movie. When you really get into it and think about what the different dolls represent, it is interesting to see how they interact with each other. Basically, I loved this movie and will probably add it to my list of favorite movies ever. I rate this movie 9 out of 10.
Slacker: I did not think I would like this show when I saw the previews. The previews for this movie were horrible. But you should give it a chance even if you didn’t want to see it because of the previews being crappy. I am so glad I gave it a chance. There are a lot of ideas in this that make you really think about our society and our everyday life. I would not call this a depressing but a good thinking movie. You don’t have to think about the ideas that are in this movie and just enjoy the story. I would give this movie a 9 out of 10 because of the story was so unique and interesting that I went out and bought this movie from the store the same day I watched it.
What’s Been Said…