MAMMA MIA! - Here We Go Again!

Author's product rating: Mamma Mia - rated by infinitiwellt

Advantages: nice story, very good performances by the actors, and the movie itself is an advantage.

Disadvantages: Not recommended to people who don not appreciate musical movie, LOL

Recommend to potential buyers: yes

FULL REVIEW
MAMMA MIA!

STARRING:
Meryl Streep - Donna Sheridan
Amanda Seyfried - Sophie Sheridan
Julie Walters - Rosie
Christine Baranski - Tanya
Pierce Brosnan - Sam Carmichael
Colin Firth - Harry Bright
Stellan Skasgard - Bill Anderson
Dominic Copper - Sky
Ashley Lilley - Ali
Rachel McDowall - Lisa

BRIEF INTRODUCTION
In a small island in Greece, Donna Sheridan played by Meryl Streep owned a small and old inn together with her 20 year-old soon to bride daughter Sofie (Amanda Seyfried). Sophie has been dreaming who her father is. And promised herself that she will unlock the secret of father before her wedding day. As other guests stated to arrived in the island, including her 2 best friends, Ali and Lisa. Also the former groupmates of her mother, Rosie and Tanya. The wacky preparation of the wedding is starting to get even better.

PLOT
The movie started with Sophie is singing "I have a dream" while dropping 3 letters to 3 different persons in the different parts of the world. For Sam Carmichael (Pierce Brosnan), Bill Anderson (Stellan Skasgard) and Harry Bright (Colin Firth). She believe that 1 of these 3 gentlemen is her father.

The 3 arrived in the island in reply to Sophie's invitation but she did not informed her mother about her plans. But her mother discovers that 3 of her exes were there in the same island, in the inn she owned. Now Donna is in great trouble. She don not want her daughter to know about the 3. So the 2 is hiding the same secret with each other.

Bu the real twist happened during the bridal shower when Sky, Sophie's boyfriend, joined the party with his male friends, also in party is Sophie's three 'fathers', and the rest of the gang. It is the time when three of them admitted that they might be the father of Sophie. And the situation got even more complicated.

And wait until the wedding day itself. The movie is a blockbuster!

MY REACTION
Positive: All I can say is EXCELLENT! I really love ABBA songs, and this movie is definitely made me happy. From the moment I saw a DVD copy in the video stand yesterday, I immediately bought it. And today is my day off, so it's a perfect timing to watch this excellent movie. I loved almost all part of the movie, the singing, dancing. The cast is very good in their performances especially Brosnan and Streep, and here's some of my favorite scenes in the movie:
1. Scene where the all boys group singing, jumping and hopping with their flippers.
2. The Meryll Streep solo "the winner takes it all" with Pierce Brosnan
3. Scene where all the girls in the island joined Streep and her friends in singing and dancing.(Dancing Queen)
4. The bridal shower dance with the boys.(Voulez Vouz)

And I voted as my most favorite scene is the singing trio of Streep and her 2 friends as Donna and the Dynamos,performing like showgirls.(Super Trooper)

Negative: Not recommended to people who don not appreciate musical movie. LOL.

OVER-ALL RATING:
10 out of 10 stars - Excellent

RECOMMENDATION
I really loved this movie, no wonder it is a worldwide blockbuster. Very entertaining and makes me singing along with the actors. I almost cried laughing while watching this film. This is such a great movie. A MUST SEE BLOCKBUSTER FILM.

DIRECTED BY:
Phyllida Lloyd

RELEASED BY:
Universal Pictures

BUDGET:
$52,000,000.00

GROSS:
$520,350,064.00

RUNNING TIME:
1 Hr 48 Min

DATE OF RELEASE:
July 18, 2008

Outwit and Outplay. Or Else...

Author's product rating: 9 stars

The Negotiator - rated by infinitiwellt

Advantages: very good storyline, no boring moments, excellent performances from the cast, superb direction

Disadvantages: none so far

Recommend to potential buyers: yes

FULL REVIEW
THE NEGOTIATOR

STARRING
* Samuel L. Jackson - Lt Danny Roman
* Kevin Spacey - Lt Chris Sabian
* Regina Taylor - Karen Roman
* David Morse - Cmdr. Adam Beck
* John Spencer - Chief Al Travis
* Ron Rifkin - Grant Frost
* Paul Guilfoyle - Nathan "Nate" Roenick
* J.T. Walsh - Insp Terrence Neibum
* Siobhan Fallon - Maggie
* Paul Giamatti - Rudy Timmons

BRIEF INTRODUCTION
New life, happy family and successful career was in stored for Lt Danny Roman (Samuel L. Jackson) after his wedding. He is a top notched hostage negotiator of the Chicago Police. Everything was going smooth for Danny. Loving and understanding wife, nice friends, excellent career, nothing to ask for. But one RELIABLE TIP would change Danny's perception to people he considered his friends and to police force he served with all his life.

It is a story of controversy, corruption, conspiracy and lies. And the fight of one man who puts into his own hands the power of JUSTICE, LAW and ORDER. The Negotiator is a thriller/drama directed by F. Gary Gray

PLOT
Danny and Nate (Paul Guilfoyle) were long time partners, they are one of the best hostage negotiators in Chicago. Trusting each other's life in every engagements they were into. They were more than partners, they considered each other as brothers. Everything seems to be fine for Danny, he just got married to his wife Karen (Regina Taylor), he's the hot shot officer in the department, the man of the hour they say. But all hell breaks loose when Nate approached him regarding the investigation Nate's doing. The retirement fund of the department was gone. Nate believes that someone in their department stole their money with the help of someone in the Internal Affairs Division. They decided to dig deeper in the controversy, but Nate was murdered and Danny was framed up to his death.

Now facing for a possible maximum penalty, Danny was also been framed up to be the perpetrator of the lost funds. And what makes it more painful is that everybody believed including the people he considered as his friends, especially Cmdr. Adam Beck (David Morse).

Chief Al Travis (John Spencer) then immediately put him under preventive suspension, taking his badge and his gun. Danny decided to talk to Insp Neibum (J.T. Walsh) of the IAD regarding Nate's investigation. But tensions rose, and Danny has no options left, he has to hold Neibum and two other persons Maggie (Siobhan Fallon) and Rudy (Paul Giamatti) as hostages to find the truth.

Within minutes, several numbers of SWAT Tactical Teams were in position, including their surveillance cameras. But Danny knows the drill. He knows the system and the procedure. He knows everything. He's been in that situation a hundred times in his 20 more years in the police service.

Danny now made a demand. He would not talk to anybody except for Lt. Chris Sabian (Kevin Spacey), also a top notched negotiator from the Westside of Chicago, Sabian has a record of ZERO fatality in his entire career as negotiator. He has a record of 55 straight hours of negotiation. Both Danny and Chris believed that FULL BREACH is the last or maybe the worse option in hostage negotiation.

Two of Chicago's best negotiator tried to talked down one another. The needs the truth and the other for his surrender.
A no boring scene movie, every minute is detailed and your heart pounds. Wait until you saw the ending.

MY REACTION
Positive: I saw this movie more than 5 years ago, but when I'm checking my DVD's, I saw this film and decided to watch it again, though I saw it already, I am still thrilled on every scenes, on every dialogues. Samuel L. Jackson is truly remarkable here, he looks so confident during his negotiation scenes like he's a real negotiator. I love how he deliver his lines. He has authority in his voice. Kevin Spacey in the other hand, I love his portrayal as an equally talented negotiator, he has the charisma of a real police officer. He also looks so knowledgeable in that film. Director F. Gary Gray, honestly I never heard of him, it's just today that I knew his the director of the film. I thought it's one of Ridley Scott's movie because of its quality and entertainment. But He really make me say "WOW" to him, this might be his BEST movie ever, no question.

What I really like about the film is that when Roman and Sabian tried to talked each other down. Each of them tried to outwit and to outplay each other, they used all they skills in negotiations and its very entertaining to watch.

Negative: There might have some scenes which I think is very impossible to happen but the story and the delivery of the actors made it to be unnoticed.

OVER-ALL RATING:
9 out of 10 stars - Excellent

RECOMMENDATION
A nice Drama/Thriller film, good for Daddys and Big Brothers in the house.

DIRECTED BY:
F. Gary Gray

DISTRIBUTED BY:
Warner Bros.

RELEASED ON:
July 29, 1998

RUNNING TIME:
2 hrs 19 mins