Chuck's Movie Breakdown

Hey guys, Chuck here. Happy Halloween. Today, for the first time, I'll be posting a Throwback Thursday AND a review of a new release in the same post. For today, I went to see Zombieland: Double Tap , and so I decided to pair my review of it with a review of the original Zombieland .           Zombieland was released in 2009 and was a surprise hit. The film starred Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin. The story follows four survivors of the zombie apocalypse, as they travel across the country, avoiding the hordes of the undead, and searching for just one Twinkie (it'll make sense when you watch the movie). A lot of what I like about the movie is the interactions between the four leads. Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg as Tallahassee and Columbus are both hysterical in the way that they bounce off each other, and Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin as Wichita and Little Rock actually felt like they...

Hey guys, Chuck here.          Yesterday, I sat down and watched a Blu-ray that I picked up months ago, but had yet to unwrap it and watch it. That film was the 1988 anime classic Akira . I watched it with its 2001 English dub, and I was blown away with the film on both a storytelling and visual level. I was amazed that such a film, drawn entirely by hand, could be such a visual spectacle, and it further cemented my love of anime. While I don't necessarily follow it religiously like some fans do, I do enjoy the art form, and love discussing it with a few of my friends.         One of my first experiences with anime as a child of the 90's was, of course, Pokémon . I was amazed by the show when it first aired in the late 90's on Kid's WB, and through it I enjoyed other shows of a similar animation style, such as Cardcaptor Sakura (or just Cardcaptors as it was called on Kids' WB), Digimon, Monster Rancher, an...

Hey guys, Chuck here. It's Throwback Thursday, and this week, I'll be discussing Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow.         The film takes a different approach to Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," and actually changes the backgrounds of a few characters. For example, Ichabod Crane, played by Johnny Depp, is a police detective from New York City sent to investigate a series of murders in Sleepy Hollow. The Headless Horseman, played by Christopher Walken, is set up as a Hessian mercenary who was killed, and is now a specter going about chopping off heads until his own is restored.       This movie has a great number of talented performers, including Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, Casper Van Dien, Jeffrey Jones, and Christopher Walken. Also on the list of actors in this movie include some truly great British thespians, including Richard Griffiths, Ian McDiarmid, Michael Gough, Miranda Richardson, Michael Gambon, and Christopher Lee. Tim Burto...

Hey guys, Chuck here.         Yesterday, I picked up a Blu-ray copy of "The Lion King," and I do mean the remake directed by Jon Favreau. This makes a total of seven of these Disney live-action remakes that I have on Blu-ray: Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Christopher Robin, Dumbo, Aladdin, and now The Lion King. However, I've noticed that there is a lot of disdain on the Internet over these remakes, especially the ones that very closely follow the original animated versions. I'm here to speak in defense of these remakes.          First of all, let's take a look at some of the remakes that act as continuations of the original story. In this case, we'll be looking at "Alice in Wonderland" and "Christopher Robin." These two remakes, instead of retelling the story of the original animated films they're based on (Alice in Wonderland and The Many Adventures of Winnie the...

Hey guys, Chuck here, and this is my review of the new movie "The Addams Family."            The story starts off with the wedding of Gomez and Morticia, which ends with the two of them fleeing from an angry mob, until the settle into an abandoned insane asylum in New Jersey. Thirteen years pass, and the Addams family, which now includes Wednesday and Pugsley, the children of Gomez and Morticia, getting ready for a family gathering. All the while, reality TV host Margaux Needler makes plans to give the Addams family a complete home makeover by any means necessary.           First of all, the animation was superb. Not only did the gothic nature of the Addams house feel believable, but the family themselves have the design of Charles Addams' original New Yorker cartoons that featured the family. However, the original New Yorker versions did not have names, which came later due to the popular...

    Hey guys, Chuck here. Today is Throwback Thursday here at Chuck's Movie Breakdown.           On Thursdays, we will be looking at older films. mostly ones that are more that ten years old. And today, with it being October (as of posting this), I thought I'd take a look at a spooky Halloween classic, "Ghostbusters."           Released in 1984, this supernatural comedy stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Rick Moranis, Sigourney Weaver, Annie Potts, Ernie Hudson, and the late Harold Ramis, and it was directed by Ivan Reitman. It focuses on Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler, a trio of college instructors in New York who, after an encounter with a ghost, and having their college grant terminated, decide to open a business as professional ghost hunters, and they call themselves the Ghostbusters.       The trio are ultimately...

Hey guys. Chuck here.         Welcome to my blog, Chuck's Movie Breakdown. For years, I've been a fan of movies. And now, I have made this blog to talk about them.         Here, you will see reviews of movies I've just seen in theaters, movies I just picked up on Blu-ray, or older movies that I want to discuss.         All of my reviews are my opinion, and I welcome discussion on my blog. All I ask is that you please keep it civil. We're here to talk about movies, not to be mean to each other over difference in opinion. So stay tuned, and have fun here on my blog.                                                     ...