Quick Shots 25

Title: Dinosaur.

Starring: D.B. Sweeney, Alfre Woodard, Ossie Davis, Max Casella, Hayden Panettiere, Samuel E. Wright, Julianna Margulies.

Brief Synopsis: Aladar (Sweeney) is an Iguanodon, who is raised by lemurs and has a best friend named Zini (Casella), another lemur. A herd of dinosaurs are on the lookout for a new nesting area as the one they had relied on near a lake has dried up. Kron (Wright) is the leader of the herd, and believes in survival of the fittest - while being tested by Aladar's need to help everyone. But, in the end his stubbornness ways get hmi in trouble for always having to be right. 

Opinion: This was one of those Disney movies that snuck through the cracks for me. It came out in 2000, which is right around that time I was in college and didn't get a chance to check out too many animated features. The movie was decent - but the best thing about it has to be the animation. The story itself reminded me a lot of Ice Age, which I felt pulled it off a lot better.

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Title: Five-Year Engagement.

Starring: Jason Segel, Emily Blunt, Chris Pratt, Alison Brie, Lauren Weedman, Brian Posehn, Chris Parnell, Dakota Johnson, Rhys Ifans, Mindy Kaling, Kevin Hart, Randall Park.

Brief Synopsis: In a series of flashbacks we learn that Tom (Segel) and Violet (Blunt) met each other at a New Year's Eve costume party. Tom is a sous chef and Violet is a psychology grad-student living together in San Francisco. Soon after getting engaged, Violet gets into a great program at the University of Michigan and Tom agrees to give up his job and move there with her. But, things in Michigan go great for Victoria and soon her time there is extended, but its not going as well for Tom - who soon begins to go a bit nuts.

Opinion: This was a pretty fun movie, and shows just how important it is for both members of a relationship to be happy. The best part of the movie, though, hands down were Brie and Pratt. Pratt played Tom's best friend and fellow chef, Alex, while Brie was Violet's sister Suzie. Alex accidentally gets Suzie pregnant at Tom and Violet's engagement party - despite not liking him to begin with, they get married and soon are even happier than Tom and Violet are throughout the film. They were hysterical, and needed to be in the film a lot more.

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Title: Zero Dark Thirty.

Starring: Jessica Chastain, Kyle Chandler, Harold Perrineau, Jason Clarke, Joel Edgetton, Jamhris Pratt, Mark Duplass, Frank Grillo.

Brief Synopsis: The story is pretty much known, especially if you are an American and don't live under a rock. This is based on the CIA analyst, Maya Lambert (Chastain) and her non-stop desire to find those helping Osama bin Laden - and soon tracks down bin Laden himself - she thinks.

Opinion: I was pretty much enthralled the entire time of this movie. Such an important part of history that we all went through together, and this was the story of how we were finally able to track down the monster behind Sept. 11 and take him out. The Seal segment was both difficult to watch and hard to take your eyes off of. Chastain really does continue to impress me with the few movies I have seen her in. Really liking Pratt a lot as well.

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Title: Safety Not Guaranteed.

Starring: Aubrey Plaza, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Jake Johnson, Karan Soni, Jeff Garlin, Mark Duplass, Jenica Bergere, Kristen Bell.

Brief Synopsis: Darius (Plaza) interns for a magazine company in Seattle. One of the writers at the magazine, Jeff (Johnson) sees an add in the newspaper looking for someone to go back in time with him, and that he had only done it before. He takes Darius and another intern, Arnau (Soni) with him. All of them take the assignment as a joke at first, but Darius soon begins to take it seriously as she is the one who the guy, Kenneth (Duplass) will be taking back with him. Jeff is really not taking things seriously, and is more looking to track down a girl from high school, Liz (Bergere). Soon, though, things begin to both crumble around them, is Kenneth serious? Or does he have a serious problem?

Opinion: When I first saw this trailer I was into it. I like Plaza, Johnson and Duplass - I didn't even realize Bell was in it, though her role was very small. The movie was outstanding; I loved every moment of it. This was really the second film (Zero Dark Thirty) in a row where Duplass was out of his comedic character, and really even more so, and he was amazing. Really has a well-rounded talent.

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