The Next Three Days and The Shawshank Redemption

“The Next Three Days & The Shawshank Redemption”  Spoiler Alert !!!

The Next Three Days and The Shawshank Redemption are very similar movies in the way that they have two individuals (Elizabeth Banks and Tim Robbins) who have been locked up of a crime that they did not commit and that they both make a escape from jail where they become free forever.

In The Next Three Days Elizabeth Banks is not the main character; Russell Crowe is and he does a pretty good job in that starring role. Crowe’s character John Brennan trys as hard as he can to keep his family together while his wife(Banks) is in jail and his son basically motherless until one day Mrs. Brennan trys to commit suicide and John then decides that he is going to break her out of jail and they are going to disappear forever.

The Shawshank Redemption starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman is about Andy Dufresne, played by Robbins, and Ellis Boyd “Red” Redding’s(Freeman) relationship that they build during a 19 year old period while the both of them are in jail. During this time Dufresne is working on a way to get out.

I enjoyed both movies pretty equal I had have to admit. Your not going to get something that’s going to inspire you in a great amount from either movie but your not going to feel watching either movie was a waste of time either. They both are good movies to watch if you need something to do, and they definitely good movies overall.

Due Date and Planes, Trains and Automobiles

“Due Date & Planes, Trains, and Automobiles”

Due Date & Planes, Trains and Automobiles are basically the same exact movie. I would go as far as saying that Due Date is the present version of Planes, Trains and Automobiles. As I was watching Planes, Trains and Automobiles it reminded me of Due Date in everyway.

In Due Date Peter Highman, played by Robert Downey Jr., is a businessman who is very serious and he is trying to get back home to see the birth of his first child, but he gets kicked off the airplane because Ethan Tremblay ,played by Zach Galifianakis, gets the attention of an air marshall after repeatedly saying bomb. So the two of them begin a cross country trip together to get to Los Angeles before the birth of Peter’s child, but they don’t get through the trip without getting into a couple of situations along the way.

In Planes, Trains and Automobiles Neal Page, played by Steve Martin, goes through the same kind of stressful trip as Peter because he is trying to get home from New York to Chicago for Thanksgiving. Like Peter Highman, Page encounter’s his own troublemaker Del Griffith, who is played by John Candy. Like Due Date they are not able to fly home because a freak snow hit Chicago and won’t allow there plane to land, so they must use every type of transportation they can find along the way in  time for thanksgiving.

In my opinion both movies are so similar but I feel that “Due Date” is the better movie overall. I say that because at least “Due Date” is pretty entertaining as “Planes, Trains and Automobiles gets boring pretty quickly.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I. and Star Wars

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows & Star Wars: the Empire Strikes Back

When we talk about the Harry Potter and Star Wars series we are talking about two of the biggest movie franchise of all time. These are also two of the top three box office grossing movie series of all time. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows & Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back are not too similar on an individual comparison but the biggest similarity between the two are they both are key installments of each franchise. Also, each series has a ultimate good guy versus the ultimate villain. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is about Harry, Ron and Hermione searching for Horcruxes so they can destroy then since they hold pieces of Voldemort; while Voldemort is searching for the one wand that can finally put an end to legendary Harry Potter’s life. Star Wars: the Empire Strikes Back is important because it is the beginning of Luke Skywalker’s training to become a Jedi Knight so that he can try to restore balance to the force, along with us finding out at the end that Darth Vader is Luke’s father. The Harry Potter series reminds me a little bit of Star Wars but not to the extent that I would call it this generation’s Star Wars. Star Wars is too legendary to be considered to anything; even something like Harry Potter. One thing is for sure though, Harry Potter and Star Wars definitely big pieces in the history of cinema.   

Megamind and The Pink Panther

“Megamind” & “Young Frankenstein”

Megamind and Young Frankenstein are both part of the comedy genre. Megamind is about super villain Megamind’s journey to the good side. Young Frankenstein is about Dr. Frankenstein’s grandson continuing his grandfather’s life work. I would like to start by saying I had never seen Young Frankenstein before we watched it in class and with it’s reputation as “the funniest comedy of all time” I thought it was going to be good but I thought the comedy in it was too over the top. Even with Gene Wilder in the movie it wasn’t that good. The actors in Young Frankenstein seemed like they had to attempt to be funny instead of just letting funny happen in their lines. Megamind on the other hand I thought was a good movie. It’s not a great movie but a nice movie to go watch. The dialogue it Megamind was a lot more funnier then what it was in Young Frankenstein. Also, Young Frankenstein was way to predictable in what was about to happen. I’m not saying that Megamind was incredibly unpredictable but no body likes movies that you know what’s about to happen. Even with Young Frankenstein’s reputation, I liked Megamind so much better then I did Young Frankenstein. I liked Megamind more just simply for the fact that I felt I had lost some intelligence after watching Young Frankenstein.

Red and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

Red & It’s a Mad Mad Mad World

I don’t understand how a writer can have Morgan Freeman die in a movie. RED and It’s a Mad Mad Mad World are only similar in only a couple ways if you ask me. Those similarites would be that they both are comedies and they both have a fairly old cast. That’s where the similarites end as far as I am concerned. It’s a Mad Mad Mad World is basically the original version of Rat Race. That being said I enjoyed It’s a Mad Mad Mad World far more greater then RED. I believe that It’s a Mad Mad Mad world’s story was better, and the dialogue was better especially from a comedy aspect. Also, I loved the scale in shots in It’s a Mad Mad Mad World. It constantly reminded you of where everyone is with these beautifully angled shots. RED wasn’t a bad movie but it just wasn’t as creative as It’s a Mad Mad Mad World was.  I mean RED isn’t a bad movie to go watch if you have nothings else going on at that time but it’s definitely not a movie worth missing something for.

The Town and The Public Enemy

The Town & Public Enemy

The main  characters in The Town and The Public Enemy are very similar. Doug Macray is a bank robber who grew up in Charlestown, Masscusetts, a notorious neighborhood for producing bank robbers, used to play pro hockey.  Tom Powers is a life time thief who has lived in Chicago his whole life. In The Town Doug Macray along with his childhood friends rob banks in the Boston area and are good at it. Tom Powers and his childhood friend Matt Doyle have been robbing people since they were kids, but soon they start killing in order to get the job done. In both movies the groups are very good at the robberies that they commit. Each have a plan on how they are going to get in and out the most effectively. This is obvious by when in the town they attempt to rob Fenway Park dressed as policeman and in Public Enemy when they rob the neighborhood brewey by filling up a gas hauling truck with the beer.  Both movies are similar to one another but if I had to choose which one that I like better I would choose The Town but "The Public Enemy"

not a bad choice.

Catfish and Catch Me If You Can

“Catfish” & “Catch Me If You Can”

Catfish and Catch Me If You Can are similar in the way that they both have a lot of deception in them, but in different ways. In Catfish there was a lot of lying to a very gobble person and in Catch Me If You Can Frank Abagnale Jr. uses his superior intelligence to trick people. Deception was portrayed by Frank Abagnale Jr and Angela Roccio from Catfish by using multiple false identities. Catfish is about a New York photographer Yaniv Schulman’s digital relationship with a family from Michigan and Catch Me If You Can is about I mans quest to get back everything his family once had. They both also both really happened. Catfish is how it happened and Catch Me If You Can is based on a true story. My overall opinion is that I liked Catch Me If You Can better then Catfish. Catch Me If You Can is a really good movie with really good actors who had awesome performances and Catfish is basically just a documentary of Yaniv being lied to for about 8 months.