Last year, I decided to make a top 10 best films list. Since it was my first time, I was mildly careless and accidentally put “Breaking Dawn: Part 1” on my list when “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” was meant to be there. It’s been a year now, and I will not make a mistake so damaging to my masculinity this year. Here are, in my opinion, the films of 2012, in nor particular order: Read More»

*** 1/2

Seven years ago, I wrote a film review of “Madagascar.” The Citizen was having a contest where they wanted a kid to send in a review of a new film. I wrote one (Not my best, but hey, I was 10), and sent it in. The paper liked it so much that they wanted to talk to me. So, my mother drove me up to The Citizen and we talked to Michael Boylan for a few minutes. He liked me so much that he gave me a job as a reviewer for kids’ films. I love what I do and, though the first “Madagascar” might not be the best animated film in the world, it will always be special to me. Read More»

**.5

Movies come out every year. They get good reviews, bad reviews, and mixed reviews. I, as a critic, enjoy reviewing these numerous films, the good, the bad, and the too ugly for words. I am a person who usually either likes a movie or hates it. The point is that I don’t give mixed reviews to many films. I will give a film a mixed review if I believe a proper tone is not set, the events are odd or if it starts out one way and ends another. “Hugo” is an example of the first and third reasons for me giving a film a mixed review. Read More»

Several months ago, my parents informed me of the wedding of my cousin Matthew. I had no memory of ever meeting Matthew in my life, so it seemed we were going to yet another wedding in a barn (Barn weddings seem to be the new tradition in our family).

A few months later, my mother got us all very expensive tickets to “Wicked”, which was playing at the Fox Theater. The play was one night before we had to leave for Raleigh, so we decided to see it. Read More»

There is a famous actor by the name of Jackie Chan. He has made numerous films, some really good (“The Karate Kid” remake) and some really bad (“Rush Hour 3”). The reason some of his movies are bad is their overreliance on action sequences. They have a bare minimum amount of plot, but hey, who needs that when you can see Jackie punch a guy in the face with his foot? DreamWorks’ latest film, “Kung-Fu Panda 2,” is like a bad Jackie Chan film with cute animals as characters. Read More»

I recently saw a new film with a quite self-explanatory name: “Beastly.” The actors are fine and the source material (the story of “Beauty and the Beast”) is solid, but the film itself is too unbelievable. This is one of those films where you wish it would have been on the Lifetime channel, where they somehow thrive on making movies like this. Read More»

I have been writing movie reviews for The Citizen for almost five years, and although some may think that reviewing a movie is easy, I can tell you that it’s not. Reviewing a movie means you have to see it, research who the actors, writer(s) and director are and then find a way to express your opinion to the readers in a few paragraphs. As a teenager, this especially becomes hard when big blockbusters like “Avatar” or the highly popular “Transformers” and “Twilight” franchises rear their ugly heads again and again. Read More»

*** 1/2

Some film sagas and its characters you never forget. Shrek, Indiana Jones and Edward Cullen are a few of these characters. Oh yeah, and Harry Potter, too. Another set of these people are the “Toy Story” gang. Woody the headstrong cowboy (Tom Hanks) and Buzz Lightyear, space ranger (Tim Allen) are the heads of this wonderful group, which also includes Hamm, the piggy bank (John Ratzenberger), Jessie, the cowgirl (Joan Cusack), and Mr. Potato Head (Don Rickles.) Read More»

*** 1/2

In 1984, there was a story of a teen that learned karate from a maintenance man because the kid got beat up by bullies. That was the plot of “The Karate Kid” then and now, except the kid in the new version learns kung fu. This version, set in modern-day China, is better in pace and action and great music is also present. Read More»

*** 1/2

The first thing I need to say about “Shrek Forever After” is it didn’t suck. Thank God. My mom thought it would stink and my sister, Carol didn’t even go with us. But surprise, the final Shrek movie is well plotted, better written and more laugh inducing. It brings back some of the magic of the first two films. Read More»