Movie Review: ADMISSION

ADMISSION
Director: Paul Weitz
Starring: Tina Fey, Paul Rudd, Lily Tomlin, Wallace Shawn, Gloria Reuben, Michael Sheen



"Just be yourself" seems to be the motto of Portia Nathan (Fey). Portia is an admissions officer at Princeton University and that is her pitch and words of advice to all of the incoming prospects who are desperate to get in. Portia's life seems to be a bit in shambles. Her boyfriend, Mark (Sheen), has left her with no notice for a snooty Virginia Woolf scholar. She is battling her coworker (Reuben) for a promotion after her boss (Shawn) announces his pending retirement. On top of that, her relationship with her mother, Susannah (Tomlin), is not the greatest.



During one of her recruiting trips, she pays a visit to New Quest School. New Quest is pretty non-traditional in every sense of the word. It seems to be in the middle of the woods like a summer camp. There should be no surprise when the GPS in Portia's car loses signal before she arrives on site. There she reconnects with John Pressman (Rudd) a former classmate who now runs New Quest. He presents to her Jeremiah, one of his most gift students who would like to attend Princeton. John believes that Jeremiah may be the child that Portia had in school but gave up for adoption.



Does the story seem kind of ho-hum so far? Admission is another example of the kind of movie where the actors make the movie what it is and are the only reason to see it. There is really nothing all that special about the story. The plot is weak and wanders all around the troubles of Portia's life. When you think of Fey and Rudd, you expect lots of quirky moments and good laughs along the way. The script is not all that funny. I was surprised to find it to be more of a dramedy that your standard witty comedy those two are typically associated with doing. I have been a fan of both of them for years and years and applaud them for trying something a little different. It may surprise you to find out that this is their first project together. They are both strong enough actors and have great chemistry together that they keep you moderately interested despite the many flaws with the film. Tomlin and Shawn are comedic veterans so it is always a treat seeing them on screen. If you are a fan of Fey, Rudd, or Tomlin you will enjoy the movie but do not be surprised if you come out wanting more.

RATING: *** (3 out of 5 stars)

Movie Review: THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN PART 2

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN PART 2
Director: Bill Condon
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Michael Sheen, Dakota Fanning, Mackenzie Foy, Billy Burke, Ashley Greene)

When we last left off at the end of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1, Bella (Stewart) has turned into a vampire in order to save her life after give birth to her daughter Renesmee. Now that she is a vampire, her senses are heightened and she must learn how to control her hunger. In one of the more exciting moments in the movie, Bella and Edward (Pattinson) go off to learn how to hunt. Bella is all too thirsty when she sees a mountain climber barely hanging on. Back at the Cullen home, Renesmee is growing at an alarming rate as she is part vampire and part human. That will be a tough one to explain to Bella's dad (Burke). Renesmee has also been imprinted by werewolf Jacob (Lautner) to protect her against the werewolf clan.

One day when Bella and Renesmee are out playing around, Irina (Maggie Grace) who is part of another coven sees them and believes Renesmee is an immortal child that must have been born as a human and turned into a vampire. She knows this is against the laws and covenants of vampires and reports against them to Aro (Sheen) and the rest of the Volturi clan. The Volturi are one of the oldest covens and are based in Tuscany, Italy. They are thought of as royalty with Aro being the ultimate one in charge. They have strict rules regarding the relationships between humans and vampires.

Alice Cullen (Greene) has a vision that the Volturi are coming and alarms the rest of the Cullen crew. Parental units Carlisle (Peter Facinelli) and Esme (Elizabeth Reaser) gather up vampires from various covens throughout the world to gather and stand up for them against the Volturi. They can bear witness that Renesmee is non-threatening and is part human. In addition to the multitude of vampires, Jacob gathers the rest of the Quileute wolf clan to defend the Cullens.

After five movies, we have come to the end of the film adaptations of Stephenie Meyer's four part teen vampire/werewolf saga. Anyone that is a fan of the books will continue their love with this final movie. They will look passed the cheese ball dialogue or the emotionless Kristen Stewart. To her credit, she actually gives her best performance as Bella in this final movie. The audience I sat with applauded once again when Taylor Lautner took his shirt off as well as during other times that were vital to the story or were key elements of the series. One of my biggest beefs with the series of movies is that they tried so hard to please fans of the book that I do not think they did much to open it up to a newer audience or fan base. Dialogue is ripped right from the book instead of making it better. The tone of the movies stay pretty innocent and simple without ever feeling gritty or nail-biting.

Not only does the movie boast Stewart's best performance, but it also has the best fight sequence. The epic battle at the end will keep you engaged as limbs and heads are ripped off with no mercy. There is even a little twist that could divide the audience to either saying "That's it?" or "That was clever!" The end credits pay tribute to every actor that has appeared in the series even if they weren't in this final movie like Bryce Dallas Howard or Anna Kendrick. Is it bad to say that one of the best parts of the movie is the final credits?

RATING: *** (3 out of 5 stars)