A Polished Classic: How to Train Your Dragon

Polished to perfection is the phrase that comes to mind when you watch the DVD release of the Oscar-nominated How to Train Your Dragon. This is the story of a young teenage Viking boy who captures a rare dragon and is the first to learn the truth about their true nature.

How to Train Your Dragon features Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) and his new and unlikely friend and partner Toothless

The level of polishing in this Dreamworks Animation little movie rivals the accomplishments of the wizards of Pixar (I for one respect anything Pixar does, and for a reason: they simply just rock.)    Read more »

2011 Academy Awards: The Oscar Winners

Transcribed live, as the show unfolds, we bring you here all the 2011 Oscar winners of the 83rd Academy Awards. This is a complete list that includes the runners up in each category. The hyperlinks point to movies we have reviewed on Absolute Fiction. This post can be compared to the Academy Award nomination in which we had made our predictions for the winners among the nominees. This year, it’s a very close race. Almost anyone could drive home with a statue.

The 83rd Annual Academy Awards red carpet

And the winners are…    Read more »

Worlds Reimagined: Alice in Wonderland

“When in doubt, remain silent.”. Trapped in a world of stuck-up and obedient sheep, an opinionated young woman needs an escape. Thank God for rabbit in blue coats. Alice (Mia Wasikowska) falls and crashes into Underland, it’s as if she had come home. The fantastic world or Underland suits Alice’s temperament.

Alice in Wonderland: now a warrior donning armor and sword, marching to kill the Red Queen's evil Jabberwocky

This is a review of Alice in Wonderland, the movie in itself, not the Lewis Carroll books, although we see mostly his work on the screen. We are not talking adaptation, we are talking imagination.    Read more »

Relentless Conflict: The Social Network

Well, you will not like the protagonist here. He’s portrayed as a royal jerk; not because he intentionally want to be an ass, but simply because the man, the kid, is socially awkward. He is smart, but his intelligence gets in the way of everything else.

But the thing is, The Social Network is an fantastically written story that benefits from the play of talented actors and great direction. Once you start, it is impossible to look away. Good Job, Mr. Mezrich (book) and Mr. Sorkin (screenplay).

His first brush with the law. Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) must answer for bringing the Harvard network down over the prank that ultimately will lead to the creation of Facebook.

Why is it so good? It’s a constant, uninterrupted stream of conflicts between any and all of the characters. We get no break until the story ends.    Read more »

Great Character Relationships: The Fighter

In a small town of Lowell, Massachusetts, a fighter by the name of Micky Ward is trying to make a comeback. His trainer, famous brother Dicky Eklund, titled the Pride of Lowell, knocked out Sugar Ray Leonard in 1978. Also backing Micky is his whole family, his mother Alice and his 7 sisters.

Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg) and his brother Dicky (Christian Bale) make a great team on screen and in the ring

Life in a large family comes with its load of conflicts, arguments, disappointments and problems. The Fighter packs everything in a story of perseverance and courage.    Read more »

Quick Review: Rabbit Hole

Rabbit Hole features a delivery schedule that is interesting. The tragic event that changed the couple’s life has already happened. The clues to the audience are carefully distributed over the first two acts. You have to pay attention to the subtleties; you might miss one. Clever writing.

Becca (Nicole Kidman) and Howie (Aaron Eckhart) in a focus group. Two different mind sets.

As painful as it is, the story turns funny from time to time. The grieving mother, Becca (Nicole Kidman) is angry. The father, Howie (Aaron Eckhart), hangs on to old memories of their son. They are on edge; something must happen soon.    Read more »

A Triumph of the Imagination: Inception

After the tour de force of The Dark Knight (read our reviews), Christopher Nolan cooked up his own material, Inception. The story of a special kind of corporate spy, Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio), trapped oversees, away from his children, who makes a deal that will guarantee him safe return home. He is only doing it for his kids. His special skill is subconscious theft; he enters dreams and steals ideas. He is the best in the field.

Inception's signature shot: Paris folds onto itself. In a dream anything is possible. The dreamer makes the rules.

The story is deep, convoluted, complicated. It makes you think; I guess that is why some do not like it. But Inception rocks, in a way very few ideas have in Hollywood. You can watch it several times and still discover new things.    Read more »

Orchestrating Great Drama: Black Swan

In Black Swan, the competitive, often cruel world of professional ballet, where suspicion and paranoia are common, sees “sweet girl” Nina Sayers (an inspired Natalie Portman), a talented dancer go nuts when she is chosen to play the lead in an edgier version of Swan Lake. She must be able to handle, the torture to her body, the harsh criticism of her peers, the pressure of the role.

At the height of her paranoia, Nina (Natalie Portman), is tormented by self-destructive visions

What happens when her fears take the best of her? Nina sees her world flip upside down. Her mind take over and a dark pit open under her feet.    Read more »

A Stunning Achievement: The King’s Speech

The King’s Speech is an unpretentious story of friendship, love and courage overcoming a most embarrassing handicap for a public speaker. Bertie, (Colin Firth) the Duke of York, suffers from a severe stammer. When war comes, everyone expects the king to lead the nation, meaning speeches.

King (Colin Firth) and common man (Geoffrey Rush). Their partnership starts a mess and grows into friendship.

His brother David (Guy Pearce) could not handle the task; his rather infantile infatuation with a married woman made him unfit to keep the throne.    Read more »

Building Up Every Day Heroes: Unstoppable

Here is a very difficult art: building a climactic third act that includes danger and suspense, and allows the possibility for some meaningful heroics. The movie Unstoppable prepares the story for a full hour, gradually, before the two main characters unleash their courage and go for it.

Runaway murderous train on a rampage. Denzel Washington and Chris Pine have their work cut out for them.

Frank Barnes (Denzel Washington) and Will Colson (Chris Pine) must risk their lives to stop a train half a mile long carrying toxic and flammable chemicals, heading toward populated area at 75 MPH, with nobody on board.    Read more »