'City Island'

Vincent Rizzo, a correctional officer (Andy Garcia) lives in the nice part of the bronx where he describes himself as a 'clam digger' or resident of the island. There he lives with his witty fat girl porn obsessed son, Vinnie Rizzo (Ezra Miller), a daughter, (Dominik Garcia-Lorido) who has been suspended from school, without her parents knowledge trying to get back into school by stripping, and a wife, Joyce Rizzo (Julianna Margulies) who makes any man feel insecure about his passions in life. He finds his son, Tony Nardella (Steven Strait), of a previous marriage, as an inmate in the jail he works at. Bringing Tony home, without his knowledge he is in fact the son of Vincent, and Tony soon finds out more about the life of Vincent's family. Meanwhile, Vincent is afraid of telling his wife he has an acting class and tells her, and instead tells her he has a poker game, immediately Joyce thinking he is having an affair. While in his acting class he meets Molly Charlesworth (Emily Mortimer) and she helps him gain confidence in not only his acting ability but also his marriage. In this dark comedy about how family secrets destroy a family is excellently directed by Raymond De Felitt.

Through out the film there were quite a number of great parts of the movie. One scene as such 'Honey let's have a nice dinner. Every dinner I make is nice. Well make it nicer. Make it nicer?! What do you want, balloons?! No I don't want balloons just make it nice!.' There were also technical switches in the film to show more significance, and the irritation Michael Malakov (Alan Arkin) of how everyone considers Marlin Brando a great actor and his pausing is thinking. In the final scence was indeed a nice wrap for each of the characters and how the message was portrayed; family secrets destroy a family. With the serious elements of a family and turning them into a very satiracle dark comedy this movie had slight moments of inconsistancy but still a very funny movie. B

'Kick Ass'

Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong) plays a wealthy mobster who's life is going great by getting drug deals done, the cops on the payroll, and spending quality time with his son Chris D'Amico, Red Mist, (Chrstopher Mintz-Plasse). Along the story Damon Macready, Big Daddy, (Nicolas Cage) is a former cop who refuses to accept bribes from Frank D'Amico, is arrested and sent to jail. During his sentence, his wife dies giving birth to Cindy Macready, Hit girl, (Chloe Grace Moretz). When released from prison, both daughter and father reunite and devote themselves to getting revenge against F. D'Amico for their loss. Finally there is Kick-Ass, Dave Lizewski, (Aaron Johnson) who is a typical akward comic-book reading geek, failing to get the girl and making a one time stand of being a hero by stopping three thugs in a parking lot near a laundromat. Big Daddy and Hit girl team up with Kick-Ass because of D'Amico's bodyguards being killed and Kick-Ass being the only big name hero to blame. Red Mist being a bad guy sidekick of a good guy makes the obvious mistakes. Having the movie feel as though a comic book/video game added to the mockery of heros from batman to spiderman to superman along with the akward social years of being a teenager

While Kick-Ass had many comedic elements such as the mockery of heroes, the comic book style format of the film, tha names of each hero, and the accurate depiction of the akeward teenage social years. The plot however has serious elements but quite a few plots holes. The deaths of parents with Dave's mom and Cindy's mom a vital element as to why both of the children became heros while the entire cas did a good job for example F. D'Amico stressing because he has a buissness in which an unknown outside source, Big Daddy, is ruining by killing his bodyguards. Also by scribing one of the many ways in which a person is able to become known is youtube. However while these elements are great the film was much too violent, and unrealistic for example the attractive girl having a taste for comic books, being attracted to the dork, or even a nine-year old being fully trained to use a gun and kill. All the weaknesses of the movie only added to the comedy of the movie. B