Tag Summer Movies

Film Review : Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

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IMDB Score – 8.9
Rotten Tomato Score – 92%

Directed By – James Gunn
Starring – Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Dave Bautista, Lee Pace, Michael Booker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, John C. Reilly, Peter Serafinowicz, Glenn Close, and Benicio Del Toro

In the far reaches of space, an American pilot named Peter Quill finds himself the object of a manhunt after stealing an orb coveted by the villainous Ronan.

As of today, I have seen less than five Marvel films, including this one. I was never really into comic books and honestly, the films have not impressed me besides the first Iron Man and The Avengers. Everything changed after seeing this though. A lot of people are claiming this is the best film of the year. They claiming this is the best Marvel film ever. I’ll tel you this. It is NOT the best film of the year. It is arguably the best Marvel film along with The Avengers. This is a film that has one thing going for it, something that it can claim to be unmatched by any other film released in 2014. You will not have more fun in a theater. It’s the funniest movie of the year with pretty great action sequences and special effects. I was shocked by how much I laughed. This is a better comedy than most comedies that have been released in the last five years. Believe the hype. This is the blockbuster of the year.

Like I said earlier, I had no idea what the hell the film was about before I went to the theater. I saw a trailer or two but really only remember what the main cast looked like. I’ve always been a DC person having grown up immersing myself in Batman things besides the comics. Yes I realize I’m not a true nerd by saying that. During the Marvel renaissance I tried to get into the worlds but they never grabbed me. In a way, this film was just like that. The film started and while they did a good job explaining the worlds to me, I just wasn’t grabbed. The antics from Pratt were funny throughout, but it really wasn’t until the last hour of the film where the movie went from decent to fucking awesome. Pratt is a sure fire star in the making. I’ve known this for a while now after seeing him constantly be the funniest part of Parks and Rec but this just iced the cake. Zoe Saldana seems to get cast as the ass kicking alien chick in ever single film so I wasn’t really wowed there. It was just the same routine. Dave Bautista was a scene stealer as DJax, a brute of a man seeking revenge. The ones who made me laugh the most though was the team that made the whole film for me, Rocket and Groot. Rocket, voiced by Bradley Cooper, talked way too much and Groot, voiced by Vin Diesel, talked too little. It was a perfect blend of character and the two of them provided the most belly laughs from me. There are a bunch of scenes involving Groot that had me hunched over. The supporting cast was pretty great, as we get a fantastic performance from Michael Rooker and an evil one from Lee Pace. The cast was just perfect overall.

I did’t really expect the film to be this charming either. The film opens with an emotional punch that leaves the audience reeling and then we have Chris Pratt dancing to 80’s tunes in the scene after. The back and forth between intense and powerful set pieces and goofy fun never felt exhausting. It blended together effortlessly which was to be expected from James Gunn. He was able to do the same in his previous films such as Super and Slither. He crafts serious genre films but in a style and humor that goes back and forth without losing the viewer. He was a perfect choice for this film. It’s going to be very interesting seeing what he does with the sequel, one of which I’m already waiting for.

It’s honestly hard for me to talk about this film. I don’t know the universe well and there were SO MANY scenes that had me cracking up that I just can’t talk about on opening weekend for spoiler reasons. All I can say that is the hype is real. This is one of the better blockbuster films of the last couple years and certainly the most fun you can have in a theater right now. Planet of the Apes may be a better piece of art, but Guardians of the Galaxy is just way too much fun to pass up. See it.

4.5/5




Film Review : Godzilla (2014)

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IMDB Score – 7.2
Rotten Tomato Score – 73%

Directed By – Gareth Edwards
Starring – Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Ken Watanabe, Sally Hawkins, David Strathairn, Juliette Binoche, and Bryan Cranston

The world’s most famous monster is pitted against malevolent creatures who, bolstered by humanity’s scientific arrogance, threaten our very existence.

Finally.

I finally got around to seeing this film. It was my umber one most anticipated movie until I found out about “The Rover” and I decided to wait until the crowd died down to see it. Leaving the theater, I felt both satisfied and a bit underwhelmed, but overly glad I saw it. The film was given mostly good reviews but the bad ones seriously bashed the film for being poorly written, slow, and seriously lacking a gigantic creature from which the title gets it name. While all three are true in their own right, there are a lot of good things that happened in this film that left me wanting to see it again one day, and from hating the shit out of it.

Let me get this out of the way first. Bryan Cranston is amazing. He was easily the best part of the entire film and I’m including all the action, all the monsters, all the everything. The fact that he wasn’t in the film for all that much just goes to show how well he did because his character was the only one that I cared about and it wasn’t because of the writing. It was because of him. He gave a heart wrenching and intense performance. We all know how well he played Walter White. Hell, that character may go down as the greatest television character of all time when all said and done, but the man can flat out kill it in other roles. I hope this run of spotlight roles are an open window to him being used in more films because he alone is worth the price of admission. He was the best part of the film.

Besides him, the cast did what they needed to do. Juliette Binoche was in this for three minutes. “Happy Birthday! Okay, bye.” Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen were acceptable in their roles as a young husband and wife and Johnson did well in carrying the action. They needed a Japanese guy in this film and they got the most Japanese guy who we can almost understand in Ken Watanabe and Sally Hawkins just kind of followed him around. Cranston shined while the others just sort of glistened every once and a while.

The action! The action was pretty fucking awesome. I think I may have been one of the small minority of people to have actually seen (and own) Gareth Edwards first film aptly named “Monsters”, a low budget sci-fi flick with minimal action but gorgeous scenes of destruction. Well, they did a great job in hiring Edwards because I thought he directed the shit out of this. The film looked great. The pivotal scenes of monster on monster action were incredible and while they were few and far in between, delivered when present. I wish we saw a bit more Godzilla but the end justified the mean because the big fucking lizard out on a show for the last 20 minutes or so. I was almost cheering for ol’ lizard brain to crush more things. The evil monsters also had their own cool moments. They kind of reminded me of the bugs from “Starship Troopers” meets the thing from “Cloverfield”. That’s a good thing. They were both awesome. The reason why I was so excited for the film, the Halo jump, exceeded my expectations in being fucking gorgeous, intense, and creepy as shit. I mean, they used the goddamn music from 2001 when the monkeys discovered the monolith. I believe Wendy Carlos did that score but I’m not sure. It was dark and unnerving and a perfect compliment to the jump sequence. It was my favorite action set piece of the film.

There are faults though. The writing was pretty lazy and all over the place. I’ve always hated bringing in children during an action film for a couple reasons. The biggest reason is that you have to find a way for the damn kid to get saved. You think people wouldn’t get scared when a child is about to get killed because they rarely ever do on screen but no, everybody goes “OH NO. SAVE HIM.” It’s unnecessary and just distracting from the actual plot of the film. Unless you’re going to kill the kid and be original for once, leave that scene on the cutting floor. It’s a cheap way to create tension in a film with HUGE FUCKING MONSTERS THAT COULD CREATE TENSION.

There was also a complete lack of logic and results of a monster destroying an entire city. Everybody just kind of gets up afterwards and was like, “shit, a building just fell on me. That sucks.” This was more towards the end of the film but it still ticked me off.

Overall I enjoyed the film. I was into it any time there were monsters or Bryan Cranston on the screen and meh’d by it when there wasn’t. It still was a great sophomore film by Gareth Edwards and I hope he tackles more action movies in the future.

3/5

Suggested Viewing – The Host, Monsters, Pacific Rim




Film Review : X – Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

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IMDB Score – 8.6
Rotten Tomato Score – 92%

Directed By – Bryan Singer
Starring – Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Jennifer Lawrence, Ellen Page, Nicholas Hoult, Halle Berry, Shawn Ashmore, Evan Peters, and Peter Fucking Dinklage,/strong.

The X-Men send Wolverine to the past in a desperate effort to change history and prevent an event that results in doom for both humans and mutants.

Dear 15 year old girls who walked into our theater half way through our movie,

I hate you. I don’t know who the hell your parents are, but they did a horrible job raising you. They probably did drugs and had you watch because only in that environment would two people learn such evil. First of all, how the hell did you even pay for this film? It’s New York City so on top of the $13 ticket you had $4 for 3D and $2.50 for super awesome sound. That’s an almost 20 dollar ticket. You either snuck in or had your horrible parents drop you off with their drug money because it’s the only reason to explain your behavior. You obviously don’t like X-Men because you missed the entire first half of the movie and instead of trying to catch up on the insane plot, you immediately sat down and started…fighting? You were slapping each other and yelling for the other to get off you. What the hell? There was about 150 people in there that put up with your bullshit but I wasn’t having it and neither was the person with me. We saw through your bullshit. You sat down next to the wrong people motherfuckers. At first we just stared at you hoping our demon eyes would stop your bullshit, but no. You had to pull out your fucking cellphones. Who the hell watches youtube videos, in a theater, with 150 people who paid to see it? Did you think that our parents gave us drug money as well? That’s not how life works and I’m sorry for your future. I had enough and yelled at you to shut up, and you did, for twenty minutes. By that point I just had enough and blocked you out mentally just like your parents blocked the love from your lives in which turned you into horrible douchey 15 year old girls. You may have ruined some of my movie, but I won at the end of the day because I will grow up with a happy life.

Don’t procreate.

So, I had to get that out of the way. It just had to be said and I’m sorry for the bad language but this is my website and I’ll do what I want. Now, let me say that my only experience with the X-Men franchise has been the movies, which I’ve only seen once a piece, and the Sega Genesis game in which Gambit was my favorite character. Did they use Gambit in any of the films? Yes, once, in the worst film of all time. So, two years or so ago when the “reboot” happened I was reluctant to go but it ended up being a good film mostly due to the fact that I have a man crush on Michael Fassbender. The sequel to the reboot was one in the same, perfectly acceptable and entertaining.

Now I’m not even going to try to re explain the plot. The whole first ten minutes of the film was spent by me trying to figure out what the fuck was going on and I wasn’t the only one in the theater to be in that situation. Various excalmations of “Huh?” “What?” and “Wait…wha?” were heard from the crowd. Slowly it started to take shape in my brain and I was able to enjoy the film. I’ll just explain a few things that the IMDB plot I ripped off doesn’t. Time Travel. Crazy future robots. Tyrion Lannister mustache. Drug addict Prof. X. Portal Girl. There you go, that’s the beginning of the film. What followed next was a serious genre flick that had very few holes and a lot of awesome shit to see.

I can’t tell you how long it took me to get over Peter Dinklage’s mustache in the film. I don’t know who decided to cast him as the “villain” but whoever did deserves a raise. I have no idea whether his character is an actual character in the Marvel universe and if he’s a midget but the use of Dinklage was just awesome. He’s my favorite part of Game of Thrones and any chance to see him on the big screen is amazing. I don’t think I’ve gotten over the mustache though. I laughed every time he came on screen for the first hour and I think I may have snickered for the second. Dinklage was great though. Seriously though, look at his fucking mustache…

I know. I’m twelve.

So along with the normal crowd of mutants, the film introduced us to possible the best one of all not named Magneto. Evan Peters plays Quicksilver in the film and I’ll be writing Marvel a letter urging them to make a film just about him. His parts in the film were my favorite of the whole movie. Without giving too much away, the jailbreak scene was one of the funniest and mesmerizing action scenes I’ve ever seen. The effects were gorgeous, the payoff was brilliant, and the gags were earned and not forced. Brilliant stuff there. I was disappointed that we didn’t get to see Quicksilver much after that though. He’s a great character and Evan Peters played him perfectly.

Hugh Jackman basically is Wolverine and one of the greatest casting choices of all time so I don’t have to explain why he was awesome in this movie. The other two leads, Magneto and Prof. X, played by four people, were also top notch, highlighted by the younger two of the four. I love Ian Mckellen, but Michael Fassbender is a much more frightening Magneto. Every time he is one screen I feel somebody is going to get hurt. He has the most control over his powers and when he uses them you actually feel hopeless. That is a seriously evil trait to possess. I’m not a big Prof. X fan but James McAvoy knows how to act and act he did. I thought he did a fantastic job. The old fellas did well although the film had a lack of Mckellen which disappointed me. It was one of the movies few faults.

Speaking of faults, there really weren’t many to seriously downgrade the film and the few there were have already been mentioned. I wish there was more time with all of the characters and the only reason there wasn’t was because the plot was really complex which left little room for fun. I’m not a huge comic book nerd so I go to these movies for fun. There just could have been a little bit more but it certainly didn’t detract from the film. It’s a great action film and really lifted the superhero genre back to its feet after the Thor movies failed to impress me and since the debacle of Iron Man 2. I’ll look forward to the next installment, hopefully with more Dinklage, but there won’t be.

That fucking mustache.

4.5/5

Suggested Viewing – The Avengers, Peter Dinklage in anything, Hugh Jackman naked




Film Review : Elysium (2013)

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IMDB Score – 6.8
Rotten Tomato Score – 69%

Directed By – Neil Blomkamp
Starring – Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Shartlo Copley, Alice Braga, Diego Luna, William Fichtner, and Wagner Moura

In the year 2154, the very wealthy live on a man-made space station while the rest of the population resides on a ruined Earth. A man takes on a mission that could bring equality to the polarized worlds.

One of my favorite theater experiences of my life was walking into “District 9” without really a clue what it was about and being glued to the screen for the duration of the film. It was a sci-fi movie that was both unique and entirely captivating. It featured amazing acting, badass action, and state of the art visual effects on the equivalent of a shoe string budget. It encapsulated the idea that completely original cinema is alive well and that all it needs is the backing of executives. Blomkamps follow up to that film is a promising yet ultimately disappointing one. I had high hopes for the film and couldn’t get out to see it in theaters due to its bad box office results and frankly disheartening reviews. I’m going to have to agree with the negative reviews on this one but the film does feature some positives.

What I liked…

There were some great set pieces in this that showcases not only Blomkamp’s visual style but his ability to shock his audience with a perfectly timed gruesome scene. “District 9” certainly had its share of shocking scenes and I expected more of those in Elysium. We got a few, one coming from a perfectly timed grenade, but overall the dead spaces between the action was just too boring for me. Matt Damon wasn’t terrible but it seemed like he was phoning it in at times. The only real acting highlight for me was Shartlo Copley who played a pretty menacing villain.

What I didn’t like…

Like an earlier original sci fi film, “Oblivion”, this film just seemed to be too heavy on visuals and futuristic set pieces and just completely skimped out on a coherent and logical plot. Too many times I was sitting there going “Why the hell is this happening? I hope they’re going to explain this—-okay they’re not explaining anything”. That;s not good for a film that is almost 100% comprised of technology that we don’t have right now. If you’re going to introduce a device that can put somebodies face back together then you should at least tell us why the hell that is even possible considering the man had no damn face. Also, Jodie Foster should stop acting. I’ve never really been a fan of hers and this was possibly the worst acting I’ve seen all year. She tried to be this cold robotic evil woman but it just came off completely corny and just plain strange. You can’t just movie your face around while trying to give off a horrible accent to make yourself seem more bitchy. It was horrible. The ending could be seen from space and they totally ripped off the ending to “Blood Diamond”. The whole film just fell apart at the end without really having a leg to stand on besides a very promising middle.

Overall it just wasn’t very good. I think if Blomkamp gets a big budget film again he’ll prove he’s one of the best up and coming sci fi film makers but to be honest he really didn’t do much to impress me with this.

2.5/5




Summer Preview

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It’s almost June which means that the slate of summer movies is close to being unleashed. We’ve already been “treated” to what are going to be the biggest cash cows of the year in Iron Man 3, Star Trek Into Darkness, Fast 6, and The Hangover 3. There’s still going to be room for some good films to be released this summer. These are the ones I’m excited about seeing…

THE PURGE
The Purge

Release Date : June 7

This is probably not going to be a ground breaking horror film, but damn does it look creepy. I remember seeing The Strangers a couple years ago and while the film wasn’t bad by any means, most of the horror derived from people showing up in living rooms with caricature masks on. This new film from the producer of Paranormal Activity (Seriously how many times are we going to see this in front of a horror film) should at least be unique enough to entertain. A film where for 12 hours an entire city is allowed to do whatever they want crime wise is a pretty solid idea and I’m curious as to where they go with it.

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
Much Ado About Nothing

Release Date : June 7

Shakespeare? Check. Joss Whedon? Check. Awesome trailer? Check. I don’t know why I’m excited for a modern black and white version of a Shakespeare play I’m not familiar with but I just am. Perhaps its the St. Germain song blaring in the background of that stylish trailer. Maybe it’s because Joss Whedon loves originality and that he secretly filmed this at his own house with his own friends while filming The Avengers. All I know is that it should be interesting.

MAN OF STEEL
Man of Steel

Release Date : June 14

Legendary always puts out some pretty amazing trailers. I remember seeing The Dark Knight Rises trailer and just being floored and excited. I get the same feeling from Man of Steel and I’m not even a Superman fan. Zach Snyder made the vastly underrated Watchmen and I’ve been waiting for a new film of his to watch ever since because face it, I’m not watching an animated owl movie or a movie that looks like a live action anime brawl orgy. I’m not going to tell you what films those are. I want you to google search them. That should be fun.

THE WAY WAY BACK
The Way Way Back

Release Date : July 5

This one reminds me of Little Miss Sunshine which is funny because Steve Carrell is in both. Nat Faxon and Jim Rash are already Oscar winners and they’re taking it a step forward by writing AND directing this film. It was a crowd favorite at Sundance and look pretty hilarious. You gotta love Jim Rash’s bit in the trailer. You can tell he’s channeling Dean Pelton from Community which is great. You also can’t go wrong with Sam Rockwell.

PACIFIC RIM
Pacific Rim

Release Date : July 12

I’m hoping to the lord our God Guillermo Del Toro that he comes through with this and that it doesn’t fall to the fate of Transformers and Real Steel. Both those films/series looked pretty cool but just left you empty and cold inside after watching them. I wasn’t at Comic Con when footage of Pacific Rim was shown but apparently it was one of the most impressive CGI segments ever seen. I’m hoping for entire film of that. If anybody knows how to put monsters on the screen, it’s Del Toro.

ONLY GOD FORGIVES

Release Date : July 19

This is my film to see of the entire summer. Nicholas Rending Refn’s Drive is one of my favorite films of the last twenty years and this is the follow up, also starring Ryan Gosling. The color in the trailer is impressive, like REALLY impressive. It’s going to be a gorgeous film. I’m hoping that the story surpasses that of Drive because that was the only fault of Refn’s previous film. It also looks pretty brutal. Can’t wait.

ELYSIUM
Elysium

Release Date : August 9

I love sci fi. I love original sci fi. District 9 still is one of my favorite theater experiences and favorite sci fi films to come out in the last decade. I’m excited to see what Neil Blomkamp will unveil as there is not a lot of information being given about the film besides what is revealed in the trailer. I like it that way.

THE WORLD’S END
The World's End

Release Date : August 23

This may be another Us v. The Town themed film but Frost/Pegg/Wright do it so well that it really matters nil. I do like how they switched the roles of Frost and Pegg. Seems that Pegg is the reckless nutjob and Frost is the conservative. Great supporting cast too with Eddie Marsan and Paddy Considine. Looks great.

THE GRANDMASTER

Release Date : August 23

Anybody that has seen either Ip Man or IP Man 2 realize the potential for any film centered around the famous kung fu master is sky high. The fact that Kar Wai Wong is directing this only adds excitement. Kar Wai has one of the most unique styles in film right now and his tackling of kung fu should be an epic sight. Did you see that rain fight scene? Crazy.

YOU’RE NEXT

Release Date : August 23

Oh man. This looks awesome. If the actual movie is as good as the trailer then you have yourself the best horror film this year. It’s been getting a lot of buzz from international festivals and is finally getting a wide scale release. By the way, for those who are counting, this is the second film on this list whose main villains are wearing creepy as shit masks.

Honorable Mentions
Monsters University
This is the End
The Lone Ranger
The Kings of Summer
The East
Fruitvale Station