Friday, July 31, 2015

Star Trek (2009)

Who says you can only be a fan of either Star Wars or Star Trek? This is 2015, we can be both!

I wanted to review something fairly recent and I highly enjoyed both new Star Trek movies so I couldn't say no. So this new reboot of the Star Trek franchise is very, very familiar and yet very different from the Original Series. The story does involve time travel and the consequences it has on the Star Trek universe we all know of, and I mean friggin' consequences. Deaths, destruction of worlds, among many other things really help the story and most importantly of all, the characters. It gives you an opportunity to view these classic and iconic characters in a brand new way and the film is immensely applauded for that, and I'll be damned if I can think of anybody else that could have played this cast of characters better than who they chose. The casting choices were chosen very wisely, and really if they decided to make a reboot of the television series with these actors I would tune in every week. Hell that would be really cool, because we haven't had a Star Trek series since Star Trek Enterprise and that was in 2001 so I would be all for that! I actually have a few gripes with the movie but it's nitpicking at best, the ridiculous lens flares in this movie...I just don't get it. Why is it there? Why make everything flashy when there is no reason for it? But when the starships are battling each other it really works but everywhere else no. I love the exterior design of the Enterprise, it is faithful to the show but still looks incredibly advanced, but the interior is what I take issue with because every damn thing in that ship almost is sterile white. Where is all the color? You remember the Original Series? There was color in every part of that ship, and not just a little I mean a lot! It was just so much more visually appealing back in 1966. It still does that thing where it zooms in that I ranted about in Man Of Steel but it only happens twice and once it's just to show how massive a scene is, so it really isn't such a bother this time around. But there is so much more good stuff on top of the bad thankfully. The casting is perfect, the cinematogrophy is excellent, the music is sweeping, the dialogue is fun, the special effects are so outstanding it was nominated for an Oscar, and the entire movie focuses on Kirk and Spock and that is what people like. If you are not a big science fiction fan or even a Star Trek fan I would still recommend you to see this movie because it really is a lot of fun and you will get your money's worth out of it. And you better believe we will look at the sequel that is even better than this one tomorrow. Until next time, live long and prosper.

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Godzilla (1954)

Well I did say I wanted a monster movie, so how about the original King of the Monsters, Godzilla!

The original Godzilla made in 1954, directed by acclaimed Japanese director Ishiro Honda is a not so typical monster movie focusing more on human emotions and their consequences on testing nuclear weapons. The story of the movie follows mysterious disappearances of fishing boats and the subsequent investigation soon discovering a giant prehistoric monster mutated by testing of underwater atomic bombs, and the destruction that this famous monster wreaks on Japan and the humans efforts to try and destroy the beast once and for all. The main shining point of this movie besides the incredible special effects of Eiji Tsubaraya and the King of the Monsters himself is the outstanding cast of characters. We have Takashi Shimura as our main lead who is father to a young woman played by Momoko Kochi, who has been engaged to a strange and mysterious scientist played by Akihiko Harata who has actually developed a weapon that could kill Godzilla but because of it's terrible power of destruction he is hesitant to use it, thinking it could be used as a weapon more powerful than a hydrogen bomb. Suprisingly, there is lots of human conflict in this movie but only once is it physical. It's more of an internal conflict based on how the characters are dealing with the situation and what they should do next. It's a very well made film, with great acting, outstanding effects, memorable music by Akira Ifukube, gritty cinematography, and an overall foreboding mood. The film is very dark, treating it's subject matter completely seriously, we see Godzilla trample through several cities but after that we see the disturbing aftermath of it all. We see hundreds of people in a hospital, people dying, families embracing knowing that their lives will end soon, a memorial chorus for the dead, and so very much more. It is nothing like the Godzilla movies made in the 60s and the 70s where they were more campy and made for kids. This is the best Godzilla film ever made, and if you have never seen a Godzilla movie before, this is the one you need to watch. And if you don't even know what he looks like, it makes the movie even better because you don't see him at all until past the twenty minute mark, and it builds this suspense as to what this creature looks like. I love it. This is a truly remarkable film that many more people should see. And here's a fun fact: This movie premiered in the United States on April 27th, 1955. 40 years to the day before I was born! That makes me proud! So if you want to buy this movie, buy only one version which is The Criterion Collection. Best version you can buy, worth every dollar, go see this movie. See you next time.

Watchmen

I'm back! And I decided to review another comic book movie.

Watchmen is one of the most faithful adaptations of anything literary and putting a visual director like Zack Snyder as the main creator of this movie really makes the film more enjoyable and interesting. So the story of Watchmen is set in an alternate 1985 where superheroes have been forced to retire, Richard Nixon is still president, and one member of the Watchmen has been murdered forcing other members to come out of retirement and bring the killer to justice. Now what I like about this movie besides being very faithful to the graphic novel, is just really how the film was made. Who they chose to be the characters, how they created an alternate 1985 New York and how the environment looks, how they shot specific scenes, and how well the dialogue was written. Serious praise must go to Jackie Earl Haley and Jeffrey Dean Morgan for their outstanding performances, seriously these guys are the reason this film is so well remembered and talked about to this day. The music choices are believe it or not, perfect for the scenes they are in with the music choices spanning from Bob Dylan to Mozart and I can't imagine the movie without this soundtrack. The only real problem I really have for the movie is the ending. It's not the same ending in the book and I am fine with that, because with film you really do have to take artistic license so that's not the problem. The problem is it's a little ambiguous at the end, which I kinda like but I'm just not all for it. I love to speculate about movies but very rarely do I speculate after the movie is finished, I speculate more before the movie is even out. Like for instance, does the Suicide Squad movie take place before the Batman V. Superman movie or after? What's the relationship going to be between Harley and the Joker? Stuff like that. I shouldn't wonder about that after the movie not unless there is going to be a sequel, but with Watchmen it's a one-shot graphic novel, there will never be a continuation of it. So that's the only gripe with it and I honestly enjoyed the movie so much I bought the 3 hour director's cut. If you are a fan of comic book movies and likes to see blood and action but also like to speculate, Watchmen is the perfect movie for you.

I'm not sure what to review next, been kinda hankering for some giant monster movies and luckily I have a few of them. That sounds good, let's do that tomorrow.

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Update On The Job

Well so much for getting my work schedule on Saturday, I just got it yesterday. It's not too bad, it's mostly work from 11 am to 4 pm and I get Thursday off so this Thursday I'll review two movies and hopefully the schedule will not change so I can get a good system of when I can do reviews. Not sure what I can review this week, been watching more tv than movies so I now have a serious question of how the hell do I review a television series? I mean do I do a general overview of the show? Do I take it season by season? I have absolutely no idea yet, but I'll figure it out. So thanks for being patient with me guys, this means a lot to me and I love reviewing stuff for all of you so thank you so much.

Thursday, July 16, 2015

Change Of Planning

I apologize for not getting any reviews out this week, I actually have found a job and I am getting my work schedule on Saturday and I am hoping to God I still have time to do reviews. I'm going to try with all of my might to keep the 3 to 4 reviews a week schedule going. I despise transitional periods because you never know what is going to happen next, and there is nothing more I want to do than keep doing reviews. If I could do 5 reviews a week I would do it for the rest of my life, this is my passion and I want to do it for a living. I'm going to work more on the site in my free time and make it look more the way I want it to, and I will update you all on how the reviews are going to go on from hence forth. Thankfully the job is only part time so chances are I may still have time to do reviews. So tune in next time where I will update you on the condition of the reviews.

Saturday, July 11, 2015

Minions

Wow it took me this long to review a newer movie than Birdman? Jeez.

So Minions is actually a prequel to Despicable Me, following the minions from cingle cell organisms to how they first met Gru. That I did not expect but I am very happy with how they did it, and almost everything about the movie is done very well. The humor is great, the minions are the star for once and there are no complaints there, the setting is mainly in London in the 60's so I was down with that and it was fantastic! Oh and Michael Keaton was in this movie too, funny how almost every brand new movie I review has Michael Keaton in it somewhere. But anyways, if you enjoyed the Despicable Me movies you will enjoy the Minions movie without any doubt. It's creative, it's funny, it's a really good family film, I reccomend this movie very much.

Some people requested me to review the Jurassic Park movies so I may have to do that next week. It sounds fun, and I really want to see Jurassic World.

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Breakfast At Tiffany's

This was a really good movie.


I can honestly see why this is considered a classic film. So the story of Breakfast At Tiffany's follows a young girl named Holly played by Audrey Hepburn who is sort of an odd character that lives in New York City where she meets her new neighbor Paul played by George Peppard, and they of course, start a relationship together. Now I have to say I love the casting choices for this movie, Audrey Hepburn is a true joy to watch in this movie and she is insanely gorgeous and funny but can still show raw emotion, George Peppard was a pretty average guy in the movie and his performance is very real and very normal and it makes sense because he's just an average guy who just moved to New York. The comedy in the movie is strong but not always present and to put it in a word, fluid. Just look at the party scene alone, every single person in that room goes with the flow, not even for a split second does someone second guess what's happening. Someone tells someone else hold my drink, they immediately hold their drink, someone passes out drunk, everyone just keeps doing what they are doing, someone lifts a girl up and puts her on the shoulders of a man having a conversation, the guy doesn't even stop talking for two seconds. That is easily the funniest scene in the movie. But sadly it's not all fun parties and drinks, there are heavy emotional moments in this film and they are acted incredibly well. There are quite a few quiet scenes with hardly any dialogue or even music, and there is a moment in the film where you can sense that the film has changed directions and nothing will be the same. You know what I am talking about, it always happens in romance movies where you can just tell we have gone over the edge and plunged straight into serious, dramatic times. This is truly a remarkable film and many people who have not seen the movie know of it's reputation, and for good reason too. Breakfast At Tiffany's is a true gem of cinema, and is regarded as one of the greats. You will not be disappointed with this film.

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

Okay so I took some user requests this week and I decided to review a few of them starting with this exquisite anime.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is one of the most emotional and thought provoking stories of time travel ever made. The story focuses on a teenage girl who one day after school finds a mysterious orb that somehow gives her the ability to travel through time. She soon discovers how to master the technique, to literaly gather enough speed and leap through time. Insert Back To The Future DeLorean joke here, and to be honest this movie is actually better than Back To The Future in my opinion because this movie is completely serious, even though it is quite humorous whereas Back To The Future was more of a comedy and adventure time travel film. And that is the strongest point of the movie,  the emotion of the characters and that is what makes it ascend to such great heights of storytelling and human emotion! And I am serious this film has the most realistic crying scene I have ever seen in a movie. It's not the usual "Sexy Cry" where a character sheds a single tear and the rest of their face is motionless, a prime example being Arwen from Lord Of The Rings, no no no you see a character break down and water comes out of every hole on their body and they make sounds like a dying moose, like how real people cry and it's truly heartbreaking to see. And it actually adresses the dilemma of being a time traveller, because the girl uses it for her own selfish reasons and she involuntarily harms others and hurts other people's feelings even though she didn't mean to, and it is explained that really everybody around her are her own little play things that she keeps toying with by constantly time travelling. That is a life changing lesson for anybody, and the film should be applauded for that. It has such beautiful animation that has a lot of depth and detail very much like a Miyazaki movie, the characters are so realistic yet they are animated, the emotion is raw, the time travel really makes you think and feel all sorts of things, it probably will make you cry and it has a twist that you could never see coming. And this is a true fact: the film was not a big commercial success in Japan until word of mouth about how great the movie was spreaded to the point where people were actually willing to stand in the aisle of the theatre to see the movie. They did not care if they had a seat, they just wanted to see the movie. Oh my God! That is amazing! Transformers Dark Of The Moon made like a bajillion more dollars than this film, but I bet no one said that they didn't care if it was a full house, that they would stand in the theatre because they just HAD to see Optimus Prime. And the only real problem with the film is, it is a rare film. Hardly anyone has heard of this movie, and it is damn near impossible to own the movie in North America without slapping down $100 for it, which is a crying shame because it deserves to be seen by as many people as possible.


If you care enough to see this movie, you can watch it completely free online. If you Google Just Anime Dubbed and you click on the first website, just go to the movies section and look for The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. I highly encourage you to see this film even if anime is not your style. So thank you very much for tuning in for this review, I will see you guys and gals tomorrow.

Friday, July 3, 2015

The Expendables 3

This movie is horrible! It's friggin' horrible!




Where do I start with this terrible movie? Everything you enjoyed in the last two Expendables movie are no longer here. The Expendables 2 is the best movie out of all three of them, and to tell you the truth I didn't like the first Expendables movie that much, but I could give it a pass because it was the first movie in the franchise, it's not easy creating a world and creating the characters in that world and just having it's own image and it's own way of doing things. By the second movie, they got it really right! Expendables 2 was glorious, it was awesome! By the end of that movie you were still talking about some of your favorite scenes, but not in this piece of garbage! The story is boring, we get a whole new cast of members of The Expendables that we don't care about, there is hardly any blood in the movie whatsoever unlike Expendables 2 where there was blood and limbs and heads being shot off, this movie barely has a cup of blood to show on screen, the CGI is terrible, I mean terrible in this movie. Before, the CGI was decent and looked semi-realistic but in this movie it looks like it came straight out of a video game from 2003, in fact all of the effects are terrible and shoddy in this movie, and really you know what it is like? It's like a direct to DVD Expendables movie. Those bargain bin movies you see at a video store that are so terrible and cheap you wouldn't think for a second to even look through them. That is this movie! And I am serious here, half the damn movie and I do mean half the damn movie is spent looking for these new assholes to join the team. There are several scenes that just waste your time like there are two scenes, I swear to God that pretty much goes like this...Mel Gibson the villain walks into an art museum looks at a painting, describes how horrible it looks and buys it for $3 million dollars. End of scene. Soon to be followed by, Mel Gibson's character delivering said painting to some nameless woman we never met before and will never see again. End of scene. Waste of time! But oh wait, there's more! In one scene Sylvester Stallone informs the old members of The Expendables that they are getting too old for the job and he breaks up the band, so of course we have to see the old members moaning and moping around for about three minutes before we can finally get back to the story, or what passes for a story. What's the story you might ask? Well The Expendables are hired to take out Mel Gibson's character and we soon discover that he was a member of The Expendables too back in the day (dun dun duuuuuh!!!) but he went rogue and did unspeakable things that the movie never decides to tell us about, and I am serious. I was expecting some sort of flashback scene to explain why the characters get so huffy when he is brought up, it never happens. We don't barely have any backstory to his character, and while it is kinda fun to see Mel Gibson just kinda be Mel Gibson in this movie, and he does make you chuckle in a few scenes but ultimately is forgettable. We get Wesley Snipes and Antonio Banderas in this movie as new members of the team, and Antonio Banderas is so annoying in this movie, all he does is talk, and talk, and talk, and talk, and talk, and maybe shoot a few guys, and talk. And Wesley Snipes, you know the first time you see him the team busts him out of this prison train and he's got this beard and like this afro, so for the rest of the movie I called him Afro Blade and he does nothing but he did make me laugh a bit. Horrible! This movie is fraking horrible!! Do not watch this movie! It is not worth your time and money! Watch The Expendables 2, do not touch this movie. Even if you are curious do not see this movie! I need a damn drink after all of this...and the funny part was I have never seen this movie before, but I really didn't want to watch or review this movie. I mean at all. I did not want to watch this. I swear I have this sixth sense about movies where I automatically can tell if it's going to be a huge piece of crap, okay, or pretty damn good. This was a huge piece of crap. Stay away from this movie!

Thursday, July 2, 2015

The Expendables 2

Re-watching this again, I have to say it's leaps and bounds better than the first.



I'm serious, everything that was good in the first Expendables is even better in the second one. The dialogue is better and is even funnier than the first, we get to know the characters better and even see some new additions to the team, the action is just all around better and that is very evident from the very first action scene, cause in the first movie it was really just a standoff for some hostages but in the second one it's a straight up rescue mission and it is so much bigger and more flashy and exciting. So the story of The Expendables 2 is that Bruce Willis contacts Sylvester Stallone and company to retrieve a mysterious object from a shot down plane in Albania, the team soon gathers together including their two new members of the team played by Liam Hemsworth and Nan Yu to retrieve secret data and return it back to the U.S. government before it falls into the wrong hands. But our heroes soon come face to face with the villain of the movie, whose name is Vilain....I am so not kidding it's only one letter away from spelling villain played by Guile himself from Street Fighter The Movie, Jean-Claude Van Damme who I got to say is an interesting choice for the villain of this movie and I'm not sure why but he's just a joy to watch. And just like in Street Fighter I can barely understand what he is saying, like I understand Christian Bale's Batman better than this guy. His accent is what does it, it sounds ger-russian-nese but it's still pretty cool to see him in the movie. So the chase is on to stop Vilain from using the secret data to cause chaos in the world. I think the reason why I enjoy this movie better than the first is because of the better dialogue and the new characters we get to see in action, even though the dialogue is very tongue and cheek sometimes, like there's this scene where Arnold Schwarzenegger tells Terry Crews to give him his gun and Terry Crews says, "If I don't get this back your ass is terminated." and it's dialogue like that which makes he movie a bit more fun, but we don't only get to see Arnold throw down and shoot em' up, we even get the most badass dude in existence to help out our heroes, Chuck Norris. And yeah he kicks the most ass in this movie, he's one handing this big machine gun tearing through guys left and right, he takes out a friggin' tank and he even says one of the Chuck Norris facts about how a king cobra bit him and after 5 days of pain the cobra died. Best part of the movie but another fantastic part of the movie is Dolph Lundgren and he is my favorite character in the entire film, cause he is super smart like he can make a bomb out of just a few ingredients, and he keeps hitting on the girl who tags along on the mission with him, he's totally awesome. So yeah, this movie was a hell of a lot better than the first, and I think the best part of The Expendables movies are the continuity is loose, like it's not necessary to watch the first movie to get the second movie so you can just skip the first movie and go straight for the second movie. This is The Expendables movie you have to see if you want to watch the franchise, so I hope you enjoy it just as much as I did, and I will see you guys and gals tomorrow when we wrap up the trilogy.

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

The Expendables

What better way to start the month of July and build up to our Independence Day than to review a trilogy of hardcore action movies starring the biggest names of the action hero genre?



So The expendables is a true love letter to action films both old and new, starring Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren among many others as mercenaries hired by the U.S. government to take out a dictator. This plot could not get any more action hero if it tried. But it's a damn good movie with a lot of it's own merits, mainly the acting, the characters, and of course the action scenes. Now let's be honest here, this is not a great film as far as action movies go but it's a cut above the rest only because of the stars of the movie. If you have ever seen an action film from the 1980's onward, chances are you know who these people are and what their reputation is in the film industry. And even I have to admit it's pretty friggin' cool to see all these action movie stars kick some ass even if some of them are getting up there in the years, they still got it! And it is built entirely around the characters, their actions, their personalities, their past, all of it only contributes to the movie, and it shows they are not a perfect team, they bicker, they fight each other, but in the end they are still a team and give a damn about each other. And you really get the sense of that which makes them even more enjoyable. The acting is good, the directing shows you exactly what you need to see, the dialogue between the characters is really the best part of the movie in my humble opinion but the action is well choreographed and they are not afraid to show blood and violence, the characters are interesting enough so you don't just write them off as typical action movie heroes, the music for lack of a better word has that honky-tonk rock tone to it and it's pretty cool, the plot is pretty basic but you really can't be expecting Shakespeare in an action movie called The Expendables. Yeah it is just kind of a dumb action guy flick but it does have more to it than what you expect and I'm sure you will find it very enjoyable and interesting to watch nevertheless, especially if you are a big fan of action movies and action movie stars both old and new. I quite enjoyed The Expendables, and I hope you do too.



Tune in tomorrow where we review the second installation of The Expendables trilogy, and I hope to God it stays a trilogy.