Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Tags

2016, Diego Luna, Felicity Jones, Rogue One, Star Wars

Call me Rey again, I dare you…

Alternate title – Star Wars: Get Used To It

Yes, another Star Wars movie.  To some, like me, that is a happy thing.  To others, it’s some other kind of thing.  But even to someone like me, if there’s going to be a whole bunch of Star Wars movies, they need to be good.  Otherwise, I will grow weary of them as well (see: Marvel movies).

Was this one good?  Yes.  Was it great?  Not in my opinion.

A few issues I have with it venture too far into spoiler territory, but I will say that some of the characters they included (some very briefly) were not entirely necessary and served more as super-fan pandering than anything else.  I find those moments to be distracting often, and I get mentally pulled out of the story.  I’m not thinking, “wow, what an exciting space battle!” I’m thinking, “wait…isn’t that the guy that was also just barely in A New Hope?”

So that’s nitpicking, but on a broader scope, I felt the first half was kind of slow and not compelling.  At least, not as compelling as it could be.  We hop around from place to place so much that there’s no time to build momentum with the characters or story.  It took me until the third act to really get into it.  That’s when the emotional content of the movie picked up and I really started to enjoy it.  And then there’s one scene near the end that’s one of the best in any Star Wars movie, so that helped me leave the theater with a good taste in my mouth.

But I’m still trying to put my finger on why the first half didn’t grab me as much as The Force Awakens did when I first saw it.  Maybe it just comes down to the characters.  I never really got on board with Jyn Erso’s motivation.  Heck, the teaser trailer had more backstory on her, most of which was apparently cut before it made it to the final print. Perhaps there will be a director’s cut on blu-ray that includes all of those lost scenes. After hearing about all the re-shoots/rewrites to give it more ‘levity’, the thought of a director’s cut is very inviting.

To wrap up, if you’re a fan, you’ll like it.  Maybe not love it, but definitely like it. Especially K-2SO, he’s funny.

 

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Godzilla (2014)

Tags

Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Action, Bryan Cranston, Drama, Elizabeth Olsen, Godzilla, Ken Watanabe, Movie, Science Fiction

Drink me in, folks…

Liked it a lot, didn’t love it.  That’s the short version.

Of course, just liking it means it was so much better than the 1998 Godzilla.  I mean…SO much better.  The best parts definitely deliver the goods.

The positives:

• Good story setup –  Ancient monsters are disturbed and go looking for radiation to feed on.  They grow big and destroy stuff.  Godzilla, in an almost mythological, Godly role, emerges to kill monsters and bring balance to the world.
• The effects – Not too shabby.  Awesome at times.  Plus, you can actually see what’s going on in the monster battles.  It’s not a bunch of fast cutting to crazy angles that just confuses the audience and gives them a headache.
• Serious tone – There aren’t many (or any, really) silly nods to the audience, inside jokes, childish stabs at humor, etc.  This isn’t like most blockbuster movies.  It actually takes the destruction of cities and rising death toll seriously, even if it involves giant monsters.
• Some genuine emotional content at times, particularly the opening sequence.  Nice job, Bryan Cranston.

The negatives:

• The best character isn’t in the movie very much.  The other characters are pretty dull.
• Takes too long to get to Godzilla and the monster fighting. I don’t mind character development and a slower pacing, but only if it’s worth it.  In this case, as noted above, the characters don’t really build much.  I don’t even remember anybody’s name.  Pacific Rim was idiotic, but at least it knew what the audience came to see and had a robot/monster fight in the first 5 minutes.
• Too many typical scenes of the military planning offensives, characters hoping to be reunited, then characters being reunited.  Very predictable stuff for the most part.

I like the direction Gareth Edwards had this movie going in.  It is definitely not stupid and obnoxious.  That’s a welcome switch.  I just wish he would have (or maybe could have – it’s only his first major movie after all, i’m not sure how much control he really had) made it even a bit darker and less predictable, especially at the character level.  Speaking of characters, I’ll say again, Bryan Cranston is great, and boy would I have liked to see more of him in this.  I guess Aaron Taylor-Johnson is convincing in the physical aspects of the lead role (I mean, he was Kick-Ass after all), but he’s not given much to do beyond that.

So yeah, cool fights, but not enough of them, and not early enough in the movie.  Still, worth watching, especially if you’re still trying to get the bad taste of Godzilla 1998 out of your mouth.

7.6/10

Pacific Rim (2013)

Tags

Action, Charlie Day, Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Movie, Pacific Rim, Rinko Kikuchi, Science Fiction

okay, this new iron man suit is pretty frickin’ sweet…

Well, at least it’s better than Transformers.

This movie isn’t hateful.  It doesn’t make me mad watching it like some other big budget explosion-fests, but it does frustrate me.  Why?  Because it’s the kind of movie that could be so much more.  I watch it and realize that, with a few changes, it could satisfy the inner child in me that wants to see people in giant robot suits fighting huge alien monsters, as well as the adult part of me that would enjoy an interesting story. Something with well-developed characters, a plot with a few unexpected twists, and maybe even a story line that challenges me in some way.  The only challenge in this movie is trying to name all of the movies that it reminds you of.  There were many for me – Independence Day, Transformers, the 1998 Godzilla movie, and of course, Robot Jox.

That is not an impressive list of movies to borrow from, and while Pacific Rim thankfully isn’t overloaded with as many comedy relief attempts as most other big budget blockbusters, it still falls into the same bad habits as most of those movies.  Seriously, is it too much to ask to do something unpredictable?  Not one single thing happened in this movie that was unexpected.  And I do mean not ONE THING.  It is movie-making autopilot of the worst kind.  But hey, as long as it looks cool, right?

Well, about that…

While admittedly these robot/monster fights are less muddled and headache-inducing than the fight sequences in Transformers, they still occur almost exclusively either at night, in the ocean, in the rain, or all of the above.  A few daylight fights would have been nice.

I could go on a long rant about logic problems and various other issues, but CinemaSins and Screen Junkies already did a nice job with that.  (Big time spoilers in both those videos!)

In the end, this is actually an okay movie if you’re looking for totally mindless entertainment.  Like I said, it doesn’t make me angry watching it like Transformers and some other movies.  It’s stupid and could have been SO much better, but it is what it is.

5.5/10

Iron Man 3 (2013)

Tags

Action, Ben Kingsley, Don Cheadle, Drama, Guy Pearce, Gwyneth Paltrow, Iron Man 3, Jon Favreau, Movie, Robert Downey Jr., Science Fiction

c’mon, make it a true daily double!

In short – not as good as the first one, but definitely better than the second.

I liked the feel of this one better, and it certainly felt like there was a real threat from the villain (Guy Pearce), even if I was never quite sure of his master plan.  Maybe I just missed it, or maybe he’s like the Joker and just wants to watch the world burn.  Either way, he was an angry, bad dude who racks up quite a body count in this one.

Robert Downey Jr. is still good, Don Cheadle is still underused, Gwyneth Paltrow is still there to be put in harm’s way, Jon Favreau keeps getting larger, and Ben Kingsley teeters between show-stealing and show-grinding-to-a-halt.  I’m not quite sure how I feel about Sir Ben’s performance.  One actor I know I did like was this kid Ty Simpkins.  He was surprisingly un-annoying and had a lot of chemistry with RDJ.  I really enjoyed that portion of the film.

If you’re looking for a few thrills, some funny moments, yet another villain with a vague overall scheme, and several references to The Avengers, this is your movie.  If not, then may I suggest finding some other movie with much fewer Avengers references, like Casablanca, Jaws, or Return to the Blue Lagoon.

7.3/10

Safe House (2012)

Tags

Action, Denzel Washington, Drama, Movie, Ryan Reynolds, Safe House

go inside, this house is safe…i think…maybe…

On two separate occasions in this movie, the lead characters find themselves in a so called “safe house”.  In both instances, the houses prove far from being safe.  People keep getting killed in the safe houses.  I think they need to change the name.

Other than that, this is a fairly adequate thriller.  I mean, there’s intrigue…and spy stuff…and betrayals…and things like that.  It will have you guessing at who the real villain is…for about 2 minutes, but then you’ll figure it out pretty quickly because it’s really obvious.

Denzel is his usual Denzel-self, and Ryan Reynolds is okay.  The cast as a whole is fine.  But the movie itself is just…there.  Not much unexpected happens, but there are a couple of good fight scenes and chases and such, if you’re into that sort of thing.

“Run of the mill”…that’s a good descriptive term for this one.  I guess it has a touch more realism than some other movies in the genre, but it still feels like something I’ve seen before…many times.

6.1/10

 

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)

Tags

Action, Desolation of Smaug, Drama, Fantasy, Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Movie, The Hobbit

careful driving today…there’s a good chance of smaaauuug

Let’s face it, this entire movie series was just leading up to the scene in this movie towards the end where Bilbo meets Smaug and all hell breaks loose.  And hey, that scene delivers.  It’s intense and fun, but it results in a bit of a let down when the movie ends shortly after it.  After a lot of padding and unnecessarily drawn out scenes, we get to the good stuff and then the movie is over!

In some ways I don’t mind Jackson fleshing out this story and adding a little more depth, but at times in this one (more so than in the first film) I found myself getting a little frustrated with some scenes that just went on too long or didn’t seem to belong.  I could feel it being pushed out to 3 movies.

That being said, it’s still a pretty fun ride.  I saw it in 3D IMAX and that was a bit much.  I need to see it again in 2D just to catch a few moments in the action scenes that I missed the first time around.

One last complaint to voice – I wish they had added a couple more dwarves.  Why? So that Smaug would have had something to munch on.  There’s no real sense of danger in the action sequences because you know none of these characters are going to be killed off.  The journey would seem much more perilous if occasionally a dwarf or two were lost.  Just sayin’…

7.8/10

Man of Steel (2013)

Tags

Action, Amy Adams, Diane Lane, Drama, Henry Cavill, Kevin Costner, Laurence Fishburne, Man of Steel, Michael Shannon, Movie, Russell Crowe, Science Fiction

only ONE american flag in this shot? c’mon…

What do you get when you take Superman, sprinkle in a little Jesus, pour in a few cups of Battlestar Galactica, and then smother it with Matrix Revolutions?  You get this…mess of a movie.

Superman has always been a problematic hero since he’s just too powerful.  Thus, either his powers have to be taken away, or he has to face a villain with equal powers.  This movie basically combines the 1978 and 1980 Superman movies into one, but layers even more convoluted plot lines on top of those stories.  Oh, and more explosions and stuff.  There’s more of that too.  A lot more.

Would someone please make a Superman movie where we see what being Superman would really be like?  The emotional turmoil experienced by someone who could easily just take over the planet and be its ruler in the name of creating real peace.  Yeah, Superman IV touched on this a little with his “quest for peace”, but that movie was awful in ways that most movies could never dream of, so…it doesn’t count.

Or maybe we could see how frustrated Superman is by not being able to save everybody all the time.  He’s only so fast.

I dunno…something besides…this.  This is just indestructible people throwing each other through buildings over and over again.  It lacks…humanity.  Superman doesn’t really seem to care about people in this movie the way he does in the first couple with Christopher Reeve.  If he did, he would have led these villains away from the big city and out into the country somewhere.  But no, he’s happy to throw them through populated buildings and city streets causing incredible amounts of damage.

Just one of the many things in this disappointing movie that doesn’t make sense.

Oh, and the special effects are pretty crappy at times.

4.9/10 

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Tags

Action, Anne Hathaway, Christian Bale, Drama, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Caine, Movie, The Dark Knight Rises, Tom Hardy

and here’s why…

I probably don’t need to say much about this one.  Just go see it.  If you’re at all a fan of the first two in the trilogy…just go see it.

I will say, I thought a couple of elements of it were quite predictable and maybe shouldn’t have been played up as much throughout the movie.  It didn’t really ruin my enjoyment, but I was a little disappointed about how soon certain things became obvious.

My main complaint about the Dark Knight, as compared to Batman Begins, was that it was lacking in any real emotional depth.  Even Rachel’s death was hurried past without much time to mourn her.  I don’t think we even saw a tear from Bruce Wayne.  This movie felt more like Batman Begins in that regard.  It took a little (but still not enough) time to slow down and show some emotion.

But…maybe that’s why other plot elements felt rushed.  Time passes in this movie so fast that it’ll make your head spin.  There are times when we only realize that several months have passed between scenes because one character clumsily mentions it to another character.  I’m hoping an extended cut appears on blu-ray some day.  Maybe a few of the “but-how-did-he…?” moments can be clarified.  Even if it takes 3 and a half hours to do it.

All in all, it’s a satisfying conclusion to this trilogy, despite the fact that I thought the end could have been even more conclusive than it was…

8.6/10

Battle Los Angeles (2011)

Tags

Aaron Eckhart, Action, battle los angeles, Movie, Science Fiction

thank you for invading…

Hey look, we’re marines and we’re all cool and happy and things are fun and good.

Meteorites?  Boom!

Aliens!

BOOM
Blam!  Kapow! tack tack tack tack tack! Booooooooom!  Blammo!  Wham!  Crash!

BOOOOOOOOM!

Touching moment…  BLAM!  Kaboom!  Swoosh! tack tack tack tack tack boom!  Michelle Rodriguez!  Argh! Help! Whammo!  Witty comment!  Slam!  Bash!  Crash!  Man, that looks fake!  Boom! Witty comment!  Boom!  That guy’s dead!  Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!  Aaahhhhhh!!   Bzzzzeeerrrooowww…kablam!

Calm, tender moment…

Bam bam bam bam!  Kaplowy!  Crash!  Bizing!  Boom!  It buuuurrrrns! BLAM!!!

KABOOM!

Join the Marines!

5.0/10

The Avengers (2012)

Tags

Chris Evans, Drama, Fantasy, Joss Whedon, Mark Ruffalo, Movies, Robert Downey Jr., Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Science Fiction, The Avengers

puny review…

It’s good.  Real good.  Way to go Joss Whedon.

I haven’t even seen Incredible Hulk, Captain America, or Thor, and I didn’t feel like I was too far behind.

My only complaint would be that Loki wasn’t the most exciting villain.  Or maybe it was the performance by Tom Hiddleston that I wasn’t impressed with.  It’s hard to say.  It wasn’t terrible, but I think a more menacing villain usually works better.  He struck me as more bratty than menacing.

Most surprising element = how much I enjoyed Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow.  Whedon knows how to write interesting female characters that can also kick some tail, and Scarlett did a good job with all of it.

I probably don’t need to really sell anybody on this particular movie, but it’s definitely entertaining and worth a watch on the big screen.  Even the crying baby and talking kids in the theater didn’t ruin it!

Loki and a few hazy plot developments drop it to saaaayyy… 8.4/10