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

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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

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)

Tags

Action, Comedy, Drama, Jared Harris, Jude Law, Movie, Noomi Rapace, Robert Downey Jr., Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Stephen Fry, Suspense

you didn't read past the first page of the script before you agreed to do the movie, did you?

PG-13

Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Noomi Rapace, Jared Harris, Stephen Fry

Moriarty: People have an innate desire for conflict. So what you are fighting is not me, but rather mankind. War, on an industrial scale, is inevitable. I’m just supplying the bullets and bandages.

Sherlock Holmes (Downey Jr.) enlists his newly married friend Watson’s (Law) help once more as he attempts to discover who is behind a series of bombings and what their motives are.

Well, it’s just over a week since I saw this, so I might not remember it very well.

Actually, if I were writing just a once sentence review, I think that would be it.  This is the kind of movie that goes into your brain, entertains it as it rattles around in there, then exits as quickly as it came.  In that regard, it’s a lot like the first movie in the series.  I honestly can not remember what the plot to that one was.  It was a sea of British accents, grey scenery, booming music, big action sequences, and witty banter.  I do know that it had Rachel McAdams in it, which is unfortunately not true for most of the sequel.

But hey, the rest of the stuff I listed was still there in the new film.  Plus, for now I do remember who the villain was, which is something I can’t say about the first movie.  Jared Harris is pretty good as Holmes’ arch nemesis, Professor Moriarty.  Not an all time great villainous performance, but good enough.  Speaking of supporting players, Noomi Rapace was also good as a gypsy whose brother might be involved in Moriarty’s nefarious plot.  She’s not given a huge amount to do, but she does have a certain presence.  When she’s on screen, you notice her.

I thought some of Downey and Law’s banter was a bit tired.  They didn’t seem all that thrilled to be delivering it, and I wasn’t all that thrilled to be hearing it.  There were a couple of funny and inspired moments between them, but for the most part, that relationship felt a little flat.

We don’t come to these movies for just the witty dialogue though.  We want to see a good detective story.  We want to see Holmes’ calculating brain at work, whether it’s analyzing a crime scene or planning to defend himself against three thugs in an alley.  There’s plenty of moments like that, though I didn’t think the overall mystery was handled very well.  To me, the movie didn’t bring the audience along for the ride enough.  Some aspects are explained so quickly that there’s no mystery to it at all, which is no fun.  Meanwhile, in other ways I felt a bit lost.

I think people want to be able to put themselves in Holmes’ shoes and play detective as the movie rolls along.  Unfortunately, I don’t think this movie provides the audience with the ability to do that.  Thus, we sit back, watch, feel reasonably entertained, then move along.  I’m sure by the time the next sequel comes around, I’ll have forgotten what happened in this one.

Maybe that’s their goal though, as filmmakers.  That way they can just keep making the same movie over and over and nobody will ever notice.

“And the little plastic castle is a surprise every time…”

Slow and steady wins the race.

10 – 1.5 for some of the witty dialogue feeling tired and not so witty – .7 because it just seems so grey, bleak and visually depressing at times – 1.5 for the mystery aspect not being handled so well = 6.3

X-Men: First Class (2011)

Tags

Action, Drama, James McAvoy, January Jones, Jennifer Lawrence, Kevin Bacon, Michael Fassbender, Movie, Nicholas Hoult, Oliver Platt, Rose Byrne, Science Fiction, X Men First Class

damn paparazzi...no pictures!

PG-13

James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Kevin Bacon, Jennifer Lawrence, Rose Byrne, Oliver Platt, January Jones, Nicholas Hoult

Stryker:  There is a war coming, John.
McCone:  Yes, but a war with who?
Emma Frost:  Excellent question…though I wouldn’t call it a war, exactly.  That suggests that both sides stand an equal chance of winning.

Erick Lehnsherr (Fassbender), who will later become known as Magneto, is out for revenge on the man, Sebastian Shaw (Bacon), who killed his mother.  Along the way, he crosses paths with another mutant, Charles Xavier (McAvoy).  Together they recruit other mutants while Shaw plots to start World War III.

Slightly better than the first X-Men, not as good as the second one, and…well, we won’t even mention the third one.

There are moments here that are very good, and I definitely liked most of the casting, but at times it just feels overlong.  It gets bogged down with too much “mutant and proud” talk.  That territory has been covered quite extensively in the other movies, and while it’s certainly relevant to the young mutants here, that doesn’t make it any more fresh.

The other thing that didn’t work too well for me was Kevin Bacon as the villain.  His presence seemed too gimmicky, which undermined the seriousness of the movie.

Now on to the things that I did like.  Rose Byrne.  If you’ve read my other reviews, you may know of my love for Rose Byrne.  This movie did nothing to change that love.  She’s awesome.  McAvoy and Fassbender are good too, and the younger mutants are played well enough.  Michael Ironside even makes an appearance near the end of the movie, which is always a welcome sight.

One quick aside about the cast though.  In a movie that’s all about promoting the acceptance of everybody no matter what their appearance…there are not a whole lot of minorities present.  Plus…I don’t want to be Mr. Spoiler, but…they kill off the black guy first…seriously?  And then the other minority character is the first to turn into a villain with very little persuasion needed.  Even for something set in the 60s, it’s a very white movie.

But hey, there’s some good drama, good action, a few funny moments, and…well, Rose Byrne.

What more do you need?

Mutant and proud!

10 – .6 because I didn’t like Kevin Bacon as the villain – 1.7 for getting bogged down in too many repetitive scenes  = 7.7