tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16708483424704598282024-03-13T00:16:56.748-04:00Cinema WonAlexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14331834803117579989noreply@blogger.comBlogger559125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1670848342470459828.post-72837137816709704712015-03-09T20:41:00.003-04:002015-03-09T20:41:30.917-04:00Review 288: "Unfinished Business"<div style="text-align: center;">
Best business trip ever.</div>
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Not even remotely close.</div>
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Can we just get Vince Vaughn to stop? I mean, it can't be hard, right? This more was critical panned and it's a huge bomb, the worst debut for a film in Vince Vaughn's career yet. And with good reason. Make no mistakes, this movies suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucks. It literally has me wondering if it might not be one of the worst movies ever made. I don't know if people remember this, but way back when I said the thing that made a movie one of the worst ever, for me at least, was not being outright awful, but by being bad and so utterly devoid of any real substance, good or bad, that it's almost like the movies doesn't even exist. It's why I maintain that that the 1989 version of <i>The Punisher </i>is still the worst movie I ever reviewed for this site. though this one seems like it's daring only to match the black hole of nothingness that <i>Punisher </i>excelled at.</div>
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The plot is meandering and often pointless, but her for the most part what the film is about. Directed by Ken Scott, who also directed fellow Vaughn bomb <i>Delivery Man</i> and written by Steve Conrad, who also wrote <i>The Pursuit of Happyness </i>(...okay), follows Dan (Vince Vaughn), a businessman who quits working for Chuck (Sienna Miller) to start his own company with his only two employees, Tim (Tom Wilkinson) and Mike (Dave Franco). With the company on the verge of bankruptcy, the trio head to Germany to seal the deal of a... business deal for a company lead by James Marsden and Nick Frost. However, they find that Chuck is also three looking to make the deal and soon it's a race through protests, gay festivals, bars, crappy hotels and actual races in order to be the company that makes the deal.</div>
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The problem with <i>Unfinished Business</i> is simple enough on the outside, but more interestingly messed up on the inside and no I won't make a joke about whichever celebrity is falling apart this week. Simply put, despite the marketing proclaiming the the characters need to "lose their shit" and the poster showcasing booze, drugs, injuries, a man in leather and hot chicks, the film is actually laughably tame. Much like <i>Delivery Man, </i>the film tries and massively fails to have a heart and message, make Vince Vaughn a nice guy and still be raunchy.</div>
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A lot of this problem falls onto the shoulders of Vaughn. Unlike other movies of the genre, in which a character with an obvious flaw must deal with said flaw in order to succeed, Vaughn' character here is set up without any major flaws. Once again, it seems Vaughn wants to come off as a great guy, marked by the fact that here, his character's flaw is that he's a workaholic. But he's never punished for that. The movie tries to have the message that he needs to loosen up to make this deal happen, but that's completely untrue, as Vaughn never loosens up and the day is ultimately saved because Vaughn is a good worker. his character goes through no really change during the film and ends up just a one-note loser by the end.</div>
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It doesn't even make much sense within the plot itself. Vaughn and his company are meant to be the underdogs here going up against Sienna Miller's Goliath. however, since the movie fails to give Vaughn an actual flaw, his company ends up, as we are told pretty quickly, the better company. So if Vaughn and Co. are better the Miller, why does the deal get rejected the first time through and why are they the underdogs, other than Marsden's character being a dick and the movie telling us their underdogs because they're weird. Even the ending, wherein Vaughn brave a total of one obstacle in order make his deal (A protest that's hinted at throughout the film but never explained) happen and after one 5 minute meeting and showing that he's "loosened up" by saying the f-word a few times, they get the deal. What a goddamn anticlimax.</div>
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The film might have worked if it was funny, but of course this movie's not. It's not even painful there just aren't jokes. The movie tries hard to mine humor out of Wilkinson and Franco, because god forbid Vince Vaughn get laughed at, but ultimately the film feels like it's just mocking the elderly with Wilkinson's character, as if he's meant to be funny only because he's an old dude that still wants to have sex. Even worse is Franco's character, who the film makes the massive mistake of explaining is mental handicapped and as a result, makes all the times we are expected to laugh at him for being "stupid" completely aggravating. Especially how unrelentlessness it is and how the film expects us to be okay with it because they show that he succeeds... in having sex. Because that's all that matters! Right, because was are raunchy!</div>
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It's the film isn't. The actual party scenes and big raunchy moments are so laughable tame, especially faced with all we've seen these last few years, that much of the humor of this film feels like it's the equivalent of of a six-grader laughing at the word "penis". Until they actually have a scene in a gay bar that has glory holes because apparently just the mere sight of a penis brings Vince Vaughn to tears. From laughing, that is. And what's even worse is that fact that, baffilingly, the film adds in a bizarre subplot about Vaughn's kids both being bullied and being a bully (Though it's obvious she's not). The sappy way the film handles the scenes with Vaughn's bullied son creates jarring tonal shifts from scene to scene, as the film is edited so haphazardly that things often just seem to happen for no reason. And the film's ultimate stance on bullying (Ignore it and be yourself) is undercut, given that, were asked to feel bad that Vaughn's son is mocked for being fat, then immediately asked to laugh at Franco's mentally handicapped character for being "stupid". It's downright insulting.</div>
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<i>Unfinished Business </i>is a movie that's bound to be on a number of worst lists at the end of the year and there's a damn good reason for it. The film is filled with terrible, one-note characters that we are supposed to believe are underdogs despite their success. On top of that, the lack of humor and raunchiness keeps the film consistently boring as all hell, at least when you don't wanting to punch it in the face for asking us to accept a completely out-of-place anti-bullying storyline, despite the near constant mocking of the mental handicapped, gay people and Europeans that the film deems okay to laugh at. I think it's time to end the deal with Vince Vaughn. maybe then he might say something funny.</div>
Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14331834803117579989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1670848342470459828.post-25046432104091484612015-02-02T16:18:00.002-05:002015-02-27T21:59:57.370-05:00The New Cinema Won<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">2014 has come and gone and, well, to be honest, Cinema Won seemed to have gone with it. I mean, it’s hard to deny that my heart just wasn't in this anymore when I completely stopped doing it for several months. But during that time away, I think I might have realized something. Simply put, I was doing it wrong. See, I never wanted Cinema Won to feel like a job, but it became exactly that. The idea of going to the movies every week to review it later just wasn't fun and for a job that I received no pay or much credit for doing, yeah, it was hard to get myself motivated, especially with a college work load and a social life.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> But I still want to make this work. I do have fun doing Cinema Won, but not like this. See, despite my thoughts that it’s somehow “more important” to review current films, I always would have rather seen the film and talk about something else. I mean, I haven’t stopped going to the movies. I still go every single weekend. But not every movie I want to talk about and feeling like I had to just killed it for me. But, that did make me realize something. While I don’t have fun reviewing current releases, I do have a ton of fun talking about obscure, odd films that other people don’t talk about.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I really do feel like my last review, </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Riding the Bullet, </span><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is some of my best work and it mostly stems from the fact that it was a genuinely interesting and somewhat strange film I had never heard of before. Essentially, the world doesn't need a 128,435th review of the new </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hunger Games,</span><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> but it could do with a review or at least discussion on a Stephen King adaptation from several years ago that involves a roller coaster as a metaphor for life in the most self-serious way possible. Because that to me is interesting,</span></span></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-c3335d95-4c27-9c0c-521f-cd0a808daf03"><span style="background-color: black; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> And that’s what, hopefully, Cinema Won will be from now on. A site devoted to looking at the strangest films I can find, or at least the films that no one else is looking at. That said however, I don’t find new releases boring, just not what I want to do full reviews of. Therefore, with it being the end of the month, I figure why don’t I give quick reviews of all the movies I saw in that month in theaters.</span></span></span>Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14331834803117579989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1670848342470459828.post-14283397119116352772014-10-25T18:25:00.001-04:002014-10-25T18:25:48.105-04:00Won or Worse: Pilot Season, Episode 1: "Stephen King's Riding the Bullet"<div style="text-align: center;">
The dead travel fast!</div>
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That's right. It's time. Time for Won or Worse! ...Which I now acknowledge you know nothing about. Okay, so here the deal. You might have heard of one Leonard Maltin. He's a pretty famous film critic and each year, he publishes Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide. The book lists thousands of films, each given a score out of four stars (How less than 6...). And that's the game of this show. We're going to look at films that received 1 and a half stars or the worst, the BOMB rating and decide if the Guide got it right or if the film deserved better. And to kick of this 5-episode pilot season, I figured we celebrate the scariest time of the year, Halloween! And what's scarier than a movie based on a Stephen King ebook? This is <i>Riding the Bullet</i>!</div>
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<i>Riding the Bullet</i> is a 2004 film that received only a limited release in theaters. It was directed and written by Mick Garris (<i>Hocus Pocus...</i> Which we'll be looking at next year). In the Movie Guide, Maltin gives the film one and a half stars calling the film a "gory, cliche-ridden snoozefest" that "plays like a parody of his (King's) work". Well, that's sounds like a perfect Stephen King movie, so I'm not entirely sure how that's a problem, but whatever.</div>
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Oh, wait, kidding aside, I do know what the problem is. The film is a cliche-ridden snoozefest than often plays like a parody of King's work. I mean seriously, I just picked this one at random and the Maltin hits it dead on. <i>Riding the Bullet </i>is an absolute joke of a horror film. A lot of that I feel has to be blamed of director Garris. As we'll see, <i>Riding the Bullet</i> has three main problems. One, Garris gives the film absolutely no subtlety whatsoever. Two, Garris also is pretentious as all hell. And three, the film story is laughable padded with filler.</div>
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Here's the main story of the film. Alan (Jonathan Jackson) finds out that his mother (Barbara Hershey) is in the hospital, so he hitchhikers to get her, eventually meeting George Staub (David Arquette), who turns out to be the grim reaper. George then tells Alan that he, for some unexplained reason, must decide if him or his mother is going to die. Okay, not the worst idea for a horror movie. But as we'll learn, that's not really what <i>Riding the Bullet</i> is about.</div>
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See, when Alan and George meet, it's not until about 50 minutes. And the film itself is only a little bit over an hour and a half. The film is literally filled wall to wall with filler. And that's not entirely a bad thing. The problem is here, the filler isn't just pointless, it's also boring. Essentially, after our introduction to when Alan and George meet, the story consists of Alan meeting a draft dodger, Alan meeting a old guy with a dead wife and Alan being chased by rednecks. None of these events really do anything or add to the story. They mostly just happen. Alan, even after being almost killed twice, never seems that bothered by much.</div>
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That mostly comes from the fact that Alan is mostly a complete mystery to the audience. See, we know Alan is bothered by something... but we just aren't sure what. He's obsessed with death, hallucinates and is a complete emotional shut-in (Despite having friends and a girlfriend). But we never do learn why. The film has got so little story that we get plenty of flashback to Alan as a kid. We learn his father died young... but teenage Alan seems fine, without problems. His mother's a bit depressed and drinks. But their relationship seems good. Hell, the moment the film thinks is affecting him poorly is when his mother hits him. However, Alan clearly hallucinates right before then, therefore that can't be it!</div>
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Journey movies, films where a characters must get from point A to point B while meeting other characters in between. There tends to be two types: fun journey meant to be entertaining and funny, or metaphorical journeys where every person met represents a personal challenge of the character. Now seeing as how<i> Riding the Bullet</i>'s characters are all boring and uninteresting, it's clearly not option one. However, if we are supposed to believe that each of the characters represents something wrong with Alan, then we have to know what's wrong with him. And since the film doesn't know, it makes his journey seem completely pointless. If the characters don't help Alan grow, then what's the point.</div>
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The film isn't even sure what "Riding the Bullet" means. Literally, it means ride an amusement park ride Alan was afraid of as a kid. But what that ACTUALLY means is inconsistent. Sometimes it's a metaphor for suicide, sometimes for facing your fears and even just fear of roller coasters. Ultimately, I think it's meant to be about facing death and living life to the fullest. However, in the epilogue, Alan lives alone and paints, which he says makes him no money. So if Alan learn nothing, other than be happy. In fact, seeing as how Alan is obsessed with death after his father's death and we see that it has no huge effect on him in the flashback, and yet Alan was way closer to his mother and blames himself for her death, the fact that he's happy afterward kinda makes no sense whatsoever.</div>
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It goes back to what I said earlier. It's mostly the director's fault. The film is a major case of style of substance. Garris uses some many editing tricks and fakeouts that the actual story suffers. The film is constantly using cut-aways to pointless stories, like the retelling of an urban legend that's only connection to the story is a smell. Or the most obnoxious one of all, when recounting George's death is introduced by the camera flying through a movie theater. But worst of all is the fakeouts. Scenes that we a lead to believe are real but really are in the character's mind. One or two is okay. Three of these in a film is a bit much. There are, I kid you not, TWELVE goddamn fakeouts in this movie, a few even happening back to back.</div>
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The film feels more like Garris showing off than anything else. And he does a real shit job of it too. He clearly feels as if the film is creepy and strange. And yet, it's most just not subtle. Characters will flat out tell us what's going on. They pull the stupid, hears animal in bushes trick THREE times in a row. There's a scene where a crow eating roadkill swears at Alan. The film, set on Halloween night in, of course, Maine, really does feel more like a bad joke than anything,</div>
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<b>The Verdict</b></div>
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As I said earlier, Maltin nailed it. <i>Riding the Bullet</i> is a film so concerned about being stylish and spooky that it's story is left to die. The main character's backstory is so poorly explored that it's hard to know what's wrong with him. And therefore the film struggles to find a point, wandering aimlessly before finally ending. And even then, when the film seems to decide what it wants to be about, it message is inconsistent enough that the viewer is left feeling like there was no point to anything that happened. Combine that with the fact the film is often boring and cliched and you get one roller coaster ride that'll just leave you disappointed.</div>
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So, until next time, this has been <b>Won or Worse. </b>The episodes will be published every other Saturday, so look for our next episode on November 8th!</div>
Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14331834803117579989noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1670848342470459828.post-35006560152898859812014-10-20T12:28:00.000-04:002014-10-20T12:28:41.264-04:00Best Wishes and Good Luck It makes me sadder than I can really say, but today I must announce that The Undefined Gamer will no longer be working with me on Cinema Won. I will not get into specifics, but do to an increase in arguments and bad feelings, from both myself and him, I no longer feel as if he should be working on this site. I wish I could say things ended on better terms, but sadly they didn't. Things on Cinema Won will resume within the week. As for the Undefined Gamer, though he won't believe it, I genuinely do wish him the best of luck in the future and hope that we can one day work through these differences, as both sides have some learning and growing to do. You can find him on his own site, Unclean Monstrosities on Wordpress, where he is currently running a fun contest. Please check it out and wish him the best. I'm sorry, but sometimes we must do things we don't like to help everyone involved.Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14331834803117579989noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1670848342470459828.post-27500606745210938832014-10-19T19:29:00.000-04:002014-10-19T19:29:26.149-04:00Cinema Won Reviews: "Annabelle"<div style="text-align: center;">
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What is one of the main rules of horror? You know, the one where something is less scary the more we know about it. Yeah, that's a pretty big one. So the whole idea of making a spin-off movie to explain the backstory of a scary monster is essentially a surefire way to suck the fun and scariness out of something. I mean, once we know what something is, what exactly it wants and how it's going to get it, it's suddenly becomes a lot less scary than the thing we have no clue as to what it is or wants but HOLY SHIT IT'S KILLING EVERYONE, RUN! So, right off the bat, <i>Annabelle </i>is fighting an uphill battle. It has to be scary, at least as scary as it's parent <i>The Conjuring, </i>despite it also having to provide a good explanation as to everything that is happening. And, big shocker here, <i>Annabelle </i>fails at both.</div>
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<i>Annabelle </i>is a 2014 horror film that is a prequel to last year's <i>The Conjuring</i>, though none of the cast return and <i>Conjuring</i> director James Wan is only on as a producer. Here, the film follows pregnant Mia (Annabelle Wallis... heh) and her husband John (Ward Horton) whose lives take a dark turn when a pair of murderous cult members break into their house, attacking them. Yes, really. And after one of them dies while holding a beloved doll of Mia's, strange things begin to happen in their home. Upon learning the events are tied to the doll and their daughter's life is at stake, the couple try desperately to stop the monster, even turning to a priest (Tony Amendola) and a wise black woman (Alfre Woodard). Yes, REALLY. The film was directed by John R. Leonetti (<i>Mortal Kombat: Annihilation</i>) and written by Gary Dauberman (<i>Blood Monkey</i>).</div>
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Now, to be fair, the idea of making a movie on <i>Annabelle</i> good isn't impossible. But it's pretty clear after seeing the final product that <i>Annabelle</i> had no nobler intentions than to get a quick buck. Nothing about the movie seems really well thought out, which seeing as the film has come out barely a year after <i>The Conjuring </i>isn't that much of a surprise. In fact, from the way the story goes, it wouldn't be much of a surprise if the story was about something other than Annabelle that got refitted. By far what is the most disappointing aspect of the film is the fact that Annabelle is really the main villain. See, whether for budgetary reasons or scheduling ones, <i>Conjuring </i>stars Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson do not appear in <i>Annabelle. </i>As a result, the film can't tell the story of how the Warrens first came into contact with Annabelle, or as many people know it, the story people wanted to see.</div>
Instead, we're treated to the story of how Annabelle became evil which doesn't actually involve Annabelle becoming evil. See, the living doll in <i>The Conjuring </i>is here just an ordinary doll used ludicrously by a demon to connect him to our world until he can claim an "innocent" soul. So, really, the demon is the monster here and not Annabelle. The film ends by telling us that the doll being in contact with that much evil made it evil, but we never do see Annabelle come to life on her own. That's presumably to coming in the sequel, hopefully featuring the Warrens. But for now, the film just feels extremely cheap, without much to give the story any milage. The acting's good, particularly by Wallis, who is sure to be seen again. Woodard is also good, though she doesn't have as much to do and literally plays a spiritual black woman, as if the film could be trying any less.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_ms28tVA3-Y/VERHaX0wVtI/AAAAAAAAGtA/ZIMxlw-Taco/s1600/annabelle-movie-picture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_ms28tVA3-Y/VERHaX0wVtI/AAAAAAAAGtA/ZIMxlw-Taco/s1600/annabelle-movie-picture.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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<b>The Verdict</b></div>
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<b> </b>But overall, the biggest problem with <i>Annabelle </i>is a simple matter of boredom. Restricted by the timeline of <i>The Conjuring </i>and Farmiga and Wilson not returning, the film makes the rookie mistake of revealing the secrets of the monster. And in this case, it's an exceptionally lame reveal. Ultimately, with a neutered monsters, copious jump scares and a laughably cliched story, <i>Annabelle </i>can't conjure up many scares, even with a good cast and a strong setting. <b><i>Annabelle </i>gets 2 and a half stars out of 6.</b></div>
Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14331834803117579989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1670848342470459828.post-61925714686575301562014-09-25T14:33:00.000-04:002014-09-25T14:33:04.983-04:00Cinema Won Reviews: "The Maze Runner"<div style="text-align: center;">
Based on the best-selling novel,</div>
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<i>The Hunger Games!</i><br />
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<b>SPOILER WARNING</b></div>
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<i> </i>I think I've made it clear that I don't really mind most of the trends that many say is ruining the film industry. I don't mind sequels, remakes and adaptations that others hate. But, I don't like the trend of young adult adaptations that are desperately trying to copy <i>The Hunger Games.</i> Mostly because I don't particularly like <i>The Hunger Games</i> and that trends spawned <i>Divergent, </i>to which there's no room for forgiveness. That said, I was more interested for <i>The Maze Runner </i>than most of the others. The concept and set up seemed, while not entirely original, at least more fun sounding that <i>Hunger Games </i>or less incredibly stupid than<i> Divergent. </i>Plus, mazes are hype. Unfortunately, even with the low bar set by <i>Hunger Games, Maze Runner </i>can't even pass that. It's almost like they weren't even trying. Oh wait...<br />
<i>The Maze Runner </i>follows a group of boys, sent by a mysterious elevator, who find themselves trapped, surrounded by a giant maze that is constantly changes. They have been unable to escape for three years. However, when mysterious Thomas (Dylan O'Brien) arrives, he teams up with several of the other boys, Alby (Aml Ameen), Minho (Ki Hong Lee), Chuck (Blake Cooper) and Newt ( Thomas Brodie-Sangster) to try and escape. However, between monsters in the maze, opposition from other boys and the arrival of the only girl, Teresa (Kaya Scodelario) make things a little tricker. The film also stars Will Poulter as the leader of the rival boys. The film was directed by Wes Ball, his debut, and was written by Noah Oppenheim. Grant Pierce Myers and T.S. Nowlin, all of whom also are debuting here. The original novel was written by James Dashner.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's pretty much a summer camp.</td></tr>
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<i>The Maze Runner </i>is a movie steps up a more interesting reveal than it actually has. And it raises the question of whether or not the fact that it's got a good setup can trump the fact that it's a letdown in the end. I normally don't get into blatant spoilers, but I feel this one is a bit more necessary to talk about. So if you don't want the ending ruined, just skip to the verdict below. <b>Spoiler: </b>Okay, so the entire time I assumed the ending would be something kinda lame, like it was a TV show or something. Which would have been a little more blatant that I really should have expected, seeing as how, you know, that'd be a bit more of a rip-off of <i>Hunger Games</i> than even a young adult novel adaptation would go. But, in the end, what is the big reveal? That it was a science experiment. Yes, that's it.<br />
That's it. <i>That's it.</i> An experiment. The film doesn't even explain it well, even though it really didn't try to because it ended on a cliffhanger like all of these freaking movies do. But, even on the most off days of a writer, that's pretty freaking lame. I mean, it could have been revealed as a Predator training ground. That'd be fucking awesome. But no, it's just science. Ugh. Look I would mind as much if the rest of the movie is good. But it's just not really. Whatever originality the book might of had is gone here. I know I joked about it a lot earlier, but it really is the most <i>Hunger Games </i>rip-off we've gotten yet. The fact that the characters don't remember who we are means everyone's wildly underdeveloped, Teresa might as well where a t-shirt that says" Will be important in sequel" as she does nothing here.<br />
And on top of that the maze is a big disappointment. It's mostly just grey walls with the occasional <i>Legends of the Hidden Temple </i>obstacle in the way like, closing walls, jumps and <i>different </i>closing walls. Don't worry, they're different cause they spin. Even the monsters aren't that interesting. Half robot, half spider, half scorpion the most important thing one does is die. There's not a hell of a lot to say. The movie just hits cliche after teen movie cliche like it's playing young adult bingo. The most interesting thing is the thought of whatever the reveal will be and as I said earlier, it's a massive letdown.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yup, that's a wall alright.</td></tr>
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<b>The Verdict</b></div>
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<b> </b><i>The Maze Runner</i> isn't a bad movie. It is however, a boring one that, due to dull characters, a cliched story and lackluster set pieces, fails to live up to even the most modest expectations. And once the film reveals what's really going on is completely obvious, there isn't much hope things will get better. However, I should say that I did see the film with a large group of people (Including the Undefined Gamer, who had basically the same opinion as me). And among those people were several big fans of the book (I never read it). And they seemed to enjoy the movie and are excited for the already announced sequel. So, basically, I didn't find <i>The Maze Runner </i>to be anything special, but the people who read the book did, so make of that what you will. <b><i>The Maze Runner </i>gets 3 and a half stars out of 6.</b></div>
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Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14331834803117579989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1670848342470459828.post-13226673815305076042014-09-15T14:10:00.000-04:002014-09-15T14:10:03.922-04:00Cinema Won Reviews: "Dolphin Tale 2"<div style="text-align: center;">
Winter's amazing true stories...</div>
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now has Hope!</div>
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<i>Dolphin Tale 2 </i>is a 2014 sequel to the original 2011 movie, apparently based on a true story of the dolphin with a prosthetic tail. This time around, Sawyer (Nathan Gamble) has got it made. He's got a good job working for Clay (Harry Connick Jr.) with Phoebe (Austin Highsmith) and Winter (Winter the Dolphin), he's best friends with Hazel (Cozi Zuehlsdorff) and he's just been offered a free ride to a semester a sea. But when Winter's companion dolphin dies, Sawyer and the rest of the marine hospital races to find a female dolphin to pair with Winter or else she'll be taken away from them. The film also stars Ashley Judd as Sawyer's mother, Morgan Freeman as the prosthetist, Kris Kristofferson as Clay's father, Austin Stowell as Sawyer's cousin and Bethany Hamilton as herself. The film was written and directed by Charles Martin Smith (<i>Air Bud</i>).</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pictured: Dolphin. Not pictured: Tale.</td></tr>
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You know, I wasn't looking forward to this one all that much. Shocking, I know. I may just not be within the target audience for a sequel to <i>Dolphin Tale. </i>But, it was the only new release in my theater this week and per the rules, I had to see it.<br />
And first off, that meant I had to see the original. And yeah, the first <i>Dolphin Tale </i>isn't that good. Now, to be fair, there's nothing really wrong with it. It's a generic kids movie, so at it's worst it's just pretty dull. The main problem is that, while the story of Winter is genuinely interesting and inspiring, it's probably best explored as an hour long documentary on Animal Planet. There just isn't that much story to cover a feature length movie. And yet, somehow, the original clocks in at nearly 2 hours long. Mostly, that's thanks to the addition of new story elements, including that classic, "The beloved (insert relevant location) just isn't making money, so unless we can beat the odds and raise the money, it's going to close."<br />
<i>Dolphin Tale 2 </i>benefits from having a far, far better story than its predecessor. Granted, it's not a great story. But here, the movie actually decides to explore the characters more, which isn't a bad development. The way the film tackles the main characters growing up is done well. Or at least it's not overdone. Between Sawyer's tough decision to leave for three months, Hazel's attempt to be taken seriously or the two's kinda sorta growing romance, the film at least is able to fill it's hour and 40 minute runtime a lot more smoothly.<br />
The story of Winter and Hope is also interesting. This film plays more with the actual marine biology aspect of the story and, while I'm not sure on the accuracy, the deals with the dolphins is far more interesting. Seeing the actual rescues and healing process in (better) detail gets a little more emotion out that anything the previous film did and I actually cared about Winter and Hope this time. Yeah, it's predictable and cliched, but the ending did bring a smile to my face.<br />
My face wasn't smiling as much though when the film, not kidding here, actually redid the story of the hospital closing. Yeah, already running out of ideas. This time it's not quite as bad though. It takes up way less of the movie, even if it leads to basically the same climax as the last movie. Plus, it is looked at more from the side of "What will happen to the animals?" and not "Oh no. Just, oh no!".<br />
There are unfortunately other problems with the film. This time around, the writer played up the "humor" way more and it's usually, especially when dealing with that dumb bird thing, really lame. The effects aren't any better this time around. While they don't resort to CGI as much this time around, which is nice, when they do, it's pretty damn bad. Like a particularly awful looking balloon arch.<br />
The acting isn't as good this time around either. Freeman has way less to do here than before and doesn't seem all the excited to return. He seems only to be here so people won't complain he's not. Gamble do has become retroactively miscast here. The film requires him to be more confident this time around and Gamble just can't do it, resulting in him sound a bit, you know, annoying. And overall, like the last one, the film really just isn't anything special. There are hundreds of other kids movies out there and while this one isn't one of the worst, it's certainly not good enough.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aDIxd2BASYI/VBcpwFNhFjI/AAAAAAAAGrE/aOpMFcAdZ-k/s1600/nathan-gamble-in-dolphin-tale-2-movie-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aDIxd2BASYI/VBcpwFNhFjI/AAAAAAAAGrE/aOpMFcAdZ-k/s1600/nathan-gamble-in-dolphin-tale-2-movie-5.jpg" height="172" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They now realize the seafood BBQ was not<br />a good fundraising idea.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">The Verdict</span></div>
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<i>Dolphin Tale 2 </i>is far better that it's predecessor, but it's still not worth making a point to see it. While the film finds a better, more varied story that's more interesting than the last and some good character development, the film still can't overcome it's cliched mediocrity, thanks to a lame sense of humor, some bad effects and acting and a lack of originality. Overall, while kids might enjoy this one more that the one before it, <i>Dolphin Tale 2 </i>just can't offer anything that adults will find interesting. Unless watching a turtle and a bird bond is your idea of fun. <b><i>Dolphin Tale 2</i> gets 3 and a half stars out of 6.</b></div>
<br />Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14331834803117579989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1670848342470459828.post-71728662558532228012014-09-11T18:20:00.000-04:002014-09-11T18:20:11.503-04:00The Undefined Gamer: "Doctor Who: Deep Breath" Review<div style="text-align: center;">
I always get these things spoiled for me...</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> This took me awhile to do as I wasn't sure whether I liked Capaldi or not. The often hard to understand Scottishman's take was so different than recent takes on the character that I at first felt a bit alienated by him, though longtime fans will feel right at home as Capaldi's era is essentially classic who with modern effects. </span></div>
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The transition was made easy by stellar writing. Unlike many forgettable Matt Smith villains, the clockwork robots where portrayed extremely well, with promise of a return in a later episode thanks to the mysterious Missie.</div>
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My biggest question in this episode had to do with Capaldi's ability as an actor. Under further review, I'd say he nailed it. Though I am not yet used to his accent, Capaldi is a hoot, shooting great line after line like a cannon, many of which are just hilarious. For those of you still unsure of the new doctor, if you look closely enough his doctor is surprisingly similar to fellow Scott David Tennant, in the respect that no matter what he manages to maintain this very level headed air of responsibility while still managing to have plenty of fun. Smith fans will hate him for this, being that his take on the Doctor was quite different than this.</div>
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As pointed out by Emergency Awesome, Capaldi also has an interesting contradiction-- he complains about being alone yet rejects hugs. I find that very amusing. </div>
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Jenny, Strax, and Vastra where also fleshed out greatly in this episode. That's always good.</div>
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Everything else just takes some getting used to. The opening is different, but after a while I've learned to love it, and that's how the Moffat era is-- sure its different, but it sure is lovely.</div>
Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14331834803117579989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1670848342470459828.post-19056802011680147512014-09-07T22:30:00.000-04:002014-09-07T22:30:01.209-04:00Cinema Won Reviews: "A Most Wanted Man"<div style="text-align: center;">
And we're back!</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Yes, I know it's been a while, I'm sorry. This past month or so, I finally made the transition into college and now, having settled into classes and my dorm, I think/hope that Cinema Won can start up again. And to kick things off, I wanted things to be a little more structured. So now, we have Cinema Won Reviews. This series will take a look at a just-released movie near me. The weekly series will feature a new episode every weekend, usually Sunday afternoon or Monday morning depending on how busy I am. I should also point out that I am going to a small town theater. Therefore I won't be getting to see every limited release film. And sometimes, like this time, they added a movie that came out weeks before. So yes, <i>A Most Wanted Man </i>came out back in July, but it was the one and only new release at my theater this week, so it counts. And that's a good thing, because damn was this movie good.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">A Most Wanted Man </i><span style="font-family: inherit;">is a 2014 political thriller based on the 2008 novel by John le Carre (</span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">). The film was directed by Anton Corbijn (</span><i style="font-family: inherit;">The American</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">) and was written by Andrew Bovell (</span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Edge of Darkness</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">). The film follows Issa Korpov (Grigoriy Dobrygin), who flees from Russia to Germany after being tortured. After being taken in by lawyer Annabel Richter (Rachel McAdams), they discover that Korpov is being searched for by a group of spies. Lead by Gunther Bachmann (</span>Philip<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Seymour Hoffman), his team tries to get Korpov to use banker Brue (</span>Willem<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Dafoe) to get evidence on terrorist Abdullah (Homayoun Ershadi). And as it turns out, the spy life is filled with murky </span>alliances<span style="font-family: inherit;"> and lie. Who knew! The film also stars Nina Hoss and Daniel Bruhl as members of Bachmann's team, Rainer Bock as a rival spy and Robin Wright as a CIA agent.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Let me say this first. <i>A Most Wanted Man </i>is a realy good movie. If you have the chance see it. But, it is a film with a big problem. And one I can't talk about without kinda spoiling the movie. So, from here on out, consider this a <b>SPOILER WARNING. </b>Okay, now that that's out of the way.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">A Most Wanted Man </i><span style="font-family: inherit;">is a movie that is outdone by being really good and not living up to itself. Story-wise, the movie is a bit slow to start. The actual point doesn't start to be clear until around the 40 minute mark and the beginning is a slow ride, filled with long lingering shots to show how serious a film this is. But eventually the film finds a groove. Especially in the </span>relationship<span style="font-family: inherit;"> between Dobrygin and McAdams. It's excellent to see how the interact and McAdams is especially good trying to navigate the murky spy game. And that's really where the film is at it's best.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> At first, you can kinda tell what's going to happen, who the bad guys really are and what the message the film is trying to say is. But at a certain point, during the dealings between McAdams and Hoffman, I at least had that awesome realization that I had no idea where the movie was going. That maybe what I assumed was wrong, maybe the twist was different and maybe the film had a more adult message to say other than "Politics is grey"...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> But then it doesn't. Yeah, much to my disappointment, the film ends with exactly what I though earlier and on a </span>thoroughly<span style="font-family: inherit;"> unoriginal note. That's ultimately what weakens the film in the end, but it doesn't kill. The film manages to connect us well to it's characters and as a result, the story remains gripping and intense. And no matter how obvious the ending was, it did make me sad enough and the final moment was a very strong image to go out on. </span><br />
The film has other slight problems. The actors don't really pull of the german accents great. Sorry Rachel McAdams, but it needed work. And while Seymour is great, he doesn't really have a terrible lot to do in this film. He just acts mysterious and stern but also secretly kind and thoughtful or like every other main character in a spy thriller since forever. It would have been nice to see him do more, especially with this being his last starring role. Dobrygin is good, but he too is kinda stuck playing a one-note character. There not film-ruining flaws, but the do hold back what could have been a great film, if it had just taken more risks.<br />
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<i>A Most Wanted Man</i> is almost a great movie. The film ultimately is slowed down by some iffy accents, one-note characters and a generic and disappointing ending. However, the film is a consistently thrilling ride. The acting's strong, the story is gripping, the characters are absorbing and the film never lost my attention. If only it could have ended stronger. Then it's could've made top ten.<b><i> A Most Wanted Man </i>gets 5 stars out of 6.</b></div>
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Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14331834803117579989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1670848342470459828.post-35719470509638796862014-08-26T13:04:00.001-04:002014-08-26T13:04:14.371-04:00The Undefined Gamer: "Mount Your Friends" Review<div style="text-align: center;">
All the kids are doing it!</div>
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Mount Your Friends is a 2013 Steam Greenlight project by Stegersaurus Games. The object of the game is to climb higher than your friends for as many turns as you can. What you end up with at the end of each game is a mountain of frozen sweaty guys in speedos.</div>
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Yes, their dicks do move, but it is done in the least offensive way you can imagine, meaning that the profanity has little chance of corrupting your little children's minds. </div>
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The game works surprisingly well. It' way more intense than one would imagine. This is due to the fact that each turn has a time limit, and despite the fact that the distance one needs to climb increases each turn, the time limit per turn always remains the same. </div>
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This is a game were you need to overcome the controls. They are purposefully difficult in order for the layer to experience the maximum number of ridiculous poses possible. </div>
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And that's a central theme in Mount Your Friends. Though its tournament play modes are super intensive, the other modes, such as "Mancraft" (in which you build things out of people) are actually quite jolly.</div>
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My only suggestion would be to expand the tournament play so you can include more than two people easily. The game is set up so you need to pass the controller if you want to do so, and when one player loses, the entire game stops. Perhaps a mode where multiple controllers can be linked with an elimination system could be established?</div>
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Mount Your Friends is simply a wonderful game. At merely one dollar, it is more than worth the money. Stegersaurus games honestly could get away with pricing this in the 15-30 dollar range. </div>
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A game that will bring endless joy to you and your friends, be sure to pick it up.</div>
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Mount Your Friends is available through Steam and Xbox Live.</div>
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<b><i>Mount Your Friends </i>gets 6 stars out of 6.</b></div>
Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14331834803117579989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1670848342470459828.post-23599792698675901472014-08-22T13:22:00.000-04:002014-08-22T13:22:33.694-04:00Top 10 Marvel Cinematic Universe Films<div style="text-align: center;">
They're all good, but which ones</div>
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In honor of <i>Captain America: The Winter Soldier</i>'s home video release, <i>Guardians of the Galaxy</i>'s continued box office success, <i>Ant-Man </i>beginning filming and me deciding the site needs to be more varied, I decided to look back on the ten films that make up the Marvel Cinematic Universe and decide which ones are the best and which are the still good but not so best. Now remember, I like all of these films, to the point where number 10 is the only one I'd call mildly bad. In fact, the entire top 6 all received perfect scores, so this is solely about my personal favorites and my personal opinions. If yours are different, feel free to comment, just don't leave a dick message.</div>
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To be fair, <i>Iron Man 2 </i>had a lot to deal with. It was marvel's first film made since announcing the whole thing was building up to <i>The Avengers</i>. So <i>Iron Man 2 </i>had to be both a sequel to the original <i>Iron Man </i>and set up for the future Marvel movies. And while many critics complain that the films all feel like trailers for <i>The Avengers, </i>this film is the only one I'd probably agree with them on. The film certainly isn't bad, it's just a bit of a mess. It reminded me closely of <i>Spider-Man 3 </i>(Which probably isn't a fair film to bring to mid. I'm am one of the few people who like <i>Spider-Man 3</i>). The film has the same great cast as the first, with some great new additions and there are some really spectacular moments in the film, especially the final fight scene. However, the film has got too many stories going on at once with some fun but underdeveloped villains. Plus, the film's tone often ranged from goofy to dead serious and it never really transitioned well between the two. Overall, a disappointing movie, though not a bad one.</div>
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There's a lot to like about <i>Thor.</i> The film brings to life what was arguably Marvel's strangest characters until <i>Guardians of the Galaxy</i> and they made the film believable and often visually striking. Too bad I can never remember all that much about it. It's simply a case of a film that, while offering up a good origin for a cool character, just doesn't really have that much to do. The film often feels like it's taking it's time not because it's how it's paced and more because there just isn't that much to do. I mean, besides notable world-building things like Hawkeye and Odin's vault, the film doesn't add much to the Marvel universe. Even worse, the film's own big setpieces and climaxes don't leave that much of an impression. Overall, it's a solid, entertaining film that works, but can never offer up anything really worth revisiting.<br />
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I do like Thor, I swear. It's just that, while a great character acted very well by Hemsworth, Thor's solo outings do make the weakest series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That's all. As a film, <i>The Dark World </i>works better than the original. The story feels more epic, the action is a lot better, the characters more interesting and the humor spot-on. However, the film just plays it safe. Sequels, if they're to be good, must build upon the original. Often times, that means offering up a darker film, with higher stakes, murkier morals and maybe the hero loses... briefly. That happened with Iron Man. With Captain America. Hell with both Spider-Mans. And yet, that doesn't happen here. Thor never really faces much of a real threat. And that made for a entertaining, but bland and safe film.</div>
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<b style="font-size: x-large;"> </b>I'm, from what I gather, am in the group that likes the Hulk a lot more than most others. In fact, I'll be completely honest. A lot of the same problems I criticizes <i>Thor: The Dark World </i>for are present in <i>The Incredible Hulk. </i>The hero never really faces that much challenge, the villain's lame and non-threatening, we learn nothing new about the characters and the film plays it largely safe. Quite simply, the only reason I put this over <i>Thor </i>is because I like the Hulk more than, well, Thor. I'm a little more okay with just watching the Hulk smash and Banner try to, for the millionth time, find a cure. I'm a little more forgiving too. Here, the filmmakers had to bring the Hulk back after a failed, but ambitious attempt. So, I do understand playing it a bit more safe then they could have, especially in comparison to a sequel to a popular film. All nitpicking aside though, both films are good, I just like the Hulk better. Simple as that.<br />
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The one that started it all. The original <i>Iron Man </i>had the task of kicking off the Marvel Cinematic Universe and turning a second-tier character into a household name. And the film accomplishes that easily. Now yes, that's all mostly due to Robert Downey Jr. who made Tony Stark a household name. But you just can't deny the sheer good filmmaking going on here. Sure the story is a little by the numbers and the villain's only notable trait is that Jeff Bridges is awesome. But the film is just such an entertaining movie that it's easily one of the most re-watchable superhero films of all time. Sure, it's nothing groundbreaking (Well, at least not til after the credits), but it's a great ride that kicked off a great chain of events.</div>
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I didn't get a chance to review this film and honestly there isn't too much to say about it. It's one of those "it's good, trust me, just go see it" kinda movies. It's impressive that Marvel was able to pull such a strange cast of characters into a strong team, but here a raccoon, a tree, aliens and a human make for the best superhero team since, well, The Avengers. The film might not have a great story or villain, but the film is funny as all hell, features some great action and more than enough of it's own style. The cast is great, especially Chris Pratt and James Gunn does a great job bringing this cast of characters to life. Again, nothing too special, but when a film really does feel like they're bringing us to new worlds, something is being done right.</div>
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That won't be controversial at all. Yes, the definitive, continuity driven team-up film this entire series has been building up to... is only fourth. But hey, it still got a perfect score, so shut up. Look, I won't lie, <i>Avengers</i> isn't really known for it's masterful storytelling. The story is just an excuse to get the characters together, but that's also all it needed to be. The scenes are executed perfectly, with some of the best chemistry for a superhero movie ever. The characters interactions feel organic and the film's a ton of fun because of it. And, of course, the final battle is the stuff of film legends. It's a masterpiece in entertainment, but overall, not one in storytelling.</div>
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Yes, again, controversial. I know a lot of people hate it, mostly because they can't accept anything new or interesting, but I digress. I loved <i>Iron Man 3. </i>On the surface, it delivered the funniest script and the best action and effects in the series thus far. But it was even more than that. This was the first film to have a story that was just utterly great. Tony's story arc is fantastic, with tons of character development and the best performance by Downey yet. The twists, yes including THAT twist, are brilliant and genuinely surprising seeing as how they actually kept them secret. This was the first time in the series that managed to be thrilling during the action and during the quiet character scenes. I know it doesn't work for some people, but if this really is the last <i>Iron Man </i>movie, then the series went out on a high note.</div>
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This is still my favorite film of the year, and for good reasons. As you probably have figured out right now, Captain America is my personal favorite of the Avengers. And much like <i>Iron Man 3, The Winter Soldier </i>pitted Cap in a dangerous and dark situation. Chris Evans is spectacular as Steve Rogers, who's dilemma with SHIELD and the government in this might is easily the best story in the Cinematic Universe yet. Hell, the whole thing is the best story yet. I don't get the complaints that this film doesn't take any risks, especially considering it's big reveal is by far the most shocking chance to the comics story yet. Not only that, this one had some genuinely good villains and The Winter Soldier himself is a great new character worthy of exploring further. The sequel stepped it up in a big way... though not big enough, because, if you haven't already figured it out...</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>The Best MCU Film Is...</b></span></div>
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I know it's not a choice shared with many people, but here's how I see it. Combine the great actors bring these great characters to life, at the time the first really good and interesting story in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a great sense of humor and some awesome action, a cool villain with a lovably goofy evil plot, some strong world-building, genuinely sad moments, a huge amount of rewatchablity, a setting that's shown off expertly by the director and a script that brings it all together nicely and what do you get? Not just my personal favorite Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, but my second favorite superhero movie of all time (<i>Spider-Man 2 </i>can't be stopped!). I know it's not a choice I shared with many, but it makes perfect sense to me. </div>
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Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14331834803117579989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1670848342470459828.post-64760342231302452342014-08-21T13:01:00.000-04:002014-08-21T13:01:36.044-04:00The Undefined Gamer: "The Giver (2014)" Review<div style="text-align: center;">
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<i> The Giver </i>is a 2014 science fiction film directed by Phillip Noyce based on the best selling book by Lois Lowry. Starring Jeff Bridges (The Giver) and Brenton Thwaites (Jonas, the Receiver), <i>The Giver </i>takes place in a post-dystopian community in which emotion and color have been eradicated in human society.</div>
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So, too, was the history of all these emotions. Well, not entirely. One person in the community stores these memories (because you can't just leave it on a flash drive), so they can provide wisdom to the elders, who control the place. </div>
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Because in <i>The Giver's </i>society, age=ability to lead. By no surprise, all the elders are terrible at leading. Funnily enough, the Receiver, whose sole duty is to advise the elders with their knowledge of the past, are completely disregarded throughout the film. </div>
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Young Jonas (Thwaites) is chosen to be the next Receiver. As the beauty of the past engulfs him, the lies of the present begin to crumble. </div>
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Visually, the movie is almost a masterpiece. Its use of color(or lack thereof) is more effective than in even <i>The Wizard of Oz.</i>We are plunged into a world without color, but as Jonas slowly gains memories of the world's beauty, color slowly returns. Not only is this clever, but when paired with 1080p HD and the best CG money can buy, the effects are stunning. </div>
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One criticism moviegoers might have is the awkward dialogue. Yes, I understand that it's supposed to be awkward due to the communities use of "precision of language," a practice to eliminate rudeness, but just because something is explained does not make it work. To be honest, I feel that this really held the movie back, as it only served to take me out of this world rather than engulf me in it. </div>
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As far as acting goes, everyone does an extraordinary job. Dealt with lines worse than those of the Star Wars prequels, everyone manages to convey some degree of emotion and characterization. Well, except for Cameron Monaghan (Asher), but we don't like to talk about him. Of all the performances, his was easily the weakest. </div>
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Overall, I recommend seeing this. Though no masterpiece, this film is still extremely clever and beautiful. Many moments are shot so wonderfully that you can't help but shed a tear. The problems with this lie within the book itself; some things just don't transfer well from novella to film. </div>
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<b><i>The Giver </i>gets 4 stars out of 6.</b></div>
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Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14331834803117579989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1670848342470459828.post-44719639273450210222014-08-16T14:15:00.000-04:002014-08-16T14:15:51.534-04:00Coming Soon: August/September 2014 After several weeks without posts, Cinema Won should soon be back. However, first, both me and the Undefined Gamer are packing up and heading out to college, so the posts, while coming, my be few and far inbetween. However, once we get settled, Cinema Won will officially be back, with a bigger emphasis on series and humor, with longer, more in-depth posts and news stories as well, at least from me. But at least, here's what you can expect from me these next few weeks:<br />
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<b>REVIEWS:</b><br />
<i>- Into the Storm</i><br />
<i>- Dreamworks Dragons: Seasons 1 and 2</i><br />
<i>- Divergent Movie</i><br />
<i>- Lone Survivor</i><br />
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Now on to the Undefined Gamer:<br />
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<b>REVIEWS:</b><br />
<i>- Code Geass</i><br />
<i>- Campione!</i><br />
<i>- When They Cry</i><br />
<i>- Legend of the Legendary Heroes</i><br />
<i>- Captain Phillips</i><br />
<i>- Supernatural: Season 9</i><br />
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<b>OTHER POSTS:</b><br />
<b>- </b><i>Doctor Who </i>Speculation<br />
<br />Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14331834803117579989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1670848342470459828.post-4503215505121564282014-08-06T18:34:00.000-04:002014-08-06T18:34:09.099-04:00Batman Blinks, America Wins<div style="text-align: center;">
And we have a winner!</div>
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A few months back, DC announced that it would be releasing their first real stab at continuity in films, <i>Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, </i>which incidentally is still an awful title, but nowhere near as bad as <i>Terminator </i>fucking<i> Genisys, </i>on May 6, 2016. Problem was, Marvel Studios had plans to releases an as-of-then untitled movie on that day as well. Marvel swiftly answered what was DC obviously thought was them saying they weren't afraid by slapping DC in the face with their dick. Or more appropriately Steve Roger's dick as the announced <i>Captain America 3 </i>was the movie challenging Superman/Batman/Wonder Woman/Probably Aquaman/Maybe Cyborg/Probably Not Dr. No-Face.</div>
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Now, after a tense few months staring contest, DC finally blinked, presumably because they realized Marvel could at this point make an Ego the Living Planet movie and still make a shit-ton of money and has now officially moved the release date of their big tentpole. <i>Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice </i>will now be released on <b>March 25, 2016 </b>and Eddie Murphy is out there somewhere crying because God really hates the idea of <i>Beverly Hills Cop 4. </i></div>
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Now, first things first. Marvel won. DC are afraid and Marvel took down their biggest rival. Marvel wins. And while, yes, I am more of a Marvel guy, I do love me some DC, so news that we are getting Batman/Superman two months early is like Christmas morning, except still two years away. Plus, now neither studio is likely to take a big hit, so DC will continue on and Captain America will fight on no matter what. But it is interesting to note a few things. One, this really is DC finally acknowledging that Marvel is king and they are not yet big enough to directly challenge them. Which is fine, I mean, all they have now is the moderately-received <i>Man of Steel </i>to go off of. Secondly, with the announcement of nine other release dates for nine other untitled DC films, t's the first time I have the feeling that DC might actually have figured out what they are doing. That combined with their impressive showing at Comic-Con and I'm more excited for their cinematic universe than I've ever been. Things finally seem on the right track, so really, we all win.</div>
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For now, here are the other release dates, with my guesses as to what they are:</div>
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<b>August 5, 2016: </b><i style="font-weight: bold;">Shazam </i>(Presumably because this one seems the closest to beginning production and because it's a small enough character to justify an August release.)</div>
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<b>June 23, 2017: </b><i style="font-weight: bold;">Wonder Woman </i>(DC gives use more Wonder Woman and may release a female-lead superhero movie before Marvel? Yeah, that's a good way to stick it to their competitor.)</div>
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<b>November 17, 2017: </b><i style="font-weight: bold;">Sandman </i>(Again, this one's already in the works, plus again the lesser-knownness of the character makes the fall release make more sense.)</div>
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<b>March 23, 2018: </b><i style="font-weight: bold;">Aquaman </i>(The Wrap's Jeff Sneider said that one of these films may be a stand-alone Aquaman, which if he's right, I'd say makes the most sense here.)</div>
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<b>July 27, 2018: </b><i style="font-weight: bold;">The Batman</i> (Batman presumably has to get a solo film in somewhere, and a July release seems fit for DC's fan-favorite.)</div>
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<b>November 16, 2018: </b><i style="font-weight: bold;">Justice League </i>(Listed not as a "DC film" like the others, but as a "WB Event Film", that hints that maybe the big team-up isn't so close to being made. Filming wise, if it's not back-to-back, it makes sense that it'd take Zach Snyder 2 years to make it.)</div>
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<b>April 5, 2019: No Idea</b> (Yeah, this date, plus some others you'll have to see below).</div>
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<b>June 14, 2019: </b><i style="font-weight: bold;">Man of Steel 2 </i>(Superman goes solo again, hopefully after <i>Justice League </i>eases fans not happy with the first film.</div>
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<b>April 3, 2020: No Idea</b></div>
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<b>June 19, 2020: No Idea</b></div>
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<b>November 20, 2020: </b><i style="font-weight: bold;">World's Finest/Batman v Superman 2 </i>(Bit of a stretch, but it did say "WB Event Film" again, so...)</div>
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Again, those are only guesses. I don't have any clue as to what that other 2019 date is or what either of those 2020 dates are, maybe another character not announced, maybe Cyborg or maybe some other sequels, but that's really speculation. But, if I'm right, then DC will be doing awesome... hopefully. This means that they would get time to let almost each Justice League member get a film in before Justice League, with possibly The Flash and Green Lantern after. Following <i>Batman v Superman </i>immediately with <i>Justice League </i>is too much to fast and would create to rushed and messy a universe. So hopefully, this schedule means that DC are taking their time and aren't rushing to be Marvel. After all, they already lose once to them. </div>
Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14331834803117579989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1670848342470459828.post-75514917012291474632014-07-18T12:42:00.000-04:002014-07-18T12:42:13.533-04:00Review 281: "Transformers: Age of Extinction"<div style="text-align: center;">
The rules have changed.</div>
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<b>Back Four More</b></div>
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<b> </b><i>Transformers: Age of Extinction </i>is a 2014 action film and the fourth film in the <i>Transformers </i>franchise after 2011's <i>Transformers: Dark of the Moon</i>. The film is once again directed by Michael Bay (<i>Transformers</i>) and is written by Ehren Kruger, who wrote the last two films and the american <i>Ring </i>movies. The film follows Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg), an inventor who brings home a broken-down truck, only to discover it's Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen), on the run after the US government, lead by Attinger (Kelsey Grammer), brings to hunt all Transformers down. Now, dragging Cade, his daughter Tessa (Nicola Peltz) and her boyfriend Shane (Jack Raynor) along, Optimus reunited the remaining Transformers and lead the charge against Attinger, his right-hand man Savoy (Titus Welliver) and Joshua Joyce (Stanley Tucci), who making fake Transformers. On top of that, they also must contend with some rouge Faux-formers and transformer bounty hunter Lockdown (Mark Ryan). John Goodman, Reno Williams, Ken Watanabe and John DiMaggio also star as other Autobots, T.J. Miller as a business partner of Cade's and Sophia Miles and Bingbing Li as business partners of Joyce.</div>
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<b>Best Bay</b></div>
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<b> </b>I've never been a huge fan of the <i>Transformers </i>series, movies or otherwise. I've never been able to get into the show, nor have I found any of the films, save for the first one slightly, to be all that good. The last one, <i>Dark of the Moon, </i>especially was by far the worst and should have probably been the final over-bloated nail in the series' coffin. But I'll admit I found myself surprisingly interested in the idea of a fourth film. Director Michael Bay had found a small bit of success after <i>Pain & Gain </i>turned out to be a flawed, yet overall really fun film and the idea of dinosaur Transformers and Mark Wahlberg being too cool to screw up. </div>
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And ultimately, though it might not be saying much, <i>Trans4mers </i>is easily the best film in the series thus far. Mostly, it comes from a surprising new-found energy in the series. For the first time in the entire franchise, it feels like everyone involved actually wanted to make the movie and weren't just in it for the paychecks. Bay does some of his best work yet here. The film's editing is slowed way down and the action scenes are the best in the series. It's easy to follow this time around and Bay does a great job showcasing the fighting and carnage, making the film an entertaining ride throughout. However, Bay's newfound energy isn't just shown in the awesome action, but also in the quiet (Well, quieter) moments of the film. The use of sunsets and american flags may be a bit much, but there are some particularly gorgeous shots of the scenery. The film actually does have a far bit of breathing room and it shows that, despite the popular opinion, Bay seems to care a bit more this time.</div>
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<b>Parts One and Two</b></div>
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<b> </b>However, that also might have been a part of this film's biggest problem, both literally and figuratively. Clocking in at nearly three hours long, the longest of the franchise, the film is probably a little over-stuffed in some places. There are times in which the film struggles to actually pin down what it's story is and what the big problem the Autobots are fighting. In fact, the film almost feels like they could have expanded a bit more more on the story and characters, bring things better into focus. If they had actually made the film closer to 4 hours, then split it into two parts, this might have worked better. Or they could have cut at the business with the Seed (Heh) and focused more on the Faux-formers. Either way, while the film is very overlong, I still found that I was, for the first time in the series, invested in what was going on and wanted to see it through to the end. Hell, even if they had split the film into two parts, I would have be first in line for part two.</div>
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As I said earlier, a lot of that is from Bay's seeming increased interest in the series and the step-up in the action. But the fact that the film boasts a surprisingly high-caliber cast helps too. Tucci is great in a fun role that he thankfully never lets be over the top. The voice-actors for the Transformers are as good as they've ever been, which is to say pretty damn good. Hell, I didn't even mind Peltz or Rayner as the teenagers the series apparently needs to survive. The only character that did get on the nerves was T.J. Miller is a pretty poorly written comic relief role. Wahlberg though earns the movie a few points all on his own. He makes for a hell of a good pairing with Optimus especially and thanks to him, many scenes are a lot of fun where another actors might have let them flop.</div>
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<b>Really Though</b></div>
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<b> </b>I will say this though. From a writing standpoint, this might easily be the dumbest the series has ever gotten. I mean, this film has it all. Ancient aliens, mysterious God-like creators, terraforming bombs, dinosaur robots. The best of all? The dead Transformers are being melted down and turned into, you ready... <b>transformium. </b>Yes, seriously. And yes, it can turn into anything you want it to. And yes, it's mostly a way to fit in some horribly blatant product placement. That said though, as dumb as it way, the series has dropped it's pretence and has accepted it's stupidity full-on. And through that, the film suddenly is in on the same joke that the audience has been in on for the last three films. And that made for a much more fun film than I was expecting.</div>
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<b>The Verdict</b></div>
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<b> </b>Ultimately, while it's still not exactly good, <i>Transformers: Age of Extinction </i>is easily the best film in the series by far. While the film does get dragged down by a stupid and unfocused script, a very over-long length and a few bad characters, the film is still great fun at times. That can be attributed to a new-founded energy, from both Bay, who does a solid job here and from the cast, who do a pretty good job themselves. <b><i>Transformers: Age of Extinction </i>gets 4 and a half stars out of 6.</b></div>
Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14331834803117579989noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1670848342470459828.post-23404165970778621282014-07-12T16:42:00.000-04:002014-07-12T16:42:21.401-04:00Review 280: "Son of God"<div style="text-align: center;">
Their empire. His kingdom.</div>
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My naptime.</div>
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<b>Mini-Mini-Series</b></div>
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<b> </b><i>Son of God </i>is a shameless cash-grab. I'm sorry, a 2014 film edited entirely from the History Channel mini-series <i>The Bible </i>that people have been able to watch, usually for free, for the last year now. And yet, people still came out to pay money for it in theaters. Ugh. The film is directed by documentarian Christopher Spencer, and is written by him, alongside fellow documentarians Richard Bedser, Colin Swash and Nic Young. However, the film is more famously produced by Mark Burnett and Roma Downey. The film follows the familiar story of Jesus (Diogo Morgado) and his followers, mainly Peter (Joe Coen), Mary Magdalene (Amber Rose Revah), John (Sebastian Knapp) and Mary (Roma Downey) as the travel to spread Jesus's message all the way up until Jesus is crucified and resurrected. Pretty much the exact story you're thinking of when you think Jesus.</div>
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<b>A Disclaimer</b></div>
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<b> </b>Look, I really wish I didn't have to do this, but I will for good measure. I never have talked about my religious beliefs here, mostly because they never came up. But perhaps, it's fair to point out my thoughts before I make anymore snarky jokes or really get into what I thought about the movie, which, if you haven't guess, isn't much positive. I am about as non-religious as you can get without calling myself an atheist. I never went to church, never read the Bible and can count the times I've actually been in a church on just my two hands. And yet, I am not an atheist, mainly because A. I have an open-mind and can theoretically believe in God or any other religion. And B. because the atheists that are amazing toolbags that use their atheism to brag about how "superior" they are to everyone who does believe are the most annoying people ever and the farther away from them I am the better. But, for now, I do not truly believe in God or Jesus. <b>However, </b>no matter how I or you personally feel about Christianity or any other religion, this is <b>not </b>a review of religion. It's a review of a movie. I believe anyone can believe in whatever they want hopefully free from persecution. That does not, however, mean I have to say nice things about a Christian movie in order to not offend the more... hardcore believers. So please understand that when I call <i>Son of God </i>a greedy and lazy film that is exceptionally poorly-made and at times excruciatingly boring, it's not an "attack" of Christianity. It's what I genuinely feel about <i>Son of God</i>, which is first and foremost, <b>a movie. </b>Good? Good.</div>
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<b>Letter to the Editor</b></div>
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<b> </b><i>Son of God</i>'s biggest problem is that's it's a lazy and greedy cash-in. And no, not just because it's one of the most blatant "give-us-more-money" moves since any 3D re-release of a movie ever. The film actually suffer from this, mostly through an, at times, laughably bad production value and through some truly terrible editing choices to get the film down to a still too long 2 hours and 15 minutes. The bad editing causes a majority of the film's problems. It's so by-the-numbers that even someone who doesn't know the story will be bored to tears with how generic and obvious it is. And yet the film's editing often cuts out the connective tissue of the story. As a result the film plays like a series of loosely connected episodic stories. Even those who know the story will like get lost as the film jumps from one adventure in Jesus's life to the next with little in the way of closure or explanation. In literally seconds Jesus goes from getting his first follower Peter to having a whole group of followers without any explanation as to how or who they are. Realistically, the audience the film is mainly targeting are the people who already heard this story in greater detail in <i>The Bible </i>mini-series. Or, you know, in the actual freaking Bible.</div>
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<b>Jesus Christ Superstar</b></div>
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<b> </b>And yet the film desperately tries to make the whole thing cool for a young audience. The film is presented most similarly to an <i>Avengers </i>film, with big sweeping camera angles and an "epic" music score that could only be more manipulative if it actually held a gun to your head and told you to cry or it'd make you. One particularly hilarious scene features Jesus walking into a town and a young kid screaming" IT's JESUS" at the top of his lungs like insert-rockstar-of-your-choosing. The whole film tries so hard to make Jesus "kewl" again that it's surprising they didn't cast Bradley Cooper as Jesus and give him have a best friend honey badger played by either Key or Peele. The film certainly tries hard with the hilariously excessive slow motion that comes out whenever the story is <i>300-</i>y enough to warrant it.</div>
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However, the film's not just content enough to desperately leech on to the youth audience, oh no. The film knows that the elderly are the ones who'd buy this movie and put it next to their <i>Bible </i>mini-series DVD and their actual Bible, so it's time to tug at the heartstrings like giving an iconic gritty superhero a son. And then having it be completely useless because who needs emotions! ...Oops, sorry got a little ahead of myself there. <i>Son of God </i>makes sure to milk out every emotional scene it has. And since the film is essentially a highlight reel of the greatest story ever told, that's pretty much every scene in the last hour of the movie or so. The crucifiction is told in such excruciating detail that the film actually makes that boring. I don't care who you are but even the most devout Christians have to agree that watching Jesus try and fail to carry the cross is grating when it goes on for over ten minutes.</div>
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<b>The Verdict</b></div>
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<b> </b><i>Son of God </i>is a movie that ultimately fails because no one involved could make a good movie. A mini-series, maybe, but as a movie, the film is edited so poorly that it often becomes a confusing, half-baked mess that often can only touch upon the very basic story of Jesus's life. On top of that, the film tries to get over poor production values with an over-the-top styling more fit for a summer blockbuster. The film, though, is mostly just boring. Scenes go on from tens of minutes, milking emotions for all they've got instead of giving us something interesting. The film is just so boring that it's hard to imagine that even the film's target audience will find it entertaining. <b><i>Son of God </i>gets a star and a half out of 6. </b>Now, I hope people don't take this as a personal attack even after I put up that disclaimer. If only there was a equally bad film featuring a character that's not-religious but nearly as popular with my generation in a boring adaptation of an interesting source material that favors making the title characters seem like the most awesomest things ever instead of telling an actual competent story. Oh, hey there <i>Son of Batman...</i></div>
Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14331834803117579989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1670848342470459828.post-62632394891998632262014-07-08T17:27:00.000-04:002014-07-08T17:27:03.780-04:00Review 279: "Earth to Echo"<div style="text-align: center;">
No one will ever believe our story.</div>
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<b>E.T. 2: The Goonies</b></div>
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<b> </b><i>Earth to Echo</i> is a 2014 found footage family movie. Originally set to be released in April, the film was pushed back to Fourth of July weekend, when it proceeded to bomb. The film is directed by Dave Green and is written by Henry Gayden, both of whom are relative newcomers, with this being both of theirs first big film. The film follows three close young friends, Tuck (Brian "Astro" Bradley), Alex (Teo Halm) and Munch (Reese Hartwig) who are all faced with the fact that they will soon be moving apart after their neighborhood is purchased and a highway is to be put in it's place. On their last night together, they decide to track down the cause of their malfunctioning cell phones. The only clue is a mysterious map leading out to the desert. Upon getting their, they find a stranded alien they nickname Echo and decide to spend their last night help Echo to rebuild his ship. However, along the way they team up with Emma (Ella Wahlestedt), the popular girl from their school and face off against a mysterious construction worker (Jason Gray-Stanford). </div>
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<b>Trailers Always Spoil</b></div>
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<b> </b><i>Earth to Echo </i>is the kind of movie where you have to wonder if somebody in the marketing department have a grudge with the director of the film. Maybe the director set the marketer's dog on fire or something because <i>Earth to Echo</i>'s trailer might very well have been one of the worst trailers ever made. It made the film out to be a rip-off of both <i>E.T. </i>and <i>The Goonies</i> with the unneeded addition of found footage. And yeah, that's pretty much what the film is, but what the trailers left out was just how damn good the film was at doing those things. The film might not being doing all that much original stuff, but it's so genuine in what it is doing that it's hard not to simply like the film. Part of the reason is the fact that the actors are actually pretty good. All are believable with their only real flaw being occasionally going a little over the top. It's also nice to see Randy from <i>Monk </i>pop up again too.</div>
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<b>The First Frontier</b></div>
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<b> </b>And as for the comparisons to other film, yeah, this film isn't exactly not a rip-off of <i>E.T. </i>and <i>The Goonies, </i>but as I said earlier the fact that the film is so sincere helps you forget about the similarities pretty quickly, especially when you consider that this will be many kid's first film with this type of formula. And I'm okay with that. Overall, the film is just plain fun. It's inventive with how the kids interact with Echo and makes the kids seem like actual kids. Bonus point for the film showing the kids having great connections with their phones and electronics and not having it be a bad thing. The best thing about <i>Echo </i>is that is genuinely seems to understand today's generation (This coming from a part of today's generation) and it's nice to see the film treat their connection with electronics and with social media as being okay. Although it does raise the question on how the kids can say that "No one will ever believe our story" and then apparently post their videos to YouTube. Or explain some of the setpieces of the film. Best not to think about it.</div>
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<b>The Verdict</b></div>
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<b> </b>It might seem like nothing more than a rip-off of other classic family films, but <i>Earth to Echo </i>is closer to the real deal than most other films get. While the film isn't that original, features needless found footage and has some fairly large plot holes, the genuineness of the film makes it easy to forgive those things. The actors are all solid and the film is well written, featuring a look at our generation that does feel the need to judge our obsession with electronics. Overall, the film's very refreshing, if a bit shallow. Kinda like a pool! Get it? It's summer... <b><i>Earth to Echo </i>gets 5 stars out of 6.</b></div>
Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14331834803117579989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1670848342470459828.post-55808944683336600202014-07-03T14:39:00.000-04:002014-07-03T14:39:35.595-04:00Review 278: "Vampire Academy"<div style="text-align: center;">
Higher learning. Higher stakes.</div>
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<b>School's Out (FOR BLOOD!!!!!)</b></div>
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<b> </b><i>Vampire Academy </i>is a 2014 film based on a young adult book series written by author Richelle Mead. Released on the same day as <i>The Lego Movie </i>and <i>The Monuments Men, </i>this film failed to find it's audience, ultimately going on to earn just over half its budget, only getting about 7 million domestically. Plus, it's international releases were either delayed or cancelled. The film was directed by Mark Waters (<i>Mean Girls</i>) and was written by Daniel Waters (<i>Batman Returns</i>). The film follows Rose (Zoey Deutch), a dhampir charged with protecting her best friend Lissa (Lucy Fry), a royal vampire, as they are forced to return to the titicular academy after spending time on the run. Once back, the two find themselves outcasts and hated by the school's headmaster (Olga Kurylenko). Even worse, a series of nasty threats against Lissa have everyone on edge. However, the girls do receive some help in the form of old teacher (?) Victor (Gabriel Byrne) and his daughter (Sarah Hyland), Rose's trainer Dimitri (Danila Kozlovsky) and Lissa's mysterious friend Christian (Dominic Sherwood). Claire Foy and Sami Gayle also star as a crazy former teacher and the main rival of Lissa respectively.</div>
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<b>As If</b></div>
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<b> </b>Part of me really wanted to like <i>Vampire Academy </i>as I was watching it. I mean, I couldn't because the film's not very good, but I at least admired what it was trying to do differently. With the two main flavors of young adult adaptations coming in either boring romance (<i>Twilight</i>) or overly-serious dystopian future (<i>Hunger Games</i>), so it's nice to have one trying something new. And for <i>Vampire Academy, </i>that's a stylish, somewhat campy horror-comedy. It never exactly hits the mark, but at least being okay in this genre is more interesting than in either of the others. And it certainly makes the film better than it should be. The film is directed pretty well and it never goes over-the-top, making it an easy watch. Plus, the characters are minor hits as well. They aren't anything new, but they are done well and I did mildly care about them. </div>
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The acting is solid too, though not always. Deutch is honestly pretty bad, but she has a charm to her badness. Kozlovsky is just plain bad however and when it becomes clear he's a main character, that's not as much fun. A lot of what I liked about <i>Vampire Academy</i> is that it's one of the rare young adult adaptation where the characters actually seem like teenagers. Unlike in other teen films, the characters in this film are allowed to talk about naughty things like sex and... sex. And yes, I know that other teen movies do that, but it's refreshing to see teen girls get the chance to say all the crude stuff normally reserved for boys. </div>
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<b>A MTV Original</b></div>
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<b> </b>Overall, that's kinda what <i>Vampire Academy </i>is. It's refreshing and trying something new and different and I didn't like the film, even if it's was just the slightest bit. See, the film still as a major problem in that it's story is a complete and utter mess on almost all levels. It's the kind of film that starts without a visibly endpoint. The characters aren't starting at point A with a clearly defined point B to get to. Much of the first half of the film is just the characters lives at the academy, which is fine. Plenty of movies are like that. The problem is that when the story finally starts to come around, the film still doesn't have a clearly defined point B. The characters are threatened and Lissa is going mad with power... but the characters never actually solve those problems on their own. The solutions just kinda present themselves to them. There no closer to catching the bad guy at the end than at the beginning when they make themselves known. Even worse, the characters often don't even seem that interested in the mystery they're wrapped up in to the point I wonder if I've mistaken it as the actual plot and not something else.</div>
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The whole film is choppy and it feels like a lot was cut from the book that would have helped things become clearer. You know things are bad when the film leaves tons of unanswered questions and yet the film features scenes that are just wall-to-wall exposition. It's the stuff where we get info dumps about the lore and yet key phrases repeated over and over are left unexplained, like about the vampire have to declare in magic. Oh, yeah, the vampire's also have magic powers... they never use all that much, even when if life-threatening situations. Huh?</div>
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The film ends up feeling like a reverse <i>The Last Airbender. </i>It feels like a two hour movie made out of a 13 episode plus TV show, except that show never existed. In fact, this probably would have made a pretty decent show on MTV. A little more time to flesh out the story and characters and this could have actually been fun. As it stands now, the film is a mess of seemingly disconnected story ideas, with characters often changing the minds and development in less than a few seconds. Plus, some characters don't even have a clear purpose for being her. Hyland's character is just an annoying comic relief character in a movie meant to be funny, making her seemingly pointless. SPOILER: <span style="color: white;">At least until she's revealed to have been kept along for a cheap last minute twist. Ugh. </span>The story is what ultimately keeps the film down.</div>
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<b>The Verdict</b></div>
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<b> </b><i>Vampire Academy </i>is a movie that ultimately can't get itself out of the world of lame young adults adaptations. Which is too bad, since the film features a refreshing set of interesting female characters and an attempt to tell a story that could work as a horror-comedy. It's a nice genre change for a young adult story about vampire and it keeps the film at least watchable. However, the film's story is a complete mess, often feeling rushed and without focus, making the story hard to follow and the characters all over the place. Still, a lot better than expected. <b><i>Vampire Academy </i>gets 3 stars out of 6.</b></div>
Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14331834803117579989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1670848342470459828.post-9825861580943262012014-07-02T10:00:00.000-04:002014-07-02T10:00:05.199-04:00Review 277: "Chef"<div style="text-align: center;">
Starting from scratch never tasted</div>
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so good.</div>
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<b>The Next Top Chef</b></div>
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<b> </b><i>Chef</i> is a 2014 film that did the festival circuit before being released to theaters in May. Or, if you're like me, released to that one weird theater that occasionally plays smaller films a month after they come out. The film is written and directed by Jon Favreau (<i>Iron Man</i>). The story follows Carl Casper (Jon Favreau), a chef once renowned as the best, now settling for decent, crowd-pleasing food under the safe control of restaurant owner Riva (Dustin Hoffman). Unfortunately, when an argument with food critic Ramsey Michel (Oliver Platt) goes viral and ruins Casper's career, he's forced to do something he never wanted to do: open a food truck. With the help of his ex-wife Inez (Sofia Vergara), Casper takes his new food truck El Jefe on the road with his son Percy (EmJay Anthony) and chef friend Martin (John Leguizamo), regaining his passion for food and the love of his family along the way. The film also stars Scarlett Johansson as a restaurant hostess, Bobby Cannavale as another chef and Robert Downey Jr. as the financier of the truck.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IkgWwH4x2FE/U7NHHCngl7I/AAAAAAAAGiI/bIvdzk0qnxs/s1600/chef2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IkgWwH4x2FE/U7NHHCngl7I/AAAAAAAAGiI/bIvdzk0qnxs/s1600/chef2.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That kalamari tells the best jokes...</td></tr>
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<b>Masters</b></div>
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<b> </b>I've always liked Jon Favreau as a director a lot more than many other people do. Sure, people like him, but I don't think older critics really get just how big Favreau's film were for my generation. I mean, sure, a ton of people consider <i>Iron Man </i>is be great, even a bit of a classic, but I'm not sure they get how much a lot of kids my age love both <i>Elf </i>and <i>Zathura</i>. I love all three of those films, but I won't lie that these last few years haven't been great for Favreau. I liked <i>Iron Man 2 </i>a lot more than most people, but <i>Cowboys & Aliens</i> is pretty bad. And in many ways, <i>Chef </i>feels like Jon Favreau acknowledging that. After all, the film is about a skilled person once called great regaining his passion after a few years of making crowd-pleasing works. That's a bit on the nose. or I'm reading too much into it. Whatever made Favreau make <i>Chef </i>though is ultimately a good thing. Because it caused one of my personal favorite directors to make his best film yet, so that's good.</div>
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<b>The Main Course</b></div>
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<b> </b>After a year filled with my favorite films being either high concept comedies, high concept thrillers or Captain America, sometimes you just have to respect damn good filmmaking. And while <i>Chef </i>doesn't have many twists or turns, nor does it have the most original story, Favreau is just so good at putting it all together that it all works perfectly. The characters in the film are the ones I'd want to spend more time with than any other from any film this year. They are all acted greatly, but Favreau naturally stands out as the great Carl Casper. Leguizamo, escaping the land of <i>Ice Age </i>sequels, is better than he's been in recent memory as a great and funny supporting character. Even Anthony is pretty good, for being a kid in a family drama film. The film is sweet and charming, in part to a great sense of humor that keeps everything fun and light-hearted. This also keeps the film at a swift pace, so that it doesn't overstay it's welcome. Not that I wouldn't have minded it being a little longer.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jWc7UMP-WQU/U7NMl-6gXvI/AAAAAAAAGiY/t_s9YASA2Zc/s1600/chef-2014-06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jWc7UMP-WQU/U7NMl-6gXvI/AAAAAAAAGiY/t_s9YASA2Zc/s1600/chef-2014-06.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hey look, it's the poster! Without Leguizamo...<br />And a different Favreau. Hey, wait a minute!</td></tr>
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<b>The Verdict</b></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<b> </b>There's not much more to say. <i>Chef </i>is just good damn filmmaking. Jon Favreau pulls triple duty here and he's great in all facets of the film. Him, along with the rest of the stellar cast play out a familiar but great story. Plus, with a consistently funny and heartwarming script with a little bit of kick to it, the film is easily one of the best times I had in theaters all year. Which isn't surprising, seeing as how this is Favreau's best film and one of the best films of 2014. <b><i>Chef </i>gets 6 stars out of 6.</b></div>
Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14331834803117579989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1670848342470459828.post-38207605507230200302014-07-01T13:50:00.000-04:002014-07-01T13:50:34.808-04:00Review 276: "The Nut Job"<div style="text-align: center;">
No nuts, no glory<br />
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<b>Surly Squirrel</b><br />
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<b> </b><i>The Nut Job </i>is a 2014 animated film released in early January. The film is already set to have a sequel that will be released in January 2016. The film was directed by Peter Lepeniotis and was written by Lepeniotis, along with Lorne Cameron (<i>Over the Hedge) </i>and Robert Reece (<i>The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning</i>). The film follows Surly (Will Arnett), a squirrel banned from his park home by park leader Raccoon (Liam Neeson) after his self-serving antics ruins the animals' food supply. Forced to leave the park with his only friend Buddy, Surly discovers a nut store that could be the answer to all his problems. With the aid of several park residents, including Andie (Katherine Heigl), Grayson (Brendan Fraser), Mole (Jeff Dunham) and Jimmy (Gabriel Iglesias) and a dog (Maya Rudolph), Surly attempts to steal the nuts... not realizing that the store is a front for a group of bank robbers, lead by Stephen Lang.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9vNEJ53bXec/U7HZJrmSEWI/AAAAAAAAGhc/q1nzOiOwthA/s1600/movies_ss_1397762528.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9vNEJ53bXec/U7HZJrmSEWI/AAAAAAAAGhc/q1nzOiOwthA/s1600/movies_ss_1397762528.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'll get to this...</td></tr>
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<b>How Low Can Ya Go?</b></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<b> </b>It's almost a feat in it's own right with how much <i>The Nut Job </i>had going against it before I saw it. After all, it is an animated kids film from an unknown studio and director being released in January starring Gabriel Iglesias AND Jeff Dunham <i>AND </i>featuring several uses of Gangman Style. I mean, that's got to be some kind of record for least anyone's ever wanted to see a movie ever. And yet, we're getting a sequel. Maybe it's that day. It did come out on the same day as <i>Ride Along</i>, which is also getting a sequel. Which is set to come out on the same day as <i>The 2-Nut Job </i>or whatever the hell they call it. Because, it's not because the film was any good. Well, granted, <i>The Nut Job </i>isn't terrible. Just bad. It 100% is the type of animated kids film that gets released direct-to-DVD every few weeks or so, except this one made it to theaters somehow. It's the kind of movie where the best thing in it's favor is that it's just boring and cliched and not offensively bad. Yes, it's obnoxious to hear Gangnam Style randomly play during the movie and yes there are plenty of crappy jokes aimed at kids...<br />
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<b>Surface Level</b></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<b> </b>But the film isn't entirely without things to offer. The best quality of the film is the fact that the animation is pretty genuinely good. There is one point in the film where the characters are standing in front of a burning tree and the film for a second looks gorgeous. The film also makes good uses of shadows and light effects, creating some fairly stunning scenes at nighttime. And while the characters do range from either annoying to bland, the actors are all doing fine. No one's really phoning it in and while they don't have much to work with they do manage to bring some likability to the characters. The story is comfortable, even if it's extremely cliched. The story of a jerk who really does care but for some reason won't show it isn't anything new, but it's breezy enough that the film never becomes a slog to sit through. Hell, when things starts to get unbelievably nuts (Ahhh, <i>ahhhh</i>?) in the climax, the film actually starts to get a little fun. But, unfortunately, only a little, and it's way too late.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UtH08gHHcyQ/U7LuoMa3c_I/AAAAAAAAGhs/I6tKPNED_lY/s1600/the-nut-job-movie-picture-15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UtH08gHHcyQ/U7LuoMa3c_I/AAAAAAAAGhs/I6tKPNED_lY/s1600/the-nut-job-movie-picture-15.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No, it's not THAT bad.</td></tr>
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<b>The Verdict</b></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<b> </b><i>The Nut Job </i>might not have a single original nut in it's body (Too much?), but ultimately it's a harmless movie. Sure, the overuse of some dated jokes (*coughGungnamStylecough*) and some poor choices in actors (*coughIglesiasandDunhamcough*) are pretty damn annoying, but overall, the film might be cliched and dull, but some good acting, a decent story and some solid animation keep it from being a total trainwreck. A train full of nuts that is! Ah, I'm just the bees-knees... <b><i>The Nut Job </i>gets 2 and a half stars out of 6.</b></div>
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Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14331834803117579989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1670848342470459828.post-23900664989235086322014-06-29T14:52:00.002-04:002014-07-01T13:50:56.074-04:00Review 275: "3 Days to Kill"<div style="text-align: center;">
But no days until midlife crisis!</div>
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<b>3 Days to Plot</b></div>
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<i>3 Days to Kill </i>is a 2014 action thriller that was released on the same day as <i>Pompeii. </i>Geez, what a great double feature that would've been. The film is directed by McG (<i>Terminator Salvation</i>) and written by Adi Hasak (<i>From Paris With Love</i>) and Luc Besson (<i>Taken</i>). The film follows Ethan Renner (Kevin Costner), a CIA spy who discovers he has a terminal illness and decides to spend the last of his days with his estranged wife (Connie Nielsen) and daughter (Hailee Steinfeld). However, a mysterious CIA agent (Amber Heard) telling him that he can have a cure for his illness as long as he completes one last mission. Bet that works out well...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gLVMJ972BDU/U7BUGyypZ9I/AAAAAAAAGgs/DkliFp5Y4z4/s1600/M-087_DF5E6389-Hcc_cr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gLVMJ972BDU/U7BUGyypZ9I/AAAAAAAAGgs/DkliFp5Y4z4/s1600/M-087_DF5E6389-Hcc_cr.jpg" height="222" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Someone's going to get iced. Get it?</td></tr>
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<b>3 Days to Suck</b><br />
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<b> </b>It's hard to know what went wrong with <i>3 Days to Kill. </i>I mean, it all started out alright. Costner is pretty good in the lead role, hell, pretty much everyone in this film is pretty good. The first 20 minutes or so are actually pretty decent. Some competent, albeit nothing special and the direction is fine. For a second, I was getting into the story. And then... something happened. I can't say exactly what occurred behind the scenes, but something must have because the rest of <i>3 Days to Kill </i>feels like a completely different film than the first 20 minutes. And unfortunately, this film is f*cking terrible. <i>3 Days to Kill </i>almost comes off as a parody of the action movie genre. Essentially, this is <i>Taken, </i>but taken to the logical extreme. Yeah, bet you thought that was, you know, <i>Taken 2</i>'s job, but nope, it gets worse than that. Yikers. The film could have been pretty simple. The story of a former spy going on one last mission to get a miracle cure isn't really new, but it works. But instead, the film overcomplicates things with some incredibly ludicrous plot turns. That title isn't a joke either. Costner, after working his mission for several days, sudden;y is told he has only 3 more days left to complete it in the most blatantly obvious bit of stakes raising I've seen in a while.</div>
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<b>3 Days to Crisis</b></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<b> </b>Though maybe this all stems from the film's seemingly having a midlife crisis. It starts out normal, and suddenly the film becomes obsessed with being "kewl". I mean, all the stupid as F*ck plot twists are all directly from other, better action movies. McG suddenly adopts the hype edited action scenes of the <i>Bourne </i>films partway through. This can be worst seen in Amber Heard's character. She's introduced right at the beginning in a CIA meeting and she seems like a completely normal CIA agent on a mission. When she re-introduced about a half-hour later, suddenly she's the ultra-"sexy" seductive spy with a thing for Costner. Her major personality change is never explained. I mean, nothing about the CIA recruiting Costner with the cure for this mission makes any sense, especially the parts where they apparently gave Heard a closet full of lather clothes and a strip club to run (No, I'm not kidding). Even worse is that these scenes are intercut with awfully shmaltzy scenes with Costner and his daughter. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Despite not even remotely fitting in with the tone of the rest of the movie, the scenes get a huge amount of screentime. Hell, the story of the CIA mission comes to a screeching halt for nearly 30 FREAKING MINUTES as Costner learns his daughter lied to him, saves her from getting date raped and teaches her how to ride a bike. And yes, it's handled that awkwardly. Plus, as a nice little bonus, the film has a terrible sense of humor. Making the film's tone even more confused, the film's humor is best described as dad jokes left and right. At one point, Costner and Heard argue about whether a dead guy has a beard or a goatee. And the dialogue is almost entirely; "it's a goatee. No, it's a beard. No, it's a goatee. No, it's a beard. Have you ever seen a beard?" UGH.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GvvEEKNNS-U/U7Bfh1dVJ3I/AAAAAAAAGg8/_iDBsqu_kEc/s1600/230296_original.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GvvEEKNNS-U/U7Bfh1dVJ3I/AAAAAAAAGg8/_iDBsqu_kEc/s1600/230296_original.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Try hard.</td></tr>
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<b>3 Days to Verdict</b></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<b> </b><i>3 Days to Kill </i>is easily one of the dumbest action movie in recent memory that didn't come out direct-to-DVD. The film starts fine, but suddenly becomes cool-obsessed. The film soon developed an embarrassingly overdone plot that's filled with cliches that are inserted ham-fistedly into the narrative. Heard is made into this "sexy" character with no rhyme or reason as to why, other than it's "cool". The film's sense of humor is as lame as it gets. And the whole thing is capped by a truly awful family story that brings the film to a dead stop whenever it's onscreen. Which is half the running time. <b><i>3 Days to Kill </i>gets 1 and a half stars out of 6.</b></div>
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Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14331834803117579989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1670848342470459828.post-33379218047604420722014-06-25T15:29:00.000-04:002014-06-25T15:29:23.411-04:00Review 274: "How to Train Your Dragon 2"<div style="text-align: center;">
From the studio that made</div>
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<i>How to Train Your Dragon</i>!</div>
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<b>How Does One Train a Dragon?</b></div>
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<i>How to Train Your Dragon 2 </i>is the 2014 sequel to the 2010 original film. It is also the latest film for Dreamworks Animation. The film is based once again on a book series written by Cressida Cowell. The film is both written and directed by Dean DeBlois (<i>Lilo & Stitch</i>). The film follows Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), as he, along with his dragon Toothless, attempts to stop Drago Bloodfist (Djimon Hounsou) from stealing the dragons of Berk, despite his father's (Gerard Butler) objections. However, when things take a turn for the worst, Hiccup finds himself reunited with his long-lost mother (Cate Blanchett) and facing a war. With the aid of his friends and their dragons, including Astrid (America Ferrera), Gobber (Craig Ferguson), Snotlout (Jonah Hill), Fishlegs (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), Tuffnut (T.J. Miller) and Ruffnut (Kristen Wiig), along with a former soldier of Drago's (Kit Harington), Hiccup and Toothless get ready for another fight.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m8O_ugdn2Eo/U6XozX8G1NI/AAAAAAAAGf8/C3MytOZuSTI/s1600/how-to-train-your-dragon-2-dragons-600x338.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m8O_ugdn2Eo/U6XozX8G1NI/AAAAAAAAGf8/C3MytOZuSTI/s1600/how-to-train-your-dragon-2-dragons-600x338.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That certainly happens.</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Drawing a Blank</b></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<b> </b>I think <i>How to Train Your Dragon 2 </i>is a great movie. Perhaps one of the best films of 2014 so far. After seeing it last week, I immediately wanted to get all the episodes of the series animated show and watch them all, just so I could be in this world a bit longer. But, I didn't and now, for various reasons, here I am a week later, with a problem. <i>HTTYD 2 </i>is a film I planned on giving a perfect score and I can't remember a damn think about it. The first film was very much the same way. I loved it and just as quickly forgot about it. The film is great. The characters in the film are easily the best Dreamworks Animation have created. They all work well together and seem like actual thinking, living people, not defined by one sole characteristic or unchanging from sequel to sequel. Their world is interesting and beautifully animated by some really talented people. The film itself contains a moment so shocking for a kids film I almost thought it was a mistake.</div>
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And yet, I don't feel anything toward this movie. With every other film I give perfect scores to, I might not remember everything exactly, but I remember how the film made me feel, how much I wanted to stay watching that film. And yet here, as much as I liked the film, it now barely registers as one I saw. At the end of the year I'll have to remind myself I even saw this film, let alone that I loved it. And I don't know why that is. Sure, the film is a bit slow to get going. It's not that it goes for more quiet and dark scenes than most Dreamworks film, no that part of the reason I like it. Most likely, it's that the story just isn't that great. The twist is great, the characters and setting and animation is great. But the story isn't that interesting, is a bit all over the place with a few to many unrelated threads and is a bit slow-moving. Yeah, let's go with that.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3BfwsNZSxKU/U6siUnu-6tI/AAAAAAAAGgM/CBZaneGFk-k/s1600/how-to-train-your-dragon-trailer-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3BfwsNZSxKU/U6siUnu-6tI/AAAAAAAAGgM/CBZaneGFk-k/s1600/how-to-train-your-dragon-trailer-2.jpg" height="163" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just not feeling it.</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>The Verdict</b></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<b> </b><i>How to Train Your Dragon 2 </i>is a movie I really wish I liked more than I did. The characters are great and interesting it a wonderful, beautifully animated world extremely well and yet I can't seem to remember all that much about the film or why it made me like it so much to begin with. If only the story were a bit better and maybe this would be a different story. <b><i>How to Train Your Dragon 2 </i>gets 5 stars out of 6.</b></div>
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Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14331834803117579989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1670848342470459828.post-65018654286885807062014-06-17T10:41:00.000-04:002014-06-17T10:58:57.500-04:00Review 273: "22 Jump Street"<div style="text-align: center;">
These undercover cops are going to party</div>
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like it's their job</div>
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<b>21 is Over</b></div>
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<b> </b><i>22 Jump Street </i>is the 2014 sequel to the 2012 comedy remake of the original American TV series. The film proved to be a surprise hit with both critics and audiences and now the cast is back for more. Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (<i>The Lego Movie</i>) and written by Michael Bacall (<i>Scott Pilgrim vs. The World</i>), Oren Uziel (<i>Mortal Kombat: Rebirth</i>) and Rodney Rothman (<i>Grudge Match</i>). The film once again follows Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum), member of a police organization known as Jump Street that specialize in sending officers undercover as students. This time, Captain Dickson (Ice Cube) sends them to college to investigate a dangerous drug. While their, Schmidt and Jenko find their partnership tested as Schmidt falls for student Maya (Amber Stevens), while Jenko becomes friends with football player Zook (Wyatt Russell).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What they would say is probably funnier than what<br />
I would, so I'll just not.</td></tr>
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<b>Jump (Street) the Shark</b></div>
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<b> </b><i>22 Jump Street </i>is a movie that very nearly crushes itself, but manages to keep a good balance. The film is so self-aware and name checks, then subverts so many buddy cops comedy (and sequel) cliches that often times the film found itself on the verge of getting annoying. However, much like last time around, directors Lord and Miller manage to balance out the film, with a good story, interesting characters and great humor. Whether or not the film is better than the first one is up for debate. I found it to be about equal, though I can see myself leaning in favor of the original just slightly. Despite the jokes to the contrary, the film really isn't just a rehash of the first, exploring the characters with some nice role reversals thrown in. This is really Hill's movie this time around, no doubt about it and he does a great job too. And while Tatum doesn't have as much to do, he's still fantastic in the role. The film also keeps things fresh with a some really great new settings, including a cool new headquarters built (literally) around a giant pun. A few honestly good twists too and a sequel that was largely unnecessary manages to easily justify it's existence.<br />
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<b>Coming Soon</b></div>
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<b> </b>And that's all I can really say. <i>22 Jump Street </i>is once again a really damn good, but not perfect, comedy. Telling you exactly why would ruin the fun though, as with all good comedies. Stick around through the credits for what might be the best part of the film, including some hints at <i>23 Jump Street. </i>Hey, speaking of that, look, this film was a surprise of a big hit. A just under-60 million dollar weekend is awesome and it even managed to destroy <i>How to Train Your Dragon 2, </i>an animated kids movie. Those always win the weekend. But guys, look, I'd be up for a third one. The third one you hinted at could be funny, if that's what you go with. But please, change it up a little. This self-aware making fun of sequel by pointing out the tropes and subverting them thing was funny, but it won't last for a third movie. Plus, if Lord and Miller don't come back, interest will probably go down a lot, even it doesn't mean the film will be bad. Okay? Heh. Also, can you imagine what it must be like for Dreamworks Animation now. The biggest film of the year beaten by an R-rated sequel? Plus, <i>How to Train Your Dragon 3</i> is one schedule for June 17, 2016, two years from now. And what big comedy film that was just released take two years to make since the one before it and was released in June to big success? Oh yeah, the one that just beat them. I'm not saying it would happen. But<i> 23 Jump Street </i>making fun of the movie the second one beat on the same day the third one of those movie comes out? That'd be funny. Probably.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The safest car ever!</td></tr>
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<b>The Verdict</b></div>
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<b> </b><i>22 Jump Street </i>is the rare great comedy sequel. While not perfect and a bit much at times, the film is a worthy follow-up to the original. The story is strong, the cast once again is great, the setting fresh, the twists genuinely surprising. Plus, the whole thing's funny as hell. Really, what more could you want? <b><i>22 Jump Street </i>gets 5 and a half stars out of 6.</b></div>
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Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14331834803117579989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1670848342470459828.post-79256394218426746362014-06-13T17:29:00.000-04:002014-06-13T17:29:09.686-04:00Review 272: "Edge of Tomorrow"<div style="text-align: center;">
Live. Die. Repeat.</div>
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Live. Die. Repeat.</div>
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Live. Die. Repeat.</div>
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<b>All You Need Is Film</b></div>
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<b> </b><i>Edge of Tomorrow </i>is a 2014 sci-fi action film that is based on the Japanese novel <i>All You Need Is Kill </i>by Hiro Sakurazaka. The film is directed by Doug Liman (<i>The Bourne Identity</i>) and is written by Christopher McQuarrie (<i>Jack Reacher</i>) and by Jez Butterworth & John-Henry Butterworth (<i>Get On Up</i>). The film follows Cage (Tom Cruise), a combat-inexperienced military officer forced by General Brigham (Brendan Gleeson) to fight in a major battle between humans and an invading alien species known as Mimics. While fighting, he accidentally taps into the aliens' ability to travel back in time when they die. Using this ability, Cage teams up with war hero Rite (Emily Blunt), who went through the same thing he did, in order master fighting the aliens and stopping them once and for all, all by dying over and over again.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Future world cups look both bleak and awesome.</td></tr>
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<b>Killing Cruise</b></div>
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<b> </b>This film might be one of the few times having an asshole for a main character proved to be a smart move. <i>Edge of Tomorrow </i>is a great movie and a lot of that can be placed on Tom Cruise's shoulders. Cruise is just as confident, cocky and cool s he always his, but here, it feels unearned at first as a jerk of a character who specifically states that he reports on the war so he doesn't have to fight. He's actually the kind of person you don't mind seeing die, over and over again. But then, without really changing his performance, the film builds a pretty damn good arc as Cruise slowly gets better and better as he essentially respawns and starts the level over. In many ways, this is the closest we'll ever get to a <i>Super Meat Boy </i>movie. And it works well. Cage is a strong character and Cruise plays him as well as he always does. Also doing great work here is Blunt. I mean, Emily Blunt is great in everything she's in, but here is literally kick-ass, and yet never comes off as the emotionless, personality-less action heroine many movies mistake for strong female characters. She's easily the best part of the movie to the point where I'd be up for a prequel about here character. Maybe? No? Just sayin'...</div>
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<b>The End is Die</b></div>
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<b> </b>The film backs up it's strong performances and characters is some solid action. You really do get a cool sense of Cage getting better and better in the battle and the fight scenes are nicely visible and coherent. The effects work great, especially on the robotic suits the characters wear, though nothing too great is done with them. The Mimics are pretty lame though. Their design is pretty much a mess and they never mimic anything outside of some dirt, so a little more with them woulda been nice. In a prequel maybe? Just sayin'. Overall, the film hits the ground running and never really lets up. Something's always happening and the film fills scenes with enough cool visuals, strong humor and fun that there really is never a boring moment onscreen. However, the film isn't perfect. Mostly because the film's ending kinda sucks. I won't give it away, but the film wraps up in a way that clashes with the tone of the rest of the film and undercuts the actions of the characters in the rest of the film. Had the film should've ended about 5 minutes earlier and we would have had a perfect score here. But, unfortunately, the ending goes on and I was left with a bad taste in my mouth afterwards.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cJtjs26mwag/U5tsTUGehRI/AAAAAAAAGes/mRnMN61YJTQ/s1600/EOT-6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cJtjs26mwag/U5tsTUGehRI/AAAAAAAAGes/mRnMN61YJTQ/s1600/EOT-6.jpg" height="176" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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<b>The Verdict</b></div>
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<b> </b><i>Edge of Tomorrow </i>might not be perfect, but is it pretty damn great. The characters are great, backed by strong performances by Cruise and especially Blunt. The action is well-done with some great effects and some funny moments to keep the film from getting too dark. However, the film is slightly let down by some weak villains and an ending that doesn't fit with the rest of the film. Overall though, this is the best film for Cruise in years. <b><i>Edge of Tomorrow </i>gets 5 and a half stars out of 6.</b></div>
Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14331834803117579989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1670848342470459828.post-42992414852319424312014-06-12T14:20:00.000-04:002014-06-12T14:20:34.614-04:00The Undefined Gamer: Bionicle in 2015... AGAIN!<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">I'm making this post as a response to the growing popularity addressing</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">the rumors of a 2015 Bionicle reboot.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> Since then, I have left the Biotube community to focus on bigger,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">better projects. This Summer, I've tasked myself with finishing up my</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">play, shooting a short film, and writing a novella. While I still feel</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">the Bionicle universe has lots of potential, its execution was largely</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">horrid.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> We all know the brand will come back one day. It's inevitable. All</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Lego has to do is look to Bionicle's 2002 sales to realize how much</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">potential money is out there. Sure, markets have changed and so have</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">toys, but it is very possible for Lego to find the modern day</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">equivalent of the Bohrok.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> At this point, do I really care?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> From a toy standpoint, no. I have no use for the figures anymore. I</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">haven't sought the need to play with toys for years (not that you can</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">play with Legos, they're sort of fragile) nor am I collector, and I've</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">already established that I've lost the drive to use them for</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">stopmotions this year, as other projects have caught my eye.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> Still, I'd like to see them in the hands of the next generation.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> With Lego's newfound ability to make movies that don't suck, it may be</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">possible for them to reboot the film franchise adequately, but it will</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">always suffer from conflicting themes. What made Bionicle stand out</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">(and almost got it rejected) was their warlike appearance. This</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">clearly catered to an older audience, though it attracted kids too.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">However, it was still a toyline, and Lego thought it knew that the</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">younger audience would outrank the old.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> They were wrong.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> Needless to say, Lego did everything they could to cater to this young</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">audience, while trying to not make Bionicle lose its identity. This</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">carries over far too well in the films, as the filmmakers repeatedly</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">tried to make what essentially where action/adventure movies for kids.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">It just didn't work, and served as unforgivable contrast to the</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">novellas, which were permitted to essentially do whatever the fuck</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">they wanted.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> I recommend reading them.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> Bionicle's problems occurred by their misguided need to cater to two</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">different audiences. Their efforts to cater to young kids alienated my</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">generation who grew up with it, while the complex storyline and at</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">times adult themes alienated the younger audience. Keep in mind,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">nobody was doing particularly well with selling toys to this younger</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">audience as we saw everything from an increased demand in the video</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">game industry to the rise of mobile phones and tablets to a global</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">recession in the 00's.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> If Bionicle will do well, it needs to pick one audience, and using</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Hero Factory as reference, it ain't gonna be the older audience.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> I still think in terms of an open-world style game, they should allow</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">a hardcore game studio to develop it, but only because of the gigantic</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">loads of potential there. Will it happen? Probably not. Their</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">executives will think that the only way to make a hardcore Bionicle</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">game successful is to connect with the old audience from their original</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">run. This is false. A hardcore game gains or loses popularity based on</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">the quality of its experience. There is so much one can do in terms of</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">a game in this universe, and if done properly, it can have as much</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">impact as Skyrim and Minecraft.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> Why? It has a gigantic universe, a long, rewarding immerse</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">storyline, a potential for a built-in mod mechanic far easier and</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">effect to use than Skyrim's, and a million and a long list of</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">potentially addicting sidequests.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> But Lego will probably give the license to some horrible</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">family-oriented company and release it for Wii U.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> As far as a reboot, I'm only interested in a game. Leave the comics</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">and books alone; they're perfect- err- they at least properly</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">represent everything Bionicle has to offer. I wouldn't change a thing.</span></div>
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Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14331834803117579989noreply@blogger.com0