Ahhhhh, Chris Pine!!! I am in love with him and everything he does! So, needless to say, I loved this movie. The first one was excellent, and this one was equally excellent. I grew up with trekkie parents, so I have seen a lot of every version of Star Trek. I mean I watched the show, I watched the movies, I watched New Generation, Deep Space Nine, Babylon 5, all of them. I did not watch them as much as my parents, not did I watch them in order like they did. But still, this was part of my life growing up, and I am glad that I get to add new things to it. The new timeline is great because it allows J.J. Abrams and his cast to pay appropriate tribute to the old Star Trek and start a new version that is all their own without making too many people upset.
This second installment continues along the broken timeline from the first movie so that J.J. Abram's Khan story can play out the way he likes. Kirk, though seemingly found in Star Trek, appears to still be struggling with some issues that are brought to the forefront with Colonel Pike's death and a new threat that changes and develops in the course of the movie. Benedict Cumberbatch was excellent as Khan and played a perfect unknown element that kept the suspense in the movie high throughout the whole 2.5 hours!
Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, and the rest of the Star Trek crew were also as equally excellent as they were in the first movie as well. I love them all individually, and I love what they bring to these movies. Add them, to Chris Pine, to J.J. Abrams, and you have a truly fantastic combination that could continue for years (much like the originals). It is nice to have this for my generation to call its own and to share with our trekkie predecessors.
In the end, I give this a 10 out of 10. It may not be perfection, but man is it good.
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Iron Man 3
Robert Downing, Jr. That is all I have to say. He is simply wonderful and is the reason these movies have had such great success. And, in round 3 of Iron Man, he steals the show again. We get even more development, and a time-line connection to The Avengers that helps put all of these connected moves into order.
This is definitely better than the second one, but still not quite as good as the first. The first Transformers and the first Iron Man were just so unexpectedly good, that I doubt any sequel will be able to beat them. They were also some of the first truly spectacular superhero movies in a long time, so they are just hard to beat in general. That being said, this latest installment does the great superhero era justice. There is the bad guy that is tricky to figure out and easy to both love and hate (Guy Pearce played that role excellently). There is the continued love interest that keeps growing with its ebb and flows. And there is the continued development of Tony Stark (a more complicated character than I could have ever wanted!).
The end contains a few surprising twists that will make the next Avengers movie interesting, but could also allow for a satisfying end to the Iron Man movies, if that is what the producers end up deciding to do.Of course Gwyneth Paltrow was great again as Pepper, and, like I said earlier, Guy Pearce was excellent as well.
In the end, I give this a 9 out of 10. Can't get much better from a cheesy action flick.
This is definitely better than the second one, but still not quite as good as the first. The first Transformers and the first Iron Man were just so unexpectedly good, that I doubt any sequel will be able to beat them. They were also some of the first truly spectacular superhero movies in a long time, so they are just hard to beat in general. That being said, this latest installment does the great superhero era justice. There is the bad guy that is tricky to figure out and easy to both love and hate (Guy Pearce played that role excellently). There is the continued love interest that keeps growing with its ebb and flows. And there is the continued development of Tony Stark (a more complicated character than I could have ever wanted!).
The end contains a few surprising twists that will make the next Avengers movie interesting, but could also allow for a satisfying end to the Iron Man movies, if that is what the producers end up deciding to do.Of course Gwyneth Paltrow was great again as Pepper, and, like I said earlier, Guy Pearce was excellent as well.
In the end, I give this a 9 out of 10. Can't get much better from a cheesy action flick.
Mud
Matthew McConaughey can actually act! I mean, I know he is an actor, and I generally like his movies, but generally that is regardless of his acting abilities. He usually plays the same kind of person, a jock with a sometimes deeper personality that is either sweet, super intelligent, or otherwise lovable that makes you fall for him every time. This was him in A Time to Kill, Two for the Money, and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (which are some of my favorite Matthew McConaughey movies). In this, he is a deeply troubled hick who ends up having layers upon layers of complications that just keep getting added as the story develops.
The kids also try to steal his show by having their own coming of age story, and the two mix together quite well. The boys find Mud on an island in the middle of a river in Mississippi. He convinces them to help him try to escape and reunite with he true love by painting this wonderful story that ends up not being at all reflective of reality. At the same time, the boys are dealing with their own issues of urbanization, growing up, love, and learning how to be just old enough to start truly seeing adult interactions, but still to young to fully comprehend the true complexities of those situations. It really is a great network of stories all rolled together in this new age coming of age adventure.
Reese Witherspoon shows up as Mud's love interest, and definitely dominates the screen during her rather sparse appearances. Michael Shannon plays a small roll, Sam Shepard is wonderful as the father who simply does not know how to be a man when his world is changing and disappearing under his feet, and Sarah Paulson does well as the strong and urbanizing mother/wife.
In the end, I give this a 9 out of 10. It really is a good one.
The kids also try to steal his show by having their own coming of age story, and the two mix together quite well. The boys find Mud on an island in the middle of a river in Mississippi. He convinces them to help him try to escape and reunite with he true love by painting this wonderful story that ends up not being at all reflective of reality. At the same time, the boys are dealing with their own issues of urbanization, growing up, love, and learning how to be just old enough to start truly seeing adult interactions, but still to young to fully comprehend the true complexities of those situations. It really is a great network of stories all rolled together in this new age coming of age adventure.
Reese Witherspoon shows up as Mud's love interest, and definitely dominates the screen during her rather sparse appearances. Michael Shannon plays a small roll, Sam Shepard is wonderful as the father who simply does not know how to be a man when his world is changing and disappearing under his feet, and Sarah Paulson does well as the strong and urbanizing mother/wife.
In the end, I give this a 9 out of 10. It really is a good one.
Oblivion
O Tom Cruise, why am I drawn to all of your movies? I blame my mom. She is absolutely in love with Tom Cruise, and I am starting to question why. I'm not saying he is bad, but I also cannot say he is good. He kind of does the same thing in every movie. I like it, I do, but I am starting to lose interest. This is just another installment in the sci-fi obsession with the end of the end of the world via alien invasion, and it can hold its own in the genre even though it is pretty predictable.
There are only two people on earth, monitoring the last pieces left to make sure nothing interferes with the draining of the ocean so that we can move on to bigger and better things. You learn kind of quickly that something is a little off, but you don't really figure out how off until closer to the end of the movie. Again, I don't want to spoil things, since figuring out what is going on is half the fun.
Morgan Freeman is good, as always, and Jamie from Game of Thrones even makes an appearance, which always makes things good since he is fun and nice to look at. (I promise, I do not just pay attention to hot men in movies). Besides that, there is not really a whole lot to say.
In the end, I give this a 6 out of 10. It's worth a Redbox rental.
There are only two people on earth, monitoring the last pieces left to make sure nothing interferes with the draining of the ocean so that we can move on to bigger and better things. You learn kind of quickly that something is a little off, but you don't really figure out how off until closer to the end of the movie. Again, I don't want to spoil things, since figuring out what is going on is half the fun.
Morgan Freeman is good, as always, and Jamie from Game of Thrones even makes an appearance, which always makes things good since he is fun and nice to look at. (I promise, I do not just pay attention to hot men in movies). Besides that, there is not really a whole lot to say.
In the end, I give this a 6 out of 10. It's worth a Redbox rental.
The Man of Steel
Holy cow, Henry Cavill is HOT! They definitely kept that part of the traditional Superman stories, though maybe not much else. The way he speaks in this movie even gets me, and that is rare for me. Voices aren't usually my thing, but man, Henry Cavill makes even his voice ooze every bit of his sexiness. O, right, and the actual movie was good too. :)
This story is much darker than the typical Superman story. He fights with his dad about his abilities, he cannot stay anywhere for long because people are afraid of his abilities, the running theme is that the world is simply not ready to accept someone like Superman. He is held as a prisoner by the military, Lois Lane cannot publish a story about him, and has to keep his secret for his safety. This is not the story we are used to. Everyone loves Superman, he's handsome, he's brave, and he saves the world on a regular basis. There is no fear, there is no distrust, there is no suppression for safety. He hides his true identity to protect himself from his enemies and from fame, not from fear or distrust. This is more real. As sad as it is to say, but I think I like this version better. It's more believable. Though I am not sure why his mother and father could not join him in escaping the dying Crypton.
I really like Christopher Nolan, though I am a little worried that he just found a formula that works and is going to repeat it over and over again. The Batman series starts with a dark version of the story that develops the hero and sets the stage for future movies. He then broke his hero down in the second movie, just to be able to bring him back up again in the final movie. It produces a nice trilogy, and a great set of superhero movies. It seems as if he is doing the same thing to Superman. The similarities between Batman Begins and the Man of Steel are pretty striking. Now, I know the Batman trilogy closely followed the story-line in one of the Batman comics, but I would like to see something a little different than a successful formula from this great director.
Even so, I really liked this movie and am excited for the next ones. I loved Amy Adams, Diane Lane, Kevin Costner, Michael Shannon (excellent bad guy!), Lawrence Fishburne, and Christopher Maloney. I really love seeing Stabler in so many more things now! Really all of the acting was great, those are just the names I know to reference. The only complaint I really had about this was that it was no where close to the uplifting superhero movie I was looking for during the summer. It really is a downer.
In the end, I give this an 8.5 out of 10. It was great, I just don't know how many times I can watch it. :)
This story is much darker than the typical Superman story. He fights with his dad about his abilities, he cannot stay anywhere for long because people are afraid of his abilities, the running theme is that the world is simply not ready to accept someone like Superman. He is held as a prisoner by the military, Lois Lane cannot publish a story about him, and has to keep his secret for his safety. This is not the story we are used to. Everyone loves Superman, he's handsome, he's brave, and he saves the world on a regular basis. There is no fear, there is no distrust, there is no suppression for safety. He hides his true identity to protect himself from his enemies and from fame, not from fear or distrust. This is more real. As sad as it is to say, but I think I like this version better. It's more believable. Though I am not sure why his mother and father could not join him in escaping the dying Crypton.
I really like Christopher Nolan, though I am a little worried that he just found a formula that works and is going to repeat it over and over again. The Batman series starts with a dark version of the story that develops the hero and sets the stage for future movies. He then broke his hero down in the second movie, just to be able to bring him back up again in the final movie. It produces a nice trilogy, and a great set of superhero movies. It seems as if he is doing the same thing to Superman. The similarities between Batman Begins and the Man of Steel are pretty striking. Now, I know the Batman trilogy closely followed the story-line in one of the Batman comics, but I would like to see something a little different than a successful formula from this great director.
Even so, I really liked this movie and am excited for the next ones. I loved Amy Adams, Diane Lane, Kevin Costner, Michael Shannon (excellent bad guy!), Lawrence Fishburne, and Christopher Maloney. I really love seeing Stabler in so many more things now! Really all of the acting was great, those are just the names I know to reference. The only complaint I really had about this was that it was no where close to the uplifting superhero movie I was looking for during the summer. It really is a downer.
In the end, I give this an 8.5 out of 10. It was great, I just don't know how many times I can watch it. :)
The Host
I loved this book, I loved this movie. It got horrible reviews, and I don't really know why. I also have not seen Revenge of the Body Snatchers, so that might be where part of the issue is. The story is definitely better, more developed, in the book (as it should be), but it is still a good/moving story. I cried (every time I saw it), and I don't cry (let alone more than once for the same movie)! So there!
This is a story set at some point in the future where a group of aliens, that kind of look like amoebas, have invaded earth by living through human hosts. They are peaceful, they are super intelligent, and they believe they are serving the greater good through their symbiotic occupation. However, as in every alien story, we do not do well with invasions, with being told what to do, and especially with anyone or anything that tries to tell us what should be done for our own good. As a result, there are groups of "rebels" that hide from and sometimes fight the aliens to survive and not become hosts. This story follows one girl who was a part of that group before she was captured after failing to kill herself. She has such an impact on her alien invader that she gets the alien (who has lived for hundreds of years through multiple different lifetimes of other aliens) that has never developed any sort of attachment to forsake her own life for that of the host and her loved ones.
This story was one that made me take back most of the other bad things I thought and believed about Stephanie Meyer. And this movie did the book well. The story was truncated, the timing was cut WAY short, but I still fell in love with all of the characters and felt with and for them in all of their ups and downs along with the way. It might have helped that Max Irons and Jake Abel are super cute, and that William Hurt never fails to impress. I was also impressed with Saoirse Roman's ability to portray the two very different personalities of the alien and her host.
In the end, I give this a 9 out of 10, I really did love it.
This is a story set at some point in the future where a group of aliens, that kind of look like amoebas, have invaded earth by living through human hosts. They are peaceful, they are super intelligent, and they believe they are serving the greater good through their symbiotic occupation. However, as in every alien story, we do not do well with invasions, with being told what to do, and especially with anyone or anything that tries to tell us what should be done for our own good. As a result, there are groups of "rebels" that hide from and sometimes fight the aliens to survive and not become hosts. This story follows one girl who was a part of that group before she was captured after failing to kill herself. She has such an impact on her alien invader that she gets the alien (who has lived for hundreds of years through multiple different lifetimes of other aliens) that has never developed any sort of attachment to forsake her own life for that of the host and her loved ones.
This story was one that made me take back most of the other bad things I thought and believed about Stephanie Meyer. And this movie did the book well. The story was truncated, the timing was cut WAY short, but I still fell in love with all of the characters and felt with and for them in all of their ups and downs along with the way. It might have helped that Max Irons and Jake Abel are super cute, and that William Hurt never fails to impress. I was also impressed with Saoirse Roman's ability to portray the two very different personalities of the alien and her host.
In the end, I give this a 9 out of 10, I really did love it.
Cloud Atlas
Fascinating movie, though I definitely feel like it could have been better. Now I really want to read the book. In some parts it was kind of hard to follow, and in others I was more than just a little lost. I'm hoping this was just because it was based on a book that was just a little too complicated to adequately translate into a movie.
The idea of the movie seems to be that throughout time there are certain lives that repeat in order to play a different role in the fate of the world at different points in time. These lives run in both identical and different ways each time, and it seems as if there are also people who can manipulate time to try to alter events in the past and future. It truly seems to be a complicated web of events that do not make complete sense until closer to the end of the movie. And even then, I'm obviously still unsure as to how it all exactly worked. I think this is one that they probably should have just ignore pieces of the book to make it a better movie, or should have tried for a mini-series instead of a movie. Like I said, it was fascinating, though it really could have been much better.
Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Jim Sturgess, Hugo Weaving (who will forever be known to me as that evil guy in The Matrix), Susan Sarandon, and Hugh Grant are just a few of the impressive cast selected for the roles in this movie. Some of them have recurring lives in every timeline addressed while others are more sparingly involved. They each did a great job of portraying the similarities and differences choices can make on future timelines. For example, because Tom Cruise chooses the low road in a couple of his lives, he plays more lowly people in some of his future lives.
In the end, I give this a 6.5 out of 10. It kept my attention, but left me wanting something so much better.
The idea of the movie seems to be that throughout time there are certain lives that repeat in order to play a different role in the fate of the world at different points in time. These lives run in both identical and different ways each time, and it seems as if there are also people who can manipulate time to try to alter events in the past and future. It truly seems to be a complicated web of events that do not make complete sense until closer to the end of the movie. And even then, I'm obviously still unsure as to how it all exactly worked. I think this is one that they probably should have just ignore pieces of the book to make it a better movie, or should have tried for a mini-series instead of a movie. Like I said, it was fascinating, though it really could have been much better.
Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Jim Sturgess, Hugo Weaving (who will forever be known to me as that evil guy in The Matrix), Susan Sarandon, and Hugh Grant are just a few of the impressive cast selected for the roles in this movie. Some of them have recurring lives in every timeline addressed while others are more sparingly involved. They each did a great job of portraying the similarities and differences choices can make on future timelines. For example, because Tom Cruise chooses the low road in a couple of his lives, he plays more lowly people in some of his future lives.
In the end, I give this a 6.5 out of 10. It kept my attention, but left me wanting something so much better.
Now You See Me
Pretty interesting movie. It's fun, suspenseful, not overly predictable, and keeps your attention by holding back the motives until the very end. You really have to pay attention the whole way through to be able to piece everything together in the end, which is really great for my add brain!
I don't really want to say too much about this one because I don't want to accidentally give anything away. This is one of those movies that trying to figure it out before they tell you is more than half of the fun. The story starts by bringing four top-notch magicians together because they each have their own specialties that combine to make a great show. It then skips a year to their first big show, which ends up being a bank heist, and follows the rest through an FBI investigation that tries to figure out how they are operating and tries to stop any more robberies. Each event is tied together and each one has a specific purpose all of its own. The motives behind each show are what really keep things interesting.
Morgan Freeman, Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, David Franco (James Franco's cute little brother), Mark Ruffalo, Michael Cain, Michael Kelly, and Common are the biggest names in the cast, and they are all pretty excellent. They do a great job of making you cheer, tense with anticipation, and maybe even weep at every appropriate moment.
In the end, I give this an 8 out of 10. It was fun the first go round, and I reserve the right to bump the rating if it is just as much fun the second go round.
I don't really want to say too much about this one because I don't want to accidentally give anything away. This is one of those movies that trying to figure it out before they tell you is more than half of the fun. The story starts by bringing four top-notch magicians together because they each have their own specialties that combine to make a great show. It then skips a year to their first big show, which ends up being a bank heist, and follows the rest through an FBI investigation that tries to figure out how they are operating and tries to stop any more robberies. Each event is tied together and each one has a specific purpose all of its own. The motives behind each show are what really keep things interesting.
Morgan Freeman, Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, David Franco (James Franco's cute little brother), Mark Ruffalo, Michael Cain, Michael Kelly, and Common are the biggest names in the cast, and they are all pretty excellent. They do a great job of making you cheer, tense with anticipation, and maybe even weep at every appropriate moment.
In the end, I give this an 8 out of 10. It was fun the first go round, and I reserve the right to bump the rating if it is just as much fun the second go round.
Warm Bodies
So, I kind of liked this movie....! I was really disgusted the first time I saw the preview, and then slowly grew interested the more I saw. I, like most intelligent people these days, am kind of tired of all of the zombie movies. I mean really, how many times are we going to see the same story about rotting, dead bodies that are reanimated by disease, fungi/bacteria/etc., or just because? There is a still-running TV show around the whole premise, there seems to be at least one zombie movie released every year, and there are even news stories about people acting zombie-like! I mean really, enough. But, that being said, I like The Walking Dead, I loved Sean of the Dead, and I like this movie. So, maybe I am not as fed up with the zombie craze as I want to be; I keep watching them, so they will keep producing them.
Now, to my credit (:-)), this is not your typical zombie-flick. I mean really, they come back to life!! It is a fun romantic comedy about how powerful love can truly be. It is narrated, in part, by a twenty-something looking zombie who experiences something revolutionary when he sees the girlfriend of a guy he just murdered and started eating. In this rendition, the zombies eat brains for sustenance and to get the memories of the people they are munching on. It's an explanation that I haven't heard yet, and one that makes the grossness of zombies more tolerable (which it should because you have to like these zombies to like the movie). He falls more in love with this girl the more memories he gets from the brains, and becomes more human the more time he spends with her. His love brings him fully back to humanity, and has similar affect on most of the other zombies to end up saving the world! It really is the most uplifting zombie movie. The world is saved by love; not the military, not a war, not destroying every dead thing and starting over, but love. It's kind of refreshing, even if it is insanely cliche.
The acting is good, and John Malkovich is John Malkovich (crazy, funny, all-around awesome). The Kristen Stewart look-a-like, Teresa Palmer, really is at such a disadvantage in everything she does. She is pretty good, but I have to fight to get beyond the Kristen Stewart looks to watch her. But, in this she did it. I completely forgot about K-Stew and could really enjoy Teresa Palmer seeing through the scariness and falling for a half-dead zombie!
In the end, I give this an 8 out of 10. My enjoyment might have been increased by my low expectations going it, but it really was fun and enjoyable to watch.
Now, to my credit (:-)), this is not your typical zombie-flick. I mean really, they come back to life!! It is a fun romantic comedy about how powerful love can truly be. It is narrated, in part, by a twenty-something looking zombie who experiences something revolutionary when he sees the girlfriend of a guy he just murdered and started eating. In this rendition, the zombies eat brains for sustenance and to get the memories of the people they are munching on. It's an explanation that I haven't heard yet, and one that makes the grossness of zombies more tolerable (which it should because you have to like these zombies to like the movie). He falls more in love with this girl the more memories he gets from the brains, and becomes more human the more time he spends with her. His love brings him fully back to humanity, and has similar affect on most of the other zombies to end up saving the world! It really is the most uplifting zombie movie. The world is saved by love; not the military, not a war, not destroying every dead thing and starting over, but love. It's kind of refreshing, even if it is insanely cliche.
The acting is good, and John Malkovich is John Malkovich (crazy, funny, all-around awesome). The Kristen Stewart look-a-like, Teresa Palmer, really is at such a disadvantage in everything she does. She is pretty good, but I have to fight to get beyond the Kristen Stewart looks to watch her. But, in this she did it. I completely forgot about K-Stew and could really enjoy Teresa Palmer seeing through the scariness and falling for a half-dead zombie!
In the end, I give this an 8 out of 10. My enjoyment might have been increased by my low expectations going it, but it really was fun and enjoyable to watch.
Oz: The Great and Powerful
This movie was a prequel to the Wizard of Oz. We get to learn how the wizard got to Oz, why they accepted him, and a little bit more about Oz. It is a fun story, there just isn't a lot of feeling to it. You don't particularly feel for any of the characters, except the witches (believe it or not), but that might just be because they were played by Rachel Weiss and Mila Kunis.
The story starts with James Franco being a tool and using magic to get some ass. He's pretty good at tricking women into falling for him and being his assistant while he is in town. Then he gets caught up in a tornado, and dumped in Oz. He meets the witches, his charm fails, miserably, and he suffers self-defeat, and then he saves the day! It's pretty cookie cutter, except that Mila Kunis and Rachel Weiss added some spice, and evil. They really did kind of steal the show.
I've never really been a fan of Michelle Williams, so it all kind of went down hill for me when she stepped onto the scene. She was very meh, and even adopted a more meh voice as the good witch to go with it. Though, to her credit, the voice and the half closed eyes did temper the passion and evilness of the evil witches.
Despite the lack of feeling, I really did like this story. I always like getting to know the background of any story. It never really made sense to me that someone could just accidentally hot-air balloon into a place and be put on a pedastal the way the Wizard was in the Wizard of Oz. This story really makes it all come together. It explains why the Wizard didn't/couldn't leave Oz, how he got to be in such a position in the first place, and a little bit more about the witches, why they are evil, and why one is green while the other is not. :)
In the end, I give this a 6.5 out of 10. It was fun to watch through bleh to feel.
The story starts with James Franco being a tool and using magic to get some ass. He's pretty good at tricking women into falling for him and being his assistant while he is in town. Then he gets caught up in a tornado, and dumped in Oz. He meets the witches, his charm fails, miserably, and he suffers self-defeat, and then he saves the day! It's pretty cookie cutter, except that Mila Kunis and Rachel Weiss added some spice, and evil. They really did kind of steal the show.
I've never really been a fan of Michelle Williams, so it all kind of went down hill for me when she stepped onto the scene. She was very meh, and even adopted a more meh voice as the good witch to go with it. Though, to her credit, the voice and the half closed eyes did temper the passion and evilness of the evil witches.
Despite the lack of feeling, I really did like this story. I always like getting to know the background of any story. It never really made sense to me that someone could just accidentally hot-air balloon into a place and be put on a pedastal the way the Wizard was in the Wizard of Oz. This story really makes it all come together. It explains why the Wizard didn't/couldn't leave Oz, how he got to be in such a position in the first place, and a little bit more about the witches, why they are evil, and why one is green while the other is not. :)
In the end, I give this a 6.5 out of 10. It was fun to watch through bleh to feel.
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