Category Archives: Reviews

Review: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – go bananas!

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Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is the direct sequel to 2011’s passable Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Taking place 10 years after the events in the first movie, the “Ape Flu” has spread throughout the planet and has killed most of humanity. Meanwhile back in San Francisco, Caesar and his fellow apes are talk with each other through sign language and forming their own society. In the mean meanwhile, some humans have managed to survive in the ruins of San Francisco, somewhere in the middle the two societies meet… dun dun dunnnnn.

The good; first and foremost, the special effects. The motion capture done with Andy Serkis is amazing. Those apes look really good, after the opening credits we open up on a close up of Caesar’s eyes, and it’s very well done.

Then we have the world that we’re going to be in for the next hour and a half. The world building done here is very good, you have the Ape society and how they live; there’s a hierarchy, daily life, school, “healer” apes, hunters, and language. It all makes sense cause they took the time to make it make sense.

Jason Clarke as Malcolm is great, Clarke does a great job bringing us to understand motivation, not only in his own character but in the humans as a whole. What otherwise could’ve been a simple plot device really worked well for me.

Then you have Michael Giacchino‘s score, at the beginning of the movie there’s this very retro sound to the music, it’s like he’s channeling the old Planet of the Apes movies, I loved it. Then as the movie progresses we get the epic quality we’ve come to expect from Giacchino.

The bad; the special effects, I know I mentioned this above, but it’s a double edged sword.

The example that really sticks out is the baby Ape, there’s a scene where the humans are interacting with the baby and it just doesn’t look as good.
Then the opening sequence is a hunting party scene where the Apes are hunting whatever’s in the forest for food. On one side you have the Apes above, in the trees, stalking their prey, down below you have the deer unaware of death from above.
Then in a scene similar to The Gladiator, hell is unleashed and the Apes descend on to their prey. I marveled at the eye candy displayed before me… but I couldn’t help but wonder how much render time this took. Cause sure it’s epic and looks amazing, but it doesn’t beat the real thing. If it was a bunch of actors in rubber masks running through the forest, that’s still a bunch of actors in rubber masks running through the forest. Where this scene was all created in the computer. But that’s just my old-school way.

There’s a throw away line about how the humans that are alive and surviving are genetically immune to the flu virus that ravaged the planet, I dunno… I’d like a little more please? Just a little sumthin’?

*SPOILER* The climax of the movie, in two parts, left me with a tilted head. Malcolm befriends Caesar and helps him to overtake Koba and his command over the Apes. Then you Malcolm has to convince Gary Oldman that the situation can be resolved, he just needs to wait. So Malcolm, who’s had a good rapport with Oldman (leader of the humans) simply draws a gun on him as he’s wiring the foundation of the tower where the Apes are now headquarted… but doesn’t even attempt to explain why he’s doing what he’s doing??? He just holds them hostage! Really? That’s completely against what we’ve built up for these two characters.
Then above, in the tower, you have Caesar going one on one with Koba, and there’s a point where Koba left hanging, Casesar chooses to grab Koba and fling him off to his death… I get it, these are Apes and not humans, but you’re giving them human characteristics. There could’ve been any number of alternatives that ended with Koba’s death… have Caesar attempt to save Koba, but then Koba attacks, letting him fall to his own death. That’s one and I just came up with that right now. What does that ending message say?
And the ending seemed really rushed, they want the next movie to be the literal Planet of the Apes, where the Apes outnumber the humans, but I liked where this movie took us and wanted to spend more time as this world transitioned to one ruled by Apes.*END SPOILERS*

Overall, much better than that first movie. Way to build the world. Even though the third act seemed super rushed, director Matt Reeves has redeemed himself after Cloverfield.

 

Review: Earth To Echo – echos movies from the 80s

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Earth to Echo is about three best friends who stumble upon a mystery, which turns in to an alien. They then start to communicate with the alien and learn that it wants to go home. Taking to their bikes they ride all night helping the alien find parts to rebuild its pod thingy, sound familiar?? I know Mac and Me right?
This film is a sci-fi adventure film that’s presented in the found footage format, it’s directed by Dave Green and written by Henry Gayden.

The good; the kids are great. Teo Halm, Brian Bradley, Reese C. Hartwig, and Ella Wahlestedt really deliver. Just like Super 8,the kids’ performances are what carry the movie, it’s what keeps you invested. From the start I immediately felt connected to all the kids and understood their motivations.

Unlike Super 8, the story is more compelling and once we see the alien (Echo) I still manage to care and stay connected to the story. Both films are essentially pulling from E.T. but Earth to Echo manages to use the found footage format and make it work. The hand held quality/aspect was used to great effect here (no thanks Cloverfield).

The ending is the same as the previously mentioned E.T., and yet manages to still be climactic. This is due to the great build up for end and that the focus is on the kids the whole time, and not on the spectacle of the alien itself or the special effects.

The bad; the posters, it’s way too similar to E.T., which is turning people off of seeing this film. At no point is the E.T. glowing finger done in the movie, it’s more of the kids poking at this thing they found.

The introduction of the girl in to the journey seems a little unlikely, but after the initial introduction she gels just fine.

Overall, I had a lot of fun with this movie. I want more like this, in the 80s there was a slew of this sub genre of kids taking on the world (The Goonies, Monster Squad, The Gate, Flight of the Navigator, Explorers…). I can admit that I was primed to like this movie before I even saw it, but after viewing I was still able to have fun and be thoroughly entertained. So take a kid to see Earth to Echo, or better yet, take the kid in you to the movie and remember a time where we rode our bikes without fears of Amber Alerts and friends’ backyards were virtually our playgrounds.

 

Review: A Million Ways To Die in the West – where that family guy does live action

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A Million Ways To Die in the West is the next Seth MacFarlane live action venture. It’s a western comedy with a large cast; Charlize Theron, Amanda Seyfried, Neil Patrick Harris, Giovanni Ribisi, Sarah Silverman and Liam Neeson.
It’s about a lowly sheep farmer/herder that learns some life lessons from a frontier woman. Throw in gags and some good ole fashion montages and that’s what you get.

The good; Charlize Theron is just beautiful. Other than being eye candy, she really carries the movie. I would’ve never thought that from those trailers.

The soundtrack is amazing. Joel McNeely really captures that distinctly western sound. Lots of horns coupled with grandeur and vastness. It’s a real homage to the western sound.

The bad; the marketing… those trailers gave a lot away. Even the scene with Doc Brown… why would they want to give that bit in the trailers? I mean, it’s was a delight to have Christopher Lloyd  reprise his role as Doc Brown, but why include it in the trailer?

The runtime, it clocks in at 116 minutes… almost 2 whole hours. This should’ve been a 90 min movie. Get in, get out! Just when we get to the third act, the movie could’ve ended here.

Overall, worth renting. The marketing people are banking on the success of Ted to get audiences to watch A Million Ways to Die in the West, so if you’re looking for a repeat of Ted, this isn’t the movie for you.

 

 

Review: Edge of Tomorrow – starship troopers meets groundhog day while running after lola

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Edge of Tomorrow is a sci-fi film starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt, directed by Doug Liman and written by Christopher McQuarrie, Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth.
It’s about the United Defense Force waging war on an alien invasion in Europe, Major Cage (Cruise) gets plunged into combat, without adequate training he stumbles upon a time loop. Throw in some very hand held camera work, nice visuals and Tom Cruise, and… go!

The good; there’s nothing new here as far as story, but boy do I like it. The aliens are called Mimics, and they’ve got humanity beat, but our newest latest, best weapon is this Battle Suit. It gives the common soldier more fire power, strength and speed capable of combating these mimics. Whenever we have a superior alien force battling humanity, in films anyway, common bullets always seems to be the answer (Starship Troopers, Battle Los Angeles, Battleship…), this time we get a little more firepower, which makes it more believable, although the battle suit isn’t all encompassing/enclosed for protection…

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, love or hate Tom Cruise, but the man is a movie star, he carries this film. When we first see him in his pseudo-Marine uniform I first thought… “that hair cut isn’t regulation sir… but this is a world they’ve created, plus we’re in war time so maybe hair cuts aren’t the biggest priority.” But then he’s not a combat soldier, so that makes sense.

If you’ve seen the trailers, then you know that Cage (Cruise) dies over and over again, the film does a great job in explaining how this happens, it’s actually very satisfying, and builds up to how Cage can do what he does.

The bad; the action sequence… why all the hand-held crappy, I mean, camera work?? Did Liman go to the Michael Bay school of crapulence? There’s some great stuff going on, it’s the D-Day invasion of Normandy, but with exo-suits, frikkin’ exo-suits! It looks awesome… yet, I can’t see things.

The trailers give a lot away.

Overall, check it out, go see it on the big screen and enjoy the visuals with a very satisfying story.

Reading up on the production of this film, there were problems with the third act, I like to credit McQuarrie for making the script great. All through the film I had this anime feel/notion, then I come to learn that it’s based on the Japanese light novel (young adult) entitled All You Need Is Kill.

 

Review: Godzilla – the summer is here!

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Godzilla is about, well… Godzilla. But there’s much more to this movie, we start off in the Philippines (hurray?) then you get destruction, monsters, man thinking the nuclear option is always the last best hope, oh and did I mention monsters?
After 1998’s Godzilla: Final Wars,the Toho staple was done, Toho announced that they wouldn’t be making any more Godzilla movies. But it’s 2014… and we have a reboot helmed by Gareth Edwards and penned by Max Borenstein. Let the smashing begin!

The good; I’m going to start with Gareth Edwards. You may previously know him from his film Monsters, if you’ve seen Monsters you know that Edwards is a good choice for Godzilla. Even with the plot of this film, you can see similarities with Monsters, it’s a bit of a spoiler, so I won’t go into too much detail. But the similarities involved two monsters trying to obtain a similar goal.
Other than that, Edwards knows how to build up to a scene, we only get glimpses of Godzilla in the first two acts of the film, but we see the massive destruction left in the wake of the battle. It really reminded me of the rolling hook for Close Encounters of The Third Kind, just marvelous the way the film builds up to the climactic battle, making it truly climatic.

There’s a whole lotta destruction going on here, but it’s not the complainy kind like in Man of Steel, Goyer and company helming the new DC film world should take a page from Godzilla, buildings are demolished with little more than a walk or a sway… yet the civilians are evacuated, as best that can be done that is.
This brings to mind Godzilla himself… he’s seen as this threat, but yet he saves people, there’s a scene where some missiles are accidentally (I think) shot at the Golden Gate Bridge as a bus load of children (and probably nuns) is caught in the cross fire, Godzilla deflects those missiles.?!?! All the while he’s being shot at by the military.

Moving on to the writing, Borenstein does a great job having our main character focus shift several times during the film, I mean, it’s really handled beautifully. Most movies do their darnedest to pull off one main character, but you open with Ken Watanabe, then Bryan Cranston, then Aaron Taylor-Johnson, all the meanwhile peppering in Godzilla. It’s sounds like a lot to juggle, King Kong certainly couldn’t, but you don’t miss a beat here with the shifts. You can really tell that Edwards and Borenstein are fans of the Godzilla mythos, they managed to update the character and yet keep the spirit intact in the telling of the origin, and what’s even more is that they keep Godzilla, well… Godzilla.

I have to mention the soundtrack and sound effects, this is a case where both work perfectly. That over used bellowing droning works well with the monsters and their sound design. It adds this weight that you already get with the amazing CG rendering, but the sound effects are massive and booming. Then the soundtrack itself, it’s dark and haunting! Just like the trailer has it, but it works so well to amplify the dire situation that’s facing mankind.

The bad; if I have to put anything here… let’s start with the trailer. The trailer portrays a different movie, but the movie you actually get is an awesome surprise.

I liked the twist where the monsters fight on American soil… while we do get some Japanese destruction, I just wanted more in say Tokyo or something in Japan.
That aside, this is much better than the 1998 attempt… but I just wanted more with Asia. I mean, that’s Godzilla right?

Overall, this is the summer movie for me. We get a summer tentpole, cause it’s got; monsters, explosions, tidal waves, mass destruction, the army, plane crashes, a hero, a love interest, and awesome fight scenes. It’s definitely not the blockbuster fluff that Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin churn out;

There’s destruction without that Man of Steel survivor’s guilt going on, things blow up, and they blow up well! But with a purpose, no thanks Michael Bay…
I’m just really impressed with the shift in main characters, one in particular, but to expand on this thought would be a spoiler, when you see what I’m talking about, it’ll come as a shocker.
Go see Godzilla in the theatres, 3D is not needed, but a good time is required. If you don’t like this movie, then you don’t know squat.

Oh did you catch Optimus Prime? Garry Chalk? After Peter Cullen, Chalk has voice Prime more often ,and there’s a little Mothra “east egg,” did you catch it?

Review: The Lego Movie – Everything is Awesome

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The Lego Movie is about your favorite building toy. We’re in a world on interconnecting colored bricks. Our protagonist is Emmet, a lonely mini figure construction worker in a Lego City. Emmet then has the prophecy of the “special” thrusted upon him, he meets a collection of characters on his way to thwart our antagonist, President Business. Can they defeat the bad guy and build a bigger, better, brighter future?

The good; the animation is great. While being entirely computer generated, the animators found a great mid-ground between the stop motion quality of fan-made Lego movies, and totally fluid cg. The limitations in the articulation of mini figs was used amazingly well for comedic effect, while the action scenes could rival that of any live action movie today. It was nice to transition from the rigidness to the completely fluid, great choice!

The writing is amazing. The writers did a bang up job in capturing how I imagine the Lego world would be. This utopia of timeless yellow smiley faces atop perfectly placed bricks mirroring our own world, a “what if” type of reality frozen in time.
Then we get to explore other worlds/realms in the Lego land, granted we didn’t get all the world but we got enough. We get to visit these worlds; western, castle, pirate and a crazy colorful Cloud Cuckoo Land.
The humor is jammed packed in to this movie, I couldn’t believe how many funny lines there were in the first ten minutes, and it kept going till the end.

We also get one of my personal favorite theme lines from Lego, Classic Space. An unnamed Blue Astronaut that just wants to build space ships represents that era.
There’s also bits from other inherently Lego brands; Octan, Blacktron, Forestmen… it’s nice to see these childhood staples of mine being utilized in a movie made for this generation.

The bad; if I have to put anything here… it’d be the nature of film itself. There’s a lot going on in this movie, it felt like a feast for my eyeballs, I wanted to take it all in, but the nature of film and camera movement doesn’t all of that at times. This is especially true for the action scenes, so many moving pieces, and not in the bad way like king crap Michael Bay’s craptacular Transformers movies, that I missed out on the details.

Overall, a lot of fun. At first I thought… this movie is ten years too late (if not more), but after watching it I am glad to admit that my initial thoughts were wrong, this is one for the ages. Especially anyone who’s played with Legos and built imaginary worlds of adventure.

 

Review: The Raid 2: Berandal – no lack of action here

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The Raid 2 is the sequel to The Raid: Redemption. We pick up almost right after the events of the first movie, Rama’s just gotten back from surviving that apartment complex, he then meets up with this other older cop who’s trying to find other dirty cops. So they send Rama on this deep undercover mission to infiltrate a criminal organization. Sounds simple enough right? Like the first one?

The good; as always, the (Indonesian) martial arts is top notch. Iko Uwais is great, his level of skill is fabulously displayed in this film. And they add more artists to battle him, unlike the previous movie where we basically just had Iko fighting everyone, only to lead up to a “boss,” played superbly by Yayan Ruhian. Yayan appears in this movie too, but he’s playing a different character. Still, good to see him here.

The color palate of the film is great. The colors are very muted, not just with the color correction of the film, but with the set design and the costume design. There are a lot of black suits worn in this film, along with dark colored clothing, like in the prison where everyone is wearing a grey jumpsuit or a black police uniform. Another thing to note about the prison are the grey walls, especially in the bathroom fight scene. Then there’s Rama’s apartment, even the walls are grey, not the typical white, but grey. Most of the vehicles used in the movie are also black sedans or black SUVs.
I just love the absence of color, makes the blood pop more, and emphasizes the grey area that Rama’s got himself into.

There are wide shots, lovely lovely wide shots! thank you for including these. This is a shot choice that goes underutilized today.

The bad; this movie is way too long. It clocks in at 2.5 hours… wow. It totally did not need to be this long. I get it though, you want to show case the exceptional martial arts and artists, but you have so many to service here. I hate to say it, but Yayan’s character in the film was sort of unnecessary. The “boss” fight with the bat boy and the hammer lady was cool, but the stuff in-between with them could’ve been shortened.

The story is way too complicated for a film to showcase action. The whole undercover thing is a true macguffin in the sense that it served to move the story along to get to other parts of the movie… namely the action.

This film really needed to be shorter, I haven’t fidgeted this much in movie in a while…

Overall, if you like martial arts, you’ll enjoy this movie. If you like action, you’ll enjoy this movie. They cover the action very well, much better than most America movies. The last action scene comes to mind, well the beginning of the last action scene. Rama shows up at the bad guy’s headquarters, a restaurant, and enters guns blazing. Think The Matrix‘s lobby shoot out scene, but with out firearms, Rama goes in with his “guns” and just beats the crap out of everyone that tries to stop him. It’s a real sight to behold.
So we have good action and great coverage, but the story and the film length need to compliment them. It really feels like a missed opportunity at a great movie.

 

 

Review: Bad Words – bad to the bone

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Bad Words

Bad Words is story of a man driven to win a spelling bee championship by exploiting contest loopholes and using ruthless competitive tactics against competing kids. The movie has been rolling out as a limited release, hoping to gain momentum through buzz among those daring enough to witness Bateman’s directorial debut.

While the movie isn’t actually written by Jason Bateman, Bad Words is essentially his baby. Howard Stern show fans will recall Jason discussing the challenges of pitching the script to other leads in Hollywood after finally settling on putting himself in front and behind camera

The good; If you loved Bateman in all his other comedic roles, you’ll love him here. Just like his contrived character in Arrested Development, we get to see the Guy weasel his way to a goal we patiently wait to understand the motives for.

Kathryn Hahn does a good job as Jenny. The chemistry between them is believable (just like “This Is Where I Leave You”) and I doubt this is the last time we’ll see those two together.

Rohan Chand is charming and sweet and provides both contrast and parallels to the ruthless Guy Trilby.

The bad; needless to say this movie isn’t for everyone. It probably falls under the same category as Bad Santa but doesn’t quite have the same potency.

While we come to closure at the end, the motive we discover may not resonate with most viewers. To an extent, Batemen leaves us with more questions, pondering what an alternative ending might have looked like. At nearly 90 minutes, however, we must conclude the focus of Bad Words is a comedy and not intended to be a drama based on greater character development.

Overall; the movie has its moments but never quite reaches the heights of an instant cult classic I was hoping for.

Back to the Future III – shots shot shots

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Trilogies are not easy to pull off, ESPECIALLY when we’re dealing with a non-linear timeline. Just as fans will argue about their most favorite of the three, there will often be an uncomfortable conversation about which was the least memorable.

Taking place in the old west, Back to the Future III holds this uneasy status of being part of a legendary trilogy yet being one of the least discussed among fans.

Unlike the previous 2 installations, Back to the Future III focuses more on the events that shape the future (or present depending how you see it) of Doc Brown. We find Marty and Doc thrown into a myriad of unexpected bumps in their journey that of course make the mission a bit more challenging than originally planned.

The good; well. It’s still Back to the Future, right? Sure. Like the previous two, Back to the Future is not just about the characters. In this final chapter, we get to see the beginnings of the Hill Valley world. Those who pay attention will be rewarded by catching the humble beginnings of landmarks like the car dealer, the courthouse, and the Eastwood Ravine.

One of the most memorable moments of the ending is Doc Brown’s tribute to Jules Vernes in the form of his western time travel vehicle. He returns to present day in a marvelous steampunk train that I never fully appreciated until today after seeing folks at conventions wearing elaborate costumes of the genre.

The ending of Back to the Future III left us yearning for more steampunk.

The bad; does anyone care about westerns? While it’s fun to see even early incarnations of the Tannen and McFly families, we’re reminded at just how wild the west was. Just imagine if gun draws were an acceptable practice today with the addition of oversharing from every angle by any amateur with a phone.

There’s nothing in this final movie that diminishes the appeal of the previous two, but there have since  been a few questionable uses of Doc Brown for Gibson and Funny or Die. It’s hard not to feel a little embarrassed.

Overall, we should be glad that the third was just good enough not to sour the love we have with Marty and Doc. While the repeated themes and bits work, it’s easy to become distracted with questions of how time works. But if blah blah blah changed in 1885, what else could have been effected in 1985? But wait… so there’s a time machine buried away years ago that no one came across? Hmm. Let’s just not think about it too much.

So rather than hurting your brain, just sit back and nurse a nice glass of whiskey on the rocks.

Jack Daniels. Classic and accessible to all degenerates.

You could also just take it straight up, but be careful not to knock yourself out like this guy.

Doc Brown ponders the meaning of life just before taking a really bad shot.

Just like last time, our friends; fellow contributor Eugene Abano, Dr. Q at Craft Beer Tasters and Cody from Three B Zine have something to say. But this time we’re also joined by me, Jen from Sounds in San Diego, and Zack Norris, go check out what they have to say.

Also be sure to store the entire trilogy on UltraViolet if you haven’t already done so. It was added not too long ago and makes a great edition, especially if you have never seen them in high definition! Don’t know how? Check out our guide here.

Review: Silicon Valley – the birthplace of the dot.com

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Silicon Valley premiered on HBO this weekend past. It’s about 6 programmers who live in, you guessed it, Silicon Valley. For those of you who don’t know, that’s located in the south portion of the San Francisco Bay area. Those 6 programmers try to make it big in the wake of start up companies that are now staples of modern culture; Facebook, Google, Yahoo, eBay, Netflix and Apple Inc.

Thomas Middleditch plays Richard, who comes up with a compression algorithm that the big wigs want. When Richard’s faced with the decision of; to sell to a big corporation, or to go with a tech guru? He’s got to step out of his comfort zone and be the center of attention. And suprise, surprise… Richard’s an introvert.
Silicon Valley deals with the high tech bubble of the tech world, where people who are qualified for the most success, can’t deal with it.

This show is brought to us by Mike Judge, we’ve all been looking forward for his next project, and this one does not disappoint. It points out and makes fun of the “innovative” things that corporations do to stand out, and make them appear to be un-corporations…

Having experience in the industry before, we can see Mike Judge is still in tune with much of the obnoxious behavior still prevalent in the tech world. As with his other works (think Idiocracy), Judge plants these details in our peripheral vision as gifts for us to laugh at with him. Such bits include questionable practices like meetings on bikes, cafeterias offering excessive free food, CEOs with narrow eco-friendly cars, spiritual advisor-consulting executives wearing finger shoes, and brogramers… despicable brogramers.

Richard’s journey is what I’m looking forward to the most, this quiet like-able guy has to make some tough decisions, I’ll be watching to see how he emerges out of season 1.

There are only 8 episodes this season, I can’t wait to see where we’re going.

Review: Captain America: The Winter Soldier – how ‘ice to have met you

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Captain America: The Winter Soldier is the sequel to Captain America: The First Avenger. Much like Thor: The Dark World, this film directly follows events that took place in The Avengers, more fondly referred to as the “Battle of New York.” Cap is still getting used to the modern world and how he fits in it. We throw in S.H.I.E.L.D., some covert plotting, and sprinkle in some action, that’s what we have here.

The good; we get the same cast back. That’s always a pleasure because it’s the same world, it’s consistent with what we’ve seen, makes it more believable.

The action is great in this movie. We really get to see Cap move and fight in ways that we’ve only really seen in the comics and the animated tv shows. They perfected Cap’s movements from The Avengers, he leaps, jumps and throws his shield more and more like he does in the comic books.

Speaking more to the action, they utilized a lot of practical stunts, I really appreciate that. The combination of CG and practicals worked really well in this film. I know the shield is computer generated at times, but how else would they have done it? Very good job with how the shield behaves. There’s also a car chase scene with Nick Fury that was previewed on tv, but the entirety of the scene is great. His vehicle is a SHIELD vehicle and has all the gadgets and gizmos that would make James Bond jealous.

And this film is a direct sequel to the first movie, without ignoring The Avengers, I wasn’t expecting it to be as much of a sequel as it was, bravo for that.

Oh and this is definitely the comic book fan boy in me, but we get to see Cap’s ears with his mask. That’s just how it’s been in the comics, with the first movie they were covered and I couldn’t put my finger on what bugged me, but it was the ears. We see his EARS! Hahaha. In line with the comics, the way they dealt with The Falcon was great. I was worried when they first announced that he would be in this film, but they updated him to fit the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The bad; this is just me being nitpicky, but it feels too soon to see Steve Rogers in the Commander Rogers outfit. But at the same time, I’m glad that we got to see him in the original costume too, but his ears are covered… hahaha

The action, I know I mentioned this above, but it was too hand held at times. Why have all these practical stunts and not see everything? They worked hard and I want to see the stunts.

The reveal of The Winter Soldier was… well, revealed earlier on in some tv content. It kinda took away from the reveal in the film, it seems like the whole audience already knew who he was, nary was a gasp to be heard.*POSSIBLE SPOILER* and to title this film The Winter Soldier is a bit misleading… it’s not the Winter Soldier story at all, the end of this movie does set it up so that the next sequel will be the Winter Soldier’s story. I really found that odd. *END POSSIBLE SPOILER*

Oh, and people… people really make it hard to enjoy a movie in the theatres these days. With the assigned seating and higher price point you’d think it would eliminate some of the riff raff… but that time period has gone, back in full force is the lack of common courtesy.

Overall I enjoyed it. So did everyone else, it made $96.2 million this weekend.
We get a very solid action movie with an evil plot to take over the world thrown in there. The way the Captain America movies have been are great, it reminds me of Superman. How Cap is a product of his time but yet relevant in the present, DC Comics should take a page (pun intended) from how Marvel has treated Captain America in their films. You can take a character has “old world” values and still make him interesting.
Captain America is one of my favorite Marvel superheroes, it’s probably all that patriotism drilled in to me as a kid, and I’m glad that we’re getting these movies.

 

The Mayans had it wrong… 2014 is the real 2012

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The new trailer for our latest iteration of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is out… I won’t link you to the video itself, because it would just drive up the number of views. But Michael Bay has managed to do it again, take something from my childhood and completely ruin it for the new generation, and me as well.

2014 has two Michael Bay “films” in it. I think the Mayans were wrong and 2014 is the end of the world as we know it.
We’re getting a new live action Ninja Turtles movie and the Dinobots are going to be introduced to Marky Mark and the Funkie Bunch, and by the Funkie Bunch I mean the Autobots. While Mikey Mike has already ruined the Transformers for a whole new generation, why must he continue his rampage?

The Ninja Turtles have gone through many different versions over the years, some better than others, but they’ve survived. The same will happen with this version, we just have to wait it out.

Knowing that… why am I ragging on this new film? Cause “haters be hatin’,” and “I’m a professional cynic, but my heart’s not in it,” and other cliches. Don’t get me wrong, I want to be wrong, I hope I’m wrong… but the evidence points to being horrid.

Previously it was rumored that the Turtles would be aliens, now they’re not? but they have nostrils… all of these things I’m ok with, even the new look of what they’re wearing. But with Bay behind the helm, we’re going to get something with no substance and no soul, which is probably why he cast Megan Fox as news reporter April O’Neil, it’s all going to be just flash and explosions.

The trailer proves all of this, it’s got Michael Bay written all over it, just like he put his stank on the Transformers. Take a look for yourselves, can you tell what goes to Turtles and what goes to Transformers?

Not even this moron knows, and he’s in one of the movies!

 

http://news.yahoo.com/dont-even-bother-getting-worked-ninja-turtles-trailer-182551472.html;_ylt=AwrSbmdQFDtTnUkAlv9XNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTE0amthNGVmBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMTAEY29sbwNncTEEdnRpZANWSVAwNTFfMQ–

Why are we entrusting the legacy to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the Transformers to this guy? Someone who goes mental because a teleprompter breaks down?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4rMy1iA268

I want to be wrong, I hope I’m wrong, but the stern looks from the real Ninja Turtles says it’s doubtful. SMH