Genre: Action/Adventure/Drama // Running Time: 127 minutes // Release Date: June 1, 2012
Cast & Crew at IMDB - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1735898/
Overall
Rating 6 out of 10
Synopsis: After being held captive for most of her life Snow White escapes into the dark forest and is pursued by the Huntsmen and the Queen's men. The Huntsman quickly changes from working to capture Snow White to helping her and they set off to elude the Queen's brother and his men.
If you read the synopsis on the IMDB website, you will know that it is inaccurate, in that the Huntsman is never ordered to take Snow White into the woods to be killed, or is he ever ordered to kill her. Perhaps that was an early draft of the script, or someone got the plot for this Snow White movie confused with the Mirror Mirror plot.
Speaking of Mirror Mirror, this adaptation of Snow White is much more entertaining and a much better film than Mirror Mirror. The story is much better, and definitely much more exciting. I didn't feel like sleeping through this one, so that's probably a strong indicator that it's better than Mirror Mirror already.
Aside from casting Kristen Stewart, I thought they did a relatively good job with this movie. It had a lot of good action and fight scenes. The story was at least mildly interesting with a few good twists in the plot. There's quite a few parts that are pretty funny, and the acting (aside from Kristen Stewart) was also good. The dwarves are especially good with Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone, & Eddie Marsan particularly. Charlize Theron looks fantastic and also plays a deranged evil witch rather well. Chris Hemsworth is good as the Huntsman, but it's still pretty hard not to look at him and think of Thor, even with the dyed hair. Kristen Stewart still can't act her way out of a paper bag and I don't know if I'd go so far to say she's the fairest in all the land, but she's not hideous, so I'll let that one go.
All in all, I felt the movie was worth my money. It was entertaining and there were no overly dull parts or anything like that to ruin my experience. It's a touch long for my liking, but it's not boring so I didn't really notice. If you've already seen The Avengers and MIB3, this is probably one of your best bets for an entertaining night at the movies.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
MIB 3
Genre: Action/Comedy/Sci-fi // Running Time: 106 minutes // Release Date: May 25, 2012 (Taiwan)
Cast & Crew at IMDB - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1409024/
Overall Rating 7 out of 10
Synopsis: Agent J travels back in time to keep his partner Agent K from being assassinated by a time travelling alien.
My only gripe with this movie is that my dog wasn't in it. Seriously, where the hell is Frank? There's a huge poster of a pug above J's bed and you see on the ad for the Coney Island carnival that there's a talking pug, but they never show him. What is up with that??
Personal issues aside, this movie is pretty decent. It's got a lot of sweet special effects and new gadgets. If you've seen the trailer, you know about the cool looking future cycles. Well, they're even better when watching them whip through the streets of New York in 3D. The movie is full of action - there's the aforementioned cycle driving, large scale gun battles, and some sweet hand to hand(s) combat. There's also some other pretty sweet effects related things going on that any fan of the other MIBs will definitely enjoy.
The cast in this movie is also awesome. Obviously, you have Will Smith who is one of the funniest people alive in my opinion and definitely one of my favorite actors and can pretty much do no wrong in my eyes (I even liked him in Wild Wild West). Then there's Tommy Lee Jones reprising his role as Agent K masterfully, and you've got Josh Brolin playing a younger Tommy Lee Jones and his performance is fantastic. You've also got Alice Eve and a cameo by Nicole Scherzinger who are both incredibly attractive, which never hurts any movie in being more fun to watch. The dialogue and character interaction is awkward but funny at times, but always very entertaining. The story has some great twists and the ending is really quite interesting. Just go watch it and find out for yourself.
You don't need to see it in 3D, but the part where J jumps off the building to time jump, is almost worth the extra money for 3D in itself. And I already mentioned the future cycle scene. Obviously, there's other stuff in there that the 3D makes pretty good use of. I think in general, Hollywood is getting better at using 3D. It's almost becoming worth it to pay the extra cash for every movie to see it. That being said however, it's not essential to the enjoyment of this or really any movie. Movies that are good in 3D are still good in 2D ... except maybe Final Destination 5, but that's another blog entry altogether.
Cast & Crew at IMDB - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1409024/
Overall Rating 7 out of 10
Synopsis: Agent J travels back in time to keep his partner Agent K from being assassinated by a time travelling alien.
My only gripe with this movie is that my dog wasn't in it. Seriously, where the hell is Frank? There's a huge poster of a pug above J's bed and you see on the ad for the Coney Island carnival that there's a talking pug, but they never show him. What is up with that??
Personal issues aside, this movie is pretty decent. It's got a lot of sweet special effects and new gadgets. If you've seen the trailer, you know about the cool looking future cycles. Well, they're even better when watching them whip through the streets of New York in 3D. The movie is full of action - there's the aforementioned cycle driving, large scale gun battles, and some sweet hand to hand(s) combat. There's also some other pretty sweet effects related things going on that any fan of the other MIBs will definitely enjoy.
The cast in this movie is also awesome. Obviously, you have Will Smith who is one of the funniest people alive in my opinion and definitely one of my favorite actors and can pretty much do no wrong in my eyes (I even liked him in Wild Wild West). Then there's Tommy Lee Jones reprising his role as Agent K masterfully, and you've got Josh Brolin playing a younger Tommy Lee Jones and his performance is fantastic. You've also got Alice Eve and a cameo by Nicole Scherzinger who are both incredibly attractive, which never hurts any movie in being more fun to watch. The dialogue and character interaction is awkward but funny at times, but always very entertaining. The story has some great twists and the ending is really quite interesting. Just go watch it and find out for yourself.
You don't need to see it in 3D, but the part where J jumps off the building to time jump, is almost worth the extra money for 3D in itself. And I already mentioned the future cycle scene. Obviously, there's other stuff in there that the 3D makes pretty good use of. I think in general, Hollywood is getting better at using 3D. It's almost becoming worth it to pay the extra cash for every movie to see it. That being said however, it's not essential to the enjoyment of this or really any movie. Movies that are good in 3D are still good in 2D ... except maybe Final Destination 5, but that's another blog entry altogether.
Friday, May 11, 2012
American Reunion
Genre: Comedy // Running Time: 94 minutes // Release Date:
May 4, 2012 (Taiwan)
Cast & Crew at IMDB - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1605630/
Overall Rating 6 out of 10
Synopsis: Jim, Michelle, Kevin, Oz, Finch, and Stifler reunite back home in East Great Falls for their high school reunion.
This movie is definitely super funny in parts, but I didn't find it to be quite as funny as the original. It was nice to see that they got all the orginal characters for this movie, I won't name all of them specifically as some people might consider that to be a type of spoiler, but pretty much everyone you remember from the original is in this movie.
This movie, much like the original, has a good mix of different kinds of humor. There's some gross out stuff that's funny, some slapstick-type stuff, and of course hillarious dialogue between characters. I think Stifler is still one of the most entertaining characters, simply because of his way to insert an air of awkwardness into any situation with nearly everything he says. However, much like the original (and the sequels), Jim's dad does his best to steal the show. Eugene Levy is a comedic genius in my mind, and I always laugh the hardest in any of the American Pie movies when he's giving advice or inadvertently saying something that makes Jim uncomfortable, and there's no shortage of that in this film.
As I said, the movie is funny, but I honestly thought it would be funnier. I was entertained, but I didn't come away with stomach pains from laughing too hard, which in my books is what should happen with any great comedy. You can definitely get away with waiting for this one on DVD.
Cast & Crew at IMDB - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1605630/
Overall Rating 6 out of 10
Synopsis: Jim, Michelle, Kevin, Oz, Finch, and Stifler reunite back home in East Great Falls for their high school reunion.
This movie is definitely super funny in parts, but I didn't find it to be quite as funny as the original. It was nice to see that they got all the orginal characters for this movie, I won't name all of them specifically as some people might consider that to be a type of spoiler, but pretty much everyone you remember from the original is in this movie.
This movie, much like the original, has a good mix of different kinds of humor. There's some gross out stuff that's funny, some slapstick-type stuff, and of course hillarious dialogue between characters. I think Stifler is still one of the most entertaining characters, simply because of his way to insert an air of awkwardness into any situation with nearly everything he says. However, much like the original (and the sequels), Jim's dad does his best to steal the show. Eugene Levy is a comedic genius in my mind, and I always laugh the hardest in any of the American Pie movies when he's giving advice or inadvertently saying something that makes Jim uncomfortable, and there's no shortage of that in this film.
As I said, the movie is funny, but I honestly thought it would be funnier. I was entertained, but I didn't come away with stomach pains from laughing too hard, which in my books is what should happen with any great comedy. You can definitely get away with waiting for this one on DVD.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
The Avengers
Genre: Action /Adventure / Sci-fi // Running Time: 142 minutes // Release Date:
April 25, 2012
Cast & Crew at IMDB - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0848228/
Overall Rating 9.5 out of 10
Synopsis: All those heroes you've been watching in movies over the past couple of years (Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, The Hulk, Black Widow & Hawkeye) are joined together to form one kick-ass team with one simple goal - saving the world. However, for the sake of those who don't consume every comic book movie being made, Thor's half-brother Loki returns to earth to steal a power source of unlimited potential, the Tesseract, which will open a portal to another part of space allowing an army of Chitauri to invade and ultimately conquer earth and it's in the hands of Earth's greatest heroes to stop Loki and save the day.
First of all, I personally would give this movie a 5. If I'm ever going to give a movie a 5, which I'm not, this would be the movie. In my mind, this is one of the best movies ever made - for it's genre. This is the comic book action movie to end all comic book action movies. I have my doubts that even the sequel, and yes there will be at the very least one sequel, will be as good as this one.
This movie is awesome from start to finish. The plot is complex, but not overly so for an action flick. The characters are already pre-established so there isn't a lot of time wasted developing them, aside from Black Widow and Hawkeye who have only been seen in limited doses in prior Marvel films. What this means for the audience is that there's more time for action. Which is good, since you have to get all of these big name heroes in on the action sequences. Also, the acting is as good as it gets for an action movie. I mean Robert Downey Jr., Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, and Mark Ruffalo, would do pretty well in any movie, but everyone seems to hold their own. Sammy owns his role as Nick Fury and Chris Hemsworth also makes a great Thor, but obviously the character with the most successful franchise is bound to take over. Robert Downey Jr. definitely steals this film. He's charismatic, funny, and demeaning to just about everyone, but in a semi-charming kind of way. His nicknames for other characters are absolutely hillarious, and similar to the Iron Man films, he makes being a hero seem pretty damn cool!
I should also mention that Joss Whedon does a really great job with this movie. The timing and pace are all very well put together. And there's no shortage of funny one-liners and glib remarks to lighten the mood, which works very well for this type of movie. He attempted to pull off something massive in scope by making this movie, especially in terms of special effects, and I would say he accomplished it and then some. The CGI is obviously top-notch and what surprised me, was that the 3D stuff was actually pretty good. Not the usual half-assed attempts at 3D we've seen attempted by multiple movies since the success of Avatar.
Go see it, you'll love it! If you don't ... stop reading my blog, because obviously our tastes in movies are extremely opposite!
Cast & Crew at IMDB - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0848228/
Overall Rating 9.5 out of 10
Synopsis: All those heroes you've been watching in movies over the past couple of years (Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, The Hulk, Black Widow & Hawkeye) are joined together to form one kick-ass team with one simple goal - saving the world. However, for the sake of those who don't consume every comic book movie being made, Thor's half-brother Loki returns to earth to steal a power source of unlimited potential, the Tesseract, which will open a portal to another part of space allowing an army of Chitauri to invade and ultimately conquer earth and it's in the hands of Earth's greatest heroes to stop Loki and save the day.
First of all, I personally would give this movie a 5. If I'm ever going to give a movie a 5, which I'm not, this would be the movie. In my mind, this is one of the best movies ever made - for it's genre. This is the comic book action movie to end all comic book action movies. I have my doubts that even the sequel, and yes there will be at the very least one sequel, will be as good as this one.
This movie is awesome from start to finish. The plot is complex, but not overly so for an action flick. The characters are already pre-established so there isn't a lot of time wasted developing them, aside from Black Widow and Hawkeye who have only been seen in limited doses in prior Marvel films. What this means for the audience is that there's more time for action. Which is good, since you have to get all of these big name heroes in on the action sequences. Also, the acting is as good as it gets for an action movie. I mean Robert Downey Jr., Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, and Mark Ruffalo, would do pretty well in any movie, but everyone seems to hold their own. Sammy owns his role as Nick Fury and Chris Hemsworth also makes a great Thor, but obviously the character with the most successful franchise is bound to take over. Robert Downey Jr. definitely steals this film. He's charismatic, funny, and demeaning to just about everyone, but in a semi-charming kind of way. His nicknames for other characters are absolutely hillarious, and similar to the Iron Man films, he makes being a hero seem pretty damn cool!
I should also mention that Joss Whedon does a really great job with this movie. The timing and pace are all very well put together. And there's no shortage of funny one-liners and glib remarks to lighten the mood, which works very well for this type of movie. He attempted to pull off something massive in scope by making this movie, especially in terms of special effects, and I would say he accomplished it and then some. The CGI is obviously top-notch and what surprised me, was that the 3D stuff was actually pretty good. Not the usual half-assed attempts at 3D we've seen attempted by multiple movies since the success of Avatar.
Go see it, you'll love it! If you don't ... stop reading my blog, because obviously our tastes in movies are extremely opposite!
Friday, April 20, 2012
Battleship
Genre: Action / Sci-fi / Thriller // Running Time: 131 minutes // Release Date: April 11, 2012
Cast & Crew at IMDB - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1440129/
Overall Rating 8 out of 10
Synopsis: Loosely based on the Milton Bradley board game of the same name, Battleship sees an international fleet of ships accidentally come across an armada of alien ships while participating in the RIMPAC Naval War Games and the battle for the continued existence of humanity begins.
If you're looking for a totally kick ass, non-stop action movie, this might be the best one I've seen in a long time. I thought this movie was incredible. I was extremely curious how they were going to turn a relatively tame board game into a full-length feature film. Turns out that the answer was to not base much on the game other than the name of course, having battleships and destroyers in the movie, and one small scene where they attempt to hit the other ships by calling out coordinates (which is totally awesome). The movie is literally a non-stop action ride for 2 hours. There's a few sub-plots thrown in as well to create some dramatic tension and comedy, but what this film boils down to is humans vs. aliens and you know you're gonna root for the humans ... unless you're an alien, in which case, why haven't you told me!???!
The acting, although not really necessary for this kind of movie, is pretty good. Liam Neeson and Alexander Skaarsgard are both very good actors, and they are both fantastic in this movie. Taylor Kitsch is a very believable action hero and I think his acting is getting better with each film. And Brooklyn Decker is one of the hottest women on Earth in my opinion and you get to stare, I mean see, her a lot throughout the course of this film (I hate you Andy Roddick!). Even Rhianna does a pretty good job and, spoiler alert, she doesn't even really sing!
Similar to Wrath of the Titans, this movie is a non-stop action extravaganza! It's not going to win any acting or writing awards, but that's not the point. If you're in the mood for a fun, entertaining bit of cinema, this is definitely the place to find it!
Cast & Crew at IMDB - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1440129/
Overall Rating 8 out of 10
Synopsis: Loosely based on the Milton Bradley board game of the same name, Battleship sees an international fleet of ships accidentally come across an armada of alien ships while participating in the RIMPAC Naval War Games and the battle for the continued existence of humanity begins.
If you're looking for a totally kick ass, non-stop action movie, this might be the best one I've seen in a long time. I thought this movie was incredible. I was extremely curious how they were going to turn a relatively tame board game into a full-length feature film. Turns out that the answer was to not base much on the game other than the name of course, having battleships and destroyers in the movie, and one small scene where they attempt to hit the other ships by calling out coordinates (which is totally awesome). The movie is literally a non-stop action ride for 2 hours. There's a few sub-plots thrown in as well to create some dramatic tension and comedy, but what this film boils down to is humans vs. aliens and you know you're gonna root for the humans ... unless you're an alien, in which case, why haven't you told me!???!
The acting, although not really necessary for this kind of movie, is pretty good. Liam Neeson and Alexander Skaarsgard are both very good actors, and they are both fantastic in this movie. Taylor Kitsch is a very believable action hero and I think his acting is getting better with each film. And Brooklyn Decker is one of the hottest women on Earth in my opinion and you get to stare, I mean see, her a lot throughout the course of this film (I hate you Andy Roddick!). Even Rhianna does a pretty good job and, spoiler alert, she doesn't even really sing!
Similar to Wrath of the Titans, this movie is a non-stop action extravaganza! It's not going to win any acting or writing awards, but that's not the point. If you're in the mood for a fun, entertaining bit of cinema, this is definitely the place to find it!
Mirror Mirror
Genre: Adventure / Comedy / Drama // Running Time: 106 minutes // Release Date: March 30, 2012
Cast & Crew at IMDB - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1667353/
Overall Rating 3 out of 10
Synopsis: A retelling of the classic fairy tale Snow White. An evil queen is ruling a kingdom straight into bankruptcy and must take drastic measures to attempt to stave off becoming flat broke. She sets out to try to marry a handsome young prince who turns out to be in love with a girl named Snow White, which leads to the queen ordering for the execution of Snow White. This of course is botched and Snow White ends up meeting seven rebels and together they will try to take back the kingdom and restore it to all its former glory.
The short review for this movie is simple - this movie sucks! If you feel like throwing your money away recklessly, by all means, just cut me a cheque. You might get more satisfaction out of that than wasting it on this movie. It's terribly acted, even Julia Roberts comes off as a TV movie of the week-type actress in this. There are a small number of humorous parts, but they are few and far between the seemingly never ending parts of "romantic tension" and whatever is supposed to make up the drama portion of this film. Truly terrible. My friend fell asleep several times during this movie and later asked me to go along with her in a little white lie that we had never seen it. I liked Shark Night better than this movie, and if you've seen Shark Night, well, you'll know what I'm talking about.
Cast & Crew at IMDB - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1667353/
Overall Rating 3 out of 10
Synopsis: A retelling of the classic fairy tale Snow White. An evil queen is ruling a kingdom straight into bankruptcy and must take drastic measures to attempt to stave off becoming flat broke. She sets out to try to marry a handsome young prince who turns out to be in love with a girl named Snow White, which leads to the queen ordering for the execution of Snow White. This of course is botched and Snow White ends up meeting seven rebels and together they will try to take back the kingdom and restore it to all its former glory.
The short review for this movie is simple - this movie sucks! If you feel like throwing your money away recklessly, by all means, just cut me a cheque. You might get more satisfaction out of that than wasting it on this movie. It's terribly acted, even Julia Roberts comes off as a TV movie of the week-type actress in this. There are a small number of humorous parts, but they are few and far between the seemingly never ending parts of "romantic tension" and whatever is supposed to make up the drama portion of this film. Truly terrible. My friend fell asleep several times during this movie and later asked me to go along with her in a little white lie that we had never seen it. I liked Shark Night better than this movie, and if you've seen Shark Night, well, you'll know what I'm talking about.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Wrath Of The Titans
Genre: Action / Adventure / Fantasy // Running Time: 99 minutes // Release Date: March 30, 2012
Cast & Crew at IMDB - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1646987/
Overall Rating 7.5 out of 10
Synopsis: After being told about an upcoming apocalypse from his father Zeus, Perseus must once again use his demi-god powers to battle the forces of evil and attempt to save mankind. This time, Perseus must battle the once imprisoned Titans and make his way into Tartarus itself to rescue his father, who has been captured and is being used to awaken Chronos, the father of Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades.
The first thing that should be noted is that the special effects in this movie are spectacular! This might be the first movie that has had even remotely impressive 3D since Avatar. After trying hastily and very unsuccessfully to convert Clash Of The Titans to 3D, the makers of Wrath seem to have done a much better job in this one. There were some pretty visually exciting scenes in this movie that made you feel like you were almost in the movie ... almost. I'm sure however, that without the 3D, the movie will still be visually fun to watch.
Secondly, there is a lot of action in this movie. Pretty much non-stop action, actually. The story definitely seems to play second fiddle to the battle scenes in this movie, which is a bit disappointing with the caliber of acting available. I mean, you have Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, and Bill Nighy for starters, so the potential is definitely there. Sadly, it's pretty much wasted in this film. That being said, the battles are pretty intense and exciting, right from the first run in with a Chimera, all the way until the final battle scene, the action just keeps coming. There are battles with all sorts of mythical creatures in this movie - chimeras, cyclopes, minotaurs, weird double torso warriors, and a giant volcano monster. There's sword fights, explosions, large scale military battles, and some other pretty ridiculous things that are sure to entertain any action fan.
The story is a bit rushed, and they definitely could have done with some more Bill Nighy, as he pretty much stole the show in his short appearance, but this movie is still far better than the first release. I went into the movie expecting an all out CGI assault, and that's exactly what I got. So obviously, I wasn't disappointed. If your looking for a movie with substance, full-bodied characters, and a well drawn out storyline, you'll want to skip this movie. But if you're like me, and you just want to be mindlessly entertained, this movie definitely hits the mark.
Cast & Crew at IMDB - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1646987/
Overall Rating 7.5 out of 10
Synopsis: After being told about an upcoming apocalypse from his father Zeus, Perseus must once again use his demi-god powers to battle the forces of evil and attempt to save mankind. This time, Perseus must battle the once imprisoned Titans and make his way into Tartarus itself to rescue his father, who has been captured and is being used to awaken Chronos, the father of Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades.
The first thing that should be noted is that the special effects in this movie are spectacular! This might be the first movie that has had even remotely impressive 3D since Avatar. After trying hastily and very unsuccessfully to convert Clash Of The Titans to 3D, the makers of Wrath seem to have done a much better job in this one. There were some pretty visually exciting scenes in this movie that made you feel like you were almost in the movie ... almost. I'm sure however, that without the 3D, the movie will still be visually fun to watch.
Secondly, there is a lot of action in this movie. Pretty much non-stop action, actually. The story definitely seems to play second fiddle to the battle scenes in this movie, which is a bit disappointing with the caliber of acting available. I mean, you have Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, and Bill Nighy for starters, so the potential is definitely there. Sadly, it's pretty much wasted in this film. That being said, the battles are pretty intense and exciting, right from the first run in with a Chimera, all the way until the final battle scene, the action just keeps coming. There are battles with all sorts of mythical creatures in this movie - chimeras, cyclopes, minotaurs, weird double torso warriors, and a giant volcano monster. There's sword fights, explosions, large scale military battles, and some other pretty ridiculous things that are sure to entertain any action fan.
The story is a bit rushed, and they definitely could have done with some more Bill Nighy, as he pretty much stole the show in his short appearance, but this movie is still far better than the first release. I went into the movie expecting an all out CGI assault, and that's exactly what I got. So obviously, I wasn't disappointed. If your looking for a movie with substance, full-bodied characters, and a well drawn out storyline, you'll want to skip this movie. But if you're like me, and you just want to be mindlessly entertained, this movie definitely hits the mark.
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