Saturday, June 28, 2014

How to Train Your Dragon 2

At first, I had no idea what movie I wanted to see this weekend. All I knew was there was no way in hell I was going to sit through another Transformers movie. Having a root canal done would be more fun. Anyway, I finally decided to see How to Train Your Dragon 2 since it looked really good and I've already seen most of the other movies that are out in theaters right now. It's getting a lot of positive reviews and I can see why.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 takes place five years after the events of the first film. Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) and Toothless discover an ice cave that is home to hundreds of wild dragons and a mysterious Dragon Rider who ends up being Hiccup's long presumed dead mother Valka (Cate Blanchett). Soon they find themselves in a battle to change the future of both humans and dragons.

What you'll notice right away is just how gorgeous the animation is, especially during the flying sequences. I also loved how much detail they put into the look of the dragons as well as the human characters. This is the perfect movie to see in 3D. Unfortunately, the theater I went to was only showing it in 3D for the early matinees. So I ended up at a 2D showing. Don't worry though. If you see it in 2D I can assure you it still looks good.

The story itself has a few more mature themes which was interesting to see. It's one of those movies that both kids and adults can enjoy.

The only thing I didn't like (and this really isn't a big complaint) was that the movie went by way too fast. I was in and out of the theater in less than two hours, and that included all the trailers they showed before it. I wish they had slowed down a bit and taken their time with certain scenes.

Overall, this is one of the better movies out right now. Is it as good as the first movie? Honestly, yes and no. Still, go see it if you get a chance. You won't regret it.

My Rating: 8/10

Saturday, June 14, 2014

22 Jump Street

I'm usually not crazy about the idea of remakes. Hollywood seems to have run out of original ideas years ago. So when the 21 Jump Street movie came out 2 years ago, I didn't see it in theaters. But then I cam across it on TV and thought, "Wow! This is really funny." So now that they've released 22 Jump Street, I made sure to see it on opening night. I'm glad I did see it since it was hilarious! After seeing The Fault in Our Stars last week, I was in desperate need of a comedy.

22 Jump Street has essentially the same plot as the first movie. Only this time instead of going undercover in high school, Jenko (Channing Tatum) and Schmidt (Jonah Hill) are going to college.

What I love about what directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (who also directed 21 Jump Street as well as The Lego Movie, another movie which I really enjoyed) have done here is that they don't pretend that this movie is serious or award worthy. It's very much self aware. They make fun of themselves, the original TV show, and even the previous movie. For me, that's what made this so funny and clever. Be sure to stay for the credits. Without giving too much away, it's a brilliant sequence with some surprise cameos.

Another thing I loved about this was Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill. Looking at the two of them you think, "How the hell is this going to work?" But it does! They have great chemistry and you can tell they're friends in real life. They looked like they were having a blast while filming. I would love it if they made more movies together. Maybe 23 Jump Street? We can only hope.

Look, 22 Jump Street is not a perfect movie. A few, and only a few, of the jokes fall flat but so what? I had a great time watching this and I think you will too. I'd say it's the funniest movie I've seen this year. If you liked the first movie then you'll LOVE this one.

My Rating: 8.5/10

Sunday, June 8, 2014

The Fault in Our Stars

Let me start off this review by saying thank god for waterproof mascara! I haven't cried this much over a movie in a long time. Wow! Words can't even begin to describe just how amazing The Fault in Our Stars is. I'll do my best though.

The movie is based on a popular YA book written by John Green. I haven't read it yet so I apologize if I mess anything up. From what I've heard though, it's a pretty faithful adaptation. Hazel is a 16 year old cancer patient who's pretty much forced by her parents (Laura Dern & Sam Trammell) to attend a cancer support group. There she meets Gus (Ansel Elgort) an amputee whose cancer is in remission. He's very charming, funny, and (despite everything that's happened to him) has a great outlook. They start spending more and more time together and eventually fall in love.

Director Josh Boone does an outstanding job bringing this story to life. Yes it's a romantic drama but, unlike most movies that fall into this category these days, the dialog never felt cheesy and the scenes weren't sappy. It was really sweet yet heartbreaking at the same time. It felt real. They never shyed away from the fact that these two are both dealing with a terminal illness and that their time together will probably be short. I was such a mess throughout the whole movie, as was everyone else in the theater. You could hear all the sniffles. Thankfully there's quite a bit of humor spread throughout. There'd be times where I'd be sobbing uncontrollably and then they tossed something funny in so I was doing this weird combination of crying and laughing.

Another thing I give the director a lot of credit for is getting such powerful performances out of the actors, especially Shailene and Ansel. The two of them actually played brother and sister in Divergent so it was a little odd at first but you quickly forget about that and you really believe they're a couple.

I thought the soundtrack was really nice and fit well with the movie.

I honestly can't think of a single flaw this movie has. It's one of my favorites this year so far. I highly recommend it, but make sure you bring tissues.

Nicholas Sparks movies take note- this is how you do a romantic drama!

My Rating: 10/10

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Maleficent (IMAX 3D)

I think it's great that they've been doing a lot of fairy tale retellings lately. I've always loved the idea. Even though most people hated it, I enjoyed Snow White & the Huntsman (although I'm sure a lot of that has to do with Chris Hemsworth hehe). So when I heard they were doing Maleficent and had casted Angelina Jolie I was very excited. Now that I've finally seen it I must say that while I enjoyed parts of it, there were other parts where I felt really let down.

We all know the story of Sleeping Beauty, so I really don't have to talk about the plot too much. This time, as you've probably heard, it's told from the point of view of the "villain" Maleficent (Angelina Jolie). What I really loved about this movie was they gave her an interesting back story that explains how she became the Maleficent that we all know. Unfortunately this all occurs in the first half. The second half had a lot of issues for me. Not that it was completely terrible, I just didn't care for it. Especially towards the very end.

*SPOILER ALERT*











All I'll say is they totally ripped off the Frozen ending. There was even a moment where they ripped off Die Hard. I couldn't help but laugh.








*END OF SPOILER*

I will give director Robert Stromberg a lot of credit though. Considering this was his first time directing I think he did a good job. His previous experience with movies was mainly in visual effects. That to me was one of Maleficent's greatest strengths. The whole movie looked stunning. Especially the fairy world.

That being said, you would think a movie like this would look great in IMAX and/or 3D. Sadly that's not the case. The 3D is hardly noticeable overall and seeing it on an IMAX screen doesn't add much to the experience. If you plan on seeing this in theaters, 2D is the way to go. Save yourself the extra money.

Angelina Jolie was amazing as Maleficent. She really captured the character well and I can't imagine anyone else playing the role. The rest of the actors, including Elle Fanning as Princess Aurora, aren't really fleshed out well. Which is understandable given that this movie is mainly told from Maleficent's point of view. It still would've been nice to see though. I thought Sharlto Copley (who I think is a great actor and was really good as the villain in Elysium) as King Stefan was way too over the top.

Overall, there were some good things and not so good things about Maleficent. Is it worth seeing? Sure why not. And if there are any parents out there that want to take their kids to see it go right ahead. It's certainly a lot better than most of the crap aimed towards kids these days.

My Rating: 6.5/10

Saturday, May 24, 2014

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Finally this franchise is heading in the right direction! Boy has my opinion of X-Men changed after seeing Days of Future Past. Really, it began with 2011's First Class. I'm not counting that Wolverine movie that came out last year because, while it wasn't terrible, the only thing I remember about it was I got to see Hugh Jackman's ass. Not that I'm complaining of course ;) And just so you know, you get to see it again in this movie. Must be in his contract or something.

Sorry. Got a little side tracked for a moment. Anyway, Days of Future Past opens up in this really cool looking apocalyptic world 50 years after the events of First Class. Things aren't going so well for both the mutants and the humans (and that's putting it mildly). In order to change things they send Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) back to the 70's (about 10 years after First Class) in an effort to stop an event they believe started this all. The rest of the movie goes back and forth between both time lines and the editing for this was well done which I was happy about. I've seen lots of movies where they attempted to do the same thing and they just failed miserably.

The cast they put together was incredible. Many characters from First Class as well as the previous X-Men movies appears in this and they all gave outstanding performances. I don't have time to talk about all of them, but some of my favorites were: Raven/Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), young Professor X (James McAvoy), young Magneto (Michael Fassbender), and Dr. Bolivan Trask (played by the great Peter Dinklage). Of course it goes without saying that Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen were brilliant as older Professor X and Magneto. Why these two aren't in even more movies I'll never know.

The whole movie is dark and emotional but with a nice amount of humor in it as well. I wasn't going to talk about this scene for fear of spoiling everyone but since there was a glimpse of it in the trailer I'd say it's fair game. I just loved the moment where older Professor X is talking to the younger version of himself. I got chills watching it. It just goes to show you how great Patrick Stewart and James McAvoy are. The beautiful musical score by John Ottman makes this scene as well as the rest of the movie even more powerful.

For those of you who are worried that you might be missing out on something by seeing this movie in 2D instead of 3D I can assure you you're not. I saw this in 2D and it looks really good in that format.

One thing I'd like to give people a heads up on- if you go into this having not seen the previous movies, you're probably going to be really confused. I strongly suggest you at least watch First Class before going to see this.

And yes, there is a scene at the end of the credits so be sure to stick around for that. I think it may be setting things up for the next movie but I could be wrong. It's still really cool though.

I've heard some people claim that Days of Future Past is better than The Dark Knight. I definitely wouldn't go that far, but this is still one of my favorite movie of the year. This movie is the very definition of a summer blockbuster. Go see it. I promise you won't be disappointed.

My Rating: 9/10

Saturday, May 17, 2014

Godzilla

I'll be honest with you, I've never really been into the whole Godzilla thing. Sure, I watched some of the old movies when I was a kid (I like to pretend the 1998 movie doesn't exist) but that's about it. When I saw the trailer for this I thought, "This is either going to be really good or really bad." Sadly it's mostly the last one.

There's no plot of course. It's just Godzilla vs. other monsters. At least that's what they want you to think. You barely see Godzilla in this and when you do it's mostly a few quick shots. I get what director Gareth Edwards was trying to do but he didn't execute it very well.

I never thought a Godzilla movie could be boring, but this one was. At least for the first hour and a half or so. They tried to add all this drama crap and it just didn't work. Normally in a movie I want to see an actual story and character development but this is a Godzilla movie dammit- I paid to see him kick some ass!

What's really sad is they got some amazing actors to be in this- Bryan Cranston, Juilette Binoche, Sally Hawkins, Ken Wantanabe, Elizabeth Olsen, and many more. What a waste of talent, especially Bryan Cranston. If you're like me and the main reason you want to see this movie is because of him then you'll be disappointed. He's only in it for a total of about 30 minutes towards the beginning.

The ONLY thing that saved this movie for me (aside from Bryan Cranston who can do no wrong) and is preventing me from giving it a much lower rating is the last 30 minutes. All I'll say is that sequence was just so bad ass and looked amazing. Why couldn't the rest of the movie be like that?

I saw this in 2D and I think if you must see this in theaters that's the way to go. I couldn't see how it would benefit from 3D plus the movie is dark enough without it.

I wouldn't really suggest paying to see this. You just just buy a ticket for another movie and sneak into Godzilla during the last 30 minutes. Not that I would ever do something like that ;)

My Rating: 6/10

Saturday, May 3, 2014

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (IMAX 3D)

WARNING: There will probably be a few spoilers in this review. Nothing too major, just thought I would give you the heads up.

I know I'm probably in the minority, but I actually liked the first Amazing Spider-Man movie. Sure it wasn't award worthy, but I really enjoyed the story. I have to say that I enjoyed this one too, despite it having some MAJOR flaws (even more than the first movie). But more on that in a bit.

In The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield, who I still prefer over Toby McGuire) is still trying to juggle his life as Spider-Man while maintaining his relationship with Gwen (Emma Stone), even though at the end of the first movie he had promised her father that he would stay away from her. He's also trying to deal with Oscorp and some new villains- Electro (Jamie Foxx), Green Goblin (Dane DeHaan), and Rhino (Paul Giamatti). Well, mainly it's Electro. The Green Goblin doesn't appear until towards the end. And Rhino may as well have not been in it. All the footage of Rhino in the trailers, that's pretty much it. His total screen time is about five minutes tops. They should have just saved him for the next one.

I think Andrew Garfield was even better this time around. I really liked his version of Peter Parker/Spider-Man. And his scenes with Emma Stone were really sweet. The two of them have great chemistry. However, their dialog in those scenes was so bad that I couldn't help but roll my eyes. It's not really their fault though. I blame the writers.

Another actor who I really enjoyed in this was Jamie Foxx as Max Dillon/Electro. You could tell he was really trying and having a blast while filming. Even though he does become a villain, I actually felt sorry for his character and could kind of understand why he was doing some of the things he was doing. Major credit to the visual effects team for making Electro look so bad ass.

The same can't really be said for Dane DeHaan as Harry Osborne/Green Goblin. I'm not saying he was terrible or anything (I actually like him as an actor and have enjoyed some of his previous movies), he just wouldn't have been my choice for the role.

The director is Marc Webb, who also directed the first movie. I thought this movie was pretty good up until the last third. This is what I was referring to before when I said major flaws. There's too much slo mo and the whole thing is just all over the place. It was a disappointing end to an otherwise decent movie.

The movie looks amazing on an IMAX screen. The 3D was kind of hit or miss. Some scenes, like Spider-Man swinging around the city, looked cool while other scenes it was either unnoticeable or cheap looking. Overall though if you decide to see this in 3D you wouldn't really be wasting your money.

One more thing that I'm sure people are curious about- yes, there IS a scene in the middle of the credits. However...

*SPOILER ALERT*



It has nothing to do with setting up the third movie. It's actually a teaser for the new X-Men movie that's being released in a few weeks. My first thought was, "What the hell is this doing in here?". From what I understand, it was all part of a deal to get Marc Webb out of his contract with Fox so that he could direct this movie. So if you didn't/aren't planning to stick around for the credits don't worry- you're not missing much.



*END OF SPOILER*

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is far from perfect, but it's still fun. I had a good time watching it and am looking forward to the next one.

My Rating: 7/10