Reviews
Rogue One (2016)
Gives me a new hope for the Star Wars franchise (pun intended)
I went into this movie with no expectations. Having been left utterly dismayed by the abysmal Episode VII (which I'm apparently in the minority in opinion) I was worried that this would also be a quick cash-grab for Disney. Instead, I was amazed by the leeway that this director was given and by the respect that he showed the original series given that this film is a prequel to Episode IV.
The story - nothing too complex here but it's an entertaining story that pulls you in and keeps you interested to find out what happens next. The intro sequence felt a little forced (not sure what the mom was thinking when the storm troopers showed up). The first few scenes jump around a bit too much for my taste, they're meant to introduce characters quickly but it takes a few scenes with each of them before you start to get immersed in their world and struggles. Once the movie hits its pace the characters do a great job playing off of each other and making you care for them.
Alan Tudyk's robot was the highlight of the character reel for me, and his jokes were well-timed and provided a welcome comic relief without being overbearing or forced (a la Jar Jar). Donnie Yen did a very strong job in his role as well with a few nice action scenes. His side-kick Wen Jiang also did a nice job in a supporting role. Felicity Jones did admirably as the lead. The "main" villain, a high up Imperial official was a little over-played and never felt very imposing. Diego Luna's character was just OK, I felt that some of his character development was forced (not necessarily the actor's fault on that).
Pacing - the movie is fast paced and action focused and seemed to jump around a little too quickly. I think it could have used a few more slow character development scenes to break up some of the action.
Being primarily an action movie this had its share of battle scenes and I was very happy to see someone finally do some homage to the original trilogy's great space battles. Donnie got a scene or two to show off his martial arts abilities, but it fit into the mythos well. All the ground battle scenes were typical star wars fare, but done well with some tense blaster fights.
A few mixed bag items. The director used quite a few real sets, which I always appreciate and I think should be used more often than relying on CGI backgrounds as default (my personal preference there). However, while he did this for some of his backgrounds he decided that for some Episode IV characters he wanted to show in his movie he would just bring them back as fully CGI characters. Moff Tarkin is back as a fairly main character and very painful to see, it was a shame they couldn't have just done him as a hologram recording when needed as every time he came on scene I cringed. There's many "easter eggs" in the movie or overt references to things from the original trilogy. Some felt organic or at least humorously done (like two characters from the bar scene in episode IV), but then others felt forced like when the "main" villain reports to one of the higher ups because he wants credit for the death star being built.
All in all, this is a wonderful homage to Star Wars and a worthy prequel to Episode IV. If you were scared that Disney would ruin star wars after seeing VII, then this should assure you that there may still be some gems to come out.
Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)
The Force is weak with this one...
Alright, let's get it out of the way. Huge fan of the original (Ep IV-VI) trilogy. I thought there were some redeeming things in Ep. I (Darth Maul, Duel of the Fates, Liam Neeson), but 2&3 were forgettable IMHO. I have not liked the Star Trek reboots, but really enjoyed the older Star Treks. Just wanted to give you a little background on other movies so you can understand where my tastes are coming from.
I was not expecting to like this movie before I saw it, due to my dislike of the JJ Treks. But the excitement got to me and by the time it released I was pretty giddy to see another Star Wars after so many years, with the hope that it would redeem the franchise. Seeing some of the set design and the fact that JJ was trying to pay homage to the originals, using some people in costumes as opposed to all CGI for one, really made me feel like this had a chance. Unfortunately, with the exception of a few scenes this left me very disappointed. Let's get to the issues:
Acting - Oscar Isaac (Poe) was my favorite character. I have a slight spoiler here - I hope we get to see more from this guy in the future, as he played the roguish character this series needs. Daisy Ridley and John Boyega do adequate jobs, but nothing to blow your mind. Adam Driver, has a good voice for the villain when the mask is on, but I felt like he was pretty weak when the mask was off - being a Darth Vader fan-boy seemed like a lame reason to be a Sith. The only one of the old cast who got any major screen time was Harrison and I felt like he was just trying to get the cash. He was not channeling the old roguish charm he had in the originals. Also - R2D2 and C3PO were hardly in this at all, and I felt like their banter was sorely needed.
Let's talk plot/story/pacing - The plot is basically a redo of Episode IV. You won't find much originality here. Start off on desert planet Tattoo-er Jakku - check. Young no-body gets involved with a robot with plans to the death -er... a map - check. There's a big super death star that can blow up multiple planets at once and you need a young team of Rebels- er... Resistance fighters to stop it. I can understand wanting to do something familiar to get people back in the groove of SW, but they could have come up with something a little different. I mean, this was done before, and done better (not to mention we've had death stars in two of the originals already - getting tired of them!). All this could be forgiven if you had some good character development to keep you engaged, but that was sadly lacking. I don't know what it is with JJ films but the pacing always feels off. This feels more like a Michael Bay film were the story is throw in quick lines between action scenes. There were hardly any slow spots in this show, it just flowed from action to more action. Again, if you want to really amp up the space battles and force battles I'd be OK with that, after all the space battles in the originals were the best space battles ever. EVER! But aside from the very first flying battle (two tie fighters against the Millennium Falcon), the rest of the battles were just quick flashes where they alternated very quickly between ground and air fights, too quickly to really let either one sink in. The light- saber battles were pretty lame too. Spoiler! - For Kylo Ren being such a supposedly strong villain he gets whooped pretty lamely by an ex-storm trooper (who had no combat prowess, whatsoever) and a newbie Jedi-to-be. Makes sense that they wouldn't be pulling off great light-saber stunts, but still the battles didn't feel all that intense. The biggest plot "surprise" which I won't spoil here but just wanted to point out - was predictable and really didn't serve much of a purpose in my mind.
The music - John Williams is the man. So why did I not even notice his scoring in this movie? Very disappointing.
Final verdict - This movie plays a lot on nostalgia. JJ threw in just about everything he could from the original movies (chess board on the Millennium Falcon). Spoiler - He even brought back the original Darth Vader light-saber that Luke lost in Ep. V. (with no explanation except that it was a story for another time - lame). If this movie was not Star Wars, it would not be getting the excitement it is now. With it being Star Wars I felt like it was an inadequate sequel to the originals, slightly better than the prequels, and was more of a lame homage. I give it a 6 out of 10. You'll see it just to see what happens, but it's not worth much of a second viewing. Again, just my opinion so take it for what it's worth.
Welcome to the Jungle (2013)
Funny direct to DVD movie
If you're looking for some laughs and to see Jean Claude van Damme being hilariously ridiculous then this movie is good for a watch.
Basic premise is Office Space meets Lord of the Flies with JCVD thrown into the mix.
JCVD is a welcome addition to the cast, definitely poking a lot of fun at himself in this role. The main actor is almost a carbon copy of the lead from Office Space in terms of his persona and his back-story. The supporting cast are great, especially the "evil" co-worker.
Nothing deep or serious here. All in all just a funny romp worth watching.
Push (2009)
Really enjoyable
I rented this movie a week ago and was pleasantly surprised to find it was very entertaining. There's a few issues here and there but all the actors did a great job, the action scenes were well done, the psychic abilities were interesting (loved the Asian dude who screams, his face was hilarious!), and the Hong Kong local lent a nice feel to the movie. It was easy to follow and kept my attention the whole time. Dakota Fanning and Chris Evans really did a good job. I thought the director also had some nice shots in there and the special effects, while low budget, were decently done.
All in all I'd highly recommend if you're a sci-fi fan. It's too bad the release didn't do too well because I would have loved to see a sequel.
Blended (2014)
Been a while since I've laughed so hard
Went to this movie a little leery because of the reviews and because I haven't loved all of Adam Sandler's movies. I was very surprised to find that I laughed nearly the whole movie. I thought Adam and Drew Barrymore did a great job together. All of the supporting cast was hilarious, especially Kevin Nealon and his "wife," and Terry Crews, who cracked me up every single scene he was in. Some of the scenes were a bit emotional, and even these scenes teared me up a little bit, thought all the acting was well done. The Africa setting was beautiful and the scenes in the hotel were gorgeous.
All in all I'd highly recommend this to anyone who wants a few laughs and a feel good movie.
Riddick (2013)
Riddick - just as bad-ass as the previous ones!
Just saw the movie and loved it. I greatly enjoyed the first and second films so I've been looking forward to this since it was announced. It's a great sci-fi bad-ass action movie. Plenty of cheesy one-liners and good action scenes set in a sci-fi world.
The story wasn't anything spectacular, no breaking new ground here but it does set the stage for the next (hope we get a next!!!!). Graphics were well-done, alien life wasn't anything unique but were suitably scary.
If you liked the 1st and/or 2nd film you'll enjoy this. It pays more homage to the 1st than the 2nd. Vin Diesel does another great job acting as Riddick and you'll be cheering for the anti-hero as usual.
I personally am hoping the series continues, can't get enough of this! hope you enjoy!
The World's End (2013)
Horribly boring. By far the worst of the 3 Simon Pegg/Nick Frost movies
I'd start this off by saying that I absolutely love Hot Fuzz. It's one of my all-time favorite movies. Shaun of the Dead was funny, but not as good as Hot Fuzz, IMHO.
This movie, which I had high expectations for, was absolutely terrible. My wife and I went to see this and thought with an IMDb rating of 7.8 that this was sure to be a good comedy. Instead, we laughed maybe three times throughout the movie. Simon Pegg's character was just plain annoying and none of the other characters were anything memorable. The jokes were lame and didn't have anything near the wittiness of the other two movies in this "trilogy." The first 1/3 of the movie is spent setting the scene and drags on. The 2nd & 3rd portions become more of an action/chase movie and while the action scenes were very well done there just wasn't enough of comedy in this film to make it worth seeing. It seemed to not know what it was supposed to be and while the action scenes in Hot Fuzz were both good actions scenes and absolutely hilarious, the ones here were more kung fu (which I love), but with very little comedic pizazz.
Again, just my opinion but I thought this was dreadfully boring.