Movie Review Index

Movies and Anime reviewed in alphabetical order.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012)

Act of Valor (2012)

After Earth (2013)

Apollo 18

Battleship (2012)

Blade Runner (1982)

Blood & Gold (2023)

Chronicle (2012)

Cloud Atlas (2012)

Deliver Us From Evil (2014)

Drive (2011)

Edge Of Tomorrow (2014)

Elysium (2013)

Europa Report (2013)

Godzilla (2014)

Godzilla Minus One (2023)

Gravity (2013)

Haywire (2011)

I Am Number Four

Immortals (2011)

Iron Man 3 (2013)

James Bond Skyfall

Jurassic World (2015)

Lone Ranger (2013)

Love (2011) – 2001 and Moon meet The Fountain

Lucy (2014)

Man of Steel (2013)

Oblivion (2013)

Only God Forgives

Pacific Rim (2013)

Prometheus (2012)

Riddick (2013)

Safe House (2012)

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)

Silent Rage (1982)

SISU (2022)

Skyfall

Snow White & the Huntsman (2012)

Solaris (1972, 2002)

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

Super Dimension Fortress Macross

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

The Avengers (2012)

The Last Days on Mars (2013)

The Martian (2015)

The Place Beyond The Pines (2013)

The Thing (1951, 1982, 2011)

The Wolverine (2013)

Transformers Age of Extinction (2014)

Under the Skin (2013)

Underworld [Entire series]

World War Z (2013)

Wrath of the Titans (2012)

X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

Movie Review X-Men: Days of Future Past

Wolverine and the X-men in their best outing yet.

 

Past and Future clash to Fix the first class

 

Wolverine meets the X-men and his claws go far…

 

            Time travel, time travel, time travel.

 

            Time travel: a writer’s ultimate crutch and vehicle to place characters (and actors) from different eras on the same screen. It’s always been a risky gamble that I have yet to see pay off- in a way that’s truly worthy of the writing reach. Ask the Star Trek franchise about it- Picard and Kirk, Spock and um…Spock.

 

X-Games      

So what we have here is a bleak future for the Earth as the human vs mutant war draws to a close with the extinction of anything with funky genes. Hugh Jackman’s popular Wolverine is sent back in time to unite Professor X and Magneto in order to change a pivotal event that leads mankind on a course for conflict and carnage. It’s a simple plot that neatly side steps the early reboot misstep of X-Men: First Class (2011). We get to keep the best parts of Class – James MCAvoy as young Xavier/Professor X and Michael Fassbender as Erik/Magneto…and we get to dump the weak parts like…the first class.

 

I hope you really liked The Wolverine (2013)

 

This movie should really be called “Wolverine and the X-Men: Days of Future Past”. It’s mostly Wolverine getting the spotlight along with the younger masterminds. The rest of the X-men become side characters whose roles are sliding dangerously close to cameo status. But that’s not too bewildering since the rine has had the most development and all that solo success. It’s uncanny (see what I did there?) that writers Simon Kindberg, Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn did not elect to split the screen time a bit more equally between the future war (with sentinels buzzing about) and the 70s, where Wolverine is working, trying to set things right. It’s the same effect of seeing glimpses of the future in the Terminator series. Everyone wants to see more from the warfront. And honesty, you could have several confrontations that build momentum as the other X-men (in the future) hold the line until Wolverine finishes his mission. You’ll see what I mean.

 

The Blue Star

The beautiful blue Raven/Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) is back in full hue and remains the object of everyone’s desire. Although it’s a little hard to swallow that she’d be so hell bent on following a course of disaster -even as EVERYONE tells her what she’s doing… is going to have grave consequences, literally. As it is, she’s a delight to see and has the best fight choreography and costume special effects work.

 

Fan-made fantastic artwork

So is it rated-X?

Yes, this is a good movie. There are moments of humor, twists, turns and a shock or two. And that’s not easy to pull off when you are dealing with time travel because you know- no matter how bad things get, one tick of the clock sets everything right. We are also dealing with the weirdness of the superheroes having weight based on their comic and cartoon history, starring in a movie that replaces most of that supporting back story. I’m still waiting for a large set piece. Out of all the movies, you’d figure Future Past would provide the perfect opportunity to show wide-scale action that could easily match and surpass anything the Avengers tossed our way. I mean that was a New York City battle. This is supposed to be a WAR. That disappointment aside, Future Past holds its place as the best X-Men movie, even with the heavy dose of Wolverine.

 

After Effects X

Stick around for the post credits clip. I don’t consider these spoilers as you pretty much have to already know to enjoy them. That character teased under the hood is Apocalypse and he is a very powerful adversary in the X-Men comics. Here’s the WIKI page about him for those that want to know more.

 

And…and….

I feel X-Men: Days of Future Past does well to tie up a good number of loose ends and fixes and few snags- even though it leaves a few knots in its time-line swimming plot. Hopefully we get what we are promised and the X-men get a future that’s more balanced and action packed. Now, if we can just figure out how to keep all these actors around.

I’m not a movie critic, I’m just critiquing a movie.

Movie Review Godzilla 2014

Act of Valor meets Silkwood meets Cloverfield and it works!

 

The King plays Vegas

The King of Monsters awakens in 2014

Let’s get the ugly business out of the way first. Godzilla (2014) represents the second attempt to bring American audiences the Japanese hero/anti-hero/King of Monsters. The previous 1998 attempt (starring Mathew Broderick) stripped the franchise of every theme and motif except for the big monster stomping around and hoped you wouldn’t notice. Once you miss the point of what Godzilla represents, you are left with the human interest that’s supposed to hold our attention between the monster-mash-melees. That is why this trailer got me so excited. We have a very solid acting performance by Bryan Cranston playing nuclear plant-specialist Ford Brody. You get a glimpse of soldiers HALO (High Altitude Low Opening) jumping into combat. We see massive destruction and the iconic roar – peppered in, with teasing shots of unknown monsters.

 

“Only one thing worse than a dragon… Americans.”

– Creedy in Reign of Fire (2002)

 

Yeah, I know, it’s the Americanizing that has everyone worried. Pacific Rim made good on adapting long-standing Japanese giant robot themes and turning out a Hollywood blockbuster. So what do we get here? Well, you get what you expect with a few turns and a scene or two developed strictly to move the plot along. These moments aren’t bad or too distracting by any means, but for a film that takes the Godzilla legend and itself so seriously, it’s a little eyebrow raising. We even have the eerie vocal lines from 2001: A Space Odyssey. But okay, Americans are the stars of the show. They are the ones to figure everything out (basically) and determine the fates of all involved. Ken Watanabe stars as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa, whose considerable acting talents are pushed aside as he pretty much stays -stunned to the point of inaction for the entire movie. In summary, he represents the singular important Japanese character that really isn’t as important as he should be.

 

Plotting Points and a few Points of Interest

            What’s the big deal -since you have Godzilla starting in Japan and making his way to the United States? The idea is that 1954 Godzilla really occurred- we knew about him and tried to kill him before AND now in 2014, we really don’t know what we are doing when it comes to these monsters. There’s a serious tone that weaves its way throughout this movie. Godzilla is referred to as a god and a creature meant to dispense judgment and return balance to the world. You know what happened when they tried to bring balance to the force right? Same thing here. There’s a proper and huge build up before zillas arrival and many other scares besides being squashed by a giant foot. The movie breaks into three swinging arcs. The first, is the nuclear cover-up, the second is the military foot-soldier operation and the third is the big behemoth battle(s). It’s a fun ride with some great special effects and thankfully, we avoid the Transformers and The Avengers silliness of heroes helping civilians scramble to safety while the entire world is on the brink of destruction. We do get the big point about how family is important. It’s what puts the wheels in motion (on numerous levels) and that human concern and caring is the (true and only) reason mankind deserves to survive this new awakening.

 

Speaking of family, heavily overlooked is Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick Ass) playing bomb-specialist Ford Brody. He is the lead action star and carries the military aspect on his soldier shoulders. To be honest, it’s pretty misleading that he is NOT being shown as the main character in the trailers. In the end, Godzilla is a nice American version of the Japanese franchise and does the source material enough justice- so that there is room for sequels and still more Toho/Showa-created movies. Godzilla is back in a big way. This is a film worth seeing and it’s going to keep its high marks because I don’t expect a true Japanese-feeling Godzilla unless it’s made with Japanese sensibilities. This movie is actually what Cloverfield should have been.

 

A Bit More Zillaness

            As I mentioned in the opening paragraphs, Godzilla movies live and die by the stuff between the fights. The tone of the movie is set by the human regard for Godzilla. If he’s seen from a kid’s perspective, then it’s a child-friendly movie and Godzilla is a hero for the kids. Godzilla has be portrayed as a moral statement about man’s destructive ways and his blatant disregard for the sanctity of nature. My overall favorite Godzilla movie is the 1968 Destroy All Monsters. It gives us a huge cast of Toho greats and the humans actually have important stuff to do throughout the movie. Add the sci-fi bend of aliens and rocket ships and you have a calamitous Kaiju cocktail.

 

A Kaiju Classic

Godzilla 2014 worked for me because I wasn’t anxious to see Godzilla or impatient with the human drama. I actually wished certain characters stuck around longer and had more to do. I enjoyed this formula and hope Toho releases the other monster licenses (one at a time) and we use a Dark Knight system, where the next bad-guy-introduction drives the franchise. I would like to see the next movie slide a bit more towards the east. I’m not a movie critic, I’m just critiquing a movie.