Plot
"John Connor sends Kyle Reese back in time to protect Sarah Connor, but when he arrives in 1984, nothing is as he expected it to be."
My Thoughts
I am a pretty big fan of the "Terminator" series (T2 is my favorite of the Bunch) I was pretty excited to hear that they where making a new installment in the franchise (Salvation rubbed me the wrong way). After seeing the film I can say that it was a solid film and has me interested to see where the new trilogy will take us. Starting with the cast Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen for you Game Of Thrones Fan) was decent as Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton for me will always be Sarah Connor). this was my first time actually seeing her act and she was solid (though her English accent did slip out a few times), but overall she played the character well and was believable,I will keep my eye out for her and look forward to see her acting in different roles in the future. Jai Courtney played the role of Kyle Reese a very important character in the "Terminator" universe, I have to say overall he did a decent job in his role for me he was actually better than the previous Actors who have played kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin in "Salvation" and Micheal Biehn in "Terminator") I have seen Jai Courtney in a number of films and this was the best performance in my opinion I have seen from him, I look forward to seeing how his future performances in this role expand. I don't need to say much about Arnold he is "Terminator" and he did an awesome Job in this film, I like the way in this film he had a bit more of a "Human" feel to him it was refreshing and nice to see, in most of the other films his character was a little to "Robotic" if you get my drift, he had some emotion in this one and it really played well for his character as the film played out. The most important character in the "Terminator" series is John Connor, anyone who has seen the other films in the series will know we have seen him in many different life stages (Edward Furlong in T2 is my favorite iteration of John Connor). Jason Clarke took his turn as John Connor, and I have to say overall he was okay not the Best (Edward Furlong) but also not the worst (Nick Stahl). His acting style for me felt a bit stilted and lacked emotion, overall he felt stoic in his delivery and mannerisms (I have never seen this actor in anything else so I Have nothing to base this on). This film serves as a reboot of the "Terminator" Franchise so previous knowledge of the past films is not really needed for those viewing this film who have not seen any of the other ones. This was an interesting direction to take as for me it was unexpected, after seeing it play out over the course of two hours, I can say that I am excited to see where it goes from here, the plot was easy to follow and worked well. The special effects in this film were top notch and the settings were done very well there are three different time periods in this film 1984,2017 and 2029 (1997 is mentioned but never visited) and all three time periods felt very different to each other which was cool to see how the three periods over the curse of the film came together. Rotten Tomatoes gave this film a 27% saying " Mired in its muddled mythology, Terminator: Genisys is a lurching retread that lacks the thematic depth, conceptual intelligence, or visual thrills that launched this once-mighty franchise." I disagree with this very much I thought the film was solid and worth seeing for those that are fans of the "Terminator" universe. Overall I would say this is my 3rd favorite in the series (Behind T2 and T1) its a reboot that has me excited to see where the "Terminator" series goes from here.
Rating
Solid Film, I recommend for "Terminator" Fans or fans of Action films 7.6/10!!!!
The next film to review is "The Gallows"starring Reese Mishler, Pfeifer Brown and Ryan Shoos
Plot
"20 years after a horrific accident during a small town school play, students at the school resurrect the failed show in a misguided attempt to honor the anniversary of the tragedy - but soon discover that some things are better left alone".
My Thoughts
When I first saw the trailer for this film I was pretty interested in seeing this movie as the trailer made the look to be a new take on Found footage horror films, which are usually pretty underwhelming. After seeing this film i can say this is the worst film I have seen this year so far, I will not spend much time on the review for this as the film is not worth going into depth on why it is bad, I will say the cast is full of unknown actors which can be good if the actors have ability, in this case they do not and it looked to me the casting director just said find 4 teens who look good, regardless of acting ability. The film suffered horribly from this there was not one character in this film that the audience could make a connection with and I didn't really care what the characters where going through as the film played out. This film was rated R which for me is always a good sign for a horror movie, the problem is I do not see why this film had that rating there was nothing in this film other than some foul language that would warrant an R rating. The plot of the film was very cliched and has been seen in many other horror films (Ghost haunting) I was hoping the film being a found footage film would differentiate from the norm when it comes to films like this, sadly that was not the case. The film had a few jump scares thrown in there but other than that it was not scary or entertaining at all, the only aspect I liked about the film was the POV changes that happened that allowed us to see certain aspects that happened in the film that otherwise the audience would not have been able to see. this film truly was a letdown for me I was expecting a decent horror film, But i will put this in the "Trailer was better than the movie" category and move on. one last thing the most infuriating aspect of this film was the ending, it was so cliched and I saw it coming when there was around 30 minutes left in the film and to actually see it happen on the screen made it that much worse as I still had hope that maybe I was wrong and the ending would be different sadly it wasn't. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 16% saying "Narratively contrived and visually a mess, The Gallows sends viewers on a shaky tumble to the bottom of the found-footage horror barrel." I agree with everything said here film was a disaster and as I mentioned earlier worst film I have seen this year so far, I do not recommend to see it unless you have absolutely nothing else to do and want to waste 90 minutes of your life that you will not be able to get back.
Rating
Worst Film I have seen this year, Skip it 5.5/10!!!!
The next film to review is "Ant-Man" starring Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas and Evangeline Lily.
Plot
"Armed with a super-suit with the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, con-man Scott Lang must embrace his inner hero and help his mentor, Dr. Hank Pym, plan and pull off a heist that will save the world".
My Thoughts
I will be the first to say I do not know much about Ant-Man's history/Lore I was never into him really as a hero, I was hesitant on what to expect from this film, (from Ant-Man in general to Paul Rudd being cast as the Lead), I decided after seeing the trailer that I would give this film a chance. After seeing the film this past weekend I can say that the film was definitely different, Not in a bad way but comparing it to most of the past marvel films it had a different feel overall and I can say it was refreshing for the most part. What I mean by different compared to most of the other marvel films is that this film does not take itself seriously one bit, there are plenty of comedic moments (with the best ones Performed by Micheal Pena who played Luis, he was awesome in this role) that overall made the film pretty funny and entertaining, The acting overall was solid Paul Rudd was Decent as Scott Lang a father who is down on his luck and just trying to make a living that would make his daughter proud of him, Micheal Douglass for me did the best acting Job in this film which shouldn't be that surprising considering his pedigree, he played Hank Pym who in the marvel comic universe is usually Ant-Man in this film he played more of a mentor role for Paul Rudd's character, other than that the rest of the cast did a solid job and no actor was terrible in the film (I will also mention that there was a cameo by one of the avengers which was entertaining). Another aspect of this film that separates from most of the other marvel films is the lack of action, for the most part this film focused on developing the characters and the story first and foremost and didn't throw in a lot of big action sequences especially early in the film, towards the climax and he end of the film there was a bit more action, but if you are someone who just enjoys a lot of action with little story this film is not for you it focused on the characters and the story and for me while it was a change of pace from other marvel films for the most part I enjoyed the direction this film took,The story was solid It played out well it had a few cliches in it but overall the story wasn't bad and I enjoyed it. The special effects in this film where good and what you would expect from a marvel film, what really stood out to me was the special effects of the ant's they looked so lifelike and real, it was really well done and I commend the special effects studio that worked on this movie for that fact alone. There was not much about this film I really disliked other than some of the cliched parts that you could see coming as the film played out, I will add that those of you who are familiar with Ant-Man may not see these as cliches and that maybe how the story plays out in the comics, but for me it was a negative. Rotten Tomatoes gave this film a 79% saying " Led by a charming performance from Paul Rudd, Ant-Man offers Marvel thrills on an appropriately smaller scale -- albeit not as smoothly as its most successful predecessors". I agree overall with this Paul Rudd was solid in his performance and seeing the actions sequences play out on a small scale was really entertaining to see. Overall this film was good and I am glad that I took a chance on it even though I knew nothing really about this character, I am interested to see how Ant-Man will fit into the marvel universe in the coming films.
My Thoughts
Overall solid film, I recommend to any marvel fans or Fans of Ant-Man 7.8/10!!!!
