March 2014!!!

The Month Of March brings with it three films to review, the first being 300:Rise Of An Empire starring Sullivan Stapleton, Eva green and Lena Headey.

Plot

"Greek general Themistokles leads the charge against invading Persian forces led by mortal-turned-god Xerxes and Artemisia, vengeful commander of the Persian navy".


My thoughts

300 for me was a really good action film, the art direction and style were very unique to the movie for the time, I thought 300 was a really good action film with really good battle scenes, and solid acting for what the film was. When I had first heard of a sequel potentially being made years ago I was really excited and anticipated the film greatly. When I read the plot originally I was under the impression that it would be prequel to the first film, and for me that led to huge disappointment,I really wanted to see what happened after the film not before the film. as time went by heard that there was a script change and that the film would take place before,during,and after the events of the first film, which intrigued me very much. After seeing the film I have to say it was a very solid film and a great continuation of the series. the acting was solid as was the case in the first scene nothing spectacular (Except I will say special Mention to Eva Green as the role of Artemisisa she was excellent and was the standout of all the other casts) everyone else did a passable job. The major aspect of 300 that for me stood out was the art style and the effects of the first film, this film continues that art direction and it did a great job with the battle scenes and the choreography , I could tell this film had 3D in mind (I saw the non-3D version) with a lot of the blood splatters and other aspects of the battle scenes, but nonetheless the battle scenes were very well done and a treat to experience,m I will say they may have overdone it a little with the slow motion cuts in certain parts of the film after a while it got slight annoying with so much slow mo. Another aspect of the film that annoyed me and I was glad was not tin the first film at all was the ship battle scene, for me it was very boring to see the ships just throw spears and shoot arrows at each other, I am sure it is somewhat accurate of how battle was done back then but for me it really slowed the pace down of a frenetic paced film.. A really big plus of this film that I liked was the continuation of the story and the integration it had, with his film taking place around the events of the first film, I really liked that they incorporated scenes from the first film and the characters from the first film as well, this was one of the few sequels in my opinion that did this extremely well and I have to commend the writing team for a great job of linking it all together. Rotten Tomatoes had this to say "it's bound to hit some viewers as an empty exercise in stylish gore, and despite a gonzo starring performance from Eva Green, 300: Rise of an Empire is a step down from its predecessor". I agree somewhat Eva green was excellent and I do agree that the first film was better, the film is an action movies and it mainly meant to have good special effects and good battle films, that was all i expected to see and the film delivered that perfectly; you have to adjust your expectations to what you expect to see , I did and I was perfectly pleased with this film.

Rating

If you enjoyed the first film and want to see a continuation of the series, See it, if you want to see a stylish, solid acted action film with great special effect, see it. 7.7/10!!!


The next film is "Sabotage" starring Arnold Schawrzengger, Sam Worthington and Terrance Howard.

Plot

"Members of an elite DEA task force find themselves being taken down one by one after they rob a drug cartel safe house".

My Thoughts

I am glad that some of the old guard of Hollywood action (Willis, Stallone and Schwarzenegger09 are coming back to Hollywood and making films again. While some of the films have been bad (A good day to die hard, Live free or die hard, the cold light of day) some I have thoroughly enjoyed (Both expendables films, The last stand and Bullet to the head, after seeing this film I can honestly say I really enjoyed it and I can say that it was one of the best Schwarzenegger films I have seen in recent memory. I will admit I was a bit skeptical about this film when I read about the plot a few months ago, those fears where quelled when I saw the trailer, I really liked the dark,gritty and violent look the trailer had imprinted in my head about this film. After seeing the film the trailer put me in the right frame of mind of what to expect from this film, it is non stop action, blood, violence and gore and I loved it. this film did not try to be something it was not if you want to see an R rated action film that puts the pedal to the metal this is the film for you. The cast all did a really good job for their roles (Schwarzenegger did a fantastic job as the grizzled veteran leader of his rag tag group of DEA agents also special mention to Sam Worthington for his role as ":Monster" and Mireille Enos as "Lizzy" they both stood out the most for me). The plot for this film was actually an interesting one and kept me engaged throughout the film and had some surprised to keep me from figuring the entire plot until the end. there was no cheesy special effects in this film which really helped with keeping to the true to life feel of this film.Rotten Tomatoes gave this film a 22% saying "Sabotage boasts one of Arnold Schwarzenegger's finer post-political performances, but it's wasted in a movie driven by grueling violence that punishes seemingly without purpose". I agree that this was one of Schawrzenegger's best performances in recent memory as I mentioned earlier in the review, I disagree as saying the violence as a negative I saw this as a huge positive and enjoyed every minute of the fast paced and non stop action of this film, If you are an Arnold Fan or just want to see a really bloody,violent and furious action film I recommend this highly.

Rating

Exactly what I wanted to see and did everything I expected was a very good violent, gritty, fast paced action film. 8.0/10!!!!


The last movie for the month of March is "Noah" starring Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connolley and Emma Watson.

 

Plot

"A man is chosen by God to undertake a momentous mission of rescue before an apocalyptic flood destroys the world".

My Thoughts.

The first Epic movie of the year (for me personally), I had high hopes for this epic rendition of the story of Noah's Arc. Everything about this movie said to me it was going to be  a good film from the cast (Russell Crowe, Anthony Hopkins, Ray Windsotone, Nick Nolte to name a few) the director (Darren Aronofsky) the Budget (well in excess of $100 Million). The expectations from me were very high, due to the fact everything looked to be going well for this film. After seeing the film I can say this is the worst film I have seen of the year so far and by a wide margin. I can honestly say this was one of the films that I after I saw it i said to myself "I want the 138 minutes of my life back". The movie just had such bad pacing and so little moments that actually caught my attention, this was a very boring film that did little to pique my interest. The action was dull and not choreographed very well in my opinion. The acting was lackluster for the most part (Crowe was the shining star he did a really well job playing the title role of Noah, he showed a lot of range for me and tried his best to save this film) unfortunately everyone else did not follow Mr.Crowe's lead the rest of the cast felt flat and were rather disappointing (Especially Jennfier Connolley and Emma Watson (who has yet to show me a good acting performance).I have a rule I go by when watching films, if the film is going to be long it better be enjoyable and engaging as to make the film seem shorter than it actually is, this filmed failed in the aspect horribly the film was slow paced and actually felt longer than the 138 minute run time. There was nothing other than the acting job By Russell Crowe and the visuals (which for a film of this budget I expected would be topnotch and they where) that I actually liked about this film, form the bad acting to the "Wacthers" ( I wont say anything but the whole way that situation of the film was done was laughable to say the least) to the last 25 minutes of the film which really added nothing much to the film but made thee run time longer, another problem I had with this film was that it tried to hard to be "Epic" and that I mean by that is that there where a lot of pan shots and wide landscaped shots to try and show the viewer that everything about this scene was supposed to be "Epic" and really important when the scene itself didn't need that affect to be add to it, just made the scene cheesy in my opinion. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 75% "With sweeping visuals grounded by strong performances in service of a timeless tale told on a human scale, Darren Aronofsky's Noah brings the Bible epic into the 21st century". I disagree completely with the score it was way to high in my opinion this film had the potential to be so good but in the end I do not know what happened but it got it all wrong on every level.

Rating

Worst Move I have seen this year so far, had such high expectations in the end they were not met in the least 6.0/10!!!!!

February 2014!!!!

The Month of February brings with it two films to review, the first being ":Robocop" Starring Joel Kinnaman, Micheal Keaton and Gary Oldman.

Plot

"In 2028 Detroit, when Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) - a loving husband, father and good cop - is critically injured in the line of duty, the multinational conglomerate OmniCorp sees their chance for a part-man, part-robot police officer."

My Thoughts

I am sure most people have seen the original three "Robocop" films while they are for the most part regarded as classics or the very least cult film, for me the film where as a whole not very good overall. especially the special effects I know that the films where made in the late 80's/early 90's but the CG being so bad just made the films unwatchable for me. I did like the concept of the films though with a half-man/half machine element that allowed the machine to have a more "human" feel to it. When i first heard wind of the reboot of the series I was at first very skeptical (as for the most part Hollywood reboots are usually worse than the original) after seeing the film I can say that they did a relatively good job on rebooting the series. First off the CGI for the most part was much better than the original films (there where a few parts of the film that the CG really stood out and I could tell it wasn't done very well) overall though the CGI was done very well. The plot of this film was slightly different than the plot of the original film both plots arrived at basically the same scenario, the only difference that really stands out was the environment going on in the film (There was a highly political feel to this film with the nation seeming to be divided into to camps those that supported robocops and those that did not), Overall the plot was believable and worked well with the film. The acting for the most part was solid and passable there where no really standout performances (I will say I really enjoyed Samuel L. Jackson;'s character) , the rest of the coast did a solid Job (It was also nice to see Micheal Keaton in another role again haven't seen him act in so long). I didn't have huge expectations with this film but I will say the film was solid and if you are a fan of the robocop series and want to see a reboot of the series I suggest you see this film it meet my expectations and slightly exceeded them.Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 50% saying "While it's far better than it could have been, José Padilha's RoboCop remake fails to offer a significant improvement over the original". I have to say i slightly disagree I think this film was better than the original in every way I enjoyed the plot a little more, the acting to me was a little better and the special effects to me really made this film stand above the original.

Rating

If you are a fan of the series and event to see a reboot I recommend this film, In my opinion it was sightly better than the original in every way. 7.3/10!!!!


The second and last movie for the month of February for review is "Non-Stop" starring Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore and Scoot Mcnairy.

Plot

"An air marshal springs into action during a transatlantic flight after receiving a series of text messages that put his fellow passengers at risk unless the airline transfers $150 million into an off-shore account".

My Thoughts

Recently for me Liam Nesson has been really good in all of his roles I have seen (Taken,Taken 2, The Grey, even to a lesser extent Clash of the titans and wrath of the titans). This film didn't catch my eye till i was putting together my watch list for the year after reading about the plot and finding out that Liam Neeson was going to star in the film was all the motivation that I needed to add it to my watch list. After seeing the film I am glad that I took the time to see it on opening day, Liam Neeson did a really good job a federal Air Marshall struggling with alcohol abuse and other personal problems he was dealing with. The rest of the cast did a really good job (Julianne Moore did really well as did Oscar nominee Lupita Nyongo'o in a supporting role, special mention to Michelle Dockery as well). The pacing of the film flowed really well together and there was hardly a dull moment in this film. I really liked the idea behind this film with Liam Nesson's character being tasked with trying to find out who was threatening to kill passengers unless compensation was payed, I will say there are a lot of suspects in this film and and the ending depending on how close attention the viewer is paying during the film may or may not be a surprise, I liked the ending and felt it didn't deter to much from the field by being so far out in left field that it would not have made sense to the viewer at all. There was not a lot majorly wrong with this film and nothing really stood out to me that really hurt my viewing experience with the film. Rotten Tomatoes gave this film a 55% saying "While Liam Neeson is undoubtedly an asset, Non-Stop wastes its cast -- not to mention its solid premise and tense setup -- on a poorly conceived story that hinges on a thoroughly unbelievable final act". I disagree with this rating, I agree Liam Neeson shined really well in this film, but I disagree about the ending while a lot was going on the ending was not unbelievable if the viewer pays attention. Overall this was a really good action film with a nice, somewhat refreshing plot good actors especially Liam Neeson, Best Film I have seen this year so far (that is not saying much but still)

My Rating

Very good performance By Liam Neeson, very good film 8.1./10!!!!

January 2014!!!

The first month of the new year brings with it two films to review the first being "Ride Along" Starring Ice Cube, Kevin Hart and John Leguizamo.

Plot

"Fast-talking security guard Ben joins his cop brother-in-law James on a 24-hour patrol of Atlanta in order to prove himself worthy of marrying Angela, James' sister".

My Thoughts

With Comedy Films I only ask myself one question "Is the film funny" and the answer to that question for this film is Yes!!, I f  you are a Kevin Hart fan you  will thoroughly enjoy this film, Ice Cube was a good partner for him in the film they had good chemistry. Rottten Tomatoes gave the film a 17% and had this to say "Kevin Hart's livewire presence gives Ride Along a shot of necessary energy, but it isn't enough to rescue this would-be comedy from the buddy-cop doldrums". I agree for the most part Kevin Hart was really funny in this film, was the plot of the film not very good ? sure!, was the film cheesy in some parts sure, but overall for what it was I enjoyed it.

Rating

If you enjoy Kevin Hart and Comedy's you will enjoy this film 7.2/10!!!



The Second and last Movie for the month of January is "I, Frankenstein" Starring Aaron Eckhart, Yvonne Strahovski and  Miranda Otto.

Plot

"Frankenstein's creature finds himself caught in an all-out, centuries old war between two immortal clans".

My Thoughts

I am a big fan of the Frankenstein story and have seen many of the adaptations of the story over the years. When I first read about this film I was excited to see what Hollywood would come up with, when I first saw the trailer my interest piqued even more. After seeing the film I can see that I was satisfied, the film met my expectations for what I expected to see.  I expected to see a good action film with good CG, a not so great but believable story and have good action sequences. I can say the film met all of those points to a satisfactory level. I had the accidental situation of seeing this film in IMAX 3D and I will say that the 3D and the size of the IMAX screen actually increased the pleasure of my viewing experience.I have to say the CG ion this film was really good some of the best I have seen in recent memory it really added a touch of "Flair" to the film with ow good the CG was (especially when the demons where killed) the colors really popped and and stood out to me. The story was not all that believable but it worked well with what the film was trying to accomplish, the only gripe I would have is that Hollywood once again had to tack on the obligatory "love" interest that almost every  movie nowadays seems to always have.The fight scenes where really well done they looked very fluid and the choreography was really good, these were some of the better action/fight scenes I have seen in a action film in recent memory. The acting overall wasn't anything special but it wasn't the worst that I have seen either, for what I expected of the film the entire main cast did a passable job at that they needed to convey. Overall for me this film did exactly what I expected of it and satisfied m,y expectations Rotten Tomatoes had this to say about the film "Loud, incoherent, and dramatically listless, I, Frankenstein is a remarkably dull fantasy adventure that fails to generate much excitement or interest in its characters". I agree with their points but that is what I was expecting from the movie to have loud explosions, not make much sense, have characters who are jsut there with not muc h backstory (I  will say the film was not dull). If you sety yyour expectations to twhat they need to be you weill enjoy this film.

Rating

Exactly what I expected it  to be 7.6/10!!!!

2014 Watch List!!!!

2013 was a so so year for films, Lets see if 2014 will be better.

January

17th-Ride Along*

"Fast-talking security guard Ben joins his cop brother-in-law James on a 24-hour patrol of Atlanta in order to prove himself worthy of marrying Angela, James' sister".

Trailer-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5klp6rkHIks

24th-I Frankenstein**

"Frankenstein's creature finds himself caught in an all-out, centuries old war between two immortal clans".

Trailer-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxOSPfUw3qw

February 



12th-RoboCop*

"In 2028 Detroit, when Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) - a loving husband, father and good cop - is critically injured in the line of duty, the multinational conglomerate OmniCorp sees their chance for a part-man, part-robot police officer".


Trailer-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INmtQXUXez8

28th-Non-Stop**

"An air marshall must spring into action aboard an international flight".

Trailer-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiHDJ19A3dk

March

7th-300:Rise Of An Empire***

"The Greek general Themistocles battles an invading army of Persians under the mortal-turned-god, Xerxes".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zqy21Z29ps

28th-Noah***

"The Biblical Noah suffers visions of an apocalyptic deluge and takes measures to protect his family from the coming flood".

Trailer-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qmj5mhDwJQ

28th-Sabotage*

"Members of an elite DEA task force find themselves being taken down one by one after they rob a drug cartel safe house".

Trailer-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HDArXZgrsE

 April



18th-Transcendendce***

"A terminally ill scientist downloads his body into a computer. This grants him power beyond his wildest dreams, and soon he becomes unstoppable."

Trailer-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCTen3-B8GU

May

16th-Godzilla**

"A giant radioactive monster called Godzilla appears to wreak destruction on mankind".

Trailer-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIu85WQTPRc

June 

6th-Edge Of Tomorrow**

"A soldier fighting in a war with aliens finds himself caught in a time loop of his last day in the battle, though he becomes better skilled along the way".

Trailer-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw61gCe2oqI

13th-22 Jump Street**

"After making their way through high school (twice), big changes are in store for officers Schmidt and Jenko when they go deep undercover at a local college".

Trailer-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06rvPK8ydZo

July

2nd-Deliver Us From Evil*

"A New York City cop investigates a series of heinous crimes involving the occult and possible demonic possession".

Trailer-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBxTF_DxN8k
 

11th-Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes***

"Survivors of the simian plague trigger an all-out war between humanity and Caesar's growing forces."

Trailer-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0wP5ZkaUGg

18th-The Purge :Anarchy**

"A young couple works to survive on the streets after their car breaks down right as the annual purge commences".

Trailer- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yaoh3PqHG7I

25th-Hercules:The Thracian Wars**

"Having enduring his legendary twelve labors, Hercules, the Greek demigod, has his life as a sword-for-hire tested when the King of Thrace and his daughter seek his aid in defeating a tyrannical warlord".

Trailer-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HIatJh-HJ4

August


1st-Guardians Of The Galaxy***

"A jet pilot gets stranded in space, and must unite a diverse team of aliens to form a squad capable of defeating cosmic threats".

Trailer-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89q_HH-3ghk

15th-Expendables 3*** 

"The third installment of the action-adventure franchise that follows the exploits of Barney Ross, Lee Christmas, and their associates".

Trailer-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xD0junWlFc

 22nd-Sin City:A Dame To Kill For***

"The town's most hard-boiled citizens cross paths with some of its more reviled inhabitants."

Tailer-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqRRF5y94uE

September 




26th-The Equalizer***

"A retired intelligence officer Robert McCall turns into a vigilante for the helpless. When he decides to help a young hooker Teri he gets heat from the Russian mafia, and in particular a brutal fixer".

Trailer-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfoDg8y_LF0

 

November 


7th-Intersteller***

"A group of explorers make use of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitations on human space travel and conquer the vast distances involved in an interstellar voyage".

Trailer-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSWdZVtXT7E

 

December  


12th-Exodus:Gods And Kings**

"An account of Moses' hand in leading the Israelite slaves out of Egypt".

Best/Worst 2013!!!!

Best Actor


James Franco, Danny Mcbride, Craig Robisnon, Jonah Hill, Jay Baruchel and Seth Rogen  (This Is The End)

Funniest film I saw in 2013 the entire cast was great and thoroughly enjoyed the film from start to finish.

Best Actress

Jane Levy (Evil Dead)

Evil dead was probably the best horror film I saw this year and Jane Levy was great in her role as Mia.


Worst Actor


Channing Tatum (G.I. Joe:Retaliation)

Channing Tatum was at his best (which is his worst) once again. 

Worst Actress 


Alex Daddario (Texas Chainsaw 3D/Percy Jackson:Sea Of Monsters)

While she is a cute girl, Alex Daddario was in two of the worst films I saw this year and her acting performance in neither of the films instilled confidence in her acting ability down the road.

Best Film 2013!!!!!

2013 honestly was not a great year for movie, There were some good films but nothing great, but there is a best of the good.

First I will list my top rated films of the year.

MAMA

SNITCH

EVIL DEAD

THIS IS THE END

WORLD WAR Z

THE CONJURING

ELYSIUM

These are my top rated films of the year Narrowing these down to a top 3 

 1.Elysium
2.World War Z
3.This is the End

these are my top three films of the year of the three My best film of the year goes to

It came down to World War Z and Elysium as the final two, I gave the edge to World War Z just because I for so long wanted to see a zombie movie done with a big budget and this film did not disappoint, As I mentioned earlier there where no really great,memorable films for 2012 but World war  was a really good film.

Worst Film 2013!!!!!

Usually I have a list of films for the worst of the year but the film that I have chosen was so disappointing in my opinion I did not feel the need put any other films up agasint it.

This film was so bad It ranks up there with House at the end of the Street as one of the worst films I have seen in recent memory, Will Smith I have no idea why you joined this project and your son needs to step up his acting game and hopefully whatever project he does next I wisdh hgim luck.

December 2013!!!!

The last and final month of the year brings with it one more movie to end the year 47 Ronin Starring Keanu Reeves, Hiroyuki Sanada and Ko Shibasaki.

Plot

"A band of samurai set out to avenge the death and dishonor of their master at the hands of a ruthless shogun".


My thoughts

When i first heard about this film last year I was really excieteeed to see it, I have read the story of the real 47 ronin and was really interested to see what a movie adaptation would be like. Boy when this movie was over the first words that pooped into my head was "Forgettable" this film was so disappointing. the movie was nt horrible but there was nothing that it did particularly well. The acting was passable overall (Keanu Reeves did okay for his standards) everyone else in the main cast was believable for the time period they where placed in. The trailer really makes you think this film is going to be really action packed but sitting through the movie the  action was very sparse and it had a lot of lulls of just dialogue which for me really hurt the pacing of the film. The CG of the film was decent considering the budget but I felt it could have been better considering this was a huge budget film. The plot of the film I felt while obviously not completely accurate to the real life events was played out on the big screen in a very poor and slow developing manner. Overall this film to me was lacking a lot of action and I felt it was suffered from to many dry spots that made it feel very boring. Rotten Tomatoes gave this film a 11% saying "47 Ronin is a surprisingly dull fantasy adventure, one that leaves its talented international cast stranded within one dimensional roles". I agree completely the film was very dull and boring and I am utterly disappointed that this film that looked to have so much promise and could have been a spectacular finish to the year for movies was a dud.

Rating

Huge letdown dry,boring, film 6.0/10!!!!

November 2013!!!!

The Month of November brings with it two films to review the first being Thor:The Dark World Starring Chis Hemsworth, Natalie Portman and Tom Hiddlestone.

Plot

"Faced with an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embark on his most perilous and personal journey yet, one that will reunite him with Jane Foster and force him to sacrifice everything to save us all.".

My Thoughts

Anyone who read my review for the original "Thor" (here it is Thor) will know that while I didn't think the film was terribly bad I did criticize the film for its plot, its choices for some of the casting (Mainly Natalie Portman from the main cast) and overall to me out of the marvel films that I have seen (dating back to X-Men in 2000) this was the weakest of the mall, I will add that I am not a huge Thor fan but I like the idea being the Norse mythology and I am fascinated by the whole idea of a Norse god as a hero. Coming off of the huge success of the avengers last year, I was ready to give this film a new chance ti impress me much more than the first film did. Sadly this film for me does not do much better than the first film, the plot I felt was weak as the main enemy in the film to me did have that "It" factor that a villain in any marvel films needs to have to be useful, the villain dopes his job but to me for how much h the "dark elves":'' where being touted about in the film, I expected more and felt that overall the elves where underwhelming. Natalie Portman for anyone who read my original "Thor" review will know that to me she was completely unneeded in the first film and was basically just there for Thor to have a love interest her character just felt “forced “and “slammed “into the film and her acting for a "academy" award winner was downright awful. With her being recast in this film I was hoping that her role would prove to at least be more useful and Natalie Portman’s acting to kick it up a notch. Again I was disappointed, her character again was not needed in this film and it felt like the producers made her a huge part of the story just to give her screen time, I honestly felt they could have taken her character away made one slight tweak to the script and you would have not missed her, if her character is in the next film I don’t know what they should do but her character needs to be overhauled completely. Chris Hemsworth by this point knows how to play Thor and does a decent job at playing the Norse god for the third time, nothing spectacular but not Natalie Portman bad by no means. The rest of the main cast does a decent Job (I did feel that Darcy's character was again not really need for this film and was used just for comic relief which she did not do a great job of) . Onto my next gripe wit this film the use of CG in my opinion CG is fine as long as it is used tastefully and well done, for a film with a budget of this caliber I was hugely let down by the low quality  of the CG a and the amount of how much was used. There were not many bright spots for me in this film, the only real one that I can think of would be the Scale of the settings of the film the backdrops and the different worlds that where shown did look beautiful and I commend the production and visual arts team or the great job that they did on that part of the film. RotttenTomatoes

Gave this film a 65% saying "It may not be the finest film to come from the Marvel Universe, but Thor: The Dark World still offers plenty of the humor and high-stakes action that fans have come to expect". I agree for the most part except that the humor to me was bland and not funny the action was pretty good but with a marvel film that is the least you expect. Overall this film for me was no better than the original and that is a disappointment I expected better the second time around and it basically felt the same as the first film expect that the characters knew each other better this time around.

Rating 

Dissappointment expected more 6.9/10!!!!

September 2013!!!!!!

The Month of September has two films to review. The first is "Riddick" Starring Vin Diesel, Katee Sackoff and Matt Nable.

Plot

"Left for dead on a sun-scorched planet, Riddick finds himself up against an alien race of predators. Activating an emergency beacon alerts two ships: one carrying a new breed of mercenary, the other captained by a man from Riddick's past".

My Thoughts

The first two "Riddick" films I felt were solid movies, with "Pitch  Black" being the superior between the two. I had been waiting for a new "Riddick" film for a long time and when I read of news that a new one was in production I was very happy to hear it, the more information I read about the film intrigued me more and more and my anticipation for the movie was very high. Now after seeing the film I can say that it left me with a feeling of "wanting more" it wasn't a bad film but I felt it could have been much better, for starters the cast I felt was underwhelming as a whole, I new what to expect of Vin Diesel as "Riddick" and he deliverer (except for a few partial nude scenes i felt I personally added nothing to the film). Other than him the rest of the cast just kind of "Muddled" through the film and did a slightly below passable job (I do want to say that Katee Sackhoff who played the character "Dahl" was even worse than everyone else and every time she was on the screen I could not wait for her character to stop talking so the camera could shift to someone else) I would say. Once I got past the acting Job's by the cast overall, the next part of the film that caught my attention not for a good reason was the CGI, this being a film that explores distant planets and space travel is going to relay heavily on CGI to depict its settings and the this was a huge disappointment most of the CG used in the film was very poorly done and you could really tell that it wasn't "real", I know its not actually real but CG done really well will at least look lifelike in this case it did not., the planet that was the main setting for the big panoramic shots looked awful the CGI creatures for the most part didn't look very good and overall everything in the movie that was not physically actually there looked pretty bad and that for me is a huge NO-NO especially when seeing action/Adventures films if nothing else the CG needs to be good and the fighting scenes which in this film were passable not spectacular but the choreography was pretty good. there honestly was not much about this film that I liked, as I mentioned earlier Vin Diesel was very good in this role and I compare him to Robin Downey Jr. as Tony stark or Hugh Jackman as wolverine the part was made for these actors and without them it would not be the same, The plot of the film was in theory a good idea but it just wasn't executed correctly in terms of the pacing of the film it flowed together pretty well but the lack of a good execution of the script coupled with the below par acting was to much for the film to overcome in the end. When ranking the three films I would put this film below "Pitch Black" and Above "The Chronicles Of Riddick". Rotten Tomatoes gave this film a 59% saying "It may not win the franchise many new converts, but this back-to-basics outing brings Riddick fans more of the brooding sci-fi action they've come to expect." U felt that is a slightly lower score than I would have gave the film, but I do agree that if you are a fan of the series I still suggest to see the film and regardless of what I have said about this film if they go fourth with 4th installment in the series I will see it immediately.

Rating

An okay entry into the Riddick series if you are a fan of the the previous film I highly recommend it, if not and want to see a decent action film and have 2 hours to kill this could be a good option. 6.9/10!!!!!!!!!!!


The next film for the month of September is "Insidious:  Chapter 2"  Starring Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne and Ty Simpkins.

Plot

"The haunted Lambert family seeks to uncover the mysterious childhood secret that has left them dangerously connected to the spirit world".

Rating







The original Insidious was one of my favorite horror films in recent memory (along with Sinister, Mama, Let Me In and The Cabin in the woods. I am going to keep this review short and sweet if you have seen the first film in this series and enjoyed it and want to see how the family continues to deal  with the burden see this film.  if you are interested in seeing this film  i recommend you see the first film as the continuity is very present. This film was very good and is not quite in my honest opinion as good as the first film that is not exactly a bad thing as the first film in my opinion was a classic horror film which is hard to live up to but this film does pretty well on its own. I loved how the film expanded on the back story of the first film and really helped to connect parts of the first film that may have not made sense. I will say like in my review of the original film found here (Insidious Review) this film has a good amount of jump scares and if you prone to jumping be prepared to have a few moments where you may lose your popcorn to the floor, also  the camera work in this film was top notch and was some of the better camera work I have seen in recent memory for a horror film, I congratulate the production team. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 36% saying "Despite strong performances and a few effective scares, Insidious: Chapter 2 is decidedly short on the tension and surprises that made its predecessor so chilling.". I disagree with the score while Chapter 2 is not as good as the first ffilm I do not feel it is that far behind in terms of being a quality film. Overall as I mentioned earlier in the review if you enjoyed the first film then see this film and you will enjoy the expperience.

Rating 

Very good horror  film, I wouldn't call it a classic like the first film but this is a good continuance in the series and I look forward to chapter 3.  7.9/10!!!!!