Posts Tagged ‘review’
The Amazing Spider-Man: Review
In this reboot of the Spider-Man film franchise directed by Marc Webb (I think they picked him purposely…lol) Andrew Garfield stars as the web-slinger Peter Parker and Emma Stone as his love interest Gwen Stacey. This film retells the origin of Spider-Man starting from Peter Parker being your run of the mill brainy, nerdy high school kid to him getting bit by a spider and gaining superpowers after taking a trip to a research facility. He quickly realizes that having that kind of power does require a certain sense of responsibility.
I have been exposed to Spider-Man’s origin story many times over the years (comics, tv and in film) so I wasnt looking forward to seeing it again but as the movie began and it started to build up into it I was fairly surpirised to see that it wasnt the same thing that I’ve seen constantly. The outline to his origin is still there and intact but they tweaked it in certain spots and made it feel fresh and new. I was happy that they included his parents into the story because there is a great little backstory that happens with them in the comics that looks like it may happen in this series of films. The other thing that I was fairly critical about with the previous Spider-Man films was Peter’s lack of actual mechanical web shooters. This film brings that to the table and I couldn’t be happier to have a big, important part of the comic worked into this version. Rhys Ifans plays Dr. Curt Conners perfectly in this movie. You end up sharing a bit of sympathy with the character and all he has been through. The only thing that bothered me a bit was the way Andrew Garfield played Spider-Man. He played Peter Parker exactly the way he should be played but Spider-Man was a different story. In my opinion he was a bit too lanky and very casual with the way he was Spider-Man. I kept looking for that “superhero moment but it fell a bit short. I thought they did a great job at this reboot and it has tons of potential to tell a really great story. I’ve heard that they plan on making this a trilogy, I just hope that if they decide to make more movies after that they at least keep the same continuity with or with or without the same actors. There are plenty of stories out there that can be told without seeing another origin story again. Go check this out in theaters now!
Prometheus: Review
Ridley Scott makes his way back to the genre that put his name on the map. Starring Noomi Rapace, Charlize Theron and Michael Fassbender as part of the crew of a spaceship called Prometheus. After finding similar markings (that turns out to be a star map) on Earth that spans various cultures over thousands of years they decide the embark on a mission to find the origins of the human race. It’s not until they get to their destination that they realize that there may be more to the story than they think.
I personally have been excited about this film for a while now. I’m a big sci-fi movie lover and a huge fan of the Alien franchise so when I heard that this movie was being made with Ridely Scott in the directors chair I couldn’t help but get kind of giddy. As more details started coming out about the film and an official synopsis was released I think made people a bit dissapointed and possibly confused about how/if this was going to be connected to any of the previous Alien films. With that being said when I made my way to the theater to watch it I went with a total open mind and completely told myself to disregard any of the other films. That is the best thing to do when watching this film. Ridley Scott succeeded in his comeback to the sci-fi/horror genre and Jon Spaihts/Damon Lindelof did a great job at writing a script the really made the viewer think and try to piece certain parts of the story together in their head (Lindelof is noteably the co-creator of the TV show Lost). The film was a bit controversial to the public in the sense that not alot of people “got it”. I think a better part of the audience felt like it left them with more questions rathter than answers but rest assured, the answers are there. People went in expecting an Alien film when in fact it is a stand alone film that does have certain nods to the franchise but has a life of its own. I must say that I did go see it twice because I wanted to have a better understanding of some aspects of the film but its not necessary to do so. I loved this movie and its a great conversation piece as far as discussing the film and its theories on the creation of life.
Side Note: There is a small scene at the end that is a MUST SEE
The Avengers: Review
An unlikely group of heroes (Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Captain America, Hawkeye, Black Widow) are recruited by S.H.E.I.L.D director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) to take part in the “Avengers Initiative” when the world is threatened by Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and an army of alien beings known as the Chitauri.
Marvel has been setting this movie up for the past four years through careful planning and weaving stories together. Since the special clip after Iron Man have people been waiting for the day that The Avengers would arrive in theaters. Well finally the day arrived……..and it was glorious. Each film that led up to this provided a small piece of The Avengers puzzle and it all fit together nicely. From the very start of the film it was full of action with Loki making his presence felt. Little by little the other characters were reintroduced (not that they really needed to be) with the most time I think being given to The Hulk/Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo). I had my hesitations with Ruffalo seeing as this is the third incarnation of The Hulk in recent years but that quickly went away after seeing the chemistry between him and the rest of the cast. Especially Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.). I’m not going to go as far as saying he stole the show but he came pretty damn close. I did like that they did show a bit of a “alpha dog” situation with Iron Man and Captain America (Chris Evans) like the way they would show in the comics but by the end of the movie Cap was throwing out orders and plans of attack like a true leader. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) was again fantastic as the God of Thunder (even though I believe they referred to him as a demi-god). He was a perfect fit to spit out the Joss Whedon one-liners that were given to him. Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) were a perfect pairing. Seperate they were fantastic but when they shared the screen together you could see the sparks fly. There are rumors of individual films for Hawkeye and Black Widow but I think I “team-up” film would be waaaay better. I only have two (very small) issues with the movie. One of them being the burying of Loki. I feel like they built him up to be this huge villian and he essentially just got used for comic relief on a few occasions (it did provide some really funny moments though) and the focus kind of strayed from him. The second one was the lack of any sort of elaboration of Captain America being thawed out in the present time. From the looks of it the movie picked up a short time after the Cap movie and they showed in a brief moment flashbacks what happened but didn’t really go into the way he felt at all. I mean, a guy being suddenly thawed out in modern times would probably mess with his brain a bit. Maybe they’ll do that for CA2 but I still think they should’ve addressed it a bit. Other than that the movie did really well at giving each hero enough screen time and their “hero moment”. I’m a huge Joss Whedon fan and I felt like the writing was really solid and the film was a Marvel film with little Whedon moments thrown in here and there. That was nice. As of this moment of me typing this up everyone should have already seen The Avengers once if not a few times. If not, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!?!
Side Note: Something you should already know. Stay until after the credits.
The Darkest Hour: Review
Emile Hirsch stars in this sci-fi/action movie about a pair of friends that take a business trip to Moscow Russia. When the deal goes sour the decide to go out on the town to drown their sorrows. As the evening progresses and they leave an establishment, they see glowing alien creatures coming from the sky that soon turn invisible. As the surrounding citizens get closer to inspect the creatures they find out quickly that they didn’t come in peace. Now all that matters is their survival and to find how to stop them.
I enjoyed this flick quite a bit. I think mainly because I’m a big fan of sci-fi movies. This isn’t the best sci-fi movie I’ve seen but it was still pretty interesting. The fact that the threat is invisible added a certain amount of suspense to it as well. The aliens themselves were unique also. They weren’t seen at all for the most part but when they were revealed their look was a cross between the aliens from Independance Day and a some sort of glowing ball of energy (sorry, that’s the best I could come up with….lol). At times it did kind of feel like a big budget SyFy Original movie but I think the thing that did keep it afloat was Emile Hirsch. His acting ability really did help make this movie enjoyable as well and I thought he did really good in an action environment. Too bad there wasn’t a sweet Eddie Vedder sountrack to go along with it (I kid, I kid). This movie had a very ambitious ending and left it open to a sequel but I think thats asking for a little too much. Either way, if you dig alien invasion movies then it won’t hurt to “Redbox” it and give this a view.
The Woman in Black: Review
Starring Daniel Radcliffe as a young lawyer named Arthur Kipps, who is hired to handle the estate of Alice Darblow in a small English town after a horrible accident happens on the property (surrounded by marshlands). Soon enough a “woman in black” is spotted around the town and children being to mysteriously take their own lives. The people there realize that these incidents started to happen as soon as Kipps arrived in town and want him gone. He refuses to abandon the job that he was hired to do. As the days pass, Kipps himself comes face to face with the “woman in black” and now must find out what she is after and why.
This was a very pleasant surprise I must say. I saw Daniel Radcliffe and immediately thought “Aw hell, Harry Potter is in a horror movie” and that’s probably what alot of people thought as well I’m sure but that’s definitely not the case. Radcliffe really shows that he’s able to breakout of his HP legacy and try something fairly new for him (now all he needs is to be cast in a romantic comedy starring Reese Witherspoon and he’ll be set). This movie had all the best elements in an old school horror flick. The scares, the suspense and a little bit to be left to the imagination. It’s refreshing to see a horror flick that isn’t all about the blood and gore (not that I dont like those too) all the time. The ending was rather surprising but I do wish it would have ended with a bigger bang. Be that as it may, I recommend viewers that love classic horror to watch it and people that aren’t should definitely give it a chance. You’re sure to enjoy it.
