Showing posts with label movie review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movie review. Show all posts
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
MOVIE REVIEW: Thor
Ok, it's been a while since I last wrote something here. Moving, finishing exams, getting sick and seeing a second cousin getting baptized will do that. But now I'm here so let's talk Thor the movie.
Short version: It's good not perfect. Overall really fun.
Long version: Well...
Short version: It's good not perfect. Overall really fun.
Long version: Well...
Monday, November 29, 2010
MOVIE REVIEW: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1
As one might guess from the previous post I am a fan of the Harry Potter book series. So one might think that I'm an equally big fan of the movie series based on said book series. Long answer is that I think that the first two movies were good but not great. The third and fourth movies sucked. They sucked hard. At that point I had all but given up on the movies pleasing my, probably too high, expectations. Then along came David Yates to direct the last four installments in the franchise.
The way I saw the fifth and sixth movies were much less of a spectacle compared to the previous four that I had seen with large groups of friends. I saw them alone some time after they had opened up at the cinema and found that, to my surprise, not only were they really good movies they were good adaptations of the novels as well.
Which, after a long story, brings us to the subject of this review. Yates' third movie in the franchise, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
The way I saw the fifth and sixth movies were much less of a spectacle compared to the previous four that I had seen with large groups of friends. I saw them alone some time after they had opened up at the cinema and found that, to my surprise, not only were they really good movies they were good adaptations of the novels as well.
Which, after a long story, brings us to the subject of this review. Yates' third movie in the franchise, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Friday, October 29, 2010
MOVIE REVIEW: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
Just got home from seeing it. The, for me personally, most anticipated movie of the entire year, partly because it took so freaking long for the thing to get to Sweden. But man o man was it worth the wait.
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is AWESOME for so many reasons. But let's sum up the story first.
Scott Pilgrim is a twenty something slacker with a slight case of douchebag in him. He's in a crappy band called Sex Bomb-Omb (if you get that reference the chance of you liking the movie increases quite a bit), lives with his gay friend Wallace and he's dating a 17 year old catholic school-girl. Then he meets Ramona Flowers. A stoic, tough as nails gal who can see through what Scott is about with ease and doesn't like to talk about her past. The two begin dating and then Scott has to fight her seven evil exes.
You think that last sentence is weird? Then try this on for size. The movie's world runs on video game physics, meaning that whatever looks awesome will most likely work.
The action scenes in this movie are among the best I've seen. Ever. Either they were really inventive or extremely well-coreographed and all of them were epic fun. At the same time they all meant something. You see, the fights scenes are basically a visual representation of how people like Scott Pilgrim wish that they could deal with the emotional problems that they go through and serve as metaphors for Scott's issues and stress at the time.
Which brings us to the romance. From the above descriptions it might be believed that Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is nothing more than a geek-out extravaganza. It's actually more than that as it tells a mature and deliciously human love story between two young adults that grow as persons and as a couple inbetween all the awesome stuff of epicness. It's a good love story and I do so love a good love story.
Then there's the humor. I, along with pretty much the rest of the theatre, laughed my ass off at several points. It's a funny movie.
So it's a movie that has awesome and epic action scenes, a well-written and mature love story and hilarious humor. In short, basically everything that I love form a story. And it's supported by a great cast. Michael Cera makes Scott believeable and enjoyable without necessarily making him entirely sympathetic from the get go. The seven evil exes easily steal the scenes that they're in. Just about everybody absolutely nails their part and I wish I could've seen more of them all.
According to other reviews I've read, the graphic novels on which the movie is based on expand upon several of the supporting characters greatly. Saddly most of this is cut in order to get through all the fights agaisnt the evil exes but it's not a deal-breaker or anything. It just makes me want to buy the novels more.
Despite being almost two hours long the time just flew by for me. Sure the movie does tend to speed through things at certain parts and while the action is awesome it is totally understandable that some would find there to be too much of it. But none of that stopped this from being one of the most enjoyable and entertaining movies I've ever seen. It just kicked ass.
If you like awesome geek-out stuff then you should totally go see it. And if you can appreciate a good movie then you can see it and enjoy it, though you may want a friendly geek with you to explain a lot of the stuff that the movie throws at you.
7/8
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
MOVIE REVIEW: The Karate Kid
Oh, my poor little neglected blog. How unused you are. Oh well, summer's been too fun. I'm here now to give y'all a review of the movie I just saw, The Karate Kid.
As a person who enjoyed the original movie very much I was a bit worried that I'd be comparing this remake to the older one too much to fully enjoy it. That was not the case luckily enough. The 2010 movie is strong enough to stand on its own two legs and successfull in being an homage to the original while at the same time adding new elements to the story.
Of these new elements the one that stands out the most is the setting. The movie is filmed on location in Beijing, China, which naturally gives the audience some beautiful scenes. It also adds to the story by more or less isolating the main lead Dre (Jaden Smith) in a culture he knows nothing about and he can't even communicate with the majority of the population. Dre is so very American in his attitude, pop culture references and unfamiliarity with his new home. The contrast between cultures is immediate and very believeable. Jaden Smith works well in this role as showcases a large variety of emotions and he does them all very well. I especially appreciated that in this movie it's the american that has to adapt himself to his new home's culture rather than him showing how his American style is the superior one. Believe me, it's a refreshing novelty in movies like this.
Now while Jaden Smith is good in his role the movie's shining star is without a doubt Jackie Chan as Mr. Han. I now see this veteran action star in a whole new light. He pulls of the old, withered and eccentric master role brilliantly and makes it his own. There's a sense of sadness and mystery to Mr. Han. He has a personal secret that is subtley hinted at up until it's revealed. At that point the catharsis scene is one of the most poignant things I've seen on the big screen all summer.
The teacher-student friendship between Dre and Mr. Han is of course the very cornerstone of the movie's story and it is a pleasure to see how it goes Mr. Han barely responding to Dre trying to get his attention to the two of them learning life lessons from one another. It's all pulled off very well and with a sense of sincerity that I personally loved to see.
Unfortunately the romantic sub-plot doesn't hold up as well as the main plot. It's a contrieved and forced and the actress that plays Dre's love interest has basically two expressions. Sad face and big smile. However, it does what it's supposed to do and the conclusion of it was one of my favourite scenes.
Now for a quick list of other notable things in the movie. Taraji P. Henson as Dre's mother is very good. I'm rather impressed that there wasn't any real rousing speech throughout the entire movie. The fighting scenes where well-coreographed and only really implausible towards the end of the last one. I also enjoyed how there was several training montages instead of one which made Dre's eventual improvement feel more natural.
All in all, I really enjoyed this movie. It was one of the most touching films I've seen this summer and I recommend it to everybody that's seen the original.
As a person who enjoyed the original movie very much I was a bit worried that I'd be comparing this remake to the older one too much to fully enjoy it. That was not the case luckily enough. The 2010 movie is strong enough to stand on its own two legs and successfull in being an homage to the original while at the same time adding new elements to the story.
Of these new elements the one that stands out the most is the setting. The movie is filmed on location in Beijing, China, which naturally gives the audience some beautiful scenes. It also adds to the story by more or less isolating the main lead Dre (Jaden Smith) in a culture he knows nothing about and he can't even communicate with the majority of the population. Dre is so very American in his attitude, pop culture references and unfamiliarity with his new home. The contrast between cultures is immediate and very believeable. Jaden Smith works well in this role as showcases a large variety of emotions and he does them all very well. I especially appreciated that in this movie it's the american that has to adapt himself to his new home's culture rather than him showing how his American style is the superior one. Believe me, it's a refreshing novelty in movies like this.
Now while Jaden Smith is good in his role the movie's shining star is without a doubt Jackie Chan as Mr. Han. I now see this veteran action star in a whole new light. He pulls of the old, withered and eccentric master role brilliantly and makes it his own. There's a sense of sadness and mystery to Mr. Han. He has a personal secret that is subtley hinted at up until it's revealed. At that point the catharsis scene is one of the most poignant things I've seen on the big screen all summer.
The teacher-student friendship between Dre and Mr. Han is of course the very cornerstone of the movie's story and it is a pleasure to see how it goes Mr. Han barely responding to Dre trying to get his attention to the two of them learning life lessons from one another. It's all pulled off very well and with a sense of sincerity that I personally loved to see.
Unfortunately the romantic sub-plot doesn't hold up as well as the main plot. It's a contrieved and forced and the actress that plays Dre's love interest has basically two expressions. Sad face and big smile. However, it does what it's supposed to do and the conclusion of it was one of my favourite scenes.
Now for a quick list of other notable things in the movie. Taraji P. Henson as Dre's mother is very good. I'm rather impressed that there wasn't any real rousing speech throughout the entire movie. The fighting scenes where well-coreographed and only really implausible towards the end of the last one. I also enjoyed how there was several training montages instead of one which made Dre's eventual improvement feel more natural.
All in all, I really enjoyed this movie. It was one of the most touching films I've seen this summer and I recommend it to everybody that's seen the original.
Friday, April 30, 2010
MOVIE REVIEW: Iron man 2
This movie is Awesome.
Really, for comic book fans the only thing that they need to know about the sequel to the hit movie adaptation of the comic book hero Iron man is that it delivers the good by building on what the first movie set up and that it is Awesome.
When it comes to everybody else I shoud probably go a little bit deeper than that.
Like I said, it builds on the previous movie which ended with our portagonist, Tony Stark/Iron man, announcing his secret identity to the entire world on national television. The sequel begins with Tony riding the fame that's come with this revelation, apparently after scaring terrorists all over the world into a temporary peace, and opening the "Stark Expo" where the inventions to be used to improve the world are demonstrated.
However, as with everybody who becomes popular people are starting to, for better or worse, want a piece of Tony. But we'll get to those soon. Besides this problem Tony has another rather fatal problem. The power-core that's keeping him alive and helps to power his suit is slowly killing him. So it's a bit understandable that he's stressed out at the start of the movie.
This is still Robert Downey Jr's movie and with good reason. Downey's Stark is still as entertaining before as being hero hasn't made him any less eccentric, but there's something else that one might miss if one blinks. With death looming over his head Tony is trying to secure his legacy in various ways that he hides well by passing them off as his eccentric ways or unloading his work onto other people. In short, Tony's trying to do something responisble while masking that he is in fact being responsible and it's rather well-acted. At the same time he is looking for some sort of stupid thrill, like people that know that they're going to die soon tend to do (I'd imagine). Which leads to some of the more questionable choices in the movie.
Really, the movie is more of a character portait of Tony Stark than anything else. How he deals with the world knowing and wanting his secret while trying to maintain his own life as best as he can. So yeah, it's great that Downey is able to play the role as perfectly as he does.
Alongside his personal problems Iron man is faced with two widely different opponents, just like in the frist movie, in the form of the revenge craving russian Ivan Vanko (Micky Rourke) and jealous former rival weapons developer Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell).
Of the two Ivan is by far the more intimidating as he has the intelligence and skills to match Iron man and an overall frightening appearance with metal teeth and stripey hair. Rourke plays him as a very ruthless and sinister individual that you're not meant to pity, despite his sad introduction. You're supposed to fear this guy.
Hammer on the other hand is a bit disappointing. He is much less sinister than his comic book counter-part and rather dorky. He has the resources to be a big time villain but falters due to his personality. That doesn't mean that he's entertaining or a bad villain. He's just not what I expected, but I'll chop that up to lack of experience as this is his first step into villainhood. But really, he's just an annoyance to the hero and a vehicle for Ivan Vanko to reach greater heights of comic book evil. That they have these roles however is a sign that Iron man 2 isn't just repeating the previous movie.
In the first movie the more passive villain was the foreign terrorists that held Stark captive while the American bad guy turned into that film's ultimate physical threat. In the sequel it's the foreigner that acts as the powerful physical threat while the american takes the more passive role in the duo. In short, they're not just rehashing ideas but mixing it p a little.
On the other side of the equation we have Iron man's allies.
Gwyneth Paltrow reprises her role as Tony's confident Pepper Pops. I really love this version of the character along with Paltrow's acting. She's a strong woman in her own right that can match wits with just about any one in the movie while at the same avoding being a super-mega badass. Nothing against that type of female character, but it's nice to see that a woman can be strong without having to be able to kick your ass. Also, her interactions with Tony Stark are among the most enjoyable moments in the movie.
Now if you do want an ass-kicking lady as well Iron man 2 supplies that as well in the form of Scarlett Johansson's secretive secretary. Really, her action scenes are among the most impressive in the entire movie. She switches between cool professional and skilled but awkward seamlessly and it's all around a good performance. Also, she is REALLY hot. So... yeah.
Samuel L. Jackson once again, he's in the after-credits scene in the first one if you didn't know, plays the role that was pretty much made for him, litterally, Nick Fury. Jackson gets to do the thing that he does best, if you ask me. He talks a lot. He's cool, funny and and smart. Everything you'd expect from Jackson AND Nick Fury. He's just great fun to watch.
Lastly there's Don Cheadle who takes over from Terrance Howard as James Rhodes, who in this movie becomes Iron man's partner War Machine. Personally I don't really see the need for the change as I think that both actors did good jobs with the role. The road that's taken to turn Rhodes into War Machine is an interesting one and well-woven into the main plot of the movie.
Speaking of the plot it does take move along at a surprisingly calm pace compared to the first one. But it doesn't feel at all slow. The situation is carefully built up and supplies the audience with everything before moving into high gear with some truly comic book style action scenes that become even more dynamic due to the previous leisurely pace.
The action scenes has been greatly improved for this one, they were good in the previous movie but could've been better. A greater sense of urgency and speed has been added along with better coreography. But at the same time some of them feel a bit cluttered and blurry. Jon Favreau seems to be on a learning curve when it comes to these things. The point is that he's getting better but he's not quite there yet. There's still loads of good stuff here for action fans.
Where the action was the first movie's weaker points the sequel's seem to be the jokes. They just feel less sharp and witty in this one. Again, they're still funny or so bad that they're funny, but they could be better.
Another criticism is that one of the mistakes in Superman Returns appears in this movie as well. There's way too little interaction between Downey's Tony Stak and Rourke's Ivan Vanko. The one or two scenes where they do talk to each other is great stuff but I wanted more damnit.
All in all, a great movie and a worthy sequel to the first movie. It continued the story in a well-done fashion and expanded on the Iron man movie universe. Oh, and stay behind to watch the after-credits scene. That one expands the Marvel movie universe... and makes nerds shout with joy to the terror of non-nerd movie viewers. ':)
Overall score: 9/10.
Really, for comic book fans the only thing that they need to know about the sequel to the hit movie adaptation of the comic book hero Iron man is that it delivers the good by building on what the first movie set up and that it is Awesome.
When it comes to everybody else I shoud probably go a little bit deeper than that.
Like I said, it builds on the previous movie which ended with our portagonist, Tony Stark/Iron man, announcing his secret identity to the entire world on national television. The sequel begins with Tony riding the fame that's come with this revelation, apparently after scaring terrorists all over the world into a temporary peace, and opening the "Stark Expo" where the inventions to be used to improve the world are demonstrated.
However, as with everybody who becomes popular people are starting to, for better or worse, want a piece of Tony. But we'll get to those soon. Besides this problem Tony has another rather fatal problem. The power-core that's keeping him alive and helps to power his suit is slowly killing him. So it's a bit understandable that he's stressed out at the start of the movie.
This is still Robert Downey Jr's movie and with good reason. Downey's Stark is still as entertaining before as being hero hasn't made him any less eccentric, but there's something else that one might miss if one blinks. With death looming over his head Tony is trying to secure his legacy in various ways that he hides well by passing them off as his eccentric ways or unloading his work onto other people. In short, Tony's trying to do something responisble while masking that he is in fact being responsible and it's rather well-acted. At the same time he is looking for some sort of stupid thrill, like people that know that they're going to die soon tend to do (I'd imagine). Which leads to some of the more questionable choices in the movie.
Really, the movie is more of a character portait of Tony Stark than anything else. How he deals with the world knowing and wanting his secret while trying to maintain his own life as best as he can. So yeah, it's great that Downey is able to play the role as perfectly as he does.
Alongside his personal problems Iron man is faced with two widely different opponents, just like in the frist movie, in the form of the revenge craving russian Ivan Vanko (Micky Rourke) and jealous former rival weapons developer Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell).
Of the two Ivan is by far the more intimidating as he has the intelligence and skills to match Iron man and an overall frightening appearance with metal teeth and stripey hair. Rourke plays him as a very ruthless and sinister individual that you're not meant to pity, despite his sad introduction. You're supposed to fear this guy.
Hammer on the other hand is a bit disappointing. He is much less sinister than his comic book counter-part and rather dorky. He has the resources to be a big time villain but falters due to his personality. That doesn't mean that he's entertaining or a bad villain. He's just not what I expected, but I'll chop that up to lack of experience as this is his first step into villainhood. But really, he's just an annoyance to the hero and a vehicle for Ivan Vanko to reach greater heights of comic book evil. That they have these roles however is a sign that Iron man 2 isn't just repeating the previous movie.
In the first movie the more passive villain was the foreign terrorists that held Stark captive while the American bad guy turned into that film's ultimate physical threat. In the sequel it's the foreigner that acts as the powerful physical threat while the american takes the more passive role in the duo. In short, they're not just rehashing ideas but mixing it p a little.
On the other side of the equation we have Iron man's allies.
Gwyneth Paltrow reprises her role as Tony's confident Pepper Pops. I really love this version of the character along with Paltrow's acting. She's a strong woman in her own right that can match wits with just about any one in the movie while at the same avoding being a super-mega badass. Nothing against that type of female character, but it's nice to see that a woman can be strong without having to be able to kick your ass. Also, her interactions with Tony Stark are among the most enjoyable moments in the movie.
Now if you do want an ass-kicking lady as well Iron man 2 supplies that as well in the form of Scarlett Johansson's secretive secretary. Really, her action scenes are among the most impressive in the entire movie. She switches between cool professional and skilled but awkward seamlessly and it's all around a good performance. Also, she is REALLY hot. So... yeah.
Samuel L. Jackson once again, he's in the after-credits scene in the first one if you didn't know, plays the role that was pretty much made for him, litterally, Nick Fury. Jackson gets to do the thing that he does best, if you ask me. He talks a lot. He's cool, funny and and smart. Everything you'd expect from Jackson AND Nick Fury. He's just great fun to watch.
Lastly there's Don Cheadle who takes over from Terrance Howard as James Rhodes, who in this movie becomes Iron man's partner War Machine. Personally I don't really see the need for the change as I think that both actors did good jobs with the role. The road that's taken to turn Rhodes into War Machine is an interesting one and well-woven into the main plot of the movie.
Speaking of the plot it does take move along at a surprisingly calm pace compared to the first one. But it doesn't feel at all slow. The situation is carefully built up and supplies the audience with everything before moving into high gear with some truly comic book style action scenes that become even more dynamic due to the previous leisurely pace.
The action scenes has been greatly improved for this one, they were good in the previous movie but could've been better. A greater sense of urgency and speed has been added along with better coreography. But at the same time some of them feel a bit cluttered and blurry. Jon Favreau seems to be on a learning curve when it comes to these things. The point is that he's getting better but he's not quite there yet. There's still loads of good stuff here for action fans.
Where the action was the first movie's weaker points the sequel's seem to be the jokes. They just feel less sharp and witty in this one. Again, they're still funny or so bad that they're funny, but they could be better.
Another criticism is that one of the mistakes in Superman Returns appears in this movie as well. There's way too little interaction between Downey's Tony Stak and Rourke's Ivan Vanko. The one or two scenes where they do talk to each other is great stuff but I wanted more damnit.
All in all, a great movie and a worthy sequel to the first movie. It continued the story in a well-done fashion and expanded on the Iron man movie universe. Oh, and stay behind to watch the after-credits scene. That one expands the Marvel movie universe... and makes nerds shout with joy to the terror of non-nerd movie viewers. ':)
Overall score: 9/10.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
MOVIE REVIEW: Kick-Ass
Well... that was invigorating.
I'm officially going to declare spring and summer movie season open and for me Kick-Ass was probably the best way to start it all off. It had pretty much everything that I wanted to see from a pop-corn action summer movie. Great action scenes, good humor, a well-structured and engaging plot and talented cast. Also, it was just freaking fun.
Ok so storywise Kick-Ass is your basic superhero movie but a few steps closer to reality than Spider-man or Superman's movie are. There's no powers involved here. The hero didn't get hit by radiation or stumbled upon a crystal from outer space or anything like that. Nope all that we get here is a young man that tries to do something genuinely good in a ridiculous fashion. But hey, whatever works right?
It is a well-told tale of a naive idea blossoming into a phenomenon and then blowing up in the instigator's face. What really makes it fun is that the people that made this movie clearly know their comic book conventions and comic book movie conventions. There's lots of obvious, and possibly a few not so obvious, nods to comics and their movie adaptations, both wellknown and obscure. The producers also know that the events in this movie is just as unlikely to happen as the stuff from any other superhero movie. So while pretending that it's realistic they just went over-the-top with the whole thing.
But it's not thrown at the viewers faces all at once. Instead the movie allows it's over-the-topness to steadily climb throughout the movie. Beginning with a dude that tries to fly under his own power and dies in doing so and eventually reaching a finale that kicks all sense of reality in the crotch, rolls it into a ditch and covers it with ten tons of cement to make way for a climax that quite honestly is just GLORIOUS.
Having read a summary of the original comic's ending I was worried about the ending of the movie being too much of a downer that would leave me feeling that the world is a horrible place. Luckily this is one of those times when Hollywood makes the movie adaptation more light-hearted. It ends on an overall positive note with a bold new world and people are actually happy and stuff. It's nice you know. It's totally different from the comic and I am happy that it is.
That's not to say that there aren't any dark moments in the movie as well. Believe me, this is not a movie for the squeemish. The violence i violent in the real world kind of way and there's a very nasty torture scene right before the finale. Also, it tends to showcase humanity's flaws rather realistically. The humor also tends to lean a bit to the darker edge at times. And you know... an eleven year old girl kills loads of guys and finds it funny. But it evens out with being pretty damn goofy at times.
As for problems with the plot and story. I would've like a little more explanation as to why Nicholas Cage's character talked like a weirdo when in Big Daddy mode. I mean, I can sort of understand that he might be masking his voice to make himself more difficult to identify based on that. But Hit-Girl doesn't do that. It's not a game-breaker but it sort of bugged me. Also, I felt that Red Mist's and Kick-Ass relationship could've needed more development. It just seemed kind of odd when it was revealed that Red Mist didn't want Kick-Ass to be hurt when previously he was aiming to get him taken out.
Then there's one of my constant annoyances with fiction overall, but especailly movies. The love story. There's a rather shallow one between the titular character and your average popular cheerleader type female love interest. While I could personally live withou it I gotta say that for one moment they actually use their relationship to give some deeper meaning an conflict to Kick-Ass' reason for being. So cudos for that.
Moving on to the action. I've seen many reviews compare the action in Kick-Ass to the action in a Tarantion movie and I will simply agree with them. It's brutal, fast-paced and beautifully coreographed. I'm not sure how much of it is CGI, if any, but it sure as hell looked a lot more real than most other superhero movies you will see today. Well... except for that one scene, you'll know which one. Anyway, the action was great and I didn't even think about CGI while watching the entire thing. I appreciate that very much.
The acting in the movie varies from good to excellent with, as everybdoy and their mother have pointed out by now, Chloë Grace Moretz stealing the show as the terrifying yet endearing Hit-Girl. These are talented people at work here people. Sit back and enjoy them excell at their work.
Next there's one thing that I usually don't notice very much when it comes to movies. It's just not my thing. The music in this movie is freaking AWESOME! I can't remember a time when I last sat an enjoyed the music as much as what was going on on the screen. It totally enhanced the experience for me. So yeah... the music's great and I'm considering getting the sound track.
Lastly, I feel that out of all the comic book movies that flood the movie market right now I believe that this one most successfully manages to get a point across. More specifially, it's a point about helping your fellow man when they're in trouble and just doing something good for the world. Dressing up in tights and trying to fight crime might not be the best idea for it. But it's better than nothing you know.
This is a fun movie and I recommend it to just about anybody that doesn't mind some dark stuff and bloody, in relative moderation, violence. And again, the climx is GLORIOUS.
Overall score, 8/10.
I'm officially going to declare spring and summer movie season open and for me Kick-Ass was probably the best way to start it all off. It had pretty much everything that I wanted to see from a pop-corn action summer movie. Great action scenes, good humor, a well-structured and engaging plot and talented cast. Also, it was just freaking fun.
Ok so storywise Kick-Ass is your basic superhero movie but a few steps closer to reality than Spider-man or Superman's movie are. There's no powers involved here. The hero didn't get hit by radiation or stumbled upon a crystal from outer space or anything like that. Nope all that we get here is a young man that tries to do something genuinely good in a ridiculous fashion. But hey, whatever works right?
It is a well-told tale of a naive idea blossoming into a phenomenon and then blowing up in the instigator's face. What really makes it fun is that the people that made this movie clearly know their comic book conventions and comic book movie conventions. There's lots of obvious, and possibly a few not so obvious, nods to comics and their movie adaptations, both wellknown and obscure. The producers also know that the events in this movie is just as unlikely to happen as the stuff from any other superhero movie. So while pretending that it's realistic they just went over-the-top with the whole thing.
But it's not thrown at the viewers faces all at once. Instead the movie allows it's over-the-topness to steadily climb throughout the movie. Beginning with a dude that tries to fly under his own power and dies in doing so and eventually reaching a finale that kicks all sense of reality in the crotch, rolls it into a ditch and covers it with ten tons of cement to make way for a climax that quite honestly is just GLORIOUS.
Having read a summary of the original comic's ending I was worried about the ending of the movie being too much of a downer that would leave me feeling that the world is a horrible place. Luckily this is one of those times when Hollywood makes the movie adaptation more light-hearted. It ends on an overall positive note with a bold new world and people are actually happy and stuff. It's nice you know. It's totally different from the comic and I am happy that it is.
That's not to say that there aren't any dark moments in the movie as well. Believe me, this is not a movie for the squeemish. The violence i violent in the real world kind of way and there's a very nasty torture scene right before the finale. Also, it tends to showcase humanity's flaws rather realistically. The humor also tends to lean a bit to the darker edge at times. And you know... an eleven year old girl kills loads of guys and finds it funny. But it evens out with being pretty damn goofy at times.
As for problems with the plot and story. I would've like a little more explanation as to why Nicholas Cage's character talked like a weirdo when in Big Daddy mode. I mean, I can sort of understand that he might be masking his voice to make himself more difficult to identify based on that. But Hit-Girl doesn't do that. It's not a game-breaker but it sort of bugged me. Also, I felt that Red Mist's and Kick-Ass relationship could've needed more development. It just seemed kind of odd when it was revealed that Red Mist didn't want Kick-Ass to be hurt when previously he was aiming to get him taken out.
Then there's one of my constant annoyances with fiction overall, but especailly movies. The love story. There's a rather shallow one between the titular character and your average popular cheerleader type female love interest. While I could personally live withou it I gotta say that for one moment they actually use their relationship to give some deeper meaning an conflict to Kick-Ass' reason for being. So cudos for that.
Moving on to the action. I've seen many reviews compare the action in Kick-Ass to the action in a Tarantion movie and I will simply agree with them. It's brutal, fast-paced and beautifully coreographed. I'm not sure how much of it is CGI, if any, but it sure as hell looked a lot more real than most other superhero movies you will see today. Well... except for that one scene, you'll know which one. Anyway, the action was great and I didn't even think about CGI while watching the entire thing. I appreciate that very much.
The acting in the movie varies from good to excellent with, as everybdoy and their mother have pointed out by now, Chloë Grace Moretz stealing the show as the terrifying yet endearing Hit-Girl. These are talented people at work here people. Sit back and enjoy them excell at their work.
Next there's one thing that I usually don't notice very much when it comes to movies. It's just not my thing. The music in this movie is freaking AWESOME! I can't remember a time when I last sat an enjoyed the music as much as what was going on on the screen. It totally enhanced the experience for me. So yeah... the music's great and I'm considering getting the sound track.
Lastly, I feel that out of all the comic book movies that flood the movie market right now I believe that this one most successfully manages to get a point across. More specifially, it's a point about helping your fellow man when they're in trouble and just doing something good for the world. Dressing up in tights and trying to fight crime might not be the best idea for it. But it's better than nothing you know.
This is a fun movie and I recommend it to just about anybody that doesn't mind some dark stuff and bloody, in relative moderation, violence. And again, the climx is GLORIOUS.
Overall score, 8/10.
Monday, March 29, 2010
MOVIE REVIEW: Alice in Wonderland
Tim Burton is a brilliant director.
Johnny Depp is a fantastic actor.
Johnny Depp acting in a Tim Burton directed movie equals AWESOME movie.
At least that's usually the case. The combo of Burton and Depp have given us some great movies, my personal favourite being Corpse Bride. But in recent years the magic that seemed to appear whenever these two worked together appears to have faded away. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was pretty dull and pointless and the most positive aspect was the visuals. Alice in Wonderland is better than that, but is still below par.
The plot is basically that for some reason Alice has forgotten all about Underland, why she's forgotten the place and everything about it is never explained, and on the day she is proposed to by some dull person she is lured into the rabbit hole once again because she is the chosen saviour of Underland. In short, it's basically Narnia dressed in Alice in Wonderland clothing. You can pretty much figure out the plot and everything about it from that.
It's not a bad plot really. It's just far from being as imaginative and original as the stuff Burton usually gives us. It's just sort of bland, but still entertaining enough.
There are some nice scenes here and there. Like when a giant-sized Alice meets the Red Queen for the first time or when the Jabberwocky is revealed. But yeah, nothing much stands out.
Acting is solid throughout the entire movie with Alan Rickman, Christopher Lee and Stephen Fry delivering the most entertaining performances. Depp does a nice mad Mad Hatter but the role doesn't have even half the charm of his more famous roles nor does he make any lasting impressions. Mia Wasikowska as Alice though is very enjoyable and she's not your usual adventure heroine, until the end where she basically becomes Jean d'Ark. But even that's actually a cool moment.
And... that's basically it really. It's a movie that entertains but doesn't stand out as anything special.
I'm thinking that mr. Burton and mr. Depp should go their seperate ways for a while before their next collaboration. Just so that they can make something really special instead of just giving us these so-and-so movies. It might do them good.
Until next time, peace out.
Johnny Depp is a fantastic actor.
Johnny Depp acting in a Tim Burton directed movie equals AWESOME movie.
At least that's usually the case. The combo of Burton and Depp have given us some great movies, my personal favourite being Corpse Bride. But in recent years the magic that seemed to appear whenever these two worked together appears to have faded away. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was pretty dull and pointless and the most positive aspect was the visuals. Alice in Wonderland is better than that, but is still below par.
The plot is basically that for some reason Alice has forgotten all about Underland, why she's forgotten the place and everything about it is never explained, and on the day she is proposed to by some dull person she is lured into the rabbit hole once again because she is the chosen saviour of Underland. In short, it's basically Narnia dressed in Alice in Wonderland clothing. You can pretty much figure out the plot and everything about it from that.
It's not a bad plot really. It's just far from being as imaginative and original as the stuff Burton usually gives us. It's just sort of bland, but still entertaining enough.
There are some nice scenes here and there. Like when a giant-sized Alice meets the Red Queen for the first time or when the Jabberwocky is revealed. But yeah, nothing much stands out.
Acting is solid throughout the entire movie with Alan Rickman, Christopher Lee and Stephen Fry delivering the most entertaining performances. Depp does a nice mad Mad Hatter but the role doesn't have even half the charm of his more famous roles nor does he make any lasting impressions. Mia Wasikowska as Alice though is very enjoyable and she's not your usual adventure heroine, until the end where she basically becomes Jean d'Ark. But even that's actually a cool moment.
And... that's basically it really. It's a movie that entertains but doesn't stand out as anything special.
I'm thinking that mr. Burton and mr. Depp should go their seperate ways for a while before their next collaboration. Just so that they can make something really special instead of just giving us these so-and-so movies. It might do them good.
Until next time, peace out.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
MOVIE REVIEW: Avatar
So I finally did it. I've now seen James Cameron's Avatar. The reason it's taken me so long to go see it isn't because I dislike Cameron's work or anything like that. I just wasn't all that interested really. But a friend of mine thought that we should see it and in the spirit of camaraderie I agreed. Then we procrastinated for a few weeks before finally watching the thing last day.
I went in with only a basic knowledge of the plot and questions to why this thing is pretty much the highest grossing movie of all time. I went out thinking that it was good but my questions were unanswered.
The story isn't anything new. You've got your average mr. Joe Everyman ending up in a larger than life situation on a planet where he doesn't really fit in and is looked down upon by the majority of every other character. As the movie goes on he earns the respect of everybody before he rises up to face an insurmountable challenge after having to choose between the his old team (the humans) and his new team (the Na'vi or aliens to those that haven't seen the movie yet) and basically becomes the greatest hero ever, in the movie that is. There's even a training montage, thankfully without stupid/cheesy 80s music, and of course a big inspirational speech, which was disappoitingly bland.
Now, while the story and characters, I'll get to those later, are pretty much as generic as you can get in these kinds of movie it's all so well-presented that sooner or later you won't really care about the genericness. You'll just be enjoying the movie, probably.
Let's start with the visuals. I saw it in 3D and the thing I thought that accentuated the most was that I now noticed tiny details like small bugs fluttering around the characters more easily now. Besides that the 3D didn't really add anything for me. At the movie's half-way point the effect had sort blended in and I had gotten so used to it that the only reminding me that it was in 3D was the somewhat to small 3D-glasseses I had to wear. In short, the 3D did very little to enhance the experience for me and unless the non-3D version is a bunch of stick-figures I don't think that it was worth the extra 40 kronor I had to pay for it.
Borderline pointless 3D aside, the movie looks great. I can see why Cameron wanted to wait until he had the technology to realise the vision he had for this movie. Pandora, that's the name of the planet, looks beautiful, the inhabitants look realistic enough and, most importantly to me, the various creature designs are all look awesome. There is some serious imagination at work here along with a meticulous sense of detail, which is the only thing the 3D-effect is good for. Overall, the visuals did impress me.
Back to the story. Like I said, it's generic and you've probably seen it or some version of it somewhere else. But Cameron seems to have been aware of this and did his best to make it as presentable as possible. It worked. The story is coherent with no obvious plot-holes or anything like that. The characters that matter have their own arcs that are told skillfully. And most importantly I ended up caring about what was going on on-screen. So yeah, well-presented indeed.
Speaking of presentation, it should be noted that more concern went into creating this whole new world than anything else. That's fine since, again, the world is beautifully realised. But the introduction to this new world does make the first half or so of the movie feel very slow and a bit boring.
As I mentioned, the characters are also pretty much stock. The hero is a normal person, except that he's cripled and military soldier, that ends up in a fantastic situation because of the death of his brother. He starts out with the usual human values but learns to love and appreciate nature and stuff like that through prolonged exposure to the Na'vi's way of life. The thing that does sell it though is Sam Worthington's acting. He makes this generic role work and like I said, I started to care about him. Since much of the story was told through Worthington's character's videologs that was a good thing. As a side note this makes me very excited for his lead role in the upcoming Clash of the Titans movie.
The supporting characters are also generic but well acted enough. But nobody sticks out. So let's move on to the villains. The very, very obvious villains. So obvious that I feel compelled to make an obvious reference to twirly mustaches and top-hats.
As the Na'vi represents basically every indigenous people ever and the planet of Pandora in turn represents all the nature that humans have destroyed it's only natural that the villains are evil corporations and uber-macho military. Beyond that they get no reedeming feature really. They are here to be the object of the audience's scorn and disgust. The movie doesn't try hide any of this though, so eventually you just go with it and hate the bad guys as you're supposed to do.
Now that I've mentioned it I might as well talk about it a little. Yes, the movie does have a message about how we're destroying nature and chasing out indigenous people from their homes due to our greed. It's a very obvious message, even more obvious than the villains, and it is sort of shoved into our faces. But here's the thing. It's actually an important issue. Avatar makes attempt to hide the issues it wants to address and wears its real-world concern proudly on its shoulder. In my book that gets a few bonus points. Also it does all this without getting preachy. Which can be attributed to, surprise surprise, a good presentation.
Lastly, the movie has a very good Big Damn Hero moment that I did not see coming. I love Big Damn Hero moments and I especially love them when I'm surprised by them. So that earns another big plus from me.
All in all. It's a good but generic movie. If you're into scifi/fantasy adventure movies then I suggest that you go see it, unless you've already done that which wouldn't surprise.
Until next time, peace out.
I went in with only a basic knowledge of the plot and questions to why this thing is pretty much the highest grossing movie of all time. I went out thinking that it was good but my questions were unanswered.
The story isn't anything new. You've got your average mr. Joe Everyman ending up in a larger than life situation on a planet where he doesn't really fit in and is looked down upon by the majority of every other character. As the movie goes on he earns the respect of everybody before he rises up to face an insurmountable challenge after having to choose between the his old team (the humans) and his new team (the Na'vi or aliens to those that haven't seen the movie yet) and basically becomes the greatest hero ever, in the movie that is. There's even a training montage, thankfully without stupid/cheesy 80s music, and of course a big inspirational speech, which was disappoitingly bland.
Now, while the story and characters, I'll get to those later, are pretty much as generic as you can get in these kinds of movie it's all so well-presented that sooner or later you won't really care about the genericness. You'll just be enjoying the movie, probably.
Let's start with the visuals. I saw it in 3D and the thing I thought that accentuated the most was that I now noticed tiny details like small bugs fluttering around the characters more easily now. Besides that the 3D didn't really add anything for me. At the movie's half-way point the effect had sort blended in and I had gotten so used to it that the only reminding me that it was in 3D was the somewhat to small 3D-glasseses I had to wear. In short, the 3D did very little to enhance the experience for me and unless the non-3D version is a bunch of stick-figures I don't think that it was worth the extra 40 kronor I had to pay for it.
Borderline pointless 3D aside, the movie looks great. I can see why Cameron wanted to wait until he had the technology to realise the vision he had for this movie. Pandora, that's the name of the planet, looks beautiful, the inhabitants look realistic enough and, most importantly to me, the various creature designs are all look awesome. There is some serious imagination at work here along with a meticulous sense of detail, which is the only thing the 3D-effect is good for. Overall, the visuals did impress me.
Back to the story. Like I said, it's generic and you've probably seen it or some version of it somewhere else. But Cameron seems to have been aware of this and did his best to make it as presentable as possible. It worked. The story is coherent with no obvious plot-holes or anything like that. The characters that matter have their own arcs that are told skillfully. And most importantly I ended up caring about what was going on on-screen. So yeah, well-presented indeed.
Speaking of presentation, it should be noted that more concern went into creating this whole new world than anything else. That's fine since, again, the world is beautifully realised. But the introduction to this new world does make the first half or so of the movie feel very slow and a bit boring.
As I mentioned, the characters are also pretty much stock. The hero is a normal person, except that he's cripled and military soldier, that ends up in a fantastic situation because of the death of his brother. He starts out with the usual human values but learns to love and appreciate nature and stuff like that through prolonged exposure to the Na'vi's way of life. The thing that does sell it though is Sam Worthington's acting. He makes this generic role work and like I said, I started to care about him. Since much of the story was told through Worthington's character's videologs that was a good thing. As a side note this makes me very excited for his lead role in the upcoming Clash of the Titans movie.
The supporting characters are also generic but well acted enough. But nobody sticks out. So let's move on to the villains. The very, very obvious villains. So obvious that I feel compelled to make an obvious reference to twirly mustaches and top-hats.
As the Na'vi represents basically every indigenous people ever and the planet of Pandora in turn represents all the nature that humans have destroyed it's only natural that the villains are evil corporations and uber-macho military. Beyond that they get no reedeming feature really. They are here to be the object of the audience's scorn and disgust. The movie doesn't try hide any of this though, so eventually you just go with it and hate the bad guys as you're supposed to do.
Now that I've mentioned it I might as well talk about it a little. Yes, the movie does have a message about how we're destroying nature and chasing out indigenous people from their homes due to our greed. It's a very obvious message, even more obvious than the villains, and it is sort of shoved into our faces. But here's the thing. It's actually an important issue. Avatar makes attempt to hide the issues it wants to address and wears its real-world concern proudly on its shoulder. In my book that gets a few bonus points. Also it does all this without getting preachy. Which can be attributed to, surprise surprise, a good presentation.
Lastly, the movie has a very good Big Damn Hero moment that I did not see coming. I love Big Damn Hero moments and I especially love them when I'm surprised by them. So that earns another big plus from me.
All in all. It's a good but generic movie. If you're into scifi/fantasy adventure movies then I suggest that you go see it, unless you've already done that which wouldn't surprise.
Until next time, peace out.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)