"Today at the edge of our hopes, at the end of our time. We have chosen to
believe in each other. Today we face the monsters that are at our blogs,
today we are cancelling the apocalypse!" -Marshal Pentecost
To think the Americans now own the Gundam robots.
Maybe it would feel more realistic (or logical..) if they had an all-Japanese cast.
Directed by monster loving Guillermo Del Toro, the movie tells of a story in the distant future that our world is in a brink of destruction by monsters, known as Kaiju. The humans only hope of survival is by building monstrous size robots called the Jaegers, controlled by two pilots having to "drift" their minds, binding their minds together in a neural link which lets them share the mental strain which
would otherwise overwhelm a single pilot. Retired pilot Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam) has to bury his past and team up with a rookie pilot Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi) in order to pilot his old Mark 3 Jaeger, the Gipsy Danger to carry out a new mission led by Marshal Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba) that could finally bring an end to the Kaiju's devastation.
Monster-Robot Beatdown!
Blend in Godzilla, Ultraman, Power Ranger's Megazord, Real Steel, Transformers and throw in designs from Iron Man and G.I Joe, you pretty much get Pacific Rim. But having the monsters called Kaiju, you know the inspiration is mainly from Godzilla and the various Japanese's monster movies in the past, and having the robots called Jaeger, a german word for Hunter, I guess it made sense to have those brilliant engineers from Germany move on from building cars to building giant robots. Well, I believe the only reason why I enjoyed the movie a lot is because Guillermo Del Toro certainly knows how to bring out my childhood love for giant monsters, Ultraman, Power Rangers and robots. I grew up with Godzilla, Power Rangers and Ultraman, all of which had monsters destroying the city (Power Ranger's one is usually the end bit), and both Power Rangers and Ultraman have our heroes matching up in size with the monsters, either by means of Ultraman space powers or combining Zords. And I'm pretty sure this movie is made for the fans of those.
You must know my friend Godzilla?
The designs of the film is pretty cool, from the robots to the monsters, to the those G.I Joe-ish suits the characters wear in the film. Although it's somewhat a "Kaiju" film, I felt there's more attention given in creating the robots than they do for the monster. The designers and concept artist certainly gave the robots an individual look base on their pilots, their country of origin and their technological development. The monsters although varied in their designs and their look, are much of the time, difficult to see when you have them coming out at night, moving under water, fighting in stormy weather or being captured blurry on camera... or dead. I guess you could somehow make out that some have glowy in things on their skin, one has wings and one has an amazing Predator-looking mouth. But they don't really have a cool a stand-out signature look or even a signature sound. Well, at least not as signature as Godzilla. But with what we have, everything has a COOL look and feel to it. I mean, this is a giant robot-monster beat down movie. How cool is that?!
The technology design and look is REALLY COOL!
Besides the visuals and the epicness of the robot-monster beat down, this movie certainly has a good story with character development in it. Each character in the story have a background story and each one plays an important part in the film. They were really well thought out and I really became invested in our characters of the story. I guess the only drawback is the acting of our two main actor and actress; Charlie Hunnam and Rinko Kikuchi as our hero Raleigh Becket and Mako Mori respectively. They came off rather flat at times. Idris Alba gave a strong performance as Marshal Stacker Pentecost. But the acting and character of Charlie Day as Dr. Newton Geiszler and Burn Gorman as Dr. Hermann Gottlieb really got my attention. Although the duo somehow came off a little bit like goofy side characters. Their characters brought some lightheartedness to a serious story. Even their look came off a little over the top. I mean, one looks like your typical mad-scientist and the other looks like a comic-book geek... but well, he's a Monster's geek.
They do make good models...but they can't act. I'm more inclined to buy their gear than their performance.
I can't help but feel there are some cliche, unoriginal moments in the film. The scene with Marshal Pentecost looking for Raleigh at the wall construction site, to ask him to come back into fighting off Kaiju, reminded me a lot of Colonel Sam Trautman looking for Rambo in Thailand, to come back into fighting for America. And even the climatic scene of the movie, our hero did an Avenger's Iron Man move by blowing up a nuke at the other side of the portal. I kinda expected that's going to happen when I see the radioactive logo behind the robot's back. I was like "Oh yea, the Gipsy Danger is nuclear powered. It's certainly going to end up being the bomb to collapse the tunnel." The scene where the characters and Mako were in suspense of whether our hero, Raleigh Becket was going to survive in the end. We've been treated with so many of that kind of ending in movies that we know...our hero is going to survive, no surprise, and he even delivers a "funny" one-liner to prove it. You know, let's go eat Shawarma anyone?
You can actually hear them screaming out their weapons before unleashing them. Like they'll say "Super Rocket Powered Dragon Punch! (or something of that sort) before punching the monster.
I really enjoyed the movie. The story is pretty engaging, I'm still in awe of the battle between the robots and monsters, and the whole concept and the design of the robot and the technology were really cool. Guillermo Del Toro did deliver a good Hollywood action flick, and gave a lollipop to the monsters and robots loving child in me. However, I can only give the movie a category 6.5 out of 10 glowing-blue-acid-spitting-pregnant Kaiju.
Lead Secret Service, Mike Bannings (Gerald Butler) traumatized by an event of failing to rescue the First lady, left his job for a desk job at the treasury. But when a group of North Korean terrorist, led by Kang Yeonsak (Rick Yune) attacks the White House and hold the persident of America (Aaron Echkhart) hostage, it's up Mike to get back into his game to rescue the president and save the people of America.
Even God (Morgan Freeman) can't help in this situation
Not bad of a film at all. Plenty of action and thrilling moments. But I didn't get all "OMG, how could this happen to America?!" because I can tell that they've downplayed the effectiveness of the government and the military to allow the terrorist to break into the White House and bring in their big guns. So, it did feel pretty unrealistic at times. So when Speaker called the White House the most secured and protected building in the world, I was like, "Really? you think so? You didn't even think of using the Hydra Six until it has fallen into enemy's hands." But anyway, a story got to be told.
Thanks for showing off the CG, director. This scene really takes its own sweet time to crumble.
Mike Banning is our new John McClane. He didn't have sarcastic one-liners, but when he was on the line with the terrorist baddie Kang, and they were both having a duel with words, it reminded me a lot of the banter between John McClane and Hans Gruber on the walkie talkie in the first Die Hard. Even the plot feels very similar in many ways to the original Die Hard movie. Just get John McClane to replace Mike Bannings and call the film "Die Hard 5: John Bless America", I'll be a much happy person because the Die Hard 5 we got was really pure crap. But overall, this film has really nothing much to showcase. The repercussion of having the White House taken over or having the president of America hostage, really have no impact on me. Now if you take over the Pentagon... and hold the world hostage. You'll have both my curiosity and attention.
"Do you really think you have a chance against us, Mr. Cowboy?"
"Yippee-ki-yay"
What do I think of our actors? Aaron Eckhart would be the guy whom I don't mind voting to be president. I can imagine an alternate universe of the Dark Knight where Harvey Dent survived the ordeal with the joker in Gotham City and goes on running for presidency, and finally this is what we'll get, we can get Lucious Fox moving on from the CEO of Wayne Enterprises to working as the Speaker. Morgan Freeman is always amazing to watch and hear. Put him in anything and it'll work. He's like the dude who can play anybody without changing the way he acts or sounds. As for Gerald Butler, he's okay. I couldn't recognize him at first. His face seems to look more like your ordinary American fella in this film. He did well as our gun slinging, hand to hand combat hero, no character development there and I have no idea why did they make him all traumatize over the Christmas event which served no real purpose other than for our terrorist friend to bring it up and shove it at Mike's face for being a failure. The way Mike handled himself and the situation, I have no doubt he's going win in the end.
"Rachel?!"
Overall, it's an okay film. It's not that bad of a film but there's really nothing interesting to showcase either. Mostly cheap thrills and straightforward action movie. I just hope the American folks have no fear of the Asian people from this film. And don't worry, America, if Hollywood teaches you anything, there will always be a hero to rise up to save the day. Not our Man of Steel though. I give this film a 5 out of 10 Hydra Six.
Rick Yune in Clark Kent's disguise
White House Down! I repeat, White House Down!
Comment below and tell me which you prefer: White House Down or Olympus Has Fallen?
"I cannot decide if this blogger is stupid or pretending to be stupid... Tricky." -Tonto
Presenting The Not so A-lone Ranger and his sidekick, Tonto!
Directed by Gore Verbinski, this movie is a modern adaptation of the old TV and radio broadcasting of the same name. Set in the Wild West, lawyer John Reid (Armie Hammer) was returning home to Colby on the uncompleted Trans-continental Railroads when a gang of bandits decided to rob the passengers of the train and break free the outlaw, Butch Cavendish (William Fichtner) who was on his way to Colby to be hang. John Reid, being a pacifist and holding a no-gun-rule, failed to stop the outlaw and his gang from getting away as well as nearly endangering the lives of the train passengers and the live of a Red-Indian named Tonto (Johnny Depp). He is then deputized as a Texas Ranger by his brother, Dan Reid (James Badge Dale) who's a Ranger himself, and they both and a team of six men set off to track Cavendish down and bring him to justice. In the canyon regions, they fell ambushed by the Cavendish gang, killing each and every one of the seven, with one of them betrayed who has led them into the trap. Believing that all of them were dead, Tonto decides to make graves for them and perform his rituals. But when he discovered that John Reid was still alive but unconscious, he believed that he is the "spirit-walker" who will help him in his journey for justice. Now John Reid has to wear a mask and assumes a new alias, know as The Lone Ranger, along with the help of his friend, Tonto, they both have to team up to find and capture Butch Cavendish and his gang to bring them to justice. Also starring Tom Wilkinson, Ruth Wilson, Barry Pepper and Helena Bonham Carter.
Am warning you now,you little worm, them SPOILERS A-HEAD!
After treating us with the world of Pirates, Gore Verbinski and Disney decides to take us now into the Wild Wild West. I must say that I'm happy with the direction they went. There isn't a lot of Wild West flicks around, and the latest the one that really hit in the cinema in recent years was Cowboys vs Aliens. That movie, to me, is more of a sci-fi set in a Western background. But here in Lone Ranger, it's Western from start to finish, not counting in the story-telling and narrative device used which is set in 1922. The scale of the movie is big, and I absolutely loved it. The set pieces, the use of the real trains, the on-location shots and the detailed costumes were fantastic. We've got horse riding sequences, chase scenes and gun shootouts. It was definitely an exciting Wild West experience.
"Hi-Ho, Silver, AWAY!!"
The story was well-written. I love how they use the story telling device narrated by the old Tonto to carry the film story and plot before our eyes. We the audience, are pretty much seeing and watching from the young boy's eyes and ears as Tonto recalls back his time with the Lone Ranger. That was really impressive and very well done. The story has a good character development for our hero. It's pretty much the origin story of the Lone Ranger, how he turned from a pacifist law man into a gun-slinging Texas Ranger. From a bumbling fool to a man of action. All under the guidance of his friend Tonto and his beliefs. It was no easy journey for him but it had its charm, had its moments and it was a lot of fun to watch, especially their banter between both of them and the dynamics of their relation-.. I meant partnership. And despite the title, we got a lot of Tonto involved too. And he's not there just to cash in on Captain Jac- I mean, Jonny Depp's performance (which I think he performed brilliantly). Tonto's story and development turned from a tragic back story to a victory story.
Tonto not very good in game of Seek n Hide...
ACTION! STUNTS! We get plenty of them. Many of them are way over the top and our heroes sometimes survive due to sheer luck. Some of the things they do too should have killed them already. I still don't understand how Tonto can jump from one moving train to another, landing on his back against a pile of silver rocks. That would not only have broken his back but must have been a severe bruise as well. But it's just a movie. I'm so happy to see some scenes were done through real stunts, although some scenes were done in CGI which you probably can tell. But I really miss the era in Hollywood movie making where they had no choice but to rely on stuntmen to perform dangerous action, all for the enjoyment of the cinema audience. But we got fast moving trains, good ol' revolver shootouts and horse galloping! I really love the wild west experience.
Yea, this ain't no horseplay... or is it?
However, I think it went a little over the top when they unfold and unleashed the protoyped machine guns. I was like "haven't they done this so many times in films?" Not in the modern setting day films where the machine gun is already staple use of weapon but must it always be introduced and reintroduced in film set in a time where there's no machine gun or any form of automatic weapon yet? Some of the movies I can think of that does this are The Last Samurai, Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows, Jonah Hex, Van Helsing, Hansel and Gretel and Shanghai Knights. Enough with the "Say hello to my newly invented friend. I called her, the MACHINE GUN!" or any form of automatic weapon for that matter. Can't they just stick to its period weapon in the movie.
Say hello to my newly invented friend...
Although a fun and enjoyable film, I believe the movie had one flaw. It was way too long. 2 1/2 ours. It took a long while before we were told of the sinister plot behind the railroad and the mining of silver. There was some politics involved as well. It was all pretty damned confusing to me. Best to just keep the plot simple. I mean see how Pirates of the Carribean: Curse of the Black Pearl work for all of us and how Dead Man Chest and World's End was getting a little too complicated? I was bored to death at the room full of the gentlemen in their 1800's tux and mustaches talking about the railroad project, before somebody got shot and the train got stolen. Even the night scene at the Silver mines when the indians comes out to fight, and John was about to be killed, that I thought was the final act of the film initially. But when I see it continues on, I was like,"couldn't that be done shorter?"
Shut up already, Parliment and die!
I understand that the film lost a lot of money for the studio, not that Disney can now suffer major financial losses. I think if they kept the film within 2 hours in length and simplify the plot a bit, they wouldn't need to spend so much money in the first place. But even with that, I believe our cinema audience have lost its taste in Western movies, which is really sad. It's this kind of genre that is becoming less and less popular. Also, releasing it so close to the movie Despicable Me 2, you're going to lose audiences and children to this Minion filled movie. I really enjoyed the film very much and I believe Gore Verbinski did a great job in adapting an old classic TV character into the silver screen (Get it, silver)? Even Hans Zimmer nailed the music and soundtrack excellently. Hearing Hans' version of "William Tell Overture" when our Lone Ranger comes to save the day really got me all excited and rooting for the hero,"Go, Loner!!". I give this a 7 out of 10 silver bullets.
Not listening to comments...La La La La...
Comment below, you want to see a sequel to the Lone Ranger? =)
This third movie hasn't been released yet and not even planned yet but I have given some thoughts on what I think could work as a threequel. We now know that the next planned movie in the Despicable Me franchise is The Minions, coming out in December 2014, which will takes place before the first Despicable Me movie and its main characters are the Minions. But just how can our beloved characters move forward with what happened after the events of Despicable Me 2? I dread to think they would go on the same path as the Ice Age and Shrek series, where they pretty much ran out of ideas of places and development the writers could take their characters to. That's why we got a Puss In Boots spin-off movie instead of a Shrek 5. With that in mind, let's explore how our beloved main characters can move on from here.
There's no way these two can settle down and have a normal family life.
Follow the style of Dark Knight rises. No, not the dark, gritty and realism style... Okay, not a good reference.. maybe Toy Story 3. Have Despicable Me 3 take place at a much later in the timeline, maybe 10 years after the events of Despicable Me 2. Retired villain Gru and Retired Anti-Villain Lucy are married with a new child, a son, joining in their family, and the three adopted girls have grown up to become teenagers. But somewhere down the line, Gru apparently went missing with the suspicion of being kidnapped, and it's up to Lucy, the girls and the minions to track down and find out what happened. Have them break into AVL's Villain archives and get a list of possible Villain suspects to go through. Each villain they meet would tell their story of how they met Gru and why they hated him. Perhaps this can even shed light on Gru's past and how he became a villain. Maybe give us a shocking side of Gru's past that we never expect, like maybe he had dreams to become a hairdresser. This is also where you can bring in Vector, the antagonist of the first movie. Maybe give Vector a son, who Margo would fall in love with. Somewhere at the end, you can have Vector and Gru set aside their differences and past conflicts, to team up and save their love ones.
OH YEA!!
Who could be the villain behind Gru's kidnapping? I believe we can make a shocking twist of having his mother responsible of the sinister plot, turning him into a little boy again. OR... we can introduce his father, Senior Gru, a former Super-villain since we never hear anything of Gru's dad in either of the film. Make him upset that his son has turned from his villainy way and is trying to brainwash him with a super-brain-washing-device to make him an ultimate villain. Ultimately, Gru breaks free from his mind-control or brainwash, and decides to choose his family instead... Ok, maybe that's a little cliche but you can still work on this concept. When all else fails, his father decides to kidnap his grandson, in order to turn him into the villain Gru failed to be. This is where Gru and his family have to put an end to.
Ma Gru is definitely not to be mess around with...
Maybe we can continue to use and work on the idea that Gru's father had expectations on Gru to become an ultimate villain and gives Gru no freedom of choice, but Gru has always dreamed to be a hairdresser until his father does something to his hair that makes him permanently bald and then forces him to become a villain. Have Gru realises that he is doing the same to Margo, Edith and Agnes. Have Margo wanting to be with Vector's son who Gru sorely disagrees to, Edith wanting to choose a career full of danger and adventure at every corner, an AVL agent perhaps? and Agnes... I can't think of anything that Agnes could choose that Gru would disagree on. A scientist that creates unicorn...fluffy ones? Well, after he learn his lesson from the events dealing with his father, he decides to respect their choices in life. This way you give Gru some character development or something to take away from the events of the film.
"Gru, I am your father!"... Nah, just kidding.
Don't forget the Minions... have a lot of them in. Just let the writers' and directors' imagination go wild with any costume the Minions can put on and the things they can do, and make them sing here and there. I really like all the songs that the minions sing in the second movie. The minions adaptation of "I Swear" was a big hit and even the "Another Irish drinking song" was really fun to hear. Get them to sing more famous songs. I would love to hear Micheal Jackson's Billie Jeans and Thriller or Elvis' Hound Dog and Jailhouse Rock in Minion language. Bring back the Minions we all know by name by now; Stuart, Dave, Kevin, Tom. I just had a crazy idea of seeing pink Minions, or even different coloured ones. Then again, just stick to yellow. But have more of them, have an army of them!
Pa-Poy!! Pa-Poy!! Yay!!
Well, that's my pitch. We'll have to wait awhile before we get to see Despicable Me 3. It's probable that we'll never get to see a third movie of Despicable Me. We could very well get a sequel to the Minion spin off movie first and other original animated features before the studio decides to continue with a third film of Despicable Me. Tell me what you think in the comments? What would you like to see the Minions do or wear?
She wants to get caught, she leaves
bread crumbs, she leaves clues...
She knows how to disguise
her weakness as strength..."
- Dr Andrew Fassbach
(died due to non-zombie preventable cause)
Teamwork will always help you reach your goal. Let these mindless zombies be an example.
World War Z tells of a story when a strange Zombie-like epidermic breaks out around the world, United Nation investigator, Jerry Lane has to leave his family and return to his former job to find out the cause of the epidermic in hopes to find a cure and a way to fight the outbreak. Starring Brad Pitt as the handsome long haired United Nation agent and hero, Jerry Lane and Daniella Kertesz as his Israeli soldier sidekick, only known as "Segen". The two may finally bring hope to a world closing on to a zombie apocalypse.
When you think our hero needs protection, these military dudes need our hero to save them in the end.
There are a lot of zombie movies out there. They are mostly B-rated films and much of the time, zombies are used as a gimmick for violence and gore, and becoming less of a horror movie. There are especially a growing number of zombie apocalypse movies. Gone are the days where we see the world end in cinema by asteroids, natural disasters, weapons of mass destruction and robots. Gone are the days especially when Hollywood cinema used to showcase us a bright future (The Fifth Element, Back to the Future: Part Two), much of the movies today keep reminding us that our future is going to be dark, scary and bleak. Perhaps, to some extent that might be true. When we are beginning to see instability in many countries, natural disasters ranging from Earthquakes to Tsunamis occurring now and then, a sudden outbreak of diseases, rumors of war and destruction, and a declining morality in the newer generation, some of the things we see in the movies are actually not far off.
My Precious!
What do I think of this movie? Not bad... I love the global scope of the film, especially when our hero, Jerry Lane had to do a lot of traveling that gives us a glimpse of what's happening around the world. I was a little disappointed that we couldn't see anything of South Korea. The setting was all dark and raining, and all the scenes are mostly indoors with no sign of any Asian soldiers or civilians. Even the zombies that chased after them don't look Asian... then again it's hard to tell in the dark and in the rain. But once he travelled to Jerusalem, Israel, I was sold. It felt that the movie was shot on location and really felt like there's a current zombie outbreak there. How in the world did they get to find a place similar to Israel and get that many extras to crowd the set. That's perhaps the best part of the film. I love the grand scale of the movie, even the zombie outbreak there seems a lot scarier compared to the rest of the film. Especially seeing zombies climbing on top of one another like ants to get over the wall and to bring down a helicopter, that's a whole new concept to the zombie genre.
Mount Doomed
I especially love the realistic take on a zombie outbreak. The use of televised news, the chaotic environment, the confusion at the start of the film and the military action during an outbreak, really ground the entire film in reality. The not so realistic part were mostly around our hero, Jerry Lane. SPOILER ALERT!! As much as the filmmakers wanted to make him the every-man's man, he is showcased as a "can't touch me-and-will-always-win" hero. What are the odds he and his family survive a car accident with little to no injury? Why in the first place did he reacted to an explosion in the traffic jam and a dumpster truck crashing through the traffic, by ramming on the accelerator of the car? How can he look and walk so healthily after he injected himself with a lethal-but-curable disease? I already knew and expected our hero to inject himself and then waltz out of the room and down the corridor with the attitude and confidence that the zombie can't touch him. The scene where he puts a message on the camera to tell his wife and family that he loves them, holds no weight at all. Our Jerry Lane suffered just as John McClane did in the course of Die Hard 1 to Die Hard 5, where he turned from the every-man's vulnerable man who was in the wrong place at the wrong time to an invincible "can't-touch-me" super commando. SPOILER END!!
This is one zombie movie where the shooting have been axed... Get it, axed?
Zombies... As of this day and age, we've been treated with slow moving zombies, fast moving zombies, dancing zombies, brain eating zombies, flesh eating zombies, plant eating zombies, rotting zombies, freshly fleshed zombies, mutated zombies, animal zombies, nazi zombies, slow converting zombies, fast converting zombies, raised-from-the-grave zombies, virus-causing zombies and etc..etc... Here in this movie, we are presented with the fast moving, fast conversion, virus-causing zombies. Not the hungry for brains or flesh type, and not the ones easily killed with a head shot. They aren't scary as individuals, even that lone zombie that was waiting for Jerry outside the glass room felt to me like a small threat. But when they come in hoards, in huge numbers and in waves of tsunami, that's where their strength lies, that's the horrifying part of it.
I was even expecting Brad Pitt, our hero to find a stash of weapons of all forms, shapes and sizes, and go out on a zombie massacre, as presented in most zombie movies.
A rally for more public transportation...
The scope and the scale of the film really sold this movie to me. The zombies hoard really scared the wits out of me. I enjoyed the film a lot. The twist in the end of how they work out to find a way to deal with the zombies was a little cliche. But ultimately, it didn't bother me as much as the fact they didn't even find out the cause of the zombie outbreak. Leave that to the sequel. I'm good with it. However, I would love to see their original alternate third act where they showcase the Battle of Moscow where there were multiple front lines of people fighting against zombies. That, to me, would make the title "World War Z" a lot more sense. I understand that this film is based on the book of the same name, and only the title and the 1st paragraph of the book stays in the movie. It just makes me want to get my hands on the book and read the original written oral history of World War Z. I give this movie a 7 out of 10 break-dancing zombies.
"They never found the body after he entered the cinema for Despicable Me 2.
All that was ever retrieved... was a pile of singed chest hair."
Ba-na-na?
After the events of Despicable Me, Gru has moved on from his villainy ways and embracing fatherhood to his adopted three girls. When an entire laboratory at the Artic Circle is being stolen, Gru is brought in by the AVL (Anti-Villain League) to use his villainy expertise to hunt down the culprit. Partnering with an AVL agent, Lucy Wilde, he's not only back in his game of using big guns and cool gadgets but begins to venture down the love lane. Meanwhile, a sinister agent begins to mysteriously kidnap all his minions for a very sinister plot of world domination. Starring Steve Carell as Felonious Gru, Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier and Elsie Fisher as his three adopted daughters; Margo, Edith and Agnes respectively, Benjamin Bratt as El Macho and Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud, voicing the 10,400 Minions. Yes, it's that many minions.
ME-POH! ME-POH! ME-POH! SPOILERS AHEAD!!
I love this movie. It's one of the few good 3D animated film that's not belonging to Pixar (Pixar standards have dropped considerably). Almost as good as the first movie, what really drives this movie is its story... and its Minions. You just gotta love the adorable funny Minions. Story... the writers did a wonderful job in taking the character of Gru to a new place, to a new character development. We've seen him turning from a cold (possibly heartless) evil villain to a hero with a big heart when the three girls entered in his life. Now, with a woman coming into his life, his character begins to develop another step up. Technically, he's coming into the hero phase of "getting the girl." As for the three girls, there's not much of character development, you have Margo finding out that guys are jerk, Agnes having her heart desire fulfilled to have a real mother and Edith... well, just being Edith.
Gru's moving from the villain to the hero phase where he gets the girl.
The real stars of the movie are the Minions! Those yellow, short, spherical...beings really stole the show. They not only look cute and adorable, but their sound and actions are so funny. Unlike the first film, this time they come in all sort of costumes and even no costume or clothing at one point. I'm so glad they played a big part in the plot. And it made me feel sorry for them to see them turned into a mindless and heartless purple evil minion. But like every children movie, it all comes out well in the end. No minions were injured or killed in the process of film making. They especially stole the limelight at the end, singing their version of "I swear" as "Un-der Wear". It made all the audience in the cinema laughed. We can never get enough of them. We even begin to recognize them individually as the movie progresses. We know there's Dave the Minion who falls for Lucy and we know there's Kevin, the tall Minion who was in the golf wear and later in the Hula dancing costume, we got Tom who's the infamous French Maid Minion who would be the first to turn into the purple evil minion. Minion Madness!
AAAAAAAHHHH!!!!
If you didn't realise...
There were tons of memorable and funny moments in the film. Majority of them were Minion centered, but the ones that aren't, were how the way El Macho faked his death in a super macho way and how Lucy and Gru dealt with Gru's date. However, I don't dig the Fairy Princess Gru scene but the minions were there to wash that bad taste off by failing to vanquish the dragon and ending up fighting one another, and I would love to see more of their attempt at their magic trick performance. I also love the scenes with Eduardo's (El Macho) chicken, El Polito. When Lucy was strapped to the rocket and Gru was trying to untie her, I knew the rocket had to be launched somehow. I was half-expecting the launch button on the remote will be clumsily pressed by Gru or any of the minions. But when the chicken showed up, I burst into laughter, I just knew that he's going to hit the button to get his revenge on Gru and Lucy. Even the character Lucy Wilde had many good moments, her over-confident, yet sweet, cheerful and perky attitude came off really funny and cute at times. They make a good pair, Gru and her. The movie sold their relationship to me, that ultimately I was so happy to see their wedding scene at the end. Did I just spoil the movie for you? I did warn you that there's going to spoilers right?
Sweet cold chicken revenge...
"Hilarious," as Silas Ramsbottom puts it. I enjoyed this movie very much, and am looking forward to their next movie, a prequel, a Minions movie. I don't know how they can continue the story of Gru and his children, and this time with a wife. I hope they don't go down the road like Shrek and Ice Age did, where the main characters had to deal with their children growing up and all. They got to crack the story and get it right. Otherwise I would love to explore more of the world of Despicable Me. (Not so despicable, in the end after all) But you can never fail with Minions... Ultimately, Despicable Me 2 is an excellent story for a sequel, a lot of funny and hilarious moments, enjoyable from start to finish and minions everywhere, I give this movie an 8.5 out of 10 tons of TNT strapped to El Macho riding a shark into an active Volcano.
"You will give the people of Earth an ideal to strive towards.
They will
race behind you, they will stumble, they will fall.
But in time, they
will join you in the sun, Kal.
In time, you will help them accomplish
wonders."-Jor-El
Man of Steel is a retelling of Superman's history and a reboot to Superman's cinema history. Directed by Zack Synder, starring Henry Cavill as Clark Kent/Superman, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Russell Crowe as Jor-El, Michael Shannon as General Zod, Diane Lane as Martha Kent, Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent, Laurence Fishburne as Perry White. The story (as pretty much everybody knows by now) tells of how on a doomed planet Krypton, a wise scientist, Jor-El saved his son from destruction by sending him on a spaceship to planet Earth where he is adopted by a Kansas farmer, Jonathan Kent and his wife, Martha Kent. Named Clark Kent, the boy grows up and starts to manifest powers and abilities that made him a "freak" in school. Learning from his adopted father that he is an extra-terrestrial that came from the sky, Clark goes on a journey to find out who he was and what was his purpose to be here. Saving people here and there as he goes, getting various odd jobs and pretty much hiding himself from the world as advice by his dad. He soon finds a spaceship that could give him the answers that he's looking for. As he just discovered his origin, he soon learn that he is not the only one who had survived Krypton destruction, and they are not only coming for him but to establish a new krypton on Earth. Clark must don the super-cape and finally step out into the world and use his superpowers to save the people of this planet.
WOOOOSHH!!
Spoilers from here on out!
I enjoyed the movie a lot! But as much as I enjoyed it, I was also somewhat disappointed with it. I'm a big Superman fan and this movie is NOT the definitive Superman's movie I was hoping it would be. I loved the idea of a reboot. I and many fans have been waiting too long for a next Superman movie after Superman Returns, especially when it has just returned from a long movie developmental hell, it went right back into another developmental hell. I personally like Superman Returns. It brought back my love for Superman that's hidden deep inside my inner child. But after we got two sequels of Batman Begins, Superman was nowhere to be found. It's only after The Dark Knight made a lot of money to the studio, did they decide to green lit a reboot to Superman movie history. So, yes, I was so happy that they were finally moving forward with a Superman movie...but what happened was that the studio started to" Dark-Knighten" Superman, make it dark, gritty... like Batman! Because, well... Batman made a lot of money. They also paid attention to what the critics and the audiences were complaining about in Superman Returns, which was pretty much "We want action! We want Superman to punch someone." So, the studio listened... and they rammed up the action to 300% in the expense of good drama and story. Hence, we got this very battle fatigue film.
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...
What I did enjoy from this Superman's movie? Well, the beginning scenes on planet Krypton scene really roped me in. Krypton was just so much more alive and full of details, and I'm glad the movie invest a lot of time in Jor-El story and the destruction of Krypton. It reminded me of the first few episodes of Superman: The animated series where Jor-El took center stage in all of the action. It reminded me a lot of the beginning of the original Superman movie, where we had Marlo Brando as Jor-El and the scene where he sents General Zod and his henchman...and hench-woman to the Phantom Zone which ultimately set them up as villains for the sequel. In Man of Steel, we also get General Zod and his henchmen and henchwoman pretty much being set up to be the villain for this movie in the same manner. I absolutely love the background story being written for these characters before Clark gets send off to Earth. But, I have one issue... What's with the Codex?! I don't know what's the big deal with that, was it to give a reason for Zod to go after Superman and kill him? I mean, Superman being an obstacle to Zod's plan to reestablish Krypton is a good enough reason. How does it serve a purpose for Jor-El? The whole thing about Clark being a bridge between two worlds? I like the fact that they give more background story to Jor-El, Zod and Krypton...but I would love it to be a lot simpler. There's just too much exposition for this fanboy to comprehend, much less the general audiences. Half way through the movie, when Jor-El's ghost appear to speak to Clark, everything to me is just became...blah blah blah blah blah...
"Kal-El, you won't understand this now.. you probably won't understand any of what I said later either..."
I understand a lot of people and writers have said that Superman is a difficult character to relate to, especially when he's not human and pretty much possesses God-like abilities. But I personally think that's not true. An origin story of Superman holds a lot of potential for character development, drama and good story telling. One of the things I really am disappointed with Man of Steel is how they failed to utilize Supes origin story to bring out good character development, drama and story-telling. Let the audience journey with Clark as he discovers who he is, properly flesh out how his adopted father and mother instill his moral values, let him make certain choices in his life from the relationship he had with the people around him and from his understanding that the world is in dire need for hope and in need of a protector. Let him choose to wear the cape and decide to use his powers for good... instead of being told by Jor-El what he must do. Instead, what I get from this movie is plainly just one thing happening after another. You know, he starts off going on a fishing trip, does a save at the oil rig inferno along the way, washed up on the beach and decides to work in a bar, then quits when he gets bullied. It's like "I'm just passing through here". They all came off rather flat. Only the flashbacks of his childhood tell a good story and how it factors heavily in his life.
Just passing through...
When fleshing out the origin story as well as the Year One story of Superman, I do expect to see several things: How he discovered his powers and how he reacted to them. How he reacted when he discovered that he's adopted and that he's an alien. How he gets the Superman suit and why he wears it. Why he gets his job in the Daily Planet and how and why he puts on the glasses. How he first met Lois Lane. How he first reveal himself to the world as Superman. What is his first heroic save? Who would be the first villain he will fight. How he meets his arch enemy, Lex Luthor. These questions/topics are answered variously from different origin story and year one stories when told repeatedly in the comic, TV shows and movies. So when I watched Man of Steel, these are some of the things I want to see being explored. I was rather disappointed with how they were written in Man of Steel...Not, rather.. I was very disappointed that I started tweaking and re-writting the whole origin story in my head. In the original movie, we had Superman revealing himself to the world and meeting Lois Lane for the first time when saving Lois Lane in the helicopter sequence on the Daily Planter building. In Superman Returns, the world is reintroduced to Superman when he saves an entire airplane and meets Lois Lane in the process. I think he even save an airliner in the animated series as well or was it stopping Lex's robotech suit in the hands of evil men? Both are still cool.... In the finale of the Smallville TV show, Supes reveals himself to the world by saving the Air Force One from plummeting down from the atmosohere and then he pushed away an entire freaking planet from demolishing Earth.. In Man of Steel, he is introduced to the world by surrendering himself to the military?! We get him meeting Lois Lane for the first time when Lois Lane needs to cauterize a wound inflicted from an accident caused by Lois Lane herself ?!. How is that remotely iconic or epic for a Superman movie or a Superhero movie for that matter? I mean, even Batman first showed up by taking down Carmine Falcone and his entire gang, and then tying Falcone up to a spotlight for the police to see. We even got Spiderman saving a bunch of cars from Lizard's destruction on the bridge, and finally rescuing a kid from plunging to his death from a falling car. What are you doing, Superman? Surrendering yourself?!! and getting handcuffed? Sigh.. With that being said and vented out... As for the introduction of the Clark Kent disguise, I love how movie ended on that note and it teased the bumbling daily Clark Kent with his specs on.
If Superman had a seizure, they'll all be dead.
What do I think of this new Superman? I was really excited when he finally don the suit and stepped outside the "Fortress Of Solitude" to take his first flight. It was like... "Yeah! The moment we've all been waiting for! Superman!" But that's just me accepting and getting what the movie provides. I really miss his red underwear outside. That's what made him so iconic as Superman. Even if they do without any underwear, at least splash some red at his groin area to break up the blue. From an artist point of view, too much of the same shade of blue there, just felt like something is missing. Maybe even consider a darker shade of blue from waist down. I also missed the classic S symbol, although the new design ain't that bad. But we never really got a perfect classic S symbol in the movie. Each new actor that portrayed Superman had a different variation of the S symbol. But I particularly like how big the symbol across his chest, unlike the small one we had in Superman Returns. Colour wise, I hate it. Superman should wear his red, blue and yellow proudly. His blue has been dulled and darken so much, it's closed to looking like dark grey. His red and yellow has been muted that his yellow beginning to look like white and his red is barely surviving the colour filter. Even Superman's face looks pale in some scenes. I blame this on Zack Synder who love to use mute colours out of all his movie. How is Henry Cavill as Superman? Just so-so to me. I really miss the classic Superman where he still have a lot of charm and charisma, portrayed wonderfully by Christopher Reeve, and barely hitting it there when portrayed by Brandon Routh. Henry Cavill's Superman has zero charisma and zero charm, and maybe due to this dark, gritty, realistic direction, his Superman is mostly brooding, angry and too serious. The only moment where he's pretty much calm and a little more Supermanly was when he delivers his line during the conversation with the general after he crashed the expensive military drone. "I grew on Kansas, general. I'm as American as I can get...Well, general, I guess we'll just have to trust you." Now, all the fan girls go,"I think he's kinda hot."
I do miss John Williams' Superman theme. It's still perhaps the best Superman theme in history. However, as for Man of Steel, I personally love the soundtrack. Hans Zimmer did a great job in scoring this film. It felt so different from the previous themes we've heard in movies, animated series or TV series, yet you can tell it that it still does scream "Superman" but it's still very much unique in its way. He tastefully used simplistic notes to bring out the emotional elements of Clark's childhood flashbacks. His build up to his Superman's theme really brings out the excitement and a sense of power. I also feel there's an organic element to it. His "Arcade" theme played out in the background of Krypton really brings out the threat and suspense in the scene. Very creative and very well done. However, I only feel the music only stands out in the Krypton scene, his flashbacks, his flight scene and then finally the ending.
Lois and Clark...The forcibly written relationship in the midst of action and explosion.
And... ACTION! The second half of the movie is packed loads of actions. I was all "WOW" when he starts flying towards Zod, grabbing him, dragging him on the ground and repeatedly punching Zod's helmet before throwing him into several buildings and finally a gas station which emits a BIG EXPLOSION! That was the start of the non-stop action that not only leveled the small town of Smallville but also the city of Metropolis later in the movie. This is where I wholly agree with many critics out there. There's just so much destruction that we begin to wonder, why isn't Superman making effort to save the people around or take the fight to a place where there's no collateral damage. I still cannot forget a scene where Zod kicks an oil truck (bearing Lex Corp on it) towards Supes, and Supes just flew up and back down to avoid it, leaving the truck to crash into a building emitting a huge explosion behind him, and he doesn't even look back to see if that injured anyone along the way or in the building. Thousands and probably millions of people died off screen throughout the entire World Engine sequence and the final fight between Zod and Supes. Supes just kept on fighting Zod... I mean, after several punches to Zod's face and body, and Zod still comes back up to return the blows, doesn't Supes know that repeatedly punching Zod just isn't enough to bring him down? I, for one, gets bored after awhile. Even flying up to the Satellite (belonging to Wayne's) and trashing towards each other, what are the chances it even flies back down to Metropolis where they just came? Just when the supermen punches were beginning to bore me and i just wanted to get the story going... something happen, that just sparked my full attention..
Supes: If you love Chris Reeve's Superman so much, you can mourn for it!
Zod: Don't do this! STOP!
Supes: NEVER!
When Supes had Zod in a gridlock in his arm and Zod blasting his heat vision at a trapped civilians, I knew Supes in a position to decide if he was going to kill Zod or not. I was screaming in my heart, "Don't do it! Don't do it!" Superman never kills! Then, SNAP! Zod's neck get twisted... and he's dead. What was the writers thinking? What was Zack thinking? What was Goyer thinking?! Why do you even have to write Superman in that position? I mean even Batman gets to do his thing with his moral code of not killing people, and not even using guns. A lot of people have justified that Superman had no choice. I for one think that Superman should have mustered all his energy to sonic boom fly up and bring Zod up to space in order to bring them both away from civilians, then decide how to deal with Zod from up there. But sadly, the true fact and what is seen on screen is a dead body of Zod with his head on backwards, all from the handiwork of Superman. Yes, he let out a scream and felt some remorse over what he has done... but that's not good enough, Goyer... I think Supes' feeling the remorse over you writing him to do that.
The ghost of all who died in Metropolis...That's right, Supes, you're responsible!
Before we get to the beautiful ending where we get a wonderful flashback of how his father got to actually catch a glimpse of the man Clark's going to grow up to be with the final closing scene where we get teased with the Daily Planet Clark Kent, the movie ultimately fails to recognize the damage and the destruction of the city and all the people that have died in the process. All was swept under the rug and was pretty much forgotten. At least, the Avengers had a series of television broadcasts reflecting on the aftermath of the alien invasion. Instead, in Man of Steel, we get him crashing a drone and then being told that "he's kinda hot" by a military personnel (Face-palm in effect...) Like fan girls need to be reminded of that. Is that the only light hearted moment in the entire movie? That's rather sad.
As with any comic book movies, the last thing that I was for, was THE AFTER CREDIT SCENE! I was so sure there's going to be one. Because... Marvel has done that in all its movie. Even Spiderman is doing that! It's like a little treat to loyal fans who stayed back and suffer through the long credits. I would think the Warner would have seen how fans loved it by now and incorporate something in this one. Have Batman show up? Teased a Justice League? But what did we get at the end? Nothing...
I'm the hero that Metropolis needs, but not the one it deserves.
Like I said in the beginning, I enjoyed the movie... Loved the Krypton scenes, loved the action, the visual effects... I especially love the flight scene... I personally love the soundtrack. But ultimately, I am disappointed with this movie overall because it failed in its story driven aspect and character development and the potential it had for an origin story. It just borrowed too many elements from Batman Begins and the Dark Knight, that it lost its potential to be a great and unique epic Superman movie or a comic book movie. Not the definitive Superman movie to me, but I'm keeping my finger cross for a good sequel. I give this movie a 7 out of 10 Wayne satellites falling out of orbit. Up, up and away!
So, what does the "S" stands for? Superman?
It's not an "S". In my world, it stands for hope... In my world, I am Hopeman!
Posts
.jpg)
