The Movie Critic

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Prometheus

Prometheus is the "unofficial" prequel to Aliens. Ridley Scott, who started off the whole franchise in 1979 has made claims that this is not really a prequel just a different story.

The movie is breathtaking visually. While, even in 3D, it does not create the entire environment to experience like Avatar did, its similar in the sense, you really feel transformed to a whole new world. The set pieces were breathtaking and the overall feel of the movie was great. In line with the other Alien movies, this one is not really a horror movie. There are a few intense scenes that cause you to flinch or clench up, but its overall just an intense thriller about these unfortunate people.

Prometheus begins with scientists on Earth making cave drawing discoveries. They believe the drawings prove that man did not descend from apes, but rather from aliens. The two scientists use a private corporation, The Weyland Corporation (same from previous movies) to fund a search mission to a moon they believe these aliens are on. Once they arrive they see that all (or most) of the aliens they believe to be mankind's ancestors, are dead. Horror ensues as other aliens infect the bodies of the scientists and security team and they learn their ancestors dark secrets.

My problem with this movie is that everything sets up to be a sequel in Alien. Without giving anything away, much of the last 30 minutes of the movie looks eerily familiar, and then they mess it all up. Things are not where they are supposed to be anymore. The ship that they find in Alien is the same one they explore in Prometheus. It is in the exact same location, but there is something missing. Its hard to describe without spoiling anything, but it just does not make sense. The director dismisses this with the simple claim, "this is not a prequel", but clearly it is. Too much matches up, for it not to be a prequel. I think this was rushed through pre-production or for whatever reason they thought this would be sufficient. But fans of the Alien stories will be disappointed. Regular movie goers will probably be entertained. As a stand alone movie, it was pretty good.

I give this film just 2.5 stars. As a fan of the original Alien trilogy, I found this to be promising but overall a let down. Watch it in 3D if you are a visual person, otherwise a rental would do.

Spider-Man versus The Amazing Spider-man

There are no spoilers in this review that were not shown in previews. The only spoiler is in the final point and there is a large warning before it- so read only if you dare!! I will compare 6 different categories and announce my pick for winner between Spider-Man (2002) and The Amazing Spider-Man (2012):

1) Spider-Man- While the Raimi Spider-Man's suit was more traditional, the Amazing Spider-Man utilized web-shooters which was more true to the comics. While at the time the organic web shooters was something many fans were able to swallow as a necessity to main stream the movie, this proved equally effective and believable. The Amazing Spider-Man spent less time showcasing his powers and more time having them actually use them. Raimi's Spider-Man was very corny. Webb's Spider-Man was darker and had more issues, but still made wise-cracks while attacking the bad guys. Winner- The Amazing Spider-Man

2) Peter Parker- Maguire's Peter Parker was much dorkier than Garfields. Maguire portrayed Parker as a true nerd- one that liked science and was picked on at school. Garfield was less nerdy, more emo-Twilight-esque. He had problems, he wasn't popular, Flash Thompson still picked on him, but it wasn't the same. He had a certain ease talking to Gwen Stacy that lacked the awkwardness you felt when Maguire talked to Mary Jane (Dunst). Garfield was just not as dorky as Maguire was. Winner- Spider-Man (minus the 3rd one, "Dancing Maguire"

3) Relationships- Gwen Stacy or Mary Jane? Emma Stone or Kirsten Dunst? Kirsten annoyed a lot of people and most did not like her. I felt like her portrayal of Mary Jane was great. Was she the best actress for the part? Maybe, maybe not. But I thought she really looked the part. What's interesting is both of these on screen couples were also behind the scenes in relationships. Emma Stone had less screen time, but the relationship is a more interesting one. Mary Jane's story in the comics is more of a supportive character for Spider-Man. Whereas Gwen Stacy drives story development. Her father is the chief of police hunting Spider-Man. Her story in the comics is one of legend and one that is much more interesting than Mary Janes. Hopefully they will stay loyal to that storyline and explore it through to the end. Winner- The Amazing Spider-Man

4) Web Slinging- When Spider-Man came out in 2002, everyone fell in love with the idea of swinging about in New York City. The scenes were beautiful and breathtaking and looked very realistic. Spider-Man 2 added a lot of high flying action which combine the beauty of web-slinging with Spider-Man's ability to use it as a tactical advantage fighting Doc Ock on the metro rail or the top of buildings. But nothing compares to seeing the Amazing Spider-Man in IMAX 3D. The web-slinging looks even more realistic now and this movie really captures the beauty from the comics. Its one thing to draw a person all contorted flying over NYC- its another thing to put it on screen. The final shot of Spider-Man web slinging in Amazing, was breathtaking and reminiscent of many comic book shots. Winner- Easy- The Amazing Spider-Man

5) The Villian- In Spider-Man, the villan was the Green Goblin which offered a story arc that would carry through to the end of the trilogy with the son taking over the fathers secret identity. The Green Goblin was crazy, but had many dimensions as a character and adding the vengeance of his son, best friends with Parker and soon to be arch-nemesis of Spider-Man, he was a very complex and interesting character. The Lizard was less so. Rhys Ifans did a great job of Dr. Connors, but the Lizard just did not seem as sinister as the Green Goblin. The Lizard was done very well and the action scenes were great, but the character just did not seem as evil and dangerous to Spider-Man's very existence as the Green Goblin did. There is also a scene where the Lizard has an inner monologue fight with the Connors alter ego. This was annoyingly reminiscent of both the Green Goblin and Dr. Octopus's inner dialogue. Sony- Take note- not every villan has an evil inner voice! Winner- Spider-Man

---SPOILER ALERT---SPOILER ALERT---SPOILER ALERT---SPOILER ALERT---

6) The End- The end of Spider-Man alluded to Mary Jane being in danger again due to her relationship with Spider-Man. Harry Osborn vows vengeance on Spider-Man for his fathers death. In Spider-Man 2, Harry Osborn discovers the Green Goblin's toys behind his fathers office alluding to the final chapter where Harry would finally attack Spider-Man. These were great and subtle preludes to the next movie. This movie did not have that. There was no clear picture of who the Lizard was talking to at the end. And even the most loyal comic book fans cannot figure out who it was. There are allegations to Norman Osborn, Mysterio, or just Lizards evil inner voice. In order for the director to excite fans with these post-credit clips- you have to give just enough to get the fan boys to know whats happening and then educate the rest of the theater. This was just a waste of time. Winner- Spider-Man

The Amazing Spider-Man

With only a ten year gap between the Raimi/Maguire Spider-Man, the Amazing Spider-Man seemed like a redundant mistake by Sony Pictures. Retelling an origin story that most people have already seen is risky. I went into the movie with low expectations. I expected to be bored by the retelling of a story I had already seen more than a dozen times. However the Amazing Spider-Man was an amazing movie and a great retelling of the Spider-Man story. It does not take away from the long-awaited first appearance made by Toby Maguire but it allows us to enjoy a different vision.

Since there was such a minimal timeframe between the original and remake, I thought I would take the approach of comparing the two to review what was better and what was worse than the original in a separate post. Here, I will give my overall review here to avoid any spoilers in the comparison. The Amazing Spider-Man is a great movie and especially in 3D at the IMAX. The action scenes are much more complex and the web-swinging looks incredible. The chemistry between all the characters is spot on. And the cast was well chosen- everyone excels at playing their part within the Spider-Man mythos. There were several changes in this movie from both comic book history and the original Spider-Man movie, but there were also somethings that brought Spider-Man's true story back from some liberties in the Raimi series. While there were some things done better in the original, this movie stands on its own and offers a great parallel vision so that both movies can still be enjoyed for what they are. I give it 4.5 stars.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Haywire

Haywire was one of the most boring action movies I have seen. Even with an all star cast, the movie was destined to fail because of its director. Nothing against Steven Soderberg. I loved Traffic and the Oceans movies, but Steven does not make fast paced movies. Even with an all star cast with Gina Carano, Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, Channing Tatum, and Bill Paxton, the movie fell very short of entertaining.

Gina Carano plays a private firms assassin who is set up and then hunted down by her own company. Its like a female version of the Bourne Identity. The fight scenes were cool and she was very convincing as an expert assassin.

The acting was of course very good. I would expect nothing less than the best from this caliber of cast.

However it was the slowest action movie I have ever seen. For example there was a chase scene on foot for about 10 minutes with very little other than showing Gina running and a few wide shots of both of the actors running. There just wasn't anything happening during this chase. It also did not help that rather than suspenseful music trying to impress the importance of catching the guy upon the audience, we listened to basically the Oceans 11 theme song, leaving us bored and uninterested. This chase scene was also a whole in the story that made no sense and did not serve the overall purpose of the film.

I really wanted to see this in theaters and am now very glad I did not. Unfortunately I still spent $5 renting it. I wouldn't even recommend seeing this for free because it would still amount to a waste of time. 1 star- and that's generous.

Snow White and the Huntsman

Snow White and the Huntsman is a new vision of the classic Snow White story starring Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth, and Charlize Theron. The movie was a solid 2 hour plus action event. The story itself was very interesting. I loved the changes and how they made the story more adult but kept the basic elements still there. Overall the movie had a good pace and stayed intriguing the entire 2+ hours.

Visually the movie was stunning. Wherever they shot this movie, they picked some amazing locations. Aside from the breathtaking natural scenery, I found the sets to be very detailed and added depth to the story. The troll bridge in the dark forest was absolutely incredible.

In regards to acting, it was not bad. Everyone, including myself, had concerns going into this movie with Kristen Stewart. The movie looked great but was Kristen going to be the annoying, angst filled, vampire lover that annoyed us all so much in the Twilight films? The answer is not quite. Her acting was much better and she did not annoy me very much at all. She did have her classic open mouth constantly. Maybe she just has really bad allergies and cannot breathe with her mouth closed. The action and acting from Chris Hemsworth and Charlize Theron hid her shortcomings which were few and far between.

While the movie was very entertaining and had many high points, there were a few things that bothered me. There was one fight scene with the dwarves in which one of the Queen's henchmen pulls a Matrix style move. I know the director is trying to make impressive fight scenes, but a man wearing chainmail and armor simply cannot do crazy leaps and aerial acrobatics. That annoyed me. The other was the end of the film. In an effort to stay spoiler free, I will just simply say, the end was not satisfactory and did not feel like a real ending. Not in the sense that there could be a sequel, just in the sense, it left things untied. There was also a massive failing of continuity with a door being closed and then showed closing.

Overall the film was good and entertaining. The story was incredible and interesting, the cinematography breathtaking and impressive, and the acting was decent. I give the movie 3 stars. Entertaining summer blockbuster, but definitely not one of the bigger summer movies. It would be possible to save a few bucks and enjoy this at home.

Saturday, May 12, 2012

The Avengers

Can anyone say, "Best Movie Ever!"? Unfortunately it took me three times to see this movie before I was ready to write this review. I thought maybe the excitement of The Avengers would finally regress and I could find flaws in this movie. But after the third viewing this weekend, I now know, I will never tire of watching this movie! It is simply amazing! At already almost $1 billion, this movie has made more money quicker than any other film ever! It is on course to making more money than Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America combined! I draw similarities to the recent James Bond reboots. Quantum of Solace is impossible to watch and understand without seeing Casino Royale first, but once you watch Casino Royale, Quantum is a great action packed conclusion. Avengers finally draws together 4 characters that already received their own movies to develop their back story. Having this part of the story already developed allows Avengers to be a non-stop action packed thrill ride. Action begins literally after only about 2 minutes of prep and stays fairly strong all the way to the very end when they Assemble against Loki. The core characters were as usual phenomenal. After we already learned of their talents in their solo films, we now see them form together to make quite an unpredictable team. The great thing is the story continues to build around Black Widow (Scarlett Johansen) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner). This type of sub-development helps open the door to future movies showcasing more SHIELD agents with Black Widow, Hawkeye, Maria Hill (Cobie Smuthers), and Nick Fury (Sam Jackson). The film was actually very funny. The humor seemed more in line with the Iron Man movies. While all of the previous movies had funny parts, Avengers really capitalized on irony and the hilarious moments of trying to create a team from a narcissist billionaire, an old relic from World War II with old morals, a god from another world, and a uncontrollable monster. The humor was one of the most enjoyable and surprisingly parts of the film. I did not expect the humor to be as robust or well written. This movie was different in the sense there were not any obvious nods to fan boys hidden within the film. Obviously Stan Lee made his cameo (that guy is awesome!)and there is a mid-credits scene that hints towards a future villain. It was a little disappointing there weren't more cameos but nonetheless, the nod at the end is intriguing. Speaking if endings- please stay until the very end- after all the credits!! Even in the latest, 3rd viewing, most of the theater up and left. If you really want to leave with a lasting memory of the film- this is the scene to end the experience with! I watched the movie in 2D and 3D, in the IMAX and in the regular theater. Its great in any forma but if you do see it in 3D, see it in the IMAX. The 3D just adds another layer of awesome- but the 2D was also really good! I give this movie the rare and coveted 5 stars! I really would not change a thing. This is a must see in theaters. It deserves to be enjoyed on a bigger than life screen, because this is a bigger than life movie! How will later summer movies fare against this incredible start!? Stay tuned to find out! Movie poster from: http://cdn.ifanboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/newavengersposter.jpg

Saturday, May 5, 2012

The Five Year Engagement

The Five Year Engagement is another Jason Segal classic! As in many of his movies as of late, he co-wrote the script and used a lot of improvisation throughout the film to create a genuinely funny movie. Jason Segal plays Tom who proposes to his girlfriend, Violet (Emily Blunt). The two are very excited and madly in love, but an opportunity at the University of Michigan for Violet to get her post-doctorate forces them to propose their wedding during their relocation and adjustment from sunny San Francisco. The adjustment period turns to be longer and harder than either had anticipated and Tom's lack of opportunities as a professional chef begins to wear on the couple's relationship.

Not to diminish the film's hilarious moments or great chemestry between these two and Tom's best friend, Alex (Chris Pratt), but the film does indeed follow the traditional plot line for romantic comedies. (Small rant on romantic comedies follows:) 90% of romantic comedies follow a basic plot line: guy meets girl, guy falls in love with girl, happiness ensures, guy screws up (or girl screws up), couple breaks up and enters sad and lonely time, couple gets back together and lives happily ever after. Once again, this movie was very funny, but in order to really be considered unique, romantic comedies have to break this mold of commonality. We all know what to expect and about what time to expect it.

That rant standing aside, the movie is very funny. I was worried at the beginning to learn that it was a little over 2 hours long, which is extremely long for a romantic comedy. However, the pace of the movie was very quick and I never looked at my watch or wondered, how much longer is this movie?! The cast was very entertaining and capturing.

Overall I liked this movie and think it makes a great date night movie- especially if your girl likes Jason Segal's butt! One of my friends commented that he must have a contract stating he gets to show his butt in every movie, cause I can't think of one Jason Segal film we haven't seen a little too much of him!! Definitely check this movie out as a rental for a nice Friday night date night. I give this movie 3.5 out of 5 stars!

Movie poster from: http://collider.com/wp-content/uploads/the-five-year-engagement-movie-poster.jpg