Maleficent

Going into this movie, you should already know what your getting.

This is simply a retelling of the classic fairy tale Sleeping Beauty with the story being told from a different perspective. Also it is a Disney movie so you know it is going to be well made, and there will be some references to Disney's 1959 animated classic Sleeping Beauty.

Which is apparent from all the posters.

Overall I found this film to be enjoyable. It has some great visual effects. The story being much different than I expected actually surprised me. The acting was on mark. I also enjoyed  finding all the animated Sleeping Beauty references throughout the film.

Although there was one member of our summer movie crew, which we've dubbed as Summer Movie Squad (SMS),  who completely disagreed.

Meet David.

Immediately after the credits began to roll David said, "Am I the only one who hates this movie?!"

The rest of the SMS were confused. We all enjoyed the movie. Why would David say that he hated it? 

We took the film for what it is, while David claimed, "It was boring." 

Well yes, the pacing was bit slow, but it is a short movie so that's ok, right? 

"No one talks.", said David.

He has a point. The dialogue is very limited. Most of the story is narrated with the plot being moved along through the narrator describing the actions of the characters. 

"Angelina Jolie's face is weird." states David.

True. Her checks are very high and jagged. It misdirects your attention from the fact her character has giant horns protruding from her skull.

"Who's the villain? Where's the hero?!" exclaimed David.

There is no clear antagonist. Is the protagonist suppose to be the villain? Is the villain actually the victim? The film balances this line so much that you can get dizzy thinking about it. Because all of the character's actions can be justified as self protection, so no one can be called, the true "bad guy".

The only thing David and I agreed upon, was the great acting of Sharito Copley. That guy is great in every movie he does.  I didn't know he was in the movie before seeing it, but as soon as I saw him I knew I was going to like his character.

Maleficent gets a e - Entertained. 

It was an enjoyable movie. You will like it if you were a fan of the Disney animated version. Not sure if it too scary for kids. It could be a DVD rental.

Might see A Million Ways to Die in the West this weekend, not sure yet. 

Up next week, ..... Edge of Tomorrow

X-Men: Days of Future Past

X-Men: Days of Future Past is INCREDIBLE, AMAZING, SPECTACULAR, FANTASTIC, IMPRESSIVE, EPIC....choose any praising adjective that you wish.

I prefer LEGENDARY!!!

If you haven't see X-Men: DOFP yet, stop reading this post and run immediately to your closest theater, NOW! It doesn't matter which screening that you see it, 3D or standard. You really just need to see this movie.


Still here?

I am rating this X-Men movie right off the bat as L - Legendary.

Why?

Because it will change everything you know about comic book movies as well as the X-Men franchise.

This film blends the original X-men cast with the X-men: First Class cast perfectly. I was slightly worried about that before seeing the movie. I foresaw possible plot holes and character overload with the time traveling factor, but Bryan Singer has proven once again he knows this X-men universe better than anyone.

He makes a great move by keeping the movie set in both the future and past from right now. Balancing the line of science fiction and historical fact. You will have a tough time picking your favorite future or past character because they all are great. Of course the fan favorite will be Wolverine. He is the glue that keeps this universe together. Although you will find yourself entertained by some new characters as well as Mystique, Professor X and Magneto (both versions), and Beast.

I don't want to ruin the anything about this movie for you, so I suggest you just see it for yourself immediately.

Hurry! Before the future is no longer there!!


Up Next:    Maleficent and/or A Million Ways to Die in the West

Godzilla!!

I wanted to wait a bit to write this review.
The reason why? I wanted to see what other people had to say about this movie.

Mainly I wanted to hear from my friends.  I wanted to be certain I wasn't the only one. I wanted to know that it wasn't just I trying to hold this film to higher standards.

Let's get this straight. Every scene featuring Godzilla was spectacular! I expect only the best when it was reported that this new Godzilla would take 450 years to create on a single computer. The monster battle scenes were thrilling, engaging and just simply awesome. The only thing is that you expect a movie called Godzilla to actually show more Godzilla.

Seriously there is maybe 20 minutes total of Godzilla in this two hour film.

Well, that wasn't the worst of it. The story was bad. I am talking really bad. There were so many problems with it.

As many regular readers may know, I try not give any spoilers to the movies I post on this blog. So I am not going to get too deep into the story. I am not going to tell you about anything what happens. I just try to give my honest opinion and reasoning behind whether or not you should go see it.

As for the story, I could care less. The writers try SO hard to get you to care about these "human" characters that they lose focus on the characters that really matter, i.e. Godzilla. They try to get you to believe that the humans can be the deciding factor in a world of gigantic monsters. When actually the people would be like ants to Godzilla and he wouldn't notice nor even care about their presence. Also the tone of the story can not be determined. It attempts to be super serious based in reality, but then tries to have corny moments that made the original Godzilla movies so entertaining. Both can not co-exist in this film. (I am so close to spoiling these moments....I can't stand it!!)

I was completely frustrated with this movie. I feel as if I try to tell you anymore, I may drop a few hints about what happens. I even thought about posting an update in a few weeks ripping it apart. But I am not going to do that. If I did, this blog becomes nothing more than another movie review site with a pompous writer who believes he knows way more about cinema than you would ever know.

So instead I will leave it with this.

Godzilla is worth a viewing. Maybe not in a theater. You could wait to see it at home with your HD TV and surround sound. On the other hand I could be completely wrong. I've seen a few Facebook posts stating that people loved it, but I think they were just mystified by the incredible Godzilla images to even care about the story.

Although if you do decide to see it in the theater, don't blame me. I warned you.

Godzilla gets an e - Entertained

Some parts I liked. Some I hated. The negatives out weighed the positives for me. You may be different.


Here is a reminder of the new and improved rating system


L - Legendary
E - Exceptional
G - Gratifying 
e - Entertained
n - Nugatory
d - Dreadful

Next Week... X-Men: Days of Futures Past.        

Hoping for the best from that one.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Finally I saw this movie about four days late. I was pretty mad about missing it the first time, but what can you do, right.

So the tale continues. Amazing Spider-Man 2 has the tag line 'His Greatest Battle Begins'. So this film is pretty much a two hour set up for the next one. Ugh

I will start with telling what I liked. 

The visual effects were great. Finally they are capturing the essence of Spider-Man as he swings through NYC. Everything is more detailed from the way Spider-Man controls his webbing to how his body and even suit reacts to wind resistance. Even his Spider Sense has been enhanced to the point where you can imagine it is more like a web connected to his world instead of just a warning system.

Many don't, but I like the new look of his villains. Electro transforming to be more like pure electricity works for the world they are creating that is wrapped around Oscorp. Again the visual effects of Electro were great. His electricity had plenty of detail and looks to be an extension of his body instead of cartoon lightning bolts. Even the Green Goblin transformation is good on a deeper level. They are not trying to hit the viewers over the head with origin story. You get the chance to imagine the result is part of a deeper plot that can't be seen in the movie. It already exists in the world created.

The real star of the film is the love story between Peter and Gwen. It could almost stand alone as its own movie. You get the sense that Peter and Gwen really love each other and want the best for the other even if it breaks them up. Of course you will still need the Spider-Man part to move the plot along, and as result the actions of Spider-Man effects their relationship more than they could account.

There are a lot of hidden "Easter Eggs" throughout the movie that are buried for the true comic book fan. I won't explain them and if you are not a big fan of Spider-Man comics you will miss them

What I didn't like

Rhino. Completely misused. The trailer relieves the whole Rhino vs Spider-Man battle.

The fight scenes with the villains needed more time. Electro fight scene was pretty cool, visually, but it seemed to fly right by.  I think I blinked and missed the Green Goblin. Again, it was all about setting up the future movies. I am hoping we will see a lot more of these villains by ASM 6.


Overall I liked the movie. Not sure what to rate it because I would have given it a much higher rating if I saw it all in one sitting. The second viewing helped take me down my excitement a notch. Plus I forgot the rating system. I will get back to you on that.

I would say definitely go see the movie in the theater. It is loud and stunning to the eye. See it in 3D! I wish I did.