Minions - 90 Minutes of Pure Gibberish

Minions movie review

Ever since I watched the 1st Despicable Me film, the only thing that filled my head after walking out of the theatre were the cute, little munchkins called 'Minions'. The way they walked, talked, and thought had audiences laughing uncontrollably, especially when you think about how they came to be was an interesting idea to grasp. But after watching  the teaser trailer of 'Minions', I began to grow dull of the mostly-at-times incomprehensible gibberish the yellow beasts sputtered to themselves and others. I've never written a bad review on my blog before, but I definitely felt this was a slight disappointment.

To be frank, I wasn't as excited to see 'Minions' on the big screen at first, but I loved the Despicable Me films. I did have some doubts at first, but after seeing the movie I thought it was a mediocre spin-off of the Despicable Me franchise. To begin with the positive aspects of the film, it began with a flash through time of how the Minions have had different evil leaders in several different eras and that turned out interesting for me. They themselves had some hilarious moments which helped out the film by a lot, and the human characters featured in the film had some humorous dialogue and great physical comedy which otherwise made it a generic kid's flick. 

The animation looked gorgeous; each character is nicely detailed and colored and the backgrounds look astonishing in their own ways. In addition, the character models look very unique and distinguishable, with no one model looking similar to another. The movie had some historical accuracies as well, such as when the Minions that where left in Antarctica make it to Sydney in 1968, and the Opera House is still under construction. The Opera House wasn't complete until 1973, making the movie accurate and well researched.

Unfortunately, the movie wasn't perfect. One of the biggest problems with this movie was the main villain Scarlet Overkill. Now don't get me wrong, I thought the character and her motivations were marvelous, I just felt that her personality wasn't as fulfilling and exciting as the trailers told us. While Sandra Bullock did a great job at voicing her, she occasionally sounded bored and uninterested. I wouldn't have actually minded if her husband, Herb, was the main villain, as he felt cool and energetic throughout the entire movie. Another thing I didn't like was how under-utilised the Nelson family was. They were funny and matched the tone of the movie perfectly, but their only purpose was to give Kevin, Stuart and Bob a ride to Villain-Con. What made it worse was that the father, Mr. Nelson, was voiced by Michael Keaton, one of the most talented people in this movie, and he felt completely wasted in the film.

I really like how the script retains the overall crazy attitude of the minions. All that goofy dialogue are really funny indeed, that it will crack your laugh as soon as the movie picks up its narration. The thing is many of the film's comedy has been badly spoiled by those many trailers dated from as early as last December, and the funny stuff that's not in the trailers couldn't really top those which are. To finish this review off, 'Minions' will be rated a meager score of 5/10!

Jurassic World - 1993 Vol. 2

Jurassic World movie review

I'm not a 90's kid or anything, but I seem to convey a love towards the 'Jurassic Park' franchise. Jurassic World is the 4th installment in the franchise, and also the 2nd film which Steven Spielberg did not direct starts off well with enough call backs to the 1st installment of the JP franchise, but it quickly turns into a monster movie with a killer dinosaur on the loose that was spliced with DNA from other dinosaur species in order to increase visitor attendance.

To start off this review, I would like to say that Jurassic World doesn't follow up much of the story of the original 'Jurassic Park' film and 'The Lost World: Jurassic Park', but I can accept that because I like to hear new ideas and stories. My main complaint here is that the film lacks the dramatic and suspenseful elements of that in typical monster movies. Like in "Jurassic Park', you never got to look at the T-rex during the tour, nor when it was given a goat to feed on, but you finally got a first look at it during the heavy rainstorm and right when the electricity was cut just as they were passing through the T-rex fence on the way back to the visitor centre. Here, it is just a genetically-modified hybrid dinosaur which can camouflage itself from thermal scanners used ONE TIME throughout the entire movie!

For its creature feature, the film works well and it gives you your money's worth of showing you dinosaurs doing collateral damage to park property and personnel with the occasional park visitor being killed for good measure. Throw in Chris Pratt, whose character is a soldier-turned-raptor trainer, and he unleashes his raptor squad to help stop the killer dinosaur. Throw in a human antagonist (Vincent D'Onofrio) for the protagonist to fight with who would blow the whole island up just to destroy this monster and add a human element like two lost children who are related to a employee at this crazy theme park who, by the way, has the hots for our hero and you have the entire plot right there.

The dinosaur effects in this film are probably the best in the series so far and while there are moments of obvious CGI, it really does not distract from how far SFX have come over the years from the first film to this one. In terms of dinosaur carnage, this film comes in a little behind The Lost World in that department but not by much. The body count is higher here than in any of the other films in the series but lacks the tension and showmanship that 'Jurassic Park' and 'The Lost World' had in spades. It's however head & shoulders above what "Jurassic Park 3' had in those departments. Not to mention the fact that while the script for Jurassic World is fairly predictable, it does not overstay it's welcome. Unlike the underwritten 'Jurassic Park 3' with its very unlikeable characters.

It's hard enough to keep a franchise going, especially when you're dealing with dinosaurs walking the earth. You will eventually hit a wall in terms of storytelling if your primary goal is to keep turning these films out with out any care what so ever. We saw that with 'Jurassic Park 3' where all the plot points from the previous two films were abandon for a B-movie creature feature. 'Jurassic World' tries hard to correct that by having the movie be about something a little more and try to connect itself to the first film of the series, and it's a much better film for it but it still ends up a creature feature all the same. To finish off, I will be scoring this monster-of-a-movie a moderate rating of 6.3/10!

San Andreas - Californiapocalypse

San Andreas movie review

In the modern generation of Hollywood popcorn flicks, the disaster movie genre has become overused in the recent years of film. I know many people think of 'The Day After Tomorrow' and '2012' just by looking at the title itself, but San Andreas, in my opinion, is more than that. It is a film which is a viably entertaining series of events that leaps from one catastrophe to the absolute destruction of San Francisco. If you ever wanted to witness the San Francisco peninsula get destroyed in an awesome manner, then this is the right film to see it!


As a moviegoer, I usually check the good/bad reviews of a recently-released film to make sure that it is worth watching, but despite seeing the mediocre RT rating of San Andreas, I still went to the cinema and watched it. I was awestruck by the brilliant action and great depiction of the disaster that an earthquake is, followed by a tsunami in this case. It was all unbelievable!

The film is earning a lot and a lot of people turning up to watch this one, but the reviews by critics and on online websites have come down hard on this one for the lack of great or proper plot or story, but to be fair, watching it on the big screen, in 3D, I was so lost in everything that I hardly thought there was anything negative at all to complain about. I know it's just a film after all, but just merely the thought of such disasters and what everyone goes through, the running around to here and there delivers chills to the bone.

Yes, The Rock says every single clichéd action movie line I can remember. And yes, every one is hilariously predictable. Yes, the hot girl is wet and her cleavage is showing for most of the movie. Yes, every shot is crammed with mind-numbing amounts of CGI. Normally that bothers me, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying the theatrics in the film.

Even though San Andreas is an exact copy of '2012' in terms of the premise and plot (the main hero undergoing a divorce with the wife, wife starts relationship with other guy, main hero saves family from disaster, other guy gets killed by <whatever>, family is safe from harm, and then main hero reconciles with family), it succeeded in putting me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. All in all, this film deserves all the praise it gets, and I think it is an honourable salute to anyone and everyone involved in rescue and disaster relief. The entertainment provided, does not shroud the seriousness also supplied, and I lost track of how many times I said "Oh my God!" during this amazing cinematic spectacle! 6/10 is the score San Andreas deserves, but not the one it needs right now *IMO*.

Tomorrowland - Disney's Back to the Future

Tomorrowland movie review 

The future, as depicted in notable science-fiction flicks such as 'Back to the Future', can be really exciting due to several high-tech inventions and infrastructure. Other versions such as in Neill Blomkamp's 'Elysium' may not deliver an upbeat tone, as the future depicted is LITERALLY a hellhole full of crime, diseases, and poverty. In Tomorrowland, the future is an abandoned futuristic metropolis with an antagonistic government as its only population. Yes, it shares its name with one of the main areas at Disneyland, but it really is only tangentially related to and inspired by what you’ll find there, with a few interesting visual and dialogue links that will amuse fellow Disneyland fans.

Tomorrowland comes from the notable duo of Brad Bird ('The Iron Giant', 'The Incredibles', 'Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol') and Damon Lindelof ('Lost', 'The Leftovers'), with Brad directing from a script he co-wrote with Damon (from a story the two developed with Jeff Jensen). In a typically sequel-packed summer, Tomorrowland – despite its loose theme park connections -- feels fresh and new. There’s a ton of imagination at work here, which is only appropriate, since imagination is a theme in the movie. 

 

Brad and Damon have thought of a fully realized world, filled with some really fun and cool retro-future ideas, including creative takes on the idea of killer robots and ray guns that manage to make familiar concepts feel exciting; fans of Bird's work on films like The Iron Giant and The Incredibles will know his skills in that arena. The director also proved to be just as adept doing live-action action as animation when he made the leap in Ghost Protocol and that continues here with some great sequences, such as an extended flashback showing Frank’s own first encounter with Tomorrowland and one in which Casey is under attack, only to be assisted by an unlikely savior. You can feel the joy Damon and Brad must have had coming up with these ideas, including a trip overseas where a famous landmark turns out to hold some huge secrets.

All that being said, Tomorrowland is not the complete home run it could be - and I wish it was. Surprisingly, especially given how well Ghost Protocol moved, there’s something off on the pacing here. Some of the scenes are a bit sluggish and don’t have the energy and sense of childlike awe you feel Bird was going for, even as other scenes are completely engrossing.

The ending is also a mixed bag, with some really entertaining beats intermixed with a villain/master plan reveal that feels halfhearted, when you consider this character could have been used in a much more significant and meaningful manner.

"How is this a good idea?" "Because we have to go back, Casey!"

There is an important history between Frank and Athena in the film that drives a lot of the emotional component of the story. It’s a somewhat daring bit of storytelling because while it makes complete sense within the sci-fi framework of Tomorrowland and how and why Athena can show up looking the same age she was when Frank first met her -- when he was a child -- it’s still difficult to not think, “Well, that’s George Clooney, having recollections and big dramatic and emotional moments involving his almost-romantic connection with a young girl.” It's strange, though I think it works within the context of the story and it never goes to a creepy place – this is a Disney movie! But it's odd to be sure, and I'm guessing it's going to cause a lot of conversations.

Tomorrowland has its flaws, yet it’s also a compelling movie, with a lot of cool ideas. Damon Lindelof has a reputation, deserved or not, as a writer who doesn’t pay off the big concepts he introduces, but that’s not the case here. This is, at its core, meant to be a movie for all ages, with an optimistic heart – but one with plenty of danger and excitement and, yes, death, along the way, as the consequences are real for these characters. It certainly is a pretty rough PG, and I feel like without the Disney label, it wouldn’t have gotten away with that rating. Tomorrowland, in my opinion, deserves a satisfactory rating of 6/10.

Mad Max: Fury Road - MAD Indeed!

Mad Max: Fury Road movie review

 

I am no fan of the Mad Max movie franchise, but I have seen the 1st Mad Max and 1/2 of Mad Max 2 & 3 on television. For as long as 30 years, several people last saw Mad Max on the big screen when Beyond Thunderdome was released, and a lot of changes have happened since then. Not just in what passes for action franchise movie-making today, but also in the world of the post-apocalyptic anti-hero himself. Mel Gibson, the former titular character with the black leather jacket with a tragic past, has now been replaced with English actor Tom Hardy in what is now an ageless role.

When we first meet Hardy’s Max, he’s seemingly stuck somewhere between The Road Warrior and Beyond Thunderdome -- still in command of his iconic supercharged V8 from the former film, but also sporting the long locks of the latter. A chase begins almost immediately -- a mere appetizer for the feature-length pursuit that makes up the guts of Fury Road -- and results in Max being held captive in the Citadel, the mountaineous headquarters of the ghastly Immortan Joe.

Instead of execution, Max's punishment must be more severe!

The ambiguous backstory has been a hallmark for George Miller's series, and this enables him to reset Fury Road effectively. Is this a remake, a reboot, a sequel, or a fusion of all three? It does not matter at that point. The world painted here is reminiscent of that imagined in the previous films, and at the same next level. It took the evolution of the End of the World to its next logical, jarring, yet at times beautiful place.

Charlize Theron’s Imperator Furiosa is a high-ranking warlord of Immortan Joe’s army. The protagonist of the movie, she goes on the run from Joe alongside his Five Wives on a specially-designed War Rig. Max’s equal in physicality, driving skills, and tortured past, the one-armed Furiosa stands at the forefront of a cast full of imposing female characters that also includes “The Wives” -- and a group of gun-wielding, dirt-bike riding grannies who almost steal the show. Of course, Miller has often excelled in such portrayals.
 

Decent movie and all, but someone should've told Charlize she had sh*t on her face the whole time.

What I loved the most about the film is the eye-gouging action sequences, so this means audiences are witnessing non-CGI visual effects on the screen. From several cars crashing and flying in the air to a tanker truck exploding right in front of your face, there is nothing more that anybody could demand for in this action flick! Combined with the feral Australian outback setting and the post-apocalyptic ambience, it is a rollercoaster ride filled with mad action, mad violence, and mad intensity.

Fury Road frequently undermines such expectations. Not that any Mad Max fan would anticipate (or want) romance for the character, but Miller works hard to keep the viewer off-balance in general. A particular arc involving one of The Wives sets up a storytelling trope, then does a 180-degree turn away from that, then sets up another trope before doing yet another 180. And this is all capped off by one of the secondary villains, Nathan Jones' perfectly named Rictus Erectus, delivering a moment of genuine pathos as he yells plaintively into the wind. Brilliant.
  

What a lovely day indeed!

I do wonder how the typical moviegoer will react to Fury Road’s unwillingness to play by 2015’s mainstream multiplex rules. But the trailers for this film have not lied; the action is insane, even more so when one considers that so much of it was achieved through practical means, and that a large part of the movie is made up of that central chase.

The over-the-top stunts and eccentric characters and designs are all hugely important to Fury Road, as are the troubled figures like Max himself and Furiosa, but it’s the overriding sense of the film’s uniqueness. Like the world it creates, it is a thing of beautiful brutality.
Mad Max: Fury Road, from my perspective, undoubtedly and definitely deserves an outstanding rating of 9/10!

Avengers: Age of Ultron - A MARVEL of a Movie!

Avengers: Age of Ultron movie review

I started to become a fan of the superhero film genre ever since I watched The Incredible Hulk on the big screen, which persuaded me to go see later superhero movies at the cinema. At first, I thought that those kind of movies were just a form of mindless escapism, but then I realized that they were more than that. They're exploring the superheroes' backgrounds through dramatic storytelling and action-packed sequences, and that is what I like the most about Marvel movies. So now, I would be giving out about my thoughts on 'Age of Ultron'.

To begin, I was simply astonishined of how the sequel managed to recapture the magic and excitement when Earth's Mightiest Heroes were assembled onscreen for the first time, especially when they appeared in each others' films in the last couple of years. Still, as far as sequels go, -- not traditionally Marvel Studios' strongest entries until Captain America: The Winter Soldier -- Avengers: Age of Ultron is a solid and entertaining followup.

It's ironic because Disney bought Marvel! (if you know what I mean)

It's a small miracle that Age of Ultron doesn't collapse under its own weight.  But ultimately the film's laden with numerous moving parts, some of which call attention to its story mechanics and forced elements.

While 'Age of Ultron' is often comedic with Ultron having his fair share of laughs, the story has an ominous core. This stems from what Scarlet Witch shows most of the superheroes: ''visions'' which simultaneously travel back to the heroes' backstories, from Black Widow's Salt-like past and Captain America's further establishment as a man out of time, while also foreshadowing events for Marvel Cinematic Universe's Phase 3 films. These revelations begin to show the cracks within the ranks of the team, but it's ultimately the actions of Stark that causes most of the bad blood between team members.
 

My reaction to the Bruce/Natasha romantic subplot

Yes, Natasha now has an interest for Banner, a romance which seems to come completely out of the blue given the aloof nature of her character and her past closeness to both Cap and Hawkeye. We're supposed to believe that they each see themselves as cold-blood assassins so that's the basis for their bond, but the whole star-crossed lovers angle just feels forced.

The widening gap between Cap and Stark seems to set up the main element for Captain America: Civil War and we also get a sense of which Avengers will be on which side of that looming battle.

An epic brofist...of SCIENCE!

The Avenger's new additions, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and the Vision, all get their moments to shine in the spotlight. Taylor-Johnson's Quicksilver is definitely a secondary character, but his and his sister Wanda's past drives their evolution from antagonists to Avengers. Olsen makes the most of what she can with Scarlet Witch, a role that doesn't really allow her to show much range until the homestretch.

OK, enough about our heroes. What about the titular villain?  As portrayed by Spader, Ultron is as brilliant as his egotistical co-inventor Stark. He's more a doppleganger to Tony -- one wants to destroy humanity, the other wants to save it -- than the Pinocchio to his Geppetto despite what the film's use of that classic Disney song would have you think. Spader's Ultron owns the screen whenever he's on it. Loki may be the most charismatic MCU villain and the Winter Soldier the most physically intimidating, but Ultron offers a perfect cocktail of the former's charm and the latter's aggression.

Ultimately, Avengers: Age of Ultron can't recapture the charm and majesty of seeing Earth's Mightiest Heroes assembled for the first time. That said, it's still a lot of fun and offers plenty of great action and character moments. Although the movie wasn't as thrilling as the first installment, I would still rate this movie an 8/10!

I literally cheered when I saw this!

Star Trek review coming soon!

What's up people! Sometime this month, I will be releasing a Star Trek review which some of you may have known through my Instagram, but if not then you'll be aware of it in this post.

Next month, otherwise known as the start of the season of summer movies, expect reviews of highly-anticipated blockbusters on this blog such as Avengers: Age of Ultron and Mad Max: Fury Road. Until then, keep posted on more details for the coming month!