The Film Chronicles

Am I the Only Person Not Excited About ‘The Wolverine’?

The Evolution of James Howlett

By Brandon Alexander

Samurai, Mutant, God

So we’re officially one week away from the release of Fox/ Marvel’s much anticipated The Wolverine. Sadly, I don’t number myself among those who eagerly wait for the adamantium struttin’ animal to slice a foe or two; the reason? I’m just plain tired of Wolverine in nearly every medium, especially in movies.

Don’t get me wrong, Wolverine is probably the best comic book character to be adapted to the big screen. Hugh Jackman does a fantastic job of displaying the Logan we’ve come to know despite being a foot taller than his comic book counterpart.

The Wolverine we all know and love.

My lack of respect for Wolverine isn’t a recent development, since the days of X-Men the Animated Series, I always preferred the likes of Cyclops or Gambit to the brooding tough guy. But even then I didn’t dislike the character. He was done right; a great mix of depth, mysteriousness and humanity that created a character that many would grow to love.

It didn’t take long for Wolverine to become the X-Men’s star character, brushing aside many other character development so that he could have the opportunity to pop his claws.

As a kid, I remember my dad taking my brother and me to see Bryan Singer’s X-Men in theaters. X-Men was often thought of as the first superhero movie that “did it right” (not counting Christopher Reeve as Superman and Tim Burton’s Batman). X-Men propelled superhero movies into the current era that mixed story and action in a way that allowed it to transition from niche market to a broader audience.

X-Men tells the story of two colleagues with similar ideologies but drastically different methods and ways to achieve them. We learn about the Xavier Institute and it’s array of characters after Wolverine decides to go with the team. While the bulk of the film centered on the team, there was still a heavy amount of Wolverine-fueled story and development. The film did a decent job of combing subplots from the comic books with more original content and the result was an unforeseen box office hit.

“Hey, Wolverine, can I be front and center this time?”

The success eventually led to the sequel X2: X-Men United which led to the audiences first look at Wolverine’s past. This movie is regarded as the the best of the trilogy because it had a much larger budget than its predecessor and was able to utilize it efficiently without sacrificing the story.

X2 is where the story of the X-Men begins to become the “Wolverine show”. His mutant ability to heal quickly becomes almost godlike and it turns out that he’s not a bad guy at all, making him out to be a mysterious Bruce Wayne character instead of a guy trying to even out his wrongdoings. While he attempts to figure out why he is the way he is, the X-Men just follow him around and help as much as they can, as if there aren’t other mutants who need saving.

I don’t mean to be harsh on X2, it just leaves a bitter taste in my mouth a bit because it seemed during most of the movies it became less about the mutant struggle and more about a couple of characters, though Mystique does deliver a pretty awesome line to Nightcrawler.

Of course, we all remember the catastrophe that was X-Men: The Last Stand, with its over-saturation of mutants to the point of some complex characters being set up for the sake of cheesy punchlines. While a good chunk of the story focused on the emo Phoenix and the cure, there still was a bit of a heavy dose of Wolverine (although less than the previous film). This movie was made clearly to turn a profit and it shows.

With what seemed the end of the X-Men movie trilogy (curse you, George Lucas, for setting this standard for American cinema!) many people were elated when it was announced that there would be an entire animated X-Men show starring Wolverine and aptly called Wolverine and the X-Men. This show was a poorly veiled attempt to raise awareness for Wolverine’s untitled spin-off movie.

Again, the rest of the X-Men appeared as mere ghosts of their former selves. Cyclops was reduced to a depressed, manic soul; Rogue, the girl who couldn’t touch anyone, takes people’s abilities at least once an episode; Gambit, your favorite trickster’s favorite trickster can be easily be fooled by Wolverine. And with all of the blatant flaws that everyone else has, Wolverine continues to remain spotless. A troubled guy with good intentions and who rarely did anything morally questionable and popped his claws every 30 seconds.

Wolverine and the X-Men was on its way to greatness with the Age of Apocalypse story tease, but it served its purpose and was pulled from the market before anyone else took Wolverine’s shine. Wish I could have seen what that show could have become.

By this time, it seemed like the X-Men franchise had devolved into what someone called, “Wolverine and Other People with Powers”; and that is exactly what we got in Wolverine: Origins.

Add caption

While marginally better in terms of production than X-Men: The Last Stand, Origins was still a very subpar film. It used the plot of X2, Wolverine tries to escape his past by embracing it, then has to liberate a bunch of mutants from Weapon X. This time, however, the audience was able to fully indulge itself in the snarling mutant. Story continuity errors were abound in that film that would forever mark a dark day for those who loved the X-Men (There was a tease at the end of the movie featuring Wolverine in Japan).

Not long after that, X-Men: First Class was released and I breathed a sigh a relief knowing that instead of seeing Wolverine’s played out storylines, I’d be seeing Magneto’s overused origin story. I have to admit, the cameo featuring Wolverine, was probably the funniest and best I’ve ever seen. Of course, the sequel to First Class will be based on the Days of Future Past saga, so expect to see Wolverine ‘all up
in that thang’.

Now we’re up to date and that brings us to The Wolverine, the story of Wolverine’s time in Japan, at first I believed that this may be a good film, until I heard that the plot was involved Wolverine receiving a mutant cure. . . wait, you mean like X3?? That’s where I lost interest. A character with limitless potential and we have to sit through the movie with him potentially not having his powers (Iron Man 3 anyone?).

Am I saying that I won’t go see The Wolverine? Heavens, no. This is my type of movie. I’m just a little tired of being fed the same plots and characters time after time. If I wanted that, I’d watch James Bond all day. So if you want to see it, I’m not trying to discourage you, I’m just saying it’s time for Cyclops to have his own movie ;).

Why a ‘Mass Effect’ Movie is a Bad Idea

by Brandon Alexander

As the film industry is in the height of campaigning and marketing toward people who are part casual movie-goers and part casual fans of something else (comic books, sports), I’m certain we’ll see a rise in the production of movies based on video games.

For a while now, it seems that video games and film, especially live action, have been struggling to find a way to merge. While their comic book counterparts have steady raked in the dough with their big-screen adaptations, video games have failed to gain traction in that realm.

They should never have killed off Johnny Cage

Sure, there have been anomalies such as the Resident Evil series and those that do well in box-office sales like The Prince of Persia: Sands of Time; but for every one of those successes, there are ten Super Mario Bros., Double Dragons, and Mortal Kombat: Annihilations.

I’m not saying that I wouldn’t want to see Altaïr jumping off the top of ancient Near-Eastern buildings, or Solid Snake adeptly evading being caught by a guard; it’s just that not all video games will make great movies. While there are many that fit into this category, the Mass Effect series stands out as one that stands the best chance of being unjustly produced.

If you’re unfamiliar with Mass Effect, it is a three-part story that spans the entire Milky Way Galaxy. You play the role as Commander Shepard -a fully customizable avatar- as they pull together with other species to save the galaxy from a plethora of threats.

Main hub for all of the Mass Effect species, “The Citadel”

This sounds like a phenomenal idea on paper: a war veteran interacting with various species flying around the Milky Way; but digging deeper, there are several issues with this idea:

The main detriment in producing Mass Effect lies in the customization that the game allows. In Mass Effect you make nearly every decision that a character can make. This type of interaction is one that is very personal and really is the deciding factor that makes a game for one person and breaks it for another. It is representative of all of us, we are each presented with similar life choices, yet we may make different decisions. Different relationships cultivate and people may live or die, it’s all up to the user and the world in which they live. Shepard could be a griseled veteran with heart of gold, or a boy scout who always does the “right” thing; that is what Mass Effect is about: not being limited or scripted (in a sense).


Some of the species in Mass Effect

Another concern is fitting the grand scale of the Mass Effect world into (more than likely) three films. To put it in so many words, this game is massive. There is so much to explore and many things to learn about you can forget about the main mission.

In a movie, the insane details the creators put into this world would be seen in passing or as Easter eggs. You’ll never snoop Miranda’s personal emails or the rifts in various characters’ relationships with their families. That is what makes this experience almost exclusive to the video game medium. You are able to embody and see things you’ve never seen and don’t necessarily have to be driven through plot.

Mass Effect features dozens of species and even more planets to explore and discover, each of them having their own history. It would be a severe disservice to fit these complex characters and places into a short scene or a line of dialogue.

While there are vital points against it, I could still see Mass Effect being a box office success. There is depth to pull a great story from and the visuals would be otherworldly. The strength of this series is the world building that was done (which may or may not surpass many of the other Science Fiction epics that currently exist).

Mass Effect contains many stars which have many planets, the possibilities are endless.

The literal worlds created give way for an opportunity to explore more alien species that the user was left to wonder more about.

In many cases, Mass Effect is a story that needs to be told (which is why it was), the overarching themes of the negative effects of holding grudges, love that breaks tradition, and the idea that together different cultures can do great things, drive home points that are relevant in today’s society.

The best way to detract a story from such a large scale universe is to focus on the micro. It’d be interesting to see the events of a 300-year old Asasri transitioning from her wild Maiden years to the Matron stage of her life, or to see how the Prothean- Reaper war actually happened. The benefit of Mass Effect is that it provides a buffet of characters, creatures, and calamities that occur in its universe.

This is probably an unstoppable force that will happen, hopefully Hollywood does the series right.

First Looks: Jamie Foxx as ‘Electro’ and the New-and-Improved Spider-Man Costume

So among all of the buzz swirling around Pacific Rim, Sony decided to create their own by promoting their new look for both characters. Electro appears to be taken more from the Ultimate Universe. Here’s the image featured on Entertainment Weekly magazine:


Courtesy of Entertainment Weekly

What are your thoughts on the new Spidey suit and Electro?

Affirmative Action Heroes Part 2

By Brandon Alexander

As mentioned in part one of this posting series, I believe that we need more leading and prominent roles for people of color in superhero films. That is not to say that there aren’t many; we all remember Michael Jai White as Spawn, Wesley Snipes as Blade, and (as I mentioned in part one of this post) Halle Berry as Catwoman. Even Will Smith played an original superhero of sorts as Hancock,

But these characters represent one of the major problems with Hollywood: the disproportionate amount of work that goes to whites and blacks for important roles. The Wolverine looks to be strong in casting a large majority of actors of Asian descent, but it still pales in comparison to the stronghold. And with that said, I’ve compiled a small list of characters I’d like to see represented in a Hollywood (or Independent) movie:

Black Adam

You can’t say that this wouldn’t be a dope shot.

Am I asking for a Captain Marvel movie? In so many words, no. I think Black Adam could be a phenomenal Super-Man villain (though he may be too similar to Zod) as seen in the movie where Superman teams up with Captain Marvel.

Black Adam is a character with a lot of depth and the right amount of motivation that is needed for a Hollywood villain.

Though, Adam would not necessarily need to be a bad guy. At times he’s viewed as an anti-hero, and a movie showing his origins may allow us to see his spiraling towards evil. A character from Egypt would also be a great opportunity for commentary on the current happenings in Egypt and some of the other countries in North Africa and the Middle East.

I think this is a near can’t lose situation. You have a complex character with near limitless power and one of the few costumes that would look great on screen with little adjustments.

Blue Beetle (Jaime Reyes)

He’s already built a small following after his appearance on the popular show Young Justice and I think this is prime time to further develop the character while at the same time diversifying the current DC roster.

Insects aside, the Blue Beetle is sort of a Spider-Man- esque character and I believe that DC can take a note from Marvel on how not to do a teenage super-hero movie. We’d also get a good look at Texas’ beautiful mountainous landscape since the film would hopefully be based in El Paso.

Blue Beetle from Young Justice

Honestly, he doesn’t even have to be the star of the movie, I think he’d make a great comic-relief character (with a larger role) in a big picture-type film.

Armor

A few months ago I finally got around to watching the X-Men Anime, one of a few of Marvel’s titles that got the Rising Sun treatment. Her character was the catalyst for the majority of the movie and though I don’t really care too much for her in comic book form, in the anime she was strong and captivating.

Her powers are also unique and I can see a director and cinematographer using them to brighten the screen and add excitement.

Mr. Terrific (Michael Holt)

Hopefully DC has room to cast the “third smartest man on Earth” in one of their movies. I guess Batman’s on of the people in front of him, but since the DC film universe shows Batman to be of slightly above average intelligence, I’d say that Mr. Terrific could be bumped up to number two.

Mr. Terrific is the ideal character on many levels: he has a tragic backstory, is extremely smart, and is a technology master (so I guess we can combine the last two). If you’ve read any Mr. Terrific, you know that a major battle he has is within his atheist beliefs since the tragedy. That could be a great subplot to a larger movie (actually, it sounds a lot like Iron Man 3).

His costume and mask would need to be revamped to something more civilian, but I would love to see the T-spheres on the big screen. If he wasn’t too busy playing the Falcon in Captain America 2: Winter Soldier, I’d say Anthony Mackie would be a good fit for this role.

Forge

It’s difficult to find a Native American superhero that doesn’t seem stereotypical, but Forge is by far one of the most unique characters. Even his power is pretty clever when you stop and think about it. He’d be a strong supporting character if they ever make an X-Factor movie (Strong Guy needs to be on film).

I think they should get rid of his natural magical abilities altogether and focus on his relationships with others.

Samurai Jack

By far everyone’s favorite samurai (followed closely by Afro), there are few cartoons that were better than Samurai Jack and I think his story (with a little rewriting) would translate beautifully to screen. He’s a cult icon with a huge underground fan base, but I still see this movie dropping as a dope independent movie.

This would be more of an art film than blockbuster, so I’d like to see a lot of colorful and dramatic shots with a crazy sound track (perhaps by the Rza?). Don’t lie to yourself, you know this movie would be dope.

Heroes for Hire

Who are we kidding? Though most of them are stereotypes and are dated, this rag tag team is one of the realest in the comic book world. They provide a good dosage of comedy mixed with crime fighting and I think this would be the less serious (and more fun) version of the Avengers.

That’s my list, what superhero/ comic book characters would you like to see brought to the screen? Comment below with your suggestions.

Affirmative Action Heroes Part 1

By Brandon Alexander

I’m a huge fan of comic books and films so it should come as no surprise that I love comic book movies. After watching the recent Man of Steel with a friend, he brought up a this point: this was Hollywood’s opportunity to have more “people of color” on screen, yet they completely ignored it (an out-of-shape Laurence Fishburne does not count).

MCD as the Kingpin.

I pride myself on being able to step away and maintain the sanctity of comic book characters, but could not come up with an accurate rebuttal other than “that would change the character entirely” or “that’s just how it’s always been and people wouldn’t like it”. Later on I thought, “why not push the boundaries and show heroes in a slightly different light (and I’m not talking about the New 52 scam).

Hollywood has already done part of what I’m mentioning, they cast Idris Elba, a well-known black Englishman, in the first Thor as the Norse god Heimdall, who is proclaimed as the “whitest of the gods”. In the same movie, Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano was cast in the role of Hagun (a character not necessarily of East Asian descent). Wolverine featured a similar change in ethnicity in character by casting Daniel Henney, of Anglo and Asian descent, as Agent Zero. The late Michael Clarke Duncan even showed up when they cast him opposite Ben Affleck in the flop Daredevil as the Kingpin.

The issue with these characters is the scale of their importance. Why hasn’t anyone pushed the envelope and just cast a major character as a different ethnicity?

Ultimate Nick Fury vs his Earth- 616

Marvel was pretty progressive in casting Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury (and keeping him on for nearly a dozen movies total). I applaud that effort, knowing that his portrayal of the character is based on Marvel’s Ultimate universe version. This is an unfair assessment to what I am describing, because who can really say no to the likeablility and sheer force of will of Samuel L. Jackson (not to mention the money he’d bring in).

I try to bring this movie up as little as I can.

Another instance of a lead character being cast as another ethnicity comes from the DC universe back in the early 2000s when they decided to cast Halle Berry as the title character in the movie Catwoman (though Berry is of both black and Anglo descent). While race caused a bit of a stir, I think the lack of a good story, changing the main character’s name, and the overall cheesiness of the film overshadowed the issue of ethnicity.

In spite of, it seems that Catwoman played it as safe as it could by featuring the most popular actress of that time period and, it’s sad to say, also choosing to perform this experiment with a female lead (a problem to be discussed in a later post).

Going back to Man of Steel, I agree that there would be a strong potential for backlash if they cast a nonwhite actor as Superman, but none of the top tier of characters were people of color. Why couldn’t Zod be another ethnicity? Kryptonians are an ancient race, I’m sure there are various skin tones and cultures. Even Lois Lane could have been cast differently; Amy Adams did not necessarily own the role enough for no other actresses to be considered (Zoe Saldana anyone?).

We met our black guy and woman quota.

Another pertinent example comes from the biggest superhero movie of all time, The Avengers. As previously stated, the character of Nick Fury was played by Mr. Jackson, but aside from him, all of the main characters were white: Captain America, Iron Man, the Hulk (though at times he was green), Black Widow, Hawkeye, and even Agent Coulson. Would it have killed Marvel to adjust Hawkeye’s (probably the least known and least popular of the group) pigmentation?

That was a risk with nearly nothing to lose and at least something to gain: a nonwhite child could have had a superhero to look up to that actually looked like them. I’m not saying that people only have the capacity to admire people of similar genetic makeup, but surely it does not hurt to see representation from multiple ethnicities and backgrounds.

Green Lantern was the perfect opportunity to cast a person of color as the main character (John Stewart anyone?). I think that DC may give that a chance with the inevitable reboot that will wipe our memory clean of the 2011 disaster.

The coolest member of the League.

Actually, I remember in eighth grade when it was announced that John Stewart character would be the Green Lantern in the Justice League cartoon, one of my white classmates said, “he shouldn’t be black,” noticed me, and quickly added, “I mean, no offense, it’s just that they should have left him white.”

I, of course, responded, “Yeah, I know what you mean,” taking everything I could to stop from saying “well at least there’s one black guy next to five white people and a martian”. This opened my eyes to some of the level of distaste that even my young peers had at the thought of a “white” character being “black”.

Side note: Points for DC’s forward thinking in allowing Stewart to be involved in a literal interracial relationship (Hawkgirl isn’t even from this planet).

The real question in all of this is, why has Hollywood skated primarily on the side of caution when it comes to “race-bending”? Star Trek: Into Darkness did nearly the opposite by recasting Khan (a role that was originally played by a person of color) with a white actor.

Kind of a dope pic.

Another note: remember when Donald Glover put his name in the hat for the role of Peter Parker in the Spider-Man reboot? Well, this is what Stan Lee had to say. Honestly, Glover would have been phenomenal as Spider-Man; he has that blend of “outcast with a sense of humor” that was needed and that Andrew Garfield really didn’t provide. Yet, ethnicity was an issue (not the fact that Garfield looked like he was a college senior).

None of this is saying that the outcries only go one way. Remember when the entire cast (except for the villains) of The Last Airbender were portrayed by white actors? The cartoon series the film was based on strongly suggests that these characters are from a variety of Asian and Inuit backgrounds. This caused a bit of stir and I’m sure that directly affected the movie’s poor ratings.

For a while now, we believed that the media only shows us what society is capable of seeing, but now we know better. The media shows us things that they think we want to see, which says much about our society. I, for one, think we’re ready for a black Bruce Wayne or an latino Reed Richards; though I would anticipate strong distaste for breaking canon (even though films have always done that).

I look forward to that day when everyone is represented and the generic feel of these films is gone. These are movies, and movies are made to push our beliefs and our reality (there’s a reason it’s called “movie magic”). What we see in these films should mirror what we see in reality, and last time I checked, there was a bit more diversity (and less spandex).

P.S. I guess until Hollywood can muscle up, we’ll have to settle with characters of color who already exists. Read my next post to see characters I believe should be prominently featured on the big screen.

Editor’s Note: I forgot to give Marvel it’s credit in casting Jamie Foxx as Electro in the upcoming Amazing Spider-Man 2. Keep it up.

Man of Steel

Man of Steel, Action, 2013

Plot: The origin story of the boy scout superhero (aptly called) Superman.

Thoughts: Man of Steel was DC’s best attempt so far at a live action movie not featuring Bruce Wayne. I think Zack Snyder transition from graphic novel movies to comic book movie was smooth. The production team made the story of Superman feel fresh, which is hard to do with a character that has been around for nearly a century.

That aside, there were still many issues with the movie that almost took the joy of a good story away. My first concern was with some of the holes in the movie. The first major issue was the fact that there was no “aha” moment for Supes. The entire movie he is forced to keep his secret and not use his powers to help others, but at what point does he decide to say “screw that” and do so.

Another point of contention was the fact that he adopted Kryptonian culture fairly quickly. Within a week of finding out that he’s from Krypton he draws a line in the sand between Kryptonians and Humans and it seems he never finds the right balance between the two. I guess, that may be slightly more realistic in terms of how everyone would react, but if I spent 33 years on Earth, I think I’d be a little more skeptical about embracing my “true” self.

Henry Cavill will not win any Oscars for this performance.

The film itself was very dark; not dark in subject matter, but dark in terms of the actual production. The entire movie was under-saturated and had a blue tinge to it. I didn’t understand why everything needed to be so dark, for a second it felt like a Godfather movie. As much as I enjoyed the costumes, I think those too were all too dark when there was great opportunity to allow them to pop off the screen.

I’m glad this movie wasn’t taken straight from Christopher Nolan’s Batman universe, but I could see the influence. I know that realism and dramatic in superhero films are gaining popularity, but I think that it should fit the character. The Amazing Spider-Man, for example, is a dark story, but through Peter Parker’s eyes (a 15-year old, mind you) it is a world of laughs to hide the pain. I know that this is a review of a Superman movie, but I feel that the two are similar in that the tone should be lighter, yet still not be a popcorn flick.

The best part about the movie, to me, was the story of Krypton, which could have been a standalone movie. The motivation of the characters, the writing, the acting, the set design were all executed splendidly. Zod was menacing but with good reason. Jor-El was a watery reflection of Obi-Wan, yet still distinctly his own character.

The first thirty minutes of Man of Steel were rapid-fire, taking you from past to present and back again several times. This hurt the movie in the long run because it slowed it down when things started being shown chronologically. By the final battle, I was ready to leave the theater (although it may have been because the seats were killing my hindquarters).

Growing up, I always loathed Superman, he always seemed too powerful for me and that ruined the idea that he would actually struggle against something. Also, when your biggest weakness is a rock, it’s hard to be considered a threat; It wasn’t until I witnessed the Superman of the Justice League and Justice League: Unlimited, that I realized how complex his character actually was and began to read some of his comics. The true struggle of Superman is not that he can’t use his powers for fear of how others would react, it’s that he has to toe the line of restraint and vigilantism for the greater good. I don’t feel that this movie explored the latter as much as I would have liked.

Great comback, however, from the disappointing Green Lantern, hopefully there is more to come from DC to match Marvel’s two to three movies per year. If you’re a fan of comics, you’ll enjoy the movie.

The sub-par performances and plot holes mixed with the awesome costumes and fleshed out ideas give this movie a solid:

3.3/5

Now You See Me

Now You See Me, Thriller, 2013

Plot: An FBI agent tracks down a group of four magicians who perform acts that are highlighted by some sort of robbery.

Thoughts: What could have been a phenomenal take on the heist genre, ended up being a poor man’s Ocean’s Eleven (the George Clooney version).

I struggled to think about what I actually liked about this film and the one thing I came up with was the cast of talented actors: the consistently underrated Woody Harrelson, the obnoxious Jesse Eisenberg, talented Isla Fisher, up-and-coming Dave Franco, lovable Michael Caine, and the always dramatic and wise Morgan Freeman. Oh yeah, Mark Ruffalo was in it, too. . . am I the only person who doesn’t get what the big deal is around this guy?

Morgan Freeman “throwin’ his money on the flo'”

Aside from what appears to be an intriguing story backed by a dynamite cast, this movie was handled so poorly. The concept of magic, or as GOB would say “illusions”, is tricking the viewer with what they think they see. This movie didn’t have to do that because in a movie, the production team controls everything you see. There’s no chance to not look closer. That’s why they call TV and Film “magic”. This idea really taints some of the tricks and makes you focus more on the fact of being skeptical the entire time rather than being befuddled and amazed.

The main problem I had with this movie was the fact that nearly all of the scenes were plot-based. Good filmmakers and writers understand that a balance between character-driven and plot-driven scenes is crucial to get your audience into the world you’ve created. In this movie, the characters were just a vehicle to get to the next scene instead of the driving force. Out of the main characters there was only a handful of dialogue that would allow you to decipher something about them, they were shallow, two-dimensional people living in a flat world that seemed to revolve around magic. The depth that comes with little things like what soda the characters were drinking, the type of hat they are wearing, which of their hands is the dominant one, was missing.

We are four, non-distinct characters with generic backgrounds.

The lack of depth also hurt this movie because their was very little motivation for the next steps. When the characters you’re supposed to care most about end up being total sheep, it makes you feel pretty dumb.

The story structure was awkward, every act had twenty minutes of them pulling off a heist followed by fifteen minutes of explanation, tell me about repetitiveness. Also, what was up with act three? The last fifteen minutes of the movie was one character tying up all of the loose ends. . . they sure had a lot of time on their hands to travel like that.

He’s always angry. . .

All in all, this was a popcorn flick lacking true substance, it was nearly the antithesis of Iron Man 3 in terms of character vs. plot-based filmmaking. It’s ironic that this was a movie about magic since it seemed that this was just a big magic trick played on us, the audience. With their right hand the production distracted us with its shiny effects, semi-cerebral heists, and overused plot twists; while their other hand reaches in our pockets for ten bucks. Now that I think about it, the illusion that this was actually a clever film could have been a great movie all by itself. If this movie doesn’t flop too badly, look out for the sequel (which they were setting up the entire last act).

1.8/5

–Below this line is a list of questions that may be considered spoilers, don’t read if you hate spoilers!–

After watching the film, here are a few questions that remained:

Since when does being a magician make you awesome at parkour and able to take down eight FBI agents?
What was the deal with that last safe? The FBI just has safes hidden in the middle of New York City?
I know he can make a lot of money, but why is someone in the insurance business a benefactor to a ragtag group of magicians?
Who was that lady with Michael Caine the entire movie?
So the director’s not gonna let us see what happens on the Carousel in Central Park? All of the time in the movie dedicated to “the Eye” and we’re not even going to get to see it?
So the moral of the story is, the guys who did nothing wrong go to jail (ie Morgan Freeman)?

_________________________________________________________________________________

Star Trek Into Darkness

Star Trek Into Darkness, 2013, Action

Plot (taken from IMDB.com): After the crew of the Enterprise find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction.

Thoughts: I have never been accused of being a “Trekkie”, and while many details and character quirks go lost on me, many years of sitting around my mother as she watched The Next Generation (shoutout to Pat Stewart and Lavar Burton) I am not unaccustomed to the lore and some of the terminology. With that being said, I found the sequel to JJ Abrams’s take on Star Trek in 2009 to be quite refreshing.

The opening scene thrusts you into a fast-paced environment and the movie really doesn’t let it go. It was pretty much wall-to-wall action with about 20 of the 120 minutes being lull time. At a point, it does get a little tiresome seeing people in the face of danger after nearly escaping the previous trials. I actually think that much action really spread the weight of the emotion of the movie, so much so that the middle of act II felt like act I was wrapping up.

I enjoy how open ended this production leaves everything. There is so much more to be discovered and explored in this universe and we only just scratched the surface of some of Star Trek’s most popular life-forms.

Chris Pine and Zachary Qunito (who I will always refer to as Sylar) do an excellent job of balancing one another’s temperament while on screen. Spock wasn’t as obnoxious this go around and Kirk really settled into his role as a leader. At times, however, it did seem like this movie was headed into the “bromance” genre. There was minimal exploitation of romantic relationships in this movie, so I guess the writers decided to ramp up the phileo love between Spock and Kirk (which was sweet, yet still, a little over done).

On a similar note, I was disappointed in the way Uhura, played by the crowned queen of Sci-Fi Zoe Saldana, was used in the film. Most of her screen time was spent being cold to Spock. The writers really botched the opportunity to have a strong female lead by instr opting, instead, to have her say snappy lines with little depth.

Benedict Cumberbatch (try saying that three times fast) was awesome as the (primary) antagonist of the film. His speech patterns and intonations added a quirk to his character that made him feel real. I can’t wait to see what that guy has coming up next.

Wait…didn’t they try this with Loki?

You will be hard-pressed to find better special effects in another film this summer. I also love the fact that Abrams chooses to use make-up rather than CGI on many of his characters, and as a result, this movie feels organic and natural (I appreciate the hardwork make-up artists do after watching the Syfy show Face Off).

Star Trek Into Darkness is a film about embracing your entire self. The messages and meaningful dialogue in this film put it on the upper-tier of sci-fi action movies; movies that go beyond “cool looking aliens and shiny lasers”.

At times, it felt like this movie was at warp speed.

Overall, this is a good summer movie and IMO a better film than ~~The Avengers 2~~ Iron Man 3 (though I’m not saying don’t go see Iron Man 3). Filling the legend of a production as grand as the original Star Trek franchise can be overwhelming but I think all of the production team is really doing something that makes Trekkies excited while also adding to the fan-base. If you catch it I’m sure you’ll love it almost as JJ Abrams loves lens flares. Almost.
3.3/5

Iron Man 3

Iron Man 3, Action, 2013

Plot: Tony Stark is back in his solo film as he deals with an array of antagonists including the Mandarin, Aldrich Killian, and his own demons from his time with the Avengers in New York.

Thoughts: The third installment in the Iron Man series featured a new director in Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) and with it, a new take on a familiar franchise. This was probably the downfall of this film. It seemed that instead of being the Iron Man we knew from the first two films, this Tony Stark was a caricature of himself, pulled from sound bites of the Stark we saw in The Avengers.

Robert Downey Jr. (RDJ) was witty as always, but this version of the Iron Man universe seemed almost unrelated to the various incarnations of Tony Stark from the movies and comic books. This film really struggled to find the balance that I thought Jon Favreau achieved between comedy, drama, and action. At times it felt like I was watching a comedy with action, rather than an action movie with comedy. Nearly half of the movie was one-liners. Iron Man deserves more than that.

The times that were serious seemed to come out of nowhere. The film kept referencing how the “events in New York” affected Tony, yet only once did I feel that he was truly struggling with those memories.

The movie also suffered from its lack of a strong story plot, since most of the movie was about Stark figuring out his place in life. In the main arc, there seemed to be a lack of motivations for the characters; nothing to really drive them to their next step (other than to progress the movie). There were way too many plot twists; some good, some bad, and they will really disappoint you with what they do with one of the characters (don’t worry I won’t spoil it for you).

Kinda disappointed that the Mandarin didn’t have a more prominent role.

There were too many characters in this movie to really get attached to anyone. I’m sure if it wasn’t for all of the flash and pop of the visual effects, this film would not be as good as everyone says it is.

On the flip-side, this movie met (but did not excede) my expectations. I loved RDJ as Tony Stark, and Guy Pierce also does a great job. The action scenes were semi-original, but not boring to say the least.

This is a popcorn movie, but I was hoping for a little more. But it’s a decent book end to the series. My expectations for the new Thor, however, have gone down a bit. Marvel Studios failed to keep the momentum they had from last year’s Avenger’s, hopefully they can pick it back up with the slew of titles they’re releasing over the next few years.

Good, but not great, movie.

2.9/5

Feel free to let me know your rebuttal ;).

P.S. If you want to see this movie just to see the Iron Man in action, go see another movie and walk in in the last 20 minutes of this film. You won’t miss a thing.
P.P.S. The post-credit short in this movie was LAME.

ParaNorman

ParaNorman, Animated/ Dark Comedy, 2012

Plot: A boy who can see and talk to ghosts is tasked with saving his town from an evil spirit.

Thoughts: After finally watching what most considered the top three films for the Academy Award for Best Animated Film and I really have to say that ParaNorman deserved that over the lackluster and anti-climactic Brave and the similarly disappointing Wreck-It Ralph. Yeah, I know that the big studios and productions control who wins, etc, but it really is a let down to see a film that really captured the essence of what a movie is go without accolade.

This film truly had it all, a bit of suspense with just the right amount of humor to balance the film. It had a great cast (my favorite being Neil, voiced by Tucker Albrizzi) of which were many people who many would consider average in terms of star power. The film also presented a great message that was a little bit Pixar and a little bit Tim Burton-esque.

In a world of people telling you who to be and what to do, it is refreshing to see a film that takes a more unique approach to the subject matter (its competitors Brave and Wreck-It Ralph covered a similar topic). I felt that ParaNorman left me feeling better, like it was a finished film that took an exorbitant amount of effort and thought into the script, cinematography, performances, and editing. In my opinion, it was one of the most complete films of the year.

Kudos to Chris Butler and Sam Fell for getting a nice blend of nostalgia and heart, similar to the 2011 film Super 8. This is a PG movie, so at times the humor gets semi-mature and there is a good dosage of violence. If you’re looking for a movie that sugar coats frequently, this isn’t your kind of movie.

4.2/5