Super, Sucks, or Surprise . . . August 8, 2014

       So I've decided to try a blog article like this just to guestimate how I will like a movie before it comes out - in addition to keeping up with upcoming movies.  Again, this is just my thoughts . . . are they Super awesome? do they Suck? or are they Surprising?

  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Okay, I don't know about you, but I've always been a TMNT fan.  Some of my fondest memories are playing it on my cousins' Nintendo (yes, as in the original complete with "Duck Hunt").  While previous TMNT movies have been cheesy at best, I had high expectations for this movie, but the trailer has been very disappointing.  The graphics for the fearsome four seem a bit sub-par and Shredder looks a weird.  April seems to have been a good cast, though with Megan Fox.

Potential? . . . Surprise


  The Hundred Foot Journey

Helen Mirren is almost always awesome and while I'm usually not interested in cooking movies, this one looks interesting.  The French and Indian cultural conflicts, the family dynamics, and the cinematography looks like this one might be a winner.

Potential? . . . Super!

  Into the Storm

I'll be honest, I lived through the Tuscaloosa tornado in 2011.  I know what it's like to hear them coming, to fear them, and to live through the aftermath of military checkpoints, camping out in the halls of a college, moving from house to house with friends just to get away, and the declaration of martial law on a town in addition to avoiding looters.  I WILL NOT watch this film.  I couldn't finish the trailer.  HOWEVER, I like Richard Armitage, and if you can watch a disaster movie, then you check this out.

Potential?  Surprise . . . but you'll have to find out for yourself.

  Step Up: All In

Really?  The trailer for this one looks like the director combined Rock of Ages, Moulin Rouge, and the Dance, Dance Revolution WII game, but it ended up looking more like a Boris Karloff movie.  The flash mob point was sort of good from the last film, but this is just sinking to a new low.

Potential?  Sucks

 What if

Daniel Radcliffe is trying to break out of the Harry Potter typecast and has struggled doing it.  I guess it's the curse that comes with being attached to such a huge franchise.  That said, I'm not sure how this movie will work out.  There appear to be some funny moments, I just hope that all of them weren't in the trailer.

Potential?  Surprise

  Deep Sea Challenge 3D

Most of you know I NOT a big fan of going to see documentaries in theaters - unless the proceeds are for a good cause.  Just not my thing.  HOWEVER, the footage for this looks worthwhile and I think it might be worth the price of admission.

Potential?  Super

Guardians of the Galaxy is Out of this World!

When I saw that the critics on Rotten Tomatoes had actually put Guardians of the Galaxy at 92%, I was shocked - and slightly disturbed.  Usually when the critics love something, I hate it.  Then I looked at the fan ratings: 96%. That couldn't be all bad.  I tried to go in with an open mind.

I wasn't disappointed.  With the exception of a rather long credits introduction, the movie is fast-paced, hysterical, and has a decent plot.  Whoever decided to cast Bradley Cooper as the voice for Rocket was brilliant!  His character seems to have stepped from the comics with his sardonic opinions and hysterical comments and actions throughout.  Zoe Saldana was a wonderful Gamorah and Groot was fantastic.  I was unsure about Peter Quill, to be honest, especially as compared to the comics, but he grew on me and I have to admit that the casting was great.  Drax, too worked out well with Bautista as the literalist destroyer.

Spoiler Alert below here:

The incorporation of Thanos to tie in the Avengers was an interesting concept.  What I was slightly disappointed in was that they used Ronan the Accuser as the main villain without Captain Marvel.  I would have loved to have seen him developed more since he is a huge threat to Earth in the Marvel Universe during the Skrull invasion.  However, Marvel seems to be good at "resurrecting" characters, so perhaps not all is lost.

It was rather surprising, but the only wooden performance seemed to come from Glenn Close.  I appreciated what she was trying to do, but despite being a "good" character, it was hard not to see Cruella DeVille in her acting each time.  It was good to see the evil titan Thanos, but the graphics for his character didn't seem to match up as well.

Honestly, these were the only major faults I could find.  The use of the "Walkman" cassette player in the beginning allowed the use of so many classic rock and oldies songs to make more sense and enhance the whole movie.

This one is a must-see!  In fact, I would like to try it in IMAX 3D!

Godzilla: A Monster Success!

I know that I haven't posted in a while (Trivial things like a job get in the way of fun stuff like movies).  But I have to say that there was no way that I was going to miss something like the new Godzilla movie!  I was concerned largely that they would try to do something that would mess up the image of Godzilla and make it laughable.  To be honest, despite the fact that I am a long-time fan of the old Godzilla movies, I rather liked (not loved) the Emmerich Godzilla of 1998 that was considered a travesty by most of the movie-going populous.  But they changed Godzilla considerably.  He was a different looking monster than the old films, which, I believe, is why I could accept that movie and storyline so much more.  But when Gareth Edwards announced that he was doing an homage to the old Godzilla, I could not help but be skeptical.  No one should mess with a legend.  

We excuse the corniness of the old Godzilla because of the fact that it was the best that graphics could be in the 1960s.  We do NOT excuse it today.  After reading the article that SiFi Now rank on the monster movie, I was pleased to hear that Edwards was taking things seriously and carefully - even respectfully, but that ups the ante.  Would this Godzilla decently combine the monster we love to fear? Would the storyline be something we can appreciate?

I'm here to say that indeed it was! I went to a Thursday night premiere of the film - the first premiere I've been able to attend in a year - and wanted to cheer when I finally saw him!  He was not only recognizable as our beloved monster, he was expressive without being corny, he was back to being a hero, and - most shockingly of all - the movie had a decent story!  There were several throwbacks to the old movies - including a reference to Mothra.  I was impressed with everything.  If you haven't seen it yet, go! It's brilliant!  I would love to see a sequel, but only if they can treat it in the same way they treated this one. If not, I am satisfied that someone finally made a decent incarnation of that lovably giant lizard.  Bravo Gareth Edwards!

I, Frankenstein

(Spoiler Alert! - sorry, I had too many rants not to have a couple of spoilers in this one)

You may be wondering why I even bothered going to this. 

Right now I'm wondering the same thing.

I usually don't put much stock in what the critics say about a movie, I just go to see it myself, then make a judgment.  While I am not really a Shelly fan in general, I have seen various inventions of this tale in film version, and I was curious about this one.  As much as I hate to admit it, this time the critics were right.  Should the trailer have given me a clue?  Yeah.  But, call me a glutton for punishment, I thought it'd be fun to see a reinventing of the tale. 

Except that it wasn't a reinventing.  It was an epilogue . . . a very long epilogue . . . a very dumb epilogue.

The premise is that Frankenstein's monster is immortal and has been rescued by this group of gargoyles who are the guardians of humans against demons.  Yeah . . . fun.  I thought it might be like Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter in terms of an interesting twist.  It wasn't.  Even with Miranda Otto and Bill Nighy, it was a slow movie.  There were several times that I wondered how much longer it would be.  I also thought that if I saw another shot of the monster's boots stomping, I would leave.  There were several fun action sequences, but the ending flew by and the middle dragged - not to mention that my two favorite characters died in the middle.  The CG gargoyles were okay, but when you finally see Miranda Otto's character become a gargoyle, it was an inferior version than the rest.  Bill Nighy makes a good villain, but he could only do so much with a bad script.  Eckhart really tried to put a new spin on the monster (rechristened "Adam") but one the shift from swift, flexible killing machine in one scene to stomping brute the next was a bit crazy.

Overall, if you want to have a laugh with friends, see it in a dollar theater.  Otherwise, just don't bother.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruite

I am always skeptical when you follow a classic set of movies such as Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger with sequels.  Ben Affleck's Ryan was far too different and lacked the edge and emotion that Harrison Ford put into the character.  I was worried about two things going into the movie: the first was that Chris Pine as Jack Ryan would come across as James T. Kirk in a business suit and some kick-butt moves. The second was the casting of Kiera Knightly, since most of her roles are essentially the same character and her portrayal of them is nearly always the same, just in a variety of period costumes.

All I can say is WOW!  That was a brilliant thriller!  Pine's performance was fantastic.  I never saw Kirk in his performance.  He somehow managed to take on some of the Ford-like qualities of the original Ryan character, while making it his own.  Gone was the cocky Kirk facade and a very human, Jack Ryan came through.  I was equally surprised at Knightly's performance.  She was much less her traditional character and the few times that it seemed like it might not work, Pine or Kenneth Branagh appeared to help save the day - and the scene.  I was also pleasantly surprised at Kevin Costner and the chemistry with Pine as his mentor.  When Branagh first came onto the scene as a Russian, I was rather skeptical as the performance seemed to start off a little rocky, but he ended up mastering the accent (a definite must), and in general, this was a great blockbuster with which to start the year.  I wish I had seen more about this when it was in the works, but it certainly didn't disappoint. 

I know that Chris Pine would never be chosen to be Bond, simply because he's American.  But this is certainly the next best venue for him.  I would highly recommend traveling to see this film at a decent theater!  It's worth the price of admission!

The Nut Job

First of all, you at least have to love the name: The Nut Job.  It's just fun.  And, to be honest it is a cute movie with cute characters.

That being said, probably the biggest hang-up for some people was that it was a bit reminiscent of the movie Over the Hedge.  The animals in a park are trying to steal food from humans and there are a lot of leadership issues along the way.

I will give this movie several bonus points for giving the side story of the other bank robbers a classic film feel with 1940s style clothing and mannerisms.  Additionally, the voice cast for this film is phenomenal!  Liam Neeson, Brendan Fraser, and Katherine Heigel are just three of the lead vocals for this film - and they do a great job.

I'm not sure that I would recommend traveling very far to see this movie, but I certainly would recommend seeing it at your local theater if one is available.