42 is of course the film about inspiring baseball star Jackie Robinson here played by Chadwick Boseman and the film follows him on a course of playing different teams and dealing with all the criticism for being a black man in white baseball.
Now expectations wise, I was really looking foward to this film, I don't LOVE sports films, although I thought "Moneyball" was a perfect film, I just don't love them. But still I was really really impressed by the trailers. Everyone from it's Oscar winning writer/director to it's great cast including Boseman and Ford.
42 perfectly amounces it's portraying of the legendary Robinson. Boseman helps that too, delivering both a sad and believable peformance. He shows effection and you honestly don't want him to crack. He does very well as Robinson. Ford is also great, he didn't do as much as I thought he would, although he still did a great job. Everyone else was also good, the lady who played his wife was great too even if she did barely anything.
The script has flaws, but for the most part it was solid. Some plot wholes done in the script I thought could have been done without. But it does balance everything solidly. The script has some very well done humor, all I'm gonna say: Shower, just hysterical. It's cinematography is also great, from Robinson and the others sliding and going to bases was very well shot.
Overall, great peformances, direction, and cinematography also a great score, I got exactly what I wanted, raw emotion and a very well potrayed time period. I honestly started tearing up.
Final Grade: 4/5
Before we start this review I wanted to say through out this weekend or even tonight, I'll have written reviews for 42 and Trance after this. So stay tuned. Anyways Oblivion is the director of Tron Legacy's newest film and it stars Tom Cruise, Ogla Kurylenko, Morgan Freeman and others. The film follows Jack (Tom Cruise)who is a man on earth which had been destroyed in an alien vs human war, even if the humans won during the war Earth was destroyed so everyone left. But when Cruise is captured and told the truth, he wants to leave Earth and get where everyone else who was on Earth.
Oblivion is visually stunning and very well acted by Cruise, but it honestly could have been better, still an awesome experiance and solid film, just could have been better. It's biggest problem is on it's pacing, script side. It has a very unbelievable script that is full of lines that could have been deleted. Everything romance wise in the film too, just very uneeded. It also has weak pacing, it's a little over 2 hours and feels longer.
Both Tom Cruise & Morgan Freeman are great, both try and deliver. You feel for them too, they also have believable chemistry together. Everyone else was fine, but really Freeman and Cruise were the only ones that delivered something special. Kurylenko honestly annoyed me so so so much. She is just not a likeable actress in my opinion, and she wasn't believable.
One romance aspect moves it kind of without spoiling, but the whole "marriage" thing was totally forced and could have been left out. Overall, Oblivion has a great spectacle, an awesome peformance from Cruise and Freeman and some solid effects. I really liked it although, I wanted more.
Final Grade: 3.5/5
Elysium is director Neill Blomkamp follow up to the 2009 hit alien invasion flick, Distrct 9. Elysium is the year 2154 and where most people are at Elysium, when Max (Matt Damon) who lives on Earth which is where "poor people" live, he must try to get to Elysium. Now being a huge fan of District 9 with even only seeing it once it came on TV, I've been wanting to see what director Blomkamp would do next. I heard a film called "Elysium" would be his follow up. So basically after seeing District 9 I said I trusted him into what he would do next. So I was desprate to see more footage for this film.
What I like most about the "Elysium" trailer is how it executes different worlds and beyond spectacularly. It's style of visuals and effects reminds me exactly of District 9. The feel, tone and visual spectacle. Even the picture for this trailer review I'm using reminds me of it. Anyways, it's visuals look cool yet very District 9 like. I can't tell if this has a $30 million budget like District 9 or not, I'll have to assume they're different. I assume w/ the visuals they have it's about say "Total Recall" 2012 budget b/c/ it looks more expensive.
With who you do have involved this could be great along with Mr. Blomkamp directing it. I do admire the visuals, director and cast. But I honestly just couldn't love this trailer. It's badass with it's cool visuals and great cast/idea but I don't think it looks like a treat. Theres some scenes that honestly made me feel weird and didn't feel they needed to be there. Some scenes they showed of Earth made me feel strange, just I didn't think it was stylized or executed enough to be shown. I do admire Blomkamp for doing something new where he does 2 different worlds but honestly I don't like the feel as of now.
The hover crafts which might be stupid of me to talk about which are shown at 0:55 of the trailers that flew by above Matt Damon I gotta say kicked ass. I can't wait to see how they are used and how long they'll be shown. I do also want to mention the gadgets used in the trailers. They honestly reminded me a bit about Spy Kids 4 aka the Spy Kids shit pie. Even if that movie was terrible I think all the gadgets used were awesome. They bring back something from my childhood that makes me feel good.
The visuals and the costums are also something I'm excited to see. By the trailers thats what I'm most impressed by. It is an imaginitive spectacle with wildly awesome costums. It also reminds me of "Avatar" which I thought was an awesome movie. These people arn't CGI and they are not blue. But everything expensive wise like CGI/Visuals and costums look to be very cool. But they're was some uses of CGI that felt unbelievable. 1:35 - 1:36 in the trailer there is a car flipping over that looks unreal.
All in all, I'm still excited for this film since it's directed by the THE man who directed THE awesome film of 2009 District 9, and because the spectacle and the cast. Still solid trailer I just thought it could have been better.
Each year, there is one movie that you are literally dieing to see. Last year it was "The Dark Knight Rises" this year for me it was Derek Cianfrance's "The Place Beyond the Pines". Not only did it get phenomenally amazing reviews from TIFF and for 3 months straight have a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. But the trailer for the film I watched was amazing.
The Place Beyond the Pines is a heartbreaking, emotional, investing and unforgettable masterpeice. When I first saw it I didn't love it. But I thought about it. I saw this film on Saturday, and I still have everything about it on my mind.
As emotionally investing as the characters were, you would also need great actors to play them. You got that, Ryan Gosling, Eva Mendes, Ray Liotta, Bradley Cooper and Dan Dehaan. All of them are absolutely phenomenal. Ryan Gosling is raw and so involving, you feel very bad for what he gets into or how he reacts. His characters needs your emotions and Mr. Cianfrance did exactly that. Bradley Cooper who I loved in Silver Linings Playbook is even better here, just like Luke (Ryan Gosling) you need your emotions for Bradley's character Avery. You feel bad for him in his story-line. The main stand out was Bradley Cooper cause he was pretty much that main character and if you saw it you would know what I'm talking about. Gosling was fantastic but since Cooper's in it more I thought I got more involved w/ him and liked him more.
Everyone else was mostly solid. Mendes was great here, you want her to ----- what he is giving her or even offering. It's hard to talk about without spoiling. Ray Liotta is definitely good, but his character wasn't all that likeable he starts off kind of as a prick, and stays that way mostly. Dan Dehaan as Eva Mendes' son was just fucking great. He showed effection and heart. You really feel bad for what his character is going through.
The screenplay for the most part is great. Some characters you meet along this wild adventure are obnoxiously written. Examples: Bradley Cooper's son and Ray Liotta. But other than that the screenplay is great. You get great clever lines that go just along with each scene captivating to something else.
Derek Cianfrance did of course a great job directing here. 3 stories that collide together so well, they honestly feel realistic and like you've seen something like it. Each of them are there for a point not just there to make it longer or make it more expensive.
For flaws, some of the relshionships between different characters reacting and having conversations were not developed but some were very well executed. Bradley and his sons were just blandly done. The real life couple in this film Gosling & Mendes I honestly didn't have that much of development. Besides some flaws, The Place Beyond the Pines continues Cianfrance with more and more talent and more percent of becoming a bigger director.
Overall, The Place Beyond the Pines is one you NEED to think about, but I still loved it on more thinking. Wasn't disappointed at all. Raw and emotional and is made for a point.
Final Grade- A-
Horror classics are rare, alot of the newer horror films these days suck. Some good ones like Sinister. But most like Smiley, House at the End of the Street and Texas Chainsaw 3D all suck. So I wanted a good new horror film. The trailers did it for me, they convinced me, I loved all the trailers for the film. I was just excited coming from a person who only saw the second one.
Evil Dead is the very well crafted, thoughtful and entertaining film that I wanted. It balances it's horror very well, you get some different kind of scenes on and on that I think helped it. The only thing left out was the humor, which when they're is humor it didn't work that will. The humor is unconvincing and lazy. It's not thought or planned just provoking cause you think "Thats nothing like the humor in the original" which I didn't see but I heard it was hilarious.
The script honestly might be one of it's stronger aspects, it has tense dialogue delivered when something scary is about to happen and they give you a line of dialogue that convinces you and suprises you with what happens. Same with the sountrack, when something creepy is coming they have sound effects that play off perfectly.
The acting is just balh, Jane Levy as Mia was just ehh. She's not awful here but she was just not convincing. The people who play David, Eric and Olivia are even less convincing. Everyone I've talked to said that they like the people who play Eric and David. I gotta be honest, I don't see why at all. Just no...
Newcomer, Fede Alvarez did a phenomenal job directing the film. He knew how he wanted everything to be placed and delivered. Everything he wanted to balance except the films contrived comedy was very well done.
Each scare is also done well. QUICK SPOILER LEAVE NOW!!! OR JUST LOOK DOWN FOR MY GRADE! You have the tree rape from the original which I can't get out of my mind. NO MORE SPOILERS..
Overall, Evil Dead delivered on everything I wanted it too. Great and well done blood and really cool scares. Loved this one guys.
Final Grade: A-
