The Lone Ranger (2013) Movie Review

THE LONE RANGER (2013) MOVIE REVIEW

You know I was really looking forward to seeing this movie, and then I saw it...

Based on the old T.V show with the same name, The Lone Ranger begins with native american Tonto (Johnny Depp) recounting his events about John Reid (Armie Hammer), a civilized man of law whom was killed by unknown bandits. After being presumed deceased, John soon finds himself once again amongst the land of the living. Tonto soon explains to John that the people that murdered him also murdered his brother. Now out for vengeance against these bandits and all criminals alike, Tonto soon transforms John into The Lone Ranger, a man of truth and justice out to bring to the wild and wicked west. Though trouble has come for these two as the psychotic bandit Butch Cavendish (William Fitchtner) soon arrives on the scene and is not to pleased about the return of John. For the most part, I had no real big issues in terms of the overall plot. I felt the different scenarios that Tonto and John were put in developed the movie even further, whether that way was good or bad will be completely up to you but at least for me, it was in a more positive direction. 

Now for some reason, this film is getting bashed and hated by critics. The reason for this is one simple factor, which is that this movie goes for a shocking 2 hours and 30 minutes. Normally I have no problem with this length for a movie, as long the movie actually deserves the length. The Lone Ranger, at least for me, didn't quite deserve the 150 mins of screen time. This is because it didn't have enough story depth to it, causing pointless scenes to be included or certain scenes to drag on for too long. Now the director of The Lone Ranger is Gore Verbinski, who is most notable for directing the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy and Rango, meaning that he and Johnny Depp have had many years of experience between them and here it defiantly shows. Many elements from the Pirates movies do tend to show in The Lone Ranger. Although this is in no way a bad thing, it does show a tiny lack of creativity, but you know what they say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. 

As for the acting in the movie, I am very mixed with it. For the most part I liked Armie Hammer's performance as he wasn't over the top nor was he too shy and selfish. Speaking of over the top, let's discuss Johnny Depp's second dive into a western. And to be completely honest, I felt that his performance just gets redundant movie after movie. Don't get me wrong I like Johnny Depp as an actor and as a person, but it just seems he keeps on playing one role in alot of his more goofier performances  Captain Jack Sparrow. Whenever I see him on screen, all I can think about is Pirates of the Caribbean. And if a movie's main priority is to keep me engaged for the full running time, then The Lone Ranger isn't doing a 100% performance, but rather at best a 70%. Now as for the person that stole the whole show for me, it had to be William Fitchtner as to me, he was just such a threatening and spine tingling antagonist. Though this was mainly due to the fact that he was a cannibal, as in he ate any of his victim's hearts. I don't know but for me, I felt the acting was all around good, though some aspects of it defiantly could have been improved.

Overall, The Lone Ranger wasn't quite the franchise kick starter Disney had in mind but by no means was it a awful and unwatchable movie as in some parts, I actually found myself laughing and enjoying it. This really showed in the last 15 mins as the entire action sequence is accompanied by the Lone Ranger original theme, which just made the action that must enjoyable to watch. To sum it all up, the movies has its ups. The movie has its downs. But all in all, I found myself enjoying The Lone Ranger and as long as you can get through the ludicrously long length, I'm sure you can find yourself having a good time with this one. 

RATING: 6.9/10

The Internship (2013) Movie Review

THE INTERNSHIP (MOVIE REVIEW)

Sorry but I just couldn't resist putting the title in just one colour. I mean, it is a movie basically advertising the largest company in the world. 

The Internship follows the story of two salesmen, Billy McMahon (Vince Vaughn) and Nick Campbell (Owen Wilson) whom have lost their jobs due to everyone beginning to start buying online. Because of this, this forces the two to attempt and try and find different occupations. During this search however, Billy manages to schedule the two in for a shot at an internship at the largest company in the world, Google. Now at the final stop in their search, the two must now try to overcome the odds and land a job at a company where everything is new and different to the two. Now for the most part, the plot of this movie has been said a million times. They become the underdogs, no one believes in them and...spoiler, they manage to land the job. Honestly, if you really thought they wouldn't, you obviously haven't seen a movie in your life. I can't really bad mouth the formula because as the old saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. And here, that quote is more than acceptable. 

As for the acting presented in the film, I really don't know what to say. It is normal, generally acceptable acting in a movie like this. Owen Wilson plays any Owen Wilson character, Vince Vaughn plays any Vince Vaughn character. To be completely honest, you have seen this exact same story at least 5 times in 5 separate movies. The only thing that is different about this movie is that it is basically an advertisement for Google. And to be fair, if Google asked me to advertise for them, I would. No matter how much money they paid. Anyway, for the most part, the acting I cannot judge because it is just neutral in my eyes. 

To sum up, The Internship is one of those movies that comes out every year that has the same formula as one another. Two friends are in trouble, two agree on one thing, one of the two get interested in a woman, they fight for a little bit, looks like they aren't going to do it, something happens, everything is happy again. And to be honest, I'm getting a little sick of this but to be fair, don't fix something that ain't broken. 

RATING: 6.4/10

  

Man of Steel (2013) Movie Review

MAN OF STEEL (2013) MOVIE REVIEW

In 2006, everybody thought that the Superman movie franchise would be no more. But in 2013, Zack Snyder brought us perhaps one of the greatest superhero movies of all time. And without question of all year. 

Now for this review, I shall not mention any spoilers as I have a spoiler filled discussion in the works. Anyway, the story focuses on an extraterrestrial being named Kal-El (Henry Cavill) whom has come from the planet Krypton after it's destruction due to natural causes. With Kal on a different planet, he must adapt to the many differences including the atmosphere and the people themselves. He must also try and keep his alien side hidden, as taught by his adopted father, Jonathan Kent (Kevin Costner). After many years of being an outcast, Kal is now grown up and is now a ghost who adopts many different jobs and lifes. While doing this however, Kal manages to a ship from Krypton that has crash landed and inside shows him the path to being not just a simple man, but a man who can accomplish wonders. And this could not have come at a better time as now General Zod (Michael Shannon), a renegade general who was sent to the phantom zone mere hours before Krypton's demise. Now free and after revenge against Kal for work done by his father Jor-El (Russell Crowe), Kal-El must now defend Earth from General Zod before he can take over Earth and begin his own dictatorship. This story explaining Kal's origins I felt was a really positive thing as when he crash lands on Earth it immediately cuts to him as an adult and explains his upbringing in the form of flashbacks which I felt was great. Overall, the plot I felt was without question the best aspect of the movie and when compared to everything else, that's saying something. 

Since this movie was directed by Zack Snyder, the director of 300 and Watchmen, it is to be expected that this movie will have some insane visuals. And they are quite insane. When Kal-El is flying around, it looks like someone is actually being filmed flying over the Antarctic. While these visuals are really amazing, very few times it becomes repetitive but then again, I can't knock something down a score for being too awesome now can I? The ships, animals and Krypton in general looked amazing and beautiful, even at the point of it's destruction. Anyhow, I felt the visuals were spectacular and are not just a step, but a leap in the right direction for Zack Snyder. 

And now we come to the part that I was most interested about, the acting. First off, let's talk about Henry Cavill as the Man of Steel and to sum up, he nailed it. Henry showed that he is both a small screen and big screen actor and because of his powerhouse performance, his goldmine of a career is inevitable. Next is Amy Adams as Lois Lane and for the most part, I had no real problems with her as Lois. She was smart, she was sassy and above all, she was pretty. Now when I heard that General Zod was being portrayed by Michael Shannon, I was beyond excited as if you had seen my favourite actors list,  you would notice that Michael Shannon was on there. Thankfully, my hype was completely necessary and Shannon was fantastic as Zod. He was intense, he was scary and above all, he owned the role of the Kryptonian general. As for Kal-El's parents, I felt that the father figures, Russell Crowe and Kevin Costner were really good in their respective roles and both managed to give wisdom to Kal. Overall, the acting I felt was phenomenal and the line up of actors that they got for this movie was amazing. 

Overall, Man of Steel not only gave justice to the Superman franchise, it gave us hope for a Justice League movie. This film was intense, dramatic, heart-breaking and even at times, funny. Although the film has been getting alot of hurt from critics and even fans alike, I for one loved this movie and is hands down my favourite movie of the year so far. Man of Steel is now officially the movie to beat, and that just doesn't apply to movies coming out this year. 

RATING: 8.6/10

World War Z (2013) Movie Review

WORLD WAR Z (2013) MOVIE REVIEW

It seems like Zombies are all the rage nowadays. But with amazing Zombie tales including The Walking Dead and Dawn of the Dead, let's see how Brad Pitt's film about the living dead holds up. 

Our story begins with United Nations employee Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) and his family stuck during traffic on their way to a store. This simple family outing turns incredibly sour when rage filled monsters have begun to rampage through the crowded streets and cause mass chaos and destruction. Because of this, Gerry has now decided to contact his good friend Thierry Umutoni (Fana Mokoena) to find out what is going on. After Thierry gets rescue for Gerry and his family, they begin to discuss what exactly is going on. After a few discussions and arguments  Gerry is now on a mission across the world to find out where exactly this epidemic began and if there is anyway to stop it or possibly find a cure. I would have written more on the story but since this blog is a spoiler free zone, I obviously cannot. Anyway, I feel that the plot is quite excellent and really surpassed my original expectations of what it was going to be (with my original expectations being that it would be a cheap zombie movie rip-off with Brad Pitt on the front line of it). 

As for the actual zombies themselves, they were actually quite frightening and creepy at times. This was mainly due to the fact that these are the type of zombies that are as close to what real zombies would be like, fast, aggressive, rage filled maniacs. As well as this, many other scenes showed these undead creatures close up, revealing their exterior in disturbing ways. Speaking of their exterior, the zombies themselves genuinely looked realistic, even due to the fact that majority of them were CGI. This unfortunately happens to be one of the movies greatest downfalls which is that the zombies, while look cool and frightening, sometimes they seem to over do it. And if you over do CGI, it leaves a sloppy mess and while this mess wasn't that sloppy, it still made a small mess of blurs and pixels (although these were barely noticeable). To sum up, as expected, the zombies looked badass even with their CGI makeup.

On the acting side of the spectrum, it was actually really good considering that majority of that talent came from the main man in the film, Brad Pitt. Even still, I managed to care about the fate of alot of characters. Some of these include Segen (Daniella Kertesz) who is a ally/friend who Gerry becomes partnered with about halfway during the film and a little boy towards the beginning of the movie whom name I forget. Whilst there are many positives to the characters, there is also some negatives. One of the major ones include that Gerry's family, while they are an important part of the movie, throughout the flick I continuously forget and remember that they exist. Other problem is that Thierry is brought up and advertised as a really important character in the movie, however, you only see him during at absolute max three scenes. Besides these two problems, the acting was actually really good and surprising for a zombie horror/action flick.

To conclude, World War Z is an interesting twist on without question the most popular of fictional monsters. And luckily, they get the proper treatment with astounding realism, great acting and although at times, sloppy CGI, it still manages to hold up throughout majority of the movie. To sum this up, WWZ is a fantastic movie and could easily be found somewhere amongst my favourite movies of the year. 

RATING: 7.8/10

Despicable Me 2 (2013) Movie Review

DESPICABLE ME 2 (2013) MOVIE REVIEW

Having not seen the original Despicable Me, I wasn't at all excited for this movie when announced. After seeing it however, I wish I had been more stoked about seeing it. 

Much like the previous film, our main protagonist once again is Gru (Steve Carell) who has turned from a villain to a neutral man who just wants to protect his adopted trio of children. After one of the daughter's birthday parties, Gru and two other minions are kidnapped by a woman named Lucy (Kristen Wiig) who is a special agent working for Anti-Villain League. The reason that the league kidnapped him is because they needed help in tracking down a villain that has jumped back onto the scene after mysteriously jumped onto the scene of evil. Since they know nothing of his whereabouts, they need Gru's knowledge of evilness to help put a stop to him once and for all. Now tagged along with the very people that kidnapped him, he is now teamed up with Lucy and the duo must put a stop to this unknown threat. For a children's movie, the story in this is surprisingly very interesting and intense at times. Around half way during the flick, Gru begins to feel the standard emotion any person feels in these types of movies and that is love towards Lucy. Although it was incredibly predictable what was going to happen with their relationship as a whole, it did not bring the film down one little bit. To sum up, the plot in Despicable Me 2 was funny, dramatic and intense all at the same time. 

The major thing that made Despicable Me 1 such a phenomena was because of the little yellow creatures simply named minions. As expected, they returned in the sequel and to my surprise, they moved away from the slapstick humour of punching each other and went for a more skit related approach, and this worked in a tremendously hilarious way. I'm not sure whether it was the constant yelling at each, the perfectly timed deliveries or their obsession with bananas but one thing for sure is, it's that it worked so perfectly. While the minions were spectacular, barely being funnier in terms of respect and ridiculousness were two people, Eduardo and El Macho (Benjamin Bratt). In Eduardo's humour, it is all about the Mexican stereotyping and the constant dancing and to make it all fit, they made him obese. And of course, it worked. Not to be outshone by Eduardo is El Macho who has one of the greatest opening introductions to his character in any movie. I'm not going to spoil what his opening is, but all I'm saying is if someone has recorded it on YouTube  go there because it is defiantly watching, just like the rest of the film. 

While this particular movie was in 3-D, I chose to not see it in 3-D mainly because I went to a 2-D session, so yeah. Moving on. Even without the 3-D, the CGI in the movie was actually really beautiful. Every piece of grass looked like it had its own team working on it to make it look and feel vibrant, and the same can be said about the colours used. As for the voice work, Steve Carell once again reprises his role as Gru and of course does a great job. A newcomer, Kristen Wiig, also does an equally if not better job than Steve at her role as Lucy. To me, the best voice in the movie was Dr. Nefario's (Russell Brand). This is because when watching the movie, it never occurred to me that that was Brand's voice throughout the entirety of the flick.

To conclude, Despicable Me 2 is a great movie to take your family too. Even if you think that no other kids movie can be as good as Monster's University, well then you're probably right. Still though, this movie is still a great time for all ages, maybe excluding babies as some imagery used mayyy scare them, because if I saw this as a baby, I know it would scare me. 

RATING: 7.6/10

After Earth (2013) Movie Review

AFTER EARTH (2013) MOVIE REVIEW 

So here we have another film starring the two smith actors, Will and Jaden Smith. Now many people, including myself, were excited for this film to see if they both still had their mojo. Though in this movie, it is extremely clear who the weakest link is. 

Our story revolves around Kitai and Cypher Raige (Jaden Smith, Will Smith) who are father and son. Set in the very distant future, humanity has been forced to evacuate Earth after aliens began to invade. Because of this, many rangers are needed to help protect their new planet from future invasions. This leads to Cypher who a general and one of the best as he has taught himself to eliminate fear as an emotion and because of this, does not feel fear as well as many other emotions. This leads to Kitai who wants to follow in his father's footsteps but always manages to fall extremely shy from it. After telling his dad that he cannot do it, Cypher decides to take Kitai with him on one of his missions. After a 1 in a million chance of crashing, Kitai and Cypher both find out that they are the only survivors and have crash landed on the now toxic and uninhabitable Earth. Now with both of Cypher's legs broken, it is now up to Kitai to go on a perilous journey to retrieve a beacon they can use to get back home. Now to be honest, I felt the plot could have been something spectacular, both unfortunately, the story itself is brought down by...well...the rest of the movie. 

The director of the film, M. Night Shyamalan, can direct excellent movies, he has shown audiences this with The Sixth Sense, but unfortunately, this movie turns out to be something in the same style of The Last Airbender. Anyway, the main problem that this flick suffers from is that the story does not make sense and is poorly paced as for a film about survival, it very rarely feels intense and not once did I care about the safety and well being of Kitai. 

Although the pacing is god awful, perhaps the acting is good right? Well for one the film only has two main actors throughout the whole movie. The second problem with this is that throughout most of the movie, we are stuck with Jaden Smith as the main protagonist. Now I'm not saying that Jaden is a bad actor, in fact, he is actually fairly talented. The problem is that I feel that this particular was just out of his league as Shyamalan obviously set him up with a role that was just to large for him to pick. To be honest, if the roles were reversed where Cypher had to retrieve the beacon and Kitai's legs were broken, I feel that it would have made the movie more heartfelt as well as interesting as Will Smith, in my opinion, would have been perfect for this role. Speaking of Will Smith, I actually thought he played an interesting character in this film as he is a man that fears nothing, though when his son is on the brink of death, you can tell that Cypher is trying to fight back both emotions of fear and despair. To sum up, the acting was about 50/50, with Will Smith being the positive and Jaden Smith being the negative half. 

To conclude, After Earth could have been Shyamalan's comeback movie but sadly, it is brought down by poor acting, a rushed story and CGI that while not terrible, it does not look realistic in the least. To sum up, After Earth was the start of the list of over hyped films that unfortunately seem to disappoint viewers all across the globe. 

RATING: 5.1/10