The Way Way Back (2013) Movie Review

THE WAY WAY BACK (2013) MOVIE REVIEW

Sometimes a film you know nothing about can just come out and surprise you, this is an example of one of those movies.

The story revolves around shy 14-year old Duncan (Liam James) as him and his family go on summer vacation to his stepfather's (Steve Carell) beach house, in which Duncan is not looking forward to. As the story unfolds and shows how he is not fitting in, he decides to roam around the area. In his travels, he finds a water park in which he has little interest in at first. This changes when he meets his new friend Owen (Sam Rockwell). Upon meeting Owen, Duncan soon acquires a part-time job at the park and begins to form greater relationships, both friendly and emotionally. This emotional relationship begins with the neighbours daughter  Susanna (AnnaSophia Robb). Overall, the plot for the most part is just a heart felt one and really does explain why Duncan does not want to travel to this particular place, especially with his stepfather. 

Still of Liam James

One thing I really enjoyed about this flick is the soundtrack as it is so upbeat and catchy and most importantly, fits perfectly with the scenario being played out. As well as this, the humour was without question the best thing about the movie. This is because of the various actors that said some funny lines, with the main one being Sam Rockwell as Owen. Also, I thought that the relationship between Duncan and Susanna was going to be completely forced but it wasn't. I actually felt like these two young lovers had actual feelings of love for one another, which excels later during the movie. These aspects, and many more, is one reason why this film worked and continued to have me laughing and caring at and about these characters. Lastly, I must say that Duncan is defiantly punching above his weight in this movie as AnnaSophia Robb is just a gorgeous chick, just putting it out there.

Still of Liam James and AnnaSophia Robb

As I briefly touched on before, the acting was by far one of this film's best aspects. This is because they acquired an impeccable cast for each character. Liam James, whilst has not had much experience in the industry, showed decent enough acting talent considering the role he was playing. Without question, the two best people in this movie were Sam Rockwell and Steve Carell. Rockwell said the best and funniest lines in the film and while we were not supposed to root for the father, Steve Carell had the role his own by being the biggest dick he could towards his step son. Overall, the acting I felt was really effective and strong considering the movie held younger actors as the stars. 

Still of Zoe Levin, Steve Carell, Toni Collette,
Sam Rockwell and Liam James

Overall, The Way Way Back is without question the biggest shock movie this year. Showing great acting, great humour and a story that keeps you engrossed till the very end, this movie shows that while not all vacation's a good at first, they may just surprise you if you make it your own. 

(Sorry for the short length of this review, too tired to consider what I write today)

OVERALL: 7.6/10

 

Pain and Gain (2013) Movie Review

PAIN AND GAIN (2013) MOVIE REVIEW

The movie illustrates that your either a do'er or your a don't'er, it's just a shame that this film didn't know what it was. 

Based on a true story, Pain and Gain revolves around three body-builders  named Daniel Lugo (Mark Wahlberg), Paul Doyle (Dwayne Johnson) and Adrian Doorbal (Anthony Mackie) whom all believe they deserve a better life. Because of this, Daniel decides that the best way to earn money fast is to kidnap a man named Victor Kershaw (Tony Shalhoub) and make him give over all his assets to him, leaving him bankrupt. Now with very little experience and nothing but their will and biceps, they begin planning their technique and overall plan. Because this is based on a fairly recent true story it does raise some concern from the friends and families watching. This is because the movie although does not show it directly, but the three protagonists were terrible people and killed alot of people in the process of their plan. Also, some of the stuff that occurs in the story does not seem the one bit realistic. With these negatives aside, the film's plot is OK though is fairly accurate to it's source material. 

Still of Dwayne Johnson, Tony Shalhoub and Mark
Wahlberg

Since the director is the former great Michael Bay, this does raise some problems with both the special effects and basically the entire movie. This is because Bay has made himself a household name by making every movie with enough explosions as possible, which was evident during the Transformers films. These flashy effects are unfortunately evident in this movie as nearly every shoot out seems to have alot of flashing lights and explosions occurring  As well as this, the movie sometimes seems to change colour scheme from normal to increased contrast which bugged me throughout the film. I will admit however that the fight scenes in the movie while cool, only were cool for about one minute, then your just sitting there thinking "Why is there so many explosions and other shit going on". That's literally what I said while watching Pain and Gain. To sum up, the movie while at times had cool effects, it's own idea let it down in the form of colour schemes and filling the screen with nothing but special effects.

Still of Anthony Mackie, Mark Wahlberg and Dwanye
Johnson

I will admit that throughout the movie I continued to think that there are some stand out actors in the movie. For example, Wahlberg and Mackie bring what they can to the table and do it well as they are both great actors, especially Mark. Shalhoub also does what he can as majority of the movie, he is just stuck in the hands of our so called heroes. About halfway through the movie Ed Harris turns up on the scene and he really is a good character and you can tell he is having a good time with his role. Bar Paly plays Dwayne Johnson's love interest in the movie and to be frank, she really is only there as eye candy, and she does play the eye candy well. Without a doubt the best character in the movie, Paul played by Dwanye Johnson. The thing I liked about his character is that he's the funniest of the group, he is the biggest both emotionally and physically and to top it off, he's played by The Rock, what more could you ask. Overall, the acting I felt was pretty good for what they were given. 

Still of Dwayne Johnson

To conclude, Pain and Gain is just one of those movies that tried to be something it's not. It tried a little too hard at times to be a Drama and a really good kidnapping movie. However, it was let down by poor directing, over the top effects and decent acting. I'd hate to give this guy even more crap, but I feel like this movie could have been brought to life by a different director and I feel the outcome would have been better. 

OVERALL: 6.3/10

The Wolverine (2013) Movie Review

THE WOLVERINE (2013) MOVIE REVIEW

Sorry for the lack of content recently, I have had more important errands to take care of. Now with those taken care of, let's review a movie that I saw two weeks ago!

The Wolverine begins with a scene featuring Logan (Hugh Jackman)  imprisoned during what appears to be the Vietnam War. As the scene progresses, a nuclear bomb explodes on a near by island, with the radiation coming towards them. Whilst a random soldier attempts to die the honourable way, Logan immediately grabs him and protects the soldier in his protective cell. When Logan and the solider emerge, there appears to be no sign of life anywhere. Thanking him, the soldier offers Logan his sword, though Logan refuses in a sign of honour and respect. Many years after this, Logan is left wandering the Earth due to the events that occurred during X-Men 3. While roaming around the planet, he is soon confronted by a mysterious woman named Yukio (Rila Fukushima) saying that her employer would like to offer something to him. Reluctantly accepting this invitation  Logan travels to Japan where he is shocked to see the soldier he rescued. The veteran offers Logan a chance at redemption and a meaningful life, to become mortal. Though Logan considers this, he eventually decides to refuse, leaving the employer furious. Following that day, events soon turn sour as Logan is shot point blank with a shotgun, leaving him in agonising pain. Receiving aid from Yukio, he soon realises that his regeneration powers have been stripped of him. Now mortal, Logan must now find out who stole his regenerative powers and attempt at getting them back. For the most part, I was really intrigued in the plot and how it was going to play out. While at times it felt like Wolverine was not really mortal due to the stunts that he performs, the plot still managed to stay together and only managed to bother me very rarely.

Still of Rila Fukushima and Hugh Jackman

Now the director of this film is James Mangold, the director of such great films like 3:10 to Yuma and when watching this movie, you can really tell that this guy made this as it has a very similar style to that of 3:10 to Yuma, which in my eyes, is never a negative. As for the special effects, I thought they were really quite amazing as this film has some really cool action scenes, though at times it seems the action is a little over the top. For example, in the first action sequence in the movie, Logan gets shot multiple times with both pistols and shotguns at point blank range, and he is sprinting with all his might like nothing happened. Though this is most likely due to the fact that his inner structure is basically near indestructible metal. Without question the best action scene in the entire movie is the one on the train as because everything is going extremely fast, one wrong move can send someone flying. James really used this to his advantage as when Logan jumps to avoid a sign, he tricks the other person to jump causing them to obliterate on the sign. Whilst the action is over the top and great, I was a little disappointed with the last action scene in the movie as in my opinion, I feel they could have done a bit more with what they were given. Despite this, the special effects were intriguing and although the film has 3-D, it really didn't add much for me so I won't discuss it.

Still of Hugh Jackman on top of train

Now for the acting, for the most part I felt it was really good and standard for any X-Men related movie. Hugh Jackman still manages to portray Wolverine perfectly and is still able to kick any kind of ass he faces. Fukushima was good in her role as Yukio and although she has only been in two recorded films, she is actually a stand out actress and I know from this, will get more jobs in the future. Now the villain, it was really hard to decide who the stand out villain as for the most part, there were three. Though when it came down to it, I had to decide who stole their scenes more in terms of evilness. Because of this, I went with the Russian actress that portrayed Viper. All the males that are reading this can agree on one thing, and that is that this woman was incredibly stunning. She is just a beautiful woman and was menacing to boot, though I would have liked to see her more as a character and not just someone who looks sexy, but I'm not saying that's always a bad thing. Overall, the acting was good for what it was and I would not want it any other way.

Still of Svetlana Khodchenkova and Hugh Jackman

I'm a little torn on this movie as I want to give a better rating since it was a movie leading into next year's new X-Men movie. Since it's fair, I have to give my honest opinion on it as a movie. Because of that, I believe that The Wolverine while was not as good as I expected to be, I still had a great time with it and I would easily recommend seeing this and for the hell of it, I may just buy this on Blu-Ray. Also, make sure you stick behind after the credits as there is a pretty cool scene during the credits. 

OVERALL: 7.4/10

 

 

This Is the End (2013) Movie Review

THIS IS THE END (2013) MOVIE REVIEW

Ever since I had heard about this movie coming out, I was beyond excited to see it. So did it live up to the hype? You bet your ass it did.

Now since everyone in the movie plays themselves, I will be stating a character's name once as they are portrayed by their actual selves. The film starts out with Seth Rogen waiting on Jay Baruchel's arrival at the airport. Upon arriving, Jay decides he does not want the whole celebrity experience and just wants to have a relaxing weekend with his good friend Seth. Though this doesn't turn out as planned as Seth and Jay have been invited to a party at James Franco's house. Not liking the idea, Jay reluctantly decides to tag along with Seth, on the agreement that the two swear that this is the only party they attend while Jay is visiting. When they arrive at Franco's house, they discover that the party is unlike any had ever imagined. Giant celebrities are attending, drugs and alcohol are being done and drunk, it is basically a dream scenario for James. Though the party soon turns sour when the entire planet is now under attack by what appears to be the apocalypse.  Everyone is attempting to escape, though only a few manage to either barricade themselves in James' house or escape the giant craters in the ground. Now faced with the apocalypse, James Franco, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Craig Robinson, Jonah Hill and Danny McBride must now attempt to survive the apocalypse, and survive the challenge with massive egos being trapped in a house. All around, I found the plot really entertaining and basically perfect as having such hilarious celebrities trapped in a house together just oozes great material, and they use the scenario to the fullest. Overall, the plot was great and was actually one of the film's many strong points.

Still of Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Emma Watson, Aziz Ansari and others

The cast that they acquired for this movie is impeccable as having such Hollywood heavy weights like Seth Rogen, James Franco and Jonah Hill, just to name a few, manages to create fantastic chemistry on screen. Whilst the main line up in the movie was great, I feel that they could have used minor characters more often as they were killed off in the beginning. Some of these include Paul Rudd, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and above all, Michael Cera. If there were anything I would have wanted to see more of in This Is the End, it would defiantly have to be Michael Cera on cocaine. Cera immediately stole every single scene he was in and actually managed to steal the first half of the movie, for me at least. As well as an under-usage of Michael Cera, towards the end of the movie, they show at least two scenes showcasing Channing Tatum, which was a hilarious introduction to his character  though I think they could have pulled it off a little bit better, though I'm just nitpicking now so it won't change my opinion of the movie in anyway.

Still of James Franco, Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel and Danny McBride

If you're a cinephile like myself, you are going to love This Is the End as it is just jam packed with references, especially ones revolving about movies. For example, when the main cast are all having an argument  Danny McBride begins to point out each actors downfalls, including James Franco's performance in Spider Man 3 and Jonah Hill's performance in both 21 Jump Street and Moneyball, which I found quite hilarious while everyone did not get the reference, which is the main reason I found the movie side splitting. Though the movie itself is just all around a hilarious popcorn flick, there is just one aspect of the film that most of the time I liked though towards the end, got to me just a tiny bit. That is that it seemed like the director just ran out of material, so they just jam packed a bunch of dick jokes. Once again, I'm just nitpicking now and of course, this will not hurt the movie's final score.

Still of James Franco, Seth Rogen and Christopher Mintz-Plasse 

Speaking of the movie's score, This Is the End is without question the best comedy of the year so far. It can only take a mind like Seth Rogens to bring such A-List actors into the apocalypse  Make it a goal for yourself to see this hilarious flick, if not for the ending alone. I swear I was in tears for the entire ending, and I'm sure you will be as well.

OVERALL: 8.7/10

Pacific Rim (2013) Movie Review

PACIFIC RIM (2013) MOVIE REVIEW

At first glance, Pacific Rim may seem like another sci-fi action movie, but delve deeper and believe me, there literally is a whole new world filled with intelligence and wittiness to discover.

Our main protagonist in Pacific Rim is a construction worker named Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam) whom was a former pilot for mankind's new saviours, Jaegers. Jaegers are more or less giant mechanical robots that connect both externally and internally with the pilots controlling them, which means if the robot becomes obsolete during battle, as does the pilot. With Jaegers now battling on with a war against alien like sea creatures that has risen from the depths of Pacific Ocean, General Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba) pleads for Raleigh to be reassigned and pilot his classic robotic partner again. Since these robots require two pilots to control,  Raliegh becomes assigned with a woman of Asian background named Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi) to help control his Jaeger once again. Now at the helm of his old friend once again, Raleigh and Mako must now hown their skills, become synced into one another's thoughts and memories and cancel the apocalypse once and for all. Going into Pacific Rim, I think everyone was expecting a pointless plot with just alot of action to keep us from thinking about it, though instead it is actually quite the opposite. When you are getting involved with the various characters in the movie, at times, it actually makes you forget about the quite surreal action sequences. Overall, the plot was actually one of the movie's biggest strong points, and that's saying something when compared to the other amazing elements in Pacific Rim. 

Now let's discuss the aspect that had to hold the entire movie together. The action sequences, and boy did they deliver. When the robots and aliens are squaring off, you really do feel the scale of these things. Unlike many other mega monster movies, Pacific Rim makes you feel right in the action without it being right up in your face so much that you can't tell whats going on. And surprisingly, the 3-D actually increases the movie overall impact and score as I feel that I would have had a totally different experience if I saw this in 2-D, so make sure you see Pacific Rim in 3-D as the extra money is worth it in the end. Trust me.  

As for the acting in the movie, I felt it was actually really strong and managed to keep every character, whether big or small, relevant and interesting. Charlie Hunnam is the leading man in the movie and I feel did a really good job in his role as I know the man can put on quite a performance as shown in the hit TV show, Sons of Anarchy. Speaking of that show, Ron Perlman is also in the movie and while he does not play a major role, he does manage to play quite a relevant part as for reasons you will see about half way through. Like many movies, you need a comedic relief character in the movie, and who better to do just that like Charlie Day. Day killed it in this role as he plays a kind of fanboyish scientist whom researches these aliens. Tagged along with him is Burn Gorman who I felt played a good part in the movie. While he didn't exactly steal the show for me, he did get a couple of laughs from me, which is never a bad thing. Without question my favourite two characters in the movie were Idris Elba as Stacker and even more surprisingly, Max Martini as Herc Hansen. Stacker I felt was an extremely strong character in the movie as he is the leader. He is the one that is keeping everyone together both physically and mentally, which I felt was really cool. As well as this, he does say alot of poetic, badass lines throughout the movie, which is never a bad thing. Herc I feel really connected with me and hopefully others as he is the most relate-able character in the flick as he has his issues with his son whom is another pilot and it's just something about his face and his personality that really caught me off guard and really made me care about his fate and his problems. Overall, the characters I feel were extremely well developed and 131 mins was just the right amount of time to let us care about them. 

For a movie that kept on reminding me of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, I was actually expecting it to be exactly that. But it wasn't. Pacific Rim and intelligent, witty, action packed, intense, funny. I would go on, but I would just be repeating myself. Overall, Pacific Rim managed to completely blow me away and managed to open my eyes and have a realisation. That is that you can never judge a book by it's cover, that even the most ridiculous premises can turn out to be something no less of a masterpiece. And that's exactly what Pacific Rim is, a masterpiece.

RATING: 9.2/10

  

   

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) Movie Review

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS (2013) MOVIE REVIEW

Remember how I said in my review of The Great Gatsby that it was my favourite movie of the year so far? Yeah..I may have forgotten all about this masterpiece.

Our story begins with our two main characters apart of the U.S.S Enterprise, Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto) discussing about the fate of the crew after the events of the first film. After talking with the high council regarding this matter, the council is soon attacked by an unknown force whom Kirk only gets a short glance of. Now a threat towards the Enterprise, the crew get back together to go after this council killing vigilante. Upon arriving in Klingon territory, they soon encounter the vigilante (Benedict Cumberbatch) as they observe him decimating various Klingon soldiers and realise that this one man army is not to be crossed with. As events lead on, they eventually capture him and begin questioning, though from there, many things start to go south for the crew and now they must figure out how to put a stop to this menace once and for all, without ending his life. For the most part, I really enjoyed the plot of the movie and I found it really intriguing to see how the many scenarios in the movie conclude and play out. Overall, the story for the film was great and could easily be considered canon for any die hard Star Trek fan like myself. 

Very few people have been questioning Abrams about whether he can make the timeless Star Trek lore relevant again, and he has done it like a champ. The thing I love about this movie is that everything makes sense and like I stated before, could easily be confused for actual canon. Another thing that Abrams seems to be handling quite well is the use of visuals. Each scene, whether action packed or not makes me look on with anticipation and awe just waiting to see what transpires, and the fact that this movie is in 3-D somehow just makes that better. While at times the lens flare can be too much to handle at some stages, this is only extremely minor and will not affect the final verdict on the film. Overall, I felt that the visuals shown were extremely enjoyable to watch and can keep all viewers engaged. 

Now we come to what I believe to be Into Darkness' strongest aspect, actors and characters. Most of, if not all, the actors played their roles nearly perfectly. Chris Pine reprises his role and Kirk and does a great job at it. Zachary Quinto also reprises as Spock and really does a good job at being an extremely passive aggressive guy and when he is angry, he is very intense. I could go on about the enterprise actors, but I would be here all day. Though two more actors must be mentioned, and those men are Simon Pegg and Benedict Cumberbatch. As for Simon, he was the comedy relief of the movie and since he is basically hilarious in anything he plays, you know he's going to be here. And of course, he is. Now for Cumberbatch, he literally stole the show and every single advertisement for this movie has something to do with Benedict's character, whom I shan't be spoiling for those who for some reason haven't seen the movie. Cumberbatch was intense, he was menacing and above all, he played a nearly perfect villain and was without question the best part of the movie. 

What more do I need to say about Into Darkness? It was intense when it needed to be, it was funny when it needed to be and above all, it knew what it was. A superb action movie backed up by relevant Star Trek lore. Because of this and more, Star Trek: Into Darkness could easily be considered one of the best movies not just of all year, but perhaps of all time...maybe.

OVERALL: 8.6/10