Author Archives: filmtoppings

06.16.14
by

Blended

My rating: ratings3

After a disastrous blind date, single parents Jim (Adam Sandler) and Lauren (Drew Barrymore) agree on only one thing: they never want to see each other again. But when they each sign up separately for a fabulous family vacation with their kids, they are all stuck sharing a suite at a luxurious African safari resort for a week, where their attraction grows as their respective kids benefit from the burgeoning relationship.

You might agree with my that most of Adam Sandler’s recent comedies are just plain dumb. Most of them had terrible jokes and failed to make me laugh while also having some heart. Blended is more like last year’s comedy The Internship (which did not involve Adam Sandler at all, for your information), which had a lot of heart and comedy at the same time, and felt like a fun feel-good comedy, than Adam Sandler’s last project, Grown Ups 2. Grown Ups 2 had too much slapstick comedy and eventually started to get dumb. Blended is funny, has a good plot, and isn’t much like any of those dumb recent Sandler movies. Some parts of the movie did remind me of a comedy I saw a very long time ago called Parental Guidance. Here’s why: First of all, one character named Espn (Jim named her after his favorite channel) has an imaginary friend, who is her deceased mother. That reminded me of a character from Parental Guidance named Barker, who had an imaginary kangaroo friend named Carl. Blended also had some weird family traditions like Parental Guidance. 

In conclusion, Blended is a feel-good comedy that is fun to watch and it cracked me up. I would recommend this movie for any comedy fans.

Blended (2014) Poster.jpg

06.08.14
by

Godzilla

My rating: ratings4

When two creatures known as “MUTOs” (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms) awaken and threaten our existence, the huge beast Godzilla must restore balance as humanity is left defenseless. The movies stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Lieutenant Ford Brody, Ken Watanabe and Sally Hawkins as two scientists, Elizabeth Olsen as Ford’s wife, and Bryan Cranston as Joe, a scientist who is Ford’s dad.

This movie is filled with action, destruction, and awesome monster fight scenes. Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Bryan Cranston both did a great job acting, and Bryan Cranston did have a few emotional scenes. The visual effects and the soundtrack are both great. The most exciting parts are the first hour and the last half-hour, which is the boss fight between Godzilla and the MUTOs. The half-hour between those two parts isn’t as interesting, but once Ken Watanabe says, “Let them fight,” everything starts to warm up again. Godzilla feels very similar to last year’s blockbuster Pacific Rim, with all the monster battles and city destruction (especially San Francisco), but Godzilla feels more realistic and exciting, and the scenes before Godzilla first arrives on screen are still interesting. The best scene of the entire movie is when Ford and a couple other soldiers enter skydive into the city, just as the final battle between the monsters begins.

The director, Gareth Edwards, clearly knows how to make a great movie (this is his first blockbuster movie, his other movie was the low-budget Monsters) and I hope he makes a lot of great movies in the future (including a Star Wars spin-off that he is set to direct). The movie is very well-done, including the cinematography, visual effects, and casting, and it’s very exciting. I think anybody 12 or over would love this movie and will have a great time watching it.

05.29.14
by

X-Men: Days of Future Past

My rating: ratings5

In the near future, the sentinels have taken over earth in search for mutants, and have destroyed most of the planet. The only survivors are mutants that include Storm (Halle Berry), Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), and Magneto (Ian McKellen), as well as their leader, Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart). They decide to send Wolverine back half a century to stop Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), who’s plan to assassinate Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage), the sentinels’ creator, took a dark turn when she was captured and her DNA was used to upgrade the sentinels. Wolverine wakes up in his 1973 body, and he teams up with a young Charles Xavier (James McAvoy), Hank McCoy/Beast (Nicholas Hoult), Quicksilver (Evan Peters), and a young Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto (Michael Fassbender), to stop Mystique from killing Trask.

This movie is very well done. Everybody does a great job acting, especially Evan Peters, who steals every scene he’s in, and Jennifer Lawrence, who does an amazing job playing Mystique. The movie is so well written, and so clever, that it’s probably the best X-Men movie yet, and maybe even one of the best comic book movies I’ve ever seen! All of the action scenes kept me on the edge of my seat, and I never knew what would happen, because it is filled with lots of twists!  The movie never stops entertaining, and is not too short or too long. The movie is very original, and has great visual effects. Everything in the movie makes a lot of sense, and you don’t go out of the theater wondering anything weird about the movie except, “What’s next for the X-Men movies?” (which isn’t actually a weird thing). The ending of the movie gives you nothing about the rest of the movies, which has made me even more anticipated for the next X-Men movie, which will come out in about 2 years. X-Men, by far, is my favorite superhero franchise other than the Marvel Cinematic Universe, except for the fact that X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine were both huge disappointments. X-Men: Days of Future Past was my most anticipated movie of the entire year, and it might also be the best one. Here’s my conclusion: Please, watch this movie. It’s very original, smart, well-acted, visually amazing, and makes a lot of sense. It is, by far, the best X-Men movie, and maybe one of my favorite superhero movies ever.

X-Men Days of Future Past poster.jpg

05.04.14
by

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

My rating: ratings3

In this Spider-Man installment, Peter finds himself battling Electro, an Oscorp electrician who becomes a living electric generator after being attacked by electric eels, as well as Green Goblin (AKA Harry Osborn), Peter’s boyhood friend who becomes a weird goblin creature after trying to get Spider-Man’s blood (to prevent dying from an illness), and Rhino, a weird-looking Russian mobster who becomes equipped with a mechanical rhino suit. Peter also must deal with his promise to Gwen’s late father (who was killed in the first film by The Lizard), if he must keep it or not, and what the consequences might be.

This movie was great but disappointing. It has a messy script and narrative and way too much is going on. The villains are dumb and underwritten, and the ending is bad and predictable. But the action and main cast are fine.

The plot surprisingly went very deep into the Spider-Man universe, but that is a major problem. This movie doesn’t only focus on the Spider-Man fighting the film’s antagonists, but also his relationship with Gwen, which the first film didn’t have enough of, which I liked. The first film also didn’t go deep enough into the trilogy, since Curt Connors/The Lizard is a very minor villain in the Spider-Man universe. The second film, on the other hand, does go deep enough into the franchise, with Spider-Man facing a very big villain, the Green Goblin. But there are too many stupid subplots and it could have been shortened by a lot (this movie was actually longer than The Avengers!). Unfortunately the two movies in the Amazing Spider-Man franchise have not been so successful and the franchise might be dead.

This movie kept me at the edge of my seat at many parts and definitely managed to entertain me a lot, but I have to say, it has a lot to live up to. I would recommend it for anybody 12 or up.

Spider-Man upside down on the side of the OsCorp tower.

04.16.14
by

Rio 2

My rating: ratings2

In Rio 2, Blu and his family travel to the Amazon after hearing that a bird of their species was discovered and that there might be a whole flock of then out there. As Blu tries to fit in, he goes beak-to-beak with the vengeful Nigel, who wants to terminate Blu after the events of the first film, with the help of a “poisonous” frog named Gabi. Blu also must save the jungle from an anti-nature team, which has captured Linda and Tulio and is trying to destroy the jungle.

This movie lacks everything the first film had, including beautiful scenery of Rio, this time of jungles, which isn’t anything new. There are too many songs compared to the first one, and none of them are as catchy as the ones from the first film. I noticed many changes from the first film. First of all, my two favorite characters from the first film, Nico and Pedro, don’t really serve as characters in this installment. This time they’re more like annoying commentators. I also noticed a big change in Nigel, who is now acting like a wanna-be Shakespeare, always reciting quotes from Romeo and Juliet and what not. Also, this movie didn’t try to connect to the first one at all. It falls way off track from the first one. The first movie is all about saving birds and letting them be free, but the second one is all about protecting the environment, which isn’t something we haven’t seen before. Also, this movie tried but failed to make me laugh, except for maybe once. I think the only people who will be amused by this movie would be young kids.

Here’s my conclusion: Rio is an inspiring, original movie with great animation and a lot of humor. But Rio 2, on the other hand, is a complete rip-off. It lacks humor, originality, and connection to the first movie. I think all Blue Sky Studios was trying to do this time was amuse kids. If you’re not a young kid, though, this movie has nothing for you.

04.16.14
by

The 2014 MTV Movie Awards

This Sunday was the MTV Movie Awards, which were hosted by Conan O’Brien this time and included performances by Eminem and Rihanna, as well as Ellie Goulding and Zedd. At the beginning, a new record of 50 celebrities made cameos randomly, including Andy Samberg, Seth Rogen, Mindy Kaling, Ed Helms, Ashton Kutcher, Shaun White, Skrillex, Lupita Nyong’o, Russell Crowe, Logan Lerman, Martin Scorsese, Ellen Page, Jim Parsons, James Franco, Adam Sandler, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Ice Cube, Chris Pratt, Jessica Alba, Paul Rudd, Charles Barkley, Grumpy Cat, and Conan O’Brien himself. There were many great events and award categories, as well as Paul Walker, who died in a tragic car accident in November, being paid tribute to. Mark Wahlberg (who is currently my favorite actor) accepted the MTV Generation Award, and Channing Tatum accepted the Trailblazer Award.

Here is the list of winners:

Best Movie: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Best Male Performance: Josh Hutcherson in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Best Female Performance: Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Best Shirtless Performance: Zac Efron in That Awkward Moment

Best Fight: Orlando Bloom and Evangeline Lily vs. The Orcs (in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug)

Best Kiss: Will Poulter, Emma Roberts, and Jennifer Aniston (in We’re the Millers)

Best Villain: Mila Kunis in Oz the Great and Powerful

Best Comedic Performance: Jonah Hill in The Wolf of Wall Street

Best On-Screen Transformation: Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club

Favorite Character: Tris Prior (played by Shailene Woodley) from Divergent

Best Cameo: Rihanna in This is the End

Best Hero: Henry Cavill in Man of Steel

Best Scared as S**t  Performance: Brad Pitt in World War Z

Best On-Screen Duo: Vin Diesel and Paul Walker in Fast and Furious 6

Breakthrough Performance: Will Poulter in We’re the Millers

#WTF Moment: Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Musical Moment: Backstreet Boys, Jay Baruchel, Seth Rogen, and Craig Robinson in This is the End

Overall, I enjoyed this year’s MTV Movie Awards. It had a great host and great performance. I am really looking forward to the next one.

2014-movie-awards-600x450.jpg

04.09.14
by

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

My rating: ratings3

Captain America is back in this 3-D, action-packed sequel! This time, the super-soldier must face an enemy from the past, which has now taken over S.H.I.E.L.D,  and team up with Natasha Romanoff and Sam Wilson (AKA The Falcon) to defeat it. The film’s cast includes Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie, Robert Redford, and Samuel L. Jackson.

Just like any other Marvel movie, the film’s action is very exciting and fun. It didn’t have as much humor as I expected, which other Marvel movies, but I was still amused by the action. The film has great visuals and casting, but it’s a bit too predictable. For example, the moment I saw a specific character, I already had the feeling that he would eventually turn out to be a major antagonist. Overall, the film’s plot and action is much better than the original, but some things in the film are very predictable. What the first one was missing was lots of well-made intense actio, which this one did have more of.

I would recommend this movie for any Marvel fans 12 and up, who might find it pretty amusing like I did.

Click here to see the film’s trailer.

03.28.14
by

Divergent

ratings1

In a post-war Chicago, the population is divided into five factions: Abnegation (selfless), Amity (kind), Candor (honest) Erudite (intelligent), and Dauntless (brave). Tris Prior (Shailene Woodley) finds out that she is Divergent (which means that she doesn’t fit into any of the five factions) after a test, and to hide this fact (since the government has been hunting Divergents because they think Divergents are threats), she joins Dauntless at the Choosing Ceremony. In the Dauntless initiation, she trains to become a true Dauntless member and makes some new friends, including Christina (Zoe Kravitz) and she makes a romantic relationship with one of the instructors, Four (Theo James). Things become more complicated when one faction turns against the other, and Tris and Four must stop the battle and fix everything.

Divergent is neither a fun nor interesting film. From the first 20 minutes, I knew I wouldn’t like the film, and from there it became worse. The story is a complete rip-off of The Hunger Games, there wasn’t anything about it that didn’t feel familiar. The sets, characters, and everything felt so borrowed and uninspired. The cast are all terrible and very overused, not to mention uninteresting. All the characters are boring, and there are some moments that the actors make very embarrassing. Although I admire some of the actors in this film, including Shailene Woodley and Kate Winslet, that is no excuse for their awful job in this film, as Tris was not good protagonist, and Kate Winslet’s villain felt so forced, bland, and unoriginal. Nothing in the film felt new, surprising, or even intense. Everything feels so generic and tries too hard to make you understand things you don’t want to. I don’t know how this will move on as a series without any of the sequels being as awful as this.

If you are a huge fan of the novels, you might want to try this one out, but if you’re not, you should definitely avoid it.

Lead characters Tris and Four stand above a futuristic Chicago.

 

03.18.14
by

Need for Speed

My rating: ratings4

Former race car driver turned car mechanic Tobey Marshall (Breaking Bad star Aaron Paul) sets out to avenge a friend’s death, which resulted in Marshall unjustly spending 2 years in prison. Marshall travels to California to face off against his rival racer Dino Brewster (Dominic Brewster), who was also responsible for Marshall’s friend’s death. On their car-explosive-packed trip to California, they battle against Brewster’s henchmen, and some cops as well.

To be honest, this movie isn’t a movie I was really excited for. It wasn’t one of those movies that I would just watch the trailer over and over again to just witness how cool it looks. I just decided to watch it because it looked pretty cool. Now, I have to admit, I really underestimated this movie. Filled with non-stop car crashes and races, what could go better in a car-racing/criminals-who-use-cars-to-pull-off-schemes-themed movie?

Aaron Paul and his insanely awesome crew make a great cast. I have never watched a single episode of Breaking Bad, but after watching this movie, I am now a huge fan of Aaron Paul! Some people might consider this movie a Fast and Furious spin-off, or just a movie based on the video game of the same name, but I like to look at it as Grand Theft Auto: The Movie. With many vehicles getting destroyed, many twists and lots of trying to avoid cops, how could it be too different from GTA? In conclusion, Need for Speed is one hell of a movie.

P.S: Please do not consider taking young kids to this movie. I think it would be suitable for kids 12-13 and up. Otherwise, too many car crashes and explosions!

Need For Speed poster.jpg

03.04.14
by

The Oscars (86th Academy Awards)

This Sunday, the 86th annual Oscars ceremony took place. Ellen DeGeneres hosted it for the second time. In my opinion, she was very funny! She sure did make the audience laugh a lot. This year, Alfonso Cuaron’s space adventure Gravity won the most Oscars (7 of them!). The Best Original Song nominees performed their songs (Despicable Me 2’s “Happy” by Pharrell Williams, Her’s “The Moon Song” by Karen Orzolek, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom’s “Ordianry Love” by U2, and Frozen’s “Let It Go” by Idina Menzel). Also, 12 Years a Slave’s Lupita Nyong’o won her first Oscar (Best Supporting Actress). The cool thing is that 12 Years a Slave is also Nyong’o’s first film! Presenters included Jim Carrey, Harrison Ford, Kerry Washington, Matthew McConaghey(who also won an award the same night), Amy Adams, Robert De Niro, Penelope Cruz, Daniel Day-Lewis, Jennifer Lawrence, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Will Smith (who presented the Best Picture award.) Here is the list of winners:

Best Picture: 12 Years a Slave

Best Actor: Matthew McConaughey for Dallas Buyers Club

Best Actress: Cate Blanchett for Blue Jasmine

Best Supporting Actor: Jared Leto for Dallas Buyers Club

Best Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong’o for 12 Years a Slave

Best Director: Alfonso Cuaron for Gravity

Best Original Screenplay: Her (written by Spike Jonze)

Best Adapted Screenplay: 12 Years a Slave (written by John Ridley)

Best Film Editing: Gravity

Best Sound Editing: Gravity

Best Sound Mixing: Gravity

Best Costume Design: The Great Gatsby

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Dallas Buyers Club

Best Production Design: The Great Gatsby

Best Cinematography: Gravity

Best Visual Effects: Gravity

Best Original Score: Gravity

Best Original Song: “Let It Go” from Frozen (performed by Idina Menzel)

Best Animated Feature: Frozen

Best Animated Short: Mr. Hublot

Best Foreign Language Film: The Great Beauty (from Italy) in Italian

Best Documentary Feature: 20 Feet from Stardom

Best Documentary Short: The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life

Best Live Action Short: Helium

Do you agree or disagree with the winners? Comment below and let me know what you think. I think this year’s Oscars ceremony was one of my favorites. I can’t wait until the next Oscars!