06.30.14
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Transformers: Age of Extinction

My rating: ratings2

In Michael Bay’s new Transformers film, Mark Wahlberg plays Cade Yeager, a struggling mechanic and single father who, along with his best friend Lucas (T.J. Miller), finds a truck which they later find out isn’t a truck at all: It’s Optimus Prime. Cade, his daughter Tessa (Nicola Peltz), and her boyfriend Shane (Jack Reynor) find themselves caught in a war between the remaining Autobots and a new army of Decepticons, led by Galvatron, who Optimus soon discovers has a dark secret. The Autobots soon find out that the Decepticons aren’t the only threat to their kind: An organization called the Cemetry Wind, led by a paranoid CIA agent (Kelsey Grammer), are hunting down the Autobots with the help of Joshua Joyce (Stanley Tucci), a scientist who is building his own Decepticons to destroy the Autobots.

At first I decided not to see this movie because I did not like the first three movies, as they were all huge disappointments, but later I decided to give it a try, anyway. But now I realize that the next Transformers movies will not improve on their predecessors at all, becuase that is what has been happening for the last three sequels (except the third movie was better than the second one, because the second one is the worst). Age of Extinction is just like all the others: Dumb characters you can’t ever give a crap about, a needless huge length (this one is almost three hours long), and jokes that only make you laugh because they’re so stupid. The acting in this movie is terrible, especially T.J. Miller, who was really annoying becuase he kept cracking dumb jokes. Mark Wahlberg, who is my favorite actor of all time, was the only person who did a good job acting  in the movie (Stanley Tucci was fine too, but not as good as Wahlberg was). All the other main actors did pretty bad (Kelsey Grammer was the worst actor in this movie other than T.J. Miller). I expected the Dinobots to be a big part of the movie, but they’re only in the last 20 minutes! The action scenes in this movie are great, but they’re really the only thing that makes this movie good! Do not expect this movie to be any better than the other Transfomers movies (but don’t expect it to be as bad as Revenge of the Fallen, of course). I think this movie is appropriate for kids 12 and up, because there as a lot of explosions and some language.

Transformers Age of Extinction Poster.jpeg

06.22.14
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Edge of Tomorrow

My rating: ratings4

A race of aliens called Mimics have taken over continental Europe. Their ability to reset the day after getting killed and then being able to mimic human battle strategy makes them unstoppable. Major Bill Cage (Tom Cruise), who has never been in battle before, is drafted into the UDF (United Defense Force), led by Sergeant Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt), to fight against the Mimics, which is practically a suicide mission. Cage is killed within minutes, but only after killing a rare species of Mimics, called the Alpha, the ones with the ability to reset time. As the Alpha dies, it’s blood spills on Cage, killing him, but then he wakes up the day before the invasion. He hasn’t realized it yet but he has gained the Alpha’s power to reset time when killed. As he dies over and over again, his skill increases. As Cage and Rita (who later reveals to him that she once had his power) take the fight to the aliens, each repeated encounter gets them one step closer to defeating the enemy.

Edge of Tomorrow is funny, well-acted, thrilling, and has amazing visual effects. The script is great, so is the cast and the humor, and best of all, the movie is very original. The movie is filled with suspense, and while you’re watching it, you have absolutely no idea what’s about to happen. The visuals are amazing, especially the Mimics, and the action is very fun to watch. Edge of Tomorrow is better than all of Tom Cruise’s other recent sci-fi movies (including Mission Impossible and Oblivion) because what the others lacked were suspense, humor, and fun. I look forward to more great Tom Cruise movies like this one. I would recommend this movie for anyone 13 and up who loves action, science fiction, and/or Tom Cruise.

Below are the film’s trailer, as well as a hilarious clip from the movie.

 

06.17.14
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How to Train Your Dragon 2

My rating: ratings4

How to Train Your Dragon 2 takes place five years after the events of How to Train Your Dragon: The citizens of the island of Berk now domesticate dragons instead of hunting them; Hiccup and his friends are now adults rather than teens (he’s 20); and he and Astrid are engaged. One day, while exploring new territories, Hiccup and his dragon bestie, Toothless, and Astrid and her dragon, Stormfly, discover both a fort covered in ice and, later, a dragon hunter named Eret, who accuses them of being the “dragon rider” who’s letting his dragon captives go. Hiccup and Astrid get away but soon discover that Eret’s maniacal boss, Drago, plans to declare war on Berk and steal all of the island’s dragons. Meanwhile, Hiccup makes an even bigger discovery: The “dragon rider” is actually none other than his presumed-dead mother, Valka, now a recluse who lives with dragons who are all commanded by a protective alpha. Against all odds, Hiccup and his crew must stand against Drago’s army and hope their dragons can resist the pull of the bloodthirsty alpha dragon under the warmonger’s control.

Sometimes it’s hard to enjoy sequels more than the original, especially if it’s an animated movies, since most animated sequels were pointless and dumb. But How to Train Your Dragon 2 is very enjoyable and makes us think more about the rest of the trilogy (most animated sequels have been crappy enough that the filmmakers decide not to continue the series). Unlike other animated movies, this one doesn’t have any humor, but that’s not what you need to look for in in this movie. The movie is filled with heart, has a great soundtrack and visuals. Dragons 2 feels like the Dark Knight of animated trilogies. It seems likely that Dragons will soon become an unforgettable movie trilogy, just like may others (X-Men, Hobbit, etc.).

Unlike animated rip-offs that have been only targeted for little kids (such as Rio 2 or Epic), Dragons 2 also includes themes that adults can relate to, like a mother-and-son relationship subplot. The fact that adults can enjoy this movie and not just kids makes this movie so much better to watch. From this movie, I can conclude one thing: DreamWorks will never stop making great movies.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 poster.jpg

06.16.14
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.