Tag Archives: movies

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.

03.18.14
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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

12.15.13
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The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

My rating: ratings5

The dwarves, along with Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf the Grey, continue their quest to reclaim Erebor, their homeland, from Smaug. On their way, they meet Legolas and Tauriel, two elf archers who help battle the orc invasions from Dol Guldur. They also meet Bard, a bowman who is determined to kill the dragon after his ancestor failed to when Smaug took over Erebor and Dale. Meanwhile, Gandalf and Radagast battle the Necromancer and discover his true identity. Eventually, Bilbo and the dwarves reach the mountain, and finally battle Smaug. The film’s cast includes Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Luke Evans, Orlando Bloom, Evangeline Lily, Lee Pace, Benedict Cumberbatch, Cate Blanchett, and Sylvester McCoy.

I saw this movie on Friday (Dec. 13) with my friend, my dad, and my brother. We all really enjoyed the movie. I thought it was way better than the original Hobbit movie. The visual effects and soundtrack are just amazing! I enjoyed every moment of the movie! My favorite characters were Legolas and Tauriel. You can tell that they both have that bad-ass spirit that other movie characters have, such as Richard B. Riddick (played by Vin Diesel) from the Riddick movies, and Hit-Girl from the Kick-Ass movies. The film’s ending (don’t worry, I won’t spoil anything) is such a cliff-hanger that I absolutely cannot wait another year to watch the trilogy’s finale (which hits theaters next December). I think any fans of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies should watch this movie, since it’s a prequel to them. But you should only see it after you have seen the first Hobbit movie. I would recommend this movie for kids 12 and up, since there is a lot of violence, including slicing off heads (no blood shown).

Here is the film’s site and trailer.

Below is a picture of my friend, my brother (they both saw the movie with me), and I standing near a poster of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

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