X-Men: Days of Future Past

Whoever wins the war between mutants & machines, better hope that machines conquer the world. It'll be a gloomy future, folks.

“The best comic-book movie ever”, proclaimed by some of the America’s top critics, huh? Eh, let’s try “respectable.” X-Men: Days of Future Past is an enjoyable, if clumsy film that still has continuity issues with dealing with 14 years of source material that either counts or doesn’t anymore. The movie is set in the near future, 2023, to be exact, as mutants and humans have either been eradicated or put into internment camps in a world ruled by Sentinels, the robots who play the role of judge, jury & executioner. In order to stop these events from advancing or taking place, Wolverine is sent 50 years in the past by Kitty Pride to prevent this bleak future from ever taking place. It's a pretty screwed up situation for both time periods either dealing with political upheavals of dealing with the mutant race and the desolate future.

This is, perhaps, the first X-Men film where I can say that the group works well as a team battling against all odds with moments of them battling just to survive the brutality. While it would've been nice to have back stories of characters Bishop, Warpath and Blink; but, alas, we get no knowledge of their motivations to help out. They’re just there with no explanation to serve the story proper. I mean, cool, you want to move stuff along to input more narrative into this movie, yet, we can't even get an explanation of Kitty's new-found powers to send younger version of people to the past? Again, the continuity problems that are in this movie and the franchise doesn't get covered enough. Simply put, I was confused in spots. Given that First Class seemingly rebooted the franchise quietly, I'd expect that some events from that film would be the launching pad for this series, and, while, there are attempts to stretch the stories from the first three movies, though, it all feels weird. The special effects, especially, feel that way through a couple of sequences; the Quicksilver moment, in particular, is among my complaints when it comes to this. The scene, itself, isn't that bad; however, the effect of his power is lacking. Honestly, I saw more visual fidelity with that character during the after credits of Captain America 2.

The acting is as good as the performances from First Class led by the core performances by James McAvoy & Michael Fassbender. They once again build on their relationship from their first movies portrayals of Charles Xavier/Professor X and Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto, respectively, than their elder counterparts. Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen have their own moments in the present, just not to the same effect, given that the actors are offered little to do during their portrayals. I also must give props to Hugh Jackman, who's usually status quo as Wolverine, this is easily his best performance as the character, in my opinion; and, Jennifer Lawrence is fine as Mystique. The writing isn't the best, but the performances make up for it. Also, the future Sentinels are pretty entertaining, as you witness some of your favorite X-men be dealt with in ways that are unimaginable. 

This isn't the greatest comic-book film of all-time or the only fun you’ll have at the theaters all summer, but after some installments of this series that left me to question its worth, Days of Future Past is a step in the right direction. It's not better than First Class or even X2, but it's a doable experience. Now, whoever helms X-Men: Apocalypse (since director Bryan Singer has some legal issues to tend to), lets ease off frequent teases; slow pacing would be nice.

Good: Very good acting, solid action, Nice-looking Sentinels

Bad: The plot is all-over the place, Some corny lines

Quicksliver scene? Meh, I've seen better.

*** out of 5

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (Movie Review)

            

Spider-Man's either helping out with a certain villain or has been playing too much "Brave Firefighter" from Sega.

            The Amazing Spider-Man 2 picks up a year after the events of the first movie, where Peter Parker has gotten into his role as Spider-Man. Also, from the first film, we finally uncover what ended up happening with Parker’s parents, which, I have to say was a highly intense sequence, because of the stakes that led to them being found by one of Oscorp’s hired assassins to take out the two of them to prevent Oscorp from being compromised. From there, I was anticipating what I was in store for the rest of my viewing and little did I know, I was actually astonished at how strong much of the framework is with this movie.  

Clearly, a lot of time was taken to develop Peter into a character that is more multi-faceted than just his love life with Gwen Stacy. Those moments are grand, don’t get me wrong, but the problem with the past Spider-Man movies was they did go for the hackneyed routine once too often either to force a couple of meaningless story elements (i.e. Paying rent, Raimi’s adaptation of the Stacey family, so on). Here, they don’t tend to force their love story like the other movies did and to add to that point, Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone’s chemistry is damn good. Besides the chemistry between those key leads, Garfield is a way better Peter Parker/Spider-Man than Tobey Maguire ever was. While, I’m not knocking Maguire for his performances, but seeing his movies in comparison to these films is light years compared to the many compilations of “Maguire-face.” If there’s an actor who tried to act “too cool” on-screen, it was Garfield’s predecessor (see: Spider-Man 3) and not him. Andrew conveys believably and trust as the Web-Slinger and that’s all without overplaying the role. Emma’s role is more exemplified, profound and varied. And, she’s always there to help out her man, even in battle. But that speaks to the level of depth that these actors are given here in a realistic setting. Both actors understand the stakes that their individual character is given.

Jamie Foxx, Dane Dehaan and Sally Field give strong performances as Max Dillon/Electro, Harry Osborn and Aunt May. I haven’t gotten a chance to observe Dehaan much other than his performance in Chronicle, but the guy has range. Same for Field, who seems to have excellent rapport with Garfield; there was a scene where I nearly teared up because her character was in a desperate place with her nephew. And, of course, Foxx who seemed to be enjoying the hell out of his respective role as the delusional Dillon who wants acceptance, even if it’s faint. Whenever Sinister Six or Amazing 3 comes out, Give Paul Giamatti a raise, please? He only has two scenes as Aleksei Sytsevich/Rhino, yet, they’re so, so good. Did I mention that he has a hammed up Russian accent, as well? Even better.        

Even the way the film sounds with its original composition by Hans Zimmer, Arturo Sandoval, Johnny Marr, Pharrell (though, he’s the “voices in Electro’s head), Mike Einzinger (from Incubus), & David A. Stewart (from the Eurythmics). A team so big, that they’re called “The Magnificent Six,” a nod to the supervillain team “The Sinister Six” of Rhino, Doctor Otto Octavius, Vulture, Mysterio, Kraven the Manhunter & Sandman. Zimmer is a natural at producing thematic material and here, he shows why he’s a master at his craft here. If you want to understand a thematic theme for a character, I implore the reader to listen to “Electro Suite” and “My Enemy” from the Amazing Spider-Man 2 soundtrack for more background. The craftsmanship from the entire crew of those two scores are delightful as they are haunting. It doesn't surpass the Man of Steel composition from Zimmer last year; though, it’s its own thing.

As I close this review, I don’t have a definitive problem with Amazing 2 except that it does harbor Raimi fan boys who cling to the older films like people who hold on to outdated technology, so, in that respect, that’s my only flaw with the production that was directed by Marc Webb and crew. Otherwise, I’m struggling to figure which comic book movie is my favorite, at this point: This one or Cap 2? It's a good time for comic book films.

Good: Superb storytelling, action, acting, direction, music.

Bad: Snobby people struggling with the fact that the "Amazing" franchise is better than the other Spider-Man films

***** out of 5

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (Movie Review)

        Man, I swear that Chris Evans is trying to go out in a Blaze of Glory, with all of the events that took place in the latest Captain America film. Then again, spending nearly 70 years on ice can bring a lot of aggression, too. I'll start off my saying that, The First Avenger, the Winter Soldier's predecessor, seems to get a bad rap from people who seemed to expect something more than just an origin film, which is what it's meant to be. Granted, it was steeped in 20th century lore with a story that took time to compel and was basic, did its job. Many of the main characters, particularly Hugo Weaving's Red Skull, was great, in my opinion. Though, I felt like it got an unfair shake from critics and others who thought of it sorely as just more Marvel filler. That being said, The Winter Soldier is superb in every way compared to its predecessor.

     In terms of just aesthetics, The Winter Soldier feels like it has a divergent setup from much of the Marvel entries. SHIELD is treated like a real agency, sort of like the Central Intelligence Agency collects data on a particular case or an individual, same goes any part of the US military that gets the resources to create incredible weaponry or aircraft. Even the stakes appeared to have cost during the movies big moments in either peril or a character from Rogers past that's not related to Bucky. Captain Steve Rogers is a different man from the untrained, brave soul upgraded by the blessings of the Super Soldier serum. He is a more formed person and a more confidence one when compared to the days of defeating Skull and the entire Hydra regime in the first film.

     Evans appears to have more control and command in this film than he did in First Avenger or The Avengers, because his character and the stakes of everything that could happen, has that extra level of meaning. The plot is consistent and blends in the tension, action and melodrama very well. Same goes for the acting, in which, everyone plays his or her part well. As for the best actor out of the bunch besides Robert Redford, Sam Jackson, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johannsen or even Falcon's Anthony Mackie? Sebastian Shaw. It's no secret that Bucky Barnes plays an unexpected foe to Captain America in a huge plot twist that is explained in throughout the movie. While he doesn't have much dialogue, the way he emotes in moments of dealing with his severe consequences of being the anti-hero was a deep one, not just because of his "loss" in movie 1, but with him trying to figure himself out with this new-found persona of being a sleeper cell among-st SHIELD's ranks. Choreography is well-detailed, particularly with fights that are in close-quarters but are outside from offices or ships. My only problem with the film is with parts of the direction, but only with some of the action being too fast at times; otherwise, it's a top-notch effort by the Russo Brothers. But, I guess that was the point of this sequel and its direction: raise the intensity in all the area of this production, no matter the costs. If anything bad happens to something major, keep the tempo up and then lower it for to handle the narrative. Have a good time, because, I sure as hell did with this film.

   

     

The Most Anticipated Goodbye

If I was mimicking a particular comedian with my "bitterface" grimace, let me know.

   
   
      A journey that spanned for nearly a decade with misfortune and triumph, is finally over. I can reflect on much of the good that was offered to me at Broward College. Admittedly, there was a time where maybe this day wouldn't come and neither would much of the jubilation that comes with accomplishing something as big as getting a Journalism degree. Unfortunately, the market options for a writer are small, but I can make something, requiring that I test my versatility; but, honestly, I don't feel like this is daunting at all, really. I have some concerns about dealing with the technical aspects of the industry, as some things can seem to be complex, but you deal with the learning curve that life hands to you, for better or worse.

     I've already given up on going to grad school, since, I feel that I don't need to give up more money or time to deal with stretching this on much further; this is my choice, end of story. So, while I have nothing in particular that I'll miss about my time at Broward College (besides The Observer), I will miss their lunch rooms, though; because, they've expanded that, nicely. Sure, you have the assist from chains like Dunkin Donuts and Subway, yet, the stuff that they get from Food Services Inc. is an upgrade too. I'm not saying that the previous suppliers were bad, just that I like these options better.

     In closing, all I have to say is, that I have A LOT of work to attend to, a lot to learn and make some new things happen. That being said, I don't have a lot of time for the usual "hope and dreams" speech, same goes for tears or slumped shoulders. Basically, I'm just awaiting the fun part of the value of choosing such a profession, that's usually where you feel like you've earned something.

The Grand Budapest Hotel (movie review)

      Having no context of The Grand Budapest Hotel, I assumed much of this film, in regards to the  source material that is typical of a Wes Anderson film. Usually, his kind of protagonist would have some odd goal of obtaining an affection for a high school teacher (1998’s Rushmore) or Foxes settling a score with Farmers (2009’s Fantastic Mr Fox).  I’ve always thought of his movies to be strange, but inventive; so, when I was about to see this particular film, I left it all to the context of the film and no other outlets for a synopsis. I mean, I knew minor details here and there, but I went into the film cold and, whether it was low expectations or otherwise, I enjoyed this film a lot, because the film has a nice flow with sold writing, great direction from Anderson and its sublime cast. 
       
       The movie starts off with a woman heading to a graveyard to pay respects to a writer and then opens the book from “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” written by the deceased writer, who’s never given a name other than just “The Writer.” The film is set in the fictional Euro state of Zubrowka, we’re given a look at the writer’s story of the hotel from his younger self in 1968, played by Jude Law, when he’s overseeing it with the aid of Zero Moustafa, played by F. Murray Abraham, The original owner of the establishment, Monsieur Gustave H, is played by Ralph Fiennes. Moustafa is an integral part of this story with his history with Gustave, because he was once one of his lobby boys during 1932 (his younger self is played by Tony Revolori, by the way). He grows up witnessing the hardships of poverty, war, and his owner’s love for the octogenarian crowd, which I swear; he had to have been some adoration of his when he was growing up as kid in the late 1800s; the reasons for his deep infatuations with the elderly isn’t thoroughly explained, aside from it being a random detail, it’s one that’ll raise your eyebrow once the Fiennes character admits as such. It never dawned on me why his first name is Zero until I was able to figure out until midway through the movie, but, I’ll let the readers of this article figure out the metaphor for his/herself. 

       Otherwise, the basis of the film is a character study on their identities and how the inevitable events transpire from the film, do shape them for better or worse.  There are moments when the film does tend to drag, since, some of the bits can be lost on those who don’t watch a lot of Anderson’s films, but that’s really a small complaint for a well-structured film. It has a fair running time (100 minutes) and it surprised me a lot, especially with Fiennes, who’s not known for his comedic talent, but his devotion to this character and the film’s script serves him well here. Besides his mention about his thing for old folks, his oddball candor was quite hilarious. All in all, the film is a definite good time.      

RoboCop (Movie review)

   

     

"I think Omnicorp has you it its grasp for control, sir." (Picture courtesy of behance)

       Running on the potential of recapturing the fun of the 1987 original, this new Robocop film is decent enough on its own film without being in the former shadows of the 1980s. The plot, itself, is similar with Detective Alex Murphy being transferred into a project for severely injured police officers in the line of duty, except the bevy of shotgun blasts that sheered the body of the character from the original is replaced with an explosive planted in his car. All that remains is little of what used to be of Murphy's charred body replaced with a body suit. My impressions of the suit is that it's vastly superior compared to its bulkier predecessor and allows for more mobility, faster reflexes, has two firearms and is equipped with a visor for different functions.

      Story-wise, it's fine enough, which is as good a time as any, it seems, to bring up the debate on whether or not, we should have machines and surveillance be the new way to have order compared to police officers. comparing this one to the '87 edition, the story is more fleshed-out compared to the first one, since a good bit of the original parodied the future and desensitized the violence but there were moments where I got tired of the preachy nature of this narrative, especially when an amendment goes to congress to be voted upon during a crucial part of the film. Alex's story has some nice tender moments, when his wife and son discovers him in the suit for the first time. More lengths seemed to have been made to flesh out the back-story of the main character to add more depth.

      The performances aren't spectacular but are effective given what they have to work with for the film. Joel Kinnaman, who plays Alex Murphy/Robocop, is respectable enough. Michael Keaton & Gary Oldman display good chemistry throughout their simultaneous roles together in their moments. Samuel Jackson, throughout portions of the films plays Patrick Novak, a talk-show host who's really big into the militarization of law enforcement. Also, he's the best thing about this movie.

     There's nothing great or bad here that is bending the action genre, but if you want to see a revision of an old-school character brought back to life on screen, Robocop is just a guilty pleasure, yet I doubt there will be a sequel if it ever comes up for discussion.

       

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (Movie Reviews)

           

           

Captain Kirk stole Jack Ryan's clothes during his rendezvous in Moscow, Russia 

           

The newest installment of the Tom Clancy film series is a reboot of sorts. Since 2002’s The Sum Of All Fears starred Ben Affleck as Jack Ryan, eventual attempts to bring back the series didn’t as hoped for movie studio Paramount. Sam Raimi, who once helmed the original Spider-Man film series from 2002-2007, was tapped to direct the newest installment to give his fresh take on the series, but nothing turned up, because he was working on a potential fourth Spider-Man film, which, we now know as The Amazing Spider-Man, sans all of the Raimi-isms.

Chris Pine, who plays Captain James T Kirk in the Star Trek movies was on tap to be in the next version of this series in 2009, but had to commit to that film. Before Pine ever stepped foot into the shoes of the CIA fable, Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and the aforementioned Affleck portrayed the character. So how’s Pine in relation to his predecessors? Good enough for me. Frankly, I was surprised that he handled the weight of this person with care. I won’t say it was a transcending performance, but he was very good overall.  Some of the geopolitical stuff did go over my head a little and so did some of the book references, like when he and Cathy, played by Keira Knightley, meet for the first time, when Ryan is recouping from his severe injuries from a plane accident in Afghanistan. When witnessing the rebirth of a high-profile character like Ryan, especially, when you haven’t read the books, confusion is to be expected when you’re trying to figure out this universe. It wasn’t that the entire franchise was unfamiliar to me, I was just a little unaccustomed to some stuff here.

The plot, itself, has to do with Ryan working in a covert role at a stock exchange in New York. His job is to keep tabs on financial transactions from various parts of the world to make sure that the system isn’t being gamed from someone on the outside. Then, it’s discovered that a geopolitical partner goes in a different direction from that of the United States, Ryan realizes that the money from Russia (yeah, they’re in the news, a lot, these days) is being hidden from plain site. It’s an interesting angle that I wish went further in the closing minutes of the film, but it did its job. Kenneth Branagh and Kevin Costner play important roles here, with Branagh (who also directed this film) playing Viktor Cheverin, the person in control of the funds, while Costner plays a father figure type to Ryan. The acting is top-notch by entire cast. It’ll take time getting used to the actors playing these characters, if you haven’t followed the novels or  films, considering it took a while for this film to be developed, unfamiliarity is sure to be abound. It runs at a solid pace with some nice plot twists throughout the movie. In a time where the suspense genre needed something different, Shadow Recruit is the movie for you.