Everything to do with films!
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is the best movie of the summer so far. That’s not as high of praise as it should be, this summer has been rife with disappointment, but it’s high praise none the less. It’s not a perfect movie but whatever missteps it has are all ultimately forgivable given how spot on the rest of the movie is.
There’s going to be a vocal contingent that argues that _Age of Extinction_ is the best Transformers movie. It isn’t. It’s not the worst (here’s looking at you _Revenge of The Fallen_) but it’s really not the best either. That whole discussion is kind of ridiculous though because when you stop and think you’ll realize that you’re arguing which f these terrible movies is the least terrible. If you think that’s _Age of Extinction more power to you because the movie does fix a few of the problems that the previous three had but it also introduces a bunch more problems to deal with.
Continue reading “Review: Transformers: Age of Extinction Is Bad”
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Last weekend I did in fact see two movies but since I was taking the weekend off I didn’t write them up. It’s a bit late now, so here are some quick impressions in case you’re trying to decide what to see this weekend.
Continue reading “Quick Reviews: ’22 Jump Street’ and ‘How To Train Your Dragon 2’”
Jon Favreau has a longer history as an actor than as a writer/director but it’s the latter class that Jon Favreau’s career has had a few bumps in the road lately.most people seem to know him as these days. After writing _Swingers_ and directing _Made_ and later _Elf_ he eventually was given the job of bringing Marvel Studios first film to screen with _Iron Man_. That film was a smash hit and kicked off one of the biggest franchises of all time but the follow-up _Iron Man 2_ and later _Cowboys & Aliens_ were met with less enthusiastic responses.
After all that bombast _Chef_ represents a return to the type of film that got Favreau noticed as a writer/director in the first place: a smaller, simpler film with a straightforward premise and a lot of heart.
And you know what? It’s really good.
This is one of those times that Hollywood confuses me. Here they’ve gone and made a fun, exciting, engaging, and intelligent sci-fi action movie and what little marketing its had has made it seem like something it’s really not: generic.
Yeah, you’re reading this right folks. Edge of Tomorrow is pretty great and you should totally see it.
So I have to warn you now that this review will contain spoilers after the jump because there’s pretty much no way I can tell you anything about this movie without spoiling it. Short version: Angelina Jolie is good, the subtext is shocking (for a Disney movie), but the movie isn’t very good. If you want to know why keep reading, if you want to go see it without knowing anything then stop reading now.
Ok? Ok.
Whether you’re a fan of Jurassic Park or a fan of good film making you should probably read this interview.
Continue reading “Read This: SlashFilm Interviews Jurassic World Director Colin Treverrow”
Seth McFarlane’s first feature film Ted was a great little film. Not perfect, but it latched onto a story trope we’d seen before (grown man needs to grow out of his immature ways, is held back by immature childhood best friend) and took its to its logical extreme (best friend is his childhood toy) and the result was both R-Rated hilarious and heartfelt but without getting too bogged down in “ugh, I’ve seen this before.” It didn’t hurt either that McFarlane’s voice performance as Ted was inspired as though he was getting every r-rated joke he’d been wanting to do on family Guy out all at once.
McFarlane’s second feature takes aim at the Wild West. It’s still R-rated and it’s still a comedy but where Ted managed to break the mold _A Million Ways To Die In The West_ stays pretty firmly in its mold. That’s not to say it’s not funny. I laughed a bunch of times. Not enough times though, and the rest of the time I was bored.
Continue reading “Review: A Million Ways To Die In The West”
The latest *X-Men* film is a spectacular affair, a high-budget and frequently hilarious reassertion of the franchise after the dreadful *X3: The Last Stand* and *Wolverine* movies. It features all the most popular members of the group kicking ass in glorious action sequences that might be some of the best you’ll see this year and even makes room for a few *fantastic* new mutants. The narrative is good, if a little exposition-heavy upfront, and the pace is great. So it’s a real shame that, even with all these perfect elements, the film’s story makes such a dull thud. The problem isn’t that  it’s badly told, it’s just that there’s not been any attempt to evolve the narrative threads that have been present since the first *X-men* film from 2000. It’s the same old story; a fight between Professor X’s peaceful integration and Magneto’s warlike assertion of mutant superiority, and after the fourth time it has lost its surprise and effect.
You can put it away now: the idea that the unnervingly attractive Scarlett Johansson only became a superstar due to the fact that she is the human embodiment of a 1940’s bomber girl. It’s easy to decide on obvious categories – something that she has undoubtedly had to fight herself – and she could have effortlessly made her career as The Pretty Girl in all kinds of meaningless rom-coms and action flicks. But then you look at her filmography and you see a ridiculously diverse selection – from *The Girl With The Pearl Earring* and *Lost In Translation* to her deliciously deadly stints as Black Widow in the various *Avengers*, *Iron Man* and *Captain America* blockbusters.
And now, with director Jonathan Glazer’s adaptation of *Under The Skin* from [Michael Faber’s novel](http://www.amazon.ca/Under-The-Skin-Michel-Faber/dp/0006393721), she can finally draw a line under the stereotype. In a movie that contains enough twists and horrors to keep you thinking for weeks, she carries the whole narrative while barely saying a word in a stunning, revelatory performance that is a career best to date.
I walked out of my showing of Godzilla with incredibly mixed feelings. It’s not a bad movie, but it’s not a great one either. It suffers from pacing issues and some stiff performances, but it also has a big ass monster fight in the style of the 30-odd movies that have come before this one.
Is that enough though? That’s the problem: I’m not sure it is.
I’ve tried to think of a good way to start this review but it’s late and I’m tired so here’s the only really relevant information I can give you in a comedy review: Yes, it’s funny; yes, it’s also good movie.
As a portrait of an artist, Frank Pavich’s film of the visionary auteur Alejandro Jodorosky’s efforts to create a 10 hour film adaptation of “Dune” is fascinating, entertaining and endearing. The 85-year old Jodorosky comes across as an enthusiastic guru, an almost cultish figure who crosses the world discovering fellow artists and dragging them into a mad campaign to create generation-changing works of art. The filmmaker behind “El Topo”, “The Holy Mountain” and “Santa Sangre”, Jodorosky was already a cause célèbre of cult film when, for reasons not really revealed, he managed to acquire the rights to Frank Herbert’s scifi epic “Dune”, at the time a huge bestseller, and determined, without actually having read the book itself, to recreate the story as a movie that would change the minds of young people forever.
I’ll give you a full review after the jump but let me take a moment right now to just give it to you straight: this movie is fucking awful and you shouldn’t see it. In fact I think it might be best if as few people as possible see it because if it doesn’t live up to Sony’s expectations then maybe we’ll be spared more of this crap.
The following review will contain some minor spoilers but you shouldn’t see this movie so it doesn’t matter.
District B13 is one of those movies: a foreign-made film with just the right combination of factors working in its favour that it managed to cross over and do a bit of business here in North America and because of that an American remake was inevitable. If I’m surprised by any of this coming true it’s only that it took so long to happen.
Brick Mansions is trying to do two things. First it’s trying to recreate some of the most iconic moments from the original verbatim, but it’s also trying to do its own thing and tell its own story which is a good thing. Does it work though? Well… no. Not really. Which is disappointing.
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