Do you believe in magic? Are you a skeptic? When you see a great illusionist perform their feats of mysticism, do you accept it for what it is, or are you always looking for the trick up their sleeve? Watch closely, but not too closely. For the closer you look, the less you see.
At its core, Now You See Me is a heist movie; a heist movie with magic. What could possibly go... wrong, right? It all begins with four very talented street magicians, all with their own special talents. They each receive a mysterious message to come to this bombed out apartment building, where they meet each other for the first time. The next thing we see, they are on the big stage in Las Vegas performing as The Four Horsemen. Their big finale is something never before seen in the world of magic. They rob a bank. But did they really, or was it just typical slight of hand?
It's funny that this movie is about illusions, because, to me, it was kind of an illusion of a good movie. It was entertaining and fun, but just too silly to actually be good.
I liked the Four Horsemen themselves. Jesse Eisenberg is J. Daniel Atlas and plays pretty much the same character he played in The Social Network. Woody Harrelson stole the show as Merritt McKinney, the mentalist. Isla Fisher and Dave Franco are....adequate. The four of them together are captivating to watch, and make the first half of the movie really enjoyable, if a bit far fetched.
It's in the second half that the movie really falls apart. The FBI involvement was interesting at first because they had the issue of, if they really robbed a bank while they were onstage, it had to be magic. That was an interesting concept. Once it was decided that they really had robbed a bank, then it just became your average heist movie chase with the FBI looking really inept and the agent (Mark Ruffalo) looking like an incompetent fool. Somehow, this group goes from a quartet of cocky magicians to a collection of goofy Batman villains.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that Michael Cain was in the movie. He was great as always, just wasn't there enough for my taste. Speaking of great actors, Morgan Freeman played Thaddeus Bradley, who was probably my favorite character in the movie. He was a former magician who now makes a series of videos debunking magicians. The FBI enlists him to help figure out how the Horsemen pulled off these robberies, that may or may not have been robberies in the first place. Freeman was great and I actually liked the character. Along with Harrelson, he was one of the best things in the movie. I would have liked to see them do more with him, but.......
The ending was really, REALLY stupid. It looks like it's headed toward a certain ending, which would have been bad and predictable, but the actual ending they used was even worse. It had a twist, but it made no sense and just felt really cheap.
Now You See Me is pretty entertaining throughout. The acting is very good. There are funny parts and suspenseful parts. In the end however, it's just too nonsensical to amount to much. The lemon of an ending left me feeling taken advantage of. I won't say this is a bad movie exactly, but it is certainly not a good movie either. The Movie Man gives it 3 out of 5 stars.
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Wednesday, September 9, 2015
Sunday, September 6, 2015
STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON MOVIE REVIEW
This film was similar to Walk the Line from 2005 and
Notorious from 2009. The movies were
similar because the stories are similar.
They are all three about artists who, not only broke ground in music, but
also changed things socially. This is a
story that I personally find fascinating. If you liked these two previous movies, there
is a good chance you will like this one as well.
This
movie is about the NWA. A very influential
rap group from the 1980’s and 90’s. The
story focuses on the three founding members of the group; Ice Cube (O’Shea
Jackson Jr.), Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins), and Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell). The movie begins with the formation of the
group and goes all the way through Eazy-E’s death in 1995.
The
first thing that sticks out about this movie is the cast. Simply put, it is perfect. All three of the main actors do a terrific
job in this film. They all look
strikingly like the character they are playing, especially Jackson Jr. who
plays his father. Even the supporting
actors who are only in the movie for a short time were good. This could be the most well cast movie I have
seen this year.
Two of the
main characters portrayed in this film were producers on it. You might think this would help with the
accuracy of the movie, but in this case I think it hurt. The story is told in a very one-sided way
which detracts from the emotional impact of the film in my opinion. This movie fails to show both sides of the
moral issues it presents which minimizes it’s effect to some degree. I understand that Ice Cube and Dr. Dre didn’t
want to make themselves look bad, but there were several real life events that
were conveniently left out of the film.
I
thoroughly enjoyed the music in the film.
The live performances sound very good and the movie provides a wide
sampling of NWA’s catalogue. The lyrics
are very rough though, so if you are the type that is offended by this, you
probably will not enjoy this movie very much.
The
movie is generally well made by director F. Gary Gray (Friday, The Italian
Job). There are written introductions on
screen for all the main characters early in the film which I found slightly
annoying and unnecessary. The movie is
paced very well and manages to stay fairly interesting all the way through a
run time that was probably a little too long.
The movie is sort of in two halves with the first half easily being the
best. The second half loses a lot of the
passion and energy of the first half and becomes too much about business deals
and petty bickering. The movie drags
just a little toward the end but it was never boring or hard to watch.
This is
a movie I am glad I watched. It has it’s
problems but I enjoyed it quite a bit.
If you can get past a little glossing over of events and hang with it
for a relatively long run time, the film certainly has a lot going for it. The Movie Man gives it 3.5 out of 5
stars.
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Tuesday, September 1, 2015
NO ESCAPE MOVIE REVIEW
Ordinary people in extraordinary situations. It is a simple premise, but one that has been
used successfully many times in films over the years. Alfred Hitchcock used this simple formula
expertly throughout his career. No
Escape is very much that type of story.
This
movie is about Jack Dwyer (Owen Wilson) who moves his family to an unnamed
Asian country because of his work. While
they are getting settled in, a revolution breaks out. Jack must figure out a way to evade the
massive rebel force and get his family out of the country.
Writer/director
John Erick Dowdle (Quarantine, Devil) did a good job with exposition in this
movie. In the opening scenes, we learn
just enough about the situation to understand and care about it. The trick is to explain the situation without
getting wordy and boring with it and that is accomplished here. In fact, the more we know about the situation,
the easier it is to nitpick little problems with it. In this story, the whys of the situation are
not that important. It is a simple story
and Dowdle was smart to tell it as simply as possible. As for the characters, Jack is established
very well. I wish a little more had been
done to establish his wife (Lake Bell) as a character however.
The
best thing I can say for this movie is that it does provide real suspense. There are several very intense moments in the
film. There are even scenes where I was
not exactly sure that everybody was going to get out unscathed. The best and most intense scene in the movie is
the one from the trailer in which they are trying to get from one building to
another. Trust me, the trailer does not
show enough to spoil it. The scene is
done very well and it totally works in every way.
The
acting in the movie is pretty good. Owen
Wilson does a good job in an unusual role.
Lake Bell is good as well and the two have believable chemistry
together. The kids are ok, not quite as
annoying as they could have been. The
show stealing performance is provided by Pierce Brosnan. He is not in the movie all that much but when
he is there, he is the best thing going.
His character is quite mysterious, but if you are familiar with Roger
Ebert’s theory of the economy of characters you will know what purpose he
serves immediately.
Way too
much shaky cam was used in this movie. I
understand that a lot of it is meant to be confusing and disorienting, but when
it is making me dizzy, it is too much.
There was also quite a bit of overproduction in some of the action
sequences, like music and slow motion, that took me out of it a little
bit. Most of the action in the movie is
not filmed as well as I would have liked.
Enough said about that.
This
film at times falls into the trap that a lot of movies of this type fall
into. There are too many conveniences. There are a couple of scenes that are
obviously contrived as a device to put the family in a more suspenseful situation. Also the ending goes about one step too
far. There is a very uncomfortable scene
at the end that is totally unnecessary.
I
wouldn’t normally say this but one big positive this movie has is a very
relevant political message. Like with
the earlier exposition, they talked just enough about it without revealing too
much. It’s not at all preachy but does
get the point across and allows you to make a little more sense of what is
going on.
This
was a pretty decent film. It provided
more real and believable suspense than I have seen in a movie in a while. With a few tweeks (less shaky cam antics for
instance) it could have been a great movie.
Even so, I enjoyed it quite a bit.
It’s a high intensity film with very little downtime that mostly
works. The Movie Man gives it 3 out of 5
stars.
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Sunday, August 30, 2015
AMERICAN ULTRA MOVIE REVIEW
American Ultra had one factor going for it that made me
really excited about this film. That
factor was Max Landis. Landis, a
relatively new screenwriter, wrote the 2012 film Chronicle, a movie I really
liked, and made one of my favorite YouTube videos of all time entitled
Wrestling Isn’t Wrestling. Landis seems
to be very creative and does well with material that is unorthodox or
unique. That’s why I had a pretty good
bit of anticipation for this movie.
The
movie is about a stoner named Mike Howell (Jesse Eisenberg). He sees himself as a total failure and worries
that he is holding back his girlfriend Phoebe (Kristen Stewart). By the looks of things, it is hard to argue
with Mike’s concerns and critical opinions of himself. Then one night he encounters a couple of guys
doing something to his car, and all that is changed.
Jesse
Eisenberg is fantastic in this movie.
This was a great role for him and he fit into it very well. It was a challenging role because he had to
sell a lot of reactions to crazy things that are happening to him. His reactions is what really makes the film
work as well as it does. He makes it
possible to buy the absurdity of the situations he finds himself in. My biggest concern going into this film was
Kristen Stewart. This seemed like quite
an odd role for her. She plays a very
likeable and sympathetic character here, which is something I have never seen
her pull off before in her career. After
seeing the movie, I have to give her a lot of credit. She did a very good job in a role that was as
challenging, if not more so, than the lead.
Topher Grace is very good in a supporting role. He is over the top, but the film calls for
that in my opinion. There are also some
very good supporting performances by Connie Britton, John Leguizamo, and Walton
Goggins. The acting is a high point for
this film.
The
film establishes itself early as being totally absurd and audacious, almost to
the point of films like Kick Ass or Kill Bill.
A lot of what happens in the movie is clearly impossible and ridiculous,
but it kind of works because of how the movie is presented. This is more of a fun action/comedy than a
nail biting thriller. I actually really
enjoyed the tone of this film.
The
biggest problem I had with the movie was that there is too much government
drama, especially early in the film. I
actually think they revealed too much too quickly. We didn’t need all the government stuff in
the first act of the film, and I got a little bogged down in it.
I wasn’t
too impressed with director Nima Nourizadeh (Project X) here. Most of the film is directed adequately enough,
but the action sequences are horrible.
The movie moves pretty fast in general, which is fine, but when the
action sequences are cut and edited in this type of choppy fashion in which you
can’t tell what is going on, that is a problem.
For the
most part, I really liked the climax of this movie. Without giving anything away, it reminded me
a lot of the climax of the movie The Equalizer, except it actually worked in
this film. I think they missed just a
little bit on the way the scene played out but overall it was a very fitting
climax.
I had a
lot of fun with American Ultra. It is an
absurd film in the very best ways. I
loved the way the movie ended and this is one film that I really want to see a
sequel to because of the way everything played out. I think that could really work. American Ultra is one of the most purely fun
films I have seen this year. The Movie Man
gives it 3.5 out of 5 stars.
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Thursday, August 27, 2015
X-MEN MOVIE REVIEW
I have heard it said that X-Men was the beginning of the
comic book movie genre that we have today.
I don’t know if that’s true, but it was definitely an important film in
it’s own right. It had a much more
serious tone than previous films of its type.
I think that’s the reason this movie is looked at as being the genesis of
where the genre is at 15 years later.
The
movie takes place in the “not too distant future”. In this world, some humans have evolved into
mutants, which sparks a debate about what to do with them. Meanwhile, former colleagues Eric Lensherr
(Ian McKellen) and Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) form groups of mutants for
completely different and conflicting purposes.
I found
the debate about the mutants to be very interesting. If this were to happen in real life I can see
this issue coming up in exactly this way.
One side argues that the mutants are people and deserve the same
treatment as everyone else. The other
side claims that mutants are too dangerous to be given equal rights. There are good points to be made from both
perspectives. This issue was probably my
favorite thing about the movie. In fact,
I wish they had done just a little more with that as a central plot point,
instead of basically using it as a jumping off point.
The acting
in the movie is very good. Hugh Jackman
seems born to play Wolverine, which this movie succeeded in turning into a
totally cinematic character. I loved the
protective relationship he has with Rogue (Anna Paquin). Those two were my favorite characters in the
movie. I also really liked the interactions
between Ian McKellen’s Magneto and Patrick Stewart’s Professor Xavier. The chemistry between the characters and
actors was a big plus for this film.
One
problem I had with the film was that it seemed like there were too many
mutants. Either that or maybe they just
didn’t explain what everybody’s powers were well enough. I kept getting a little confused about who
could do what. There were several
characters that were key in the end that I didn’t feel like I knew all that
well. That is a small issue, but it made
me think too much about the wrong things rather than focusing on the plot.
The
first and third acts of the movie are terrific.
The first act is where the mutant debate takes center stage. The third act is full of the good kind of
tension and builds to a very entertaining and well-conceived climax. The second act, on the other hand, drags a
little bit. It almost seems like the
goal was to maintain the status quo rather than actually trying to advance the
plot. I think the movie may have needed
another conflict or two somewhere in the middle.
Aside
from a couple of problems I had with this movie, I thought it was actually a
very good comic book film. Bryan Singer
(The Usual Suspects, Valkyrie) did a very good job of bringing this wildly
popular comic franchise to the big screen.
A well-conceived plot and very good acting makes this movie what it
is. The Movie Man gives it 3.5 out of 5
stars.
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Sunday, August 23, 2015
WORLD WAR Z MOVIE REVIEW
"Another zombie movie?" That was my first reaction upon seeing previews for World War Z. Over the past decade, I think we've all seen about enough of zombies and vampires. The challenge for this movie was clear. Somehow, it had to find a way to avoid being "just another zombie movie".
Marc Forster clearly made an effort to avoid beating a dead horse with his first venture in...to the zombie genre. Weather or not this movie succeeded in that regard is up for debate. I would have to say that it did. It looked more like a thriller than a horror or sci-fi flick, and that is a good thing. It was a lot more than a bunch of people running from flesh eating zombies. There was a legit plot line at work here.
The movie starts just as the initial zombie outbreak occurs. These are viral zombies, like in 28 Days Later, which I find a lot more believable than the classic undead zombies. Let's face it, if we ever have a zombie apocalypse, it will be caused by a rapid, wide spread viral outbreak, which is the case in this movie.
Brad Pitt plays Gerry Lane, A retired United Nations employee who is now a devoted father and husband. When the zombie-pocalypse begins, Gerry gets in touch with some former associates inside the government in an attempt to find safety for him and his family. After some pretty nice action/suspense sequences, they all end up on a ship out in the middle of the ocean, where Gerry learns that his family will be able to stay only if he helps find the source of the outbreak.
The acting is very good in this movie. First of all, there is Brad Pitt of course, who is always great. I don't know if anybody else could have played this character and made him feel human. He was what all us men aspire to be; brave, compassionate, aggressive, and desperately trying to take care of his family. Pitt sells every bit of Gerry Lane and turns in a very sympathetic performance.
Someone who is going to be overlooked in this film is Mireille Enos, who plays Gerry's wife Karen. I had no idea who she was but she was pretty terrific.
While I like what they did with this story for the most part, there is one thing that happens pretty early on that didn't seem to make any sense to me. If you watch the movie you'll definitly notice it and probably scratch your head. Some of the plot got a little fuzzy at times with some confusing dialogue here and there. I almost got a little lost a couple times. Overall it was a pretty well written story for a movie like this, more so than I would have expected. Without spoiling anything, I really liked how they decided to try and resolve the situation. Brad Pitt has this idea all at once, kind of like an epiphany, and he thinks back to all the things that have happened that have supported this idea. In a way, the idea he had made some logical sense. That was refreshing to see.
The zombie effects were also a high point for me. They were actually pretty scary and threatening. At no point in the movie did the audience ever laugh at
something the zombies did, which is rare in this type of film. There were a few really breathtaking CGI scenes, like the one from the trailer where all the zombies are climbing on each other to get over that wall. There were good action sequences and some very suspensful quiet scenes in which somebody was trying to sneak around the zombies. It made the creatures seem more threatening that they didn't just charge head on and take them out like we have seen in a lot of these type of movies. The whole thing had a very realistic feel to it.
I disliked the ending a lot. I had an ending in my head that I wanted and they went a completely different way. It almost seemed to me like they ran out of time and just had to go ahead and rap it up. It didn't make any sense. The whole movie was paced really well and then the ending was rushed. I was very disappointed in that.
To sum up, it was a solid movie. It was probably the best Marc Forster movie I have seen. It was suspensful and scary and everything you want a thriller to be. Even if your not typically a fan of the zombie horror genre, I think you may like this movie. The Movie Man gives it 3.5 out of 5 stars.
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Marc Forster clearly made an effort to avoid beating a dead horse with his first venture in...to the zombie genre. Weather or not this movie succeeded in that regard is up for debate. I would have to say that it did. It looked more like a thriller than a horror or sci-fi flick, and that is a good thing. It was a lot more than a bunch of people running from flesh eating zombies. There was a legit plot line at work here.
The movie starts just as the initial zombie outbreak occurs. These are viral zombies, like in 28 Days Later, which I find a lot more believable than the classic undead zombies. Let's face it, if we ever have a zombie apocalypse, it will be caused by a rapid, wide spread viral outbreak, which is the case in this movie.
Brad Pitt plays Gerry Lane, A retired United Nations employee who is now a devoted father and husband. When the zombie-pocalypse begins, Gerry gets in touch with some former associates inside the government in an attempt to find safety for him and his family. After some pretty nice action/suspense sequences, they all end up on a ship out in the middle of the ocean, where Gerry learns that his family will be able to stay only if he helps find the source of the outbreak.
The acting is very good in this movie. First of all, there is Brad Pitt of course, who is always great. I don't know if anybody else could have played this character and made him feel human. He was what all us men aspire to be; brave, compassionate, aggressive, and desperately trying to take care of his family. Pitt sells every bit of Gerry Lane and turns in a very sympathetic performance.
Someone who is going to be overlooked in this film is Mireille Enos, who plays Gerry's wife Karen. I had no idea who she was but she was pretty terrific.
While I like what they did with this story for the most part, there is one thing that happens pretty early on that didn't seem to make any sense to me. If you watch the movie you'll definitly notice it and probably scratch your head. Some of the plot got a little fuzzy at times with some confusing dialogue here and there. I almost got a little lost a couple times. Overall it was a pretty well written story for a movie like this, more so than I would have expected. Without spoiling anything, I really liked how they decided to try and resolve the situation. Brad Pitt has this idea all at once, kind of like an epiphany, and he thinks back to all the things that have happened that have supported this idea. In a way, the idea he had made some logical sense. That was refreshing to see.
The zombie effects were also a high point for me. They were actually pretty scary and threatening. At no point in the movie did the audience ever laugh at
something the zombies did, which is rare in this type of film. There were a few really breathtaking CGI scenes, like the one from the trailer where all the zombies are climbing on each other to get over that wall. There were good action sequences and some very suspensful quiet scenes in which somebody was trying to sneak around the zombies. It made the creatures seem more threatening that they didn't just charge head on and take them out like we have seen in a lot of these type of movies. The whole thing had a very realistic feel to it.
I disliked the ending a lot. I had an ending in my head that I wanted and they went a completely different way. It almost seemed to me like they ran out of time and just had to go ahead and rap it up. It didn't make any sense. The whole movie was paced really well and then the ending was rushed. I was very disappointed in that.
To sum up, it was a solid movie. It was probably the best Marc Forster movie I have seen. It was suspensful and scary and everything you want a thriller to be. Even if your not typically a fan of the zombie horror genre, I think you may like this movie. The Movie Man gives it 3.5 out of 5 stars.
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Saturday, August 22, 2015
SINISTER 2 MOVIE REVIEW
It is important to note that Sinister 2 begins right where
the first movie left off. If you haven’t
seen the first one you will be pretty lost for a good portion of this
film. I have seen the original multiple
times and I was a little lost myself.
That is an entirely different issue, however.
This
movie centers around a single mother (Shannyn Sossamon) and her twin boys
(played by real life twins Dartanian and Robert Daniel Sloan) who move into an
old farmhouse where a gruesome murder took place years ago. Ex-Deputy So & So (James Ransone)
stumbles upon the family as he is investigating the strange occurrences
surrounding the death of the writer Ellison Oswalt and his family.
The
thing that made the first movie work so well was that the family drama that set
the backdrop for all the scary stuff really worked. You cared about the family and what happened
to them. This movie tries to do the same
thing except this time it doesn’t work nearly as well. I personally didn’t care about the characters
at all which took the tension out of the film.
The whole thing feels quite contrived.
It feels like just what it is; a device by which to inject the scares
into the film. Also, with the mystery of
Bughuul no longer intact, the film is far less interesting. They tried to take a different approach to
the story which I respect, but it just didn’t work for me.
The
acting in the film leaves a lot to be desired.
Shannyn Sossamon is ok, but I’ve always thought she was overrated. James Ransone was good in a supporting role
in Sinister but he is not leading man material.
All of the supporting actors were bad except for Lea Coco, who played
the villainous husband, pulling strings to get back custody of his sons. Although Coco did a pretty good job, his
character was flat and unrealistic.
The
star of the first movie was, without a doubt, the 8mm footage. These scenes provided some of the most
disturbing imagery I have ever seen in a movie.
That is one thing that this sequel got right. It is true that these scenes are more
elaborate and contrived than in the first movie but I think they had to be that
way in order to live up to what was expected here. They certainly exceeded my expectations in
this area. While I would agree that
these segments don’t have the same unexpected emotional punch that they did in
the first movie (which is not entirely the fault of the movie), I would say
that these are more disturbing overall.
Ciaran
Foy (Citadel) did not impress me as the director of this film. There was too much shaky cam stuff. One scene in the climax of the movie is
really hard to watch because of the camera work. There was also a lot of stupid things
happening that would never happen in real life.
It felt like this movie took a lot of shortcuts. The ending of the movie is overly convoluted
with way too much going on, most of which makes no sense.
This
movie is nowhere near as good as the first Sinister. It’s not laughably bad, but it is not good
either. If this is your genre, as it is
mine, it might be worth seeing when it comes out in Redbox. I wouldn’t advise paying theater prices to
see it. I hoped for more from this, but
ultimately got about what I expected.
The Movie Man gives it 2.5 out of 5 stars.
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Thursday, August 20, 2015
THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. MOVIE REVIEW
There was one thing about The Man from U.N.C.L.E. that
absolutely made it stand apart from other movies of it's kind. Just one
aspect of the film made it ascend from potential mediocrity into true
epicness. This film actually gave us,
wait for it………….THE LONE RANGER vs. SUPERMAN!
And as if that wasn’t enough, it then gave us The Lone Ranger and
Superman teaming up! Get it? Because it’s Armie Hammer and Henry
Cavill? They played The Lone Ranger and
Sup……..nevermind.
The
plot of this movie is very simple. The
Nazis have a nuclear bomb and the US and Russia must team up in order to stop
them. That’s about it. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. It allowed the film to focus on execution and
avoid being convoluted, which is a problem that generally haunts this
genre. The simple plot made the movie
easy to watch and put more pressure on the filmmakers and actors to actually
come through.
Guy
Ritchie (Snatch, Sherlock Holmes) did a very good job with this film. It is stylistic in a way that did not
interfere with the film, which I liked.
The movie is not bloated with action scenes, which is usually what
happens with a simple plot like this.
The editing is sensational. The
jump cuts, flashbacks, and split screens all really worked for me. The score of the film is fantastic as
well. A lot of the music reminded me of
stuff from the legendary Ennio Morricone in The Man with No Name trilogy. That fun, “the showdown is about to happen”
type of music really added a lot to the movie.
The
standout performance of this movie comes from Henry Cavill (Man of Steel). He played a stereotypical suave American
spy. His character was pretty much
American James Bond. Cavill brought a
good bit of genuine humor to the film and overacted in all the best ways. Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina) and Armie Hammer
(The Lone Ranger) are also very good in the film. I have never been a fan of Hammer but this is
the best performance I have ever seen from him.
This character fit him like a glove.
Hugh Grant is also in the movie and was good in the limited time he was
actually given in the film.
The
chemistry between the three main actors is very good, which is a key to the
success of the film. The majority of the
movie is based on the relationship between these three characters. This was the most intriguing aspect of the
film to me. There was constant simultaneous
friction and bonding between the characters that kept the film fun and
interesting all the way through.
There
were a few stupid scenes in the movie, which fit with the light tone to some
degree. Still, there were a few scenes
that I just couldn’t buy. I would have liked
for Hammer’s character to have been explained a little more. Cavill’s character had good exposition and
backstory. His counterpart needed the
same treatment. There is a twist or two
in the movie that you will see coming a mile away. Nothing will surprise you here. The execution is still very good and I didn’t
mind the predictability at all, but if you are the type that wants to be
stumped, this is not going to work for you.
In what
has been dubbed the year of the spy movie, I would say that The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
is probably the best one so far. It is
light and fun, which is refreshing to me in an era when all these kind of
movies seem to think they have to be darker and more convoluted than the one
before. I had a very good time with this
film and might go as far as to say it is Guy Ritchie’s best movie to date. The Movie Man gives it 4 out of 5 stars.
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Tuesday, August 18, 2015
FANTASTIC FOUR MOVIE REVIEW
In 2005 a movie came out called Batman Begins. It was a very good film, but by the title and
trailers it was easy to see that this was not going to be another typical
Batman movie. It was obviously going to
be an in-depth film about the origin of Batman.
The first problem with Fantastic Four is that it is predominately that
same type of film although it was marketed as being a straight comic book
movie. This movie is about how the
Fantastic Four became the Fantastic Four.
If you are expecting to see the typical super heroes fighting the bad
guys film, you’re not going to get very much of that at all.
Like I
said before, this is an origin story, almost exclusively. This is about the genius Reed Richards and
how he develops the teleportation machine that leads to the members of the
Fantastic Four acquiring their powers.
Reed along with Sue and Johnny Storm, Ben Grimm, and Victor Von Doom
build the machine that transports them into another dimension. When they come back however, there are
complications.
This
movie actually had some potential. Aside
from an incredibly stupid opening sequence, the first act is not that bad. The characters are actually established well
and I was getting a little bit invested in the outcome. It’s not until the second act that things
start to go awry. And when it starts to
come apart, it really comes apart fast.
One
thing this film had going for it from the very beginning was a very good
cast. Miles Teller (Whiplash) and Kate
Mara (127 Hours) had good performances in the film despite serious problems. Michael B. Jordan (Chronicle) has been very
good in the past but, with the hideous dialogue he was given in this film, he
never had a chance. The director of this
film is Josh Trank (Chronicle). He has
done good work before but it is hard to say how much of this mess is his
fault. He sent out a Tweet recently
basically washing his hands of the film.
That is never a good sign. In
Trank’s defense, it appears to me to be a classic case of studio meddling. I believe the studio had one idea for the
film and Trank had another. What we
ended up getting was a jumbled combination of both.
One
thing you don’t expect to have in a big budget film today is bad effects. However, that is exactly what this movie gave
us. The CGI effects look like something
out of Son of the Mask. Doctor Doom’s
appearance would be laughable if it wasn’t appalling. He
looks plastic. Even the green screen
effects, which is pretty old technology, looks absolutely horrible. All of the scenes that are done in the
alternate dimension just take you completely out of the film because the green
screen is so obvious. There is
absolutely no excuse for this in a film that had this much money behind it in
2015. It is nothing but laziness out of
the filmmakers and an obvious lack of concern for their paying customers.
To say
that this movie fell apart in the third act is an understatement. This could honestly be the worst third act I
have ever seen in a movie. It’s fast,
cheap, and makes no attempt at accomplishing anything substantial. The final fight scene is a joke. The distinct lack of effort was very apparent
here.
As bad
as this film is, and it is VERY bad, these filmmakers actually had the audacity
to set up a sequel and, dare I say, a franchise. They actually think we want to see more of
this. Hopefully this movie will perform
poorly enough to keep that from happening. What I’m saying is, this movie is truly
terrible and does not deserve your money nor one more word from me. The Movie Man gives it 1 out of 5 stars.
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Wednesday, August 12, 2015
MR. HOLMES MOVIE REVIEW
“When legend becomes fact, print the legend.” That is my favorite line from the movie The Man
Who Shot Liberty Valance. It is also, in
a way, the main premise of Mr. Holmes.
This movie shows the “real” Holmes.
Not the one we have all read stories about; stories that Holmes says
were very much embellished by Dr. Watson.
It is refreshing to see the classic story approached from this original
angle.
This
movie employs a technique that I have seen used several times this year; parallel
storytelling. There are three different
stories being told at once that encompass three different periods in Holmes’
life. The somewhat unreliable narrator
taking us on this journey is a 92 year old Sherlock Holmes who is suffering
from senility….and probably Alzheimer’s by the looks of things. He is trying to remember events from his life
so that he can write them the way that they really happened. The one thing he is sure of is that they didn’t
occur the way people think they did.
The
plot of this film is very intriguing and much more involved than I thought it
would be. Screenwriter Jeffrey Hatcher
and director Bill Condon (Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Dreamgirls) did a very good
job with this film. The parallel storytelling
is well organized and to the point. The
plot moves slowly but steadily and there is no wasted time. The movie can feel a bit long at times but I
wouldn’t say that it drags or anything like that. This film is an investment. It will take time and thought to get anything
out of it. The characters are very good,
which is what truly gets you invested in the film on an emotional level. As I said before, this is a very intriguing story;
impressively so.
Ian
McKellen is a legend and there is never any doubt that he is going to have a
good performance in whatever movie he is in.
That being said, it is no surprise that this is one of my favorite
performances of the year. He plays
Holmes at two different ages that are thirty years apart and is very convincing
at both. McKellen has some truly great
dialogue and, while he plays a different Holmes than we are familiar with, he is
exactly as one might expect a great detective to be. McKellen’s performance is most impressive
when he is struggling to remember something that happened in the past, showing
us an emotional combination of frustration and helplessness.
The
ending of the movie is highly intense. Something happens at the end that seemed
completely unnecessary to me at the time, but the way it played out showed me
how wrong I was. Just when it seemed
like the movie should be wrapping up, it takes an unexpected turn that really
pays off in the last five or ten minutes.
This ending is highly metaphorical, filled with symbolism, and is
exactly what this film needed.
Mr.
Holmes is a very good film. It is not a
casual, date night type of movie. This is
a film that is very emotional and thought provoking. It has a lot of story to it but avoids
getting convoluted. Great performances
by the cast, including a legendary outing from Ian McKellen, is what puts this
film in a different league. The Movie
Man gives it 4.5 out of 5 stars.
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Sunday, August 9, 2015
THE GIFT MOVIE REVIEW
I’m going to start off this review with the most important
thing I can tell you. If you haven’t
already, DO NOT watch a trailer for this film.
If you watched it on my Facebook page, I apologize. I also would avoid all reviews for this film,
except this one of course. The trailers
and reviews are all giving away one very important aspect of the film that
should be a big surprise. I’m obviously
not going to spoil that here, but for some reason everybody else is.
This
movie is about an ambitious businessman named Simon (Jason Bateman) and his
wife Robyn (Rebecca Hall) who move back to the area where Simon grew up after
several years away. Soon after the move,
they encounter Gordon, a man from Simon’s past.
When Gordo starts to come on a little too strong, Simon decides it is
time to set some boundaries. That’s all
I’m going to say because that is all you need to know about this movie right
now.
The
story of this film is Joel Edgerton. Not
only does he deliver a terrific performance as Gordo, one of the best of his
career in fact, this is also his writer/director debut. You wouldn’t know it. This is a very well-directed
film. I honestly can’t think of a more
technically sound directing debut.
Although methodical, this is a very well-paced film that took a lot of
discipline to handle correctly. It is
totally psychological and the subtle interactions between the characters are
expertly captured by Edgerton. He does a
fantastic job of showing characters reactions to dialogue. Instead of focusing on the character
delivering the dialogue, he focuses instead on the faces of the characters reacting
to it. That technique is very effective
in a psychological thriller like this. I
was very impressed by this directorial debut.
The screenplay is also very good and focused. It stays within itself and never tries to do
too much.
The
tension in the film relies on the interactions between the three main characters. The
tension is there because the relationships between the characters absolutely
work. They seem like real people. While part of the credit has to go to the
screenplay for creating these characters, the most important aspect of this in
my opinion, is some very fine acting.
Jason Bateman is great in this film.
I usually do not like him, but this is by far the best performance of
his career. Rebecca Hall is wonderful as
the only somewhat grounded character in the film. Great acting and characters are so important
in a film like this and The Gift has both in spades.
If I’m
really nitpicking this movie, and I have to if I’m gonna find very many flaws
to talk about, I could have shaved a few minutes off of the runtime in unnecessary
scenes. Things like showing characters
brushing their teeth or exercising didn’t seem to serve much purpose in moving
the plot along. Also, the creepy, “is
somebody in the dark hallway”, type scenes got a little repetitive at a certain
point. These are small issues in a very
good film, but they are issues none the less.
The
ending of the movie was almost great.
The problem that held it back was that it was too deliberate. The whole film had been very ambiguous and
then a deliberate ending took me out of the movie a little bit. Don’t get me wrong, the ending was very
effective. I just didn’t totally buy it
completely.
The
Gift is everything I hoped it would be and more. It is a very impressive writer/director debut
for Joel Edgerton. It is a film that had
a lot of effort and care put into it and that is something that I value a great
deal. If you like psychological thrillers,
this is the one. Along with Ex Machina,
this is one of the most thought provoking films of the year. The Movie Man gives it 4 out of 5 stars.
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