From left: Girl Shrek, Pizza Guy, Rabies, Purple Shrek, and Treebeard
I don't know about you, but I had never heard of Guardians of the Galaxy until I heard that the movie was coming out. The trailer finally dropped last Tuesday night during Jimmy Kimmel. I wasn't waiting up that late and reviewed another trailer instead. The title of the movie sounded plenty geeky, so I took a closer look and and realized it's a MARVEL story. If you aren't blind and def to the world, you might have noticed that MARVEL has been doing pretty well with their movies since Iron Man came out. The success of comic book movies in general has lead to more and more being made and they actually seem to be getting better, with only a few exceptions.
You can't WILL this shit to be good.
So characters I have never heard of in a story I have no clue about voiced by some pretty recognizable actors? Sounds awesome! Let's take a look at the Guardians trailer:
First impressions? It looks really cool with just enough funny. My favorite thing about this so far might just be the cast and we basically get a quick intro to each of them in the first part of the trailer. We start with Chris Pratt playing the role of Starlord. The name seems to be kind of a self-given one and mostly a joke to everyone else kind of like Captain Jack Sparrow at the beginning of Pirates of the Carribbean. Chris Pratt is coming off another movie I really liked playing the lead role of Emmet in The LEGO Movie. Drax is next. He's a big muscly dude played by big muscly dude David Bautista. I was introduced to him when I used to watch WWE. I have seen him also in some things recently, most notably Riddick, where he wasn't bad in his supporting role. Another casting choice I'm excited about is Zoe Saldana as Gamora. Over the years she has become one of my favorite actresses. It appears she is working her way through the rainbow as she now is playing what appears to be a green alien.
Blue was fun!
The next two are quite a pair. First is Rocket Raccoon. You heard me. Rocket Freakin' Raccoon. He's the one in the middle at the top of the post, if you couldn't guess already. Voiced by Bradley Cooper, he might be redeemed. Not going to even lie, when I first saw there was a raccoon instead of even just some made-up alien, I was very skeptical. We'll see how it comes together, but if that's the worst part of this movie I might still walk away loving it. Lastly is a character we may recognize from Lord of the Rings. What's that's that? It's not really Treebeard? Shoot, he was a dead ringer for him. Anyway, he's voiced by Vin Diesel and the character's real name is Groot. Like Root with a "G." I could be mistaken, but I believe this is Vin's first time back in voice acting since The Iron Giant.
Hopefully he has more lines...
Now, I have to say there is one actress that I am very excited about being in this movie that many of you probably don't know. If you are a fan of Doctor Who, and you really really should be, you will recognize the name Karen Gillan. She's the cute, ginger, Scottish (and did I mention cute?) companion who followed the 11th Doctor around for 2 and a half seasons. As with the show, I will love her forever and am excited to see her in a role outside the show. I have no idea how big of a part she plays, but the character's name is Nebula and if you didn't know what to look for, you probably missed her. She went completely bald for the role to end up looking like this:
Still cute.
This trailer was really great and I can't wait for another to see some more. If the movie was released tomorrow, I'd go even knowing nothing about the story itself. I'm not banking on it being the best MARVEL has ever made, but for a semi-obscure title i think it's going to hit it's mark. It has a great cast, and appears to not take itself too seriously. I can certainly pick up a sort of Pirates vibe to it. Pirates in space. I have to say, I trust Disney with what they have put out in regards to comic book movies. With that said, I am going to remain hopefully optimistic about Guardians of the Galaxy and hope that it knocks my socks off.
As you know, yesterday I posted a review for Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 after watching it on video. Last night, however, I had a great time and ended up going to see a really late show of Frozen. With it still fresh in my memory, I wanted to get a review of it up fur yinz. Until a couple of days ago, I didn't even realize this movie was still playing. There is so much irony going to see a movie called Frozen on the day when the real world was finally NOT frozen.
Filmed in Pittsburgh a week ago.
Spoiler Free!
Frozen actually took me back a little bit. It was a unique story, but it brought back old feelings and memories of the the Disney animated musicals we all grew up with. I don't know if it's fair to say at this point it'll have the same longevity as classics like Aladdin or Beauty and the Beast, but it is certainly a good attempt. We'll find out as time goes by if it garners the same attraction as the others. If I were to put a bet on it, tho, I'd say this is one kids and adults will have no problem watching over and over.
The characters were cool, interesting, and funny. The princesses were voiced, including the singing, by Tony Award winner Idena Menzel and one of my personal favorite she-geeks Kristen Bell. I don't think I ever had any idea that Bell could sing and she did a tremendous job. Until I looked it up after, I really thought someone else was singing for her. That was not the case, however.
This is now her second stint as a Disney Princess, too.
There are points where the story seemed really intense, but this is contrasted with quite a bit of comic relief. Between Sven the Reindeer and Olaf the Snowman, in addition to the many quarks of each main character, there are lots of laughs to go around. The story is a really good one too and the music is really awesome. I can guarantee that there are at least two points where just when you think you have predicted what's going to happen, it takes a sharp turn.
Time for some Spoilers so, as always, continue if you dare or skip down for the Overview!
--Caution: Spoilers Ahead--
Frozen begins when the two princess, Elsa and Anna, are kids. Anna wants to build a snowman and wakes Elsa up to go play. They go to the ballroom and we learn that Elsa has the power to create snow and ice as well as manipulate it. They build their snowman and are playing around when there is an accident as Elsa accidentally hits Anna is the head with ice. Their parents, already aware of Elsa's powers, take the girls to see the Trolls who are able to heal her by helping her forget that her sister has powers but allowing her to remember the fun they had at the same time.
After returning home, Elsa and her parents come up with a plan to hide her powers from Anna and the world to keep Anna safe. Elsa stays in her room and shuts out Anna for years, even through the death of their parents as well as the funeral. Anna tries occasionally over the years to lure Elsa out, but it is no use and eventually she stops trying.
Being the older of the two, Elsa is crowned Queen when she comes of age. For the first time in a long time, the windows, doors, and main gate are opened which pleases Anna. Anna is really naive as she has had very little contact with the outside world. She meets a prince named Hans and after a short musical number she has agreed to marry him. The relationship was going so fast, I expected to see the wedding even a divorce before sunrise the next day.
Just after they were finally reunited from their isolation, Anna asks Elsa for her blessing and Elsa refuses. This causes a fight and for Elsa to lose control of her powers. Everyone saw and Elsa runs away into the mountains. In the process, she ends up freezing the entire town including all the ships in the harbor. Anna decides to go after her, leaving her new fiance to run things at home.
I've been here 2 hours and I'm already in charge and engaged...
This brings up an interesting point. Looking back, I'm not sure why they had to make sure that Anna didn't know Elsa had powers. When she learns of them on coronation day, nothing happened. There were no ill effects. I just realized this because it was a pretty major plot point that kept the two sisters isolated and caused the blow out after the engagement news.
Anna goes after Elsa and meets Kristoff, an ice merchant, and his reindeer Sven. Anna convinces Kristoff to help her get to the mountain where Elsa is hiding. Elsa built a large ice castle where she intends to live to stay away from everyone. She finally embraces her powers and wants to push the limit to see what she can really do. One of the first things is an impromptu makeover, letting her hair down and apparently making a dress out of ice.
On the way to Elsa's, Anna and Kristoff come across a living snowman. Once they meet him, the funniest parts of the movie are on the way. His name is Olaf and he can't wait for summer. He doesn't realize that all the things that he wants to do would melt him. He accompanies the group to the ice castle where he is anxious to meet Elsa who created him.
Totally normal.
Once they reach Elsa, the reunion goes badly. Again, to keep Anna safe, she wants them to go. In another loss of control, Anna is hit with another blast of ice but this time in the heart. Elsa has them thrown out by a giant Snowman and they have to escape after Olaf makes it mad with a snowball.
Hans takes a group to the ice castle after Anna doesn't return. A pretty cool fight takes place and ultimately Hans is able to capture Elsa and take her back to the city.
Anna is in a bad way after taking the ice to the heart. Kristoff takes her to the same Trolls, who are also his family after raising him from when he was a boy. The trolls try to set the two up to get married, but Anna collapses. They realize that the hit to the heart was freezing her. She will continue to freeze until she is a statue of ice and only an "act of true love" will be able to save her.
The obvious course was to hurry and get her to Hans so they can kiss and reverse the spell. When the two are reunited, we learn that Hans is not the good guy he lead us to believe. He is 13th in line to rule in his own kingdom figured it would be easier to marry into royalty elsewhere to take over. He doesn't kiss her and instead locks Anna in the room to turn into a statue. Olaf finds her and gets her out. They realize that Kristoff is her true love and they need to try and get her back to him.
Who can resist a man on a reindeer?
Elsa also escapes and is trying to flee over the solid water. Through a storm Elsa creates, Hans hunts Elsa, while Kristoff searches for Anna. In an excellent scene, the 4 of them are close by. Anna sees Kristoff but also sees Hans about to kill Elsa. She runs away from Kristoff towards Elsa and turns into a statue right as Hans's sword hits her. The sword shatters and Hans is knocked off his feet. This is actually an act of true love, however. Anna sacrificing herself to save Elsa frees her from being a frozen statue and she returns to normal.
This revelation also shows Elsa how to unfreeze the town. Love is the key. She is able to use that to take back all of the snow and return summer to all the land.
General Overview:
So after all that I came away thinking the story was very interesting. It was twisting and turning. Like Cloudy 2, I would think this movie is good for all ages. Overall, it was a cutesy kids movie, but the great cast, excellent music, and astounding visuals were something to see. I only saw it in Digital Projection but from the looks of things, it would also be very good in 3D so if you can find it and want to see it go check it out while you still can.
Minor Spoiler: It is a little sad that Elsa didn't end up with anyone in the end. Maybe there is a guy out there that would be perfect for her and share in some of her same interests...
Well, hello again! Thanks for joining me. Take a Seat, ya Geek. The original plan was to go see something new this week, but that ended up not happening. I'm going to a movie later today on a date (with a girl!) and didn't want to overdo it. You know, strain the movie watching muscles. Instead, I decided to watch and review a movie that is recently out on video, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2.
You won't be able to look away.
Spoiler Free:
If the "2" in the title didn't give it away, there was already a Cloudy movie that came out a couple of years ago. This one was a very good sequel. It was very original and if you like puns, you will love this movie. I'll get into some of them in the Spoiler section. This is also a good family movie. There are some parts that may be a little scary for smaller kids, but it all works out in the end and they will soon be drawing them or trying to build the food animals.
The movie was super-cute and had some really funny moments. It had overarching themes of trust and friendship. It never really dragged at all and moved from plot point to plot point quickly. This made it feel like it went by fast and was good at keeping me engaged, which means it will probably keep you (or your kids) occupied. Before you see it you should probably watch the first one, although there is a quick recap at the beginning of the movie. Or I can give a little preview of it here.
To catch you up, our main character is Flint Lockwood. He's an aspiring scientist. The first movie's story is pretty simple. (First movie Spoilers aren't real Spoilers at this point.) Flint invents machines that sort of work, and sometimes blow up in his face. He invents a machine that turns water into food in an attempt to invent something that can make the world better by ending world hunger.
It both works AND blows up in his face.
The machine gets launched into the atmosphere where it has a steady supply of water. At first, Flint can control the machine to have it produce specific types of food-weather but it eventually starts to do it's own thing which includes bad food sotrms. This quickly escalates to very dangerous conditions like a tornado made of spaghetti. By the end, when Flint and his friends are able to stop the machine, the machine started to even produce LIVING food!
"STEVE!! Gummy Bears!!"
Flint is able to seal off the bottom of the machine with another invention, Spray-on socks, to stop it from being able to produce more food. So everything ends up great and all of our characters live happily ever after.... or do they? Read ahead to find out or jump to the bottom for for the Overview.
--Caution: Spoilers Ahead-- Cloudy 2 picks up right where the first one left off. Flint and team deactivate the food machine and Flint gets the girl. Picking right up with their characters is the original cast. Names like Bill Hader, Anna Faris, Andy Samberg, James Caan, Terry Crews as Earl the policeman, and Neil Patrick Harris as Steve the Monkey return.
STEVE!!!
Flint and the crew all decide to start a lab together using their individual skills to make it great. That plan lasts all of 2 minutes before Chester V, Flint's childhood inventor hero, shows up. He explains that he is in charge of cleaning up the food from their island and everyone would be relocated for a time. Flint would also be going to work for him as he has proven to be a great inventor.
Flint works long and hard trying to earn an orange vest and become a a Thinkonaut with Chester V. After 6 month, he is sure he will get the promotion, but is not selected. Distraught, Flint goes home but is summoned back to meet with Chester. He wants Flint to go back to the island to find the machine which has started making more food-animals. Search teams have been lost trying to locate the machine and it is up to Flint to plug in a "BS-USB" that will turn off the machine and everything the machine has created.
This is a trick and while we don't yet know what Chester's ultimate plan is, he doesn't expect Flint to return from his mission. Flint gets the gang together and they go to the island to find the machine. Once there, awesomeness ensues as we start seeing the food-animals in what felt the while time like a scene out of Jurassic Park.
All we need is a John Williams soundtrack.
The food-animals all get very punny names. There are shrimp-monkeys and team calls them Shrimpanzees. Other fun food animals that you can probably picture somewhat are the FlaMango, HiPotatomus, Fruit Cockatiel, and the Tacodile.
...Supreme!
The main foodimal that has Flint worried is the Cheesespider. A giant burger with sesame seed eyes and french fry legs. In a video it appears they are trying to learn how to swim which would allow them to leave the island and get to the mainland. Jurassic Park much much?
Flint makes it to the machine and realizes that the the foodimals aren't mindless beasts, but family-oriented friendly creatures. They just react terribly to Chester's people who are cruel towards the foodimals. Chester shows up and steals the machine. His plan all along was to reprogram the machine to make is new series of Food Bars using live foodimals as the ingrediants.
Nooooooo!!!!
Flint, the gang, and the foodimals come together to stop Chester and put the machine back where it can continue to make nice foodimals. It's a great showdown and is really fun to watch. There is a sweet battle between Chester's security forces and a living Strawberry named Berry who took over a mechanical suit. In the end, Chester V is eaten by a Cheesespider. With the forces of Evil destroyed, the humans and the foodimals get along great.
The movie ends a little abruptly, but gives a great slideshow at the beginning of the credits to show how they all live together. I highly recommend watching this part as it is still very funny.
General Overview
This was a really fun movie. Good for all ages. As I mentioned, you will especially like it if you like puns as they are all over the place in this movie. You should be laughing through just about the while thing.
I kind of hope they don't make another one. Another parallel to Jurassic Park could be to quit while you are ahead. I'm not saying it's impossible, but I just don't think they will be able to top this one. The foodimals were perfect as were the names they came up with. I'm just not sure what direction another movie would take. Jurassic Park you are on the island and Jurassic Park 2 you go back. Quit there.
Bottom line, definitely check out this movie and watch the first one if you haven't already. Unless you aren't paying attention, I can't think of a reason you shouldn't like this movie. I'll leave you with this and tell me something doesn't move in your gut:
Time for another edition of Trailer Tuesday! Take a Seat because this is a special one for me since today is my birthday. I was hoping that we would have a full-length trailer of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy by now, but from what I hear that is actually going to be released later today. I'm impatient and want to review something, so i figured I'd share a trailer that I really enjoyed and am psyched to see more.
I really get how much Magneto looks like a young Magneto from this poster.
The trailer I decided to review is for X-Men Days of Future Past. This trailer came out a little while ago. Since then, I watched an absolutely terrible The Wolverine which has me craving a good X-Men movie. Now maybe you enjoyed The Wolverine to which I say SHAME ON YOU! It wasn't the worst movie ever made, but it made no sense. He's mortal, but that just means bullets hurt?? Seriously, he got shot a lot and it barely slowed him down. It left us with more questions than answers and makes me wonder if it will ever have happened in the universe that Days of Future Past is set in.
Anyway, I digress, and without any further ado here's the trailer for this week:
Right from the beginning, this trailer has me hooked. The music is perfect. The tone is dark. From what we can see, it starts in the future. The inevitable war between the mutants and the humans is in full swing. The mutants are wearing some sweet-looking armor and, honestly, I would love to just see that movie. The future war. Granted, I thought that about Terminator and eventually we got Terminator: Salvation. I need to be careful about what I wish for.
If you disagree here's approximately 3 words: Naked. CG. Arnold.
Back to the trailer, we're in the future. It must not be going well for the mutants. Professor X says that he had a "glimpse into the past." Talking to Wolverine, again played by Huge Jacked-man, they are talking about a plan to send him back where he will attempt to change something in the past. We can only assume that it has something to do with ending the war before it starts. You know what? This really does have a Terminator vibe to it.
It looks imperative that you see X-Men First Class if you haven't already. We meet again young Professor X and young Magneto. The plan has something to do with bringing them together in the past and for some reason Professor X has gone kind of Grunge with long hair and a beard, although he is in his signature wheel chair.
And what does the blue "X" on his face mean? ...You Are Here.
Obviously he's a long way from becoming the Patrick Stewart Professor X. It will be interesting to see how the two end up talking and what the young X will need to do. The trailer does a good job of not giving us too much about all that. We get a little bit of the overarching story, but not too many details. Those are my favorite trailers. Leave me wanting more.
We also see some of the old cast. Ice Man, Kitty Pryde, Rogue, Storm, and some new faces. Lennifer Lawrence is also back as Mystique. From their expressions and reactions, things are really not going well for them and sending someone back in time might be the only way to save them all.
Outside of the trailer there has been some other news released, including a picture of what the Sentinels will look like. Sentinels are giant robots created by the humans to combat mutants. These were featured heavily in the old X-Men animated TV show from when I was a kid.
Did the Sentinel go on a diet to be in the real movie?
This will not be the first time that we see the Sentinels in the X-Men series. Although, they look a little different, we saw the severed head of one in X-Men 3. At the beginning when several X-Men were in a training simulation, Wolverine has Colossus throw him into the fog at some attacking foe. He takes it down and all we see is the head come crashing down.
This is no time to... lose one's head?
Should I bother telling you that I'm excited about this movie? For as much as we get to see, we really don't know much. I know there is a comic out there about this story, but I won't be reading it. I want to go into this movie ready to take it in fresh. From what I hear, this story is a little different even in premise from the comic anyway.
Maybe Professor X can send me into the future so I don't have to wait any longer for this one to come out. I think I'm going to go watch the trailer again right now. It is just that good.
A movie I haven't been excited about and went to see mostly for lack of other options is now in the books. Robocop has hit theaters and is very different than the other mushy Valentine's weekend movies that came out along side it. As I do not have anyone to see a mushy movie with (although I am currently taking applications and reviewing candidates), Robocop seemed to be the one to pick.
"Dead or Alive... You're watching my movie."
D-Box Experience:
As I was planning my day and checking the theaters, I noticed there were times listed for something called "D-Box Seating." They lined up with the other shows, but I remembered seeing a display last week before The LEGO Movie about D-Box. It was very vague to look at. 2 movie theater seats in front of a screen. The head rests said "Reserved for D-Box" but there was a big red button that said "Play" next to the screen. Since I wasn't as early as I usually am, I bypassed it and saw my movie.
This week, I tried to do a little more research about it. I dare you to go to their website and get any real idea what D-Box actually is. Seriously go. Fine, I'll just tell you. Once I did some digging and watched a YouTube video on it, I learned what was so special about D-Box Seating.
Taking another step forward from where some theaters have taken the movie-going experience by adding soft, leather seating that costs a bit more to sit in, D-Box tries to make the movie experience more immersive. It takes a slightly more comfortable seat, adds some hydraulics, and a roll-cage.
Thought I was kidding about the roll-cage, didn't you?
The D-Box seats move with a choreography set to the movie. At times this was really cool. Flying with a drone over a small town, it gently glides you left and right with the drone as though you were following it. When bullets were fired (and there were a lot of bullets fired), you feel the pop of the gun. Even an emphasized heart beat you can feel through your seat. You pick your seat when you buy your ticket and MUST sit in that seat. You can also pick your overall intensity for how much of the action you want to feel once you sit down.
At times I thought this was great. The first time it happened, though, I thought someone kicked the back of my chair. I hate that so much. So it took some time to adapt. This is new, so I would expect it to get better. At an $8 up-charge it is somewhat cost-prohibitive to see a lot of movies this way. It was neat, but I didn't think $8 neat.
There are movies I think would be worth that. Picture watching Jurassic Park. When the power first goes out and the cars are stuck outside of the T-Rex pen: That iconic scene where the the footsteps make ripples in the glass of water and you hear the increasing boom with each step as it gets closer. Now imagine that you could feel that instead of just watching it. In a moment like that it's a great idea. To watch a whole movie that way, however, is another story. I would recommend giving it a try, but be prepared for some movement that makes no sense with what you are watching and at times you will want to punch someone for kicking your seat.
"Kick my seat again and I'll EAT YOU!!!" - me
Spoiler-Free:
That's D-Box, so on to Robocop. As I mentioned, I was not particularly excited about this movie in the first place. I actually thought it would be a great candidate to be my first bad to terrible review since I started this blog. At first, it was on it's way there. Watching a remake of any movie, it is nearly impossible not to compare it to the original- a movie I've seen many times from the time I was a kid.
Overall, I didn't think it was bad. It holds true to the original story for the most part while giving it a more modern look. That being said, there were overarching things that bothered me the whole time that you can see right in the trailer. Speaking of the trailer:
If you couldn't guess, it's the human hand and the black paint-job. I understand the more modern, sleeker look to the body, but changing the color? It was hard to identify as the character from watching the original so much. The human hand just didn't fit for me. It took away the symmetry and you have to assume that it wouldn't be as strong as a fully mechanical hand, ya know, like the one he has on his other side.
Overall, before going into more details with some spoilers, I actually enjoyed the movie. You do have to detach from the original some and give it a chance, but it was an interesting introspective into free-will and consciousness as well as the idea of control. Are we in control or do we have an illusion of control? Anyway, time for some spoilers, so if you don't want to know skip down to the bottom.
--Caution: Spoilers Ahead--
Robocop takes place in the near future. It's a world where the mega-company OCP makes a line of humanoid combat drones for use oversees. They also have the mech-warrior looking giant tank mechs that are almost ripped right out of the original. There is a standing law forbidding the use of these drones on U.S. soil which has overwhelming public support. OCP needs to find a way to gain public trust to open the market in the U.S. to accept drones in law enforcement in order to earn ALL the money.
Meanwhile, Alex Murphy, is a Detroit detective. Tell me if you've heard this part before. Yadda yadda, crooked cops, investigation, arms dealer, killed for his trouble. The attempted murder was a little different than the original. I loved how the original did it. He knew who killed him. Surrounded by shotgun-wielding bad guys he was blown to pieces one shot at a time. In this movie he is also blown to pieces, but by a car-bomb intended to stop his investigation into the arms dealer which could lead him to the crooked cops.
Artist's interpretation.
OCP is reviewing candidates to put a man inside a machine. The idea being to give the people a drone with a conscience, not a cold killing machine. They see Alex Murphy and talk his wife into allowing the procedure. We get a gruesome view of what is left of him after the surgery when they take all of his limbs away and all that is left is his head, throat, and his lungs in transparent containers breathing away. I missed a lot of what was said at that point because I was just looking at the lungs. Unfortunately, the seat didn't rise and fall with each breath.
In true origins-film style, we go through the different steps into him becoming the Robocop that we remember. Contrasted from how the original had Murphy hardwired and emotionless right off the bat, the remake actually starts with the real Murphy learning about his differently-abledness and dealing with his new reality. He even meets his wife and kid again early.
We do know, however, that he is wired so that in combat, the AI takes over. Alex thinks he is in control, but he really isn't. The problem comes in while they are uploading police records and CCTV footage into his brain when he sees the footage of his own murder and is unable to cope. The doctor (played by the great Gary Oldman) lowers his dopamine levels to almost nothing so he doesn't feel anything about his murder. He is now the emotionless robot from the original film. His sole focus is on making arrests and upholding the law. This part is pretty bad-ass.
After his wife stops him for a brief second and pleads with him, Robocop begins to unravel his programming and proceeds to solve his own murder. Again, not quite as dramatic as the original film. In that one, he electrocutes himself to fry the programming that is keeping him under OCP control. In this one, it appears to be his feelings for his family that undo his programming. Once he is free, he is able to take down the arms dealer and find evidence on the crooked cops, including his own police chief who it turns out helped facilitate his murder.
This isn't good for OCP. Realizing Alex is no longer completely under their control, they want to terminate him. They can't risk that he would go to the press and jeopardize getting all drone-use legal in the country. Alex fights through a blockade of the large mechs and gets pretty beat up to get to Michael Keaton and to save his wife and kid.
In a somewhat anti-climactic finale to the action, Michael Keaton is wearing a bracelet that indicates to Robocop's programming that he can't be harmed. Again, sound familiar? Alex has to fight that programming in order to kill him and get his "life" back. Obviously he succeeds and, with the help of Gary Oldman, gets fixed up and his original silver-blue coloring back.
It really brings out his eyes.
In Summary:
I liked the movie. Would I see it again? Eh, not sure. Once was probably enough, even when it is on DVD. I will say if they make a sequel, it might be decent and I'd probably see that.
My thoughts on the new Robocop are mainly that it was interesting, but not great. Like I mentioned up top, making his body black to be more "tactical" really took away some of the cool-factor. It would have been interesting for a scene or 2, but it was that way for the majority of the movie.
So a pretty decent story with lots of action and, of course, my seat getting me a little more into it at points were definitely high marks for the movie. As for low points really, just the things I mentioned already. The only other thing I can say on that is that it failed to out-do the original. I don't necessarily expect that it be better than the first, but at least out-do it. Make it more epic and somewhat memorable. The best way I could illustrate this is to say look at Heath Ledger's Joker from The Dark Knight. There was a great previous performance of this character by Jack Nicholson but they were able to really make a mark with it. That's a performance that is going to stick with us, but I think Robocop will be overshadowed by the original forever and eventually forgotten.
Also, that human hand just always gave me the feeling that he was just wearing a suit, not that he WAS the suit no matter how much they beat it into us. I don't get that decision at all.
It's that time of the week again where we Take a Seat and look at a trailer for something coming up on the horizon. I considered posting about the Robocop remake that comes out this week, but I might end up going to see that so I'll save it just in case. I'm chomping at the bit for a bad review, and that one just. might. do it.
I've been thinking all day what to review. Since I am still just getting started reviewing and there are so many movies and trailers out there I need to catch up on (plus TV show reviews I'd like to get to), there are quite a few choices. To pluck some more low-hanging fruit, I decided to look at another comic-book movie: Amazing Spider-Man 2.
Pictured: Low-hanging fruit
Obviously, I never reviewed the first Amazing Spider-Man so first we should talk a little about that movie. The first time I heard it announced that a new Spider-Man was being made I wasn't into it at all. We just turned off Spider-Man 3 with Tobey Maguire and suddenly there was another movie with a new actor and the word "Amazing" in the title in the pipeline. Granted, this was actually several years later, but you get my point. It felt so soon. I'm not saying I loved or even liked the Maguire trilogy but, without giving too many seperate reviews all at once, I liked the first one and thought they went downhill from there.
With the fresh memory of another Spider-Man and rumors that this new one was made due to not wanting to lose the Copyright, it seemed like a recipe for disaster. Leading up to the movie, through trailers and all, I was reluctant to give it a chance. Once it finally made it to the dollar theater (Rest in Peace, Carmike Maxi-Saver), I decided to give it a try one day after I got out of the gym. Yes, I showered first, I'm not insane.
I prefer eccentric.
I was pleasantly surprised. I liked the casting choices. Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, Denis Leary as her cop dad, Sally field as Aunt May, Martin Sheen (not the crazy one, his dad) as Uncle Ben, and Rhys Ifans as the villain: The Lizard were all solid. It took watching the movie to realize that Andrew Garfield was going to be a good Spidey. It also took watching the movie to realize that he once before saved New York from the Daleks with The Doctor on Doctor Who.
From Left to Right: Jones, Martha; Doctor, The; Man, Spider
Anyway, it changed my tune and I was like, "Tobey Macguire who?" Although at that point most people had seen Sea Biscuit and were thinking that already. Anyway, now that we have the background out of the way, it's time for the main attraction! Here's the trailer:
Holy villain overload, Spider-Man! I'm not saying that as a bad thing. In this movie, we finally meet Harry Osborn. We also see him using Oscorp tech to turn himself into the Hobgoblin. No cheesy Green Goblin mask in this one. This looks like a gritty Gobby and I really like the casting. The actor first showed up on my radar when I watched Chronicle, a movie I wasn't expecting much from but surprised me largely because of him.
Other glimpses we get are of Electro, played by Jamie Foxx, and Rhino played by Paul Giamatti. Foxx was an interesting choice, but he might turn out to be really good. Especially if he is mostly CG like he appears to be in the trailer. Giamatti is great and I can't wait to see more of him and this updated version of Rhino.
That's a lot of villains for one movie. That pretty much leaves Doc Oc and/or Venom for the bad guy in the inevitable 3rd movie in the series. At least as headlining villains, that is. They don't appear to be wasting Doc Oc in the second movie like that other trilogy.
So that's it, right? Just one trailer? A little over 2 and a half minutes of foreplay? NOPE! Last week during the Superb Owl, an extended trailer dropped. I didn't watch it until after, but I imagine it was another where they directed you to go watch it online. Otherwise, the commercial would have cost as much as a small movie itself. Here's the extended trailer:
There may be another trailer floating out there, but I don't care. This extended look is all I need to see before going to this movie. It starts with Peter being really bad about hiding his alter-ego from his Aunt May. (It looks like it ends that way too, and quite hilariously.) The biggest thing we get is a view of non-CG Jamie Foxx. We get a little bit of the story as to how he becomes a villain. He was an introvert and looked up to Spider-Man. He has a kind of cliche industrial accident that gives him super powers over electricity. He wants to be more like Spider-Man but is not accepted as such and when Spider-Man doesn't recall his name he flies off the handlebars. Is it just me or did he fall into a vat of electric eels?
Even a little fresher and more 'ZAP'-y
Other than Electro, we see slightly more of Rhino and a little more of Harry. With this trailer, I think we can safely say that the story should be a good one. Uniting all three of these villains against Spider-Man should provide a very entertaining couple of hours. I just hope that it's not some cheesy twist that enables Spider-Man to win out. Because he will. There is still money to be made. Things don't look so good for New York as it appears another movie is hell-bent on leveling as many buildings as possible. Should be something to see and I can't wait until I can see it and how Spider Man handles it all.
I just got back from seeing The LEGO Movie at one of my favorite theaters and if you want a quick opinion, just read the subtitle ahead. But you aren't here for a quick opinion, are you? That would be boring and I don't think you're boring. Alright, Take a Seat!
Spoiler Free:
When I first saw that a movie about LEGO characters was coming out, I wasn't very pumped about it. With all of the LEGO video games like Star Wars, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Spiderman, Marvel Super Heroes, and so many more I was kind of sick of looking at LEGOs. And I'm a guy that was SUPER into LEGOs as a kid. Really, you should have seen my room.
Not my actual room. But... you get the point.
Then I saw a trailer for it before another movie I was seeing. This completely turned me around on this one. Just hearing some of the voices that i recognized told me some serious work was going into this movie. Stars like Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson, Will Ferrell, Elizabeth Banks, and Will Arnett stuck out right away. In case you haven't seen it yet, here's the trailer:
I was juiced up about seeing it. The animation was great and smooth, but more importantly it looked like it had a good story that was interesting and actually warranted being set in a universe of LEGO people. It set it's own rules and building with the LEGOs of this universe was a big part of it.
Now is where Spoilers are going to start flying, so if you don't want to know too much, skip down to the bottom for my general overview!
--Caution: Possible Spoilers Ahead--
Good, now we can talk shit on all the people who haven't seen it yet who skipped below. Eh, they're probably alright and I'm sure they'll join us soon enough. Anyway, here we go!
The movie opens with Will Ferrell (President Business) stealing an important item from Morgan Freeman (God maybe? Isn't he always?) and blinding him in the process. President Business intends to use the object, The Kragle, to end the universe. Freeman gives a prophecy about the "Piece of Resistance" which would render the Kragle useless to Ferrell and that the Piece would be found by one called The Special.
Enter our main character, Emmet Brickowski. He's a typical LEGO guy doing typical LEGO things. Like a good LEGO person, he always follows his instructions. He has instructions for everything, from brushing his teeth and showering, to putting on clothes, buying overpriced coffee, to doing his job. He's a construction worker. Everything is planned and all he has to do is follow the instructions. Everyone is happy and everyone's favorite song is "Everything is Awesome" and everyone's favorite TV Show is "Where Are My Pants." The show is literally a LEGO guy bearing his yellow legs asking "Where are my pants?" Everyone gets a kick out of it.
"Where are my pants?" Yes, that's the whole show.
Emmet is also lonely. He's trying to make friends at work and his instructions tell him to enjoy eating breakfast with the people closest to him. That ends up being a plant. One night after work, he sees someone snooping around the construction site when he goes to retrieve his instructions. He's about to call for help, like his instructions tell him to do in that situation, when she lowers her hood and he sees it's a girl (Wyldstyle/Elizabeth Banks). He is clearly struck by her and ultimately tries to follow her. He falls down a a cavernous hole and ultimately lands near an interesting looking object. When he touches it, he sees a mixed up vision of Morgan Freeman and the prophecy and passes out. When he wakes up, the mysterious object is attached to his back. This, as we learn, is the Piece of Resistance.
As you can guess, this makes him a target of President Business who relentlessly tries to get the piece from him. Much of the movie is comprised of Emmet and his ever growing party of Master Builders (the LEGO people with a brand name, like Batman) evading Bad Cop, voiced by Liam Neeson. The Master Builders don't need instructions to build. They can make the instructions in their head and build what they need from whatever is around. There are some cameo appearances such as Han Solo, Lando, and C-3PO, all voiced by their respective stars. That really got the Geek in me going.
Humans exist somehow in this world, however, the President has several "relics" in his office. There is a Band Aid (referred to as the Cloak of Band Ayeed) and later in the movie an X Acto Knife (The Sword of Exact Zero) among other things. We come to learn that the Kragle is a bottle of super glue. KRAzy GluE with some of the letters covered up, similar to VGER being the VoyaGER probe in Star Trek The Motion Picture.
The plan to end the universe is to cover it in glue so nothing changes. President Business doesn't like "chaos" or things changing. He has an army of things called Micro-Managers that can place people and tings right where he wants them. He wants things to remain the same all the time. So much so, that there are different sections of the LEGO Universe for different types of LEGOs. There is a Pirate area for the Pirate series, an Old West, and even an area called Middle Zealand which bears a striking resemblance to Lord of the Rings. Gandalf makes an appearance at a couple of points. The President buildt walls between these areas to keep things where they are supposed to be.
"YOUUU. SHALL NOT. PASSS!"
Guess what The Piece of Resistance is. Go ahead guess. Fine, I'll tell you. It's the cap for the bottle of glue. It was stuck to Emmet's back because there was some glue still on the it when he landed. As Emmet was the one who found the Piece, he was The Special as the prophecy foretold DAYS before.
So Emmet is expected to be a Master Builder who can lead the other Master Builders to take the Piece of Resistance to The Kragle and stop President Business before he can freeze the LEGO universe. Emmet is far from being a Master Builder. The twist is that Emmet is able to lead the Master Builders by having them follow instructions, the one thing that President Business wouldn't expect them to do.
I don't follow anyone's instructions. Not even my own.
It turns out that Morgan Freeman made up the prophecy. He knew that if Emmet believed he was The Special, he could become The Special. And ultimately, this was true about everyone. All you have to do is believe in yourself and Freeman knew this. When the plan to cap the Kragle fails and everyone is captured, Emmet sacrifices himself by jumping out the window with the battery that was going to electrocute him and the Master Builders. He falls into some type of swirling vortex where it is believed nothing returns from.
While President Business believes he has beaten the Master Builders and is free to carry out his plan, Wyldchild goes on TV where all the other LEGO people can see her to spread the word that they can all build things to stop the President. The uprising begins as the people fight back.
Now for the real twist. I gave one before, but this is the real one. This whole story is really happening in the mind of a kid that is playing with his dad's (Will Ferrel's) LEGO collection. His dad is very particular with his LEGOs and has everything built exactly as he wants it. There are "Do Not Touch" signs all over the place. The kid just wants to play and is sad the his dad is going to commit a LEGO crime by gluing what he has build together so they won't be disturbed or broken.
After seeing what the kid did to his LEGOs and gluing some down in anger, he realizes what his son built and stops. After the kid tells him the story he was playing out, Will Ferrell realizes that the story is about him. He sees that the kid just wants to play with the LEGOs as they were intended to be played with, not just leave them in perfectly built and set scenes. Side-by-side we see how the kid and his dad repair their relationship and how Emmet stops the President from continuing to use the Kragle.
In Summary:
There were hints of The Matrix and slashes of.. well Batman. This was a heartwarming story that was funny and interesting the whole way through. It was imaginative and gave plenty of screen time to lots of different characters. Everyone had their quirks which made it fun to watch. There were surprising things and even some things for the adults watching. This seems like a good movie for everyone, young and old. Especially if you were into LEGOs like I was, there are parts that are just going to take you right back to playing with them.
Darn, I'm running out of flat pieces....
If there was a moral to this story, it's to do your own thing. Yes, there are instructions to help you along the way, but being yourself and building what you want is important. Adapt to change, don't glue things down. It's more fun to be able to change things than to be stuck permanently.
