RED 2 poster and trailer; we're in for a retired roller coaster!

I'm actually a little late with this one.  But I really wanted to share.  The poster above is brand new, from moviefone.  It's for RED 2 directed by Dean Parisot.  It's actually the sequel to the 2010 hit, RED.  And RED is an acronym for Retired and Extremely Dangerous.  Of course!  The characters are right out of a comic book by the same name.  Again, Bruce Willis leads the pack, with Mary-Louise Parker, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren in tow.  But there are some new players as well.  The legendary Anthony Hopkins, the absolutely gorgeous Catherine Zeta-Jones, and G.I. Joe alum, Byung-hun Lee are in for the fun.  Check out the trailer below and my thoughts after.  

I'm going to be positive on this one.  Even though, it's very cliche for an assassin to be 'retired', and then 'un-retire' and then 'retire' and then 'un-retire' for the sake of a sequel.  Follow all that?  Don't worry about it.  The point is, we have to have a suspension of disbelief, and if we do, we're in for a great time.  All the heavy hitters are back from the first film.  And we know the movie is going to play on a lot of the same jokes as the first film.  But this trailer lacks the element of surprise that the first film had to offer.  So I'm going to wait for an additional trailer before I write off the film.  Then again, I wrote off the first film and ended up absolutely loving it.  So what do I know?

Quickie: First motion poster for I, Frankenstein starring Aaron Eckhart

Check out the first poster (a motion poster at that), for I, Frankenstein.  The monster remake stars Aaron Eckhart as the titular character.  The film is directed by Stuart Beattie.  I have to be honest, I don't have much else to say, because until this poster premiered, I didn't really care what was happening with this film.  But this image alone has me intrigued.  At this point, I am listing Eckhart, now sell me with a trailer!  Stay tuned for more updates, as they come up.

First look at Paul Giamatti as Rhino, in The Amazing Spider-Man 2

You gotta love Twitter!  Marc Webb, director of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is very active on the social media site.  And he has posted a picture of Paul Giamatti, playing Aleksei Sytsevich; who eventually becomes Rhino!  This guy looks mean!  Coupled with another villain, Electro played by Jaime Foxx, Spider-Man's got his work cut out for him.

Also in the film is Dane Dehaan who plays Harry Osborn.  The Marc Webb franchise is definitely bringing in new characters from the Spider-Man universe, and I love that.  I hate when rebooted franchises use the same characters as its predecessor.  I'm pretty happy with the sneak peaks I've seen.  Hope the film builds on that.

Oblivion review; a visually stunning film, with very little substance

A few years ago, an up and coming director named Joseph Kosinski was awarded a coveted job.  Directing a sequel to a cherished film, that was released nearly 30 years earlier.  The sequel he directed?  TRON Legacy.  Don't get too excited.  I saw the trailers and was jazzed, couldn't wait to see it.  But after walking out, I realised I actually hated the film!  Fast forward a few years and now Kosinski follows up his directorial debut with Oblivion, starring Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman and Olga Kurylenko.  What if there was a war on Earth, a war mankind won.  But the outcome of that war would force us to move to another planet?  Well, this film asks that question.  Let's go!


What I liked about the film:
Production Design/Special Effects

The movie takes place in the distant future.  The world as we know it is gone, reduced to nothing but rubble.  A war on Earth has forced humans to move to another planet.  Production Designer, Darren Gilford, did an incredible job!  This is actually a reteaming of sorts, as he worked with Kosinski on TRON Legacy.  Another fun fact: this isn't Gilford's first dive into the future of mankind.  He was also the production designer on Idocracy, a Mike Judge film that explains how dumb humans will be in the future.  Anywho, back to this film.  The buildings, the transportation vehicles, the various landscapes, and the CGI are among the best I've seen in a long time.  Lightwave International provided the special effects, and they are something to behold.  These aspects of the film may be worth the cost of admission alone.

Tom Cruise

I.  Love.  Tom Cruise.  There I said it.  I am a huge fan of the actor.  I rarely see a film of his where he doesn't give it his all.  Whether he's a spy (Mission Impossible), or a Civil War hero (The Last Samurai), I believe he can do it all.  I will be careful not to give anything away.  But I will say this... his character, Jack Harper, is a curious, and gentle man, who was taught how to be lethal.  Cruise has some great scenes where he has no dialogue.  His eyes and facial expressions do all the talking.  That is powerful stuff and I really enjoyed those scenes in the film.

Music
The music in the film is inspiring.  Anthony Gonzales and Joseph Trapanese co-composed the film.  Trapanese also worked with Kosinski on TRON Legacy's score.  The music told a story on its own.  A story about the future, man's will to survive, and so on and so on.  It just had one great track after another.  The music in Oblivion sounded awfully familiar though.  As if Hans Zimmer's nonexistent twin, merged the scores for Inception and The Dark Knight Rises to create this.  This is not a knock on the co-composers, but the similarities can not be ignored.  Check it out and let me know what you think.


What I didn't like about the film:
A Very Thin Script
I'm going to be blunt.  It was ALMOST a clever, original story.  Karl Gaidusek and Michael Arndt wrote a very thin script.  By the end of the film, it turns out it is nothing more than a stupid story that steals from many sci fi films before it.  The movie has aspects of Source Code (more on that in a moment), The Matrix and I Am Legend; all rolled into one hot mess.

SPOILER ALERT: Towards the third act, we discover that there are multiple clones of the Cruise character.  Well, that aspect of the film makes sense on paper, but Kosinski didn't translate it well into his story telling.  There was too much left for the audience to wonder, that there was no real PUNCH to that plot twist.  It just casually came and went.  I didn't like this at all.  END SPOILER.  I was very disappointed in the script.

Characters

I really enjoy Olga Kurylenko's acting.  I think she is a talented, beautiful woman.  And she does well in this film.  But her character has nothing to her.  This is a tiny tiny spoiler; but she is the love of Cruise's life.  They have a long and storied history.  We BARELY get to skim the surface of that love.  This is by no means Kurylenko's fault, more so the writers.  Same goes for Morgan Freeman.  The man is an Oscar winning actor.  He can do anything!  Yet we learn nothing about his character.  Why not dive deeper?  Who was he before 'the war'?  How did he get to where he is now?

Then there is Oscar winning actress Melissa Leo.  Poor Melissa Leo.  This woman hit a homerun in The Fighter.  And she hase barely recieved any roles since.  Was it the F-bomb in her acceptance speech people?    No spoiling here, but she is restricted to a desk the entire film.  What the hell?  Remember how I mentioned Source Code earlier?  Again, no spoiler here... but she is essentially the same character as Vera Farmiga was in that.  Giving orders from behind a screen, sitting a desk the entire film.  Ugh, why even take this role?  Let's get Melissa Leo more work people!  And with all that being said... Who cares what happens to any of these characters, if after 2 hours, we still don't know anything about them.  Just a terribly scripted film.

Pacing
Dear God are there some excruciatingly slow scenes in this film.  The first act travels at a snail's pace.  NORMALLY, a film slows down for character development; well trust me, this film does not do that.  It's slow for no apparent reason.  I didn't feel like it was slowing down to build suspense or tension.  It was just slow to be slow.  Then acts 2 and 3 rip by very quickly.  Inconsistent at best.


The Verdict:
What Could Have Been...

The title to my TRON Legacy review was: "TRON Legacy review, Too Bad, Too Too Bad".  I feel the same way here.  The movie was good in my opinion.  The production design and special effects are A+ quality.  Tom Cruise is his usual great self.  Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko and Melissa Leo brought some real star power.  But what is the purpose of a film?  To tell a story!  And while Joseph Kosinski's intentions were good, he again missed the mark.  I think it is a MUCH better film that TRON Legacy, and Kosinski is definitely maturing as a storyteller.  But he has a ways to go before I can call him a good director.    If you haven't already seen the film, wait for the Blu-Ray.  You wont regret the wait!

G.I. Joe: Retaliation review; exactly what I expected (that's not a bad thing)

G.I. Joes were of course made famous by those little action figures, comic books and animated series.  Then in 2009, they were brought to the big screen... in a big way.  The movie made a boat load of money, elevated Channing Tatum's star power to another level, and created a franchise.  A sequel was announced and Tatum's role, as well as the original cast, was diminished.  It was announced Dwayne Johnson would take over as the lead in the newly titled, G.I. Joe: Retaliation.  Set to be released last year, the studio made a shocking announcement.  The movie would be delayed 9 months for reshoots and post-production 3D conversion.  Now the movie has been out for quite some time, but I just got around to watching it, so let's go Joe!


What I liked about the film:
The Action

I'm a very realistic movie fan.  I don't walk into Summer action films expecting Oscar darlings (unless of course Christopher Nolan is involved).  So I knew walking into 'Retaliation' that it was going to be pure eye candy and nothing more.  And I was right.  The action was much more grounded, with the occasional absurdities.  Nicely choreographed hand to hand combat was solid.  Then there were the impressive hillside battle between ninjas that got me excited to see the film, since the trailer was released.  The scene is absurd, but so entertaining, I didn't care.  Director Jon Chu really elevated the action from the previous film.

The Actors

Dwayne Johnson was seriously born to be an action star.  He is so believable as the leader of this mini-army, I'd probably line up in formation if he ever yelled at me.  He does a solid job with the VERY little character development in the film.  D.J. Cotrona, Elodie Yung and Adrianne Palicki and nice additions to the main cast of characters.  Familiar favorites return as well.  Jonathan Pryce returns as the President of the United States.  He actually plays dual roles, and I was impresed.  Byung-hun Lee, Ray Stevenson, Ray Park and Arnold Vosloo all return to reprise their roles.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt's role has been recast for Luke Bracey.  I thought it was a nice mix of actors all working cohesively.  For the most part.

The Pace/Cinemotography/Music
Not that these categories should be clumped together, but they all come down to one man... Jon Chu.  His directing really did it for me.  The pacing of the film is terrific.  Nice and swift, easy to follow.  The cinematography was nicely done, by Stephen Windon.  It was a nice looking film that kept me wanting more.  And finally, Henry Jackman put together a hell of a score.  It was big, bold, exciting, sympathetic and more.  I really enjoyed it.  


What I didn't like about the film:
The Writing/Story

This is a tough one to describe.  Only because one has to wonder what the movie would have been like without the delay and reshoots.  I read over and over that reshoots were to include more of Channing Tatum's character.  And after seeing the film, I know exactly where the reshots took place.  It's that obvious.  A scene depicted in the trailer, was that of all the G.I. Joes being terminated.  I am willing to bet money that, that was originally the opening of the film.  They added a few additional scenes between Tatum and Dwayne Johnson to dive deeper into their relationship.  Ultimately, it did nothing for me.

The movie felt a bit choppy, unorganized and didn't feel cohesive.  While the pace was nice and quick, the story stumbled.  It tried to be too much and ended up hurting the film.  For the entire second act, we're trying to follow two smaller groups of Joes, on different sides of the planet.  And my final eye roll came at the hands of one character who makes a complete 180 degree turn from one side of the fight to the other.  Whatever.  Again, it's a Summer action film!

Bruce Willis
I'm still trying to figure out why Bruce Willis was in this movie.  You all know by now that I don't spoil anything in my reviews, and I'm not going to start now.  But after leaving the theater, I came up with a consclusion.  The writers (Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick) just needed a way to explain where the name G.I. Joes came from, so they created Willis' character.  Again, I'm not spoiling anything that wasn't in the trailer; but watch the movie and tell me he serves a purpose.


The Verdict:
Summer Fun For Everyone!

I enjoyed the first film, a lot.  So I went to see this film.  I probably could have waited until it was released on Blu-Ray.  But that being said, I wanted to see Dwayne Johnson, guns blazing on the big screen.  So I forked over some money and was thoroughly entertained for 90 minutes or so.  With plans for a third enstallment to the franchise, I'm sure I'll be blogging about that film after I watch it as well.  So go see it, don't expect much depth and you'll be entertained.

Quickie: Latest Man of Steel and R.I.P.D. movie posters

What do you think of the latest Man of Steel movie posters above?  Pretty sick huh?  Well, this is just a quickie post to share the latest movie posters that have caught my eye.  Check out the two Man of Steel banners below, as well as new poster for R.I.P.D.  Enjoy!

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles production stills and logos revealed

The guys over at comicbookmovie.com posted the logos for two highly anticipated films; Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  I realize I haven't posted much about either of these movies, but I have a good reason.  Because both have had so much drama behind the scenes, it felt like they were never going to happen!  So here are a few, brief, updates.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is on track.  Even though the director and cast of the first film, Rise of the Planet of the Apes will not be along for the ride.  The picture to the left is actually the first production still of the film.  The film is being directed by Matt Reeves (Cloverfield).  It stars Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty), Gary Oldman (The Dark Knight) and of course, Andy Serkis (King Kong) as Caesar the ape.  I loved the first film and look forward to this addition.

Now onto a film that holds a special place in my heart... Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!  The movie is being directed by Jonathan Liebesman (Wrath of the Titans).  The 'human' characters will be played by Megan Fox, Will Arnett and William Fichtner.  Fox plays the Ninja Turtles' news reporter friend, April O'Neil.  That might come as a shocker to some people, considering she had a VERY public spat with producer Michael Bay a few years ago.  Nonetheless, she's in.  And check out the first production photo of her.  Looks a lot like her cartoon character huh?  Not really, but it will work.

The Turtles will be played by real actors wearing motion capture suits; much like the filming of Green Lantern.  The honor goes to Pete Ploszek playing Leonardo.  Jeremy Howard as Donatello.  Noel Fisher as Michelangelo.  And Alan Ritchson as Raphael.  Superherohype even caught a glimpse of the actors in their suits.  Crazy huh?  And how about the first look at Shredder's Foot Clan?  Only my fellow nerds will understand the references there.

I loved the 1990's live-action films.  In fact, I just re-purchased them all on Blu-Ray no more than a month ago.  The first film was a great action-comedy film that struck a chord with fans of the characters.  I can only hope that this film will have the same wit and charm as that movie did.  But only time will tell.  Both films will be released in 2014.

Iron Man 3 review; a nice addition to a wildly popular franchise

I've been waiting a long time for Iron Man 3.  And I don't mean since The Avengers last year.  I mean, since that hot mess of a sequel, Iron Man 2.  The first film in the franchise, starring Robert Downey Jr. as our ironclad hero (Tony Stark), was great.  It featured a relatively unknown character, a rehabilitated actor and a tone all its own.  The sequel was a stinker, for the most part.  And now, Iron Man makes his triumphant return.  Let's go!


What I liked about the film:
The Cast

Robert Downey Jr. is such an incredible actor.  In this film, he gets to play his usual, funny parts; but with much more of a dramatic spin.  Tony Stark just hasn't been the same since the events that took place in The Avengers.  He knows there is more at stake now a days, and must do everything in his power to protect the ones he loves.  So it's an interesting thing to see such an arrogant man worry about such fundamental things.  And RDJ does a fine job of not 'overacting' it.  Gwyneth Paltrow is wonderful as Tony's girlfriend, Pepper Potts.  She is a much bigger part of the action this go around, and really sells it.  Don Cheadle and Jon Favreau do well in their limited time onscreen.  Guy Pearce plays a mystery character, and we don't know which side he's on.  Pearce played this delicately  and definitely had me guessing which side he was on.

The Writing

The writing is probably the most effective of the franchise.  Director/co-writer Shane Black and Drew Pearce wrote a good script that has so much of what we love about the Iron Man character.  I'll tell you what you've probably already heard... the movie is hilarious.  It is so well written, and so witty, you can't help but love these characters.  Now the story is something else entirely, and I'll get to that in a moment.

The Villains
Ben Kingsley is a legend.  And he plays one hell of a villain in this film.  The Mandarin is a Middle Eastern terrorist.  He is out to show the world that Tony Stark and Iron Man, are not enough to protect them.  Kingsley's costume, hair, make-up, voice, accent and general demeanor are terrific.  He is a terrifying presence onscreen.

The Action

There are some great new action sequences in this film.  It's no wonder the Super Bowl trailer simply featured a clip of the action in the film.  The scene I'm referring to is a daring mid-air rescue of people falling out of Air Force One.  Awesome!  The climax will remind of Iron Man 2 with all the drones, as well as the harbor climax in The A-Team.  But don't worry, it's much much better than both of those films!  And I must say that the music which coincides with this climax, is great.  Shane Black just hit it out of the ballpark with so much in this film.


What I didn't like about the film:
Certain Character

I enjoy Rebecca Hall's acting, I really do.  But she served no purpose to this film.  Without spoiling anything; I understand WHY she was in the film, but still think they could have done without her character.  I don't know much about the Iron Man comics, but I really didn't see the need for her character.  I will tiptoe around this one because of huge twist in the film.  But I didn't like the way a certain character was portrayed in the film.  The character just isn't supposed to be like that.  If you know what I'm talking to, let's keep it spoiler free here; but I must say I was really disappointed with the way it was handled.

The Story

It. Is. So. Dumb.  I don't nitpick films, that's not what I like to do when I leave the theater.  But when I left; I couldn't help but ask myself question after question.  Why did that character do that?  Why didn't Tony Stark just do that, instead of that?  I'll give you a minor spoiler that is actually in the trailer.  In the climax of the film, described above, Tony Stark calls on 30+ suits to help him in saving the day.  Well, that's awesome.  It's incredible eye candy!  Except for the fact that he spent an hour of the film trying to get a broken suit back up and running!   Why not just call 1 of your 30+ suits to begin with!!!  Silly things like that make me just check out and watch the movie as nothing more than eye candy.  Oh and one last thing; the 'suspenseful moment' involving a main character, is not so suspenseful when they gave it away in the trailer.  Just saying.


The Verdict:
Better Than Part 2, But Still Not The Best

Iron Man 3 is good, real good.  It is a hilarious film that is packed with some serious action.  That being said, it's not better than the first film of the franchise.  And saying its better than part 2 is like saying Superman Returns was better than Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.  I mean come on.  Still, it was a very entertaining film, with so many talented people involved.  As you probably would expect out of a Marvel film; stick around until after the credits for a great little clip with a surprise guest.  That's all for now folks, I'm off.

Quickie: New Hangover 3 poster... a familiar character returns!

I just had to post this!  Check out the latest poster for The Hangover 3... featuring an all grown up baby Carlos from the first film.  How clever is that!?  Looking forward to this film and seeing the Wolfpack one last time.

Thor: The Dark World poster and trailer

I really enjoyed the first Thor film back in 2011.  It was a pleasant surprise, that I didn't really see coming.  Director, Alan Taylor, takes over the franchise starring Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Hopkins and Natalie Portman.  This one is titled Thor: The Dark World.  Check out the trailer below and read my thoughts after.

I think it's interesting.  I like the darker tone.  I know I say that all the time, but it's true.  The darker toned films are bringing out the best (and worst) in our caped heroes.  I don't know if showing Loki (played by Tom Hiddleston) was really necessary.  Afterall, he was the primary villain in The Avengers, just last Summer.  And did anyone else notice Thor's female friend on Asgard, Lady Sif, giving Natalie Portman a dirty look?!  This is right out of the pages of the comics, and I love the brief, yet effective, nod to the comics.  Listen, Marvel hasn't let us down yet, except for Iron Man 2.  I have no reason to believe this wasn't a great script, telling a great story.  The actors are all top notch, and the world they inhabit is fascinating.  I'm in!