Mad Max: Fury Road

THE PITCH

WORTH

$$$$

THE VIEWING

"Oh, what a day... what a lovely day!"

   As I mentioned in the previous post I fell asleep in this acid and kerosene melody. Again, me falling asleep is no indication that the movie was boring.  Boring is one thing this film was not! I just tried to do too much that day and... ANYWAYS, I won't give a grade but if I could I would give it an A-.  Why an A-?  Because of the way this action movie was done.  It was different.  Unlike any other action movie I've seen.  Forgive me for sounding too lofty but the only way I can think to describe it is like a ballet of action. 
    I loved everything I was seeing.  I would pay to see the one part I drifted off on but with the Terminator movie and Mission Impossible movie around the next bend, I am not sure if I will get a chance.

   Worth watching!  Worth the money spent at the concession stands too.

 

Chappie

THE PITCH



Chappie - HD Trailer from Nueplex Cinemas on Vimeo.

WORTH

$$$$1/2

THE VIEWING


"The problem with artificial intelligence is it's way too unpredictable."

"Chappie: Why did you build me to die maker?
Deon: I didn't. I built you to live."

    Seeing the trailer for Chappie I initially became mildly interested.  No doubt it looked great visually but I had zero confidence in the director Neill Blomkamp [District 9] . Well, maybe I shouldn’t say zero because all offences were made up with Elysium… errr, made even.  So there is this great unknown when it comes to his work.  Will there be this over-the-top ending or will the conclusion complement the story?   

  Artificial Intelligence films seem to always have the same conflict.  A.I becomes evil because that Intelligence is so much better, so much more efficient than that of humans.  Naturally we [humans] become “in the way”.  Therefore the higher intelligence must eradicate the obstacles in the way of ‘superior’ intelligence.  That or A.I robot is outcast and needs help adjusting to real world adaption and it becomes an adventure.  Then there is the Man vs. Machine conflict that doesn't necessarily have to include AI.  All though Chappie may have a few of those characteristics in the story, it doesn’t seem or feel like the same type of AI flick.

   Remember the movie D.A.R.Y.L. (one of my all-time faves) or Short Circuit, or even the movie A.I before it got controversially weird at the end?  Well, just like Chappie we become extremely endeared and  involved with the main character.  Not very original material but the execution of the story and the script was just amazing to watch.  Even more surprising is that the main characters are really a South African rap group with no acting experience at all.  Their attempt at “gangsta” mannerisms were comedy to me at first but now that I know who the actor and actress are I can see now see that it was the cultural quirks and oddities that felt a little odd.

   For Sci- Fi aficionados Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics held true.  I had some serious questions about Chappie’s “learning process” and other computer code commands that were used but now I admit that it was the cynic in me.  Forensically analyzing the little bit I know about computers to what was going on on-screen.  

    All-in-all I am very impressed with Chappie. So glad I saw this film in the theater.  I would most definitely recommend spending theater cash and concession stand money as well.

Worth Watching.

letter grade: B+

Guardians of the Galaxy

THE PITCH

WORTH

$$$$$

THE VIEWING

SHOTGUN MODE REVIEW

(trying to catch up)

      This was thee BIGGEST cinema surprise of the year.  I could easily debate the surprise of the century.  No one and I mean no one expected much from this story, until the lights dimmed and the "film" started that is... lol

Oh how I wish I could delve into this experience. "Shotgun  Mode" prevents me but to my readers: There is a reason my blog got clogged here and now has me in catch-up mode.  This film deserved a little more then a novel's worth of material and I , as a perfectionist, never thought that I truly said how I felt so here, almost a year later, a robbery of a review, all I can say is I have the Bluray.  This is as good as it gets from the comic book genre. 
 I loved this film. HA!! Yes, I said it.... 'film'.

letter grade:  A+ (can't miss)

I Origins

THE PITCH

I Origins by teasertrailer
I Origins - Window To The Soul by teasertrailer

WORTH

$$$$

THE VIEWING

" Pryia: The Dali Lama said if science disproved his spiritual beliefs he would have to change his thinking.

   Ian:  Good Answer.

   Pryia: What would you do if something spiritual disproved your scientific beliefs?" 

     Love, science and Spirituality, all essentially heavy in topic but fundamentally the fulcrum of this entire story… No way Director Mike Cahill can pull off a film that has all of these things and keep us interested all the way through… but he did. Just a little racy and weird at first, I was concerned if I wanted to finish it. Then the amount of science jargon spewed at me was ‘dumbed-down’ just enough for me to barely keep up. Once the true plot revealed itself, it became impossible to look away from the screen.  The process of the scientific, emotional and spiritual on-screen discoveries captured me.  Director Cahill did an extraordinary job bringing that great script to life and making it so relatable that even a blunt instrument like me can grasp the main ideas used in this outstanding piece of work.

    While watching I began to feel like the film was trying to find itself at one point.  As I look back after everything is seen it was I who lost my place. Mike Cahill’s story board was not complicated.  The way it came across the screen may have seemed like that because of the nature of the subject matter.  The only other director that automatically comes to mind that can balance the seriousness of science and the light-heartedness of a great love/action story and make it appeal to the masses is J.J Abrams and the work that he has done with the recent Star Trek reboots.  It’s a shame though, the same masses won’t be able to see Cahill’s work because my understanding is this film will only be available in limited release.  

    When discussing Spiritualism there are somethings I believe, some things I don’t.  I’m not cynical enough to point out all the points I differ about.  I rather embellish the points that made this movie a real discussion starter. I genuinely admire a film that can accomplish that.  I’ve said in this blog many times:  ANYTIME you come out the theater with more than you came in with[intellectually], that is true value.

    There is talk about a sequel, maybe an origins sequel using the scientific subject of “Emergence” as the central theme [non-life turning into life]… he may even call it EMERGENCE, who knows.  Usually I would scoff at the idea of gambling a follow up of an original that was so good that it should stand alone.  Not anymore; This past year so many successful sequels have emerged that I am now optimistic about those things, at least until I can’t be.

    I Orgins is worth watching.  Popcorn and drink are suggested.

     letter grade: B+

Transformers: Age of Extinction

THE PITCH

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Watch the latest movie trailers on Tribute.ca

WORTH

$$$$1/2

THE VIEWING

"How many more of my kind must be sacrificed, to atone for YOUR mistakes?"

      The 4th installment of Michael Bay’s Transformers movies named Age of Extinction was good but long.  I have to put the praise and critique in that order because I’ve heard more people complain about the length than about anything else. Admittingly I can not fathom why the editing room was left unused when the last movie, which was understandably long due to the assumption that it was the last in a trilogy, force fed us some of the longest and most action packed finale battle scenes [a half of hour worth] ever! Again, which wasn’t a bad thing because it was the supposed glorious end. I just don’t see why we then are exposed to another almost 3 hour flick when now, we don’t know if there will be 5 of these or Mike Bay puts the cap on this one.  One thing is for sure, if there is a 5th one there is no way that movie should be over 2 hours… none.

      Anybody that lazily looks over all the other great things in this movie and says the movie sucks should be playfully slapped.  Unless your a hardcaore fan and you didn’t like the way one of your favorite characters were portrayed, the movie was nice.  As a honest cinema flick, the movie itself was engaging, interesting, full of action, comedy despite Shia Lebeouf not being there (will discuss this more later), and a parody of governmental/corporate intelligence, or lack thereof…. who doesn’t like sticking it to the big guys?  I know we are spoiled as a consumer base when it comes to CGI and post-production but seeing robots and real life motion-action on screen together seamlessly is still awesome to me.

     Mark was Mark, I have nothing bad to say about Mark Wahlberg taking the lead in this one.  I feel like it may take time the same way it took a couple of movies for me to warm up to Garfield over Tobey Maguire as Spiderman… or even Daniel Craig over Clive Owen(the guy I originally wanted to start the new Bond films).  Shia is either underrated or overbearing.  His comedic properties are usually always over looked from my view point.  I don’t know if I’ll ever get use to him not being the lead but Wahlberg brings some comedy but another more burly, fatherly element that seemed to work with this story.

     Well done. This movie was definitely worth every penny!

 letter grade: A-



There is no bonus scene among the the credits.  This makes the first time in the  Micheal Bay's Transformers movie's franchise

Dwayne Johnson was offered the role of Cade Yeager, but he declined due to scheduling conflicts with his movie Hercules (2014) -imdb.com