Terminator Genisys

THE PITCH

WORTH

$$$1/2

THE VIEWING

"This is all wrong! John sent me here to save you!" 

    Terminator Genisys received a lot of bad reviews and probably rightly so depending on the individual expectation level. I am NOT going to be another bad review guy.  Ultimately, I was entertained, a feat the last two installments just could not provide. The ONLY reason it succeeded, in my opinion, is solely because of AH-NAWLD.

    Yeah he will more than likely never win an Oscar or proper recognition for his role in cinema, especially in the 90’s era but that is okay.  Those of us that know realize charisma and originality goes a very long way.  This Terminator movie would have been miserable without Schwarzenegger and that is a fact.

    Whenever you have an iconic movie franchise this fixed on a very specific date ("judgment day"), the more it’s stretched out over decades and decades of movies, the more we lose interest.  It is inevitable, like a kid promised ice cream at the beginning of the day and it’s past nighttime, the moon is out and still nothing… What!? You think we forgot!!???  Enough with the politicking already!!  We know you want to make money but forget that too!  You guys are going to lose a very sizable part of your fan base if you keep twirling that yarn in front of us cats… somebody at Paramount Pictures apparently got that memo.  We finally have proper direction. Amazingly that only adds to my then stagnant intrigue.

     I must admit to being frustrated roughly all the time in the beginning of this story.  Thanks to all the space time continuum being all mixed up and confusing but honestly, each time that happened, the story explained itself and I was able to catch on.  

    Emilia Clarke was decent and so was Jai Courtney as Kyle.  Shout out to J.K. Simmons!  I don’t want to be too prickly with critique.  One thing this franchise is going to have to do along with most other current CGI filled movies is go back to using real fire, real explosions and give more of a percentage to actual mockups and puppets screentime than post production computer imaging work.  Maybe I am becoming desynthesised to great GGI work.  I am shocked that this isn’t being dealt with in the focus groups.    Jurassic World even suffered a little bit of this.  I wrote about that very thing in the review here on Worth Watching.

    I think this movie is Worth Watching.  3D was okay but not a must.

BE SURE TO WAIT THROUGH THE CREDITS FOR BONUS FOOTAGE.

letter grade:  B-

World War Z

THE PITCH

WORTH
$$$

THE VIEWING

"I did all I could do." 

My expectations were just met, I don’t know why I was expecting to be blown away... In the end I really liked it... It was a zombie movie that really should've been rated R and filmed that way... In fact ALL zombie movies should be rated R.  I think when I go to see anything Zombie I expect blood, guts, gore, heads being shot off, Zombies feeding on humans, you know, all the zombie movie staples.  That Pg-13 made them a lot of money but put a damper on all of those things I mentioned previously!  I hate to start out a B- review with criticism but I simply can’t help but wonder what could have been.  Let me organize my thoughts:

• Mentioned early about the required gore in a zombie movie
• The trailers gave away way too much of the movie.
• I don’t mind the unexplained, especially in the midst of chaos, but some events in the main plot deserve some explaining so that the audience doesn't have to gloss over important details to try and stay in pace with the story.

 

         

    Apparently there was this great novel written by Max Brooks that I did not read or have knowledge of prior to experiencing this cinematic adaptation.  Like every book made into a movie there is so much detail that gets left out so that we aren't in the auditorium for 7 hours.  Normally I would not have a problem with that but its different this time.  I felt like the movie left a lot of character and plot elements out before I knew that a novel existed.  Listening to those who've read the piece by Max alluded to a grander scale of detail to many countries all over the world and how they responded to this crisis.  Some countries already at war going beyond the ‘rules of engagement before the break-out.  The zombies being the slower type which added to the tension. They mentioned a lot of things that enhanced the story.  Again, the movie is already 2 hours, even though it didn't feel like it. I'm thinking 'you can’t add everything.'

       However, I would've like to have seen the reasoning behind so many people risking their collective lives to try and protect one man.  I realize he’s an important man but in a state of chaos and anarchy it seemed odd.  Above all, and this bears repeating over and over again... Could the promotion team NOT show the storyboard in the trailer??!!  Really, there were few surprises because the preview showed the major points and in chronological order!

       Other than that I really liked it, I just wished it would have been a little better.  I feel like it was worth the money, however fans of the zombie genre beware: Unjustly as it is comparing every Zombie movie to the greatest one ever, I feel... It was definitely no Dawn of the Dead (2004), even if it wanted to be.

           letter grade: B-

This Is The End

THE PITCH

WORTH

$$1/2

THE VIEWING

"No, no... It's the Father, the Son and the Holy ghost they are all in one, it's like Neapolitan ice cream."

You already should be well aware of the comedy that you are going to get from Seth Rogan and crew.  If SuperBad, Pineapple Express or Observe and Report isn't your choice of broth... then you won’t like this soup.  If you are a fan of Seth’s deadpan comedy, or Jonah’s nice guy but awkward approach, or even Craig Robinson’s soft-voiced efficiently spewed sarcasm, then you may enjoy some of it.  The laugh-O-meter may have jumped twice throughout the entire flick for me,  while the chuckle odometer needle hardly moved.  

        Don’t get me wrong, This Is The End was original to me.  First movie that I can recall that stars real stars! Actors and actresses as themselves. Mix in the Apocalypse and the Rapture and you have something that could have been monumental, instead it was just cute.  The low review can come from the fact that the movie started off really good but couldn't sustain that level throughout.  It could also be that we, the audience, didn't feel like they were in a real direr state because the core group were in goof mode too often for “that “situation.  Or we could just feel that the jokes weren't funny and the ones that were went on way too long.  If you were ever in a joking session with your friends and they joked about something about you and everyone laughs and you reply with a joke of your own about them and you hear crickets but continue to roast them with the same joke louder each time and the joke just get’s worse... well it was kind of like that for some of the comedy in this flick.

        Not a total waste of a movie though.   Like I said earlier, it had its funny moments but that’s because I have a unique sense of humor.  Movies like this aren't supposed to be taken seriously so I didn't.  Everybody is not going to like this movie... can’t say that often enough.   However inaccurate, the semantics used for the rapture in this movie fit for the story.  Had they gone with the truth the movie would've been over before It got started.

     Not worth your hard earned money.  Maybe if you just hit at Bingo or you get a Monopoly style windfall then yes... Other than that, I would wait for it to come out on video.   

  

         letter grade: C