Sorry, I’ve been slacking on my reviews as of late… The Amazing Spiderman 2 – 5.3 out of 10. This was just okay. The narrative of this movie was all over the place. At one point I was asking myself “I wonder if this is movie B or movie C, and hopefully they get back to movie A, because movie A showed promise.” I felt like I was watching a movie based off of cliff notes. Also, when Andrew Garfield puts on the mask he truly IS an incredible and charismatic Spiderman. But when he’s Peter Parker he reminds me of a whiny, James Dean wannabe. And what a waste of Paul Giamatti. This truly gifted actor got to be really, really angry for all of three minutes of the film. They must have given him a merlot. Neighbors – 7.1 out of 10. Funny, funny movie. I went in with a set of expectations and all of those expectations were met...just not exceeded. I’m happy to watch anything that Seth Rogen is in and Zac Efron plays really well alongside of him. Don’t look for heartfelt messages ala Judd Apatow, allow beliefs to be suspended for a bit, and you’ll get along with ‘Neighbors’. Godzilla – 4.7 out of 10. There’s nothing more embarrassing then calling your own shot and then hitting the ball into the dirt for the easy out. Movie of the Summer this was not. This movie had everything going for it, too. Gareth Edwards really delivered with ‘Monsters’ and flirted with the set up of Godzilla being a possible thinking man’s monster movie. Doing to Godzilla what Nolan did for Batman. In the trailer, Bryan Cranston - one of the best actors walking the planet - foreshadowing something much more than just a simple SFX romp with his impassioned “I deserve to know what happened!!!”. ****SPOILER ALERT**** -----turns out that the trailer was a straight up balk, which is really a shame. Bryan Cranston gets dispatched in the first 30 minutes of the movie, which felt a lot like taking a sip of the best wine you’ve ever had…and then watching someone pour the rest out of the bottle and onto the ground. Ken Watanabe, whom I love, walked around like a stunned imbecile throughout the movie instead of making him, you know, relevant. And then they decided to make the story about the main character (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) who turns out to be the most uninteresting person in the whole movie. He could have gotten stepped on by Godzilla and I would have shrugged. Usually I’m in the camp of “less is more”. Usually I’m a proponent of character development before mindless and meaningless SFX. But when the characters are bad, the dialogue is pedestrian, and the people we’re following along are uncharismatic and mundane...well It feels strange saying it, but I wanted more Godzilla. Like, a lot more. Next up this weekend…’X-Men: Days of Future Past’. Top 5 TV Series I’m currently watching: Game of Thrones UFC’s: The Ultimate Fighter Arrow Penny Dreadful Mystery Science Theater 3000 (great to stream before hitting the sack)
Posted on: Thu, 22 May 2014 02:48:33 +0000