Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: I went into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with basically no hope after the horrible trailers, but left the theater shocked at how much I enjoyed it. Are there gaping plot holes? Yep. Are Megan Fox's acting skills comparable to any amateur porn star? You betcha. Are the action scenes shaky-cam orgies that would make the film's producer Michael Bay unfathomably giddy? Absolutely. All of these issues are completely forgivable though because the film is so god damn entertaining. The fun, hokey atmosphere this film has made me feel like a kid again. After seeing the overlong, facepalm-inducing abomination that was Transformers: Age of Extinction earlier in the summer, it was nice to see a nostalgic live-action adaptation of a cartoon serve its purpose as a relatively mindless good time at the movies without overstaying its welcome.
3.5/5 Stars
Transcendence: A film directed by Christopher Nolan's longtime cinematographer/protege and starring the likes of Johnny Depp, Morgan Freeman, Kate Mara and Cillian Murphy can't be bad right? Wrong. Not only is Transcendence bad, it's easily one of the worst films I've seen in 2014 so far. The film takes a fascinating concept (uploading a human conscience to a computer) and makes it a muddled bore. I can't think of another film that is loaded with big words and computer-tech/scientific jargon that's simultaneously incredibly stupid and nonsensical. It seems like screenwriter Jack Paglen just watched a few TED talks on the downsides of modern technology and read a couple passages of Stephen's Hawking's work then tried to turn the tiny bit of knowledge he gained into a fully fleshed out idea. The results are disastrous to say the least as the story as the story makes practically zero sense and the dialogue often sounds like it was written by someone who had trouble graduating elementary school. Transcendence has lofty ambitions to serve as a commentary on the perils of techonology, but is too dim-witted and dull to make even a single point that will resonate with the viewer. The only thing that will stick with me long-term about Transcendence is the fact that Wally Pfister's skills as a cinematographer don't translate to the director's chair.
1.5/5 Stars
Get on Up: James Brown is one of the more underappreciated musical pioneers of all-time so it's about time Hollywood made a biopic about him. Get on Up is one of the more satisfying biopics in recent memory because it doesn't hold back in its portrayal of its subject's flaws. Aside from his strong work ethic and business sense, the film doesn't make Brown out to be a hero at all, spending much of the non-musical portions of the film showing just much of a selfish, violent control freak he was. It's refreshing to see a biopic that's bold enough to put such a heavy emphasis on its subject flaws. Just because Brown was a musical genius with a rough upbringing that overcome adversity and poverty to become a major success in the music business doesn't mean he was a good person. The film's constant time-jumping narrative (the films goes across three decades in the first 10 minutes alone) can be distracting at the times, but the film never really gets off track thanks to the spectacular cast who oozes confidence and puts everything they have into every frame of this film. While every performance is pretty much note perfect, it's Chadwick Boseman's work as Brown that deserves the most attention. Boseman embodies every aspect of Brown from the way he talked down to his signature wild dance moves with almost spooky accuracy. Boseman brings the electricity and swagger that is needed to play a high-personality character like Brown and is as an absolute force of nature every second he is on screen. Based on his work here and in last year's 42, Boseman has shown that he deserves to be the next big thing in Hollywood and I hope that he'll continue get more exposure in the coming years. Get on Up certainly isn't a perfect film, but the stellar acting ensemble and plethora of powerful scenes throughout make it well worth the watch regardless of whether or not your a fan of Brown's music.
4/5 Stars
The Amazing Spider-Man 2: Basically everything that was wrong with the first Amazing Spider-Man is once again present in the sequel. The villains are about as cheesy and lame as you can get for a superhero film, Director Marc Webb continues to show no aptitude for shooting action scenes and the sarcastic barbs Spider-Man hurls out when fighting the bad guys are nothing short of cringe-worthy (I'd honestly rather have emo Spider-Man from Spider-Man 3 than this unfunny douchebag Spider-Man.) What holds The Amazing Spider-Man 2 together and makes it a slight improvement over the original is the strength of the relationship between Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) and Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone). It's odd yet mildly refreshing to see the human being underneath the mask be far more compelling than their superhero alter ego. Garfield and Stone- who are a real-life couple- have an excellent chemistry together and there is real emotion and acting chops being displayed in every one of their scenes together. While most of the film ranges from pretty terrible to mediocre, these scenes are truly great and are the glue that holds this mess of a film even somewhat together. At the end of day, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 proves once again that this series is wholly unnecessary. Unless they bring in a new writer, director and actually get some good villains in the mix (which is unlikely given the ending of this film), this franchise won't even come close to touching Sam Rami's original trilogy.
3/5 Stars
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