Dragons, 'Turtles', 'Apes', and a Raccoon

 A little bit more catching up to do.  I'll try and keep these brief.

'How To Train Your Dragon 2' (PG) **1/2

Set five years after the events of the first movie, 'How To Train Your Dragon 2' follows Hiccup (voice of Jay Baruchel) and Toothless as they continue their adventures and explore their world.  But this soon leads to threatening the peace between man and dragons as the two discover an ice cave full of new wild dragons, a mysterious Dragon Rider (voice of Cate Blanchett), and Drago (voice of Djimon Hounsou), who wants to take over the world with a dragon army.  Other returning characters include Hiccup's father Stoick (voice of Gerard Butler), Gobber (voice of Craig Ferguson), Astrid (voice of America Ferrera), Snotlout (voice of Jonah Hill), Ruffnut and Tuffnut (voices of Kristen Wiig and T.J. Miller) and Fishlegs (voice of Christopher Mintz-Plasse).

I loved the first one and was very much looking forward to this one.  But only some chuckles (the antics of Toothless and the sheep) and some thrills managed to keep me awake during this movie.  Seriously.  Ask any of other people that I went to see this movie with.  I was dozing off during this movie, something I haven't done during a movie since 'Shutter Island'.  Some scenes just go on and on for far too long and I just couldn't get invested in it and quite frankly I was bored.  And that's saying something when I get bored during a movie.  This still has some great animation and the 3D was pretty good, but overall I was disappointed.  I seem to be in the minority with this opinion, but oh well. 

'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' (PG-13) **1/2

The heroes in a half-shell have returned to the big screen much to the dismay of the Internet.  April O'Neil (Megan Fox) is a struggling reporter who stumbles upon a heist by the villainous Foot Clan and encounters our mysterious titular heroes Michelangelo (Noel Fisher), Donatello (Jeremy Howard), Raphael (Alan Ritchson), and Leonardo (Johnny Knoxville).  Along with Master Splinter (Tony Shalhoub), April and the Turtles must save the city from an evil tycoon (William Fichtner) and Shredder (Tohoru Masamune), the leader of the Foot Clan.  Also in the cast are Whoopi Goldberg as April's boss, Will Arnett as April's cameraman, and "SNL" alum Abby Elliott and current "SNL" star Taran Killam in brief cameos. 

I didn't have the animosity towards this movie that the rest of the internet seemed to have as soon as it was announced that Michael Bay was producing it.  I just went "Okay" and went about my life.  The movie itself is all right.  It works primarily whenever the focus is solely on the Turtles and their antics and back and forth banter with each other.  When it's all on them the movie is fun to watch and quite funny.  But when it's solely on the humans, it gets really dumb.  But the special effects and most of the action scenes are very good.  If you go in with an open mind, you probably won't think it's all that bad.  But if you're one of those close minded Internet people who just sits behind a computer screen and talks $#!% about the movie solely because of Michael Bay's involvement, well, you're probably not gonna like it since you're already expecting it to not be very good. 

'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' (PG-13) ***1/2

It's been ten years since the events in 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes', and the disease has almost wiped out humanity with bands of survivors here and there.  After Caeser (Andy Serkis) and his band of apes come across a small band of humans led by Malcolm (Jason Clarke), loyalties are tested and tensions rise as both sides are brought to the brink of war.  Included in the cast are Keri Russell as Malcolm's wife, Kodi Smit-McPhee as Malcolm's son, and Gary Oldman as the leader of the remaining known human survivors.  

'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' caught me off guard back in 2011.  Initially I didn't want to see it but after hearing many good things about it I decided to quickly go see it after watching a Colts game and I was surprised by how much I liked it.  In my opinion it was one of the best movies I'd seen that year.  So I went into this with much anticipation and...it lived up to it.  Could've been around twenty minutes shorter, but this was still a very good movie with great special effects and another great motion capture performance by Andy Serkis as Caeser.  It's a shame that none of the major awards are given out to motion capture performances.  Anyway, the movie is also quite tense and thrilling, and much like the previous movie it actually gets you to care about the plight of talking CGI monkeys simply wanting to survive.  Much darker than the previous movie, but then again the inevitable fall of humanity isn't exactly a lighthearted topic.  Saw this in 3D only because the 2D screening was a little late, and the 3D wasn't worth it.  It's not as good as 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' but still a very worthy sequel.  

'Guardians of the Galaxy' (PG-13) ***

Thief Peter Quill aka Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), assassin Gamora (Zoe Saldhana), bounty hunters Rocket Raccoon (voice of Bradley Cooper) and Groot (voice of Vin Diesel), and vengeful warrior Drax The Destroyer (Dave Bautista) form a very unlikely team to keep a stolen orb from getting into the hands of Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace).  Also in the cast are John C. Reilly as a member of the military force the Nova Corps, Glenn Close as the leader of the Nova Corps, Josh Brolin as Thanos (from the end credits scene in 'The Avengers'), Michael Rooker as the thief who kidnapped Quill as a child and taught him to be a thief, Karen Gillan as Gamora's assassin sister Nebula, Benicio Del Toro as the Collector (from the end credits scene in 'Thor:  The Dark World'), Djimon Hounsou as one of Ronan's henchman, and Stan Lee making his usual Marvel movie cameo appearance. 

Saw this movie twice in theaters (2D the first time and IMAX 3D the second time) and both times it was a lot of fun and definitely one of the better movies in the Phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  Great special effects, often quite funny, an awesome soundtrack, fun cameo appearances, the main cast works well off of each other, never takes itself too seriously (though it does have it's emotional gut punches here and there that are on the more serious side of things)....it's just a fun time at the movies.  And since it's Marvel yes there is a scene at the end of the credits, but it's only a scene with an awesome (unlikely) cameo that I don't think has any relevance to a future Marvel movie....for now.  And yes, the IMAX 3D was worth it.  Definitely looking forward to the next Marvel movie, that being the next 'Avengers' movie. 

REVIEWS - 'Fault In Our Stars' & '22 Jump Street'

Catching up continues with a few movies I saw way back in June.

'The Fault In Our Stars' (PG-13) ***
Based on the book by John Green that I actually did read, 'The Fault In Our Stars' follows Hazel (Shailene Woodley) and Gus (Ansel Elgort), two witty, cynical teenagers who meet at a cancer support group and soon fall in love.  Hazel has terminal cancer and constantly has to carry around an oxygen tank.  Gus' cancer is in remission but he now has a prosthetic leg as a result of it.  Co-starring Laura Dern and Sam Trammell as Hazel's parents, comedian Mike Birbiglia as the support group leader, former Nickelodeon star Nat Wolff as Gus' best friend Isaac who's also suffering from cancer, and Willem Dafoe as an eccentric author.

Because of all the hype this movie was getting I decided to read the book just to see what the fuss was all about.  And unlike the many other times I tried doing that this time I actually completed the book.  The book itself is a very quick read, often times quite funny but gets progressively sadder and sadder.  I can't quite put my finger on why exactly, but I hated the first 20 or so pages of the book.  Perhaps it was just a matter of getting use to John Green's writing style or perhaps the characters introductions throwing me off.  I'm still not sure and it's nearly two and a half months later.

The movie itself follows the same pattern.  First things first, I think that this was a good movie.  Much like the book, it's often quite funny but does get progressively sadder and more serious. However, I hated the first 15 or so minutes for some reason or another.  But once the story got going I became rather invested and ended up enjoying it.  Could've easily been extremely melodramatic but it's sense of humor always keeps things in check.  The acting could've been a bit more consistent but since I did become invested in the movie I won't dock it too much for that.  All in all, it's still a good movie.  And far better than most other romantic comedy/dramas out there today. 






'22 Jump Street' (R) **1/2
Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) are back, this time going deep undercover at a local college to find out the supplier of a new drug that's been hitting the streets.  Ice Cube, Nick Offerman, Rob Riggle, and Dave Franco all reprise their roles from the previous movie.  Also includes a handful of celebrity cameos, none of which I'll reveal here.

I liked the first movie a lot and I was looking forward to this.  And overall I thought this was....just all right.  I liked it enough to where I can say that if you're a fan of the first movie you might like this one if that makes any sense.  I laughed out loud maybe once or twice, with the occasional chuckle at all of the sequel tropes that the movie pokes fun at.  But in between chuckles it was a rather long sit, almost clocking in at just under two hours.  If you want a better summer comedy go watch 'Neighbors' (review here).  Or just go back and watch '21 Jump Street'.  




I'll be at Purdue all day tomorrow so on Friday expect some more review catch-up. 

REDBOX - 'Divergent', 'God's Not Dead', 'Under The Skin'

Time to start catching up.  Still gotta write about cancer stricken lovers, animated dragons, an action comedy sequel, apes on horses with guns in 3D, a bunch of crooks trying to save the galaxy, CGI turtles, and old people blowing stuff up.  But first, I'll talk about a few movies that I rented from Redbox.

'Divergent' (PG-13) **3/4
Based on the best-selling young adult book that I never read, 'Divergent' follows Tris (Shailene Woodley), a teen living in a dystopian future where the people are divided up into factions based on dominant personality traits determined by both an aptitude test and by personal choice:  Abnegation (selfless), Amity (peaceful), Candor (honest), Dauntless (brave), and Erudite (intelligent).  Her test results tested positive for each and every trait so she is labeled a Divergent, meaning that she won't easily fit into just one of the factions.  After choosing to be in Dauntless, Tris stumbles upon a plot to not only remove Divergents but to also remove one of the factions from existence.  Co-starring Zoe Kravitz and Miles Teller as fellow Dauntless initiates Christina and Peter, Jai Courtney ('A Good Day To Die Hard') and Mekhi Phifer as Dauntless leaders Eric and Max, Theo James as Tris' trainer and love interest Four, Tony Goldwyn and Ashley Judd as Tris' parents, Ansel Elgort ('The Fault In Our Stars') as Tris' brother Caleb, Ray Stevenson as the Abnegation leader Marcus, Maggie Q as the mysterious Tori, and Kate Winslet as the mysterious Erudite leader Jeanine.

Didn't see this when it initially came out because I kept hearing wildly mixed things about it...and it partially looked like a ripoff of 'The Hunger Games'.  But after it had a very successful run at the box office I became interested just to see what the hype was all about.  It does help that Shailene Woodley is a really good actress (go watch 'Fault In Our Stars', 'Spectacular Now', or 'The Descendants' for proof of her acting abilities) and the rest of the cast is usually really good as well.  So it can't be all that bad with this amount of talent.
   
Yes at times it is rather similar to 'Hunger Games', but there are enough differences to keep the similarities from being a distraction.  Inevitable 'Hunger Games' comparisons aside, this actually is a pretty solid movie.  It's shot very well and has good performances all around by the cast.  The special effects are also quite good.  The dystopian future in which the movie is set is pretty interesting and I'm quite curious to see where the story goes from here.  As I said before, I can't exactly compare this to the book because I haven't read the book.  I have gotten several lengthy texts about the differences between the book and the movie if that says anything...but hey I still liked it.  I'd rather see a movie that's similar to 'Hunger Games' than see yet another movie that's similar to 'Twilight'.  'Warm Bodies' is the only exception to that. 




'God's Not Dead' (PG) *1/2
So after watching the first trailer for this, I thought it looked bad and didn't have much of an interest in seeing this.  But I knew a handful of people who went to see this and actually liked it a lot, so I decided that I'll finally check it out on DVD.

This is an ensemble movie that weaves many different story lines together. 

• Josh Weaton (Shane Harper), a freshman in college who is taking a philosophy course.  This particular philosophy course is taught by Professor Radisson (Kevin Sorbo) who is making every student in the class write "God Is Dead" on a piece of paper, sign it, and turn it in for 30% of their semester grade.  Josh refuses to do this because of his Christian beliefs.  So for the next few class sessions Professor Radisson challenges Josh to a debate over the existence of God.  If he can sway his classmates, he wins and he passes the class.  If he fails to do so, he loses 30% of his semester grade.
• Martin (Paul Kwo), a foreign exchange student also in the philosophy class, is intrigued by all this talk of God and Christianity but his father heavily disapproves.
• Radisson is dating Mina (Cory Oliver), a former student of his who also comes into conflict with Radisson over her own Christian beliefs.
• Mina's atheist brother Mark (Dean Cain), a successful businessman, refuses to visit their mother because of her dementia.
• Mark's girlfriend Amy (Trisha LaFache), is an atheist liberal writer who likes to interview people by ambushing them who soon finds out that she has cancer.
• Reverend Dave (David A.R. White) simply wants to get away from it all for a little while and wants to go to DisneyWorld with his missionary friend Reverend Jude (Benjamin Ochieng).  But strange things keep preventing them from their trip.
• Ayisha (Hadeel Sittu) is a Muslim student who secretly converts to Christianity and has to deal with her rather strict Muslim father.
  
  Includes cameos by "Duck Dynasty" stars Willie Robertson and Korie Robertson, and the Christian pop/rock band Newsboys.
    

All that happens in the movie yet it still feels way too long and each most of the story lines are spread way too thinly.  Heck, some of the story lines could've, and should've, been eliminated entirely since they really don't add much to the overall story.  Now I get the message the movie is trying to make and I agree with it.  But some rather poor acting and writing, combined with the thin stories make for a rather long movie watching experience.  Parts of the actual debate were interesting, but the movie seems to speed right through those.  And really that's the only thing I can kinda praise about it.  Let's just say I'll have a lot to say about this movie in a future "Movie Nitpicks" post.






'Under The Skin' (R) **
An alien seductress (Scarlett Johansson) drives around Scotland and kidnaps lonely men.  After one particular kidnapping, she starts to question her own identity.  That sums up the plot of this indie sci-fi flick that played in limited release earlier this year to critical acclaim.  It does feature great cinematography, but the movie as a whole feels uneven.  At times, it's pretty darn suspenseful.  At other times, it's a bore to watch.  The acting is all right overall I guess.  Most of the actors in this aren't professional actors.  As Scarlett Johansson is driving around and asking questions to random Scottish men, these are literally people randomly chosen off the street and filmed hidden camera style.  Kind of an interesting fact to know and bore you by.  Well this was a short review... 









Since I have several more movies to catch up on, expect a blog post a day for the next few days.

Robin Williams (1951-2014)

I had just sat down on the couch in the TV room at my parent's house.  As I was about to eat some dinner I got a text from a friend saying that Oscar winning actor and comedian Robin Williams was found dead and that he had committed suicide.  I immediately sent a response asking if this was real, since sadly we do live in a day and age where celebrities tend to die everyday via internet hoaxes.  She swore that this was real, and so I hurried over to my family's computer in the dining room to check the validity of it.  And unfortunately, this was no internet hoax.  Robin Williams indeed had died at the age of 63 in his California home, in what appears to have been a suicide.

I'll be honest, I had to censor my initial reaction upon reading the confirmations of this terrible event since my 9-year old sister was about ten feet away from me.  I was sitting in the computer chair just stunned.  My heart sank, my mood immediately soured, and this was all I could think about.  Part of my childhood seems to have slipped away with the passing of Robin Williams.  Heck, part of my movie watching experience seems to have slipped away with his passing.  Whether it was a comedic role or a dramatic role, Robin Williams would completely nail it out of the park.  He entertained people of all ages.  There is now a void in the grand scheme of comedy that will never be filled again.  There is only one Robin Williams.  There weren't many like him before his time and there certainly won't be another like him.

Hearing that he had took his own life and reading the statement his publicist had made stating that he had been battling severe depression makes it even more tragic.  It came as a shock to many people that a man who for years would always make people laugh and cheer them up had been battling some dark demons of his own.  Depression doesn't care who you are, how successful you are, your age, size, gender, etc.  There is always help to be found.  You might feel alone but you are truly never alone.  Reach out.  Whether you're the one who is depressed or you know someone who is depressed, reach out.  Even the smallest act of kindness can have a major impact.  My thoughts and prayers are with Robin's family in this extremely difficult time. 

But as the world mourns the tragic loss of Robin Williams it is equally important to celebrate his life and the many years of laughter and tears that his movies have brought to people of all ages. 

Looking through his diverse filmography I see that I have only seen thirteen of his movies.  'Good Morning, Vietnam', 'Lee Daniel's The Butler', two of the 'Night at the Museum' movies (he's already completed his role in the third movie, due out this December), 'Happy Feet', 'Aladdin', 'Robots', 'What Dreams May Come', 'Hook', 'Flubber', 'Good Will Hunting', the direct-to-video 'Aladdin and the King of Thieves', 'Jumanji', and 'Mrs. Doubtfire'.  I also remember seeing him in a short special about Dr. Seuss that was jam-packed with celebrity cameos.  And he also is in the music video for Bobby McFerrin's song "Don't Worry, Be Happy".

Am I going to be talking about all of the above movies?  No.  Instead I will simply be talking about the movies of his that I remember the most throughout various parts of my life. 

'Aladdin', 'Flubber', and 'Jumanji'.  Not only were all three of these adaptations but they were also played in heavy rotation in my childhood.  'Aladdin' was one of the many Disney movies my brothers and I would watch at home.  We would laugh at the antics of Robin William's Genie, and a vast majority of the Genie's jokes and quick quips flew right over our heads.  That same manic energy continued in 'Flubber', which we would watch at our grandparents house.  Now that I'm an adult I am aware that when it was released critics panned the special effects heavy, slapsticky remake of the 1961's 'The Absent-Minded Professor'.  But what can I say other than I thought that it was a good movie and it can still make me laugh?

'Jumanji' we would always watch at our babysitter's house.  It we weren't watching 'Matilda', we were watching 'Jumanji'.  It's been years since I've seen it all the way through.  It's funny at times, but it's also just a lot of fun to watch with the shenanigans that happen as a result of the characters playing the titular board game.






















Now let's move on to roughly my high school years.  The two movies that stand-out the most in this time period were 'Patch Adams' and 'What Dreams May Come'.  'Patch Adams' I watched while on a white water rafting trip to West Virginia with my Boy Scout troop.  It was the first of Robin Williams' biopics that I had seen.  I laughed, I thought it was an overall uplifting tale and Robin Williams delivered a good performance as an initially mentally unstable man wanting to be a doctor who wants to bring laughter to those who were down on their luck in the hospital and not just treat the patient like a number.  I am also aware that this was panned when it was released and even the real Dr. Hunter 'Patch' Adams has distanced himself away from the movie, but this movie worked for me.  It was a nice balance of comedy and drama.

'What Dreams May Come' I watched in my theater arts class in high school.  I was blown away by this movie.  The special effects were absolutely fantastic, it has a great score, it is funny at times but it's mostly a drama.  Robin Williams was great in this movie as a man who died in a car crash and finds himself on a journey through Heaven and Hell, rediscovering things about his life, and then going on a journey to find his wife.  While 'Patch Adams' balanced comedy and drama, 'What Dreams May Come' is definitely more of the latter than the former. 

In light of Robin Williams' passing, these two movies just got a whole lot sadder.  Especially 'Patch Adams'.  Those who have seen the movie should know what I'm referring to. 

Now let's move onto adulthood and being in college.  The two I remember most from this ongoing period are 'Good Morning, Vietnam' and 'Good Will Hunting'.  Both performances of Robin Williams in these movies were nominated for Academy Awards, being nominated for Best Actor for 'Good Morning, Vietnam' (his first nomination) and nominated for Best Supporting Actor for 'Good Will Hunting' (his fourth and final nomination), the latter of which he won.  He had also been nominated two other times for the Academy Award for Best Actor, for 'The Fisher King' and 'Dead Poets Society'. 

'Good Morning, Vietnam' I rented from the library while on a break from Ball State.  This is yet another one of Robin Williams' movies that doesn't stick to one genre.  It's a comedy.  It's a drama.  It's a war movie.  It's a biopic.  And from what I can remember it succeeded on all fronts.  Definitely an essential Robin Williams movie to watch as it shows his full acting range, going from funny to serious with ease.  In terms of showing his acting range this does a way better job at it then 'Patch Adams' and it is the best of his biopics. 

'Good Will Hunting' I first started watching in a sociology class on deviance, which I then finished up on Netflix a few hours later.  This is primarily a drama, but it does have occasional spots of humor.  Robin Williams' Oscar winning role has him playing a psychologist named Sean Maguire, who is helping Will Hunting (Matt Damon, who also co-wrote the movie with Ben Affleck) come to terms with his childhood and his own genius.  Will Hunting is content with being a janitor at MIT, but he is a genius who has people constantly harassing him about not living up to his potential.  Two scenes in particular stand out for me.  The scene where Will Hunting and Sean Maguire are in the latter's office, talking about the little things in life that make Maguire smile and remember the good times.  This then goes into a talk about Maguire's wife when she was alive would fart in her sleep and he never had the heart to tell her so he blamed it on the dog.  This was an improvised moment by Williams, and not only is Matt Damon laughing hysterically but if you pay attention the camera itself is moving a bit as the cameraman himself was laughing hard at this story.  That scene and the scene towards the end where Maguire is repeatedly telling Will "It's not your fault".  Powerful stuff.  The movie as a whole is really good and another essential Robin Williams movie to watch. 




The most recent movie I saw Robin Williams in was 'Lee Daniel's The Butler', in a brief five minute appearance as President Dwight D. Eisenhower.  Initially upon hearing that Williams was going to play Eisenhower I was kinda surprised, but while watching the movie I was actually able to believe that he was Eisenhower.

December I will finally get to see 'Night at the Museum:  Secret of the Tomb'.  I've always like the 'Night at the Museum' series and I've always thought that Robin Williams was dead on in his portrayal of a wax figure of President Theodore Roosevelt.  And at some point in the next few months I will definitely be watching 'Dead Poets Society' as part of my "I Finally Watched..." series.

And so I shall close this with a brief statement and a few pictures.  Thank you Robin Williams for the years of entertainment.  You will be greatly missed.  

                                               R.I.P. Robin Williams (1951-2014)