April 8th - G is for G.I. Joe (The Rise of Cobra)

April 8th - G is for G.I. Joe (The Rise of Cobra)

 

Since the new one is coming out, I figured I’d take a look back at the first one (in this storyline) to get me on track for when I see the new one. I’m still not sure whether to look forward to it or not.

 

I have to wonder why NATO would fund a project that could easily destroy all of the civilized world. I even checked up on it, and they still wouldn’t have funded something like this. Even though it would never happen, it makes for a good easy conflict. The movie takes place in the very near future, but somehow the bad guys have managed to harness gravity in the form of guns which are so overpowered that the “best” fighters in the world, the G.I Joes, are continually blown away by. This raises the question of whether there needs to nanomites at all.

 

All of that comes from within the first ten minutes of the movie. It shows one of my favorite points about this movie: how densely pack in the story in a action oriented film. It’s pretty good, but that’s not to say that you would turn to this movie if you wanted a story. It has enough story to make the action reasonable, but not enough to give us the full details of the world (i.e. the gravity guns). I think that since there will be a sequel, this movie did a good job at setting up the characters so that they don’t have to completely reintroduce us again.

 

SO, in the end, I felt it did very, very good in the action sequences, pretty good in the storytelling, but does lack some details I’m just itching to understand. The greatest fighters in the world shouldn’t have to be the underdogs. 4 out of 5.

G.I. Joe cover from IMDB
Stars from Google Images

 

April 6th - F is for The Fifth Element

April 6th - F is for The Fifth Element

 

I think The Fifth Element was my first real Sci-fi movie. Of course, back then I never got to see the very end for some very obvious reasons. It was my first choice as soon as I got to picking out my F movie, one because it’s funny and serious at the same time, and two because I haven’t gotten the chance to watch it all the way through in a while.

 

My favorite part of this movie has to be the opera song by Diva Plavalaguna. I don’t think it’s not giving away much to say that it is probably the best scene in the movie in terms of action in combination with music, and the best in any movie I’ve ever seen.

 

Though I really love this movie, there are a few things that are a little bit, well, not done very well. For instance (again trying not to ruin the movie) when the main bad guy is talking to his boss (another part I don’t get) there is a point at which it looks as if he has chocolate syrup running down from his temple instead of what I think should be blood. It took me a couple times through before I understood that his head was supposed to be bleeding, but I guess that’s just me.

 

SO, in conclusion, a good, general starting point if you’ve never watched a Science Fiction movie before. There are a couple spots that don’t feel quite right, but overall, I think this is 5 out of 5!

The Fifth Element cover from IMDB
Stars from Google Images

 

April 5th - E is for Escape from New York

April 5th - E is for Escape from New York

 

I was going to watch Eragon, but five minutes in I found out that my disk had a giant scratch on it, so here we go on another movie I’ve never seen! I’ve seen Escape from Las Angeles, so I knew a little about what was going to happen but not much. The creators of this movie must have been proud of it, because the first three minutes are spent slowly listing their names. This film was done in 1981, but I have to say, it looks really good for an older movie.

 

Our main character Snake Plissken is a true bad ass of the highest order but doesn’t always show it. In the actual beginning of the action (twenty minutes in), Bob Hauk ,the leader of the people who sent our main character in, sounds like a school teacher, Plissken is a grade schooler, and man are those some big ass needles! I think it’s just me, but there’s a lot of space between the actual motion in the plot. That space doesn’t put me off too bad though, because they used it to give the film atmosphere. Story wise, well, there isn’t much of a detailed one here. There are lots of plot holes that aren’t filled such as how everyone keeps say how Plissken should be dead, but no one ever tells us why.

 

SO, over all, good execution, but the premise needed more. I think I’ll watch it again with the commentary and see if that helps. From what I watched I’ll give it a 4 out of 5.

Escape from New York cover from IMDB
Stars from Google Images

P.S. - My post for F will be up late on Saturday since I'll be traveling that day.

April 4th - D is for Dragon Wars

April 4th - D is for Dragon Wars

 

Ha-Ha! Bet no one was expecting this one! That’s right, I’m trying to get the dragon related movies out of the way this week, so here we have the very, VERY, cheesy film: Dragon Wars! Or just D-War as the DVD subtitle suggests hopefully.

 

I’d like to point out, and I don’t feel like I’m spoiling anything because you can see it on the cover, the “dragons” in this movie are actually just giant snakes. There are snake-like dragons in many mythologies, but the ones in this movie are just gigantic cobras. No wings, no fire, just a big hood, 4 long fangs (there are some smaller teeth), and an affinity for constricting buildings. While there are other dragons in the film, they aren’t really what most would think of when you say the word “dragon”. They have giant lizards with canons on their backs. In ancient Korea.

 

Getting past that, the story is very lackluster and has so many holes that sucked me right out of the story and into the void of ridiculous ideas. The premise is simple, ancient group of ninja warriors, sacrifice, betrayal, jumps forward and backward in time, yada yada yada. I think the movie was based on an old Korean legend, but that doesn’t really make it okay to make an action movie with no plot except “run away, run away, run away!” until the last few scenes! The ending itself was grand and wonderful, but the rest of the movie didn’t hold up its end of the film.

 

SO, in conclusion, good basis, bad execution. I wish someone could go back and make this story a little more coherent and maybe a little more connected. Also, they need to make the big bad dragon look different from the all powerful good one. Make your bad guys discernible from you’re good guys please. 2 out of 5.

Dragon Wars cover from IMDB
Stars from Google Images

 

April 3rd - C is for Casino Royale

April 3rd - C is for Casino Royale

Fast cars and super agents, it’s time for a James Bond film! I chose this one just so I could listen to the theme song, well, among other things. I haven’t watched it since it first came out on DVD, so it was like I was watching it for the first time. I like that this movie doesn’t waste time giving the viewer what they came for, and starts use off with some very satisfying action (at least for me). I like how they weren’t afraid to show Bond taking some serious damage for all the hits he gets in.

 

I don’t know much about poker, and I don’t really like gambling, but Daniel Craig and Mads Mikkelsen do an excellent job at show how vital this game is. This by no means makes it very interesting to watch a poker game for half of the film, but I think it’s still bearable. What happened after that though, well, lets just say that I was definitely cringe worthy. The thing is though, I almost feel as if the movie should stop there.

Sadly the perfect ending here is not suitable for a James Bond movie, so we must move on and not let happiness get in the way. It was satisfying, but it brought in a new conflict with only twenty minutes left in the movie, which isn’t recommended for written stories, so shouldn’t be done for films. It does set up who Bond will become in later films, but really came out of the blue.

 

SO, in conclusion, 10,000 points for one of the best theme songs in history, -10,000 points for slowing down everything in between the first end and the actual ending. The total comes to 4 out of 5 stars.

Casino Royale cover from IMDB

Stars from Google Images



April 2nd - B is for Beowulf

April 2nd - B is for Beowulf (Director’s Cut)

I’ll say right off that it’s very bloody. I could only get a hold of the Director’s Cut, so that really didn't help. I understand that the original story wasn't anything for children, but this version doesn't leave much to the imagination. Well, except for the great series of camera angles which never fail to hide most of the nudity. I don’t know the original story well enough to say if they did it correctly or not, but to a first time viewer, it seemed to complete its story. 

The visuals are pretty good for most of the movie, and at the best of times are incredibly realistic, and at the worst times it makes it look as if the people are chimpanzees. The horse animation is especially atrocious. The inconsistency of the picture did throw me off a little bit, but it did a good job for the story it was trying to tell.

SO, in conclusion, an interesting film with enough gore to give it some realism, and enough fantasy to make up for where it’s not. Except for those horses. 3 out of 5 stars!

Beowulf picture from IMDB

Star picture from Google Images

April 1st - A is for The A-Team

April 1^st – A is for The A-Team

This movie is one of my favorites and overall a pretty good movie. I haven't watched enough of the original A-Team series, but from what my Dad has said about it, this is a fairly good attempt to update the idea from the series. I do like the little cameo of Dirk Benedict, who played Face in the original series, because it's a funny little throw back to the original series. Dwight Schultz, the original Murdock, also has a cameo, but it wasn't really as blatant and I would have missed it if I hadn't been watching the movie with my dad.

The action sequences are pretty good and they don't seem to be too repetitive with each scene trying to add something to the talents of the characters. Being and action movie, it does put the action scenes at fairly good intervals and the separating narrative doesn't break up the pace too much for most of the movie. There's also a good mix of drama and comedy in with the action, especially in the beginning introduction of the characters of Hannibal, Face, Bosco, and Murdock. I really love how the characters, either Hannibal or Face, talk the audience through the plan so that we can understand what's going on.

That being said, I do have to point that there are some major flaws in the movie's military facts. Most of these relate to the way the refer to the equipment they use in the in the conclusion to the breaking out of prison sequence. The team is clearly in a Marine plane (it's written on the side), with an Air Force flight crew, but in movie is called property of the Army. While the average viewer might not catch this, it is a little silly once you do. There are several other errors, but I don't want to try and spoil the movie for those who might not of seen it.

SO, in conclusion, a pretty good action movie that attempts to capture the image of a classic television series. After a few hiccups with the terminology, I'm going to give it 4out of 5 stars!

A-Team photo from IMDB.com
Stars photo from off of Google images