Gravity

Just got through watch Gravity and I'm writing this half asleep but... it really held up nicely to those high marks on Rotten Tomato. It stars just two characters. Sandra Bulluck and George Clooney. It takes place during what one would call that absolute worst day an astronaut could have while in space. Hard to talk to much about what happens in the movie with out giving up too much. As you can see in the trailers a space station is destroyed and our two characters are left adrift in space. If you have seen Open Water this is pretty much the space version of this.

Visually this movie was amazing. I watched it in 3D and if you have the ability to do so this is the way to go. It was amazing. This is a movie that as I watched it spent most the movie thinking about how they did it. They seamlessly switched camera angles from 1st person to 3rd person smoothly. They had a great many angles as you could imagine with the characters floating around objects. The special effects in this movie with be winning most all awards as will the acting.

Totally worth a watch. It's a must see movie and you'll be happy you saw it.

Entertainment - 8/10
Visuals - 10/10
Story - 8/10

World War Z

World War Z was a very heavily anticipated movie. The graphic novel was huge. I never read it and heard of it many times just to give you and idea and chances are you did too. Also it fits the mold of what is hot now, zombies. Every thing is zombies.....better then seeing more teenage vampire movies in my opinion.

I thought this movie was absolutely great. I enjoyed the entire thing. There isn't as much action as I would have thought there to be but Im not sure exactly what I was expecting anyways. It centers on Brad Pitts character as he travels across the entire world trying to track down a cure to a zombie like infection that is taking over the world. These aren't the normal zombies you see in movies and shows such as The Walking Dead (must see!). These zombies run and climb over each other and any thing else to get to you.

The film shots were great. There were plenty of "epic" style shots. Such as when the helicopter was over Jerusalem and the zombies where at the wall (seen in the trailer). Which I think goes hand in hand with the special effects of this movie. Amazing! They did a great job with the mobs. As a 3D Artist I can tell you it's no easy task to make a crowd that big look like they belong in the scene. They did a terrific job across the board.

Entertainment - 8/10
Visuals - 7/10
Story - 8/10

Elysium

Elysium is a movie that has been heavily promoted. I've seen many mixed reviews on this movie and after finally seeing it I can understand. The trailer does make it out to be pretty epic. It's not quite on the same scale a District 9, which was directed by the same man, but it's still a very good movie.

When it comes down to it this is a movie about a boy and a girl. Matt Damon plays the boy part, neat twist right? He grows up with one of his close friends played by Alice Braga. He's an ex convict that is living on Earth, like most people. How ever there is a disc in the sky called Elysium where the rich and the "citizens" live. They have machines that can fix any medical issues. They allude to the fact that it may even keep you alive indefinitely. I really didn't have any issues with the story. It makes good towards the end and finishes in a way that is predictable.

As far as the look of this movie. If you have seen District 9 it's looks almost exactly like it. That is why there has been so many comparisons and why people have been bringing up a District 9 sequel. In many parts of the movie you could easily say hey, this is the sequel. The ships were great, Blomkamp seems to know how to make a world and make all things mesh and look believable.

I really enjoyed the movie but find my self on the edge as far as slapping my "must see" tagging to this movie. I really want to but then when I look at other movies I've added it to I think it falls juuuuuust shy, but, I'm going to give it a must see but only by a hair.

Entertainment - 6/10
Visuals - 8/10
Story - 6/10

Star Trek Into Darkness

To me it was no secret that Star trek into darkness was bringing back one of the biggest evil names of the Original movie series. From the tone of the voice alone I had it nailed. Into Darkness was a perfect sequel to one of the best movies I have ever seen, I'm not Trekkie by any means. I watched The Next Generation growing up and even most of the other shows but never more then a passer by. J.J. Abrams is a freaking genius in my opinion. My love affair for this man started with LOST. Practically any thing he touches turns to gold. To bad he wont be doing the new Star Wars movies.

The story of Into Darkness continues on the original timeline only with it/s new screwed universe thanks to the new rebooted Star Trek universe. This time it finds the Enterprise out in deep space pitted against a familiar foe and each other. The story was stellar as per Abrams norms. His now classic lens flairs have made a triumphant return and camera style holds firm to the original reboot.

It looks amazing. Crisp, clean, lens flairy! I enjoyed the looks of the movie just as much as the story. They did an excellent job with bringing the cities up a thousand years while making it look life like. The enterprise looked just as good under water as it did in the original movie series.

I enjoyed this movie 110%! It's absolutely a movie every one should watch at least once if not multiple times. It's filled with old catch phrases that will bring up memories of days ol' and even shows us an original character, Leonard Nimoy one more time! What's not to love about that? Oh and Tribbles! Every one loves a Tribble!

Entertainment - 9/10
Visuals - 10/10
Story - 8/10

Oblivion

Oblivion got me from the trailers because of it's looks, much like women have all done to me. Only in this case I enjoyed my time! It's about a guy named Jack that is left on Earth to mine the planet of its salt water for use on the new colony out on the moon Titan, or are they? I have always been very good at picking out what the true story is and what direction the movie will shift in but not this one. Not till a key moment in the near middle of the movie. So for that alone it gets a thumbs up.

The story is different. I can't really think of a movie off hand that it closely follows. So it that case in my book it makes it a new original story. Basically its about a guy as mentioned before working on his final days on Earth with a boss in the sky he has never met in person. He makes sure the drones are in working order as they fend off the "Alien" visitors that destroyed the planet. He has vivid dreams of his past living in NY and a women he has never met. He spends his time alone out on the planet grasping at the past and even making a collection of things he felt a connection to. Eventually the story turns he learns what the real plans are and Morgan Freeman is introduced and turns Jack's whole world upside down. There are plenty of twists in the plot and not one of them made me go, well that can't happen!

Visually wow, it's looks awesome! There is a great difference between the home Jack lives in and the mechanical devices and that of the underground Aliens. Think of the new Tron movie as far as how clean Jack's ship and living space were and you'd have a nice picture.

I enjoyed the time I spent to watch this movie, two times now. I would absolutely watch it if I ever came across it on TV. To me I can see this as a TBS, TNT movie they play countless times back to back. Absolutely worth watching if you like Sci-fi or not.

Entertainment - 8/10
Visuals - 8/10
Story - 8/10

Man of Steel

So I went into this movie thinking OK, just don't mess this up. I had no want or desire to see this movie. Months before it was released they were showing small trailers that really did nothing for me. As the release date began to get closer the trailers got longer and started to look better. It got to the point where I thought why not?

The movie looked amazing! The old Superman movies are so outdated because of this reboot it's just not fair. The world of Krypton was crazy beautiful. The ships, the creatures, the landscape, everything was amazingly rendered. I think the over all shooting of the movie was shot great as well. I don't think the movie got any credit for the look of the film and why would it? No comic book movie will ever win any Oscars or best movie awards. I have now seen this movie 2 times and The Avengers 2 times. If I were to choose my favorite it'd be this movie, The Man of Steel. I went into in not expecting anything and within minutes I was wondering what the 2nd movie would be like. Which we now know will have Ben Affleck as Batman, hope it works out! I'm a big time Affleck fan.

The story is very similar to the original movies. I am not a comic book reader so I can not say which is the one that follows the comic the best but the new one follows the same familiar arc but the goes off-roading here and there. Does it hurt the story? No, I don't think so but it was awkward to watch. Not in a bad way. It's like you are use to having your eggs sunny side up then they give you scrabbled......why? huh? OK fine it's still eggs.

Totally worth watching and I think it's a fun ride. it was one of the most noisey, loudest movies I have ever sat through. There is almost non stop action from nearly the beginning of the movie. So if you enjoy action, camera movement, visuals then this is a watch.

Entertainment - 8/10

Visuals - 10/10

Story - 8/10

This is the End

Loved it! Seth Rogen can almost do no wrong in his movies. It follows a bunch of actors we all know in real time, in their real lives. Jay flies in to visit Seth and after smoking plenty of weed end up at James Franco's house party. Looooooooots of cameos in this movie. Some only for a few seconds. Soon after getting to the party all hell breaks loose, literally. The ground opens up and fire rains down. Most of the people are beamed into heaven while the characters in this movie are left on hell of Earth. They set up a camera so they can do confessionals, which are split up between the characters and are great as they go through what is happening in the house. One of the characters gets rapped by a VERY large penised deamon then goes crazy after being possessed. We get to see what Pineapple Express 2 would look like as well!

Visually for a comedy, it looked really good. They certainly made me think they were being chased by a real life demon dog. I liked the way the movie was filmed and the overall look of it was excellent. The downside of this movies visuals is that Seth Rogen has to make a movie after this and not let us down.

This is the End was seriously, crazy funny. I enjoyed the jokes. I enjoyed watching Michael Cera get all coked up. This movie is 100% worth a watch if you enjoy raunchy comedies and Seths movies. Its nice to have a choice other than Adam Sandlers buddies movies now.

Entertainment - 9/10

Visuals - 8/10

Story - 8/10

Django Unchained

It’s a Quentin Tarantino movie so it’s obviously bloody, has lots of dialog, cursing, and great! OK well maybe not every movie is great but most of his movies are very entertaining even with what seems like pages of dialog thrown out at you within seconds. This movie follows a slave that has been freed by a bounty hunter. The bounty hunter ends up training him and as long as Django helps him then at the end of the job he would be set free. The story is great. It takes place during the point in American history of slavery and Plantation owners. There are more than enough big named actors in this movie.

Visually it looks like the old American days. The camera work easily points to that of Tarantino as well. As soon as the blood begins to not just sprinkle out after a gunshot but waterfalls out you can again tell its a Tarantino movie. If the room or wall behind the person that has been shot does not had pure red behind him then it means he didn't use enough.

The bad rap on this movie came from the use of the terrible “N” word. That word was used in that point in time and if you are making a period piece like this is and dealing with that subject matter then it’d be disingenuous to not use it. It doesn't take you out of the movie or ruin it. You don't even realize it was said most of the time. This movie won lots of awards so for me to review it is almost a worthless thing to do but nonetheless it is a movie well worth watching.

Entertainment - 9/10

Visuals - 8/10

Story - 9/10

Mama

I love my horror movies but I'm a bit strange when watching them. I only do so during the Halloween season…...don’t ask! Just seems right. So goes to show you i really wanted to see this movie since I saw this many months before October. I was very thoroughly entertained during this movie. If you watched the internet short on youtube then you pretty much know what the movie was going to be about. 2 kids, one ghost, see what I did there?

The story was pretty great. It’s about two kids that end up in a house in the woods at a young age. Much like bears or is it wolves? that will take care of young children a ghost ends up adopting them and taking care of them by feeding them berries. The kids change in their new dark surrounding and are eventually found by a family member and brought home, only the ghost follows them. From there on the scary stuff happens and yes, it is scary. Think Paranormal Activity type stuff.

Visually it was like any other horror movie so not much to really say about the looks. If you’ve watched a horror movie you can pretty much guess how this one looks. It’s well worth a watch! Maybe a good date movie if you know your girl jumps a lot….you’re welcome fellas!

Entertainment - 7/10

Visuals - 6/10

Story - 7/10

John Carter

Now when I watch movies I go in wanting to be entertained. I wanted to review this movie for my blog because it got a major bad rap in my opinion. Yes it’s now in textbooks as how not to market a movie. I saw enough in the trailers to make me run out and watch it so I'm not totally sold as that being the main reason. Whatever the reason may have been I think the critics got it completely wrong.

When you go to a movie you want to be entertained and this movie had boatloads of it. Yes there was sections of long drawn out dialog but you do need it at times to get the story moving. The movie was beautiful. The ships in which the people of Mars flew on were well created and the city the evil doers were in was amazing. It moved around on legs like an insect, destroying everything below it. So looks wise I think the movie nailed it on the head.

Story wise is where many people I know have complained. I think it;s just silly. How people can watch Die Hard and not go...wait, wait,, wait….he does this all on his own? but watching a movie where a guy from the ol’ West heads to Mars, no that can't happen! The movie was based on a book written in the early 1900’s if I remember correctly and honestly, who cares? It’s a movie! Star Wars didn’t really happen (as far as we know) so why couldn't this? I did find parts of the story somewhat lacking. I don't want to give much away but the story is told a la The Princess Bride in some respects. Our here is voicing over as a kid reads. You only get this during the parts you see the kid so no worries, there is no narration in this movie.

This movie was great and got nailed way before it ever had a chance. Much like the animation Titan A.E. did. If you want a fun movie with lots of action, great looking visuals, and sorry but yes, I believe a great story, then this is well worth the watch.

Entertainment - 7/10

Visuals - 9/10

Story - 8/10