Things I Have Watched

Thursday, February 25, 2016

The BATMAN V SUPERMAN movie i hope to see

Trailers have showed us quite a bit and many have tried to piece together the story: batman sees the full destructive power of superman, gets obsessed with taking him down, superman fights batman, genetically enhanced clone of zod appears, trinity unites to stop the clone thus starting the justice league.

It's a pretty standard narrative and if it turns out to be true falls a little within the realm of "disappointing".

But what if the trailer is a switch-up from what is really going to happen?

something like this:

WE first see the battle of Metropolis from Man of Steel from the point of view of Bruce Wayne. This incident spurs Wayne to once again don his identity of the masked vigilante known as the Batman, cracking down on crime in Gotham city with a vengeance. A scene with a tattered Robin suit shows that batman gave up his crime fighting days after the death of Robin. His controversial act of allowing the perpetrator to get away with just incarceration caused all his former allies to distrust and leave him.

Scenes of Wayne reclaiming the mantle of the Bat are interspersed with Superman first answering to a committee hearing about the battle of metropolis and the lives lost.

During that hearing, superman pledges to be a force for good and begins carrying out heroic deeds across the world starting with the rescue of a near fatal space rocket accident.

As time goes by, Superman slowly gains the trust and approval of supporters.

At the same time, Batman steps up his battle on crime to the point where Gotham city has come to fear him and his brutal methods. He initiates what history would come to call "The Long Halloween" in which Batman relentlessly hunts down every single one of his rogues gallery, beating them up to near the point of death then throwing them into prison. This begins his "reign of terror"

A year later, Superman is hailed as a hero of Metropolis and a statue is erected in his honour.

By this time, Clark Kent (possibly fuelled by his success as Superman) starts getting a big head and ambitious (taking on the batman as a reporter), desperate to bring justice to a city that is plagued by a vigilante (Gotham). He has his suspicions on a connection between Wayne and the Batman (suspects Wayne is supplying funds and technology to the vigilante).

At a elite social event, Clark meets Bruce Wayne and he has ideological disputes with Bruce Wayne, setting up the conflict. We are introduced to Lex Luthor, a business competitor to Bruce Wayne. Desperate to topple Wayne as a business competitor, Lex befriends Clark in hopes to ride on some positive journalism. Remember, even with his powers, clark is still a rather naive farm boy at heart and gets suckered by luthors's sweet talk against Bruce Wayne and the batman and feeding Clark's desire to dig out the truth.

The clone of zod appears at this point. Lex's plan was to destroy superman and with Lex at this event, he would have the perfect alibi for innocence. Bruce goes into action as Batman, single handedly taking on the clone with an array of impressive weapons. But he is no match and lures the clone into the open while fighting a retreating battle.

Superman arrives and manages to hold off the clone for a while until Batman returns with more firepower.

Batman rains machine gun fire down on the clone who retaliates with a heat vision blast that crashes the Batplane.

As the clone prepares to finish them off, Wonder Woman appears.

After a prolonged battle and the help of Wonder Woman, superman is forced to use devastating means to take out the creature.

His brash actions and show of power frightens batman and the world. Wonder Woman leaves and we get a sense that she is planning something after being shocked at the extent of superman's unchecked might.

>Superman turns the corpse of the clone over to to lex Luthor to uncover the origin of the clone, not knowing that it was lex who was the creator.(we see this in flashback either at this point or a later point)

Lois also goes on her own investigation of lexcorp. It is soon revealed that superman has also been confiding in lex.;

Through lex luthors's sweet talk about winning more support from the people, superman is genuinely convinced that batman is crossing the vigilante line and thus sets out to stop him.

Powerless to stop batman as a reporter, Clark resorts to stopping batman as Superman. Superman finds batman in Gotham where the bat had just finished cracking down on some mob weapons smuggling ring.

Superman warns batman to stop and this just enrages batman who feels his paranoia had been proven right. He retaliates by threatening Superman with the "do you bleed" quote.

This fuels batman's paranoia that superman may one day become a god-King; the nightmares of a post apocalyptic earth do not help the matter.

The final showdown between batman and superman looms. Batman creates his mechanised batsuit. Lex has caught Lois snooping around and holds her hostage and gloats about how his manipulation had set up the confrontation between batman and superman.

Superman finds out but in an attempt to rescue Lois is threatened by Lex to either go through with taking down batman or Lois dies. With superman at his mercy, lex humiliates the man of steel by asking him to kneel.

The deal is struck: batman dies or Lois does. Unknown to superman, a certain green rock in luthor' room had exposed superman to an unknown type of radiation.

Superman need not hunt Long as the batsignal lights up the night sky.

The battle between God and man begins with batman in a newly acquired mech suit.

The battle is one sided initially, it only seems evenly matched because superman makes it clear he is holding back.

Soon the man of steel seems to lose strength when a direct punch is caught by batman.

The dark knight hands superman the beat down of his life at this point.

Luthor lets Lois go but not before threatening to ruin her, her family and everything she holds dear if she ever writes an anti-Luthor article. With no proof of their meeting and no leverage to bargain, Lois is caught in a checkmate; write the truth and be ruined forever or publish Luthor sanctioned lies that glorify lexcorp and her life's status quo remains free of incidents.

We find out that Lex wanted to win either publicity or some weapons contract by creating the clone to destroy superman but he didn't count on batman teaming with superman once the battle starts to involve Gotham. Now that the two are at loggerheads, Luthor still wins.

We cut back to the battle. Batman stands over a defeated and bloodied superman.bbatman reveals he knows superman's alter ego as Clark Kent and refers to him as such.

As he starts on his infamous monologue about wanting Clark to remember batman as the man who beat the superman, superman's strength slowly returns.

The man of steel catches batman mid-sentence, loses his cool and delivers a handy beat down to the batman, ending in a scenario similar to the battle between superman and zod in Man of Steel. Batman makes it clear that he would never stop his vigilante ways and never stop hunting superman, taunting him to resort to fatal means once again to end the battle.

Just as it seems superman is going to end batman's life, he redirects his blow hitting the ground beside a fallen batman. Superman comments that he has to be better than just a man. He repeats Jor-el's monologue from Man of Steel about being a symbol and that he would not resort to killing ever again. He then concludes with a quote which is a homage to the Christopher reeves superman. Something like:

"I am not your enemy. They are not your enemy. There are good people here and people who wish to be. They need a light show them, to show you, a better way"

With those parting words, superman leaves. Batman is left thinking. He flash back to his tragic past and mulls over Superman's words. Perhaps the man of steel is right? Perhaps there is hope for this uncontrollable godlike alien to be the hero that the world needs.

Elsewhere lex Luthor has the zod clone in stasis undergoing additional mutations that include elongated spikes and denser musculature.

Lois Lane meets with Superman but does not tell him about her debacle with Lex Luthor for fear of Luthor's threats. She does encourage Superman to fight the good fight.

A voiceover by Wonder Woman is interspersed with the arrival of Super powered beings at an undisclosed location: an atlantean warrior King, a scarlet speedster, an intergalactic enforcer clad in green, a cyborg.

"You have seen what he can do, what he is capable of. I count you among the most powerful this world has to offer. And I come to you to ask for your help. His is strong but reckless, dangerous. It will take all of us together to stop the reign of the Superman before it can begin.

The justice league is formed.

Their first Mission: hunt down and apprehend the kryptonian Man of Steel.

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Deadpool (2016) movie review

Overall verdict: 9.5/10

The Good: Perfect and faithful portrayal of a live action comic book character, spot-on acting, fitting soundtrack, well written comedy, witty humour, energetic direction, brutal action, brisk and well paced, intriguing supporting cast.

The Bad: Mediocre music score, minor deviations from the comic

3D Readiness: None

******Review******

DEADPOOL. He finally gets his movie. After a laughable appearance in the groan inducing X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE, Ryan Reynolds is back bringing Wade Wilson, The Merc With a Mouth, The Regenerating Degenerate (and a whole paragraph of other monikers), to the big screen with what is possibly the most faithful portrayal of a comic book character to date in live action.

I watch this and I am convinced that Ryan Reynolds has never existed. He has always been Wade Wilson deep down inside and this movie is Deadpool showing up his true self. He is perfect. Exactly like the more comedic Deadpool of recent years but with enough of the bad ass 1990s Deadpool so as not to come across like any other lovable loser. Read the comic, watch the movie, play the game, whatever, it will be the exact same character you know and love.

DEADPOOL kicks off with One of the most uniquely imaginative, tongue-in-cheek opening sequences to ever grace the silver screen. (Keep Wikipedia and a counter handy for all the pop culture references). The story is a romance worthy of Romeo and Juliet: washed out soldier finds the love of his life and prepares to settle down but soon discovers he has cancer and leaves, hoping to spare his loved one the pain of seeing him waste away. It is also a science horror flick worthy of David Cronenberg as our man gets betrayed to an unscrupulous scientist who conducts torturous experiments on him which grants extraordinary gifts but is leaves the man disfigured for life and unable to return to his lover. It is a revenge thriller on par with a Tarantino movie: Left for dead, Wade Wilson puts his new gifts of regeneration and enhanced reflexes to use as the mercenary DEADPOOL all the while tracking down his old tormentors in hopes of finding a cure for his affliction. Lastly, it can be considered the wittiest, most clever, most violent R-Rated action comedy film of the decade.

DEADPOOL defies genre, it defies convention, it throws us right into the thick of the action. Unlike many comic book character origin stories, we do not get bogged down by a lengthy first act setting up the eventual "birth" of the superhero, where the titular character is only seen in his civilian self without powers or the iconic costumes. For the obligatory tragic backstory, we get flash backs interspersed with the ongoing altercations. Just as the flashback looks like it will start to drag, we are snapped right back into the whizzing bullets, blood and twin blade action.

The overall plot is a little bit derivative but in this day and age with eons of creative history behind movie making, what else isn't? It is the execution, the energy instilled by director Tim Miller, and the well timed, well written, clever humour soaked into the script by Writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick of ZOMBIELAND fame. We aren't talking the cartoony quips or snide banter of disney's Marvel movies. This is smart, actually humorous, befitting of the film and filled to popping point with pop culture references of all sorts. Yet DEADPOOL is not some laugh-a-minute comedy. Ryan Reynolds completely sells even the more sombre scenes with such earnestness. For the first time I actually feel bad for poor ol' Wade and all the crap he had to go through before he became Deadpool. Reynolds sells the heartbreak and the torment in a perfectly nuanced performance. But more importantly, he sells the utter glee and satisfaction of sweet violent vengeance.

The film earns its M18 rating with nudity, swearing and bloody violence though i still consider those tastefully restrained for an adult oriented film of such rating. It never gets excessive, thus allowing the writing and direction to shine without being marred by the spectacle or eye candy. The music by Junkie XL accompanies said eye candy and, honestly, is nothing spectacular; your standard electronic action samplings. But the soundtrack, consisting of classic songs, is amazing. The songs chosen and the scenes they are paired with either fit perfectly within the context of those scenes or create this comedic dissonance that enhances the mood.

A bit of the backstory is changed from the comics, as are the villains Ajax (but his name is Francis) and Angel Dust. Here they are devoid of their outlandish costumes and garbed in your Bryan Singer-esque black civilian outfits. On the flip side, we are introduced to two X-Men supporting characters: idealistic metal skinned muscleman Colossus (the big dumb giant) and brooding time bomb (literally) Negasonic Teenage Warhead. Somehow the good guys retain some outlandish comic book traits. Colossus is no longer the chrome clad pretty boy in X-MEN DAYS OF FUTURE PAST but a hulking lunk-head who is a dead ringer for his comic book counterpart. Negasonic is altered somewhat from the comics but she now sports a more traditional black and yellow suit like the classic Xmen uniforms. Was this contrast between colourful good guys and drab baddies an intentional jibe at the black leather look of Bryan Singer's X-men movies?

Every once in a while, a magnificent piece of work comes along to sweep you off your feet into an imaginative mind boggling masterpiece of modern cinema. Throughout DEADPOOL, one can feel the absolute passion that the cast and crew brought to the project. At a modest 108 minutes, DEADPOOL is just right; staying long enough to leave an impression but never overstaying its welcome. DEADPOOL is unique and has all the marks of a trendsetting film.

Give this movie the awards it deserves.

******Review End******

Entertainment: A

Story: A
Acting: A

Characters: A-

Music: B+

Replay value: A

"Brains": B+

Friday, December 25, 2015

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) movie review

Overall verdict: 8.5/10

The Good: John William's amazing soundtrack, flawless special effects, relatable and fully developed characters, excellent acting, homages to the original films, wide appeal, clear and epic filming style.

The Bad: Leaves unanswered questions, disappointing antagonist.

3D Readiness: None. Post production 3D conversion

******Review******

The saga that enthralled two generations is back to captivate the imagination of a third. A new Star Wars trilogy begins with the much discussed STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS. Since the classic trilogy, Star Wars has become synonymous with relatable characters in an old fashioned good vs evil story all set to mind blowing special effects, convention defying designs, and a rousing fanfare that kicks off each story set in that galaxy far far away.

The prequel trilogy heaped on some much needed complexity and real world analogy in the plots, those came at the price of a natural fluent script and the relatable characters. THE FORCE AWAKENS brings that balance back; teetering a little under a new Creative team but finding its footing fast.

Many years after the empire's defeat, a new Organisation is threatening to take over the Galaxy. Dubbed "the first order", this legion consisting of conscripts, conditioned and trained since childhood, are sent after a pilot Poe Dameron and his droid BB-8 who holds vital information leading to the location of the legendary Jedi master Luke Skywalker. Poe is captured by the first order but sprung from jail by a disillusioned trooper, Finn, who has had enough of his life as a numbered masked soldier. Both Finn and the droid are separated from Poe on the planet Jakku and run into Rey, a young girl who makes a living selling salvaged spaceship parts. A series of convenient events lead to the discovery of an old but iconic space freighter and a run in with two old war heroes. Together, they have to evade the First Order forces led by the vindictive dark Jedi Kylo Ren. But unknown to our heroes, Kylo Ren's vendetta could run deeper and more personal while a dark power stirs in the depths of space.

Under the masterful hand of director JJ Abrams and writer Lawrence Kasdan , THE FORCE AWAKENS pays tribute to the original classic trilogy, recreating iconic scenes, memorable lines and bringing back as many of the classic actors to reprise their roles. Some may say that it is a whole sale copy of A New Hope but there are enough differences and twists to keep things fresh. It is new enough for first time viewers yet Familiar enough without feeling like it is pandering to the existing fanbase. The balance struck is extraordinary!

Actors new and old give a stellar performance. Veterans like Harrison Ford slip right back into their classic roles, completely becoming those same characters the old fans knew and loved. The new ones aren't too shabby either with John Boyega as Finn, Daisy Ridley as Rey and Oscar Issac as Poe Dameron turning in magnificently nuanced performances. These, coupled with strong writing and snappy scripting, brings back the naturalistic dialogue of A NEW HOPE, giving us characters that are easy to relate to and well fleshed out. Humour is used sparingly but effectively such that the level of tension and danger is maintained, unlike certain comic book movies where we get a laugh every 5 minutes (I'm looking at you marvel) even though the world is going to end.

JJ Abrams was born to direct science fiction. Having honed his craft in two STAR TREK movies, His Free flowing filming style and Long tracking shots make every spaceship scene an exciting roller coaster ride. The audiences weave in and out of battle as gracefully as the starfighters that are blasting away at each other, they run alongside Rey and Finn as enemy TIE fighters fire on them, they are right there in the thick of the lightsaber duels. All this without resorting to the scourge of shakey-cam that so many directors tend to fall back on to "enhance" action. Action is large and sweeping in scale with more personal character moments filmed intimately. A balance.

For every good balance dictates that there should be a bad. For every hero, a villain. The new villain of Kylo Ren is easily the weakest in the history of black clad STAR WARS antagonists, lacking the menacing presence of Darth Vader, the regal air of Count Dooku, or even manipulative cunning of Palpatine. Kylo is just one angsty angry boy who throws at least two hissy fit tantrums throughout the movie. Maybe it is my age but I find it hard to relate to him as either a tragic antagonist or the next Big bad villain. Adam Diver does his best in the role of Kylo, but he is written Less like a villain and more like an furious fanboy worshiping a famous Long dead individual.

Some may not appreciate the seemingly "safe" route that the movie takes when it clings to the story beats and mirrors the narrative of the original trilogy. Perhaps they wanted to play it safe after the questionable critical reception of the prequels. After all, familiarity sells and so does nostalgia. The marketing team definitely did their research. I for one did not appreciate a return to the simplistic "hero's journey" where good is good and evil is evil. I missed the more complex themes of the prequels and the real world analogies within the narrative of the clone wars and the rise of the empire. But again, this could just be the producers playing it safe.

The best part of the movie for me was not the breathtaking special effects or the acting. It was the music by veteran Composer John Williams. From the first notes of that legendary fanfare to the more quieter character centric themes, William’s score retains the feel of old school space opera and never caves in to modern movie scoring conventions. He eschews the heavy drums and electronic sounds of recent blockbusters for the traditional brass, strings and woodwinds. The general tone, distinct melodies and some old favourites bring us back to an era where a movie's soundtrack is its own performance that can be enjoyed with or without the movie itself.

With all the homages to the older STAR WARS movies, one can really feel that the creative team were fans themselves. That is not to say that this movie would only appeal to fans. On the contrary, it has something for everyone to love, even relative newcomers to the franchise. This is one movie that would definitely have everyone talking about it after the closing credits; reminiscing, recollecting, speculating, and waiting eagerly for the next instalment in the STAR WARS saga.

*******Review End*******

Entertainment: A

Story: B-
Acting: A

Characters: A-

Music: A

Replay value: A-

"Brains": C+

BTW. I’m calling it now

REY is somehow related to Emperor Palpatine. A section in her theme (a 6 note motif somewhere in the middle) is just palpatine’s theme given a more upbeat tone and less minor key.

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) movie review

Overall verdict: 7/10

The Good: Flawless CGI effects, snappy dialogue, memorable villain, professional acting, stellar cast chemistry

The Bad: Superficial story, no deeper themes, misplaced humour, lack of tension or stakes, overly choreographed and unrealistic fights.

3D Readiness: Post-Production 3D conversion

**********Review*********

In 2012, there came a day unlike any other day where the worlds greatest heroes were united against a common threat and THE AVENGERS blew away audiences of all ages with the first ever comic book movie crossover. In 2015, there came another day unlike any other day and this time the world is threatened by a Ultron, the cynical critical atypical child of Skynet and Megatron......

No actually he's just a wisecracking artificial intelligence with delusions of godhood and all round evil. Turning on his creators, he threatens all life on earth with his sidekicks "illusion-woman" and "not-the-flash"....I mean, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, and it is up to the Avengers to take him out before he can usher in THE AGE OF ULTRON.

Instead of the robot dominated dystopian future that we saw in the comics, what we do get is more "the next few days of Ultron". No matter, it is an exciting few days with director Joss Whedon balancing the intercharacter dynamics with awesome action pieces from claustrophobic close combat, to a freeway chase, to the much advertised no holds barred beat down between the Hulk and iron man's new "hulk buster" Armour. All this is supplemented with beautiful special effects from Industrial Lights and Magic ILM. Flawless work befitting the movie's massive Budget.

In The villain, Ultron, the Writers have crafted a memorable though under utilised bad guy. Ultron could have been the vehicle to explore deeper themes, themes that were merely hinted at but never fleshed out. Instead, His cynical yet refined snarling courtesy of James Spader reminds me of the those magnificently passionate Super villains that were so common in Saturday morning cartoons of old.

And that is exactly what this is. AGE OF ULTRON can be described as a true live action cartoon. The dialogue is light hearted, the story is straightforward, the tone is fun and the action is immense. And this is not exactly a good thing. Intense scenes are interrupted and spoilt with poorly placed humour and once again the story does not seem to take itself seriously.

Fights are over-choreographed, more like some fancy ballet than an all out battle. The fact that it cuts to graceful slow motion once in a while only emphasises the dance like nature of the fights.

And yet the movie felt like pieces of it were cut out. The narrative does not flow as smoothly as the first with inexplicable scenes like Thor suddenly going off on his hallucination trip. Much of the premise and the characters development up to this point very much depends on the viewer watching prior marvel movies.

It is here that Marvel studio's continuity heavy Creative direction rears its ugly head. To know what is going on in this movie, one would have to watch the previous movies. Captain America the winter soldier, iron man 3, the first avengers movie. But perhaps that's the point? Force people to go buy the Blu rays or the video to rewatch and get up to speed. In the end, the real big winner is distributor Disney. Ka-Ching $$.

I like a good comedy. In in a big action blockbuster, I like to believe that the stakes are real, that the dangers faced by our heroes are real, that they are really fighting for the fate of the world. Instead, we get this cartoony violence, with equally cartoony superficial story, where heroes joke around with quick lighthearted quips in the middle of a fight scene where people could die. This kills tension. And if it weren't for the magnificent effects, action and direction, AGE OF ULTRON would have scored a bit lower.

****Review End****

Entertainment: A

Story: B-
Acting: A

Characters: B

Music: B-

Replay value: B

"Brains": C

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

The Scorch Trials (2015) movie review

Overall verdict: 5.5/10

The Good: Bigger scale than its predecessor, consistent bleak tone and sense of tension, continues "maze-like" elements from predecessor, deviates from the more corny elements of the book (e.g: telepathy), continues sense of mystery

The Bad: Mediocre music, cliched story and setting, overly frenetic camerawork, lack of originality

3D Readiness: None

******************************Review*****************************

Remember the unique setting of 2014's MAZE RUNNER? There constant sense of tension and mystery? The twists, the turns and the wholly original production design? Nope. In this sequel, we get rid of the maze, we get rid of the originality. What we are left delves into every single post apocalyptic video game cliche ever created, only with teens gifted with unlimited stamina.

Picking up where MAZE RUNNER left off, THE SCORCH TRIALS sees our heroes Thomas, Minho, Theresa, Frypan and Winston seemingly rescued by a group that claims to have their best interests at heart and who oppose WCKD(the evil organisation that trapped the kids in the maze in the first movie). It would have been believable if not for the incredibly evil sounding Irishman leader Mr Janson. Hearing him talk, you know all this "safe haven for the kids" is bull. And yes a short while later we find out that the kids have been actually captured by WCKD again and are about to get their brains drained. Something about some fluid in the brain and some mutation virus caused by solar flares. No answers are given of course and in true teenage fashion, the kids rebel against the controlling adults and venture forth into the burnt out desert wasteland city known as "the scorch".

From then on, the movie starts to resemble Dawn of the Dead: Post Apocalypse, or "I am Legend: Teenage Edition". There are zombies in dark tunnels and the kids only have themselves to rely on. Then they run into other humans. Some of them want to sell them, some want to broker a deal, some want their help in fighting back against WCKD. Evil organisation, resistance group, wasteland survivors, zombies, that's it! This is Uwe Boll's Fallout 3. It's like the writer started binge gaming after the success of MAZE RUNNER and just threw in what he liked about the various post apocalyptic games he played.

The characters don't change much other than for Thomas, the designated hero. He goes from the confused mess he was in the last movie to the confused leader of a confused group in this movie. The rest are calafare at best, accessories to Thomas' journey. At least they go beyond being mere token minorities for the sake of diversity and actually contribute to the story in a crucial way.

Amidst the cliches, boring characters and overly shakey cinematography, THE SCORCH TRIALS does manage to hold on to its constant sense of tension in its second and third acts. Foe after foe comes at our young heroes, each one deadlier than the last. You have some magnificent set pieces showing off the post apocalyptic landscape in its full glory and at no time could I tell the practical sets from the CGI. But after a while, you sort of accept that these youngsters have olympic level stamina and can still look pretty escaping through sewers, trudging through ruins and hiding in holes. Kudos to the writer for continuing the "maze like" elements from he first movie, hence justifying the need to leave "Maze Runner" in the title. Sure, they aren't in an actual maze, but getting lost in zombie filled abandoned building, chased through a warren of tunnels and dodging stray lightning bolts in the dark, all call back to the dangers of the maze.

THE SCORCH TRIALS could have had some brains to it. At points I get the feeling the writer was trying to tie it all down as an analogy for growing up. If the Maze in the previous film represented a youngster's school life, with its rules, unique culture, sheltered learning environment, and first exposure to girls, then the Scorch almost seemed to represent that youngster taking his first steps into an adult world. It has some nice analogies to what regular teenagers face nowadays. Conflicting loyalties, conflicting emotions, a fling with drugs or just a tempting fling. Some would give up and yearn to return to the sheltered life in school, some would become corrupted by their newfound freedom; some would sink into the same vices that have plagued the adults and yet a few would rise to the occasion, becoming better people in the process. This analogy of the scorch to the trials of young adulthood could have been played up a little better. And it was a real pity too.

In the end, THE SCORCH TRIALS cannot be forgiven for its reliance on cliche, even if it was in the original book. I cannot say for certain how much it deviated from the source, but I have learned that the book involved psychic powers. So i guess the lack of psychic powers in the movie is quite an improvement. Other than that, it is yet another movie with lost potential and a sequel that is no where as good as its predecessor.

*****************************Review End***************************

Entertainment: B-

Story: C-
Acting: B+

Characters: C+

Music: C-

Replay value: B-

"Brains": C

Saturday, August 29, 2015

Fantastic Four (2015) reboot movie review

Overall verdict: 5/10

The Good: Intriguing premise, opens up fascinating concepts, replaces typical superhero styled story with hard science fiction horror,

The Bad: Mediocre music, stale lead characters, undeveloped concepts, incoherent plot, underwhelming climax, some questionable casting, special effects quality does not fit the budget

3D Readiness: None

******************************Review*****************************

Much has been revealed about the fiasco that was FANTASTIC FOUR 2015. I'll leave the details of the isolationist director, close shaves with angry cast members and a studio's overboard executive meddling for your Internet search engines. Let's get down to the movie. Caught in-between the deep and gritty of Warner/DC and then kid friendly comedy of Disney/Marvel, FANT4STIC FOUR (as it is stylised in promotional material) is a curious creature which tried to do both and ended up.......not so successful. It tried to go for the "grounded fantasy" style, all angsty, deep and tragic, while still wanting to maintain the appeal to youngsters with witty jokes and superficial laughs.

Many have slammed this movie for its lack of action and deviation from the explosive norm that has become superhero films. I feel that audience have just become spoiled by the action heavy formula of modern blockbusters. FANT4STIC FOUR is not a superhero movie in that sense. It would be more in line with the "science gone wrong" genre of movies that were real big in the late 1980s through 90s; David Croneberg's THE FLY was cited as the main inspiration for this movie, SPECIES, the film SPLICE for a more recent example, the most famous being HONEY I SHRUNK THE KIDS (which, once you cut out the humour, is the kind of science horror story that ANT-MAN was supposed to be before getting squeezed through the mighty marvel movie maker machine). And yet, it's many flaws came in the execution.

What FF lacks first of all is coherence. The story starts off as a kind of "science fiction Harry Potter". It's the story of boy genius Reed Richards and his childhood pal Ben Grimm. Reed creates a teleporter and thanks to a convenient meeting with doctor Franklin Storm, Reed gets recruited into the "Baxter institute"; essentially a brain trust of genius young adults. Among the geniuses, There's Doctor Storm's adopted daughter Sue and his biological son Johnny who joins Reed in the teleporter experiment. There's the nihilistic jerk rival (Victor), benevolent mentor (dr Storm), the morally ambiguous military head honcho and a lack of Ben. So the teleporter is finished, Ben appears, the bunch of drunken friends boldly go where no man has gone before to explore the Planet of CGI wonders.

Something goes wrong, tragedy strikes, science Mumbo jumbo and boom, new superpowers. From there the tone whiplashes into a Syfy original with the four friends captured and experimented on. Guilt ridden Reed escapes, and we get another tone shift into a fugitive movie with Reed on the run and his former friends trained by the military to take him down. But wait there's more! A new teleporter is completed which brings back a powerful new foe who wants to destroy the world leading up to a climax right out of Dragonball Evolution. You see where this is heading? From science fiction Harry Potter to Star Trek substitute, then to a poor man's Incredible Hulk with super soldiers, and then to Dragonball evolution. It's 4 movies spliced haphazardly into one.

FANT4STIC FOUR (FF) had intriguing ideas that I could get behind with enough twists from the original comic to make it fresh. None of those ideas get developed at all! Second big mistake. Sue and Reed being intellectual rivals is something new but it just gets turned into......not even a romance or a friendship for that matter. Johnny not being able to live up to his father's expectations. Yes he acts out, yes he finally gets to step out of daddy's shadow by using his new powers to make a difference to American peace keeping efforts......but that is only implied with some dialogue and never brought up again as if Johnny were a token minority character.

Then we got Ben who could have turned out most refreshing. Unlike his comic counterpart who is was a baseball champion, US marine, pilot and an all round big tough guy, Ben in this movie is a scrawny loser picked on by his siblings, living in a junk yard and with little future to look forward to if not for his friendship with Reed. What an intriguing character arc it would have been for Ben who goes from wimp to rock covered Captain America. He becomes a war hero in the service of his nation all the while despising the inhuman Thing he had become.

Do we get to explore that internal dissonance? No. His grudge against Reed for turning him into a monster? Forgotten in 5 minutes. Ben who was shown to never hurt a fly has been made to kill for his country, but no single mental ramification at all. No regret? No crisis of conscience? No character development, pure and simple. The 2005 movie, Heck, even the cartoons managed to give Ben Grimm a more developed character than this movie showing him grappling with the loss of his humanity going from all American hero to ugly Monster with all that entails. Mishandled and miscast, Ben Grimm as the Thing looks great in all his motion capture rock encrusted glory. But every time he speaks and that wimpy TinTin voice comes out, it's almost hilarious.

Boasting a budget of $120 million, one wonders where all that money went. I've already mentioned how good The Thing looks great thanks to the motion capture expertise of Weta digital, the guys behind Lord of the Rings. But everything else looked cheap. From the CGI Baxter building to a CGI monkey likely reused from Dawn of the Planet of The Apes to the entire CGI "planet zero" looking like a video game.

Throw all that in with a climax that is all to short and sloppily edited and you have FANT4STIC FOUR. The best example of wasted potential in a superhero movie. It had great ideas, bright new concepts open to exploration and development but alas got caught up in all the behind-the-scenes debacles. The drama during production overshadows the lack thereof within the actual movie. Who knows? To recoup on the loss Fox may release "the making of" feature and makes tons more money capitalising on the controversies involving director Josh Trank.

*****************************Review End***************************

Entertainment: B-

Story: C-
Acting: B-

Characters: B-

Music: C-

Replay value: B-

"Brains": C+

Saturday, August 15, 2015

Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes (2005) animated series review. 26 Episodes

Overall verdict: 5.5/10

The Good: Well detailed artwork, generally smooth animation, good integration of 2D and 3D CGI, crafts original tales instead of copying the comics, tactful usage of anime tropes,

The Bad: repeated use of stock footage, mediocre voice acting, boring action sequences, lack of character chemistry, superficial plots, lack of narrative continuity

******************************Review*****************************

In the wake of Fox's 2005 FANTASTIC FOUR movie, marvel commissioned a new fantastic four animated series. This time, marvel rode on the wave of Japanese anime and turned to Moonscoop animation, a French studio famous for such anime styled cartoons like Martin Mystery. They even got voice actors who were best known for dubbing anime to portray the characters here. The result is a decent blend of East and west, traditional 2D art and CGI animation. Decent yes but no where near fantastic.

Visually, FF: WORLDS GREATEST HEROES or FFWGH as I will call it, is a real treat to watch. The vibrant colours have this luminescent glow and The art is pretty to look at once you get past the whole anime styled designs. No it's not all doe eyed little girls and big breasts. This show takes its visual cues from anime aimed at an older audience.

Yes there is spikey hair, yes the characters look anorexic and a little on the long side but nothing that sexualises them. The animation itself is smooth for a TV show and with a decent level of art detail: there are action lines, freeze frames and a few cost cutting measures but nothing as obvious as the typical TV anime.

At 26 episodes, each episode features an original story not directly lifted from the comics but containing elements inspired by the comics. They are relatively self contained with only thin threads of continuity like Doctor Doom's recurring presence. Other than that you get guest stars like Guardians of the Galaxy's Ronan the accuser,

She-Hulk

AntMan,

Squirrel-Girl for goodness sakes!

Namor The Sub-Mariner

Avengers like Iron Man

and even the Incredible Hulk (whose brawl with The Thing is always something fans look forward to).

With original stories comes the good and the bad: it's original so it allows for some surprises. However it does not achieve the level of storytelling that the comics did instead choosing to go with an overall light hearted juvenile tone. There is no sense of peril no matter how many times the world is at stake. There is no thrill seeing as how formulaic each episode can get. Then There are episodes that left me bored beyond belief and it wasn't for a lack of action.

It was the lack of chemistry. Touted as "marvel's first family", the FF here are more like "marvel's college dorm buddies". You never get that sense of togetherness and most of the time they come across as flat archetypes. While the comics and some of the previous cartoons delved into their inner demons and insecurities, FFWGH barely skim the surface with story after story offering little depth and even less world building. It doesn't help that only half the cast do decent voice acting.

TV actress Lara Gilchrist does well in the role of Sue Storm and Brian Dobson does an impressive (for a Canadian) tough Brooklyn accent as Ben Grimm but Christopher Jacot as Johnny is a one note loudmouth and Hiro Kanagawa's Reed Richards sounds like he is on the verge of yawning half the time.

As history shows, Fantastic four once again got the short end of the stick. Mainstays like Galactus and Silver surfer were prevented from being used and Marvel promptly dropped the anime styled property to focus on direct to video productions and the more Bruce Timm inspired Wolverine and the X-men.

FANTASTIC FOUR: WORLD's GREATEST HEROES is no travesty but neither is it a smash hit. Not bad, just unremarkable. Everything about it pales in comparison to other super hero animation of the era. So If you do come across a copy going for cheap, it wouldn't hurt to give it a spin just don't expect anything....you know...
...fantastic.

*****************************Review End***************************

Entertainment: C+
Art: A-
Animation: B+

Story: C-
Voice Acting (English): C

Characters: B-

Music: C+

Replay value: C+
"Brains": D+