It's
sad isn't it? You never really know what to do afterwards, you put so many
hours into watching a show and all of a sudden it ends. But this isn't just any
show, this is Breaking Bad. One of greatest television shows of all time, it's
like we're losing a piece of TV history. Premiering on AMC back in 2008 to rave
reviews the show instantly gained a very strong fan base. While it gained much
attention through these reviews as well as the dozens of awards it was
nominated for, most early viewers tuned in due to word of mouth. Eventually the
show made its way to Netfilx which only increased its viewership. One thing
I've noticed about Breaking Bad that we see with a very small number of shows
would be that it's actually gotten better as the series has gone on. Let us
compare, another show ending this year is Dexter. The first four seasons of
Dexter were fantastic, but like most shows the quality declined more and more.
But Breaking Bad has gotten better and better every season, and without a doubt
this final season has been the best. This last season was split into two parts,
and the fact that the first half of the season was shown over a year ago I'm
assuming that you've seen the first half. These last episodes picked up right
where the first half of the season left off. After making close to 80 million
dollars, Walter White (AKA Heisenberg) has decided to hang it up; he's retired
and will focus on his family. His partner Jesse is going through a personal
crisis and is close to a complete mental break down. Walter knows this so he
gives Jesse a couple million and tells him to move on with his life. To keep
the people he was doing business with happy he left them a viable operation to
continue making quality product. During a family lunch with his sister's in law
family, her husband Hank discovers a piece of evidence in Walter's house which
links him to Heisenberg; and at that moment everything makes sense. Furious
over being fooled for so long he decides to go after Walter and will do
anything to take him down; and from there Walter's world comes falling apart.
Breaking Bad is one of, if not the, best shows to ever air on television. For
five continues seasons the creators have delivered a show that has been nothing
short of incredible. The writing, directing, and acting have always been top
notch from the first episode to the series finale. Even some of the best shows
on TV have a bad episode here and there, but I can't actually think of an
episode of Breaking Bad that wasn't up to par. The third to last episode in the
show might be one of the single greatest episodes of any show I've ever seen. I
didn't start watching Breaking Bad until the second season, originally I wasn't
even interested but my friend wouldn't shut up about it so I gave in. After
watching the first season I actually thanked him for suggesting it to me. I
could go on forever about how great this show is but I think you get the
picture. If you haven't watched Breaking Bad I really can't suggest it enough,
the biggest complaint I've heard from people who don't really watch the show
would be that it's too intense and serious; if you're one of those people
that's ridiculous. If you're missing out on a drama because it's serious you
should be smacked upside the head, not every show has to be like The Big Bang
Theory or How I Met Your Mother. This is a drama and it's very serious. If you
haven't seen Breaking Bad, go watch it; it's really that simple. This is one of
the greatest shows ever, and personally I am sad to see it go.
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Breaking Bad Season 5 Review
Note: This post does contain spoilers from the first half of season five.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Premiere Review
I
hope the guy over at Disney who first pitched the idea to buy Marvel got one
f*cking big raise and an executive bathroom for even considering that as a
possibility, because Disney has made so much money off them it's ridiculous.
There have been seven Marvel movies that have made a combined 5 billion
dollars, not to mention revenue from toys, games, memorabilia, and now a TV
show. Disney is like Apple and Google; they are slowly taking over the
world. Agents of SHIELD is a new show that just premiered on ABC, it revolves
around the secret government agency called SHIELD that deals with cases
involving super humans. The series was created primarily by Joss Whedon who is
known as the director of the Avengers, Serenity, Much Ado About Nothing, the creator
of Firefly, Angel, Dollhouse, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and worked as a writer
on most of the Marvel movies, Toy Story, and Cabin In the Woods. Joss Whedon is
pretty much the movie and TV equivalent of Steve Jobs, anything he touches
turns to gold and is worshiped as a God by many. So while at first I did
question the creation of the show believing it was only made because of the
success of the Marvel films and not because it was going to be a well made program. My fears were ultimately put to rest when I heard the Whedon himself
played a major role in the show, not just being created as the creator but also
writing and directing a few episodes. Well the pilot has finally aired and I'll
admit It was better than I expected. The events of the show take place after the events of the
Avengers movie. SHIELD is working harder than ever containing the fallout from
the attack on New York. Alien tech left over from the attack has been picked up
by shady characters from all over the globe and have been selling it on the
black market. Some scientist are even trying to reverse engine the tech as well as the super soldier serum used on Captain America in an attempt of
making their own super humans. On top of all that a group of hackers are also
mixed up in all of this and have been messing with SHIELD; their accusing them
of hiding the truth from the American public. So back from the dead, Agent
Coulson has picked up his position and will lead a new team in the hopes of
keeping the world safe. I really enjoyed this show, plain and simple. This
really isn't just a play off the success of movies, the really did put a lot of
effort into this. What impressed me most was that the production value looked a
lot higher than I thought it would; it looks like they put quite a bit of money
behind this project. The acting was OK for the most part; no one's going to
win an Emmy but good enough to get by. The writing was alright for the most part,
it acts a comedy more than anything else; they did have several legitimately
funny lines in there. I did feel that they tried to hard sometimes and the
jokes kind of fell flat, but that wasn't the case most of the time. All in all
I really liked Agents of SHIELD (the pilot episode anyway), and I'll definitely
be watching the series. Is it the best show on TV? Not by a long shot, it's more of a casual show than something like Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones. And it certainly isn't the best show Joss Whedon ever made. It's still a fun, light hearted show that anyone who
enjoys the Marvel universe would probably like.
Monday, September 23, 2013
The Spectacular Now Review
The
future is a scary thing, especially for young people. Worrying about college,
jobs, and relationships can be a lot for a person. So much for some that it
makes them never want to change. My high school had more than a few party kids
and while I didn't know many of them personally I actually worried for them.
These were people who had their whole lives ahead of them but didn't see what
they were doing was hurting them. Some of these kids were smart but instead of
fulfilling their potential they wanted to have fun. I'm not a mind reader so I
can't say exactly why they were doing what they were doing but if I had to
guess it would be because it was easier than working towards their future. The
Spectacular know is a coming of age comedy-drama from the writers of (500) Days
of Summer. The film follows the story of a high school student named Sutter, an
18 year old party kid and alcoholic. Sutter was in a long term relationship
with a girl named Cassidy who had a similar personality to him. After a
misunderstanding the two break up, to cope Sutter decides to get plastered.
After a night on the town he's woken up on somebody's lawn by an unpopular girl
that goes to his high school named Aimee. She explains that she was out on her
paper route when she found him sleeping there; hung-over Sutter thanks her and
offers to help her out (mostly so he can look for his car which is now
missing). The two start talking and while they are polar opposites, Sutter is
intrigued and asks if they can have lunch one day. At lunch Sutter asks if
she can tutor him in geometry (since he's one F away from flunking). During
their session Sutter asks Aimee to a party and there he reveals his feelings
for her. Now Sutter sets out to maintain a real relationship with Aimee while
at the same time fighting his personal demons and coming to realization that
the future is coming whether he wants it or not. This movie surprised, not
because it was a very good movie (which it was) but because the director took it in a
direction I wasn't expecting. The first half of the movie was pretty comedic, I
thought it was another one of those quirky coming of age comedies like
"The Way, Way Back" or "Little Miss Sunshine." What
surprised me was that the last half of the movie was actually very serious. The
movie reminded me of "Silver Linings Playbook," going into it you're
expecting a comedy but in reality this is a serious drama with some comedic
moments thrown in. There are some seriously emotional and heartbreaking moments
in this movie. This is a drama disgusted as a comedy. The movie stars mostly
young actors who do a really good job, especially the kid who plays Sutter. Like I said
earlier this is a drama more than anything but there are some pretty funny
lines in this movie. The Spectacular Now is an excellent film and one of the
next great teen movies. It's one of the most emotional and sincere movies I've
seen in the last few years. While it doesn't necessarily bring anything new to
the genre, it does what we've seen before better than most.
4/5 Stars
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Grand Theft Auto V Review
Grand
Theft Auto is one of the most critically acclaimed, controversial, best
selling, and revolutionary game series of all time. The first game that really
drew the public's eye was GTA 3 which put you into the role of a sociopathic
criminal and gave you free rein to do whatever you want in an open world game.
Steal cars, kill cops, drive on the sidewalk, and so on. It won dozens of game
of the year awards, become the best selling game of the year, and was heavily
criticized by the media, government officials, parents, and everyone else who
gets easily upset. But with GTA 3 the developer Rockstar Games found a formula
that worked. Since then Grand Theft Auto has become one of the most popular
series the video game industry has ever produced, with multiple games in the
series selling over ten million copies; GTA San Andreas was even the highest
selling PS2 game. The last major installment in the series was GTA 4 released
back in 2008 to overwhelming critical acclaim. Winning several GOTY awards,
selling 25 million units since its release, and has even made it on several
best of the generation lists. That game was released five years ago and people
have been itching for a sequel ever since, well in 2011 Rockstar finally
announced that GTA 5 was in the works; and people have certainly shown their
enthusiasm. Reportedly GTA 5 was even one of the most pre-ordered games of all
time and is expected to sell over 20 million units within a year of its first
year. Well it's finally arrived and I can say wholeheartedly the hype was 100%
spot on. Unlike the previous GTA games this one revolves around three playable
characters instead of one. The first is Michael, a retired criminal who was
placed into witness protection several years back. Michael is a middle aged family
man who got out of the game and was hoping to retire in the life of luxury, but
he's miserable. He has a cheating wife, a jackass son, a promiscuous daughter,
and is all around miserable. One day he is approached by a young man named
Franklin, our second protagonist, who is looking for some work. Franklin grew
up in the "bad" part of town and has been around the gang life for as
long as he can remember. He currently works for a shady repo business but has
dreams of making it big. So that's why he goes to the once extremely successful
Michael. All this commotion ultimately gets the attention of our final
character, Trevor. Trevor is a former army pilot who left that line of life and
started some less than reputable work, and in the past he had actually done
some jobs with Michael. Trevor currently lives out in Blaine County, a trailer
park many go to in order to disappear but in his free time he's in on the arms
trade. He's paranoid, methed out, and bat sh*t insane. The three protagonists
eventually decide to go into business together with one common interest, make
lots, and lots of money. I know I've said it twice this year, first with
Bioshock Infinite and then with The Last of Us; but Grand Theft Auto 5 is one
of the greatest games I've ever played. Rockstar has taken the open world game
to the next level, they haven't just made a map they really have made a whole
world. The shear amount of stuff you can do is mind boggling, you can do pretty
much everything: menial tasks like bike riding and tennis, create your own
criminal enterprise, participate in the stock market and buy real estate, they
even have in game TV shows. Like every GTA game there are tons of side missions
and activities you can do throughout the city, amazingly even the most
pointless of these activities are fun and worth your time. The game takes place
in the fictional world of Los Santos, a satirical look at sunny California.
Huge cities, beautiful mountains forests, and open dessert are yours to explore
and use as your own personal play ground. It really does feel like the most
complete open world ever put into a game. The game itself can only be described
as a technological marvel, it's been announced that GTA 5 is the most expensive
game ever with 265 million dollars going into development and marketing. You
can really see where that money went; the game has a certain level of polish
and shine that I've seen in few other games. The world is beautiful and vibrant
while still feeling grimy like what the areas it’s based off actually feel
like. It's amazing that Rockstar has the technical prowess to make a game like
this work on eight year old hardware and still have it look so good. I wouldn't
compare it to something like The Last of Us but it still looks great. Like the last several GTA games the music is great, there are tons of licensed music from old school rock to modern day pop. The game also has an original score which hasn't been used in a GTA game and is one of the best original soundtracks featured in a game this year. One of
the most drastic differences over the previous games would be the use of three
main characters. Each of them come from different walks of life and have
different personalities, with each of them likable in their own ways. Rockstar
put a lot more time and effort into character development than in previous
installments in the series. Each has their own sh*t they got to go through and don’t
just feel like they were put in the game to be controlled. Each feels like an
essential part of the story and without them the game would feel like it’s
really missing something. You can change between characters using the D-pad
pretty quickly and you'll see the camera pan up then over to where the
character you're about to control will be. An interesting element that they
implemented would be the use of stats on various gameplay elements that you can
upgrade to improve in their own right. For example if you’re a bad shot go to
the shooting range and practice. Your aim will get better, you can hold onto
more ammo, ect. Each of the characters starts off with different stats. Michael
starts with higher gun stats while Franklin starts as a much better driver.
Each of the characters also has some sort of special ability; Michael can go
into bullet time to improve his aim, Franklin can slow down time while driving
to make turns more easily, and Trevor can go into a berserker mode where in
combat he takes half damage and deals out double. And I'd like to go ahead and say Trevor is one of the greatest characters ever put into a game. One thing that really impressed me about the game would be the story, with GTA 4 I wasn't overly impressed with the narrative. The story seemed more like a formality than anything else. For the most part people just played the game to kill hookers and beat up random people on the street. But of all the improvements
the ones that are most obvious would be the driving and the combat. Driving has
always been what the series has been known for, but in GTA 4 it was less than
satisfactory, it felt like bumper cars; the driving in GTA 5 feels so much
better. The driving can be difficult and does rely on a certain level of skill
but isn't aggravating like GTA 4 and doesn't hold your hands as much as a game
like. Saints Row. Whenever you do fail it's more likely to be your own fault
than anything else. I'd also like to say there are a ridiculous number of cars
in this game, everything from hunks of junk to the best sports cars money can
buy; Rockstar has given us a lot of variety to choose from. The combat has also
gone through a major overhaul and has been improved drastically. The combat in
GTA 4 was sluggish and hard to handle, the weapons didn't feel like they had
any weight and hand to hand combat was more trouble than anything else. GTA 5's
combat is much closer to some of Rockstar's other games like Red Dead
Redemption and Max Payne 3. The combat is fast, fluid and fun. New to the
series are heists, there are several jobs throughout the game that if done
properly can earn you millions. The fun part is you can actually plan the
heists yourself; choose your team, your approach to pulling it off, and gather the
material to get the job done. The main problem people seem to have with these
jobs is that there aren't very many. When I first heard about this gameplay mechanic I was actually worried that the game would hold your hand through the entire process; while your options are limited they do let you run the show. Like I said earlier Los Santos is a
satirical look at southern California and in some ways acts as a social
commentary. It takes a hard look at real life; touching on subjects of
corporate greed, celebrity worship, and social media domination. Now I have to
talk about the elephant in the room, video game violence; there's reason that
GTA is one of the most controversial series ever released. GTA gives you the
ability to do just about anything and lets you live out your darkest fantasies.
It seems that in the last few years shootings like the Sandy Hook incident and
video games are often blamed, most often GTA. The media and ignorant old people
think that since you play a violent video game that you must be violent. They
completely overlook the fact that after years of research psychologists have
found no hard evidence that violent games lead to violent behaviors. These
people never just say that the shooters are sick, if at any point in their life
they played something like Call of Duty it had to be the video game that drove
them to kill innocent people. Anyone who goes along with this train of thought
is either an idiot or has no idea what they're talking about. I've been playing
violent games for years and I'm a pacifist. Grand Theft Auto 5 is a masterpiece;
there really isn't another way to put it. The story, characters, gameplay, and
setting are just about perfect; playing GTA 5 makes you feel like you're in a
gangster film. The game is available for the PS3 and xbox 360, and I imagine
that within the next six months it will be available for PS4, xbox one, and PC.
If you have a system that can play this game, you need to get it. This is a
game where years from now we'll look back and complain why all games can't be
like this. In my opinion this isn't just the best GTA game, it's the best game
Rockstar has ever done. Aside from just a few minor glitches I really can't
point out a problem with the game, it really is that good. Rockstar has raised
the bar for open world games by not just making one of the best games of this
console generation, but one of the greatest games of all time.
5/5 Stars
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Prisoners Review
There's
a certain type of punishment that I wouldn't inflict on my worst enemy,
uncertainty. People don't fear what has happened but what will happen. Not
knowing what is going on causes a special kind of pain that eats away at you
from the inside. The only thing worse than not knowing what's going to happen
to you is not knowing what is going to happen to a loved one. In recent years the most worried
I'd ever been for a loved one was about a year ago when my mom said she'd be
home from work around five but didn't show up until about ten. I tried calling her but it
just kept ringing, which meant it was on. I had no idea what had happened, she
could have been dead in a ditch for all I knew. I was worried and she had only
been gone for five hours, so I can't even imagine what people go through when
someone they care about goes missing. Prisoners takes place in present day
middle America where a religious man named Keller and his family go to their
neighbors house for Thanksgiving. After dinner Keller's daughter asks if she
and the friends little girl can go back to their house. Keller and his wife say
it's alright but she needs to take her older brother with them. An hour or so
later Keller talks to his son who says that his sister never came to get him.
Both families panic not knowing where the girls are, Keller's son says that he
saw the girls playing near an old RV earlier; they call the police and report
what's happened. A few hours later someone spots the RV, and a nearby detective
named Loki heads out and apprehends the driver. Turns out the man in the RV is
a mentally challenged 20 something year old named Alex. Loki interrogates him
for hours but gets nothing, when he tells Keller the situation and that they
have to release Alex he isn't very happy. He claims the police aren't doing enough
and takes it upon himself to find the truth. He goes to Alex once he's released
and manages to get one sentence out of him. That one sentence is enough to
assure Keller that Alex did abduct the girls, and he vows to go to the ends of
the earth to find them. This isn't a fun watch, if anything it's downright
depressing. I'm not a parent but I'd imagine this is the stuff their nightmares
are made of. The strongest aspect of the film would probably the acting; every
actor does a really good job. The star of the movie, Hugh Jackman, is
going for the Oscar again this year. He gives one of the best performances of
his career. While Jackman does a great job, Jake Gyllenhaal steals the show. He
has a serious shot at best supporting actor this year. The screenplay is also
very good; it throws some seriously tense moments in there. I will say that the
movie is long and can be slow at times. Probably my biggest problem with the
film would be that they introduce things that seem really out of place but will
obviously play a more important part later; it really just takes you out of it.
Watching this was very reminiscent of Mystic River. It felt like the director wanted
Prisoners to be like Mystic River; the problem is that Prisoners isn't quite as
good as Mystic River. Prisoners is a good movie and we'll certainly be seeing
this around award time. Strong performances and good writing make this a very
strong movie, and while it may be hard to watch the movie is definitely worth
your time.
4/5 Stars
Monday, September 16, 2013
The Newsroom Season 2 Review
In 2009 it was announced the writer of the Social Network and the creator of the award winning drama West Wing, Aaron Sorkin, was in talks with HBO to make a new show. It was later announced that it would be about what happens off camera at a news studio. Like most shows I watch I wasn't sure of the concept at first, I don't even like watching the news so why would I like a show about what happens behind the scenes. And upon the shows release it was met with below average reviews from many critics, but on the opposite end of the spectrum it was praised by audiences. So I decided to give it a try and ended up loving the show; it was smart, funny, and well written. The second season just finished up and fortunately this season was met with better reviews and higher view numbers. The structure of the show is very unique; it takes place in the real world and uses real events as its news stories. So this season the talked about events like Occupy Wall Street, the Travion, Martin incident, and concluded the season with the 2012 presidential election. But unlike the first season this one actually revolves around a single event the entire team investigates called Operation Genoa, which involved American Soldiers using sarin gas. But while all this is going on, the team and their parent corporation get involved in more than a few scandals and even a court battle. So now the only thing they can do is keep their heads held high, even with all the trouble happening to them they still set out to be the best news channel on the air. I loved the first season of the Newsroom, but this season is even better. It felt like the writers and directors had found their groove and knew what they wanted the show to be. The show is very well written with a lot of humor woven into it, and the characters are great; each one is unique with distinguishable traits, I actually feel a lot more attached to the characters of this show than most others. Although they do try and put some romances in there that don't feel real. The most interesting aspect of the show would be the format. Using reel stories makes you feel a lot more connected than if they used fake stories. It actually brings up memories when these events happened. My biggest problem with the show is one of the things I most like about it, the writing. While most of the time I find it intelligent and funny, it seems like they try to hard sometimes. It's very fast paced, everyone talks really fast. They try to make every single line witty, and sometimes the lines come off kind of dumb. This is a good show, not a great one but it's good. I wouldn't compare it to something like Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones but it's certainly fun to watch. If you haven't seen the Newsroom I would certainly give it a try, because I would say that it's one of my favorite shows right now.
Sunday, September 8, 2013
5 Films to Look for in the Fall
Honorable Mentions: 12 Years a Slave, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Don Jon, Captain Phillips, Rush, Oldboy, Ender's Game, Thor: The Dark World, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
5. Inside Llewyn Davis
Earlier this year the Cannes Film Festival took place in France, and one of the films that had everyone talking was Inside Llewyn Davis. The movie is directed by the Coen Brothers who are most well known for their 2007 best picture winner "No Country for Old Men." Now that alone sold the film for me, besides "Burn After Reading" I've loved pretty much everything they've done; I even ranked No Country as the second best film of the decade. The film revolves around a want to be folk singer in a time where folk songs aren't what people want. While that may not sound like the most compelling plot ever, pretty much everyone who's seen have praised it highly. Suffice it to say I am very interested in seeing if the Coen Brother's new movie could live up to the success of their past features.
4. Dallas Buyers Club
Talk about the comeback actor of the year, Matthew McConaughey is on a role. Five years ago he was a laughing stock in the film industry, starring in several box office bombs and terrible romantic comedies no one took the guy seriously. But about two years ago he started taking some great roles, now he's become one of the most respected actors out there. He even won several awards for his roles in Bernie and Magic Mike, and for his part in Mud he's considered a front runner for best actor this year. But after the release of the Dallas Buyers Club trailer, I'm sure he's going to win. Based off the true a true story of Ron Woodroof, man in the 80's diagnosed with AIDS, who flew all over the world to find medicine that isn't available in the states; not just to save his own life, but the lives of anyone who needs it. I love movies like these, movies about a person on the brink of death who will go to hell and back in the hopes that they might live. And the Dallas Buyers Club looks just like that.
3. American Hustle
2012 was one of the best years for movies in recent memory; there were so many great films that the what I ranked as the 20th best movie of the year would have made it on top 10 lists some years. One of the years stand out films, biggest surprises, and my personal favorites was David O' Russell's "Silver Linings Playbook." Well his follow up film is set to come out in early December, and it has a few familiar faces. Five of the main actors (Christian Bale, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Amy Adams, and Bradley Cooper) starred in Russell's previous two movies. While I've heard some criticize Russell for relying on the same actors and not taking chances with new stars, the fact that all of these actors are great is reassuring to me.
2. Gravity
Up until recently, Gravity was not a movie I concerned myself with. I had seen the trailer in the movie theater a while back, it looked beautiful and it has a great director but I wasn't sold yet. Two weeks ago it premiered at the Venice film festival, the reception was nothing less than phenomenal. "Avatar" and "Titanic" director James Cameron even called it the best space film ever made. The film has been praised for its stunning cinematography, groundbreaking visual effects and 3D, tense story, and an Oscar worthy performance from lead actress Sandra Bullock. A critic from Variety magazine said the film "restores a sense of wonder terror, and possibility to the big screen that should inspire awe among critics and audiences worldwide." To be honest this was unexpected for me, after watching the trailer the first time I thought it would be all style and no substance. I'm a big enough man to admit that I was wrong. Now I can't wait to see it.
1. The Wolf of Wall Street
Few movies the rest of the year are as anticipated as this one, and any movie directed by Martin Scorsese all ready has my attention. The Wolf of Wall Street is upcoming film by Scorsese based off the true story of Jordan Belfort, a New York stockbroker who refused to take place in large scale banking scam during the 90's. The movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio, making this the fifth team up between him and Martin; and in the past they have worked out very well together. The movie also co-stars Oscar nominee Jonah Hill and future Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey. The thing that's most interesting to me would be the overall tone of the movie, it looks a little less serious than some of Scorsese's other films; which is a problem I've had with some of his movies before. The movie looks great; it has an all star cast, one of the all time greatest directors, and the promise of being one of the year's best films.
5. Inside Llewyn Davis
Earlier this year the Cannes Film Festival took place in France, and one of the films that had everyone talking was Inside Llewyn Davis. The movie is directed by the Coen Brothers who are most well known for their 2007 best picture winner "No Country for Old Men." Now that alone sold the film for me, besides "Burn After Reading" I've loved pretty much everything they've done; I even ranked No Country as the second best film of the decade. The film revolves around a want to be folk singer in a time where folk songs aren't what people want. While that may not sound like the most compelling plot ever, pretty much everyone who's seen have praised it highly. Suffice it to say I am very interested in seeing if the Coen Brother's new movie could live up to the success of their past features.
4. Dallas Buyers Club
Talk about the comeback actor of the year, Matthew McConaughey is on a role. Five years ago he was a laughing stock in the film industry, starring in several box office bombs and terrible romantic comedies no one took the guy seriously. But about two years ago he started taking some great roles, now he's become one of the most respected actors out there. He even won several awards for his roles in Bernie and Magic Mike, and for his part in Mud he's considered a front runner for best actor this year. But after the release of the Dallas Buyers Club trailer, I'm sure he's going to win. Based off the true a true story of Ron Woodroof, man in the 80's diagnosed with AIDS, who flew all over the world to find medicine that isn't available in the states; not just to save his own life, but the lives of anyone who needs it. I love movies like these, movies about a person on the brink of death who will go to hell and back in the hopes that they might live. And the Dallas Buyers Club looks just like that.
3. American Hustle
2012 was one of the best years for movies in recent memory; there were so many great films that the what I ranked as the 20th best movie of the year would have made it on top 10 lists some years. One of the years stand out films, biggest surprises, and my personal favorites was David O' Russell's "Silver Linings Playbook." Well his follow up film is set to come out in early December, and it has a few familiar faces. Five of the main actors (Christian Bale, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Amy Adams, and Bradley Cooper) starred in Russell's previous two movies. While I've heard some criticize Russell for relying on the same actors and not taking chances with new stars, the fact that all of these actors are great is reassuring to me.
2. Gravity
Up until recently, Gravity was not a movie I concerned myself with. I had seen the trailer in the movie theater a while back, it looked beautiful and it has a great director but I wasn't sold yet. Two weeks ago it premiered at the Venice film festival, the reception was nothing less than phenomenal. "Avatar" and "Titanic" director James Cameron even called it the best space film ever made. The film has been praised for its stunning cinematography, groundbreaking visual effects and 3D, tense story, and an Oscar worthy performance from lead actress Sandra Bullock. A critic from Variety magazine said the film "restores a sense of wonder terror, and possibility to the big screen that should inspire awe among critics and audiences worldwide." To be honest this was unexpected for me, after watching the trailer the first time I thought it would be all style and no substance. I'm a big enough man to admit that I was wrong. Now I can't wait to see it.
1. The Wolf of Wall Street
Few movies the rest of the year are as anticipated as this one, and any movie directed by Martin Scorsese all ready has my attention. The Wolf of Wall Street is upcoming film by Scorsese based off the true story of Jordan Belfort, a New York stockbroker who refused to take place in large scale banking scam during the 90's. The movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio, making this the fifth team up between him and Martin; and in the past they have worked out very well together. The movie also co-stars Oscar nominee Jonah Hill and future Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey. The thing that's most interesting to me would be the overall tone of the movie, it looks a little less serious than some of Scorsese's other films; which is a problem I've had with some of his movies before. The movie looks great; it has an all star cast, one of the all time greatest directors, and the promise of being one of the year's best films.
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Riddick Review
For
the most part, I can't stand bad movies. There are a lot of people out there
who can watch something like Transformers and be thoroughly entertained for two
hours; I'm not one of those people. Usually those movies make my skin crawl
because I know they could have made something good. Instead they half ass it
and they half ass it just to make a few bucks. Although there are a few bad
movies that I really do like; movies like Smokin' Aces, Fear and Loathing in
Las Vegas, and Push. But one of my favorites would have to be the movies from
the Riddick series. Because as far as dumb action movies go there are few
better. Riddick is the third installment in the Riddick series, with the
previous two movies being Pitch Black and Chronicles of Riddick. Taking place
not long after the second film, Riddick is betrayed by his people and left to
die on a deserted and barren planet. After a while Riddick becomes situated
with his environment, he even adopts a dog. One day Riddick notices something,
and that something is coming. He finds a deserted outpost a couple miles from
where he's been staying and activates the emergency beacon. Not long after two
groups of bounty hunters arrive, and their coming for Riddick's head. Little
did they know they were lured into a trap, he strands both groups along with
him. So he makes them a deal, they help him get of the planet, and he'll make
sure what's coming doesn't kill them. Now they all set out to make it off the
planet in one piece, unfortunately that's easier said than done. Like I said
earlier, Riddick and its predecessors aren't very good movies. But like its
predecessors, I really enjoyed Riddick; it's just a dumb sci-fi action movie.
The action in the movie is pretty cool, especially the kill scenes. Riddick is
almost like a ninja in that he just comes out of the shadows and just takes
someone out. Unlike the last movie this one had a pretty low budget, about 40
million. The production value isn't bad for the budget, the CGI is decent for
the most part. Vin Diesel is the best part of the movie, I always thought he
was great as Riddick; but on that note I felt he was the only actor that did a
good job. Probably one of the worst aspects about the film would be the writing;
there are some cheesy ass lines in this movie. I have to imagine that while the
actors were reading the script someone had to say, "Really?" Like I
said earlier, this isn't a good movie. But for some reason I really enjoyed it
and if you liked the previous two I think you will like this one. It’s not quite
as good as Pitch Black but it is better than Chronicles or Riddick; it's just a
fun movie. It's certainly not for everyone and a lot of people will probably
hate it, but I liked.
3/5 Stars
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