42 (Jackie Robinson) Review

Thoughts: 42 is the story of Jackie Robinson, the man who broke the color barrier in baseball, and his actions would eventually lead to it being broken in all major sports. Unlike most biopics, 42 fortunately does not start from the beginning of Jackie's life. It instead starts right before he is signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers, and thus focuses on the best part of his career: when he breaks the color barrier. As I have stated several times, I love baseball and the history of baseball, however baseball movies have generally disappointed me because the baseball aspect is often poorly portrayed. However, 42 is the first baseball to actually get it right, which is one of the many reasons why 42 is such a great film.

Directed by: Brian Helgeland
Genre: Baseball, Drama, Biopic,
Release Date: April 12, 2013
Running Time: 128 minutes
MMPA rating: PG-13

The Good: Harrison Ford's Oscar worthy performance, Perfectly portrays the baseball aspect, Looks 100% authentic, Boseman is perfectly case, Superb cinematography, Mostly historically accurate, All-around brilliant performances, Surprisingly humorous, Never a dull moment, Doesn't force the social issues, Likeable characters,

The Bad: Clichéd kid watching the game,

Plot: The following plot summary is copied from Wikipedia.com.
The film tells the story of Jackie Robinson and, under the guidance of team executive Branch Rickey, Robinson's signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers to become the first African-American player to break the baseball color barrier. The story focuses mostly on the 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers season and somewhat on Robinson's 1946 season with the Montreal Royals.
Watch the movie to see what happens next.

Plot: 8.9/10- Director and writer Brian Helgeland did an excellent job with the film in nearly every aspect. Jackie Robinson's story is told very well with surprising amount of historical accuracy, although there are a few scenes in particular that are fiction. Robinson's story is one that needed to be told and it probably could not have been told any better. Although the film does have very occasional corny moments, the story is told realistically and never "sugar coats" any of the facts. Also the pacing of 42 is spot on, it never feels overly long during any parts of the film.
Some movies that are about racism really tried to force the issue of racism over the actual story of the film and often lose the impact of the point trying to be made, however 42 used the real historical facts and story to make its point, which is why 42 was effective. While some may say the story is predictable, it is based on history so that should not really be considered an issue.
There is the one obligatory annoying kid that has a one or two painfully corny moments, fortunately however, it is limited and the only real negative of the film.
The end was corny because it kind of copied "The Natural" with its slow motion trot around the bases and that the ending was not based on historical fact, or that is why I have read.

Action: N/A- Although not "action," it important to mention the baseball scenes that were filmed. This is the first time that I can truly say that a movie got the baseball part right. The direction of those scenes where spot on. Each scene was framed well, thus making the game of baseball as exciting as the real thing. All too often in baseball movies, the baseball aspect is lacking.

Acting: 9.4/10- Harrison Ford killed it as Branch Rickey; someone get this man an Oscar (or at least a nomination)! Ford owned the role, he not only looked the part, but played it perfectly; his best performance in years. Chadwick Boseman as Jackie Robinson also owned his role, and he too looked like his real life counterpart. Boseman portrayed Robinson's struggle to "have the guts to not fight back" excellently. All of the other actors in the film gave top notch performances, there was not a weak performance in the film, other than that one annoying kid.
How could Alan Tudyk go from one of the most likeable characters ever as Wash from Firefly, to one of the most despicable dirt bags in recent memory!? Tudyk played the Philadelphia Phillies manager Ben Chapman, who tried to provoke Jackie, and he plays entirely against type in his role, albeit a relatively minor one.

Special effects: N/A-

Soundtrack: 6.2/10- Although the score was the typical American sports movie fare, it fit the tone of the film well.

Comedy: 7.8/10- 42 had a surprising amount humor, all of which was used well.


Overall: 8.3/10: 42 is the baseball movie that baseball fans have been waiting for and it is one the best dramas in recent memory, an absolute must watch for baseball fans; it gets almost everything right.

Closing comments: It is difficult to determine what non-fans of baseball will think of the film because I love baseball and therefore I am bias, however fans of period drama films would most likely enjoy it as well as fans of great movies in general.

Recommended for: Baseball fans, Drama fans, Biopic fans,

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Walking Dead "Days Gone Bye" Review

Today is Halloween and what better thing to review than a show about zombies?

Thoughts: The Walking Dead is a critically acclaimed and immensely popular zombie survival series on AMC. Virtually everyone has heard about it and millions of people watch it, making it the highest rated series on cable TV. Can a series with that much hype actually live up to the expectations?
While "Days Gone Bye," the first episode of the series, is not the most impressive thing I have ever seen on television, it was certainly a solid start and setup episode that got me intrigued enough to watch three more episodes before the day was done. Since many of the readers have yet watch the series, I will provide ample warning before any spoilers, although there is not a lot to spoiler about the first episode.
The episode starts by introducing the star of the series, Sheriff  Rick Grimes, and his backstory and how he ended up of his situation. As usual with most stories taking place in a world different than our own, there is a character that is new to this situation and he is used as a narrative device so that the audience will know what is happening. Rick is a likable and noble character in a world without laws. The only other character to note is Morgan Jones, however he has yet to reappear in the series and may be just a one time appearance like the comic. The pacing the episode is a tad slow, on the other hand the pacing is necessary since the show has a lot to setup for future episodes.
*Spoiler*
Even though the ending with Jones trying to kill his zombified wife was good, that scene tried a little too hard to "tug at heartstrings" and ended up a little overly dramatic, however the rest of the episode was done very well.
My favorite part of the entire episode though was when Rick traveled to Atlanta and ran into the huge wave of zombies.
*End Spoiler*

Another surprising part about the episode is that it was less gory than I was led to believe, although the series is certainly not recommended for the squeamish. There is obviously a lot of violence and gore in general because this is a show about zombies of course, but I really do not care either way about violence and gore. However, I do stress that the show is not recommended for younger audiences.

Something interesting to note, is that the series is filmed in my home state of Georgia, and while I have never seen the crew actually film, they have filmed in many places that I recognize and I have been, which is cool. Also few movies or TV series actually take place in Georgia and the setting, thus far, is represented fairly accurately.


Genre: Zombie, Survival, Drama, Horror,
Premiere Date: October 31, 2010
Running Time: 67 minutes
TV rating: TV14-TVMA

Action: Even though there was not a ton of zombie killing in "Days Gone Bye," there was enough to keep me entertained and the filming of it was done well.

Acting: Andrew Lincoln as Rick gave a fine performance in a very likeable role. Lennie James as Morgan Jones was excellent as well. Other than those two actors, there were not many others to note.

Production Value/Special Effects: The Walking Dead has a very cinematic feel to the episode and the effects for the zombies were mostly believable. Every Walker (zombie) had a unique look and personality. The only weak aspect from a technical perspective are a few backgrounds that are obviously computer generated.

Soundtrack: While the song at the end was slightly annoying and the rest of the actual soundtrack was forgettable, the main theme is great and perfectly compliments the series.


Overall: 8.2/10- Even though the pilot episode is not the best thing I have ever seen, "Days Gone Bye" introduces the main character and sets up an intriguing zombie apocalypse world.

Closing comments: Having now seen all of season one and part of season two, I have to say that I am hooked and will most certainly continue watching the Walking Dead because it is great thus far.

Note: I have several things to say about the series as a whole, however those thoughts will be reserved to my review of season one.

Recommended for: Zombie fans, Drama fans, Horror fans,

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Agents of SHIELD: Girl in the Flower Dress Review

Thoughts: Yes, I know I say this every week, but Agents of SHIELD yet again improves upon the previous episodes with the "Girl in the Flower Dress" being the best episode the series has to offer. The episode was darker, intriguing, and had excellent action scenes, if only the pilot episode started with a tone like the one in this episode, less people would have been discouraged from watching the series.
*Spoilers*
As for "Girl in the Flower Dress," yeah, it was awesome again. Skye is proving to be one of the best original characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with an intriguing back-story and with newly discovered motivations being that information about her parents was redacted by SHIELD.
One of my favorite parts about the entire episode is how the series avoided the common cliché about the inside person never getting caught until the last episode making all of the others characters look like idiots. However, SHIELD took an entirely different approach when Skye was caught helping her, now former, boyfriend escape SHIELD since Coulson was smart enough to have Agent May follow Skye. Plus it added a fantastic humorous moment to the series when May was standing at the door when Skye was leaving.
Aside from Skye's betrayal and subsequently being caught, the part about the character newly introduced, and subsequently killed off, Chan Ho Yin, aka Scorch, was a great addition to the series. Having some of the episode take place in China was great, although I doubt any of it was actually filmed there, and considering Whedon's affinity for the Chinese language (watch Firefly), it is not surprising. Louis Ozawa Changchien as Scorch did an excellent job in his limited role. The darkness of the character itself was great. When he continued to use his power after he was no longer impervious to flames was a great effect and turned the show towards a darker tone. However, two things that really made the episode for me was the brutal incinerate of Centipede scientist Debbie and Coulson and May killing Scorch. The effects used to burn Debbie alive were rather impressive considering that it is on TV budget and I really liked how the show did not shy away from the violence. Also Coulson ordering Scorch to be put down was almost surprising, but in a good way, because that shows again that Coulson's intentions are always for the greater good unlike some other supposedly "dark" hero. Another great Coulson moment is when he is genuinely pissed off at Skye, and Gregg's serious performance was perfect in that scene. Plus, there was no humor in the scene, which made it much more effective.

"Girl in the Flower Dress" marked two other characters from the comics being introduced, albeit incredibly obscure ones at that. There is a comic book version of Scorch, although he is a mutant and only lasted a couple of issues as a very minor character (picture below). However, he did posses basically the same powers. Raina on the other hand is a bit of an enigma since her character is also mutant but the character looks more like a reptile and is from the Savage Land (picture below). The character bears little resemblance to her comic book counterpart, however that may be subject to change when we discover if Raina has actual powers from the altered Extremis.

Above are both version of Scorch and there are obviously large differences, including the character's real name. However, their powers are basically the same, the only difference being that the comic version is a mutant, which has been confirmed to not exist in this universe.

While I doubt naming the character Raina is a coincidence, but I find naming her after the character above is a bit odd, especially since she has very little significance, other than being featured in the Age of Ultron story in the comics, which the next Avengers film is named after.

Action: Again, the action has improved over previous episodes, featuring some great kills by Scorch.

Production Value/Special Effects: For the record, the fire effects looked a lot better than the Hunger Games, just saying. Considering how difficult making believable flame effects in CGI is, the series did an admirable job. Sure, the effects were not mind blowing but they get the job done.

Comedy: While more serious that earlier episodes, the episode had several humorous moments.

Overall: 9.5/10- "Girl in the Flower Dress" is the best episode Agents of SHIELD has had yet balancing a new character, Skye's betrayal and Coulson's solution to the problem perfectly. Hopefully the series will continue to improve!

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Batman: Arkham Origins Releases Today!

Batman: Arkham Origins releases today! The third game in the Batman: Arkham video game series is out today. The Batman: Arkham Asylum and Arkham City games are the closest thing you will ever get to actually becoming the Dark Knight. If you are a Batman fan, you own it to yourself to play the Arkham games because they are awesome. Seriously, they would at least make my Top 10 Video games of all-time. Since the game has just been released, I have decided that I will review the other two Batman games and then Origins after I finish it. Also I have already pre-ordered Origins and it will hopefully arrive in a few days. My main concern about the game is that Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill are not back to reprise their roles as Batman and the Joker, and Rocksteady is not making the game, but instead are handing it over to Warner Bros. Games Montréal. Despite this, the multiplayer is intriguing and reason to play the game's awesome combat system is a good one. Do you plan to buy the game? Are you a fan of the other Arkham games? Please comment below.

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Oblivion Review.

Thoughts: Starring Tom Cruise and from the director that brought us the visually stunning Tron: Legacy, comes Oblivion, a sci-fi action thriller that is a surprisingly fun ride. First off, I have to say that the movie looks amazing! Particularly in the beginning of the movie because the special effects where just so great to look at. Joseph Kosinski has to be one of the best visual directors around because, even though Oblivion lacks the human element, the movie has awesome visuals. Something that I do not usually bring up in my reviews is how memorable a movie is, and even though most of this review was written not long after watching the film, two weeks after watching the film, I almost forgot that I ever even watched the movie, which is a not a good sign for a film’s quality. The reason behind the lack memorability is that Oblivion was lacking in characters and it was derivative in story. Despite this, the movie was fun, entertaining, and had fantastic visuals, which saves the movie.

Directed by: Joseph Kosinski
Genre: Sci-Fi, Thriller, Action, Action Adventure,
Release Date: April 10, 2013
Running Time: 124 minutes
MMPA rating: PG-13


The Good: Visual spectacle, Excellent performance from Tom Cruise, Awesome techno soundtrack by M83, Somewhat unexpected plot twists, Fun action scenes,

The Bad: Lackluster third Act, Slightly predictable towards the end, Derivative story, Forgettable characters,

Note: The trailer contains too many spoilers, which is why I did not post it.

Plot: The following plot summary is copied from Wikipedia.com.
In the year 2077, Tech 49 Jack Harper (Tom Cruise) is one of the last drone repairmen stationed on Earth. Jack tells us that the planet was nearly destroyed sixty years ago, during a war against a race of alien invaders known as Scavengers ("Scavs"). The Scavs destroyed the moon, causing massive earthquakes and tsunamis, and then launched their invasion. They were only defeated by the use of nuclear weapons, which left most of the planet irradiated and uninhabitable. The few surviving humans migrated to a large space station called the "Tet," a massive tetrahedral space station that orbits the Earth, which is powered using energy harvested on Earth by giant ocean-borne power stations that generate fusion power from seawater before migration to Titan, one of Saturn's moons. From Tower 49, a base standing above the remains of the northeastern United States, Jack and his partner and lover Victoria "Vika" Olsen (Andrea Riseborough) work as a team to maintain the autonomous drones that defend the power stations from the few remaining Scav bandits. They receive their orders from Sally (Melissa Leo), their mission commander, who is stationed on the Tet. Jack flies recon and repair missions to the surface, while Vika supervises from Tower 49, a home at around 3000 feet (1000 meters) above the sea. The two expect to leave Earth and join the other survivors on the Tet in two weeks. Although Jack and Vika had their memories wiped five years earlier for security reasons, Jack has recurring dreams about meeting a mysterious woman at the Empire State Building before the war - which was before he was born. Jack keeps a secret retreat in a forested area he sometimes visits.
Watch the movie to see what happens next.


Plot: 6.4/10- The first two thirds of Oblivion are just great. The film gives enough time for setup and world building, yet never feels slow or dragging. There are few characters in the film, which actually works in the movie's favor because less characters where left underdeveloped, however only Cruise’s character seemed to have been developed at all. The twist later in the film is quite good and almost a little surprising. The sci-fi world Oblivion is familiar to sci-fi fans like myself, but it does not feel very derivative until the later portion of the film.
Even though the action scene towards the end was great, I just was not into the movie by that point, it really started to lose steam for some reason because I did not care what happened to the characters in the last Act. Although I cannot pinpoint what movies Oblivion's ending is similar to, I felt as though I had seen it before.

Action: 7.7/10- Even though I began to lose interest in the movie during the big action scene, it was well filmed and fun nevertheless. There are a few other action scenes that are all well filmed and directed, especially the flying craft chase.

Acting: 7.2/10- Despite the lack of actors in the film, Tom Cruise completely carries Oblivion by himself that is not to say however that the other cast members are lacking. Olga Kurylenko was decent in role and Andrea Riseborough was decent in her role. There is another actor that was revealed in the trailer that really should not have been because it is a spoiler, but you know who I am talking about, and of course, he was good, although I felt he was phoning it in.

Special effects: 9.3/10- While not the most impressive in terms of scale, the movie looks amazing. Similar to Joseph Kosinski's previous work on Tron: Legacy, Oblivion is a visual treat. As a sci-fi that loves practical effects, Oblivion uses a surprising amount of practical (or at least I believe those where practical effects, if not, they where amazing digital ones for sure) alongside digital ones for a fantastic combination, especially when watching the movie on Blu-Ray.

Soundtrack: 8.5/10- Similar to how Joseph Kosinski got Daft Punk to compose the score for Tron: Legacy, another French techno band, M83, composed the score of Oblivion and it was great! Several of the tracks reminded me of Tron: Legacy and I wish there were more of them.

Comedy: N/A- Except for one or two jokes, there is not much humor in the film.

Would I Watch This Again: There is nothing in Oblivion that warrants another viewing, unless I happen to catch on TV a several years from now.

Overall: 7.3/10- Overall, despite its derivativeness and weak third Act, Oblivion is a lot of fun for sci-fi fans and worth watching for the visuals alone if you are interested.

Closing comments: Although drawing from other science fiction films, Oblivion is entertaining enough to warrant a rent for sci-fi fans.

Recommended for: Sci-Fi fans, Action fans, Thriller fans, Tom Cruise fans,

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Agents of SHIELD Full Episode 5

How do they do it? Agents of SHIELD is continuing to become an even better show every week! It is almost insane but true. Also they seemed to have finally found their tone, which is considerably darker than the pilot episode. Why did they not start like? More people would have watched it. On other Marvel news, the new Captain American: The Winter Soldier trailer is set to release tomorrow, which I will try and post about.

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Agents of SHIELD: Eye Spy Review

Thoughts: Agents of SHIELD continues to improve with yet another top notch quality episode.

*Spoilers*
"Eye Spy" opens with a surprisingly dark and eerie tone that shows that the series can be dark when it needs to be. Plus, the severed hand was a surprising but nice touch (no I am that sick and twisted).
The episode further explores Coulson's background with the main antagonist being his former protégé Akela. Coulson appears to have mellowed out in his later years since Akela appeared to be surprised by how different he is than before, which I will discuss later. Skye remains one of my favorite aspects of the series with her humorous moments and I like that she did not become a trained killer overnight, which is a common cliché. She is clearly learning, albeit slowly, which is more realistic considering that she is a hacker, not a field agent. Agent Grant is another great part of the show and seeing him fill in for Akela was fun and particularly hilarious in one scene. However, I noticed several times where Grant looked at his hands, which would have blown his cover.
My only problem with the series as a whole is that we really need an entire episode to explore the characters of Fitz and Simmons because they are the characters that have lacked in the character development area. Hopefully that problem will be fixed in the near future.
When the team discussed the possibility of someone having telepathy and saying that it is impossible was basically saying that this universe is 100% separate from the X-Men universe and that mutants do not exist to any extent. However, I find stating that telepathy is “unreasonable” is odd considering all of the other crazy things that have happened, although I suppose science or being an alien from another realm is the way to obtain superpowers in this Marvel Universe. As for Akela's cybernetic eye, it was a cool idea. The team being able to develop glasses that mimic the power will come in handy later on, hopefully the writers will not forget that this episode has ever happened.
The biggest revelation of the episode was Akela's comment asking what has happened to Coulson. Obviously, she used her eye to see through Coulson, which would suggest that Coulson is either a Life-Model-Decoy (basically a robot) or that he has also been cybernetically altered, which brings up another question: what will happen when one the team uses the glasses and happens to look in Coulson's direction? Will they see that something is not normal? Also the introduction of cybernetic enhancements will probably play a large role in the upcoming Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
The ending scene was quite humorous with Fitz attempting to cheat at cards against Grant. A Grant/Skye relationship has been apparent from episode one and I think the two do have chemistry.


Action: The battle between May and Akela was great, even if it was brief. Also Grant infiltration of the complex had some great action moments.

*End Spoilers*

Production Value/Special Effects: While the episode did not have as many special effects as previous episodes, which is probably a good thing, the production value is continually getting better with each episode.

Comedy: As stated above, there are several memorable and humorous scenes in the episode.

Overall: 9.3/10- "Eye Spy" again improved upon the pervious episodes with better chemistry between the actors as well as a hint about what really happened to Coulson.

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World War Z Review

Thoughts: World War Z, a zombie action thriller that delivered at the box office, but it is a good movie? Behind the scenes World War Z had some issues in production with producer and star, Brad Pitt, having major disagreements with director Marc Forster. The result was a delay of six months and a complete rewrite and reshoot of last 30 minutes of the film, and from what I have read about the original ending, the new ending is much better. Also World War Z is an adaptation of Max Brooks' novel of the same name, and from what I have heard from friends and the internet, the name is the only thing that the novel and the film have in common.
As for the movie itself, World War Z is a zombie movie that made a non-fan of the genre enjoy the film. Unless I am shooting them in video games like Black Ops, zombies are not something that I have much interest in. The concept of zombies in general is absurd and not something that I would even consider science fiction, or at least the ones in World War Z make no sense (supernatural ones make more sense in context though). The Walking Dead is only zombie related film/show that I am somewhat interested in, only because a few of my friends like it. Regardless, World War Z made me suspend my disbelief for the two hour thrill ride.
One of the best and most surprise aspects of World War Z is how incredibly fast the movie starts. After brief setup of his family, the movie takes off and turns into an intense ride that rarely slows down.

A common compliant about World War Z is the lack of gore and the fact that zombies do not eat people. With the exception of one scene, the violence did not appear censored for the PG-13 rating that much. Seriously, why do zombie movies need to be over-the-top gory anyway? There is nothing wrong with that but suspense and thrills are what makes any film of its kind to be "scary" not the gore. Plus, the type of zombies used bit people to infect them almost instantly, not eat them. Another compliant is that there are a lot of zombie movie clichés, and since I have not seen many zombie movies (unless Invasion of the Body Snatchers counts), the zombie clichés are mostly new to me. Also fans of shows like the Walking Dead will find the movie not so impressive in comparison.

Directed by: Marc Forster
Genre: Action, Thriller, Zombie, Action Thriller, Horror,
Release Date: June 21, 2013
Running Time: 116 minutes
MMPA rating: PG-13


The Good: A few genuine thrills, Brad Pitt's performance is excellent, Lightning fast start, Impressive action scenes, Great tension, Made zombies entertaining for non-fans of the genre, Unique tone, Easy to become engaged in the story,

The Bad: A few dumb parts, One zombie was more humorous than horrifying, Occasionally predictable,



Plot: The following plot summary is copied from Wikipedia.com.
Former UN employee Gerry Lane, his wife Karin and their two daughters are in heavy Philadelphia traffic when the city is attacked by zombies. As chaos spreads, the Lanes escape to Newark, New Jersey and take refuge in an apartment, home to a couple with a young son, Tommy. UN Deputy Secretary-General Thierry Umutoni—an old friend of Gerry's—sends a helicopter that extracts the Lanes and Tommy to a U.S. Navy vessel in the Atlantic where scientists and military personnel are analyzing the worldwide outbreaks. Dr. Andrew Fassbach posits that the plague is a virus, and that development of a vaccine depends on finding the origin. Gerry reluctantly agrees to help Fassbach find the outbreak's source after it is made clear that he and his family will be removed from the ship if he does not.
Watch the movie to see what happens next.


Plot: 6.9/10- World War Z's plot is probably the film's weakest aspect, albeit still a fun story. Brad Pitt's character is given enough motivation for his actions and he is a likeable character. Throughout the film, some parts are kind of telegraphed and I saw them coming 15 minutes ahead of time, and other minor things where just kind of dumb. However, the resolution to the plot was satisfying and intriguing. Other than that, the story delivers an interesting take on the zombie genre that makes me interested enough to want a sequel, which is coming in the near future.

Action: 8.1/10- Even though Marc Forster's overuse of shaky-cam is present, for the most part, the shaky-cam actually added to the intensity, which is rare for me to admit. Some of the action was a little too dark as well, but that was not much of a problem. The big action scenes are mostly revealed in the trailer and they serve their purpose well enough. Thankfully Forster's action direction is a vast improvement compared to how he ruined the James Bond film, Quantum of Solace.


Acting: 7.8/10- Brad Pitt's performance was great and much better than the average action star, and I am not even a Pitt fan. Israeli actress, Daniella Kertesz, did a fine job in her role. Most of the other actors did their job well, although few other actors where noticeably that great. There is one zombie in particular that was unintentionally humorous when I assume he was attempting to be creepy, but the other zombies actors where twitchy and zombie like. Also, getting to see Peter Capaldi as a W.H.O. Doctor was cool, which I posted about here and his performance was very good in his minor role. 


Special effects: 8.0/10- Despite the horribly fake looking effects on the World War Z trailer, the effects where overall impressive. The effects for the mass hoards of zombies are decent and above average, but not mind blowing. There is a surprising amount of practical effects and makeup used for the zombies, which worked well for what the movie was going for. Rarely did I notice that the zombies in the close quarters scenes where CGI.

Soundtrack: 5.0/10- Marco Beltrami's score was forgettable and never added much to the film's intensity, except for the obligatory rip-off of Inception's BWAA music.

Comedy: 2.1/10- Except for a few a couple of unintentionally funny moments, I am not sure if I laughed during the entire film, although that was not a negative.

Would I Watch This Again: While being enjoyable, World War Z is the type of movie that I would not care to see again until the sequel rolls around and then I will probably give it another shot.

Overall: 7.8/10- While World War Z might not be a good adaptation of the novel or even a good zombie movie, what the film is, is a thrilling action film that turned out to be better than expected and an enjoyable experience for non-zombie-fans like myself.

Closing comments: World War Z is currently the surprisingly good movie of the year and one of the better action movies (comic book films not included) in recent memory.

Recommended for: Action fans, Thriller fans, Zombie fans, Brad Pitt fans,

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Agents of SHIELD Full Episode 4

 

Yet another episode of quality entertainment from Agents of SHIELD. I really think this is the first time that the cast really clicked because the chemistry was so great in this episode. They really seem like a family similar to Firefly. As always, check back Monday for my full review of the episode. Please enjoy and vote on my Reader's Choice post.

 

 

 

 

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Agents of SHIELD: The Asset Review

Thoughts: Agents of SHIELD does it again with an even better episode than before. Despite the criticism, I have to say that Agents of SHIELD continues to impress as we gain further insight into the characters' backstories. Also The Asset is the first episode of the series to be based on actual comic book source material, which I will go into more detail about later in the review.
*Spoilers*
The episode opens with some mildly impressive special effects with the cars flipping and the transfer truck being lifted in the air. Scientist Dr. Franklin Hall is captured by unknown enemy force using Gravitonium. In the comics Doctor Hall was a scientist that worked with Gravitonium and in an accident he gained the power to control gravity itself and fought the Avengers and SHIELD. While his origin a sizeable departure from the comics, the story was adapted well enough and considering that Graviton is a B-List villain, Agents of SHIELD is the best place for the character. Seeing him reach out of the Gravitonium orb was cool, albeit not unexpected since I knew about the comics. Also, you may have seen the character in the animated Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes in one of the early episodes.
Clark Greg had even more fantastic scenes in this episode, although he did not mention "Tahiti. It's a magical place" this time. His decision to kill Doctor Hall when there were no other alternatives was a great, and surprising, twist that shows that Coulson will do what needs to be done when necessary.
More information into Agent Grant and Skye's backgrounds were given this episode, and as usual for Whedon characters, they have troubled and conflicted pasts. Grant was bullied by his older brother and Skye was an orphan. Chloe Bennet and Brett Dalton are starting to have great chemistry together. Also I am in the somewhat minority in that I really like Skye as a character. She is actually one of my favorite parts about the series.

Graviton/Dr. Hall and Ian Hart

Action: Again Agents of SHIELD delivers action better than anything else on network television with well filmed hand-to-hand fights and a few shootouts.

Acting: Everyone is great as usual, except Bennet and Dalton where better than before. Ian Hart as Dr. Hall was alright, not bad, but not the best; he played his role well enough.


Production Value/Special Effects: While the opening scene with the cars flipping and the truck being lifted where obviously CGI, the effects where impressive considering the TV budget. Also the room with the changing gravity was a cool effect.

*End Spoilers*

Comedy: Another hilarious episode with several memorable parts. Skye's humorous witticisms where great, especially the part about the gun and her attempting to say something profound but completely botching it. Fitz had a very funny moment as well.

Overall: 9.2/10- Agents of SHIELD continues its upward progression with another fantastic episode showing the series' slightly darker side.

Closing comments: Hopefully the next several episodes will continue to be even better.

The full episode is below if you have not seen it.

 

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Rear Window Review.

Thoughts: Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece of suspense, Rear Window is about L. B. "Jeff" Jeffries, a photographer that broke his leg in an accident and is now confined to his apartment room for the next several weeks. To past the time, Jeff watches the people in his neighborhood and, in doing so, discover that one of his neighbors is conducting some usual activity, and a mystery ensues.
Rear Window is a one of the few films that has influenced me as a film critic. Although it never "change what I believed" or anything like that, Rear Window did show me the power of suspense and how important of a narrative device suspense is. Ever since watching Rear Window almost two years ago, the suspense thriller genre has been one of my favorites, particularly anything made by the great Alfred Hitchcock. If you have any interest in filmmaking, critiquing, acting, or just want to see a quality movie, I employ you to watch Rear Window. While the movie may start slow by today's standards, it turns into one of the most edge-of-your-seat suspense works of all-time. I have yet to see a film that matches Rear Window in terms of quality suspense and intelligent mystery.


Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock
Genre: Suspense, Mystery
Release Date: August 1, 1954 (1954-08-01)
Running Time: 112 minutes
MMPA rating: PG


The Good: Incredibly suspenseful, Involving mystery, Unique way it was filmed, Oscar worthy performance from Stewart, Original concept, Influenced my critiquing skills, Grace Kelly is better than ever, Masterpiece of quality suspense,

The Bad:

Note: The trailer below is misleading and contains some spoilers. Just watch the movie.



Plot: The following plot summery is copied from Wikipedia.com.
Note: I have less than the usual amount of the description plot because this is a Spence mystery and any spoilers could ruin the movie. If you are sure ,from I have said above, that you want to watch the movie do not read below so that you will not know what is going to happen in the movie.
After breaking his leg during a dangerous assignment, professional photographer L. B. "Jeff" Jeffries (James Stewart) is confined in his Greenwich Village apartment, using a wheelchair while he recuperates. His rear window looks out onto a small courtyard and several other apartments. During a summer heat wave, he passes the time by watching his neighbors, who keep their windows open to stay cool. The tenants he can see include a dancer, a lonely woman he nicknames "Miss Lonelyheart", a songwriter, several married couples, and Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr), a wholesale jewelry salesman with a bedridden wife.
After Thorwald makes repeated late-night trips carrying his sample case, Jeff notices that Thorwald's wife is gone and sees Thorwald cleaning a large knife and handsaw. Later, Thorwald ties a large packing crate with heavy rope and has moving men haul it away. Jeff discusses these observations with his wealthy socialite girlfriend Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly) and his insurance company home-care nurse Stella (Thelma Ritter), and becomes obsessed with their theory that Thorwald murdered his wife. Watch the movie to see what happens next.


Plot: 10/10- Even though Rear Window's mystery is not necessarily the best mystery, the way in which the mystery and story are told is masterful. Hitchcock uses a unique perspective to tell the story. For nearly the entire film, the movies takes place from the one room that Jeff is in. Because of the unique perspective, the audience is along for the ride with Jeff and the audience only knows what Jeff knows about the mystery, therefore the viewer is easily wrapped up in the suspense and story. Rear Window does start slowly, which is the only minor compliant, but that was not an issue for me.

Action: N/A-

Acting: 9.7/10- James Stewart is reliably excellent as Stewart always is, although he seemed particularly Oscar Worthy in this performance. Grace Kelly is beautifully amazing in her role, and for the time, she is one of the best heroines of cinema, despite her smaller role. The other actors in the film where all very good.

Special effects: N/A-

Soundtrack: N/A- Rear Window only uses a true soundtrack in the opening and closing title. The rest of the music in the film comes from the surroundings, like someone playing the piano or playing a record.

Comedy: 5.6/10- It is not a comedy but Stewart's wit is always humorous.

Would I Watch This Again: Oddly enough, I have yet to watch the film more than once, however I would like to change that in the near future.

Overall: 9.7/10- Overall, Rear Window is a masterpiece of cinema, the best work of the era, and my personal favorite Alfred Hitchcock film, in short, watch Rear Window!

Closing comments: Even if you are not a fan of old classic films, Rear Window is a must watch if you have any interest in movies.

Recommended for: Anyone, Suspense fans, Mystery fans, Hitchcock fans, James Stewart fans,

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Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Trailer Review

Here is the review for the awesome new Desolation of Smaug trailer, and JT is back to offer his opinion as well in our usual rundown of trailers with HD screen caps. Wow, this trailer is amazing compared to all of the other trailers for either Hobbit film. The tone is darker and more epic, plus there will apparently be a few epic battles. Again the Elves are back, which is arguably just as much a good thing as it is bad. On one hand Elves are cool and Legolas is a fan-favorite, on the other the hand Elves could overshadow the other characters like Bilbo, Gandalf, and Thorin. However, I will give Peter Jackson the benefit of the doubt because he has done well so far. Now there is even more controversy over the addition of Tauriel's character now that she is obvious going to be a romantic interest for Legolas, as well as being an entirely new character not from Tolkien's lore. This change is somewhat similar to giving Arwen a larger role in the Lord of Rings, except Arwen was actually mentioned in the book. The original rumor is that Tauriel was going to be a romantic interest for Kíli or one of the other Dwarves, however that is either going to not happen or there will be some crazy awkward "love triangle" between the character, which I hope is not the case. Now, Benedict Cumberbatch as Smaug sounds awesome! At first I could hardly tell it was Cumberbatch but after listening to it more, his distinct voice was clearly present. Also I really like the part when Bilbo starts to tell Gandalf what he could in the cave, and Gandalf is like "Good, you'll need it." For some reason the inflection in his voice reminded me more of his role as Magneto than Gandalf but it was still cool. As for my anticipation for the movie as a whole, I cannot wait to see it because I am certain it will be better than the first.

JT: By the looks of this trailer, Peter Jackson and crew would rather have us believe Tolkien wrote a story called Elves: The Forgotten Action Heroes (with cameos by New Zealand, A wandering crazy man and a troop of height-challenged guys with beards and huge appetites). But really, kidding aside, this is a very strong trailer for an action epic. If I had no clue what the story was, I would probably go see this movie and like it. However, since I am me and I do know what it's about, I have the usual purist reservations, although to a lesser degree than for the slapstick fumble that was the first one.

Things that are cool: All those random action scenes (basically the whole trailer)! Bilbo! Gandalf! Bard! Beorn! Smaug!

Things that are not cool: Eyebrow shots. Eyebrows that are not the same color as the hair above it; come on, people it's creepy to look at. romance, implied, assumed, imagined, or real. The Hobbit is not the sort of story that likes that kind of thing. Inventing characters, then telling us there would be no romance, then implying that there is, for no reason. Overdone Legolas beatdowns. Yes, it's going to be fun on the big screen, but believe it, shield- and elephant-trunk surfing have denied Orlando Bloom any future credibility as an action star, even in the same role.

JT: There is confusion on whether this Lake-Town, Dale, or Dol Goldur. For my part the question is who's in the boat and I doubt that Dol Goldur has that much water.

James: For some reason I really like Thorin's armor, it looks awesome with the red cape/cloak thing.
JT: I expect a suitably epic Howard Shore theme to accompany this shot.

James: Even more Legolas killing things, did someone forget that he is not the star of the film? Oh wait, he basically is.
JT: That's the problem right there. And no, he will never live down the surfing on the elephant trunk and the shield. Welcome to Legolas Lives: The action movie that should not be.

James: Other than the obvious fact that Tauriel is not mentioned by Legolas in the Lord of Rings, I wonder what dark secret she has that makes it so that Thranduil does not want her to give Legolas false hope.
JT: Can't help you there. The whole being an invented character business is really messing her up. The speculation is that she's simply not worthy to be making googly-eyes at the prince of Mirkwood.

James: Luke Evans as Bard the Bowman looks like he is a cool character, albeit one that still looks like the Pirates of the Caribbean version of Orlando Bloom.
JT: Did I tell you Bard is awesome? Even in his limited role, he's one of my favorite characters.

James: An army of darkness approaches, hopefully the battles in this and third film will be on par with that of the Lord of the Rings because the world needs an epic fantasy battle.
JT: You can have your movie-centric opinion (no offense intended) but actually, making this battle terribly big might just be annoying, since it's primarily just a throw-in to make the move three hours long.

 James: This is literally one of those blink-and-you-will-miss-it type shots with the Eye of Sauron.
JT: What in Middle-Earth is the flaming eyeball doing in the Hobbit movie? Blatant cross-references are not cool. To whom it may concern, the main Hobbit story has nothing whatsoever to do with Sauron, except that Gandalf engineered the quest in order to rob Sauron of the ability to destroy the north with a mind-controlled dragon. 

James: This scene has the type of humor that I like opposed to the slapstick kind that was a little overbearing in the first Hobbit film.
JT: Exactly my thoughts. And if Bilbo's line is "I found it" or words to that effect, this one of those key moments that's dropped in to make the fans cheer. In the story Bilbo claimed he had simply found it w/o mentioning Gollum until much later. But Gandalf knew he was lying and began to suspect that he had the master ring on him.

James: I hope no one has arachnophobia because there are going to be even more creepy spiders in the Hobbit than the Lord of the Rings. Plus, they actually look more anatomically than the Shelob from the Return of the King in that Shelob was more of a wasp hybrid wit the stinger on the tail.
JT: Bilbo is supposed to be invisible! This scene is great b/c of the image you get from imagining a bunch enormous spiders chasing a floating sword.

James: I have no idea what that thing is, but it looks cool.
JT: Well, James, should I explain or not? Most of the readers probably know anyway.

James: The Bard actually has his Bow in this shot. I hope he is as cool as character as he looks.

James: This battle looks like it is going to be epic!
JT: It will also be three minutes or less, because this is a flashback.

JT: Not a great picture of the hoard under the mountain, although it does convey the sense that it's far bigger.

JT: Smaug's head! And he's red. Not what I hoped for but I'm sure it will look great. Is this because he was drawn in red on the map?

James: This is the closet thing we have to a good look at "CumberSmaug," hopefully the future will continue to be this obscure so when he is revealed in the movie in full, it will make for a better effect.

JT: Fear not! The future is only two months long!

What did you think of the trailer? Please comment below.

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Agents of SHIELD: 0-8-4 Review

Thoughts: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. does it again with another fun episode that fixes a few problems I had with the first episode as well as providing some great character development and team building. After the rather polarizing response to last week's pilot, with some viewers and critics, like myself, loving the episode and others being disappointed, Agents of SHIELD has created a large rift between the haters and the fans. As for episode two, despite the smaller scale than last week, it was a lot of fun and arguably better than the pilot. My biggest problem with last week's episode was the cheap looking lighting, which made everything have a low budget TV feel more so than it would have otherwise, however "0-8-4" corrected that for the most part with better darker lighting. Clark Gregg was hilarious and likeable as always as Coulson and the team finally started to work together and build as a team, which was good to see.
*Spoilers Ahead*
The episode opens with the "0-8-4" alert that was mentioned in the last episode, so the team travels to South American. While the Aztec (or was it Mayan) temple looked cheap, the rest of the sets where much better. Getting to hear about some of Coulson's backstory was great as well with him talking to his old flame hinting that Coulson was a "James Bond" of sorts in his younger years. My biggest problem with this episode is that Coulson made a stupid mistake by allowing the members of the army roam free on the SHIELD jet with their guns. Other than that, the episode had great. I liked the camera work in some scenes with the team bickering and the camera spinning around them in typical Whedon fashion. In some ways the episode actually reminded me of Firefly in the way the characters interacted, which was great to see. Melinda May had one of the best lines of the show after the rest of the team would not stop talking, "You talk too much" which was hilarious! Although "0-8-4" is not as loaded with references as the previous episode, there some great ones to Captain American, HYDRA, and the Tesseract, which are cool since the show is continuing to show its importance to the Marvel Universe. There was one minor reference to Serenity when Agent Grant used a Tesseract staff thing that he hit the ground with to knockout the bad guys, which looked a lot like the one Simon used in the opening of Serenity. While I am glad that things are not necessarily as they seem with Skype being revealed to be a double-agent, the fact she is already questioning her loyalty kind of defeats the purpose of it. However, the absolute best part of the entire has to be the freaking Nick Fury cameo! I cannot believe Samuel L. Jackson made an appearance on the show because he is such a high profile actor, but I am glad he did. Him shouting to Coulson that he is “downgrading your a** to a Winnebago” if he screws up the jet again was priceless!
*End Spoilers*

Action: "0-8-4" was more action-packed than the first episode, which was fun. Although I wish more of the actually being hit by bullets was shown, the chase and other hand-to-hand fights where choreographed very well.

 

Acting: Everyone seemed to work better this episode and the actors for Fitz and Simmons where more memorable as separate people than last week. Of course Clark Gregg was great as always.


Production Value/Special Effects: While the temple looked a little corny, the effects where more subdued than last week, which is probably a good thing.

Soundtrack: Again, the score was fantastic, I cannot wait to get my hands on the OST. If anyone knows how I find it, please let me know.

Comedy: Overall, the episode was not as humorous as the first, however there where plenty of laugh-out-loud moments throughout.

Overall: 8.8/10- "0-8-4" is a solid episode in the new series and a good follow-up to the first episode, and I would even go as far to say that "0-8-4" was even better than the first episode.

Closing comments: *Spoiler* I still cannot get out how awesome it was to see Sam L. in the episode, he cameo was reason enough alone to watch it! *End Spoiler*

 

 

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Brave Review.

Thoughts: Brave, what is generally considered by many critics to be one of Pixar's worst movies not named Cars. My opinion of Pixar has been a mixed one for sure. While I am not the biggest fan of their work, a few of their movies are quite good, particularly the Incredibles and the Toy Story trilogy.

Brave's first 30 minutes where surprisingly good, setting up some interesting character, which made me wonder why most critics where not thrilled about the movie, then, at the 30 minute mark, the movie went completely downhill into a complete kid's movie. While Brave was not a complete "Disney Princess" movie, there where certainly elements that made it feel that way, which obviously did not appeal to me in the slightest. There was a huge missed opportunity with the movie because of the direction it took.

Something else to take note of is that I usually enjoy movies set in Scotland since some my ancestors come from there, although all of my ancestors immigrated before American even became a country, but that is beside the point. In terms of how it looked, the Scottish setting looked excellent.

Directed by: Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman

Genre: Animation, Fantasy, Adventure, Comedy

Release Date: June 22, 2012 (2012-06-22)

Running Time: 93 minutes

MMPA rating: PG

 

The Good: Great first 30 minutes, Visually striking animation,

 

The Bad: Falls apart after the first 30 minutes, Half of the humor falls flat,

Plot: The following plot summary is copied from Wikipedia.com.
In Scotland, a young Princess named Merida of the clan Dunbroch is given a longbow by her father, King Fergus, for her fifth birthday, to her mother Queen Elinor's dismay. While practicing, Merida ventures into the woods to fetch a stray arrow, where she encounters a will-o'-the-wisp. Soon afterwards, Mor'du, a giant demon-bear, attacks the family. Merida escapes on horseback with Elinor, while Fergus fights off the bear at the cost of his left leg. Eleven years later, Merida has become a free-spirited, headstrong sixteen-year-old with much younger identical triplet brothers, Hamish, Huburt, and Harris. Elinor informs her that she is to be betrothed to one of her father's allied clans, against her will. Reminding Merida of a legend about a prince who had ruined his own kingdom by pride and refusal to follow his father's wishes, Elinor warns her that failure to consent to the marriage could harm Dunbroch, but Merida is still unhappy with the arrangement.

Watch the movie to see what happens next.

 

Plot: 5.0/10- The plot is Brave's weakest aspect because after the first 30 minutes, it completely went off the rails smack into a kid's movie. Some of the mother/daughter relationship part was done well, and the ending almost brought the movie back to its previous level, but, in the end, the story was not impressive.

 

Action: 5.3/10- There was some action and it was animated well, but nothing noteworthy.

 

Acting: 6.4/10- According to critics that know what Scottish and Irish accents sound like, Kelly Macdonald as Merida sounded more Irish than Scottish, even though Kelly is Scottish. Other than that, her performance as decent I suppose, nothing remarkable though. Billy Connolly as King Fergus was the best actor in the cast, giving an often humorous performance. All of the other voice actors where neither good or bad, just kind of there. Overall, Pixar's films usually have a strong voice cast, but this one disappointed.

Art Style: 9.5/10- In typical Pixar fashion, the animation is positively brilliant! From Merida's realistic hair, to the detail of the Scottish castle, the animation was fantastic. My only problem is that the bear looked subpar to the rest of the animation.

Soundtrack: 7.9/10- Patrick Doyle's Scottish inspired soundtrack is often quite good, however there where few memorable tracks in the film.

 

Comedy: 6.9/10- There where several moments where I did laugh-out-loud, however the rest of the humor just kind of fell flat. However children will no doubt enjoy the movie a lot.

Would I Watch This Again: No, there is absolutely no reason to watch it again.

Overall: 5.8/10- Overall Brave had the potential to be one of Pixar's better movies, but alas, it failed. While it is not Pixar's worst movie by any means, it is just generic and lacking of anything remarkable. 

Closing comments: Although certain demographics, like girls and children, will certainly find more enjoyment out of the movie, it is still worth watching if you are a Pixar fan, just for the animation alone.  

Recommended for: Pixar fans, Disney fans, Fantasy fans, Animation fans,

Below is a review by one of my favorite film critics, Jeremy Jahns, and I have to say that I agree with just about everyone he has to say about Brave. 

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