Post by MugiwaraBlair on Feb 14, 2014 0:16:27 GMT
I know musing is a bit too strong a word, it's really just reviews, but the alliteration wouldn't work otherwise. I'm probably not giving scores because what I might feel is an 8 might be more or less good than a subsequent 8 and I'm certainly not cross-referencing all my reviews everytime I put out something new. Also different genres can't be objectively compared anyway. I might do old movies here and since I'm just gonna review what I watch. More or less minor spoilers possible. Also likely to do a games review thread too. First review follows :
RoboCop (2014)
Synopsis: It's 2029, most foreign countries have very low or null crime rates due to patrol bots made by OmniCorp, including androids, walking weapons platforms (EM-209s for those who remember, kinda like metal gear gekkos for those who don't) and flying vtol drones. However there's a law forbidding them on US soil, to circumvent this OmniCorp decides to "put a man inside a machine".
Setting: The city of Detroit, over a decade in the future, it's pretty similar to modern cities but with slightly more fancy tech. There's not much to say since the setting isn't really the focus.
Characters: They're ok, they fill their narrative roles right and none of them are unbelievable. Samuel L. Jackson's character is a very pro-america news anchor, though it's pretty obvious he's an o'reilly expy. Michael Keaton plays OmniCorp's CEO, who is only interested in making more money and nothing else, which makes him come off as much less of an asshole than Dick Jones (the original's big bad) but still definitely not a good person. Gary Oldman's role is the lead cybernetics guy, he seems morally ambiguous in parts but he's really a good guy when it comes down to it. Alex's family reacts realistically as far as I can tell and so does Alex himself while we're on that. So all in all the characters a well done.
Special FX: There's nothing that's obviously CGI or artificially animated unless you really pay attention especially for it, if it wasn't a movie you could reasonably believe the tech exists basically. The machines' (and RoboCop's) movements are fluid, the only times they appear rigid or unorganic (so to speak) is when clearly augmented reflexes and reactions are involved, which is realistic. Nothing bad to say.
Scientific Accuracy: It's pretty sound, there's some nice details like an unamed civilian's cybernetic hands losing full control due to his emotions producing chemicals that interfere with neural signals. And instead of (slight spoilers) directly controlling Alex's mind by typing on a keyboard, they simply restrict what his brain can send to his body, and suppress emotions by lowering his dopamine levels so that he concentrates on work. It's not 100% perfect but it's still more techno babble than needed to fool the average person so it's alright. The only thing I'd criticize is that there's little to no advanced technology besides OmniCorp's products, it's understandable in a meta sense but it doesn't make much sense in-universe.
Quality as a Remake: It depends on how you feel a remake should be. If you think it should a higher quality replica this isn't what you want, but if you want something that was actually remade rather than copied it works pretty well. Listing every change would be pretty spoilery so I'll abstain but I'll say that they all make sense, many of what's different is just to fit with other more important changes and nothing really ruins it. Even the original's satire wasn't simply removed, it satirizes other, more presently-relevant faults of american society and it's more subtle about it but it still does it. Essentially, it's a good remake in spirit, which is more important (and better) than being a good copy.
Verdict: It's a good movie, nothing overly or plainly bad about it, nothing exceptional either so it's not some amazing really great movie but it's good, I'd recommend if someone wants to see something in theatres. Hell it's probably the best thing playing now, by a good margin, except (likely) Lego Movie
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Captain America : The Winter Soldier
Release Date: April 4th 2014 (may vary depending on your location)
Directors: Anthony and Joe Russo
Cast: Chris Evans, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Cobie Smulders, Robert Redford, Anthony Mackie
Synopsis: Steve Rogers is working with S.H.I.E.L.D. to help bring peace to the world, though he's a bit dissatisfied since his idealism clashes with the more pragmatic and secretive ways of the organization. He's also catching up with what he missed, the list of which varies depending on release territory. The titular other supersoldier soon comes up and starts messing with all that
Setting: It's post-Avengers MCU america (mostly), come on if dunno that shame on you
Characters: My opinion hasn't changed much but since I've never put it in a review before here it is. Captain America himself is a badass and he has funny bits, I found him a bit more likeable in this than in both First Avenger and The Avengers though I still don't like him that much as a person because he's way too idealistic. But as a fighter he's totes a badass so he's cool in that regard. Black Widow I actually have similar opinions on despite how different they are. I like that she's capable enough on her own to never unjustifiably need help or be in trouble (the 3 main instances so far are The Hulk, the Winter Soldier who gives Cap trouble and an airstrike) and that she's the cynical pragmatic type. And she's also pretty funny, especially her interactions with Cap through the movie, which are really nice by the way, points for that. But I dislike her femme fatale-ness, her faking weakness schtick and her general female spy stuff. So like I said, as with Cap, she doesn't suck but *I* don't like her. Nick Fury is badass as always, not really among my favorites but he's definitely cool. And his SUV is awesome. The Winter Soldier isn't much of a character but he looks cool, fights cool, kicks tons of ass and doesn't fuck around, probably my favorite person in that movie. As for the person WS used to be/secretly is/becomes again(?)...eh, passable I guess. I mean it's probably better for the story and all if he changes back but *I* like silent whoop ass can-opener myself. Maria Hill isn't present much but she's still a total badass and a personal Ensemble Darkhorse for me, I much prefer her to BW. Falcon is a nice funny guy, he's pretty badass and seems a good brother-in-arms, not sure I'd like hanging out with him irl but he was great for the movie. That guy who's the squad leader behind Cap, uh..Rumlow ? I think that was his name. Crossbones in the comics iirc. He was pretty badass too, he didn't compared to bad to Cap, which is pretty good for someone without powers. Speaking of that the beginning bad guy played by a Quebec MMA fighter (which btw can't hide his accent for shit) was a cool fighter too. As I mentioned here and there above, interactions between characters is still top notch and funny, much like the rest of the MCU, nothing else to say about that, I don't like everyone but can't deny they're well done characters and flow nicely together
Story: Since I don't do spoilers (or at least try not to, sorry if I slip) I'm not gonna go on about it. The story is pretty good on it's own, though they skip a sequence I'd like to have seen (stealing Falcon's "wings" from where they're stored). Where it gets interesting however is that, if you care about the MCU (or course you do) this movie has the biggest change of status quo for it by a pretty big margin, and the less subtle one too, so you gotta see it if even just for that
Special FX: They're awesome, crumbling structures, explosions, mini flying fortresses, Cap bashing doors down (more like running through them without slowing) and jumping through windows, etc. The fights are all really badass too. Still as good as ever MCU, keep it up
Quality as an MCU Film: That really depends on your favorite MCU hero to pretty large extent but objectively speaking (as much as I can be at least) it's one of the best. I prefer it to First Avenger and for the most part to Iron Man 3, as in, I like some things better from WS and other things better from IM3 but WS comes a bit over it I think, probably better flowing plot or something like that.
Verdict: If you couldn't guess already, Winter Soldier is an awesome movie, it's pretty good on it's own and taking it as the newest part of the MCU that it is makes it even greater. Plus it's an MCU movie, even the "lesser" ones are good movies (and this one ain't one of those anyway). The best thing playing right now at least until may 2nd, and perhaps beyond. Also don't forget to stay until the very end, there's 2 stingers ^^
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Godzilla (2014)
Release Date: may 16th 2014
Director: Gareth Edwards
Cast: Kick-Ass, Saito, Scarlet Witch, Juliette Binoche, Sally Hawkins, Arthur Spiderwick and Walter White
Synopsis: Scientists and military find kaijus and hide them from the public, kaijus are polite enough to wait until the time of the movie to appear. Army can't do shit to either, they fight. Also people talk and stuff.
Setting: Modern day earth, plus a couple kaijus
Story: It does the job I guess, the main plot that is. The military actions are pretty much what they'd do irl, big monster appears=kill it, of course, it's stupid and douchy but it's realistic. The sub plots are generic useless clutter, made worse by the main human characters always "coincidentally" being exactly where the big stuff happens. Speaking of characters most of them suck too, most meaning all of them except Serizawa (and his assistant, if she's relevant enough to count) and uh, I think there was another but I forgot who.
Special FX: The Kaijus look pretty real so that's good, though Zilla is kind of a fattie for some reason
Kaiju fights: 3 things, one yay and two nays. The Yay: when Zilla kicks ass it's badass as fuck. Nay#1: the fights are generically choreographed, it alternates between complete dominance on either side, and the sides turn back to Zilla's favor only when kick-ass does stuff that distracts Muto. Nay#2: Zilla is described as an "Alpha Predator" but xe just kills the other kaiju and leaves, doesn't take one bite off them. He also strangely never kills any humans, even accidentally
Final Judgement: Basically like Pacific Rim as I predicted, the kaiju parts are mostly really cool, the rest is boring, which sucks because "the rest" is like 3/4s of the movie
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Xmen: Days of Future Past
Release date: May 23rd 2014
Director: Bryan Singer
Cast: Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Halle Berry, Ellen Page, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart
Synopsis: In 2023, Sentinels have basically destroyed the world, the remaining Xmen send Logan's mind into his past self to warn young Xavier and Eric of the future war and prevent it
Setting: Mostly the crapsack future and the early 70s, a bit of good future at the end
Story: It's ok, nothing bad about it really, barring Xavier still being an overly idealistic moron and opposing Eric's pragmatic solutions that would actually change something
Action: The fight scenes are badass as hell, the Sentinels kick ass, Wolvie's still awesome and there's moar Fassbender!Magneto badassery
Special FX: same drill as usual, pretty much all movies with a big budget have good SFX nowadays
Final Judgement: Go to cinema naow
RoboCop (2014)
Synopsis: It's 2029, most foreign countries have very low or null crime rates due to patrol bots made by OmniCorp, including androids, walking weapons platforms (EM-209s for those who remember, kinda like metal gear gekkos for those who don't) and flying vtol drones. However there's a law forbidding them on US soil, to circumvent this OmniCorp decides to "put a man inside a machine".
Setting: The city of Detroit, over a decade in the future, it's pretty similar to modern cities but with slightly more fancy tech. There's not much to say since the setting isn't really the focus.
Characters: They're ok, they fill their narrative roles right and none of them are unbelievable. Samuel L. Jackson's character is a very pro-america news anchor, though it's pretty obvious he's an o'reilly expy. Michael Keaton plays OmniCorp's CEO, who is only interested in making more money and nothing else, which makes him come off as much less of an asshole than Dick Jones (the original's big bad) but still definitely not a good person. Gary Oldman's role is the lead cybernetics guy, he seems morally ambiguous in parts but he's really a good guy when it comes down to it. Alex's family reacts realistically as far as I can tell and so does Alex himself while we're on that. So all in all the characters a well done.
Special FX: There's nothing that's obviously CGI or artificially animated unless you really pay attention especially for it, if it wasn't a movie you could reasonably believe the tech exists basically. The machines' (and RoboCop's) movements are fluid, the only times they appear rigid or unorganic (so to speak) is when clearly augmented reflexes and reactions are involved, which is realistic. Nothing bad to say.
Scientific Accuracy: It's pretty sound, there's some nice details like an unamed civilian's cybernetic hands losing full control due to his emotions producing chemicals that interfere with neural signals. And instead of (slight spoilers) directly controlling Alex's mind by typing on a keyboard, they simply restrict what his brain can send to his body, and suppress emotions by lowering his dopamine levels so that he concentrates on work. It's not 100% perfect but it's still more techno babble than needed to fool the average person so it's alright. The only thing I'd criticize is that there's little to no advanced technology besides OmniCorp's products, it's understandable in a meta sense but it doesn't make much sense in-universe.
Quality as a Remake: It depends on how you feel a remake should be. If you think it should a higher quality replica this isn't what you want, but if you want something that was actually remade rather than copied it works pretty well. Listing every change would be pretty spoilery so I'll abstain but I'll say that they all make sense, many of what's different is just to fit with other more important changes and nothing really ruins it. Even the original's satire wasn't simply removed, it satirizes other, more presently-relevant faults of american society and it's more subtle about it but it still does it. Essentially, it's a good remake in spirit, which is more important (and better) than being a good copy.
Verdict: It's a good movie, nothing overly or plainly bad about it, nothing exceptional either so it's not some amazing really great movie but it's good, I'd recommend if someone wants to see something in theatres. Hell it's probably the best thing playing now, by a good margin, except (likely) Lego Movie
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Captain America : The Winter Soldier
Release Date: April 4th 2014 (may vary depending on your location)
Directors: Anthony and Joe Russo
Cast: Chris Evans, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Cobie Smulders, Robert Redford, Anthony Mackie
Synopsis: Steve Rogers is working with S.H.I.E.L.D. to help bring peace to the world, though he's a bit dissatisfied since his idealism clashes with the more pragmatic and secretive ways of the organization. He's also catching up with what he missed, the list of which varies depending on release territory. The titular other supersoldier soon comes up and starts messing with all that
Setting: It's post-Avengers MCU america (mostly), come on if dunno that shame on you
Characters: My opinion hasn't changed much but since I've never put it in a review before here it is. Captain America himself is a badass and he has funny bits, I found him a bit more likeable in this than in both First Avenger and The Avengers though I still don't like him that much as a person because he's way too idealistic. But as a fighter he's totes a badass so he's cool in that regard. Black Widow I actually have similar opinions on despite how different they are. I like that she's capable enough on her own to never unjustifiably need help or be in trouble (the 3 main instances so far are The Hulk, the Winter Soldier who gives Cap trouble and an airstrike) and that she's the cynical pragmatic type. And she's also pretty funny, especially her interactions with Cap through the movie, which are really nice by the way, points for that. But I dislike her femme fatale-ness, her faking weakness schtick and her general female spy stuff. So like I said, as with Cap, she doesn't suck but *I* don't like her. Nick Fury is badass as always, not really among my favorites but he's definitely cool. And his SUV is awesome. The Winter Soldier isn't much of a character but he looks cool, fights cool, kicks tons of ass and doesn't fuck around, probably my favorite person in that movie. As for the person WS used to be/secretly is/becomes again(?)...eh, passable I guess. I mean it's probably better for the story and all if he changes back but *I* like silent whoop ass can-opener myself. Maria Hill isn't present much but she's still a total badass and a personal Ensemble Darkhorse for me, I much prefer her to BW. Falcon is a nice funny guy, he's pretty badass and seems a good brother-in-arms, not sure I'd like hanging out with him irl but he was great for the movie. That guy who's the squad leader behind Cap, uh..Rumlow ? I think that was his name. Crossbones in the comics iirc. He was pretty badass too, he didn't compared to bad to Cap, which is pretty good for someone without powers. Speaking of that the beginning bad guy played by a Quebec MMA fighter (which btw can't hide his accent for shit) was a cool fighter too. As I mentioned here and there above, interactions between characters is still top notch and funny, much like the rest of the MCU, nothing else to say about that, I don't like everyone but can't deny they're well done characters and flow nicely together
Story: Since I don't do spoilers (or at least try not to, sorry if I slip) I'm not gonna go on about it. The story is pretty good on it's own, though they skip a sequence I'd like to have seen (stealing Falcon's "wings" from where they're stored). Where it gets interesting however is that, if you care about the MCU (or course you do) this movie has the biggest change of status quo for it by a pretty big margin, and the less subtle one too, so you gotta see it if even just for that
Special FX: They're awesome, crumbling structures, explosions, mini flying fortresses, Cap bashing doors down (more like running through them without slowing) and jumping through windows, etc. The fights are all really badass too. Still as good as ever MCU, keep it up
Quality as an MCU Film: That really depends on your favorite MCU hero to pretty large extent but objectively speaking (as much as I can be at least) it's one of the best. I prefer it to First Avenger and for the most part to Iron Man 3, as in, I like some things better from WS and other things better from IM3 but WS comes a bit over it I think, probably better flowing plot or something like that.
Verdict: If you couldn't guess already, Winter Soldier is an awesome movie, it's pretty good on it's own and taking it as the newest part of the MCU that it is makes it even greater. Plus it's an MCU movie, even the "lesser" ones are good movies (and this one ain't one of those anyway). The best thing playing right now at least until may 2nd, and perhaps beyond. Also don't forget to stay until the very end, there's 2 stingers ^^
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Godzilla (2014)
Release Date: may 16th 2014
Director: Gareth Edwards
Cast: Kick-Ass, Saito, Scarlet Witch, Juliette Binoche, Sally Hawkins, Arthur Spiderwick and Walter White
Synopsis: Scientists and military find kaijus and hide them from the public, kaijus are polite enough to wait until the time of the movie to appear. Army can't do shit to either, they fight. Also people talk and stuff.
Setting: Modern day earth, plus a couple kaijus
Story: It does the job I guess, the main plot that is. The military actions are pretty much what they'd do irl, big monster appears=kill it, of course, it's stupid and douchy but it's realistic. The sub plots are generic useless clutter, made worse by the main human characters always "coincidentally" being exactly where the big stuff happens. Speaking of characters most of them suck too, most meaning all of them except Serizawa (and his assistant, if she's relevant enough to count) and uh, I think there was another but I forgot who.
Special FX: The Kaijus look pretty real so that's good, though Zilla is kind of a fattie for some reason
Kaiju fights: 3 things, one yay and two nays. The Yay: when Zilla kicks ass it's badass as fuck. Nay#1: the fights are generically choreographed, it alternates between complete dominance on either side, and the sides turn back to Zilla's favor only when kick-ass does stuff that distracts Muto. Nay#2: Zilla is described as an "Alpha Predator" but xe just kills the other kaiju and leaves, doesn't take one bite off them. He also strangely never kills any humans, even accidentally
Final Judgement: Basically like Pacific Rim as I predicted, the kaiju parts are mostly really cool, the rest is boring, which sucks because "the rest" is like 3/4s of the movie
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Xmen: Days of Future Past
Release date: May 23rd 2014
Director: Bryan Singer
Cast: Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Halle Berry, Ellen Page, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart
Synopsis: In 2023, Sentinels have basically destroyed the world, the remaining Xmen send Logan's mind into his past self to warn young Xavier and Eric of the future war and prevent it
Setting: Mostly the crapsack future and the early 70s, a bit of good future at the end
Story: It's ok, nothing bad about it really, barring Xavier still being an overly idealistic moron and opposing Eric's pragmatic solutions that would actually change something
Action: The fight scenes are badass as hell, the Sentinels kick ass, Wolvie's still awesome and there's moar Fassbender!Magneto badassery
Special FX: same drill as usual, pretty much all movies with a big budget have good SFX nowadays
Final Judgement: Go to cinema naow