At The Movies

It's been a while since I've mentioned some of the movies I've seen recently.  Here are some I remembered:

MAN OF STEEL - Zack Snyder directed this reboot of the classic superhero.  This time around Henry Cavill stars as the man of steel, with Amy Adams starring as Lois Lane and Michael Shannon as General Zod.  The story is pretty straight forward here.  Superman gets blasted into space after Krypton explodes, and then he lands on Earth and grows from childhood into the superhero we expect him to be.  The story is basically another origin story of the character, but it's edited in a way that we don't waste a lot of time on the details most everyone knows anyway.  I really enjoyed the first half of the movie.  It had a nice balance of action, suspense, and story.  However, somewhere during the second half the movie turns into an over-the-top action movie with bombastic action sequences.  So by the time the closing credits come around you're either annoyed or exhausted.  Anyway, the movie looks great, and the acting is pretty solid all around.  Cavill does a good job as the man of steel, and Michael Shannon is fantastic as General Zod.  But as good as the movie is Man of Steel lacks the heart and humor that made the Christopher Reeves film so memorable.   The movie isn't perfect, but it's really good.  In fact, I enjoyed it enough to see it twice.

WORLD WAR Z - Based on the book written by Max Brooks, World War Z is an action movie about the coming "zombie apocalypse."  Brad Pitt stars as Gerry Lane, some kind of UN health investigator who races against time to find a cure for a disease that is spreading like wildfire throughout the world - a virus that turns people into zombies.  I fully expected to blast this movie.  I read the book a while back and thought it was fantastic.  However, the movie is NOTHING like the book.  In fact, I would say the only similarities between the two are the title, and the fact that there are zombies running around.  Anyway, surprisingly I thought the movie was actually pretty decent.  If you followed the production of this film you would have heard that they had to go back and re-write and re-shoot almost all of the third act (something that always spells doom for a coming release.)  But as it turns out the changes at the end helped make the movie better.  It's not as good as the book, but it's pretty good.  I just wish they had called it something else.

THE LONE RANGER - Speaking of calling a movie something else.  Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer star in this reboot of the classic franchise. Disney threw millions at this film in hopes of creating another franchise, but the majority of reviews out there have been negative.  For the most part I would have to agree.  This was such a disappointing movie.  As a fan of the old Clayton Moore TV series maybe I had my hopes too high.  But all I know is from the first scene to the closing scene nothing in this movie felt like "The Lone Ranger."  In all honesty I think I would have liked it much better if they just called it something else, like let's say "BIG THUNDER MOUNTAIN" (after the Disney ride.)  All I know is if you're going to call it "The Lone Ranger" you should at least have the essence of the central character down.  Johnny Depp does bring a few laughs as the faithful sidekick Tonto, but overall the movie fails on so many levels.  Very disappointing.

PLANES - Ben and I saw this on our recent Disney cruise.  Sometimes when you go into a movie with absolutely no expectations you find yourself pleasantly surprised.  That was the case for me with "PLANES."  This movie is a companion piece to the popular CARS movies from Pixar.  The story is very familiar here.  A small town crop duster wants to compete in an aerial racing circuit and travel around the world against the best racers in the world.  In fact, many characters are direct copies of the ones in CARS.  Yet, despite all the similarities Ben and I really enjoyed this one.  In fact, I would say it's much better than CARS 2 from a few years ago.  This one was fun for the kids and a pleasant surprise for me.

SOLOMON KANE - To many author Robert E. Howard was best known for being the creator of the Conan The Barbarian books.  However, long before Howard created Conan he created many other fictional characters, one of whom was Solomon Kane.  This is a small budget film from Britain based on the classic character, and it's pretty good.  I've read some of the Solomon Kane stories and they're great.  Kane is a kind of sword wielding "puritan cavalier" from the 16th century.  He wanders the land going where God sends him, and in his adventures he encounters everything from pirates and knights, to zombies and witches.  A lot of those elements are here in this film.  I really enjoyed this movie.  Well worth a rental if you like this kind of stuff.

A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD - John McClane is back in yet another installment of this classic action series.  This time he travels to Moscow to help his son Jack get out of a bind.  And yes...from there crazy antics ensue.  I really won't go into a lot of detail here.  Yes, the story is basically pointless.  Yes, there are tons of "one-liners" from Willis.  And yes, there are tons of over-the-top action sequences.  But I have to admit, I enjoyed this one much more than I thought.  Director John Moore does a superb job of shooting some of the action scenes in a way that is fresh and interesting.  This isn't Oscar filmmaking here, but it's fun.  I liked it.  (Can't believe I'm saying that.)

ARGO - Ben Affleck directs and stars in this thriller that won Best Picture of the Year in 2012.  Affleck plays a CIA agent who manages an operation to rescue 6 Americans in Tehran, Iran during the U.S. hostage crisis in 1980.  I've read that the film takes some liberties with some of the facts, but overall the film is very good.  This is one of those films that is light on action but very suspenseful.  The ending will have you gripping your seat practically.  Anyway, I really enjoyed this one.

BLACK DEATH - Sean Bean (from Game of Thrones) stars in this small budget period piece.  Set during the time of the bubonic plague, Bean plays a knight who is sent by the church to hunt down a woman suspected of being a witch.  In fact, she is suspected of being responsible for the plague itself.  Accompanied by a monk Bean and his team travel through England fighting bandits and thieves in search of the witch's lair.  The film is pretty good for a rental.  The ending kind of falls apart, but it's always good to see Sean Bean with a sword in his hand.  I liked it.

DESPICABLE ME 2 - We saw this one when we were back in Midland over the summer.  When our kids saw the first Despicable Me movie they liked it.  However, I don't remember them ever laughing at it.  In fact, every time they've watched the first one they've never really laughed out loud.  So when we saw they were coming out with a sequel I was surprised when the kids said they wanted to see it.  I won't waste your time here going into the plot.  All that matters here is there are twice as many scenes with the "minions" as there are in the first one, and that's why overall this sequel is better.  Neither film is great, but Despicable Me 2 is better than the first.

DREDD - This is an adaptation of the classic comic character Judge Dredd, and it's also somewhat of a reboot from the 1995 movie starring Sylvester Stallone.  For those who don't know the central storyline in the comics and movies is this:  In the future crime is rampant and the jails are overcrowded.  So "judges" police the streets.  They are the police, the judge, and the executioner, right there on the street, and they are not to be messed with.  The Sylvester Stallone version back in 1995 treated the character like a joke, but in this latest installment "Dredd" treats the subject material very seriously.  Distributed in 3D, "Dredd" went all out to make the most of the medium.  And while the story here is basically forgettable, some of the action scenes are some of the best uses of 3D we've seen in a while.  I wouldn't say I necessarily liked this movie, but I did think it was somewhat impressive to look at.

EPIC - I'll have to be honest, I'm still not sure what this was about.  It's a kids film about miniature people who live in the forest and battle against evil insects and amphibians.  Something like that.  Anyway, the kids liked it, but even they couldn't really explain to me what was going on here.  It's funny.  This was made by the same studio that brought us all the ICE AGE movies, and I find those movies equally forgettable as well.

GAME OF THRONES:  SEASON 2 - When season 1 came out a few years ago I watched it on HBO every week, and while I did like the show I found it extremely hard to follow.  There are so many characters here and intertwining storylines.  Anyway, I went out and bought the first book in the series and became more familiar with it.  Then we moved to Switzerland right before season 2 came out, so I had to wait another year until the DVD's came out.  So I've been on again, off again with this series.  For those who don't know this is a series on HBO that takes place in the fantasy worlds of Westeros and Essos and other lands.  You have multiple houses and families all fighting each other for the throne to the kingdom.  Think War of the Roses meets Lord of the Rings.  Anyway, the series is really well done.  It's a challenge to follow sometimes, but it's an interesting show.  Not for everyone though.

JACK REACHER - Tom Cruise stars as Jack Reacher, an ex military detective investigating the arrest of a friend who is falsely accused of killing 5 people.  Reacher is a drifter with a mysterious past who uses his street smarts to get to the bottom of the mystery.  The movie is based on the Jack Reacher books by Lee Child (which I've never read.)  Most critics praised Cruise's performance even though he didn't really match the physical description Child writes in his books.  Anyway, I enjoyed this film.  Normally I don't care for Cruise films anymore but this one wasn't bad.

MONSTERS UNIVERSITY - Mike and Sully make their return in this prequel to Monsters Inc.  This time around we see how it all began.  The college years as they say.  Hollywood is loaded with prequels and reboots these days, and personally I'm getting really tired of it.  But I did enjoy this one.  It's hard to dislike anything Pixar does, and this one is no exception.  It's not their best film, but it's good.

SKYFALL - I rented this one a while back and then forgot to write about it.  I loved this movie.  Loved it!  Back in high school I went through a James Bond phase, where I rented almost every film.  I loved the Sean Connery films, felt okay about the Roger Moore ones, and then everything after that was a joke.  But ever since Daniel Craig took over as 007 it's been a breath of fresh air for me.  Skyfall is Craig's third go around as the famous agent.  For me he brings a fresh take on the classic character.  In the 80's and 90's Bond was becoming a campy joke of his former self.  But Craig brings a blend of intensity and seriousness to the role that was sorely missing before.  Also, the cinematography in this one is great.  Some of the scenes are stylishly shot, and almost look other-worldly.  Anyway, overall I loved this film, and I love what Craig is doing with this character.  All of the sudden Bond is cool again.