Category Reviews

Aug 1 2014

This Summer’s Best Film: Guardians Of The Galaxy

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Guardians Of The Galaxy is the perfect embodiment of the summer film. It’s fun, exciting, explosive, and it has the right balance of humor, action and drama. It’s also a big risk for Marvel Studios who until this time produced relatively safe  adaptations of their superhero comic books. Guardians Of The Galaxy doesn’t feature any big-name heroes and it can’t be considered a superhero film but a straight up space opera. Fortunately, Marvel Studios pulled it off in a spectacular way.

peter quilOne of the many reasons why Guardians Of The Galaxy works so well is due to its main character Peter Quill (Chris Pratt). He is cut from the roguish Han Solo/Mal Reynolds cloth, but with a huge helping of John Crichton thrown into the mix and a pinch of Indiana Jones. We’ve seen his type before, a bumbling, lovable thief/smuggler, who is looking for the next big score, but in the end decides to do the right thing. Even though his character type is familiar, Peter connects with us thanks to Pratt’s sincere and goofy performance and his surprisingly deep emotional makeup. The script (by director James Gunn and Nicole Perlman) takes time to show elements of his past, which explains Peter’s motivations and behavior.

Abducted from Earth as a young boy, Peter, who goes by the moniker Star-Lord, lives a scoundrel’s life in the galaxy while listening to oldies pop music on his vintage Walkman.  When Guardians Of The Galaxy begins, he breaks into an abandoned temple on an alien planet and steals an orb that is coveted by very powerful factions. The worst being Ronan (Lee Pace), a proud Kree warrior who is aghast that his race is now at peace with a rival space power, the Nova ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Empire. He wants what is inside the orb, an Infinity Stone, a MacGuffin that grants its user deadly power to destroy. Fans of the Marvel Comics know that it’s part of the gem set used to form Infinity Gauntlet, used by the evil madman Thanos to cut a path of destruction across the universe. Ronan is just a lackey of Thanos (who is briefly played by Josh Brolin), and is tasked to retrieve the stone. Over time, Ronan decides to defy Thanos and use the stone to destroy Xandar, the home planet of the peaceful Nova Empire. Continue reading →

Jul 18 2014

Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley Opens At Universal Studios Orlando

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The big news regarding theme parks of course was the July 8 opening of Diagon Alley, the new expansion of The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter in Universal Studios Orlando. Based on the popular Harry Potter book and film series Diagon Alley is an immediate hit with parkgoers and Harry Potter fans. The newest land added to Universal Studios Orlando consists of the hidden wizarding alley found in London, England. Adorned with cobblestone streets and maze-like alleyways and streets, Diagon Alley boasts several shops and as the centerpieces Harry Potter And The Escape From Gringotts ride and the Hogswarts Express train that connects Universal Studios Orlando with Islands of Adventure.

After the runaway success of Islands of Adventure’s The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, an expansion was fastracked by Universal Resorts. But instead of just encroaching the faithfully recreated Hogsmeade village into other areas of Islands of Adventure, the innovative idea of putting the expansion into Universal Studios Orlando was utilized instead.

Expressway To Both Parks

100_2309The expansion can be found next to Disaster! at the area where the old Jaws ride was located. Visitors coming to the area will first see a replica of a section of modern-day London complete with a train station that leads to the Hogwarts Express and the magical Knight Bus featured in Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban. To gain entry to the train ride, you need a two-park ticket otherwise you are forced to remain in Diagon Alley and vice versa. The train itself is a perfect rendition of the one seen in the Harry Potter films and can accommodate large amounts of passengers.

Once assigned to a roomy cabin, the first thing that strikes the eyes is the passenger-side window that is actually an HD screen showing a brick wall with steam rolling about. On the aisle-side of the cabin, the windows are frosted. After the train leaves, passengers can look out the window and see the London cityscape and surrounding suburbs, but with signs of the malicious Dementors afoot. Meanwhile on the aisle-side of the cabin, silhouettes of Harry Potter and other characters are seen walking back and forth. At one point the Dementors invade the train who are seen as silhouettes, but are quickly dispelled.

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After a few minutes the train reaches Hogsmeade (and shortly before, Hagrid himself appears outside the window striding a flying motorcycle) allowing passengers to disembark onto Islands of Adventure. If you want to go back to London and Diagon Alley, you have to leave the station (which is next to the twin rollercoaster ride Dragon Challenge) and get back on line with your two-park ticket handy. On the way back to London, passengers will witness magical creatures like the hippogriff and centaurs trouncing around the forest surrounding Hogsmeade. Either route provides a nice, comfortable ride between the parks. The character silhouettes and the passenger windows certainly add an interesting touch to the experience. Even though it isn’t an E-ticket ride, Hogswart Express is a novel way to transit the parks. Continue reading →

Jul 11 2014

Dawn Rises Above Other Planet Of The Apes Films

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The newest Planet Of The Apes film, Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes is a direct sequel to the surprisingly great and captivating Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes. That film introduced audiences to the wonder of Caesar (mo-capped by the great Andy Serkis), the first speaking, super intelligent ape and his struggle against humanity. That strife continues with this new film that takes place ten years after the last one. Anyone who saw the last movie knew that in the wake of Caesar’s simian uprising, a genetically engineered virus accidently began to spread throughout humanity and this new movie shows us the aftermath of the pandemic.

Half the human population is gone, but remnants of society are struggling to rebuild. Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes takes place in a ruined San Francisco, where a colony of humans plan to use a dormant hydroelectric dam to restore power to the broken city. What the humans didn’t realize is that a burgeoning civilization headed by super intelligent apes (consisting of chimps, gorillas and orangutans) occupies the land where the dam is located.

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During a scouting trip, a group of humans led by Malcolm (Jason Clarke) encounters the apes. A tense standoff ensues that is ended when Caesar commands the humans to leave the primeval forest. Back in San Francisco, the leader of the colony, Dreyfus (Gary Oldman) wants to take an army and decimate the apes, but Malcolm recognizes Caesar’s intelligence and reason. He manages to buy time from Dreyfus to return to the forest and negotiate for permission to work on the apes’ land and reactivate the dam. Malcolm and his group return and manages to convince Caesar that they are peaceful and so the ape leader allows them to work on the dam, though he is very distrustful towards the humans.

There is a thick tension that hangs throughout this film as audiences wait for the fragile peace to break. But there are moments of quiet contemplation and reverence as Malcolm and the humans connect with Caesar and many of his apes. Of course, while many humans, especially those in the city, strongly dislike the apes, so too, do many apes harbor hostility towards the humans. Leading this contingent is the brutally ugly Koba (Toby Kebbell), who was briefly seen in the last film as a victim of lab experimentation. Koba with his ghastly scars has an unquenchable hatred towards humans and as Caesar’s second-in-command, cannot fathom why the simian leader is so lenient towards the humans. Shockingly enough, this distrust also extends to Caesar’s own son Blue Eyes (Nick Thurston), who provides an intriguing sub plot where he grapples with his own feelings towards humans. This is part of a spiritual tug of war between Caesar and Koba, as the latter ape uses deceit to bring Blue Eyes to his point of view. Continue reading →

Jun 7 2014

Edge Of Tomorrow Leaves You On The Edge Of Your Seat

edge posterThe new Tom Cruise sci-fi action epic Edge Of Tomorrow turned out to be genuinely great surprise. Think Groundhog Day meets Starship Troopers meets HALO and that is what you get with Edge Of Tomorrow.

Tom Cruise plays William Cage, a hapless, deskbound soldier who is part of a military campaign to rid Europe from aliens called Mimics that have established a foothold on the continent and are spreading out to the world. Being that he is inexperienced, Cage is killed nearly instantly in a failed invasion of Mimic-held territory. Yet, because he was doused in the aliens’ blood, Cage wakes up the previous morning and relives the day. As the movie progresses Cage goes through the landing on an infinite loop, but each time he dies and is resurrected, Cage gains more combat awareness. This not only makes him a better soldier, but able to decipher how to defeat the Mimics.

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Edge Of Tomorrow is based on the novel All You Need Is Kill (the film’s original title) by Hiroshi Sakurazaka and is directed by Doug Liman. The director’s expert hand is clearly evident in the film as he keeps each repeated day from becoming tedious to watch. It’s actually kind of fun to see Cage dying from different ways and coming back. At the same time, the action scenes with the aliens are very intense and calls to mind the chaos of other war movies like Starship Troopers, Battle: Los Angeles and even Saving Private Ryan. The mech suits that Cruise and his co-star Emily Blunt wear are kind of goofy looking, but in reality are deadly and formidable weapons and it makes viewers wonder how Starship Troopers might’ve been like if the soldiers in that movie were adorned with mech suits like in Robert Heinlein’s novel. Well, now we have a good idea. An added bonus is that for the most part Tom Cruise does his own stunts and it pays off since it adds intensity and realism to his role. With this and other sci-fi films like Oblivion and Minority Report, Cruise’s presence in them and any future genre film has to be considered as a sign that the film is usually exceptional. As for Emily Blunt, she is definitely a supreme badass warrior woman in this movie and helps carry it.

????????????????????The trailers for Edge Of Tomorrow don’t do the film justice, and makes it seem like another typical, mindless summer action film. But it isn’t. It’s very clever and a real joy ride with fantastic special effects. Sadly, based on expectations and the timing of its release, Edge Of Tomorrow might get lost in the crowded summer movie schedule that already is favoring chick flicks and youth-oriented fare. Regardless of its scheduling and marketing hurdles, sci-fans are in for a mind-blowing treat and should go out of their way to see this extraordinary film.

Waldermann Rivera

May 25 2014

X-Men: Days Of Future Past Is A Great Superhero Epic

X posterX-Men: Days Of Future Past is a return to form for the X-Men film franchise and it’s more than that. It rectifies the misfires made with the franchise since the film’s director Bryan Singer left it to do Superman Returns. But more significantly, Singer has delivered the best X-Men film to date, even eclipsing favorites like X2: X-Men United and X-Men: First Class.

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????The fifth X-Men film (not counting the Wolverine solo efforts) is a loose adaptation of the classic Chris Claremont/John Byrne comic book story arc in The Uncanny X-Men #141-142 where mutants are facing extinction in the future and one mutant’s consciousness is sent back in time to prevent the mutant holocaust at the hands of giant Sentinel robots. The opening scenes in X-Men: Days Of Future Past take place in the grim, dark future where mutants are being mercilessly hunted down by advanced, adaptive Sentinels. In a desperate move, the consciousness of the fast-healing mutant Logan/Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is sent back to the 1970s into the mind of his younger self, which begins a wild ride.

The film switches gears and has the audacity to introduce much-needed humor as Wolverine does a fish-out-of-water routine when adopting to the new timeline. In the 1970s, Bolivar Trask ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????(Peter Dinklage) is a mutant-hating scientist who constructs the Sentinels. According to history, he is assassinated by the shape-shifting mutant Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), which starts the chain reaction leading to the dystopian future seen in the film’s opening act.  Wolverine has to find a younger version of his mentor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) and convince the two men to put aside their differences and change history.

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X-Men: Days Of Future Past is genuine epic spanning across time and places with an intricate, but fast-moving story that is never dull. It’s so perfectly paced with exciting and tense sequences interjected with pathos and wry humor. There’s a smile-inducing segment where Wolverine, Xavier and Hank McCoy (Nicholas Hoult) recruit the speedster Quicksilver (Evan Peters) to break Magneto out of prison and he just steals the show. The way Singer demonstrated Quicksilver’s super-fast powers was so incredible to behold and fresh. It would’ve been easy to just show him as a streak, but Singer went the extra mile and showed his POV where the world around him slows to a standstill as he speeds up. This shows why Quicksilver is one of the coolest mutants and it’s too bad more time isn’t spent with him. His actions erases any complaints from haters and trolls who moaned about how dumb he looked in publicity shots. Of course, what elevates Quicksilver’s presence is how Peters played him as an ADD-addled, fun-loving type. Hopefully, he’ll pop up again in a future X-Men film and one can only speculate at this point on how Joss Whedon will present him in next year’s Avengers: Age Of Ultron.

X and WolverineAs with Peters, the rest of the cast elevate X-Men: Days Of Future Past by giving deeply emotional and captivating performances. This goes for major cast members like Jackman, McAvoy, Fassbender and Lawrence to those that had minor parts  like Ellen Page, Shawn Ashmore, Fan Bingbing, and Halle Berry. It was great to see the acting greats Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen returning to their roles as the older versions of Xavier and Magneto. Also, there are surprising and most welcome cameo appearances by other mutants, which enrich this film and shows how Singer cares about the franchise and pays attention to its details.

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On the whole, unlike the other films, X-Men: First Class aside, this one felt like a true ensemble film and not just Wolverine And The X-Men. He does have a major part in the film, but he is not the only star, that is because the other actors get their moment to shine and Jackman portrays the famous superhero differently, he’s more in control of himself, more mature.

With this film, Bryan Singer takes firm control of the film series and heads it in a new and hopeful direction. It’s clear from watching the performances, the intricate storyline and all the Easter eggs with nods to other X-Men films that Singer is invested with the franchise. X-Men: Days Of Future Past can be seen as an apology of sorts from Singer for leaving the series. Thanks to his efforts, the film is at the same time a welcome superhero blockbuster that will leave many X-Men fans overjoyed.

José Soto