Kaiju (怪獣 kaijū?) is a Japanese word that literally translates to "strange beast." The word has been translated and defined in English as "monster" and is used to refer to a genre of tokusatsu entertainment. Kaiju films usually showcase monsters of any form, usually attacking a major Japanese city or engaging another (or multiple) monster(s) in battle.
X-Men Days of Future Past smashed into theaters this weekend and boy did it ever entertain. I'm in a small group of critics that think 'First Class' is hands down the best X-Men movie made.... a very small group. But were dedicated. DOFP (Days of Future Past) is an amazing movie, but didn't quite change my mind in the best X-Men movie category. Instead it came in a VERY close second. Not being a Bryan Singer fan is probably the one reason for its second place finish. I simply adored what Matthew Vaugh did with First Class, but have always felt a bit 'off' when it came to the other X-Men movies. I have enjoyed them but always felt I could have gotten more. Singer steps to the plate for DOFP and does a MUCH better job than his previous showings and revived my faith in him as a director. I only wish Vaugh had directed DOFP. It may have possibly gotten 5 stars if it was this good seeing as how I did have some minor complaints about this one. With that said, Ill get into the 4 best things about this flick cuz you don't want to hear me bitch about a great movie now do you.
Peter Dinklage has become HUGE lately (no offense) and its understandable why. He's a terrific actor. He brought Bolivar to life and gave him a sense of gravitas even though he's a little person. That's amazing. I only wish we saw more of him in DOFP. The realization and creation of his Sentinels is a highlight of this movie. (70's version... the future versions feel like a rip off of Thor's 'Destroyer'). Trask takes the role as the un-seeming villain in DOFP. With no mutant powers of his own, he leads the charge of creating the Sentinels to eliminate mutants and level the playing field for the human race. He's the Lex Luthor of the X-Men universe using his wits and intelligence to defeat his adversaries. He just doesn't portray as the eccentric bad guy as one would think since he is unknowingly exploited but the intention is still there. Any role I see Dinklage in lately can't be praised enough.
I can't write much about the Sentinels in this movie but they are SUCH an added bonus for any avid X-Men fan. We've seen a glimpse of them in past X-Men outings but in this movie they take center stage since the movie focuses on their creation by Trask. I will commend Singer on his design. Though its still a bit different than the comics version, he did an amazing job making them work in the real world. The same can't be said the future version of the Sentinels which I won't get int, but thee 70's version were pretty. I dig pretty things. Don't judge me
I can't say enough about the story line here. It's ripped directly from the comics. You don't see that in comic book movies that often. As for the differences, they're easy to let go once you realize that writing a comic and making a movie with actual people (who may or may not be box office draws) are two completely different things. I will commend Singer again here for his choice of characters, especially Bishop. But the change from Kitty Pride to Wolverine is an easy one to forgive. While Ellen Page is a great actress, Hugh Jackman's Wolverine is why most people go to see an X-Men movie. Hes the only one to get his own spin offs so far, so its only natural that he take over the task. The surprising news is he's not the main character in this movie as he has been in all other iterations (except First Class which he only had a cameo in) Yes, he's there in a huge way, but you never really see him take the lead as you have in the past. Something I feel which makes the movie better as a whole. You don't have ONE definitive star. Some people hate this, other people like this. I'm part of the latter. Though there are major difference other than these throughout the movie, its still refreshing to see this movie has very strong comic roots rather than some non comic fans simply writing a brand new screenplay. Sometimes its not a bad thing, but its always good to see it stick to its roots.
I KNOW, RIGHT?!?!. Quicksilver was definitely a scene stealer in this film. Even though it was a short piece, Magneto's 'Prison Breakout' scene starring Quicksilver (Evan Peters) was breathtaking. Backed by an excellent musical choice (Jim Croce- Time in a bottle) and riddled with slight comic nuances, it simply impresses. If you've seen the movie or plan to, you WILL remember this scene and hanker to see it from time to time. The visuals and music come together in a choreographed dance that demands appreciation. With all the negative feedback regarding Quicksilver once his wardrobe was revealed prior to the movie's release, its hard to think how this scene could be this good. Singer did an old school "switch 'em up" and threw in an amazing piece of film where everyone was expecting garbage. I left this movie thinking of this scene over and over. Thats why its #1, it left a huge impression.
I highly recommend DOFP, see it before it leaves theaters in a month or so
Godzilla is a staple of Japanese film making. He's been around for a long long time so it's only fitting he get a worthwhile big screen debut here in the good ole USA. Unfortunately, that still hasn't happened. Not yet anyway. After 1998s massive bomb, fans here and away have been clamouring for a better showing. While early reviews of 2014s Godzilla were mainly positive, I can only state the opposite. In this fully Mobile 4LIST (since I'm on my Ipad and not near a computer, hence a possible different format) I'll try to touch on what I feel went wrong.
The film stars Bryan Cranston, Aaron Taylor Johnson, Ken Watanabe, and Elizabeth Olsen. In 1999, the Janjira nuclear power plant is mysteriously destroyed taking the life of Joe Brody's (Cranston) wife. Most lives are lost except Brody and a handful of others. Brody unfortunately has to watch his wife perish. Years later, Brody's son Ford (Johnson) is forced to go to Japan to help his father who has returned, infatuated with discovering what went wrong. There search leads them to witness the awakening of an ancient beast, which forces the awakening of another, elsewhere. Ford then is sent on a mission to help save the civilization from an impending disaster. Thankfully he gets some help....From Godzilla
While the movie isn't extremely terrible, it isn't great and has some major pains. I understand what they may have been trying to do.....Make a 1960s Godzila movie on a 2014 budget. Unfortunately that does not work. Making a 100 million dollar Buster Keaton movie today, EXACTLY like they did IN 1925 would have the same effect. Watching those today are hard considering how spoiled we've become. They were poorly written and poorly filmed. While theyre great nostalgia, they're very boring to a 2014 brain. With that said ........Here are 4 things that I couldn't overlook.
CAUTION. This 4list cannot be made without SPOILERS so read at your own discretion
4. JOE BRODY
I have no complaints with Bryan Cranston at all, he's a great actor and was great in this movie.. For the 20 minutes he was in it. Joe Brody is killed off fairly early and I'm still not sure why. Cranston was a huuuuge selling point of this movie and it's a total let down to see he is barely in it. All the scenes you saw in commercials were all the scenes he was in. I only wish he was in the ENTIRE movie. An hour in and I'm still contemplating why he's gone. I blame this on on marketing.
3. MUTOS
The enemies or rivals in Godzilla are called Mutos. There are 2. They're bird like kaiju that like to destroy stuff and lay eggs. I'm not fully sure how they came to be. We don't get backstory but I guess we NEVER did in a Godzilla movie. I'm just mainly disappointed in their design. I don't find them interesting or entertaining. They simply look boring with no real purpose. Oh and they're in love. There's a TERRIBLE scene where these two giant creatures kiss on their beaks, like from some Disney movie and it made me cringe in disgust. Why is this scene in this movie?? I wish more thought was put into the main villain here. They should have started with what we know...Mothra anyone?
2. GODZILLA.
Ok, this one isn't what you think, I love Godzilla and think he looked amazing in this movie.......for the 15 minutes you saw him. This movie is called "Godzilla" right? Why hold off on seeing him until the very very end. And even then everything is bathed in fog and darkness..YOU BARELY SEE GODZILLA. Even Godzilla deserved a backstory here, but again we got nothing. Only some Japanese gurus talking about the creature has woken to fight the Muto. We don't know why except that it's just instinctual. We don't know where Godzilla was or how he came to be. Just that he arrives to fight other monsters. One main gripe is he's instantly trusted for some reason. Nobody knows if Godzilla is evil but they take the advise of one man and just let Godzilla go on his own. You only see his back protruding through the water for the second hour of the movie until he appears 20 minutes before the end. Again, it was let down. I came to a Godzilla movie to see Godzilla. Not watch Aaron Taylor Johnson run around aimlessly.
1. GARETH EDWARDS' direction
I can't help but feel Edwards was only chosen on the condition he make a movie similar to his other monster movie "Monsters". While Monsters is a decent movie, it's an entirely different entity. It doesn't focus on monsters at all but follows two people paired together trying to traverse from Mexico to the US during a giant monster outbreak. Worse than Godzilla you barely ever see these monsters. Edwards also focuses too much on a story line that follows Taylor-Johnson as he trys to intercept these Mutos. Johnson's plot is just extremely lacking. It's not enough to hold a movie, especially one called Godzilla. Edwards seemed to make two identical movies with different characters. It feels like he was extremely inspired by James Cameron's Titanic but lacks the writing ability to make the story interesting. Godzilla himself simply feels like the backdrop of a poorly written story. This is something that just ruins a movie that should be anything but this. And his decision to try to stay true to Godzillas of pasts and not supply any story to the monsters simply doesn't work. I'm just hoping the second movie is better. We all know there will be a part 2.
The Amazing Spider Man 2 is the second movie tin the Spider-Man reboot franchise. Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy are graduating high school and coming to terms with Peter's Spider-Man persona. In the midst of a frantic high speed persuit. Spidey saves the life of Max Dillon (Jamie Foxx), a nerdy, unappreciated uberfan of Spider-Man. Some time later Max accidentally is electrocuted and transformed into Electro. His new powers soon turn to resentment of Spider-Man as he's hell bent on destroying him. Meanwhile, Harry Osbourne returns to NYC after a time away to visit his dying father, Norman Osbourne and learns a dark family secret. Harry sets out on a selfish mission to turn it around but only digs deeper a deeper whole into darkness. Needing help, Harry and Electro team up to put an end to Spider-Man and take control of NYC.
While the first movie in the rebooted franchise wasn't anything to write home about, it was still better than it's 2nd attempt. Here are 4 reason's why this movie fails to deliver
Jamie Foxx's Electro only serves as a means to end for Dane Dehann's Green Goblin and that's not what you want in a main villain. The transformation of Foxx's character from Max Dillon to Electro is also extremely poorly written. He goes from Spidey loving, nerdy super fan, to an evil jacked up lightning freak hell bent on killing Spidey in a matter of seconds with no explanation why. One of the worst (or so bad its great) moments in Marvel or movie history is the close up, often missed shot, of Max Dillon's gapped tooth being magically fixed by super electricity during his transformation to Electro. I laughed out loud. Not because it was funny but because it was ridiculously stupid. The saddest part is he doesn't feel like the main villain at all. He's technically not but one would assume he should be. His character is just dull and feels like a mistake. I can only assume the movie was written without Electro but was added last minute to add more to a dull script. It had the opposite effect. It only made the movie more cluttered.
Not only is he poorly acted by DeHaan (who is obviously trying too hard to be the next DiCaprio), the character of Harry Osbourne is extremely rushed and just plain boring.
-Harry returns to NY after being gone for 10 years. We learn Parker and Osbourne were friends when they were 10 years old. Upon Osbornes return, Parker has approximately 6 minutes of conversation with him. He then explains to Gwen Stacey that Osbourne is his 'best friend' . WHAT? Where did that come from? The entire conversation between Parker and Osbourne felt phony and timid, how are they best friends? It just felt stupid.
Next we have Harry's transformation. I won't even get into the spider blood that could save Harry (it's the reason Goblin hates Spidey). Harry visits his dying father, Norman Osbourne. Upon talking with him, Norman explains the 'Osbourne family' disease and how it will effect Harry too. IN THAT INSTANT, Harry begins to show signs of the disease. Seriously? That's a big coincidence. The rest of the movie we see Harry trying to find a cure, only to only fully transform in the last 10 minutes.
While I DO commend the Parker Stacey relationship (Garfield and Stone are dating in real life, so their chemistry shines in this movie), Peter Parker has simply become a cocky prick in the second movie. I do not recall Parker being so full of himself in the comics, or previous incarnations, especially the first ASM film. I can only fathom that Garfireld's new found fame is going to his head and bleeding through into this movie. Parker just comes off as crass and abrasive at times and it just leaves a really sour taste in my mouth considering he's Spider-Man and the reason we're watching this movie. I can see were this could be a very petty complaint and shouldn't be #2, but it forced me to spend the whole movie thinking "don't be a dick again, don't be a dick again" only to see him do or say something with an extremely cocky attitude. There are times where he isn't cocky whatsoever, so it is unbalanced. In my opinion, certain scenes were filmed 'prior' to Garfield feeling full of himself, while others were filmed after. YES I'M THIS ANAL.
This movie was just horribly constructed, story and writing wise. I could easily go into a slew of different examples but will refrain to only a few.
As seen above, Electro is just a horribly written character. His story simply makes no logical sense and this can only be blamed on writing. His transformation was cliche, predictable and terribly executed. His attitude change is just plain stupid. Late in the film we see him materialize out of thin air in some form of "rubber suit". How does this suit materialize with Electro and where did it come from?? I'll tell you where it came from... it came from poor writing.
Another example is the final scene.
(Spoiler)
Upon Gwen Stacey's death, Peter Parker grieves at her funeral, and again while sitting on his bed looking at his Spider-Man mask. Then he's fine. Back in top crime fighting form, complete with a renewed sense of humor. Um, dude, your girlfriend just died. YOU FELT 10 TIMES WORSE WHEN HER FATHER DIED IN THE LAST MOVIE!. This left me with a sense of being screwed over. With poor writing choices, this movie just flounders. while its not over the top terrible, it isn't a great movie either
Captain America: The Winter Soldier is 'THE' best Marvel movie made to date. There I said it. It simply kills. While the first Captain America was phenomenal (we all know how much I love a period piece) the second does a good job of topping it. The Winter Soldier is extraordinarily written, directed and acted. I have absolutely no complaints with this film at all and that's saying something. I'll bitch about anything.
Steve Rogers is back after his stint in the Avengers initiative. Hes adapting to life in 2014 and soon realizes something is amiss. This movie does a great job of crossing over it's dissemination of S.H.I.E.L.D. with it's T.V. counterpart, 'Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D'. Watching M.A.O.S might also help in making this movie rise above the rest. It just goes to show that they got some great writers on board for this film as well as Marvel's AOS and helps it feel like a larger entity than it is. The Winter Soldier story arc isn't ripped directly from the comics. Instead its loosely based on several aspects from different time intervals in the Captain America universe. This isn't a bad thing. The writing and storyline for Winter Soldier is partly what makes this such an amazing film. This screenplay is simply fantastic! and does Captain America justice.
Here's 4 reasons to see it
While Nick Fury has been a staple of Marvel Phase 1 and 2 movies, he stands out out in The Winter Soldier. I think mainly because he has finally shown that he is human and vulnerable. The Avengers portrayed him as as one of the most bad-ass non superheroes to ever exist. Jumping from crashing helicopters, appearing superhuman and escaping death over and over. But with the Winter Soldiers great writing staff, they set up Fury to be more down to Earth in terms of his longevity.
Capt. America: The Winter Soldier tells a great story, even though its title character "The Winter Soldier" doesn't play as big of the antagonist as one would think, but more of a puppet for Robert Redford's master plan, but he is big part of the movie's success. Most fans of the comics will know The Winter Soldier's origins even though he's fairly recent (2005) but it translates pretty well onto the large screen. Especially his timely realization in the end credits. It's always great to see aspects of comic book movies stay close to their comics book roots in a way that appeases their fans. 'The Winter Soldier' character does it well.
For one of the first times in history we have a major motion picture and a major television show working off the same story line/timeframe. Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D time line follows the theatrical release of The Winter Soldier perfectly. This is an amazing piece of work on all fronts, and must have taken A LOT of work and planning. They pulled it off flawlessly.
The major selling point of this movie HAS to be writing. Direction was superb but the writing was fantastic. It has to be one of the best written comic book movies second only to The Dark Knight. This movie ditched aliens and a lot of the hockey super human aspects of superheroes (e.g. Iron Man 3 2013, the Avengers 2012) to focus more on a practical, real life take (e.g. Iron Man 2008, The Dark Knight 2008). While CGI was still a huge part, we saw less "magical" super powers and more straight out 'fight scenes full of fists'. This grounds the film much like wrapping the story around historical events (e.g. X-Men First Class) and it does wonders.
4. MOTHRA - Bad ass giant flying moth. One of the original Kaiju to grace our television screens. Why are moths hairy? That always creeped me out. Ever kill one? It's like it turns to dust or something.