Month: June 2016

Released: June 10, 2016

Director: Duncan Jones

Rated PG-13

Run Time: 123 Minutes

Distributor: Universal Pictures

Genre: Fantasy, Action/Adventure

Cast:
Travis Fimmel: Anduin Lothar
Paula Patton: Garona
Ben Foster: Medivh
Dominic Cooper: Llane Wrynn
Toby Kebbel: Durotan
Ben Schnetzer: Khadgar
Clancy Brown: Blackhand
Daniel Wu: Gul’Dan

Movies based on video games have a dreadful reputation, and rightly so.  I would say about 98 percent of movies based on video games flat out suck.  It started out with Super Mario Bros., which was truly horrendous in every aspect.  Double Dragon was a complete waste of time.  Street Fighter with Jean-Claude Van Damme was not good, but it was in a kind “so bad it’s good” situation.  It had it’s awesome moments, namely Raul Julia as M. Bison.  Now, the one movie that almost got it right was 1995’s Mortal Kombat, directed by Paul W.S. Anderson.  It had interesting characters, some pretty decent writing with fantastic fight choreography and music that was appropriate.  Was it the greatest?  No, but at least the film-makers had the decency to try and remain true to the original game.  They didn’t stray far from the material.  Unfortunately, most movies based on games since then have been disastrous.  Uwe Boll was/is notorious for making some of the worst video game movies on the planet.  This year, we are seeing two more movies based on video games:  Assassin’s Creed in December and Warcraft which was just released.  How does Warcraft stack up to the rest?

Warcraft opens in the land of Azeroth, where peace reigned for decades thanks to the efforts of King Llane and his second in command, Lothar.  However, in a different world that has been ravaged by war, the Orc Horde, led by Gul’Dan, prepares to invade Azeroth to claim it as their own.  After opening the portal, legions of Orcs hurry through a portal to Azeroth.  Taking prisoners to be used as fuel for the portal, the Orcs are on their way to conquering Azeroth.  I haven’t seen a movie with a story this convoluted in a long time.  As someone who is remotely familiar with the Warcraft games, I understood some of what was going on, but most people won’t.  A lot of people aren’t gamers, and that’s a huge detriment to the film.  For a movie like this, you need to make it accessible to EVERYONE, and the story they chose for the movie was perhaps the wrong one to tell at this point.  You got so many characters and so much lore just thrown at you in the span of 2 hours, that there is NO hope of the average moviegoer to comprehend it all.  The problem with telling the story is the run-time.  There’s only so much you can cram into two hours.  This is a movie that needed to be at least 3 in order for the story to be properly told.

Because the run time is so short, we aren’t given enough time to really learn about and connect with the characters, of which there are many.  Most people are not likely to remember the names of these characters outside of maybe one or two.  As far as character and narrative development goes, Warcraft is a disaster.  This is a movie that seems to require its audience to have some kind of prior knowledge about the Warcraft universe, and that’s just not the case, and the film-makers don’t seem to get it.  This was made for the fans of the franchise, plain and simple.  Some of the characters are really cool, like Durotan, the Orc.  He was awesome and easily the best part of the film.  Toby Kebbel’s performance was phenomenal.  Ben Foster was pretty good as the sorcerer Medivh, but his character arc was terribly, terribly predictable.  Everyone else was just kind of….meh.

From a visual standpoint, Warcraft is absolutely stunning.  I haven’t seen environments this beautiful since Lord of the Rings.  The land of Azeroth looks and feels absolutely authentic.  The mountain ranges are truly majestic as well as the forests and castles.  It’s unlike anything I’ve seen in a long, long time.  The effects are equally fantastic.  The CGI on the orcs is perhaps among the best that I’ve ever seen.  The details, especially on Durotan, are just mind-numbingly great.  Tobby Kebbel’s performance and the motion capture really gives these Orcs a life of their own and…wow.  The magic effects, especially when Medivh calls down a bunch of lightening, is breathtaking.  The sets themselves are absolutely incredibly to look at, as they actually built a bunch of them.  I also really like the armor and outfits that the characters wore, as they are straight out of the games.  Visually, the Warcraft film is extremely faithful to the games, no doubt about it.

The action sequences are absolutely wild and the battles are truly epic in scale.  During the final battle, when you see the Alliance and the Orcs go at it, it’s really, really crazy.  The forest battle with the Orcs is crazy and you have some magic going on there which is something to behold.  Overall, the action is great and extremely well-done.  However, sometimes the CGI seems not as good as everything else.  Another issue I have is with the editing of the film.  There are times during the movie when the film cuts abruptly to something else, interrupting what was happening in the previous scene, especially if it was an important scene.  It happened a lot, and I feel that this movie isn’t exactly what the film-makers had intended.  I really don’t think so.  I think there’s a lot of stuff that was cut out to get the film to a “reasonable” run time, and that also hurt the movie severely.  I’m assuming that there was a lot of character moments that needed to happen, but the studio opted for a more action-oriented picture.  It wouldn’t be the first time.

The problems with this movie are the same kind that have plagued nearly every other video game movie for the past 20 years.  The film makers still haven’t figured out that for gamers, we would rather play the game than have it played for us.  Duncan Jones did a better job understanding the source material, which is why the movie doesn’t outright suck.  However, the movie studio doesn’t seem to care about that and just want a quick and easy movie to try and draw audiences in.  Here’s the problem with that:  Movie audiences aren’t stupid.  Gamers aren’t stupid.  We see through that bullshit, because we have a particular passion about properties like Warcraft.  For a franchise as large as Warcraft, gamers are right to want more from the movie industry than what they’ve actually been getting.  Warcraft is also setting up for a potential trilogy.  Whether or not that it gets that is going to depend on how forgiving the audiences are.  The critics were not forgiving.  This movie got railed by professional critics, most of whom have probably never played the games.  I can definitely see why some wouldn’t like it.  Is it as bad as all that?  No.  Not at all.  As far as video game movies go, Warcraft is one of the best, but that’s not saying a whole lot.

Given how short the movie is and the problems therein, I wouldn’t be surprised to see an extended version of the film hit home video at the end of September or early October.  For all the lore and characters that the movie throws at you, it’s still missing a whole lot, and it’s a shame.  There’s a lot of potential here.  Over the past 6 or 7 years, I’ve been of the opinion that Blizzard Entertainment should make a completely CGI movie of their own.  They’re capable of it as their video-game intros and CG cutscenes have proven.  The CG cutscenes and intros are beyond amazing.  I think Warcraft would’ve worked better as a CGI movie.  Overall, I can’t give Warcraft a full-fledged recommendation as the problems with the film are too severe.  Honestly, wait until this one hits home video and rent it then to see if it’s up your alley.  My final conclusion is a 6.5/10.  It isn’t a bad movie, but it didn’t blow my socks off, either.

Released: June 2016

Director: Dave Green

Run Time: 112 Minutes

Rated PG-13

Composer: Steve Jablonsky

Genre: Action

Cast:
Megan Fox: April O’Neil
Will Arnett: Vernon Fenwick
Stephen Amell: Casey Jones
Noel Fisher: Michelangelo
Jeremy Howard: Donatello
Pete Ploszek: Leonardo
Alan Ritchson: Raphael
Brian Tee: Shredder
Tyler Perry: Baxter Stockman
Stephen Farrelly: Rocksteady
Gary Anthony Williams: Bebop

During the 80s and early 90s, there was a kind of golden age of cartoons.  We had Transformers, Spider-Man, X-Men, Bravestarr, and Thundercats.  Kids these days really have no clue what really good cartoons are.  One of the best cartoons that I grew up with was actually based on a rather dark comic book: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles(from now on, only known as TMNT).  The cartoon followed the adventures and misadventures of four mutated turtles and their master who was a rat.  Given the names of historical artists, the show was about Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael going up against the nefarious and evil Shredder and his dreaded Foot Clan.  It was a phenomenal cartoon with interesting characters, great animation, and a theme song that was amazing.  In 1990, we got our first live-action Ninja Turtles movie.  It was surprisingly dark and gritty.  But it was a hell of a lot of fun.  This was before CG really took hold, so they actually had people in costumes to play the turtles.  They were actually there.  TMNT would get one half-decent live-action sequel, a rotten second sequel and an animated film.  Then, Michael Bay got his hands on the franchise, and the rest is history.

I’m not even going to get into the film’s story at this point, mostly because there’s really nothing tying anything together.  The film was produced by Michael Bay, and as such, you really can’t go to a movie like this for the story.  Instead, I’m going to go over the amount of fan service that was basically thrown into the movie.  If you’ve ever seen the trailer, then you know that the bumbling duo of Rocksteady and Bebop are in this.  They start of as humans, but are mutated into a warthog and rhino, respectively.  They got the look right, and it’s kinda cool when you see them, but they are so over-the-top it’s cringe-worthy.  They made Shredder an actual human being, and the Foot Clan are actually NINJAS, not street thugs.  They brought in Baxter Stockman, who has been a staple of TMNT since the comics, so there’s that, but I’ll get to Tyler Perry’s “performance” later.  There’s the Turtlemobile, which actually fires manhole covers, like the cartoon and toys did.  Awesome!  They also brought in Casey Jones….but I’ll discuss him later.  Thrown into the mix is the Technodrome and Commander Krang from Dimension X.  I’m not going to lie, it was cool to see all these things thrown in here…..BUT, without a strong story and plot-line to hold all these things together, All you’ve got is a bunch of pretty pictures and mindless action.  I know they were trying to do better than the previous TMNT film, but it’s a narrative wreck.

Shredder is one of the most iconic villains ever.  In the last movie, they basically made the character a kind of robot.  In Out of the Shadows, they made him an actual human being and when he puts on his helmet, he IS Shredder.  Brian Tee does a pretty good job with what he’s got.  He makes the character extremely sinister.  Here’s the problem:  Outside of giving orders, Shredder is basically pushed to the side when Krang enters the picture.  I’m not saying the Krang was a bad idea, but I am saying that making Krang the main villain for the turtles to fight WAS a bad idea.  Speaking of Krang, they got the look of the character right, but they got the wrong voice for him.  They should have gotten Pat Fraley from the original cartoon.  HE was the voice of Krang.  However, Krang is just not that compelling or threatening as a villain.  He never has been.  I’m going to say this right now:  Tyler Perry is NOT a good actor.  His performance as Baxter Stockman was god-awful.  I just wanted to punch him in the face.  Megan Fox as April O’Neil?  Still a bad idea.  They slutted her up pretty good here with that opening scene with her trying to get access to Stockman’s phone.  Fox was NEVER a good choice for the character, even in the last TMNT.  I can forgive them for not having her in a yellow jumpsuit, but April was always a red-head.  Megan Fox has no real acting talent whatsoever and her performance is just….flat.

The mask-wearing, hockey-stick-wielding Casey Jones was one of my all-time favorite characters from the cartoon.  Elias Koteas did a phenomenal job as the character in the first live-action film in 1990.  I’m just not buying Stephen Amell’s performance as Jones.  He’s essentially a security guard who is tasked with transporting Shredder to a maximum security prison.  Just…no.  Casey Jones is a crazed vigilante out for justice.  That’s all we need to know.  Amell’s performance is just too over-the-top and whiny to really take seriously.  I realize that Rocksteady and Bebop were already bumbling dunderheads from the comics and the cartoon, but here they are even more so and they are IRRITATING.  Sorry, fans, you’re nostalgia’s been betrayed.

What TMNT: Out of the Shadows DOES have going for it are several things.  One:  The Foot Clan are actual ninjas wielding swords.  Just like the did in the cartoons and the 90s movies.  They also moved and fought like ninjas.  That’s a definite positive.  The real stars of the show, however, are the turtles themselves.  I know people had issues with the way they looked in the previous movie, but I liked their new look.  They’re more refined this time around, with each one having their own unique personality.  These guys are supposed to be brothers and they act like it, but like brothers, they also but heads from time to time.  I really like the more down-to-earth moments between the characters when they’re not fighting and you get to see the relationship between the four.  It works very well.  So for these guys there IS character development and it’s pretty solid.  When these guys really move and get into the big fights, the film really kicks it into high gear.  It’s visually spectacular, especially when they’re trying to get to the Technodrome.  This also has to be said, the end credits for the movie are freaking awesome!  You’ll have to see the movie to understand.

This is going to be a great time for kids.  If I was a kid born in the past 8 or 9 years, I would LOVE this movie.  I think a lot of kids will.  But for those of us who grew up with the Turtles, there’s just too much here that went wrong.  It just feels like the film-makers were saying, “Look at this, and look at that!  Pretty cool, huh?”  All the movie really has to offer is a ton of fan service, and most of it is not that great.  While I don’t particularly hate TMNT: Out of the Shadows, and I’ll pick it up on Blu-Ray at some point, this is not a good movie.  Is it a step in the right direction?  Not really.  It’s more like a step to the side.  Thank god for 5 dollar Tuesdays, though.  My final verdict is a 6/10.

Every story that has a hero has to have a villain.  This is pretty much a requirement in any form of story-telling whether it’s in movies, video games, books, or comic books.  It’s been said that a hero is only as good as his/her villain, and in a lot of cases that is true.  Not all, but a lot.  For this list, I’m going to leave out horror movie and Disney villains, as those are lists for a different post or two.  I’m going to focus not just on the villain himself but the actor/actress’s performance as well, since that helps sell the character.  In certain cases, the villain isn’t always going to be evil.  Misguided maybe, but not necessarily evil.  Some the best villains are the ones that believe that what they are doing is the right thing.  So, let’s get right into it:  These are The Best Movie Villains.

Skeletor – Masters of the Universe

For all the crap that Masters of the Universe has gotten over the years as a movie, the one thing that most people definitely remember from that movie is the villain.  Frank Langella’s performance as Skeletor is amazing.  He chews the scenery like it’s nobody’s business.  While the make-up on the character is questionable, it’s sold by Langella’s over-the-top performance.  The character is pure evil and he knows it.  While the film has been billed as a rip-off of Star Wars, it’s definitely worth watching.  It’s not really a terrible movie.  It just hit at the wrong time.  And made by the wrong people.

Dark Helmet – Spaceballs

Now this one is deliberate.  This is one of Mel Brooks’s best spoofs ever.  The film makes fun of every science fiction trope in the book as well as Star Wars and Star Trek.  The character of Dark Helmet is clearly a riff on the classic Star Wars villain, Darth Vader.  With snappy and clever writing, Rick Moranis’s performance as Dark Helmet is probably one of the funniest bad guys in movie history.  If you haven’t seen Spaceballs, what the hell is wrong with you?  As far as I’m concerned, it’s required viewing.

The Kurgan – Highlander

When it comes to big-screen movie bad guys, the Kurgan from Highlander is one of the most memorable.  Again, it’s the performance that drives the character and Clancy Brown is just mesmorizing.  He’s clearly having a ton of fun, and the fights between Kurgan and Connor MacLeod are simply phenomenal.  The character himself is something to be feared.  The Kurgan is the strongest of all the Immortals and should he win The Prize, that would mean the end of the world.  Highlander is one of the most underrated action films of the 80’s.

General Zod – Superman II

Ahh…General Zod.  He is one of the most infamous villains in Superman’s Rogue Gallery, mostly because he’s a fellow Kryptonian.  The character was initially charged with the defense of the planet Krypton when he decided that it would be better for him to rule instead of the council, so he turned his forces on his fellow people.  In the movies, Zod has been played by two people.  Michael Shannon in Man of Steel and Terence Stamp in the first two Superman films.  Michael Shannon did a fantastic job as Zod, but it was Terence Stamp that really made the character popular.  Stamp’s campy and over-the-top performance was something out of this world.  His performance fits because Superman II was pretty campy.  KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!

Captain Hook – Hook

Steven Spielberg’s Hook was released to some pretty mixed reactions back in 1991.  I don’t know why, I loved it.  It was pure fantasy and is now considered to be one of the best interpretations of Peter Pan.  Part of what made the movie so damn good was Dustin Hoffman as Captain James Hook.  He didn’t necessarily play it completely over-the-top, but his performance is simply iconic.  I’ve never seen anybody play Captain Hook the way Dustin Hoffman did.  Not only did they get the look right, but they nailed the character’s personality.  He’s not a nice guy, but he’s not stupid.  This is a great villain for a great movie.

M. Bison – Street Fighter: The Movie

You know, sometimes it’s just worth going into a bad movie just for the villain.  Street Fighter is a perfect example.  The movie is pretty bad, but it’s in a “so bad, it’s good” kind of way.  A lot of times, the villain upstages everybody else, and Raul Julia as M. Bison is no exception.  This is Mr. Julia’s final performance before he died, and you can tell that he was sick, but that didn’t stop Julia from delivering the performance of a lifetime.  Street Fighter: The Movie may be awful, but Raul Julia is phenomenal.

The Joker – Tim Burton’s Batman/Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight.

Of all of Batman’s villains, which include Ra’s Al Ghul, Scarecrow, The Riddler, and Two-Face, it’s The Joker that remains The Bat’s greatest villain.  Why?  The Joker is Batman’s polar opposite.  While Batman represents order and justice, the Joker is all about chaos and insanity.  While there have been many interesting interpretations of the character, the two that stand out the most are Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger.  You guys get a two-for-one on this one, because both Jokers are absolutely astounding.  Jack Nicholson’s take on the character has a more light-hearted and more slap-stick approach.  He’s still scary but you get a few laughs out of it.  Heath Ledger’s character is a terrorist, through-and-through.  He also has no fear and only wants to see the world burn.  Ledger’s performance is amazing.  In fact, Ledger got a posthumous Academy Award for his performance.  Jack Nicholson also stole the show, albeit in a different way.  Both versions are phenomenal and both movies are great.

Darth Vader – Star Wars

There are many memorable villains in movies, some of which I have already mentioned.  In 1977, we got our greatest villain in cinematic history:  Darth Vader.  The moment Darth Vader stepped on to that Rebel Blockade Runner in the original film, audiences went crazy.  This was a villain the likes of which nobody had seen before.  He wielded a red lightsaber and was extremely powerful with The Force.  Empire Strikes Back upped the ante for the villain by revealing Vader to be Luke’s father.  This was the greatest twist in movies up to that point.  This was the guy that was responsible for laying waste to the Jedi Order.  That’s my list for some of the best movie villains.

Released: February 2016

Director: Alex Proyas

Run Time: 126 Minutes

Rated PG-13

Composer: Marco Beltrami

Genre: Fantasy, Action

Cast:
Nikaloj-Coster Waldau: Horus
Brenton Thwaites: Bek
Chadwick Boseman: Thoth
Gerard Butler: Set
Courtney Eaton: Zaya
Elodie Yung: Hathor
Rufus Sewell: Urshu
Bryan Brown: Osiris
Geoffrey Rush: Ra

I love mythology of all types and countries.  These ancient stories that helped that helped the older civilizations try to explain the world around them were extremely imaginative and incredibly epic.  Greek, Norse, Chinese, Hindu, and even Christian mythology all have some incredibly wonderful and amazing stories to be told.  With Greek myths, we got stories of Hercules, Perseus, Zeus and the other Greek gods of Olympus.  With Norse mythology, you had Thor, Loki, Odin, and Valhalla.  It was epic, but boy was it dark and extremely apocalyptic.  Now, I’ve read up on some of these myths when I was younger, but one of the cultures that I missed was Egypt.  I’ve seen some pretty complicated myths, but Egyptian mythology is extraordinary complicated.  You have a lot of gods including Anubis, Ra, Set, Horus, Osiris, Hathor, Thoth and an entire pantheon of ancient Egyptian stories.  There is a LOT of stuff going on there.  There have been many movies based on all sorts of mythology.  Clash of the Titans is one of the most famous movies based on Greek mythology.  You also have many movies based on Hercules.  There’s a lot of material that you can work with.  It’s also really easy to screw it up.  When I first saw Gods of Egypt in February, I walked away fairly unimpressed, and a lot of other people felt the same way.  I recently picked it up on Blu-Ray, so let’s see if it’s better the second time around.

In the ancient Egyptian city of Heliopolis, the Gods lived among mortals, but were several feet taller and had liquid gold for blood.  Gods of Egypt opens as a young mortal, Bek, gets a five-finger discount on a green dress for his girlfriend, Zaya.  Meanwhile, in the main palace, Horus is about to be crowned king of all Egypt by his father, Osiris.  But before that can take place, Horus’s uncle, Set, shows up and murders Osiris.  After defeating Horus, Set rips Horus’s eyes out and claims the kingdom for himself and enslaving the population.  The story isn’t terrible, but it is very generic involving an evil god trying to rule the world.  Haven’t seen that one before…at all.  I don’t think the story would have bothered me so much if the rest of the movie didn’t feel so…..artificial.

I’m going to come right out and say it:  Gods of Egypt is a special effects movie, through and through.  It’s really hard to get invested in a movie like this when the thing is almost completely CGI.  I’m not kidding.  About 90 percent of the sets and backgrounds in the film are completely CG.  The other ten percent are very small enclosed spaces that feel claustrophobic.  I understand, if you’re going to try and show a fantasy version of ancient Egypt, you have to take some liberties and spruce things a bit.  But the film-makers really went overboard with the CGI.  It’s overload.  Don’t get me wrong, a lot of it is extraordinarily beautiful, but you know its fake.  If you’re going to try and sell a movie like this, you need to ground it a little bit in some kind of reality.  Now, with mythology, that’s hard to do.  I grant you that one.  When Horus and Set transform into their actual god-form, it’s cool, but it is BLATANTLY obvious that it’s CG.  It’s not good CG either.  I’ve seen better CG in a PlayStation 2 game.  What really bothers me about the visuals is that some of the CGI is absolutely fantastic.  The demon, Apophis, is absolutely amazing.  I loved it.  I loved it when Ra battles the serpent and it’s not half-bad.  As far as visual effects go, Gods of Egypt is an unfortunate mixed bag.

Let’s discuss the cast.  Before Gods of Egypt was even released, it garnered a HUGE deal of controversy over the casting of the film.  Why?  They cast mostly white, non-Middle-Eastern actors in these roles.  The rule of thumb when it comes to casting, is to cast the best person for the role, not necessarily because of what they look like.  There are certain roles in certain movies that require a certain casting choice.  You wouldn’t cast a white guy in the role of a black slave in a Civil War-era movie, that’s blatantly wrong.  The thing is, a lot of Egyptians aren’t white.  This is a film-making phenomenon called “white-washing.”  Basically, you end up casting white folks in roles that were generally intended to be for other ethnicities.  At one point, Alex Proyas actually apologized for that happening, but the damage was done.  A lot of people stayed away.  I’m going to tell you right now, from my personal opinion, the movie is actually not terribly miscast, except for Bryan Brown as Osiris.  Really?!  Certain actors simply don’t belong in movies like this.  It was like Uwe Boll casting Burt Reynolds as a king in In The Name of the King.  It’s incredibly mind-boggling.  Gerard Butler was clearly having a great time as Set, and he really does look the part, aside from not having red hair, which the god was said to have in the actual myth.  Chadwick Boseman was great as Thoth, the god of wisdom.  He brings a dead-pan level of sarcasm and wit to the role which is genuinely funny.  Brenton Thwaites is an up-and-comer and he’s actually not bad.  I saw him in The Giver and he was actually pretty good.  Elodie Yung is gorgeous as Hathor, but she’s not really given a whole lot to do.  Overall, the casting isn’t bad, but the acting really needs work.

The movie isn’t boring, it moves at quite a brisk pace.  The action is pretty solid and at least you can see what’s going on.  But there’s really nothing here that’s overly memorable.  Yeah, you’ve got the battle between Set and Horus at the beginning and the end of the film which is…there.  The pyramid sequence is pretty spectacular with the whole Sphinx coming into play.  That was pretty awesome.  Ultimately, it’s all for naught, because this movie comes across as a cheap Clash of the Titans rip-off.  Look, I happen to enjoy a lot of Alex Proyas’s work.  The Crow, Dark City, I Robot, and Knowing are actually all really good.  So this may be his first real flop, but that’s due to the pre-release crap that was going on with the casting and stuff like that.  Overall, I don’t think Gods of Egypt is a terrible movie, it’s just terribly mediocre.  Sometimes, that’s alright.  But Gods of Egypt could have been such an incredibly epic film.  It’s just disappointing that it’s an almost forgettable experience.  My final verdict is a 6.5/10.  It’s worth a rent, but not a whole lot more.