iAre Reviews: 30 Minutes or Less

30 Minutes or Less is the second film from the director of the ever funny Zombieland. Is this take on the comedy heist film match up with the hilarious Zombieland or is it a let down?

So 30 Minutes or Less is about 2 guys Dwayne and Travis (played by Danny McBride and Nick Swardson) who need money to accomplish their dream goals. They come up with the idea to rob a bank, but don’t want to get into the hassle of doing it themselves. After seeing a commercial about a pizza place that promises to deliver in “30 minutes or less” they kidnap the delivery boy, Nick (played by Zombieland star Jesse Eisenberg) and Nick wakes up the next morning with a bomb strapped to his chest. Nick and his friend Chet (played by Park and Rec’s Aziz Ansari) for the rest of the film go through various comedic antics trying to get the bomb disarmed within the 10 hours that Nick is given to obtain the money.

A purely ridiculous setup for a comedy, but Zombieland was about killing zombies at an amusement park, so the premise I would give a shot for this one. And amazingly all the characters did have motivation for doing everything that they did, so its not totally terrible. What was terrible was the dialogue and joke setups. The dialogue seemed to be written by a 12 year old who just learned how to curse as most of it is just the words shit and fuck. Instead of the amusingly witty one-liners from Zombieland (yes I’m going to reference this movie a lot) you get frat-boy sex humor that is the lowest of the low-brow and rarely gets a chuckle from me (and I watch YouTube video so I enjoy a good sex joke). Then add in that if you seen a single trailer or commercial for this movie, you’ve already watched all the best parts.

That being said, there’s nothing wrong with the casts, without the comedic star power from Eisenberg, Ansari, McBride, and Swardson this movie would be nothing. But it was like watching experts try to work with the best they could get, so the performance still falls flat because of the script.

Filming was just basic, nothing really flashy. The bright points being the car chase scene, but that’s about it. This film could have also benefited from a stronger soundtrack, that are usually good in comedies.

To sum it all up, this film has a good idea, but poor execution. A stellar comedy cast couldn’t save it. And the plot drives you in a somewhat predictable way to an ending that is very underwhelming. A definite pass especially after all the other films Eisenberg has been in these last few years.

Server’s Scores

Acting: C-                           Story: D-                     Visuals: C-                OVERALL: D

iAre Reviews: Super 8

Yes, I’m like 2 months late on this review, but I needed a post for today. Super 8 is the latest film directed by the ever popular J.J. Abrams (directed Mission Impossible III and Star Trek reboot, and created Lost and Fringe). Everything points to a great sci-fi film, but how was it overall, here’s a iAre review…

A quick synopsis of the plot is a group of middle school age film-enthusiasts from the town of Lillian, Ohio sneak out one night to shoot an amateur zombie film to enter into the state film competition. They shoot besides a old train depot as a train passes by, but then suddenly a truck drives across the tracks causing a massive derailment. The Air Force soon arrives to deal with the derailment and then it soon becomes obvious that the train was carrying something more important that what they are telling the townsfolk. When people start disappearing, the kids start looking into the mystery and unraveling it.
In kind of a spoiler, the mystery is that there’s a monster-alien (I call it that because its not like E.T., but more like the Cloverfield monster from space). And the film’s plot works off that basic film structure of seeing glimpses of the alien or remnants of the havoc the alien causes in the beginning and then later on leading to the big reveal as the climax. But the real story is about the kids. There’s the emotional issues between the characters of Joe and Alice and their respective parents, but the story I liked more was the group of kids on a Disney-esk adventure to save their missing friends, but unlike a Disney movie there’s all this death and destruction surrounding them. It’s a good mix of the awe and adventure with the thrills of a monster movie.

One thing I love is the casting of unknowns actors/actresses in their first movie, they put something more into their roles, in this case Joel Courtney and Riley Griffiths. Another thing is kudos on casting kids that are actually Middle School-age to make it more legit than older actors playing younger roles (always find that creepy, especially in teen dramas). Anyways good cast of new and B-range actors/actresses put together a good performance all around, nothing really spectacular just good. You know they did a good job when you can actually feel for the kids and in every panicking situation they are put in, you do not want anything bad to happen to them.

Cinematography did a really good job at capturing the essence of old 80′s sci-fi flicks especially the one that comes to mind is Spielberg’s E.T. But it also mixes in the CG that we can do today. The scene that really got me was the opening train wreckage that was Michael Bay-ish in term of explosion and destruction, but unlike Bay keeps the focus on the panicking kids to give more a breathtaking feel to it all. They tried to convince us of that the movie take place in the past by showing us the old cameras, Sony Walkmans, and such, but I had a hard time of identifying what time period this actually takes place in, I’m guessing late 70′s? And I know they are his signature thing, but the Abrams blue lens flares were really out of place. Since I’m used to seeing them in more futuristic environments of his other films, they looked out of place in this one and they looked really roughly placed throughout the film (you need to see a light source that makes sense).

Super 8 is a throwback to the old 80′s sci-fi films with a modern twist and shows that Abrams is Hollywood gold (well except maybe that show Undercovers). I think its still being shown in theaters so catch it if you haven’t seen it, else it should be out on DVD/Bluray by October.

Server’s Scores

Acting: B+                         Story: A-                Visuals: A-                OVERALL: A-

 

iAre Reviews – Captain America: The First Avenger

Today, we review the recently the last of the 3 Marvel films of this summer, Captain America. Can Marvel Studios go 3 for 3 this summer, or will they have to settle for 2 out of 3?

Here’s my quick synopsis: Chris Evans stars as Steve Rogers a kid from New York who wants to enlist with the U.S. army during World War II, but keeps getting rejected due to his physical size and health conditions. He gets selected by a secret government program to create “super soldiers” and is given a serum that gives him size, strength, and enhanced abilities. While this is going on the villain the Red Skull is planning his take over of the entire world. Captain America would eventually have to take him on and that’s a gist of the movie without giving too much away. One thing you should note is that two key movies you should watch before this one are Thor and Iron Man 2 (especially parts about the Tesseract and Stark Expo), though seeing both of these aren’t really too critical to figuring out what’s going on. One thing I was worried about going into this film was the tone and it surprisingly turned out to be the right one. Since its a WWII setting you would maybe expect a gritter more serious tone to the movie. But the script worked around this and still kept the superhero feel to it with a sense of action and adventure. It was a little Spider-Manish with its underdog characterization of Captain America. Also be glad it didn’t get in the audience’s face with the whole “joining the army” thing. There’s a sense of Americana to it all, but not enough to make you groan. The film needs to better keep momentum since it starts strong, but then gets to a point where its basically a montage of army base destruction and ends with an underwhelming end.

Going into the summer two actors who in my mind were totally miscasted were Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern and Chris Evans as Cap, Reynolds as expected flopped, but surprisingly did well. He’s usually plays brash and arrogant characters, but pulled off the much more humble Steve Rogers in this film. Tommy Lee Jones and Hugo Weaving outright stole the show, Jones with all his one-liners nailed the army colonel training Rogers and Weaving is just too good at playing the villain. Hayley Atwell did an alright Peggy Carter, but felt pretty cold in more emotional scenes. Felt a little the same with Sebastian Stan as Bucky as well (really did not like the way his death was dealt with in this film however). Neal McDonough could have also stolen the show, but like the rest of the Howling Commandos, really underdeveloped secondary characters.

Scenery was another strong point for the film, they did well to give it a more old feel and capture the city of New York in the WWII era. Keeping the scenery streetside gave it a new perspective than usually seeing everything from above with other superhero films. The altered head thing they used in the early scenes still looks weird and off in some way, but you can tell the graphics department did their job well (it’s just a weird effect). Something you rarely give credit for is costume design, which was hit or miss. Red Skull’s face was dead on (though maybe too bright red), Cap’s put together suit actually looked really good, though his final costume looked too bulky. There was a little “take it as it is” with the dorky looking Hydra foot soldier costumes, but as comic relief it worked well.

Captain America was basically average for me in terms of superhero films. It really needed a stronger ending confrontation and maybe instead of the montage a fight with a secondary smaller villain. Also everything with transitioning Cap back to the present felt clunky and rushed. All in all, Captain America had a good feel to it and succeeded in making Marvel Studios go 3 for 3 this summer, now if DC can get anything besides the Batman franchise going. Also if you do see this remember to stay until the end and see the teaser for The Avengers which brings all these Marvel hero flicks together finally.

Server’s Scores

Acting: A-                       Visuals: B-                    Story: B-               OVERALL: B

iAre Reviews: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2

So the Harry Potter series finally comes to a close after 7 books and 8 films. So years of giving the Potterverse much of our hard-earned cash do we get the closure we need from it all. We’ll here’s my review of the final installment of the Harry Potter film franchise.

So in a quick synopsis, this film picks up exactly where the last one left off, with little to no, refresher on what happened in the last half. Of the 6 known Horcrux objects that Potter has to find and destroy, 3 are left. The film is sort of a race to figure out these last objects and destroy them along with the siege of the school of Hogwarts. This all leads to the inevitable confrontation between the title character Harry Potter and main antagonist, Voldemort. To fill in the rest of the details go read the book or watch the movie.

It has been awhile since I read the Deathly Hallows and I do not plan to re-read it anytime soon, so the plot of this movie seem vaguely familiar. Amazingly there was enough material in the plot to fill out an entire second movie, though this one was much more on action and the wand fights then any character development, if you wanted to see any of the characters “grow” go watch the other 7 movies. We basically jump in with fully developed characters on all side and let them wrap this thing up. This film is the closest to a word for word adaptation of the book that we’re going to get.

David Yates must’ve had fun with this one because he got to blow the beautiful sets we grew to look in wonder to high hell. The bank of Gringotts and Hogwarts castle gets utterly destroyed, but it still looks great. The panorama shots of  the Potterworld were the best visual scenes in the film. The environment and lighting remains dark and grey as a continuation since the end of the 6th movie. It gives a good feeling of dread and grit that is needed for the war scenes and final battle. Yates was good at showing scale (like in showing the battles in full scale), but one annoyance of mine was not keeping individual conflicts isolated. Not doing so takes the passion of it a little and makes them weak (for example Mrs. Weasley vs. Bellatrix Lestrange). The strongest moment wasn’t even Potter vs. Voldemort, but more Neville vs. the snake, in terms of feeling. All in all, the cinematography was strong.

The core trio of Radcliffe, Grint, and Watson get to show us one last time their acting chops for the signature roles and they do not disappoint. I would then say that Voldemort, Neville, and Griphook the Goblin of all characters had the next best lines. Everyone else I deemed got quickfire one liners whenever they got more than 5 seconds of screen time. It’s a shame considering the strong supporting cast that’s been with the film for so long now (Rickman, Bonham Carter, Maggie Smith, etc.). One thing I do have to point out is that more than in any other film, Ralph Fiennes saying the death curse just sounds silly and comical. But that’s just my opinion anyways.

Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 is simple put everything you could hope for in a conclusion to the series, it was done right and there is little that could be improved upon. Rotten Tomatoes declares this one their highest rated in the series and I could definitely see that. Mostly unlike the trend of the others it isn’t bogged down by unnecessary moody drama and just gets to the point. In terms of acting though I say Half-Blood Prince was better, but screenplay and visuals this one was definitely better.

Server’s Scores

Acting: B+                       Visuals: A                       Story: A-                OVERALL: A-

Super Summer Review Post

So was being lazy the other day and didn’t get this post up in time so instead decided to close out Summer Daily Blogs with a super blog that reviews every single movie that I watched this summer (that I can remember). The reviews will be quick (at most 3 sentences) and since there’s probably a DVD attached to most of them I’ll use my own recommendation system (watch/meh/pass). BTW I think I’m also counting the end of summer movie season as August (so no The Town, Easy A, or Resident Evil: Afterlife, etc.)

Came Out This Summer…

Toy Story 3

FULL REVIEW (HERE)

So Basically… MUST WATCH, your life isn’t complete until you do

The Other Guys

FULL REVIEW (HERE)

So Basically… WATCH, turned out a lot better than expected

Grown Ups

This should’ve been a lot better than it was, but I guess that’s mostly off the billing. It doesn’t really know what it wants to be… a raunchy comedy or a family comedy, doesn’t work when it sits in the in between.

So Basically… PASS

Salt

FULL REVIEW (HERE)

So Basically… MEH, watch once

Inception

FULL REVIEW (HERE)

So Basically… MUST WATCH, it’ll blow minds

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

FULL REVIEW (HERE)

So Basically… MUST WATCH, the film everyone should have watched but didn’t

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

It was actually pretty good for a movie based on a video game. Until the ending ruined everything. Then again there were worse action films this summer.

So Basically… MEH, watch once

The Expendables

FULL REVIEW (HERE)

So Basically… PASS

MacGruber

Some scenes completely make you LOL hard. But for the most part this movie was incredibly stupid. Basically doing what they weren’t allowed to do in the SNL sketch on national television.

So Basically… PASS

The Karate Kid

FULL REVIEW (HERE)

So Basically… MEH, watch once

The A-Team

FULL REVIEW (HERE)

So Basically… MEH, watch once

Batman: Under the Red Hood

DC better than Marvel at the animated films market. Since a wide audience wouldn’t get a straight translation of a comic storyline, they do it in animated straight-to-DVDs. Always a surprise that these turn out good.

So Basically … WATCH, only if you like Batman

Vampires Suck

FULL REVIEW (HERE)

So Basically… PASS, don’t let it even cross your mind to watch this movie

Get Him to the Greek

Personally thought it wasn’t as good as Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Still a couple of funny scenes and one epically funny scene. Russell Brand really isn’t as funny as he think he is.

So Basically… MEH, watch once

Top 3 Picks for This Summer

1. Inception
2. Toy Story 3
3. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Came Out This Year…

How to Train Your Dragon

An animated movie with dragons, hells yeah! Another well done animated film from a company who’s name is not Pixar. One of three Jay Baruchel movies you could’ve watched this year, the guy was busy.

So Basically… WATCH

Hot Tub Time Machine

An all right ridiculous comedy with a super cheesy central plot device. This one is totally held up by Rob Corddry in my opinion. Yay for an entire movie dissing on the 80′s!

So Basically: WATCH

She’s Out of My League

Your basic rom-com formula here, though Jay Baruchel is a really likable actor. We are finally introduced to British actress Alice Eve, more on her (HERE). The number ranking system has screwed us all over.

So Basically… MEH, watch once

The Runaways

A decent bio-pic on the all-girl band The Runaways. Most of the attention on Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning’s characters. I really don’t want to hear about Dakota Fanning’s cherry bomb.

So Basically… WATCH

Clash of the Titans

FULL REVIEW (HERE)

So Basically… PASS, it’s a dump on Greek mythology

Cop Out

Tracy Morgan is funny for a little bit, then his act starts getting really annoying. The two of them obviously don’t have good chemistry for a buddy cop movie. I totally expected more with a Kevin Smith film.

So Basically… PASS

Tekken

The upside: getting real fighters leads to more realistic fights. Downside: those fighters can’t act. The Tekken storyline really doesn’t have much to it in the games, yet they still end up messing it up.

So Basically… PASS, another failed video game flick

Smokin’ Aces 2: Assassin’s Ball

This movie screams straight-to-DVD: a super low budget film, with half assed acting, mostly in front of green screen. Smokin’ Aces’s signature twist ending I realize now is just poor writing. The shoot outs that made the first one watchable are done poorly in this one.

So Basically… PASS, seen the first one, don’t even watch this one

Got Down to Watching…

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

Animators outside of Pixar are definitely stepping their games up. Based on that one children’s book that I didn’t read, but enjoyed the movie anyways. Took me forever to realize the girl’s voice was Anna Faris’s.

So Basically: WATCH

My Neighbor Totoro

You spend most of this film waiting for Totoro to show up. Then BAM! you’ll have an amazing second half. Still a couple of Miyazaki films I haven’t seen yet.

So Basically… WATCH NOW if you haven’t seen it

Van Wilder

Trying to knock out more college films before I graduate. It falls somewhere in the middle of college films I’ve watched on how good it is. Tara Reid is really not a believable “good girl” character.

So Basically… MEH, watch once

Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj

More like the college/teen movies that are out today. Give you a few laughs on gags, but you’ll never pick this one up again. It gets reruned a lot of comedy central, where I watched it.

So Basically… Super MEH, maybe watch

Memento

Has Christopher Nolan ever made a bad film? Incredible concept by using a dual non-linear story structure that even fits in with the story. Hey! that’s Trinity from The Matrix!

So Basically… MUST WATCH

St. Trinian’s

Don’t ask why I watched a British “girl power” movie. Though really it wasn’t that bad to watch and it does include Talulah Riley and Gemma Arterton, two British actresses you should now more info (HERE) and (HERE). They also showed me the best hand gestures for Oh My God ever.

So Basically… MEH, mix bag pick

St. Trinian’s 2: The Legend of Fritton’s Gold

OK if you do end up watching the first one, you might as well watch the second one. Wait, why is Doctor Who the bad guy? Makes me wonder who they would pick if they made an American version of this film.

So Basically… MEH, same as above

The Onion Movie

This would actually work really well as a TV show, but I guess The Onion will keep doing their web video thing. A lot of the references sadly aren’t relevant anymore.

So Basically… MEH, watch once

Tekken: The Motion Picture

Interesting choice of who they decided to make the main character. Animation quality is poor even for 1998 (compare it to Gundam Wing). Using American punk rock music is a terrible choice for Japanese anime soundtrack.

So Basically…PASS

The Bourne Identity

I’ll never know why it took me so long to watch the Bourne trilogy. It’s a very smart and well thought out spy thriller.

So Basically… MUST WATCH, maybe all three in a marathon?

The Bourne Supremecy

Just keeps getting better.

So Basically… MUST WATCH, same comment as above

The Bourne Ultimatum

Best one out of the three. Rumor there might be a fourth one coming (not sure if its a bad thing or a could thing).

So Basically… MUST WATCH, repeating what I said above again

Gamer

Quoting someone, “the message of the film hurts the audience that they were promoting this movie for” poor marketing at its finest. Even with the strong message about technology, this is just a blood and boobs kind of movie.

So Basically… PASS

Smokin’ Aces

Step back and look at the entire film and it’s a mess and terribly done. The shoots outs are step up in almost a video game style, maybe overall they should’ve gone in that direction. A pointless ensemble cast didn’t help either.

So Basically… MEH, watch once, don’t mention it again

She’s All That

The one movie that a lot of other movies are a lot like. The one movie that launched the careers of a bunch of other actors/actresses (actually if you haven’t seen this yet, you can play a guessing game over how many current celebrities can you pick out in this one movie). Whatever happened to Rachel Leigh Cook?

So Basically… MEH, watch once