Pages

Saturday, December 13, 2014

ST. VINCENT


The Weinstein Company

Rated PG-13

Running time: 102 Minutes


Click below to watch a movie trailer of St. Vincent from YouTube.





In The Weinstein Company's St. Vincent, drunken, gambling slacker Bill Murray winds up being babysitter to next door neighbor boy Jaeden Lieberher.

Single mom Melissa McCarthy and her 12 year-old son Jaeden Lieberher move in next door to cantankerous Murray's home. Jobless, in debt, and desperate for money, a reluctant Murray offers up himself to being a babysitter and unwitting mentor to Lieberher.

As Lieberher's mother and being a nurse, this is probably the most normal role that I have seen Melissa McCarthy play in the movies. McCarthy's indignation to Murray's idea of after-school activities for Lieberher is pure mom, especially with Lieberher being in a private religious school. I did like the growing mentoring relationship between Murray and Lieberher, especially as you learn more about Murray. While I am not an expert, Murray's lady of the night Naomi Watts Russian accent seemed totally believable to me.

This is the best acting that I have seen Bill Murray do as his character goes through some changes. I would not be surprised if Murray gets nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor for this movie role.

After watching the Vietnam War pictures in the movie, it seemed appropriate that I saw St. Vincent on Veterans Day.

Rated PG-13 for Sexual Situations, Language, and Violence.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.


Follow us on Facebook. Pancho's Movie Reviews.



 

Saturday, December 6, 2014

BIG HERO 6


Walt Disney Pictures

Rated PG

Running time: 102 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of Big Hero 6 from YouTube.



In Walt Disney Pictures Big Hero 6, Hiro/Ryan Potter has his invention stolen and used for evil by a man in a kabuki mask, so Ryan/Potter uses his brother Tadashi/Daniel Henney's robot Baymax/Scott Adsit to stop him.

Based on the Marvel Comics superhero team by Man of Action, and mainly draws from the mini-series where Wasabi and Fred first appeared. Big Hero 6 is the 54th Disney animated feature and is the first Disney animated feature film to feature characters from Marvel Entertainment and gave special thanks to Marvel - although this movie is not part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As much as I wanted it to be part of the MCU, Big Hero 6 is not part of that universe.

Set in the hybrid metropolis San Fransokyo, a combination of San Francisco and Tokyo, Hiro/Potter is a punk robotics expert engaging in robofights. Older brother Tadashi/Henney, trying to get Hiro/Potter off the streets, takes Hiro/Potter to his robotics lab at his university The Institute of Technology where Hiro/Potter meets his friends Go Go/Jamie Chung, Wasabi/Damon Wayans Jr., Honey Lemon/Genesis Rodriguez, and mascot Fred/T.J. Miller - as well as Baymax/Adsit, an inflatable soft robotics huggable personal health care robot that Tadashi/Henney created to help people. Tadashi/Henney's teacher, Professor Callaghan/James Cromwell gets impressed with Hiro/Potter. Hiro/Potter wants to go the nerd school and designs his own robotics project for the annual exhibition so he can get an invitation to the school. Soon, a man in a mask steels Hiro's/Potter's project and Hiro/Potter and his nerd friends, with the help of Baymax/Adsit, form a superhero team and go after the masked man to get answers.

The geek/nerd in me liked the fact that the characters are all geniuses. This is a positive portrayal for education for young people, especially when Hiro/Potter says that he has to get into this nerd school. I have had nephews and nieces enter robotic competitions, so the robots, especially penguin waddling Baymax/Adsit, were also cool to me. I also like the fact that Hiro/Potter is the first biracial lead in a Disney animated film. Hiro/Potter's invention for the annual exhibition reminds me of the Power Ring from Green Lantern where the only limit is your imagination. While yes Big Hero 6 is a story of a boy and his robot Baymax/Adsit, the movie is much more than what the trailer commercials that most people have seen as part of the marketing campaign portrays. Visually the animation style of the movie reminds me of Japanese manga with a Disney feel. Big Hero 6 is the first Disney animated film to be adapted into a Japanese manga.

For Stan Lee fans, there is a portrait of him in Fred's/Miller's house and some of the audience reacted positively to seeing that scene. I also liked that Fred/Miller's dialog was mostly improvised by comedian Miller.

Of course, being based on a Marvel comic, there is an after credits scene at the end of the movie. I think that this was the best after credits scene that I have ever seen of any movie, Marvel included. There is a special credit at the end of this scene. Those few in the audience that had stayed behind during the credits music for this scene applauded. Being part of a comic book series, I would not be surprised if there were a sequel or even a series of movies to Big Hero 6 in the near future with further adventures of this superhero team.

Big Hero 6 is the first animated Marvel film to be released theatrically via Walt Disney Animation Studios. This is also the first Disney animated feature which shows the studio logos in the beginning, and the main title, the closing credits sequence, and the studio logos at the end, as well as the first to have "Created and Produced at Walt Disney Animation Studios, Burbank, California" at the end. It is also the first WDAS feature to use Disney's Hyperion Rendering system for light shining through a translucent object like Baymax/Adsit's covering.

In the beginning of the movie was a short feature from Walt Disney Animation Studios, Feast.  This was a cute short about hungry Boston terrier dog Winston and his master James. Feast  was nominated for an Annie Award for Best Animated Short Subject at the 42nd Annie Awards.

I also saw this movie on the day that the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens premiered, on Black Friday 2014. At the end of the trailer the audience applauded. One guy behind me said, Again! Again!

Click below to watch another movie trailer of Big Hero 6 from YouTube.



Click below to watch a final movie trailer of Big Hero 6 from YouTube.



Rated PG for violence. Running time: 102 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Like us on Facebook. Pancho's Movie Reviews

Friday, November 28, 2014

JOHN WICK


Summit Entertainment

Rated R

Running time: 101 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of John Wick from YouTube.



In Summit Pictures John Wick, widower John Wick/Keanu Reeves has his car - a vintage '69 Mustang - stolen by punk Alfie Allen from his home. After losing everything he cares for, Wick/Reeves - also known as Baba Yaga, or the Bogeyman - goes after Allen and Allen's father Michael Nyqvist, who is the head of the Russian crime syndicate in New York City and for whom Reeves used to work for, in revenge.

The movie is really a personal story between former syndicate associates Nyqvist and Reeves, with Allen almost being a MacGuffin. The respect that Nyqvist had for Reeves as a surrogate son - as opposed to his arrogant spoiled son Allen - was nice to see. The same relationship, but on a different level,  between hit men Willem Dafoe and Reeves was also nice to see - and you never know which way Dafoe was going. It was also nice to see Adrianne Palicki in the movie, who also learned judo and ju-jitsu. After several action roles, Palicki has become the new action heroine of this generation.

Reeves was pretty bad ass in the movie as a retired hitman. He was not psycho, but very reserved and focused. Reeves trained in judo, Japanese ju-jitsu, and Brazillian jiu-jitsu as well as training with members of the LA SWAT and the Navy SEALs that Director Chad Stahelski and Co-Director/Producer David Leitch had known and did 90% of his stunts for this role. And Wick's/Reeves double tap shooting of his opponents was quite believable as a result. Because of all this, I liked this movie better than The Equalizer. I really liked Wick's/Reeves beagle puppy Daisy and I thought that his dog humanized him a lot. Wick's/Reeves wife Bridget Moynahan did not know anything about Wick's/Reeves past, but she is not onscreen long enough to really know and care about her. I did like the hotel, owned by Ian McShane, in the middle of the movie that was used as a neutral ground centerpiece for this underworld.

The subtitles for the Russian language were most interesting in that they were not shown at the bottom of the screen as with typical subtitles, but in the style of a graphic novel.

The last few shots of the movie I felt were too rushed story wise as I felt it was too cute. I would have preferred a couple more shots to bring out the emotion of the movie tag.

On a technical note, when I saw this movie there was a problem with the video projection when the movie started so all we heard was the audio. It was a 9:00 a.m. showing and there were only a half dozen of us in the theater. There was a girl in the audience with us, and she laughed saying that all but one of the guys, including me, went out to complain. I thought what she said was funny. John Wick is definitely a guy's movie.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of John Wick from YouTube.



Rated R for violence, language, sexual situations. Running time: 101 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Like us on Facebook. Pancho's Movie Reviews

Monday, November 17, 2014

INTERSTELLAR

Paramount Pictures

Rated PG-13

Running time: 169 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of Interstellar.



In Paramount Pictures Interstellar, former farmer astronaut Matthew McConaughey agrees to leave his family behind in order to pilot a desperate mission through interstellar space in order to save a doomed Earth.

A combination of Gravity and 2001: A Space Odyssey - especially toward the end - Interstellar, Written with his brother Jonathan Nolan and Directed by Christopher Nolan, is a dramatic science fiction movie that explores the fate and potential of a doomed human race. This is not your typical CGI action-packed science fiction movie - but a practical examination of the exploration of deep space and the intentions of actually going out into space, with astronauts McConaughey and Anne Hathaway on opposite sides of the argument. It was great that Nolan had researched NASA and the private space program SpaceX - as well having former astronaut Marsha Ivins and theoretical physicist Kip Thorne, who has a cameo, as a scientific consultant to Interstellar to maintain the authenticity of the movie.

With Earth's natural resources, especially food ravaged from a blight, becoming so scarce - humanity is on the verge of failure in the midst of a dust bowl. McConaughey does what he can to improve his farm. It was nice that Nolan got permission from Director Ken Burns of the TV mini-series documentary The Dust Bowl, which took place in America during the Great Depression of the 1930's, to use their interview footage in the movie Interstellar. The logos for Warner Bros., Paramount, Syncopy, and Legendary all have a "dusty" look to them to foreshadow the movie. What got to me the most was the historical revisionism of the Apollo moon landings in McConaughey's daughter Murphy's/Mackenzie Foy's school. Of course McConaughey takes umbrage to such revisionism.

One of the most important plot points in the movie deals with time dilation and suspended animation  - time will go slower for the astronauts than for the people back home on Earth due to Einstein's general relativity equations, especially near the black hole, of which the black hole and the wormhole are two completely different things in the movie, so the people on Earth will age while the astronauts will remain the same age while they travel through the wormhole and are out on the other side of the galaxy. This was a tearjerker of a plot point theme with McConaughey and reminded me of The Twilight Zone episode The Long Morrow as the movie bounces back and forth between Earth and space.

I thought the constant use of the poem "Do not go gentle into that good night" by Dylan Thomas, which was written for his dying father, was quite appropriate - especially during the launching of the spacecraft Endurance while it searches for a way to save the human race as they follow after the Lazarus missions.

Interstellar also has an interstellar cast, most of whom were never in the marketing of the film that I am aware of - with at least one star's involvement kept secret. So it was awesome to see these people in the movie, without have any preconceived notions of what kind of characters these stars would be playing. I really do not want to give away the stars of this movie - except for this, it was funny seeing Topher Grace in the movie as I had just seen him that morning on TV in That 70's Show. It is curious when I saw this movie that it was the day before Anne Hathaway's birthday.

Since Nolan wanted to avoid using anthropomorphic robots in the movie, it was strange to me not to see a traditional humanoid-looking robot. But the use of the quadrilateral design of the robots, Bill Irwin and Josh Stewart, were interesting - and more human with intelligence and emotion than most robots, especially with McConaughey programming the robots - and that the design of these robots was especially impressive to me when used on the water planet Miller.

Hans Zimmer's unique musical score was dictated by Nolan who wanted the traditional instruments to go by the wayside.

The movie is a long movie. With the movie trailers, Interstellar is close to three hours.

It is curious that for the limited release of the movie - Interstellar was released in 70mm and 35mm film in theaters that still support those formats, including 70mm IMAX theaters. This is an exception to Paramount Pictures goal to stop releasing movies on film and to distribute only in digital format as nearly all the theaters in the United States have converted to digital projection.

At the end of the movie, the audience applauded.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of Interstellar.



Click below to watch a final movie trailer of Interstellar.



Rated PG-13 for violence and language. Running time: 169 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Follow us on Facebook. Pancho's Movie Reviews

Thursday, November 6, 2014

LEFT BEHIND


Freestyle Releasing

Rated PG-13

Running time: 110 Minutes

















Click below to watch a movie trailer of Left Behind.



In Freestyle Releasing's Left Behind, Nicholas Cage is an airline pilot - who is one of the few people left behind after millions of people disappear all over the world.

In this Christian film Directed by Vic Armstrong, and based on the Left Behind book series written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, is based on the "end times" described in the Bible and that the people who believed in Christ have been Raptured and taken up to Heaven. While they never used the word "Rapture" in the movie, the characters in the movie - especially Cage - did discuss that this must have been the circumstances of what had happened to the missing people as there was a religious connection to all of them.

While the event was not graphic, I thought it was very suspenseful for me when the event happened, and I got the chills at it's suddenness. I was also crying as all the people left behind, especially the mothers, were worried about their loved ones. This was especially heartbreaking to me with the events happening in the middle of a shopping mall.

With the loss of millions of people all over the world, the world goes into chaos for various reasons. While the First Responders did their best during the end of the world to restore order, it is a shame that the First Responders were not also called during the Rapture. Of course, if they were, the world would have been even more chaotic. Events like this is what CERT (Community Emergency Response Teams) was created for - to support First Responders. I know my CERT team would be out there doing what they can to help, but I would feel just as sad for them if they were not called up to the Rapture. The theme for both the movie and for CERT is, are you ready?

It is amazing how Christians help run and stabilize the world in their jobs. Christians in control of vehicles like cars and planes suddenly disappearing in flight can cause a lot of damage. It makes me sad that while children disappeared, their mothers/parents did not. There is a definite loss in the second half of the movie without the children in the world. It seems a shame that a lot of apparently good people were left behind to suffer the end time, despite their love for their families. While most of these good people are still in shock, a few of them, like news journalist Chad Michael Murray pull together to calm people down and get through this event.

I felt that the Christian message was pushed over the top from the beginning and that many of the lead "Christians" in the movie were not likable. Even Cage's wife Lea Thompson was pushing it when she was talking with her daughter Cassi Thomson who is home from college for an unsuspecting Cage's birthday. If I had written the movie, I would have had the lead Christian characters act as normal people interacting with the other characters and slowly revealing their beliefs during their relationships. As to the film itself, Left Behind felt more like a Hollywood disaster film to me - especially with Cage's runaway airliner, and Armstrong who is known mostly as a Stunt Coordinator rather than a Director - rather than an end time movie.

Although the Left Behind authors LaHaye and Jenkins liked the movie - most of the reviewers, including some of the Christian reviewers, that I have read did not like the movie. I think the movie would have taken a different tone if Ashley Tisdale was able to work out her schedule to be able to play Cage's daughter.

It is curious that I saw this movie near the season of the end times at the end of the liturgical year.

Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 110 Minutes.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of Left Behind.




Pancho
All people smile in the same language.



Follow us on Facebook. Pancho's Movie Reviews



Saturday, October 18, 2014

THE EQUALIZER


Sony Pictures

Rated R

Running time: 132 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of The Equalizer.



In Sony Pictures The Equalizer, hardware depot manager Denzel Washington takes it upon himself to protect a hooker Chloe Grace Moretz from her pimp David Meunier  - and soon goes up against the Russian Mafia.

Living an ordinary life as a hardware manager, at a hardware depot that is based on Home Depot and Lowes, Washington works closely with his fellow hardware workers, including security guard applicant Johnny Skourtis. Washington soon makes friends with Moretz who is interested in Washington's books. After Moretz is beaten by Meunier, Washington goes after Meunier - who happens to be with the Russian Mafia.

Based on the TV show The Equalizer that starred Edward Woodward, and Directed by Antoine Fuqua, The Equalizer is about a former government operative who offers his services in helping people who have the odds against them. In the movie, Washington meets with his former government colleagues Bill Pullman and Melissa Leo about Marton Csokas, a Russian enforcer who was assigned to find out what happened to Meunier. The adversarial relationship between Csokas and Washington was most interesting to me. It is interesting that Washington's character had no real back story in the movie so Washington created his own back story for his character, with the character having obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

While a popular TV series, I had never watched The Equalizer at the time. I have a feeling that the movie took on more of the style of the TV show in that the movie was more of a suspense thriller - rather than an action film, which some people might think the movie would seem to be. But make no mistake that the violence in the movie is fairly graphic.

At the end of the movie, I was pleasantly surprised to read that The Equalizer was Written by someone I used to work with at Showtime, Richard Wenk. Sony Pictures plan on doing a sequel to The Equalizer with Richard writing the script. I hope they keep Richard, not just because I know him, but so that there will be more of a coherent consistency to the next movie. Fuqua hopes the sequel to be more international.

Rated R for graphic violence and language. Running time: 132 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.



Like us on Facebook: Pancho's Movie Reviews





Monday, October 13, 2014

Dolphin Tale 2


Warner Bros.

Rated PG

Running time: 107 Minutes


















Click below to watch a movie trailer of Dolphin Tale 2.



In Warner Bros. Dolphin Tale 2, bottlenose dolphin Winter is depressed and is in danger of being removed from the Clearwater Marine Aquarium that she is rehabilitating at unless she pairs up with another dolphin.

Based on real events and Written and Directed by Charles Martin Smith, this sequel to Dolphin Tale continues the story of Winter - whose tail was lost in a crab trap. Most of the cast Harry Connick, Jr., Ashley Judd, Nathan Gamble, Cozi Zuehlsdorff, Kris Kristofferson, Morgan Freeman, Juliana Harkavy, Austin Stowell, and Austin Highsmith from Dolphin Tale returns in Dolphin Tale 2.

I did not know that the USDA, United States Department of Agriculture, was responsible for aquarium animals. USDA inspector Charles Martin Smith was appropriately upset about the condition of Winter, although he refers to Winter as a number than her name. After giving Connick Jr. a violation for keeping Winter in isolation and her deteriorating health, Smith issues a requirement that Connick, Jr. match Winter with another female dolphin or he will have Winter transferred.

Young people Gamble and Zuehlsdorff are of course upset that Winter may be transferred from the aquarium and argue with Connick, Jr. that they can not lose Winter and should pair her up with another dolphin named Mandy that Connick, Jr. is planning on releasing back into the sea. It is fortunate that a juvenile female dolphin named Hope has been rescued and is being brought to the aquarium. Not only would Gamble and Zuehlsdorff be happy with this new development, but this would also appease the Board of Dirctors of the aquarium. It is sad, but there is also the reality that the aquarium is also a business as well as a marine hospital - although being a business is not the focus of the aquarium.

I have always liked dolphins, especially after shooting a documentary video Dolphins of the Orange Coast for the Coastal Dolphin Survey Project for Orange Coast College. Knowing that there are teams of marine scientists that care for our sea animals makes me very happy.

I liked the cameo of disabled surfer Bethany Hamilton, and also that dolphins Winter and Hope played themselves. It is great that the movie was filmed at the actual Clearwater Marine Aquarium.

At the end of the movie there was actual archival video of the events that the movie had portrayed - including interaction with Winter with many people with disabilites, most of which were children.

There are plans for a third Dolphin Tale movie, continuing the Clearwater Marine Aquarium's mission of Rescue, Rehabilitate, and Release.

Click here to watch a movie featurette of Dolphin Tale 2.

http://www.traileraddict.com/dolphin-tale-2/featurette-the-mission


Pancho
All people smile in the same language.


Like us on Facebook. Pancho's Movie Reviews



Monday, October 6, 2014

THE MAZE RUNNER


20th Century Fox

Rated PG-13

Running time: 113 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of The Maze Runner.



In Twentieth Century Fox's The Maze Runner, amnesiac Dylan O'Brien finds himself transported into a mysterious Glade with a group of boys - which is surrounded by a giant maze.

In a cross between The Hunger Games and The Lord of the Flies, the apocalyptic movie The Maze Runner is based on the book The Maze Runner by James Dashner (who had a cameo in the film). Told from the point of view of O'Brien, we follow the amnesiac O'Brien as he tries to figure out what is going on, who put them there, and how to escape The Glade that the boy Gladers have struggled to make into a low technology camp by running the dangerous maze.

What I liked about the movie is that the audience learned what was going on in the movie at the same time that O'Brien learned what was going on. You did not have to read the book to know what was going on. In fact I had never even heard of the young adult book series The Maze Runner until the movie came out. As a result, the movie The Maze Runner is the first of the movie series that will be made out of The Maze Runner books. While not mentioned in the movie, I also liked the fact that the characters names were named after historical figures and scientists as those are some of the themes of the movie.

While the cast was made up of a group of talented young British stars, similar in age to The Hunger Games, such as Aml Ameen, Ki Hong Lee, Blake Cooper, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, and Kaya Scodelario, the only actor that I had actually heard of was Will Poulter, as O'Brien's rival who got upset that everything has changed ever since O'Brien arrived in The Glade. It was bad enough that O'Brien is not following the rules, but that the Gladers are dying as a result of O'Brien not following the rules.

While the movie is good on the action and suspense, and the acting by the stars - the movie did make me cry - there were a couple of things that did not make sense, like the fact that it takes incredible resources and technology to even build the huge miles long maze.

Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 113 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.


Follow us on Facebook: Pancho's Movie Reviews



Monday, August 4, 2014

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY


Marvel Studios

Rated PG-13

Running Time: 121 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of Guardians of the Galaxy.
 

In Marvel Studios Guardians of the Galaxy, kidnapped Earth man Peter Quill/Star Lord/Chris Pratt, winds up in an uneasy partnership with a group of extraterrestrial misfits Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, and Rocket/Bradley Cooper who are on the run through space from Lee Pace, Djimon Hounsou and Karen Gillan after scavenging a mysterious orb for a buyer.

Based on the 2008 version of the 45 year old comic book series Guardians of the Galaxy, this is the first non-Avengers Marvel property developed by Walt Disney Pictures as well as being a Marvel Phase 2 movie. Guardians of the Galaxy is more of a bad-assed action film than a comedy that the movie trailers had made the movie appear to be, with the opening scenes before the credits of the movie being a tearjerker. Despite being an ensemble piece, Quill/Star Lord/Pratt is the leader of these criminals, who pulls these losers into a group in order to do something good to save the galaxy. Tree creature Diesel puts a lot of emotion into his one line of dialog that he repeats throughout the movie. Diesel also recorded all the languages of his line for the international releases of the movie. Racoon Rocket/Cooper and tree person Groot/Diesel will be the toys for this movie.

For Executive Producer Stan Lee fans, his cameo appears relatively early in the movie and the audience reacted positively to his appearance.

Being the first movie of the Marvel Cinematic Universe set in space, a lot of the cosmic space elements from the Marvel comics universe are mentioned in the movie - with cameos of major comic characters, including Benicio Del Toro and an uncredited Josh Brolin. The movie also includes an Infinity Stone appearing in the movie. The cameos and the Infinity Stone hint at future movie roles in the Marvel Cosmic Universe.

While part of the promotional marketing of the movie has Glenn Close in the trailers - she has basically a walk-on part with hardly any lines, despite the nature of her character. I loved the mixed cassette music of 70's and 80's songs that was put together for Quinn's/Pratt's Walkman. I would not be surprised if the soundtrack for this movie becomes a hit. Of course what is funny is that Quinn's/Pratt's Walkman and cassette tape has lasted for over 20 years.

I saw the movie in 3D. While the 3D seemed good in the beginning - after awhile I stopped noticing it except for certain action scenes and one awe scene, some of which the action scenes made me blink.

While there might be a couple of points where scenes would seem scientifically inaccurate - given what was established, I could accept those scenes. The end of the movie was also a bit deus ex machina to me, but the end of the movie also might be acceptable given to what was established.

After the end credit music, the very last end credit scene of the movie might be controversial with the fanboys, so I would not be surprised if nothing ever became of it and just appeared in the movie as just a last joke. But then again, the fanboys would go nuts if this was real and Marvel did it right. I believe it was for legal reasons with Marvel that the creator's names that were involved with this scene had appeared after the end of this scene. If Marvel actually does make a movie and puts this on the production schedule in a slot that has not been confirmed yet, I hope that they make that movie as originally intended by the creators as a satirical existential experience, instead of just something from space.

The very last visual on the screen is that GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY WILL RETURN.

As of 2014, Guardians of the Galaxy broke the record for an August debut.

Rated PG-13 for violence, obscenity. Running time: 121 minutes.  

Click below to watch another movie trailer of Guardians of the Galaxy.



Click below to watch a final movie trailer of Guardians of the Galaxy.



Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Follow us on Facebook. Pancho's Movie Reviews

Thursday, July 17, 2014

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2


DreamWorks Animation

Rated PG

Running time: 102 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of How to Train Your Dragons 2.



In Dreamworks Animation's How to Train Your Dragon 2, Hiccup/Jay Baruchel and his dragon Toothless map the unexplored lands and territories, when they come across an insane dragon conqueror called Drago Bludvist/Djimon Hounsou - as well as someone from Hiccup's/Baruchel's past.

This is the second movie in the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy Executive Produced, Written, and Directed by Dean DeBlois, and based on the How to Train Your Dragon book series by Cressida Cowell.

This is one of those rare movies that I think is actually better than the original movie. The story is bigger and more open than in the first movie as Hiccup/Baruchel explore the area surrounding the island of Berk from which he is from. The characters from the first movie have returned. Hiccup's/Baruchel's father Gerard Butler, as well as characters Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-PlasseT.J. Miller, Kristen Wiig, and the friends have grown in the reported five years since the events of the first movie and are young adults now. Hiccup/Baruchel grows even more as the movie develops, especially when he meets Valka/Cate Blanchett. Hiccup/Baruchel's scenes when flying with Toothless were awe inspiring to watch. It helps that there was the Dreamworks Dragons TV show that aired in-between the release dates of the two movies which had showed how the dragons were being integrated into the Viking island of Berk, including running dragon games. After watching the TV show, it is not such a culture shock when watching How to Train Your Dragon 2 from the story of the original How to Train Your Dragon. The animation of How to Train Your Dragon 2 is quite involved too as the movie depicts the various new dragons and massive battle scenes, which reminded me of World War II battle scenes.

I think of all the movies that I had watched over the Fourth of July weekend, How to Train Your Dragon 2 was the best movie for me story and entertainment-wise. This movie was a lot of fun. I loved at how family motivated the movie is with Hiccup/Baruchel and how emotional the movie was for me as a result. Even Toothless seemed to become part of a family when they discover the new world of dragons. I will admit that I had cried when I watched this movie, as the movie was that powerful toward the end.

One thing that did bother me - and it should not bother me as this is an animated movie, so they were not hurt - was of how the sheep were used in this movie. I kept thinking of The American Humane Association. This is an animated movie, and how the sheep were used were funny and reminded me of the Wallace and Gromit movies - but how the sheep were used would have been disturbing in a live action movie and I had to keep reminding myself that this is an animated movie and thus not real.

The final movie in the trilogy, currently titled How to Train Your Dragon 3, is scheduled for release on June 17, 2016.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of How to Train Your Dragon 2.



Click below to watch the featurette movie trailer of How to Train Your Dragon 2.



Rated PG for violence. Running time: 102 Minutes.

Pancho 
All people smile in the same language.

Follow us on Facebook. Pancho's Movie Reviews




Saturday, July 12, 2014

Maleficent


Walt Disney Pictures

Rated PG

Running time: 97 Minutes



Click below to watch a movie trailer of Maleficent.




Walt Disney Pictures Maleficent is the story of the fairy queen Maleficent, Angelina Jolie, who curses the baby daughter of a king into a death-like sleep on her sixteenth birthday.

In this live action version of Walt Disney's 1959 animated movie Sleeping Beauty and released on Sleeping Beauty's 55th Anniversary in 2014, Maleficent is told from the point of view of the queen fairy Maleficent - who was the villain in Sleeping Beauty and is considered to be the greatest villain in Disney history. In this 2014 movie you get to know who Maleficent is. In a similar style to Walt Disney Pictures Oz the Great and Powerful, both visually and story-wise, in that Maleficent is also a tragedy such as in Oz the Great and Powerful. The movie Maleficent is a tour de force for Actress and Executive Producer Jolie as you feel for Maleficent as she goes through a very personal dark and painful time in the movie. Jolie worked closely with the costume designers and special make-up effects artist Rick Baker to maintain the scary look of the animated Sleeping Beauty. It is curious that all the actors were chosen in part for their likeness to their characters in the animated Sleeping Beauty. Fairy actresses Lesley Manville, Imelda Staunton, and Juno Temple were guided by the artists of Cirque du Soleil to give the proper feeling of featherweight and agility when Manville, Staunton, and Temple are the tiny fairies.

As the king, Sharlto Copley appears to show any love to his daughter Aurora/Elle Fanning. King Copley is so obsessed on his plans of destroying Maleficent/Jolie, that he has no time or interest for family. In fact, you do not know the queen/Hannah New at all. She only has a couple of lines and then you do not see her at all anymore. Queen New is basically just there in the movie as a cameo of Aurora's/Fanning's mother and you do not care about her at all.

It should be pointed out that the movie Maleficent is not exactly the same story as Sleeping Beauty. While the movie has elements of Sleeping Beauty, Maleficent does not follow the story that everyone has grown up with. Although Aurora's/Fanning's baby christening sequence is word for word from the movie Sleeping Beauty - because Jolie felt that this sequence was the core and setup of the entire movie of Maleficent, and the movie is really about what happened before this scene - the first time that I had realized that the story of Maleficent would be a different story was when a minor plot point was not revealed. I kept expecting that particular plot point would be revealed later on in the movie, but it never was.

It was great to hear the song "Once Upon a Dream" from the 1959 Sleeping Beauty film as the end credits song for Maleficent, which was sung for the movie Maleficent by Lana Del Rey, who was chosen to sing the song by Jolie.

There are so many wonderful movie trailers of this movie. It was hard for me to pick a movie trailer for this review. For this review, I choose the movie trailers that compared Maleficent with Sleeping Beauty, as people would be familiar most with Sleeping Beauty. Click here to watch the Maleficent movie trailers.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of Maleficent.

 
Rated PG for violence and intense scenes. Running time: 97 Minutes.

Pancho 
All people smile in the same language.

Follow us on Facebook Pancho's Movie Reviews


 

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION


Paramount Pictures

Rated PG-13

Running time: 165 Minutes



Click below to watch the movie trailer of Transformers: Age of Extinction.


In Paramount Pictures Transformers: Age of Extinction, Mark Wahlberg finds a broken down semi-truck - which turns out to be the Transformer Autobot Optimus Prime/Peter Cullen.

In this sequel to Transformers: Dark of the Moon, the film takes place four years after the invasion of Chicago. Using new characters, struggling inventor/mechanic and single father Mark Wahlberg is trying to make money for himself and send his daughter Nicola Peltz to college with his inventions, when Wahlberg tries to restore a broken down semi-truck that he had bought with his partner T.J. Miller's money. Wahlberg soon discovers that the truck is Autobot Optimus Prime/Cullen - and that secret CIA government agents Titus Welliver and Kelsey Grammer are searching for them, along with bounty hunter Transformer Lockdown/Mark Ryan.

Directed by Michael Bay and Executive Produced by Steven Spielberg, story-wise, I think this is the best of the Transformers movies. While Optimus/Cullen feels betrayed by the humans, due to Grammer's machinations of getting rid of all Transformers after what had happened to Chicago, this movie is really about the love of father Wahlberg and his daughter Peltz. But like all of Director Michael Bay's films, the movie is twenty minutes too long as far as the action at the end is concerned. As it it, Bay says this is the longest film in the series. I just wanted to get on with the story instead of watching all of this fighting and destruction. I was feeling sleepy because there was no story to keep me interested. As usual I got confused as to which Transformer was which during the final battle scenes as they all look alike. As a result - as much as I wanted to care who was who, I did not care. I cared more for Wahlberg was firing an alien gun. It is curious in that there seemed to be more collateral damage and bystander refugees in the international China scenes than in the American scenes.

While Autobots from previous movies have been destroyed, the movie does introduce new Transformers - including Hound/John Goodman, Drift/Ken Watanabe, and Crosshairs/John DiMaggio. There was also a logical reason for the new Transformers that are introduced that transform into cars and other things, not including Stanley Tucci's man made Transformers, which Optimus/Cullen brought about which goes all the way back to the Creators. This logical reason, and that Optimus/Cullen was leading them, made the introduction of the new Transformers really special for me.

The 3-D was awesome throughout the entire movie. Usually the 3-D in movies is bad as it is just a conversion, but I noticed the 3-D throughout the entire movie - most notably when dust motes are flying around. Even in ordinary scenes, you could see the depth of the scene as Bay shot 60 percent of the movie in IMAX 3-D. The 3-D actually made me flinch a couple of times as things flew out at me.

Hasbro and Paramount Pictures have stated that here are talks of a fifth and sixth installment in the Transformers series. As of the 2014 July fourth weekend, Transformers: Age of Extinction has earned $201.3M overseas. This makes the movie the highest-grossing weekend for a film.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of Transformers: Age of Extinction.



Rated PG-13 for violence and language. Running time: 165 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Follow us on Facebook, Pancho's Movie Reviews


Sunday, May 25, 2014

X-Men: Days of Future Past


Twentieth Century Fox

Rated PG-13

Running Time: 131 Minutes


Click below to watch a movie  trailer of X-Men: Days of Future Past




In Twentieth Century Fox's X-Men: Days of Future Past, the near future has most mutants, and the humans who helped them, placed in internment camps, while the rest of the mutants are hunted down and killed by mutant hunting robot Sentinels. In order to save what's left of the mutant X-Men - Professor Charles Xavier/Patrick Stewart and Magneto/Ian McKellen sends Wolverine/Hugh Jackman 50 years into the past to change history.

After traveling back into the past, Wolverine/Jackman returns home to a run-down Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters to try to convince a young broken and disheveled Xavier/James McAvoy to free and recruit Magneto/Michael Fassbender from the Pentagon and join them to stop Mystique/Jennifer Lawrence from changing history.

The movie is basically The Avengers meets Captain America: The Winter Soldier and just as political as Captain America. The seventh film in the X-Men series, and the third X-Men film Directed and Produced by Bryan Singer, X-Men: Days of Future Past is based on the X-Men story line by Chris Claremont and John Byrne in the comic book The Uncanny X-Men issues #141-142, "Days of Future Past" published in 1981. The first issue of the story line was voted in 2001 as the 25th greatest Marvel comic. It is great that Claremont was brought in as a consultant to this film.

While I have not read "Days of Future Past" since it was published in 1981, I am pretty sure the movie followed the story fairly closely with some minor changes - or major changes depending on your point of view, since in the original story it was Kitty Pryde/Sprite who went back in time. But Wolverine/Jackman is the more popular protagonist character to the audience and can be used as an ageless immortal time travel character since he does not age. Also in the comics, the key time character was Senator Robert Kelly who was the head of an anti-mutant platform. In the movie, the key time character is cyberneticist Bolivar Trask/Peter Dinklage who created the robot Sentinels, since Senator Kelly/Bruce Davison appeared in X-Men.

With Bryan Singer's casting of Dinklage as Bolivar Trask, there could have been a lot of characterization developed on Trask and to why he had created the Sentinels. As a writer, I would have asked Dinklage's opinions of why Dinklage himself would have done something like creating the Sentinels. Too bad there was hardly any characterization developed for Trask/Dinklage. A new enemy and a new weapon for this war is not enough characterization.

The X-Men from the future you never get to know at all, aside from their powers. As a fan of the X-Men, I knew who these future X-Men all were - but even then, I have not read the books since the eighty's and I do not know if these characters have been prominent in the books since then. So the general public would most likely not have any connection to these future X-Men aside from appreciating their powers - which were pretty kick ass. The movie is basically Wolverine's/Jackman's movie. In the books, the dystopian near-future was the year 2013, which was last year as of this writing in 2014. It is good to know that near-future did not come to past in this reality.

Several people from the previous X-Men movies reprise their roles, like Nicholas Hoult/Beast, with most of the people being in cameo roles. The movie includes footage from the previous X-Men movie for these characters - as well as people appearing in some surprising live-action cameos.  The new character in the movie, who was also the most fun character in the movie, was Pietro Maximoff/Evan Peters. Too bad Maximoff/Peters did not have a larger role to offset some of the heavy drama that would play out in the rest of the movie. I am looking forward to Maximoff/Peters future connection to Magneto/Fassbender. It was sad to hear from Magneto/Michael Fassbender that several characters from the X-Men movies had been killed off. It was heartbreaking to hear Magneto/Fassbender yell at Charles Xavier/James McAvoy because it was Xavier/McAvoy as the one who had abandoned those who were lost. Mystique's/Jennifer Lawrence's character is the one character in the movie who was the most tragic after all the things that had happened to her, although we never really get the reason why Mystique/Lawrence was really after Trask/Dinklage aside from the obvious. The real reason is too subtle to pick up. Halle Berry's/Storm's character presence was reduced in this film due to Barry's pregnancy.

I liked the DNA graphics that were shown during the opening credits, which stresses the idea of genetics, leading into the theme of mutants. The prototype Sentinels in the past look just like the ones of which I am familiar with from the comics, and visually look pretty cool, while the Sentinels from the future are the ones that are the most dangerous. While X-Men: First Class used historical footage of President John F. Kennedy as part of the film to help make it believable, X-Men: Days of Future Past casts actor Mark Camacho as an historical figure. Using an actor for this historical figure loses credibility to the reality of the role, especially considering everyone's perceptions of this historical figure. The international implications of mutants as well as the news coverage of the mutants added to the reality of the situation outside of this figure.

There was no Stan Lee cameo in this movie, so don't bother looking for him, like I was doing. You can concentrate on watching the movie instead and not worry about missing something important like Lee.

While the events of this movie might change the events of previous X-Men films, Singer believes in multiverses and that certain events would be part of the history of alternate universes. This will help the fans keep from being so upset that things keep changing. I know it would help keep me from being so upset. There are a lot of good stories from the alternate universes in the 50 years of X-Men history.

I saw this movie on an opening weekend matinee and the theater was pretty full. At the end of the movie, the audience applauded. While most of the audience left, those who had stayed while waiting for the closing credits scene were sitting around talking about X-Men as the end titles credits music played. The closing scene character, while different from the drawings from the comics - so much so that I did not recognize the character, suggests the story that I am looking forward to in the next X-Men film - X-Men: Apocalypse coming out in 2016. I should point out, that while the scene at the end of the credits in the movie The Wolverine teased at what was going to happen in X-Men: Days of Future Past, that scene does not appear in Days of Future Past.

Rated PG-13 for violence, language, and nudity. Running Time: 131 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Pancho's Movie Reviews