STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Rated PG-13

Running time: 135 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of Star Wars: The Force Awakens from YouTube.
 

In Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the old generation meets the new in this Star Wars sequel.

The seventh installment of the Star Wars series, the movie takes place thirty years after Star Wars: Return of the Jedi - and released thirty-two years after Return of the Jedi, thirty-eight years after Star Wars: A New Hope. Produced, Written, along with Lawrence Kasdan, and Directed by J.J. Abrams, Based on Characters Created by George Lucas, this is a worthy successor to the Star Wars legacy and the first of a new trilogy. With the transition of Lucasfilm over to Disney, Lucas stated that this was a way to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers. The movie has all the elements of a Star Wars film including the original cast and I felt that the movie has more action and more story in this movie than in the other movies. I think that is mainly because, not only does the movie have the feeling of the original trilogy, the movie also has the feeling of the Star Wars Expanded Universe.

Thirty years after Return of the Jedi - Luke Skywalker/Mark Hamill, the last Jedi has disappeared. The First Order has risen from the fallen Galactic Empire seeks to eliminate Luke/Hamill and the Republic. The Resistance, led by Luke's twin Sister Leia Organa/Carrie Fisher opposes The First Order while looking for Luke/Hamill.

Meanwhile, former stormtrooper Finn/John Boyega escapes the First Order with the help of pilot Poe Dameron/Oscar Isaac and crash on a desert planet - where Finn meets scavenger Rey/Daisy Ridley as they continue to escape from the First Order with the help of Han Solo/Harrison Ford and get to the Resistance with a map to find Luke/Hamill.

I saw this movie at a 9:00 am Saturday showing opening weekend and the theater was packed. The audience reacted positively to the movie and cheered when the Star Wars logo appeared. They also cheered when Han Solo/Harrison Ford as well as the Millennium Falcon appeared. While the original cast appeared in the movie, the movie definitely is the film of the new generation - Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac. Nonetheless, Harrison Ford received top billing in the movie - his first time for a Star Wars film, as well as being the first non-Jedi character to be credited first in the series.

It was wonderful to hear John Williams music during the opening title crawl. I knew I was finally watching a Star Wars movie after all these years when I heard the music. Not only does the movie has new music like Rey's theme, but the movie also uses familiar music like Luke's theme. Just hearing the full 90 piece orchestra and 24-voice men's chorus made me feel like a teenager again experiencing a Star Wars movie. There were times where I teared up a little during the movie as well as yelling YES during some of the scenes.

The aerial battles and the ground battles were incredible for me and felt more realistic when done on planet as compared to being done out in space. Watching in 3D - while I blinked a couple of times with debris flying out at me - at times the aerial and space battles felt like watching a video game to me. The stormtroopers were more ruthless and deadly than in the previous movies, especially one particular stormtrooper. I am looking forward to how the filmmakers are going to treat Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which is coming out in 2016 and is supposed to be more of a war movie than a space movie.

There are more new aliens, although most of them were not major characters. The movie does have some subtitles for an alien language that was spoken.

The droid BB-8 is an actual droid created by Disney Research and not CGI and seven different BB units were used in the film with the actors. It was wonderful to see BB-8 in action and definitely had a personality and felt like the new R2-D2 for the movie. The movie used more practical miniature models and real locations rather than CGI to make it aesthetically closer to the original trilogy. Interestingly enough, at $200 million dollars, this is the highest budgeted Star Wars film so far.

While this is the second Star Wars film that is released in IMAX, this is the first film using IMAX cameras on some scenes during filming. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is being shown on every IMAX screen in North America for four straight weeks.

By the time the movie was over, you definitely get the feeling that there will be more stories to tell and more movies - and it has been announced that everyone will be back for the sequel, Star Wars: Episode VIII.

At the end of the movie the audience applauded.

J.J. Abrams Director's credit as with all the other credits appeared at the end of the movie, just like in all of the other Star Wars movies.

At $100 million, Star Wars: The Force Awakens broke the record for pre-sales, breaking the previous pre-sale record holder The Dark Knight Rises three times over which had $25 million in pre-sales as well as initially crashing the ticket selling websites after starting ticket sales. It also had a record breaking $57 million from Thursday night "previews" and the first film to gross more than $100,million in a "single" day, the fastest to $100 million. This is significant as this is the first live-action Star Wars movie released in December with the widest December release while all the previous movies had been released in the month of May. As of 2015, Star Wars: The Force Awakens holds the record for highest grossing opening weekend at $215 million. Click this link from Box Office Mojo for more domestic records that Star Wars: The Force Awakens broke.

After twelve days, Star Wars: The Force Awakens became the fastest movie to reach $1 billion dollars.

Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 135 Minutes.

Pancho 
All people smile in the same language.

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SPECTRE

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.
Columbia Pictures

Rated PG-13

Running time: 148 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of Spectre from YouTube.



In Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Columbia Pictures SPECTRE, James Bond, Daniel Craig, goes after the criminal organization that has been manipulating his life.

In the twenty-fourth James Bond film, Based on characters created by Ian Fleming - and the fourth appearance by Craig who is also the Co-Producer - Bond/Craig is undergoing an unofficial mission from the previous M - an uncredited Judi Dench - and recovers assassin Alessandro Cremona's ring that has a stylised octopus. The current M, Ralph Fiennes, then suspends Bond/Craig from field duty for Bond's/Craig's unauthorized mission. Meanwhile M/Fiennes undergoes a power struggle with C, Andrew Scott, as a result of domestic MI5 and foreign MI6 merging and C/Scott proposing that Britain joining a global electronic surveillance and intelligence initiative between nine member states - and shutting down the outdated licensed to kill '00' section. Bond/Craig disobeys M's/Fiennes's order of standing down from field duty and goes off to visit Cremona's widow, Monica Bellucci, and learns about Cremona's criminal organisation that he works with - SPECTRE.

While I liked the movie, I felt the movie could have been tighter in the story. It felt like it was dragging to me and did not seem as suspenseful to me as a result.

Monica Bellucci has the distinction of being the oldest Bond girl in the series. Bellucci is extremely hot and it is hard for me to believe she is 51 at the time of the movie's release. When Bond searches for the daughter of Jesper Christensen, who was a former member of a SPECTRE sub-organization, psychologist Lea Seydoux, you could tell that she would be a strong Bond girl character in the movie who could also kick butt. Although I felt that Seydoux fell in love with Bond/Craig a little too soon.

The title song by Sam Smith Writing's on the Wall does not have does not have the same name as the title of the movie, and so to me did not have as much of a connection to the movie as other Bond songs, while in actuality the title comes from a quote from Pierce Brosnan's GoldenEye. In a sense, this is appropriate as the title Spectre is not an Ian Fleming story title. Although the song did become the first Bond song to get to the UK Top of the Pops No. #1 rank. The music by Thomas Newman does have the feeling of a Bond movie.

I can understand the argument between human intelligence and electronic/signals intelligence. In the real world both are necessary - as sadly evidenced from recent events, especially when in the movie there was a plan to blow up a stadium. Now intelligence sources are strongly being going over in the real world as a result of intelligence failure during the recent events.

The movie references classic Bond films.

M/Fiennes, Q/Ben Whishaw, and Moneypenny/Naomie Harris return in the film to assist Bond/Craig, as well as cameo portraits of other Bond characters from Craig's Bond films appearing in the movie. I liked that Q/Whishaw had a scene outside of the lab. Dave Bautista's introduction in the movie was most impressive, and he only had one word of dialog in the entire movie. Christoph Waltz was great as the Bond villain who has been manipulating Bond throughout his entire career. It is incredible that the criminal organisation SPECTRE has not been seen since the 1971 movie Diamonds Are Forever.

I loved the Day of the Dead sequences in Mexico City and wished there was more of the references for Bond to what the parade meant to the people. There is a world-wide feeling to the movie as evidenced by the five different languages spoken in the movie with the subtitles, and the intelligence gathering alliance of countries, as well as the various locations - which includes London, Mexico City, Austria, Morocco, and Rome, Italy.

The film's budget made SPECTRE one of the most expensive movies ever made, yet there was only one over the top Bond action sequence that was slightly unbelievable, and one explosion that to me was a bit of an overkill. The rest of the action sequences were good. Aside from the Aston Martin DB10 coupe car for Bond, there was only one Bond gadget that was in the movie. SPECTRE is the second Bond film to be screened in IMAX, although it was not filmed in IMAX. The movie had the biggest opening of all time in the United Kingdom during it's first 007 week of release.

This is the first Bond film not to feature the trumpet playing of Derek Watkins who has played on every film since Dr. No. This is also the longest Bond film to date.

It is said that Craig will not come back to playing Bond, so this film had a finality of Craig's last film as Bond. It seemed appropriate that it referenced classic Bond films as a result, as well as cameo pictures of past stars in Craig's series of Bond films of which his series of movies was an overarching storyline.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of Spectre from YouTube.



James Bond will return.

Rated PG-13 for violence, sexual situations, language. Running time: 148 Minutes.

Pancho
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THE MARTIAN

20th Century Fox

Rated PG-13

Running time: 144 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of The Martian from YouTube.
 

In Twentieth Century Fox's The Martian, on a manned mission to Mars - astronaut/biologist Matt Damon is accidentally left behind on Mars when his crew thinks he is dead.

In a cross between Gravity, Interstellar, and Robinson Crusoe on Mars - but actually more upbeat than the others - The Martian, Produced and Directed by Ridley Scott and based on the Novel The Martian Written by Andy Weir, has Damon trying to survive all by himself after a Martian storm makes the manned Mars expedition crew believe that Damon has been lost and presumed dead after debris strikes him during the storm. Due to the limited resources that would last him thirty-one days, Damon has to science himself to survive with food and water for the next four years. Damon's sense of humor, as he is determined to use his relevant skills to survive, makes this film much more enjoyable to watch than the serious Gravity and Interstellar movies - although the movie does feel like Interstellar with the movie having both actors Damon and Jessica Chastain in both movies.

Damon's medical treatment of himself for his wounds were pretty graphic for me to see and I could barely watch them. I personally think I would have screamed a lot more than Damon did while digging into my own wounds.

The Ares III crew, Jessica Chastain, Michael Pena, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan, Aksel Hennie, represent NASA astronauts at it's best - while Kristen Wiig, Sean Bean, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Donald Glover, Benedict Wong, Mackenzie Davis, and Jeff Daniels represent NASA Mission Control and JPL. Daniels as the head of NASA was too much of a bureaucrat for me, while the others represented the true space proponents to me as they try to problem solve Damon's rescue and bring him home - similar to Apollo 13 - once they are able to communicate with Damon. The lack of communication with NASA and Damon's crew mates was most frustrating for me as someone who is used to using various methods of instantaneous communications.

This movie is also the most dramatic role I have seen Michael Pena play, even though he still has a comedic characterization. I also loved the astronauts flying through the spacecraft Hermes in zero gravity. Having the news media like CNN  and CNN reporter Frederick Pleitgen and the world routing for Damon made for a connection for me that Gravity and Interstellar did not have.

In scenes similar to the movie Apollo 13, NASA does what it can on the ground in order to help Damon survive and come home. NASA had scientific advisers for the movie, including James L. Green, the Director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA, helping to make the movie more scientifically accurate. Fifty pages of the script is NASA material  - although there are some inaccuracies done for dramatic effect. Perhaps the mostly scientific accuracy of the movie is why some people believe that the events of this fictional movie actually did happen The movie does show how dangerous living and traveling in space can be. As Damon says, at some point - everything is going to go south on you.

I think it is cool that The Martian has been screened on the International Space Station - and that four days before the US release, NASA announced that they had found evidence that water flows on the surface of Mars. For more on NASA's planned missions to Mars, click here.

There was a lot of disco music from the collection of Commander Chastain's collection of music, which Damon played while he was alone on Mars. Surprisingly, none of the other astronauts seemed to have had their own collections of music to play as entertainment during their long mission - especially since Damon had access to their personal effects left behind when the astronauts suddenly had to abort the Mars mission.

There are scenes as the end credits start to play at the end of the movie, even though Damon's end scenes are not in the book. I thought Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive was a great song to use for the end of the movie.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of The Martian from YouTube.

 

Click below to watch a special documentary feature clip of the crew of The Martian from YouTube.

 

Rated PG-13 for language and nudity. Running time: 144 Minutes.

Pancho 
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MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - ROGUE NATION

Paramount Pictures

Rated PG-13

Running time: 131 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation from YouTube.
 

In Paramount Pictures Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, Agent Tom Cruise is going after the mysterious Syndicate that is targeting the members of his organization, the IMF - Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, and Ving Rhames.

Starring and Produced by Tom Cruise, this fifth movie to the Mission: Impossible films - which takes place immediately after the movie Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol - is a fun movie with Cruise, Field Operations Director Renner, computer expert Pegg, and agent Rhames reprising their roles from previous films. This is the first Mission: Impossible film where the IMF team is a veteran of at least one other Mission: Impossible film. Of the films that I have seen in this series, this was the most fun. It is curious that before the movie, they aired the James Bond movie trailer SPECTRE. Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation is a more fun film than James Bond, with the character relationships providing the fun in Mission: Impossible.

In the movie, Cruise is on the run from the CIA, headed by Chief Director Alec Baldwin, that wants a Senate Oversite Committee to disband the IMF (Impossible Missions Force) after a series of botched operations, and is trying to order Renner to give up Cruise's location. Cruise meanwhile is trying to find Sean Harris. the head of The Syndicate - an international criminal organization - that is escalating a series of terrorist acts as well as targeting the IMF.

During the opening title sequence, which has graphics just like the TV series, there were clips of the movie shown, just like in the TV series of clips of that week's episode. These movie clips did not have any spoilers, but definitely teased what was going to happen in the movie. It was great that the musical theme of the TV show by Lalo Schifrin was all over the movie, which made it feel like a Mission: Impossible episode. Another nod to the TV series is The Syndicate, which was the antagonist organization in the TV series, as well as Cruise receiving his mission briefing from a vinyl record from which the original TV briefings came from.

The movie does have a world-wide feel to the movie as they travel to various countries, just as a James Bond movie does, with locations in London, Vienna, Monaco, Morocco, and Morocco's largest city Casablanca. The movie also had several car chases to make for great action. It is amazing that spies nowadays have to be so electronic savvy when you see all the gadgets that everyone uses. Just as the original TV series and TV series update made use of the latest state of the art technology, the movies do as well.

Operative Rebecca Ferguson was pretty awesome in the movie as someone who you were not sure which side she was on whenever she engaged Cruise. I definitely fell in love with Ferguson as a "bad girl" and I look forward to seeing more of her work.

Cruise hanging off of a plane, an Airbus A400M, was a real stunt with Cruise at an altitude of 5000 feet. The underwater footage is the first film release featuring footage from Arri's new 6.5 Alexa 65 camera. Cruise trained with diving specialist Kirk Krack to hold his breath underwater for three minutes to perform an underwater sequence without any edits trying to defeat a security system.

For the IMAX theatrical release, the movie has a Mission Impossible style SMPTE Academy leader countdown at the beginning of the movie instead of the normal IMAX countdown.

Rated PG-13 for violence, language. Running time: 131 Minutes.

Pancho
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HITMAN: AGENT 47

20th Century Fox

Rated R

Running time: 96 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of Hitman: Agent 47 from YouTube.



In 20th Century Fox's Hitman: Agent 47, mysterious woman Hannah Ware, who is searching to find her father Ciaran Hinds and uncover the mysteries of her ancestry, teams up with an elite assassin while another elite assassin is after her.

Based on the video game series Hitman, this reboot movie is a combination of the Bourne films, Dark Angel, and John Wick. Rupert Friend as engineered human being 47 plowing through security reminds me of Jason Statham from the Transporter films. It is interesting to see the juxtaposition between Friend and Zachary Quinto, especially during their fight scenes. I believe Quinto could become a new action star if he wants to go in that direction in his career. Ware is also someone you could be looking out for as an action star.

It is sad that Paul Walker was originally supposed to play Agent 47 before he passed away.

The number of nameless victims in the movie represents the visceral action of the video game, as they are just action figures and not actual characters. There were very few people that you would  actually care about if they were killed. I will admit though, that the action did make me flinch a couple of times. The movie is too urban and inner-city to be a full-blown action film, but is more of an action thriller with the feel of video game action.

It is curious that for a high tech movie, the surveilance cameras that were used in the movie were an obsolete model. We have never used those cameras at work and our building is 15 years old.

There is an after credits scene which sets up a sequel.

Rated R for violence and language. Running time: 96 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

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THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.

Warner Bros.

Rated PG-13

Running time: 116 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of The Man from UNCLE from YouTube.

In Warner Bros. The Man From U.N.C.L.E., CIA agent Napoleon Solo/Henry Cavill must join forces with KGB operative Illya Kuryakin/Armie Hammer to track down a private atom bomb.

Based on the television series The Man From U.N.C.L.E., the movie is Written and Directed by Guy Ritchie. The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is set during the height of the Cold War of the 1960's in 1963, soon after the Cuban Missile Crisis. News archive footage from British Pathe, including footage of President John F. Kennedy and World War II and atomic bomb footage, as well as the graphics at the beginning of the movie and throughout the movie reflect that time period. Not only does having the film set during the 60's retain the flavor of the TV series and the spy movies of the 60's, along with the music in the film, the 60's style separates the movie from the current series of spy films set in today's world. It was also nice that they incorporated the theme song from the TV series into the movie.

In a most dangerous time of our history, top CIA agent Solo/Cavill extracts Alicia Vikander, the daughter of Nazi scientist turned US collaborator at the end of World War II Christian Berkel from East Berlin - evading the best KGB operative within three years Kuryakin/Hammer. Vikander's uncle Sylvester Groth works for a shipping company owned by Elizabeth Debicki and Luca Calvani who are Nazi sympathizers and have ties to an international criminal organization that want to destabilize the fragile balance of power and intend to use Berkel to build thier own private atom bomb. Rivals used to working independently - Solo/Cavill and Kuryakin/Hammer are ordered by their governments to work together on this mission, as well as with Vikander to act as Kuryakin's/Hammer's fiancee, in order to locate Vikander's father Berkel and to stop Debicki and Calvani from succeeding in having Berkel developing the nuclear weapon.

I felt that The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is more fun than a James Bond movie in that the comedy comes from the character relationships, rather than the plot. I always felt a lot of the plot in a James Bond movie was contrived. It is curious that Ian Fleming developed both James Bond and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. A couple of the dining scenes reflect the humorous character relationships between Solo/Cavill and Kuryakin/Hammer when they are working together in the field as well as the relationships during the various chase scenes.

I loved the rivalry between Solo/Cavill and Kuryakin/Hammer and how they grew to respect each other. Actually, personally I related to Cavill more to his role as Napoleon Solo rather than Cavill in his role as Superman as Solo uses his criminal talents in infiltration as well as overcoming security systems. It is curious that Armie Hammer was once considered for the role of Superman. Cavill and Hammer did most of their own stunts, which I think was great - especially as Kuryakin/Hammer had more of a temper and Hammer doing his own stunts which would be shown onscreen. With Kuryakin/Hammer having a temper as well as being Vikander's "fiancee" and his relationship with her, it feels that Kuryakin/Hammer is more of the protagonist of the movie during most of the film instead of Solo/Cavill and Kuryakin/Hammer being equal.

I did not recognize Hugh Grant as Commander Waverly  as his hair has changed from the last time I saw him. It is funny that Grant is the only principle character that used his own accent in the movie.

Due to the various languages spoken in the film, such as Russian and Italian, there are subtitles in the movie. The movie has in international feel as it travels from East Berlin, to Rome.

The graphics of the end credits show the dossiers of the agents of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. - United Network Command for Law and Enforcement.

I am looking forward to more of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. films, even hopefully a film of The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.

On a sad note, before the movie started, the theater showed a video of emergency procedures for the theater in case of an event. It is a shame that with events that are happening in today's news that the movie going experience has come to this.

Rated PG-13 for violence, sexual situations, nudity. Running time: 116  Minutes.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of The Man From Uncle on YouTube.



Click below to watch the Comic-Con movie trailer of The Man From UNCLE on YouTube.



Click below to watch a 60's style movie trailer of The Man From UNCLE from YouTube.



Pancho
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ANT-MAN

Marvel Studios

Rated: PG-13

Running time: 117 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of Ant-Man from YouTube.



In Marvel Studio's Ant-Man, ex-burglar Paul Rudd is recruited by retired scientist Michael Douglas to be the super hero Ant-Man to stop rival scientist Corey Stoll from misusing Douglas's Ant-Man technology.

One of the original Avengers from The Avengers comic book, Ant-Man finally makes it to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the twelfth installment of the MCU movies after being through years of development. Co-Written by Paul Rudd, Ant-Man is the last film of Marvel's Phase Two. Basically Ant-Man is a Marvel version of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and The Rocketeer. In fact Ant-Man had been in development since the late 1980's when Ant-Man creator Stan Lee pitched the idea to New Line Entertainment - then owner of Marvel - but New Line found it too similar to Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.

In the movie, forty years ago, scientist Douglas develops the Pym particles which allows shrinking technology. Douglas buries that technology and resigns from SHIELD, when his misguided prodigy Stoll attempts to sell the technology to the government as a weapon for an army of soldiers that are the size of insects with superhuman strength - the ultimate secret weapon. When the Stoll of today continues to try to reinvent the technology to use as a weapons system for an army of soldiers, Douglas and his estranged executive daughter of his company Evangeline Lilly recruit ex-con burglar and divorced father Rudd to use his talents and the Ant-Man suit to redeem himself and stop Stoll in order to save the world for both of their daughters.

This movie is much more dramatic than what the currently airing trailers of which the media is airing now portrays. The movie trailers used in this review more closely represent what the style of the movie really is. It was great to see Rudd/Ant-Man going at it as a kick ass fighter with his shrinking technology and defeating security systems, which is what I wanted see in Rudd to be doing for an Ant-Man movie. Lilly is also amazing as the one who trains Rudd/Ant-Man. Most of the comic relief comes from Rudd's buddy Michael Pena and Pena's crew David Dastmalchian and Tip "T.I." Harris - and Pena's crew do not have a large part in this movie. The movie mostly concerns Douglas, Rudd, Lilly and Stoll.

It was also great to see the cameo from Garrett Morris who played Ant-Man at a party in a Saturday Night Live skit. It would have been great if the Morris cameo was at a party as well, in order to have more of a tribute to the SNL skit, maybe a cameo in a party with Stan Lee. For Stan Lee fans, Lee's cameo is at the end of the movie, so you can concentrate mostly on watching the movie until then. It was also great to see cameos of Hayley Atwell as Agent Peggy Carter and John Slattery as inventor Howard Stark, as well as a young CGI'd Micheal Douglas during the 1989 sequence.

It was cool to have the song It's a Small World being used in the film, considering the theme of Ant-Man and the movie being owned by Walt Disney Studios. Curiously, the song It's a Small World does not have a Disney Corporation copyright, and is the only Disney entity outside of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit not to have a Disney copyright. I also liked the story themes of Mentor/Pupil and Father/Daughter that were used in the film, making the movie even more of a family film. I admit to tearing up a little a couple of times during the Father/Daughter scenes, with Douglas and Lilly and with Rudd's daughter Abby Ryder Fortson and the love that they obviously had for each other.

With the introduction of the science of Pym particles, Ant-Man brings the subatomic quantum realm - the Microverse - into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There are additional ties to the MCU with the continuous referrals to The Avengers. Actually, the movie feels very much like the original Iron Man movie on a small scale (no pun intended). It is amazing to me to realize how many technological suits there are in the MCU.

I wish there was more personality to the ants, but as Douglas says, Do you know how many ants there are? Even for the one ant Rudd seemed to be connect to, a personality would have been nice. Personality for the ants would have made the ants more anthropomorphic, especially when Rudd controls the ants to do his bidding. As it was, I felt Rudd's relationship with the ants appeared to be more of a master/slave relationship otherwise.

The film was shot in the 1.85 format to give a greater appreciation of the vertical aspects of the Ant-Man scenes that can not be appreciated in the traditional 2.35 aspect ratio movie format. The movie also made extensive use of macro photography to show things from Ant-Man's point of view.

It was great to see during the end credits Special Thanks to Marvel comic book artists John Buscema, John Byrne, and Gene Colan.

There is a mid credits scene and an after credits scene. It is curious to note that in my theater, most of the audience stayed all the way through to the end credits. People are getting hip to Marvel's end credits, which is a film-goer's bonus. Personally I enjoy listening to the music of the end credits as well as reading the various film departments and names.

Ant-Man will return.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of Ant-Man from YouTube.



Click below to watch a final trailer of Ant-Man from YouTube.



Rated PG-13 for violence and language. Running time: 117 Minutes.

Pancho
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TERMINATOR GENISYS

Paramount Pictures

Rated PG-13

Running time: 126 Minutes
















Click below to watch a movie trailer of Terminator Genisys on YouTube.
 

Paramount Pictures Terminator Genisys, has an apocryphal future war in 2029 against computer artificial intelligence Skynet and it's robot Terminators bent on destroying the human race. Human Resistance soldier Jai Courtney is sent back in time by Human Resistance leader Jason Clarke to save and protect Clarke's mother, Emilia Clarke, from the robot Terminators Brett Azar and Byung-hun Lee that have been sent to kill Emilia Clarke in the past - before the war and before Jason Clarke is born.

The fifth installment in the Terminator series - and the first film in a proposed new Terminator trilogy - the first half of Terminator Genisys is basically a combination of The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The first half of the movie was to me the best and my favorite part of the movie, as the movie explored the various consequences of multiple timelines while time traveling. Courtney was very confused in that the situations were not what he expected to happen when he traveled back in time - as the timeline has been altered. The opposite situation as opposed to a strong kick-ass Emilia Clarke, who knew what was going on - which is opposite of what the original Terminator movie was. The second half of the movie goes off onto it's own story in order to stop Judgement Day from happening - with a Terminator still after them. I was not crazy about the direction of the second half of the story, even if the movie did have tributes to the TV series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles trying to stop Judgement Day from happening, but I did like the action of the second half of the movie and loved the relationship of the characters. Terminator Creator James Cameron says that he considers Terminator Genisys to be the official third film of the Terminator franchise.

The filmmakers studied the Back to the Future films about how time travel works. This was important as you can get lost with how convoluted the various timelines can become.

Fan favorite Matt Smith (credited as Matthew Smith) was pretty much wasted as a fan favorite as he had very little screen time, although he was an important character. Dayo Okeniyi and Courtney B. Vance's characters were hardly used and those characters are major characters in the series.

There is a very logical explanation of Terminator Arnold Schwarzenegger's mature age in the movie, as he reprises his role, as the filmmakers did not use makeup or CGI to make Arnold younger. Arnold was just as bad-ass as always in this movie and he was fun for me to watch. Many actors in the series were considered to have the actors reprise their original roles, but for various reasons they did not do so. I also do not like Schwarzenegger's credit that was listed in the movie as that is not what his name was. All the questions in the movie were answered except for one, unless I missed the answer which was not obvious. That one question was answered in another movie and I was expecting it to be reiterated in this movie.

There is a mid credits scene at the end of the movie. The first Terminator movie with a mid credits scene. It is also the first film in the series to be shot digitally and the first in the series to be shot with an anamorphic lens.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of Terminator Genisys on YouTube.



Rated PG-13 for violence, language, nudity. Running time: 126 Minutes.

Pancho
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TOMORROWLAND

Walt Disney Pictures

Rated PG

Running time: 130 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of Tomorrowland from YouTube.

In Walt Disney Pictures Tomorrowland, Britt Robertson receives a special pin that takes her to Tomorrowland.

Written and Directed by Brad Bird, a young enthusiastic Thomas Robinson builds a jet pack and brings it to the 1964 New York World's Fair. He is then recruited and given a pin by Raffey Cassidy to be able to gain passage to the secret dimensional metropolis Tomorrowland. Decades later -  activist daughter of NASA engineer Tim McGraw - Robertson suddenly finds a pin in her possession and - because of the pin's properties, is so intrigued by the wonders of  it - searches for Tomorrowland. She soon tracks down fatalistic George Clooney - who can lead her to Tomorrowland. However, Robertson and Clooney are soon followed by some bad guy Audio Animatronics.

The movie is rated PG, but there were some scenes that I thought should have been PG-13. There was one scene especially - although everything turned out okay in the end - that was pretty shocking to me when it happened. I was going - this is a Disney movie? There are also bad guys in the movie, so there is some violence that is almost PG-13. I would have liked Robertson to have been running around with her brother Pierce Gagnon trying to find Tomorrowland in order to have made the film even more of a family friendly movie.

The movie is split between being optimistic and pessimistic. The movie told the story of two wolves - one good, one evil. The wolves fight each other. Which one wins? The one you feed. That story is the basic theme of the movie. Clooney had fatalistic coverages of the news on his wall of TV monitors feeding his fatalism. While Robertson is chasing after the cool optimism of Tomorrowland. I loved the optimistic future of Tomorrowland, of the best and brightest of the world who wanted to actually change it. That was what I wanted to be fed with during the movie, with Clooney showing Robertson the wonders of Tomorrowland.

Tomorrowland's architecture looks very much like Tomorrowland from Disneyland. The technology of Tomorrowland was also pretty cool too. Some of the technology reminded me of the TV series Eureka. Although we did not get to see the best and brightest of the citizens of Tomorrowland as actual characters in Tomorrowland, except for Cassidy and the governor Hugh Laurie - both of whom were basically controlling the story of Tomorrowland. Actually the closest to seeing the best and brightest people of Tomorrowland, outside of the stars, were mannequins of Gustave Eiffel, Jules Verne, Nikola Tesla and of Thomas Edison. Actually it was pretty cool that the characters of the movie traveled all over the world, giving a true sense of optimism.

The governor of Tomorrowland Laurie was not so optimistic and did not seem as bright as one should be as governor of a scientific society like Tomorrowland. I was surprised and sad that the movie brought up such apocalyptic subjects like Mutually Assured Destruction. As a result, the movie was not as much of a fun positive entertainment as I wanted the movie to be with the threat of the future running out throughout the entire plot.

I liked the science fiction store with all the props and memorabilia of science fiction films. It was great having the owner Hugo Gernsback/Keegan-Michael Key make an entrance to the Star Wars theme song.

What was cool was that the movie had the song There's a Great, Big Beautiful Tomorrow in the beginning of the movie, giving the sense of a positive movie for Robinson. I was singing along with the song, although I was the only one around me doing that in the theater. I guess no one in the theater was old enough to be exposed to the song from Disneyland's late attraction - Carousel of Progress.

I cried at the end of the movie. There is a sense of optimism at the end of the movie, but the music played during the end credits was pretty somber in parts. The Tomorrowland animated sequence during the end credits represents Bird's animation influence.

Based on components of the themed land Tomorrowland at Disney theme parks, the end credits showed that the movie was filmed at Tomorrowland - although part of the movie was definitely filmed at It's a Small World at Fantasyland in Disneyland along with having the song It's a Small World (After All) in the movie, to which I was also singing to. I think it is quite appropriate that Tomorrowland opened during Disneyland's 60th Diamond Anniversary Celebration. I liked the end credit touch at the very end of the credits.

This is the first theatrical film to be released in Dolby Vision.

 Click below to watch another movie trailer of Tomorrowland from YouTube.

 

Click below to watch a final movie trailer of Tomorrowland from YouTube.



Rated PG for violence. Running time: 130 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

AVENGERS - AGE OF ULTRON

Walt Disney Studios

Rated PG-13

Running time: 141 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of Avengers - Age of Ultron from YouTube.
 

In Walt Disney Studios Avengers - Age of Ultron, an artificial intelligence robot Ultron/James Spader threatens human extinction - and the Avengers must stop it.

In this sequel to The Avengers, and the eleventh installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Avengers - Age of Ultron is Written and Directed by Joss Whedon, and has an ensemble cast of Tony Stark/Robert Downey Jr., Thor/Chris Hemsworth, Hulk-Banner/Mark Ruffalo, Captain America/Chris Evans, Black Widow/Scarlett Johansson, and Hawkeye/Jeremy Renner as the Avengers.

After the Avengers raid a Hydra outpost run by Baron Wolfgang von Strucker/Thomas Kretschmann, they run into twins Pietro/Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Wanda/Elizabeth Olsen who were experiments of Strucker using Loki's scepter. After Wanda/Olsen tries to overwhelm Stark/Downey, Jr. with a vision of the deaths of the Avengers, Stark/Downey, Jr. retrieves Loki's scepter. Stark/Downey, Jr. and Banner/Ruffalo discover an artificial intelligence in the scepter's gem and they use it to complete Stark's Ultron global defense program, designed to save the word. When Ultron/Spader becomes sentient, he believes he must destroy humanity in order to save Earth.

Amidst all the action, the movie sets up the Avengers - Infinity Wars movies with the Infinity Stones, as well as a hint of the Captain America - Civil Wars movie with the conflicts between Stark/Downey and his guilt of the possible deaths of the Avengers, and Captain America/Evans with his idealism on the direction and true purpose of the Avengers. Thor's/Hemsworth's vision in the film of the larger threat puts the movie on the path to tie all of the MCU together.

I liked seeing how all of the Avengers powers and abilities have improved in this sequel, although they had to use various Hollywood tricks to cover up Johansson's pregnancy. Hawkeye/Renner had more to do in this film than he had to do in the last film in which his role was pretty much wasted. It was cool watching the Hulkbuster in action. The Hulk's portrayal was based on the Peter David Hulk from the comic books with a split personality of each personality hating the other - which is intensified with his relationship with Black Widow/Johansson, in which you learn more of Black Widow's/Johansson's background. Black Widow's/Johansson's background is a similar background to a similar character in the TV show Marvel's Agent Carter. Hayley Atwell - the star of Agent Carter - had a cameo as her character, Agent Carter, in Age of Ultron. It was great having Lou Ferrigno as the voice of the Hulk in this movie - as well as Nick Fury/Samuel L. Jackson rallying the Avengers to stand and fight.

Seeing the Maximoff twins being there for each other and the use of their powers was great, especially with Taylor-Johnson running outdoors to give life to his running instead of running in front of a green screen. Due to rights issues, Taylor-Johnson's Quicksilver is a different version of  the Quicksilver shown in the X-Men movies. As agent Maria Hill/Cobie Smulders says, he's fast and she's weird, referring to Olsen's hypnosis and telekinesis powers.

I loved the theme song of Pinocchio's I Got No Strings for Ultron's/Spader's theme song. This seems appropriate both artistically, and that Disney owns both films. With Ultron/Spader having access to the entire Internet, Age of Ultron also has a more world-wide scope to the movie than The Avengers did as the Avengers travel around the world dealing with Ultron's/Spader's activities and his army of robots. The end of the movie felt very similar to the end of Man of Steel to me, but was a more positive ending as the Avengers worked hard to save the citizens while they battled Ultron/Spader and his robots.

Stan Lee's Excelsior cameo is during the Avenger's party. Lee says that this is his favorite cameo to date, which possibly may be due to his being a World War II veteran. The TV show Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV episode "The Dirty Half Dozen" - which aired a few days before the movie's opening - sets up the opening scenes of Avengers - Age of Ultron. Then a few days later, after the movie's opening, the episode "Scars" on Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. picks up after the events of Age of Ultron.

I was at a preview screening of the movie, and there was Thor and Captain America directly behind me in line. Several people were carrying Captain America shields.

For those who listen to the music and stay through all the way to the end credits, there is only one mid-credits scene at the end of the movie. Joss Whedon confirms that there is only one mid credits scene, although there is a leaked second scene on the net that may or may not have been real and was possibly cut out of the movie, but this second "scene" was still fun to watch.

Avengers - Age of Ultron was on track to break the box office for an opening weekend, with a bigger opening weekend than the original Avengers, but was knocked out of the race due to the Mayweather-Pacquiao boxing match that aired that weekend.

 Click below to watch another movie trailer of Avengers - Age of Ultron from YouTube.

   

Click below to watch a final movie trailer of Avengers - Age of Ultron from YouTube.



Rated PG-13. for violence. Running time: 141 Minutes

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

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