Movies

San Andreas (2015)

 in Movies by

San Andreas movie poster

Starring

Dwayne Johnson – Raymond Gaines
Carla Gugino – Emma Gaines
Alexandra Daddario – Blake Gaines
Ioan Gruffudd – Daniel Riddick

Summary

The San Andreas fault line is over 100 years overdue, so when a 9+ magnitude quake hits, disaster strikes. Following a rescue helicopter pilot and his estranged wife, they make a daring journey into the heart of San Francisco to save their only daughter while the world around them splits in two. Literally.

Review

Honestly, I didn’t think that I was going to like this movie, only because I really dislike disaster movies. And yes, while I did get extremely stressed, I absolutely loved it! I am a little biased as I love The Rock in all of his movies so I already had a positive kind of feeling towards the movies but I didn’t think that I would enjoy it as much as I did.

It was quite realistic without making it completely over the top like some of these disaster movies, like 2012 and stuff like that.

The graphics in the movie were also fantastic. It looked realistic which is the reason it made it so stressful to me and made me worry because of how this may eventually occur.

An image of the tsunami and the Golden Gate Bridge from San Andreas

Not only was there a massive earthquake of about a 9.6, but there was also a MASSIVE tsunami which just seemed to do everyone over. And just watching all of this take place, as well as seeing the damage which all of it incurred was just a little nail-biting. Well, not a little…extremely.

The only thing which I didn’t really like in the movie was how clear it was in certain parts. There were two 9 magnitude earthquakes within the movie and you were never clear which was the big one and if more were to come. Without giving anything away, the set up made it seem like part of California was going to separate when the earthquakes hit their full force. And it didn’t do that but it just incurred a lot of damage and death.

The acting in the movie was really good as well. Dwayne Johnson always has been a good actor, whether it was in Tooth Fairy, the Fast and Furious movies, or Journey 2, he always is such a great actor. From being a badass to being someone who kids can just love. I don’t know how someone cannot love him! It was also great to see Dwayne and Carla in another movie together after Race to Witch Mountain. It was kinda funny seeing the two acting side by side again in a movie of a completely different nature and I kept thinking back to their old movie. In addition to that, seeing Alexandra kicking butt again and being such a smart young woman, like she is in Percy Jackson, was fantastic!

Overall this was a fantastic movie! It fit the PG-13 rating very well, with not too much cursing (only one F-bomb) and no sex of any kind which is a nice change from regular movies.

I do definitely suggest checking this one out. I can understand why the rating weren’t higher because of certain parts of the story, but on my personal level, it had fantastic visual effects, the music was really good, and the acting was fantastic as well. This is definitely a movie that I would suggest.

So happy watching and enjoy!

The Interview (2014)

 in Movies by
Movie poster for The Interview

The Interview

Starring

James Franco ~ Dave Skylark
Seth Rogan ~ Aaron Rapaport
Lizzy Caplan ~ Agent Lacey
Randall Park ~ President Kim

Summary

“Dave Skylark and producer Aaron Rapoport run the celebrity tabloid show “Skylark Tonight.” When they land an interview with a surprise fan, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, they are recruited by the CIA to turn their trip to Pyongyang into an assassination mission.”

– From IMDB.com

Review

Honestly, this movie was so dumb. I don’t understand what the hype was about the movie as it was just really political satire. Yes, they sometimes did push it too far, but I mean it was just a movie, and a not really good movie at that. If you have seen Tropic Thunder, then this is quite similar in the style of how it was done and the over all tone.

There were quite a few gruesome moments, which weren’t expected, and weren’t really needed. And the language was quite foul as well as there being a lot of sexual innuendos as well as some nudity.

I mean, there really isn’t a lot of say about this movie. It isn’t worth seeing in a theatre (or if you had seen it I feel bad for you) and it isn’t worth buying. You can see it online because of the hack and many places have it for free, or you can just go to your local library and get it. That’s what I did.

I don’t understand why there was all this hooplah about the movie as it really wasn’t worth it. Yes, I can see why North Korea would be offended by a movie like this, but the movie was so lame, and so bad, that it was just so dumb to have all these issues over it and was really a waste of time. Based on what had happened, I thought this movie was like sooo offensive and so powerful and was horrible. It was one massive joke and was lame…very.

Overall, it’s really not worth seeing, you wouldn’t be missing out on much. Sure, there were a few laughs, but it didn’t outweigh the fact that the movie was quite lame.

Warning: Trailer does contain some rude language and suggestive materials.

Prometheus (2012)

 in Movies by

Starring

Noomi Rapace ~ Elizabeth Shaw
Michael Fassbender ~ David
Charlize Theron ~ Meredith Vikers
Idris Elba ~ Janek

Summary

“Legendary director Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner) returns to his sci-fi origins in this epic adventure bursting with spectacular action and mind-blowing visual effects. A team of scientists and explorers travels to the darkest corners of the universe searching for the origins of human life. Instead they find a dark, twisted world that hides a terrifying threat capable of destroying them…and all mankind!”

-From Amazon.com

Review

Now, this was definitely an interesting movie. I will start off by saying that I haven’t seen the Alien series so I cannot say whether any questions and such were answered from how Alien was set up, so I have quite a blank slate to work off of. Prometheus is a prequel to the Alien series so it sets up what happened before it and how the actual alien creature came to be: some serious rapid evolution.

Now the locations in which this was filmed was fabulous. I mean the settings were absolutely beautiful.

From first 10 minutes

And the graphics? Don’t even get me started. They were flawless. I mean, in some movies you can tell, such as like Godzilla (2014) because Godzilla is clearly a CGI, you can just tell. With this kind of movie, the placement of CGI was flawless and honestly it was beautiful. The makeup was also incredible as well.


Probably one of the most beautiful scenes to me personally.


Absolutely incredible makeup

Now the sets followed the traditional Alien concept done by H.G. Giger. Giger did help make the sets for Prometheus and passed away 2 years later (1940-2014).

I mean, I was just in love with the visual effects. It was absolutely amazing and I personally couldn’t get over it. The music as well. As a musician I love music and I LOVE soundtrack music and this soundtrack is so nice. It’s simple but it builds and works the suspense in certain areas as well.

The story line was also intriguing. There were quite a few tense moments in the movie and it was a little…gruesome I guess you could say, but overall it wasn’t terrible. For a R movie, there was only one F-bomb and it was beautifully placed, actually making you burst into laughter: it lightened the mood.

This movie definitely was for an older and more mature audience (probably 16 or older (by modern standards but personally 18 or older)) but it was very enjoyable, never the less. I do recommend checking it out if you haven’t yet and you don’t have to have seen the Alien serious, or follow-up with it (as far as I know), as according to my mother, when she did some reading, it can be viewed as just a stand alone movie so just watch that one and enjoy.

I’m still praying for a second movie to come out, but doubt that it will as I’m not sure how well it did in the Box-Office. I’m just hoping that there will be one…HOPE WITH ME xD.

Enjoy and let me know what you think.

Warning: Trailer is a little bit dark but approved for all audiences.

47 Ronin (2013)

 in Movies by

Starring

Keanu Reeves ~ Kai
Hiroyuki Sanada ~ Ôishi
Ko Shibasaki ~ Mika
Tadanobu Asano ~ Lord Kira

Summary

“Keanu Reeves stars in the action-adventure epic, 47 Ronin. After a treacherous warlord kills their master and banishes their kind, 47 leaderless samurai vow to seek vengeance and reclaim their honor. This band of ronin must seek help from Kai (Reeves)—an enslaved half-breed they once rejected—in their ultimate fight for redemption in a savage world of mythic and wondrous terrors. Kai becomes their most deadly weapon and the heroic inspiration for these outnumbered warriors to confront their enemy and seize eternity.”

-From Amazon.com

Review

Wow…all I can really say is wow. And I know I say that a lot but with my love of Japanese things such as their language, culture, anime, weapons and all of that good stuff, this movie was just fabulous. I will warn you, do have a box of tissues ready because there were quite a few gut wrenching scenes. I honestly spent quite a lot of time crying my eyes out over a few of the scenes and what makes it worse is the fact that it is based on real events and a real legend from the Japanese culture.

They brought in seppuku quite a few times which was painful to watch, not in the sense that it was gruesome, but in the sense that it was just sad to see it happen and because of the reasons that it did. Of course all of this echoed back to the Japanese culture and such and that made it so much sadder because of the fact that it was real. I mean, these people did all of this stuff, that was honorable, or not even their fault, and still they were essentially punished. It kind of gives you a new kind of respect for a person when they kill themselves, or beg to be able to kill themselves, so that they can redeem their honor. And then when the time comes, they do not flinch. It’s just inspiring in a sad kind of way.

Now, I know that a lot of people have seemed to dislike this movie, based on reviews and such, but it was really really good. I can understand why people wouldn’t like it because it’s not all flash-bangy like many modern movies but it was just so good. The 47 Ronin were real people and you can actually visit their graves, but this story follows more of the legend with the mythological creatures and witches of the sort. It was definitely different but I really liked that about it. It isn’t a movie for everyone because of the style with which it was done, but I do recommend that everyone gives it a try because it was unique in the story line and the entire idea of the movie.

The cinematography was interesting as well. When the more evil guy took over, everything went darker and when there were good times, it was lighter and it was just quite interesting how it was done.

Also there was some magic in the movie as well as some mythical creatures and that just added an interesting element to it. Instead of it being more of a real life account, it made it more of a legend which was interesting and just added some quite nifty qualities to it because it made it a little harder to guess how it would end and what would happen because of this other element that defied the laws of logic to a level.

The general idea was of a man trying to protect his love and when he lost her, he wanted to do anything to get her back and protect her. I mean, nothing is more romantic that your true love doing anything, even after a period of time not being able to, to come and save you so that they could love you.

Overall I just loved it and definitely do suggest checking it out and watching it and let me know what you think. I’m curious how many people like it and how many don’t.

FunDay Friday – The Awards Season Update

 in Books / Books-to-Movie / Movies by

Did you know that How To Train Your Dragon 2 won the Golden Globe Award for the Best Animated Feature Film at the 2015 Golden Globe Awards?

And that it is nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature?

Way to go Toothless!!!

Guess MLCWO needs to get a review of this charming (and award winning movie done asap!)

Even better news is that Dream Works Animation has plans for How To Train Your Dragon 3 and will bring the story back to the books. HERE and HERE and HERE. 

The bad news it isn’t due to be out until June 29, 2018.

2018?

Oh, well.

In the meantime if you want to enter the world of Hiccup and Toothless check this out and if you want to really know about the dragons this is the place.

Enjoy!