PG-13

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny (2016)

 in Movies by

A Netflix Original!

Starring

Donnie Yen – Meng Sizhao/Silent Wolf
MIchelle Yeoh – Yu Shu Lien
Harry Shum Jr. – Tiefang
Jason Scott Lee – Hades Dai
Natash Liu Bordizzo – Snow Vase

Summary

“Another life-altering quest, another struggle between honor and lust for power, another generation of warriors forging alliances and enmities. The adventure, romance, and artistry of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon continues in this novelized companion to the first ever Netflix debut film,Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny based on the novel by Wang Dulu.

Seventeen years after the legendary fighter Mubai dies protecting the world-conquering sword The Green Destiny, four great warriors are called together to guard the formidable weapon once more. The forces surrounding the sword irrevocably altered the life of Shulien, Mubai’s lover, but seventeen years later she is still honor-bound to defend the blade from the power-hungry warlord Hades Dai. The young fighters Wei-fang and Snow Vase, switched at birth, also have heritages and inheritances that inextricably link them to both each other and the fate of the sword. And Silent Wolf, Shulien’s former fiancé, returns from presumed death to thwart Hades Dai—and rekindle an emotionally isolated Shulien’s feelings.

Jam-packed with all the hallmarks of an epic adventure—sacrifice, battles, betrayal, vengeance, redemption, and destiny—this saga also explores the deeper meaning of true heroism and virtue. As Wei-fang and Snow Vase search for identity and forge their places in the world of warriors and heroes, Shu-lien and Silent Wolf struggle to reconcile both the traditions and heartbreak of the past with a fragile hope for the future.”

-From Amazon.com

Review

This movie was absolutely fantastic! I remember seeing the first movie a long time ago and not understanding a single thing which was going on, but I know now it was because it was a foreign film and I was too young to understand everything happening. But I am definitely going to revisit the last movie because this was absolutely fantastic. And there are quite a few aspects which I totally loved.

The cinematography was beautiful! It was set in Ancient China so the sets were the traditional homes with the paper doors and wood carvings, and beautiful swords. There was a lot of night scenes and the lighting from the fires placed in the scenes was fantastic and really added another aspect to what was going on.

The fighting was absolutely spectacular as well. There wasn’t much blood and the little bit that there was was perfectly placed for the scene. But the fighting scenes were incredible. The sword fighting was terribly intricate, the hand-to-hand combat was jaw-dropping, and the general ass-kicking was on point. Those are fighting goals if I ever saw any.

Since it is on Netflix you could watch it in Chinese with American subtitles but the actual movie was filmed in English so you don’t have to worry about reading subtitles unless you want to. I tried with the Chinese but it was more annoying seeing that their mouths didn’t match up so in the end I just stuck to English.

Overall, I thought that this movie was absolutely fantastic and beautiful and I will be watching it again with my family soon because I’ve been raving about it.

Definitely check this one out and let me know what you think because…wow. Just wow.

 

 

 

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!

Godzilla (2014)

 in Interesting / Movies by

Starring

Aaron Taylor-Johnson – Ford Brody
CJ Adams – Young Ford
Ken Watanabe – Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
Bryan Cranston – Joe Brody

Summary

“In 1999, the Janjira nuclear plant was mysteriously destroyed with most hands lost including supervisor Joe Brody’s colleague and wife, Sandra. Years later, Joe’s son, Ford, a US Navy ordnance disposal officer, must go to Japan to help his estranged father who obsessively searches for the truth of the incident. In doing so, father and son discover the disaster’s secret cause on the wreck’s very grounds. This enables them to witness the reawakening of a terrible threat to all of Humanity, which is made all the worse with a second secret revival elsewhere. Against this cataclysm, the only hope for the world may be Godzilla, but the challenge for the King of the Monsters will be great even as Humanity struggles to understand the destructive ally they have.”

– Kenneth Chisholm on IMDB

Review

Now this was definitely a different take of the classic Godzilla story with Godzilla being the good guy. I didn’t get to feel the full force of the movie as I watched it on a small screen on a plane, but either way I absolutely loved it.

It kept you questioning what was happening and wondering who was going to win as it really was a close call many times and it was just…wow. I never expected the story to be taken as it had been as Godzilla is usually the bad guy but in this, he was the only hope for humanity.

And I mean the CGI’s in this movie were incredible. I mean, look at the comparison.

There really isn’t anything to question. Modern movies make everything look so much better and so much more epic, in my personal opinion. I know people believe that the classics are better just because of what they are, and don’t get me wrong, watching a classic Godzilla is funny and really interesting to watch, but if you want to really get lost in the world, watching a new movie is sometimes the way to go.

The storyline was interesting because of how they worked it around Godzilla being the good guy and then bringing in these other creatures (which were kind of creepy) and having it be a ‘I-Am-The-King’ kind of fight. Everything was epic and it honestly kind of reminded me of Pacific Rim but instead of it being robots against the Kaiju, it was the MUTO against Godzilla. All big, all epic, and all just WOW.

I honestly do suggest seeing this as it takes an interesting spin on a classic but this is for older viewers because it was quite violent and quite scary in a few places. It’s a great watch and I hope that you all enjoy.

Let me know what you think!

Maleficent (2014) – Movie Review

 in Books-to-Movie / Creative / Fantasy / Movies by

This post contains affiliate links. Please see my full disclosure here.

Starring

Angelina Jolie – Maleficent
Elle Fanning – Aurora
Sharlto Copley – Stefan

Summary

“Explore the untold story of Disney’s most iconic villain in this wickedly fun twist on the classic SLEEPING BEAUTY. In an unforgiving mood after a neighboring kingdom threatens her forest, Maleficent (Angelina Jolie) places an irrevocable curse on the king’s newborn daughter, the Princess Aurora. but as the child grows, Maleficent finds herself becoming fond of the girl. And as the conflict between the two realms intensifies, Maleficent realizes that Aurora may hold the key to peace in the land. Journey beyond the fairy tale in this soaring adventure that is “visually arresting, brilliantly designed” (Andrew Barker, Variety).”

-From Amazon.com

Review

Honestly, I’m speechless. This movie was absolutely stunning. The visual effects were beautiful, the characters were portrayed amazingly well, and the story of such an evil villain, and showing how she wasn’t necessarily what others saw, was so creative.

In the Sleeping Beauty story, and in the movie, you always disliked Maleficent, and you were supposed to because she was the bad guy, oh, sorry, bad woman. But in this movie, it showed why she was portrayed to be the bad woman and how she changed as she watched Aurora grow and looked after her.

So the story was the first amazing thing about it, how they were able to twist such a well-known story and make you feel for her. But then the other amazing thing was the visual effects. From the moment the movie started, it was magical and the creatures, from fairies to the water creatures, was just stunning.

Some of the creatures were kind of creepy looking, but they were supposed to be. It was all about judging someone by how they looked throughout this entire movie. They judged Maleficent and her friends because they were magical beings and the one Kingdom wanted to destroy them because of it.

Now Angelina Jolie, playing Maleficent was amazing. She played that part SO well. She took on that role and really was just….amazing. I don’t know how else to explain it because she had the personality down pat and was able to get all the subtle things down. Jolie was able to walk around with an air of grace but deadly grace when she went evil.

This, is probably one of my favorite scenes of her portrayal of the character in the movie with the way she looks down and acts all innocent but has this deadly air to her.

So, to me, besides the story, the visual effects were the best thing to me as I’ve always been interested in how they do it and such and it’s amazing how magical they can make a movie nowadays.

All in all, this is a really really good movie. It was PG-13, so it’s not for children, and it really wasn’t, especially with all the violence. For being based on a Disney movie, this really was Hollywoodized (not a word, but I’m making it one now) which is kind of annoying but as a near adult, it didn’t really detract from the movie for me and I still loved it, but if you want your younger kid to watch this, this really isn’t for them because of the nature of what happens. It is quite a dark movie, lighting wise (for parts of it), and dark also in the nature of what happens.

I highly recommend it, even if you don’t really like Disney movies, because I don’t love Disney movies but still absolutely loved this. It take the classical fairy tales and adds a twist to them.

So let me know what you think and enjoy!

Guardians of the Galaxy

 in Movies by

Starring

Chris Pratt – Peter Quill
Zoe Saldana – Gamora
Dave Bautista – Drax
Vin Diesel – Groot (voice)
Bradley Cooper – Rocket (voice)

Summary

“After stealing a mysterious orb in the far reaches of outer space, Peter Quill is now the main target of a manhunt led by the villain known as Ronan the Accuser. To help fight Ronan and his team and save the galaxy from his power, Quill creates a team known as the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ to save the world.”

-From IMDB.com

Review

THIS MOVIE WAS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now here is the soundtrack to listen to while reading the review or just for life! xD

Okay. So first off, this movie was hilarious. SO many moments where I was in stitches and a few moments where I was crying like a baby in my seat. I mean ABSOLUTELY bawling!

And then there were moments where I was probably the loudest in the theatre (which was mostly empty) because of some of the jokes which were great. There were jokes that could go between all ages, some taking it one way while others took it another.

The story line was separate from the regular Marvel movies so if you haven’t seen them you won’t be too confused; you just won’t know about The Collector and Thanos.

The visual effects in this movie were amazing as well. Almost the entire movie was visual effects; not as much as Avatar but about the same as most Marvel movies (maybe more Thor line).

There was no sex whatsoever, but there was a lot of violence with a LOT of people dying and some quite violent fight scenes, but nothing out of the ordinary for these series. There was a part of it that had a serious Enders Game feel to part of it with the Bugger swarm and such. It also had the same kind of film effects; the dark parts were really dark, yet the bright parts were extremely colorful and vibrant.

Overall I loved this movie and definitely recommend seeing it if you like the Marvel series (and even if you don’t xD)

Let me know what you think of it and enjoy!!!!