The Journeys of June

The Purge

Watching the trailer and viral videos of this film, you would believe that this would be the most viciously violent you would ever see. However, The Purge, surprisingly, compared to most violent movies, is sort of quiet, which it does brilliantly by having the most heinous acts implied and not revealing graphics, making the movie feel like it's blood drenched with savageness. I appreciated how maturely this movie was handled, with showing how the more times this event is performed the crazier people get. Great movie.

 

  

Man of Steel

 

 

Best Film of June. Michael Shannon took the Zod character to more depth than the cartoony performance of Terence Stamp. Laurence Fishburne was great, but I'm not sure why he came off as a editor for TMZ, instead of looking the part of a well respected newspaper company. Lose the earring, dude. Amy Adams has nothing on Margot Kidder. Then again, I can't really blame Adams'.  It just seems like anything with Christopher Nolan or Zack Snyder has poorly written female characters: Rachel Dawes, Catwoman (primarily just ruined by Anne Hathaway without assistance), and every woman in Sucker Punch. Although, the Faora character, played by Antje Traue was amazing; a lot of the time, outshines Shannon's Zod. Didn't realize that was her from Pandorum.

 

World War Z  

 

   

 

World War B. B for Bullshit. Brad Pitt is one of the few A list actors who can take on roles with leaving out their celebrity appeal, but this movie is all Brad Pitt, the celebrity. I hate when people take a lucrative sub genre like zombies and just take advantage of it just to throw out some crap like this.  It was like they kept getting confused whether they were the undead version of zombies or the infected '28 days later' style zombies.There's a poster with Pitt's character with a automatic weapon strapped over his back. He never really used any weapons at all. He really didn't do anything but go from country to country and say 'I need answers. I need answers. My family. My wife.'. Nothing. I thought I was going in to see an insane, Troy version, zombie ass kicking Brad Pitt. Wait. Where's the gore in this. Oh, it's Pg-13. Now, to think of it, has there ever been a Pg13 zombie flick. This movie missed out on the most important part of zombie movies, the human element. People are evil, when facing chaotic times. Zombies aren't the monsters in zombie movies. It's the depths human nature goes to survive, cope. And will someone please show Marc Forster where the zoom out button on the camera is. He showed the same fault in Quantom of Solace. During the action scenes, he's just too up close on the actors. Awful, irritating piece of trash, but I do enjoy seeing James Badge Dale get more roles.

May in Review

Iron Man 3

 Disappointed by the first two Iron Man film's, I would never have thought of seeing a third film. Then I hear Shane Black signs on as director. That, along with a convincing trailer, I'm in. Iron Man 3 is the best Iron Man film, but it still suffers, greatly, from the same problems in the majority of summer films. Weak child actor, a pointless character, and out of nowhere anxiety attack shenanigans. I hate when child actors are given roles that you would never see a real child say or do, especially when that child actor isn't any good to begin with. Rebecca Hall was totally pointless. I understand if you wanted to make the events from Avengers feel like such an impact on Tony Stark's life, but tossing in some cheap anxiety attacks, which were displayed in more of a humorous way than dramatic, was a terrible choice for this character. Great Summer flick- Just an observation, one of the sets look as if they were taken right off of Uncharted. Also curious about if they used the Mandarin the way they did, including the casting of Ben Kingsley, was to not disrupt Chinese box office revenue.

                                                          The Great Gatsby

One word. Horrible. Great performances with mediocre visuals, so some style and no substance at all. Actually, I'm being to kind on the visuals. One of character's mansion looked very flat, like a cardboard cut out. Every time I tried giving the film a shot, Jay Z music kept bugging my ears. I guess it didn't me hearing modern day music in a period piece like Django Unchained because of the way Tarantino shot the film, but The Great Gatsby is definitely a filmed period piece. It completely takes you out of the movie.

Star Trek Into the Darkness

   Star Trek Into the Darkness reactions, bad or good, should be a wake up call for J.J. Abrams with his nature of secrecy becoming consequential to his entire story. Much like M. Night Shyamalan with his love of twists. Although, unlike twists, marketing films with secrecy can be damaging to your box office in take. I think if this movie had marketed who the real villain is, it would be doing way better. Benedict Cumbercatch was amazing. Chris Pine and Karl Urban both stepped up their performances from the last installment. Zachary Quinto was good but written more comically, something like Terminator, which Arnold did a better job of handling it and keeping the role serious, but it doesn't work well with Spock. Fun movie.

                                     Furious. Fast. Drift Fast...Whatever 

Ride of a Lifetime. It's amazing how these movies get better and better as they go along. Just one problem.Amnesia. Amnesia storylines  should be forbidden from all movies.

   Now You See Me

     Louis Leterrier, the master of defying gravity and the laws of physics with Transporter and Transporter 2, showed his true skills with Incredible Hulk. Then falls victim to mediocrity action films like Clash of the Titans. Now You See Me falls in between Hulk and Titans due to strange pacing and having story that's taken way too seriously, which was meant to make this movie seem very smart, which is the real magic trick. Pretty Good film, but suffers from not delivering mindbending filming of illusions, such as Trance does with it's hypnosis theme. Just a simple movie, interesting enough to get some enjoyment from.