Thursday, November 29, 2012

Red Dawn (2012) - Written Review

Remakes are nothing new to audiences today.  In fact it's very much expected.  And no other decade has supplied more fodder for remakes than the 80's.  Many people even dislike remakes with a fervor like you only see during a sports championship.  Many people don't see the point of remakes and believe they're a waste of time.  The original in many cases is good enough and considered by many to be a classic in it's own rite.  So what's the point in making another of the same story just with different actors?  An especially since Hollywood is going to change it and make it stupid?  Well, remakes have been getting better.

Sorry.  No Patrick Swayze in this one.
Obviously you can't get away with talking about this remake without talking about the original.  And this prequel was loyal to its source material, paid it homage, and told it's own story while still remaining similar enough to the original that, yes, you can clearly see the source material in this remake.  Bottom line - this movie is not a lie.  It's called Red Dawn, the original was about a group of kids who group together and wage guerrilla warfare against an invading communist government and use the the name of their high school football team, the wolverines as they're group's name.  This movie does that, it does all of that.  But at the same time it tells a new story, it's own story with new characters, new events, new takes on an old story without changing it so drastically that the original is unrecognizable as the source material.

For Asgard!!  I mean,...Wolverines!!
The acting and story are good.  It may just be me, but I found it a little hard to believe that these untrained high school kids were able to absorb and pick-up new skills that made them killing machines against the invading army in a very short time.  However, I rolled with it, because it was a good story and with all the Gears of War and Black Ops that people play today, I can see kids picking up on this stuff.  That really was my only complaint.  Other than that, the movie proceeded at a good pace.  They don't wait too long, maybe 8 mins before the invasion begins.  And the action goes from there.

Now?  Now she's taking off her top and - whoa.
Overall, this was a good take on an old movie.  This is how remakes should be done.  Take a story, lock in the key elements that made up the original, add a few new things along the same lines as the original, and update it.  Was this movie necessary?  I will honestly say, not really.  The first one was good for what it was and as it was and didn't really need to be remade.  This, however, was a good movie and well done job in remaking none the less.

Film Crazy Adam approves and recommends this movie.

The Man with the Iron Fists - Written Review

What can I say about this next movie?  It's going to be hard since it was hard to stay focused while I was watching.  This movie was silly to say the least.  It was over the top, ridiculous, and just gratuitous.  Now it sounds like I'm saying that like it's a bad thing since I just used three adjectives that I use to describe movies I find entertaining.  However, this time I'm not.  In this instance, this movie suffered because of all 3.  And even that probably sounds counter intuitive based on the movie.  Which movie?

AKA: Iron Fists
Now I'm all for a good fight sequence.  I'm all for a good kung-fu fight sequence.  The problem with this movie is that they're not doing anything new with it.  Everything in and about this movie is based on the fighting, choreography, cinematography, and cheesiness of the really old really REALLY low budget Chinese kung-fu movies.  There was a tease and an implication that because it was "presented by Quentin Tarintino" that it would be along the same lines as Kill Bill, it's not.  Those movies had cheese, but not to the extent of this movie.

That's not a knife.  THIS is a knife.
This movie had everything.  I mean everything.  Warring clans, the emperor being somehow involved, a mysterious white guy, literally metric tons of knives, flying, mystic powers, girls, girls with knives, girls with knives that know kung-fu, a cat house owner that knows magic kung-fu with knives, magic, unstoppable fighters, lovers being killed, forging weapons, zooming in, a son avenging the death of his father, a son taking his father's place coming into his power, sudden betrayals, poison darts, gore, blood, decapitations, crazy music, flashbacks, a healing/training/learning montage, and the list goes on.  Seriously, this movie had it all.  It is the culmination of every kung-fu movie ever made.

I am Colossus of the X-men.  HHHRRAAAAHHHHH!!!
Overall, just too much.  Now if that is what this movie was going for - too much, over the top, and made to look like and old old Chinese kung-fu movie - then it succeeded 100%.  There is an audience for this, but I'm not that audience.  Since I don't know if this is supposed to satirical or serious I have to judge it based on it's merits, which aren't many.  If you're a big fan of old Chinese kung-fu, you'll absolutely love this movie.  For everyone else it'll be a waste of time.  I'm not exagerating or kidding when I say I started nodding off because I was getting bored.  This is all stuff we've seen before and nothing new was added or tried.

Film Crazy Adam does not care for or recommend this movie.  Unless you really REALLY like cheesy kung-fu flicks.

Lincoln - Written Review

Now as many of you may know, I'm more of a action/sci-fi/fantasy/thriller/horror/comedy kind of guy.  Drama isn't really my preference when it comes to movies.  The reason being is there is enough drama and problems in my own life that I don't want to go to a movie to watch it.  Movies are an escape.  So what's the point of escaping from drama to drama?  I don't get it.  This movie, however, I was willing to give it a chance.  Why?  Because it's a movie of my favorite president of all time.

Greatest president ever...put him on the 1 cent piece.  Fail.
What to say about Lincoln without being gushy or repeating what others have already said?  Well, you really can't.  This movie, in my opinion, made a bold move and assumed that you knew who the hell Lincoln was and learned about him in grade school because the movie opens a little while after the Gettysburg Address when Lincoln is already 54 and the Civil War is in full tilt.  It doesn't go into his entire history.  But that works, because this isn't a biographical movie, it's focus is actually on the passing of the 13th amendment and the ending of the Civil War.  There are mentions of his past history as a lawyer, his son that died, etc.  But again, the focus is on how the amendment was passed.  And if you're not sure what that one is, it's the amendment that abolished slavery in America.

Mr. Lincoln says were alright.  He says we is off the chain.
This movie has an absolutely star studded cast, if ever there was one.  So many a-list actors that I'm not going to even start with the names, there are so many.  Suffice to say that Steven Spielberg proves once again that he is one of the greatest directors ever by getting the type of performances that were seen by these actors and actresses.  Not a single bad performance in the bunch.  Every display was exceptional.  I will say that this movie didn't try doing anything new with the style.  It was straight forward as it told it's story.  And it did the storytelling very well - another thing Spielberg is good at.  The story, the music, the editing, the pacing, the costumes, the make-up - all of it top notch.

God, this theater show is so boring.  I wish something exciting would happen soon.
Overall, this movie was well done all around and a good watch.  It tells about an important event in US history and it does it with great and engaging storytelling.  It's one of those movies that after watching it you want to Wiki a few things.  At least I did.  Again, this was nothing new in terms of film making, but it didn't have to be.

Film Crazy Adam approves and recommends this movie.

Rise of the Guardians - Written Review

Dreamworks is at it again and doing what they do best.  Say what you will about these guys, but they know how to tell a good story.  This movie had me interested back when I saw the first teaser in March.  It was vague, which I hate, but it had potential, which intrigues me.  And this movie lived up to that potential by taking fairy-tales, folk lore, and children stories and reinterpreting them an combining them in a really, well, magical way that worked.  I think the title itself is what intrigued me the most: Rise of the Guardians.

Those elves at the bottom are useless and creepy.  Honestly.
Santa Clause, the Sandman, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, Jack Frost, and the Boogeyman are the cast of characters.  All of them just tales from our childhoods.  None of which have any bearing on each other and are no way connected.  Their back-stories, jobs, responsibilities, and origins are completely different and unrelated.  But they did it.  The people at Dreamworks really did it with this one, and they did it right.  What did they do?  They took established stories and put a new spin on them without bastardizing them and making them completely unrecognizable in anything other than name.  Yeah, I'm talking about how Twilight bastardize vampires in EVERYTHING except the fact they suck blood and are called vampires.  Dreamworks doesn't do that with the Guardians.  They tweak the characters, but they're all still recongnizable as those characters.

I just remembered: I'm allergic to flying.  Especially in a sleigh.
 I will say that I initially had my doubts about the movie when it started.  For the first 10-20 mins there is A LOT that goes on.  Some of it silly, and I thought it might be a movie for kids in the 2-3 year old range.  But it all culminated into a great, fun story with good pacing.  That and the acting was fantastic.  Alec Baldwin as Santa, Hugh Jackman as the Easter Bunny, Jude Law as the Boogeyman, Chris Pine as Jack.  Just great performances from everyone, which was a big reason this movie was good.  Bad voice acting can and does make animated movies suffer.  Not this movie.  Can't wait to see the behind the scenes extras.

Your breath...it smells like carrots.
As a movie reviewer I can pick apart this movie when it comes to time passing and a few other details.  But honestly, this is one of the few times I can roll with it.  Due to the fact that it's a kids' movie, it's about mythological characters, and magic.  And also, it was just a good story and fun to watch.  It has characters that most of us believed in growing up, so it's a bit nostalgic in that regard.  And not to get too mushy, but there is a wonderful message of love, sacrifice, and family in there.  It's a great movie.

Film Crazy Adam really approves and really recommends this movie.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Dredd - Written Review

This wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.  In fact, I don't think I'd use the word "bad" to describe it.  Don't get me wrong, it wasn't fantastic either.  It was...somewhere between ok and good.  I was originally all set to blow off this movie just based on the trailer, but decided to give it a shot anyway.  Now, to be fair, I had extremely low expectations going into this movie.  This movie was surprisingly enjoyable with SO many things working against it.  And the 3-D was one of them.  Even so, Dredd was enjoyable.

I am...the law.
You might be wondering what I'm talking about when I say there was so much working against this movie.  If you don't already know there was another Judge Dredd movie that came out in 1995 staring Sylvester Stallone, which really wasn't that good.  It was pretty bad.  That movie felt like a cheesy sci-fi movie from the 80's on the same level as the 1990 Total Recall.  It.  Was.  Bad.  And it barely resembled anything from the Judge Dredd comic.  That's another thing: Judge Dredd is actually a British comic book.  So those are the things that this movie was dealing with: an obscure comic with a nitch audience and a really bad cheesy movie preceding it.  And the trailer didn't do this movie any favors in making it look any better.

Told you.  He is the law.
However, despite the crappy 1995 movie, which this movie took absolutely zero cues from, this movie was actually quite enjoyable.  I mention the trailer because the trailer mentions a new drug in the film called "slo-mo," which causes users to perceive time as going by at 1% it's actual speed.  I was expecting that I was going to be watching a 20 min movie stretched out to 90 because of the use of slow motion.  But they kept the use of the slow motion to an astonishingly low number of times.  It was pleasantly unexpected.  Another thing that this movie did right was not take off Dredd's helmet...at all.  That might not sound like a big deal, but it is.  In the comic you NEVER see Dredds face.  Ever.  In the 1995 movie he had it off about 96% of the time he was onscreen.  They also upped the budget for this movie and used it correctly.  And, unlike the 1995 version, they made Dredd a bad-ass, like in the comics.

Ouch.
Overall, Dredd was enjoyable.  Violent, bloody, actiony; but enjoyable.  The story was a little weak and extremely easy to follow.  But in a movie like this you don't want to think much.  This is a movie about one-liners, gun fire, and action.  And Dredd delivered on all fronts.  It doesn't try to pretend it's something it's not.  The acting is actually very good.  Karl Urban, like always, is great.  And Olivia Thirlby is great too.  This movie might fall into the category of guilty pleasure for most people, including me.  Overall this movie delivers a bit more than advertised.

Film Crazy Adam approves and recommends this movie.

Friday, November 23, 2012

Prometheus - "I Heard That Movie Sucks" Review

Film Crazy Adam returns after a short absence due partially to super-storm sandy but also to moving cross-country.  And he has returned bearing a gift of a review of a terrible movie.  The badness of this movie goes beyond words and understanding, though Film Crazy Adam tries.  There is so much stupid that this review goes far into overtime trying to explain the stupid.  On a side note, 20th Century Fox, being the bitches that they are, took down the review from youtube.  So onto the back-up site we go, click on the link below for the review..  Always, always have a back-up plan.  Enjoy the review, if only to watch Film Crazy Adam squirm.

Click the link below for the Prometheus - IHTMS Review

F this movie.