Action & Adventure

Captain America: The Winter Soldier Review

December 19, 2014 by JD Hansel

I’ll try to keep this review simple and spoiler-free.

It’s funny how I’d give Cap 2 about the same rating as Guardians of the Galaxy, but for completely different reasons. Basically, Guardians worked because it was silly and fun, and it knew how to handle that. Cap 2 worked because it was dramatic and mysterious, and it knew how to handle that. I generally like my super hero movies to be light and fun, but this one just keeps the audience engaged in the mysteries of S.H.I.E.L.D. and its enemies, and I felt compelled to try to figure it all out. The drama between characters strangely works because it is handled very carefully, and the light banter between Cap and Black Widow is brilliant.

It’s hard to say why I’m not giving this film a higher rating, but even though I think the stressful time I was having while watching it (for unrelated reasons) may have skewed my view of the film, the fun, colorful feeling I like a superhero movie to have (see Guardians, Burton’s Batman, ‘66’s Batman, Doctor Who: The Movie, Big Hero 6, etc.) just isn’t there. It feels rather pale, like it’s trying to look a little bit like The Dark Knight in terms of lighting and color. While there are certainly fun moments, the movie might be taking itself a little too seriously overall.

If you like a movie that keeps your mind working and is packed with surprises and suspense, you’ll enjoy this one. (Just be sure to catch up on the Marvel films that precede it – otherwise it won’t be half as fun.)

THG: Mockingjay – Part 1 Review

December 9, 2014 by JD Hansel

(MINOR SPOILERS)

Wow. Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1. Wow.

It takes a lot for a movie to have me this emotionally invested, in spite of the fact that I don’t personally identify with the main character all that much. The film does so much right. The acting is very good, as usual, and Philip Seymour Hoffman’s “animation” is unnoticeable in just about every scene (with the exception of his first scene, oddly enough). The music works, the lighting works, the editing works, the cinematography works, and it all fits together nicely. The sets are really impressive as well, though it’s hard to tell which were built and which were just CGI.

The story is intriguing and well-built, with good twists and turns, even though a few of them are somewhat predictable. It’s clever and delightful, at some points making me beam with excitement, and at other times just about bring me to tears, which hardly ever happens. The pace is a little slow for my taste, and the humor is lacking, but this is not a comedy, so I guess that’s okay even if it makes the movie less appealing to me. The focus on the marketing and propaganda involved in war is delightful, making this film of particular interest to me since that is the element of war I find most fascinating. The ending, as other reviewers have pointed out, is really its biggest problem. I fully agree with Doug Walker that the second film in the series cut at just the right time, and this one did not – it really needed to cut sooner.

Despite my minor issues with it, it’s a good movie. Even if you’re not into action or war movies, just as I usually am not, it is still totally worth seeing.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Review

September 10, 2014 by JD Hansel

(SPOILERS)

I think a better name for this film would have been Harry Potter and the Half As Much Snogging As There Should Have Been, because frankly, it’s all about the characters and their relationships. The characters’ relationships are what have me anxiously watching the film and enjoying it. Harry and Ginny keep one glued to the screen, and Hermione and Ron even more so. The scene with Ron as he unconsciously mutters Hermione’s name is absolutely brilliant. I would have written something like that myself if I could have thought to do it that way. What makes that scene even more delightful is Snape standing there, presumably trying not to vomit. I think this film makes the main characters, especially Hermione, finally get the attention they should have had in the third and fourth films.

Oh, and there’s also a plot in this movie somewhere, but it’s not very strong. In the end, we learn that the task that Harry must complete in the climax of the film (if you can call it that) really doesn’t do much good. All of the efforts made by the characters in this film seem somehow futile, aside from giving them an idea of what they need to accomplish in the next film. It feels empty, and all of the focus on the Half-Blood Prince does not help. It might have meant something had it been revealed in the end that Snape was evil rather than at the beginning of the film, but because of the way this was set up, the big reveal does not feel very big at all. The Half-Blood Prince could have been just about anyone and it wouldn’t have made a difference: Lucius Malfoy, Hagrid, Dobby, Hedwig, or H. R. Pufnstuf.

The ending with the death of Dumbledore does emotionally impact the audience, and it is rather well done, but because this is pretty much the note we end on, the movie just doesn’t feel complete. It seems like this whole year was just setting up for the events of the year to come, which it kind of was, but a movie should not feel like it as one watches it. It’s like when I order an expensive meal at a restaurant, eat it all, and I’m surprised to find it was not filling at all and I’m still hungry. Still, even if making the movie was just an excuse to show the scene with unconscious Ron mumbling about Hermione, I’d be totally okay with that and I could forgive many other aspects of the film. Also, my rating of this film is right on the border between 3.5 stars and 4 stars, and this was a very, very difficult decision. Sadly, because its story is weak, I do not think it would be fair to give it the same rating as I gave movies 2 and 5.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) Review

August 23, 2014 by JD Hansel

I must say, I there’s a lot that I like about this movie. I don’t find the main characters very interesting or relatable, but the April O’Neil in the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is instantly more likable than Megan Fox’s take on the character. Really, the animatronics are not perfect, but I still think they look good enough for the job, and are far cooler to look at than CGI turtles. Splinter looks really great, and I often felt like he was a living creature, partly due to the performance given by Kevin Clash. I think that having the guy who performsand voices Splinter being the same person helps make him seem especially real. So, if you’re looking for great characters, the movie is alright, but from a technical standpoint, it’s really awesome.

The fighting looks very real, and some scenes are genuinely scary because of the ninjas that the turtles face and what they do. There were many occasions in which I thought that the shots/cinematography looked fantastic, and the same goes for the musical score. I really admired the way the story was structured as well. Overall, this movie’s a little slow, but it’s good if you’re looking for the right things. There’s a reason why this is considered to be a classic! (But don’t show it to young children – that would be a mistake.)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) Review

August 17, 2014 by JD Hansel

If you’re trying to choose between seeing Guardians of the Galaxy and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, there’s no question about it – see Guardians. TMNT is really boring, not because it lacks in action, but because it is so cliche. I couldn’t care about anything that happened because I had seen this plot before, I had seen villains just like these before, I had seen characters just like these before, and I had seen action scenes just like these before. What makes the film even more boring is the lead character, April O’Neil, who is played by Megan Fox. She’s essentially a version of Lois Lane with the personality of a Triscuit.

I don’t want to give Megan all the blame since I know that the writing and directing contributed a lot to the dullness of the character. The sad part is, I couldn’t really get into the other characters all that much either. The only turtle that I found somewhat relatable was Donatello, who did not have all that many lines. Will Arnett, who I remember being very funny as LEGO Batman, was supposed to be funny in this film, but he really doesn’t get many laughs. It actually took the movie about an hour to get me to laugh once, which is pretty sad, and what’s worse is that I was never concerned for any of the characters either.

There were some things about the movie that were actually pretty smart. For example, and this is where this review gets spoilery, April O’Neal sort of had the turtles as pets, which makes it more believable when she felt the need to really pursue the answers to her questions about the turtles. However, this makes it less believable that she just so happened to be the first person the turtles encounter (aside from the Foot Clan, which is also unrealistic since the Foot Clan is working with the creator of the turtles). This is one of those movies that did have some thought put into it, but the number of coincidences that take place and the amount of nonsense the audience is expected to endure nullifies nearly all of it. On the bright side, the animation looks nice, as are many of the shots in the film, but since the first shot in the movie is unnecessary shaky-cam, I wouldn’t call it a beautiful-looking film at all.

I want to give the movie some slack for being better than some fans expectations, and I know that Doug Walker’s review has many more good examples of things that were done well in the film. I suppose if you were a kid, you would enjoy the movie a lot, and to the movie’s credit, it is mostly appropriate for a kid to watch, especially in comparison to most other superhero movies. So, maybe take a kid to see it… maybe. But if you want a movie that will show your kid what a good action/comedy movie with talking reptiles looks like, show him Muppets Most Wanted instead.

Shaun of the Dead Review

August 17, 2014 by JD Hansel

I generally don’t like comedies that are filled with bloody violence, but after seeing the second movie in the Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy, Hot Fuzz, I had to see the first, Shaun of the Dead. Don’t think the blood didn’t bother me – I covered my eyes an awful lot. However, the writing, directing, cinematography, acting, makeup, and effects, were all very good. Several shots in the movie impressed me, as well as the jokes and foreshadowing. Sadly, I am not familiar enough with the cliches in this genre to understand all the things that this film parodies, but the film is still pretty funny.

While I don’t think that this movie was quite as fun for me as Hot Fuzz, I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys zombies or dark comedies.