Tagged: movie reviews

Movie Thoughts: “The Lego Movie”

From IMDb.com

When talking about things that I am usually good at, judging whether or not a movie is going to be good (based upon its trailer) is something that I have a very high success rate with.  Biased? Sure.  But a high success rate nonetheless.  When I first saw the trailer for this movie, I thought that it had a lot of potential.

Unfortunately, when it came to the theater by my house, Portland was in the grasp of the 2014 Snowpocalypse and the city was shut down.  The theater was still open but none of my friends (nor I, for that matter) were able to drive and so I had no one to go see it with.  And, be a guy who — at the time — was pushing 30, going by yourself to a movie predominantly geared towards children is frowned upon.  It is one of those things that women can do without second thought……but if guys do it, then it looks like you have an interest in abducting kids or something.  Like hanging out at a playground: women can do that…..guys cannot. That’s just how it goes.

Anyway, so I didn’t get to see it when it was in theaters.  Fortunately, the receptionist at my work (who was a BIG fan of the movie) bought it when it came out on BluRay/DVD and let me borrow the DVD copy.  I was not disappointed.

Expectations vs. Reality:

Kid Friendly:  Definitely.  I don’t think that there was anything offensive or questionable in the movie — or nothing that my largely-desensitized-but-still-trying-to-be-aware-of mind registered.  Usually, kid movies will involve adult jokes that kids don’t understand…..until they’re older…. but I don’t remember anything that jumped out at me.  The jokes and comedy in the movie were well-done for all ages, I think.

Super Creative: Definitely.  I really liked how they paid attention to even the smallest details (i.e. the road, smoke, etc.) and “made” them out of Lego pieces.  That was really cool.  The story was also original and well-done.  I didn’t know exactly how they were going to go about it — i.e. essentially making an established narrative out of Lego pieces — but I liked the direction that they went with the story and I think that it is enjoyable for both kids and adults.

I enjoyed the wit that they used in displaying humor, as well.  For example, the town’s theme song of “Everything is Awesome” was being sung by all of the townspeople and the main character, in expressing how much he loved the song, exclaimed: “I could sing this for hours!” — then they did the static title of “5 Hours Later” — before continuing with the song.  I enjoyed that.  Actually, they utilized the static titles a few times in the movie and executed them very well, I’d say.

The satire of government and the people was also something that I think adults and older kids could probably understand, but it was presented in a manner that even younger audiences could enjoy.  For example, the use of mass consumerism to distract the people, to where anytime a character in town was verging on having an original thought, they were distracted by the government-operated media.  Younger audiences may not understand the satire but I reckon that they would be able to recognize that free-thinking was not encouraged in town.

Strong Cast:  I’d say so.  It’s always tough (for me) to be critical of voice-actors because so much of “bad acting”, in my opinion, comes from body language and delivery.  However, this movie had quite the all-star cast — Will Ferrell, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Morgan Freeman, Jonah Hill, to name a few — and they all did a great job, I thought.  No complaints or criticism there, in terms of poor casting.

Super Happy Story:  This was the only part that I was a little off on, haha.  At times, the story got kind of dark.  Not excessively so — i.e. no more so than, say, “Toy Story” — but there were definitely times throughout the movie where I thought to myself: “Geez…this is kind of a dark movie for kids.”  Ultimately, as one could expect, everything works out in the end and it ends up being a happy/fun story — but there are definitely some parts where you feel the movie.

Overall:

This almost never happens but I actually do regret not seeing it in the theaters.  I would have paid theatrical price for this one because I want to encourage the movie industry to get creative, to come up with original ideas, or interesting approaches to cinematic storytelling.  So, when such movies come around, I like to reward the effort in hopes that my support encourages the creative process.  That said, this is definitely a movie that I would recommend paying to see or purchasing.

-Ryan.

Movie Thoughts: “World War Z”

**SPOILER ALERT:  Usually, I don’t write extensively on my movie thoughts/reviews to where serious elements to the movie are spoiled.  However, I did this time around…. soooo head’s up for that.**

First and foremost, kids in zombie movies are the most annoying parts about this genre. Actually, let’s take it one step further: little girls in zombie movies are the most annoying parts about this genre.

As it pertains to World War Z, the girls commit all of the stereotypical crimes that you expect: panic attacks; fear paralysis; general helplessness and being the source of dramatic tension in the movie, mostly because they are the reason that the group almost gets eaten/killed, and, sometimes, are the reason why someone we — as an audience — like gets sacrificed to ensure their safety. That annoys me. I will make sure that Emma, my goddaughter, is not like this. Same with Cannon (godson) — these kids are going to be warriors.  Anyway, for zombie movies not being my preferred genre, I thought that this one was okay.

I’m not a virologist or biologist, but I’m pretty sure that the 10-second-count from being bit to becoming a zombie is not possible. They compared it to rabies, but that transformation period seemed a bit excessive to me. I’ll switch this up a little bit and do a list of things that I liked and didn’t like; it’ll be quicker that way:

What I Liked:

—Brad Pitt Movies.  Usually, Brad Pitt makes good movies, and I thought that he did a pretty good job in this role.

—The plot twist of how to battle the zombies. **spoiler alert**  Usually, these movies just have the answer being to run/hide and then attack one-on-one (i.e. “I Am Legend”), but, in this movie, there was a more scientific-based approach that I liked: that the zombie virus/disease/whatever needed a healthy host in order to thrive, ergo, the zombies passed over the old or diseased people. Ergo, Brad Pitt was able to conclude that by intentionally injecting humanity with terminal diseases (that we had the ability to medicate/treat/cure later), it made it possible for humanity to fight back because the zombies were no longer a threat, as they weren’t interested in eating us anymore. I liked that new approach.

 

What I Did Not Like:

–The girls. They were annoying. I was really hoping that they would have gotten killed off in the beginning because 1) they were annoying me, and 2) when the hero’s family gets wiped out, that creates a unique passion for revenge that makes for some interesting fights and action sequences (usually). Granted, Brad Pitt mostly did the run-n-gun approach, but, hey, the world was still to be won, unlike in the post-apocalyptic setting that these movies usually take place in.

–The wife.  For one, she was surprised when the military was going to kick her and her family off the ship if Brad Pitt didn’t go on this mission that they wanted his expertise in. Why should that be surprising? The only reason that they saved you and your family in the first place was because some powerful/influential people knew who Brad Pitt was and wanted to risk the helicopter and personnel to save them. If he wasn’t going to help them now, then why should they provide you all free room and board when there were millions of people dying? Millions more important than you and your annoying kids. So, that annoyed me. Especially, since the guy she was talking to — in utter disbelief — I don’t think had any family on the ship. That’s kind of insulting. Maybe the guy didn’t have any family still alive, but surely he has SOMEONE, right?? And he didn’t bring them onto the ship. Also, when she called him on the satellite phone…at the PRECISE time that he and a few of the soldiers were trying to sneak past the zombies to board the plane. Which, of course, his phone goes off and the zombies then attack, and I think a few of the guys got killed and one had to sacrifice himself. I am pretty sure that he had told her that he would call her, because she was just going to be hanging out on the ship whereas he was going into dangerous territories, so WHY CALL?!?! That irritated me.

–The Naysayers. These movies are all about naysayers; I probably shouldn’t dislike these characters because, actually, they are always vital to the story. However, I do. In this movie, when Brad Pitt gets to the Philippines (or where ever in the S. Pacific he went to), the military base there had an ex-CIA guy caught selling arms to N. Korea….oh wait, maybe he was in S. Korea somewhere then?… and the military command there dismissed talking with the guy because it was a waste of time……except it totally wasn’t.

Brad Pitt talked to the guy and he got Brad Pitt pointed in the right direction: Israel. He had the info that Israel had advanced knowledge of the virus/disease and had fortified their country prior to the outbreak. Anyway, had the military command just said: “Yeah, talk with this guy — he’s a prisoner, sure, but he may know something from the underground and black market, because that is where he was dealing.”

–The Hubris of People. This theme of human superiority or that we are some how special annoys me. If there’s one thing that these movies should go to show is that, truly, humanity is just another life form/animal on this planet; sure, we are bipedal (which sets apart from most) and we have advanced civilization, etc., but when things go wrong we go full-on animalistic…. or get killed.

In this movie, when Brad Pitt made it to Israel and spoke with one of the head guys there, he was talking about how the Jewish people had been caught on the wrong side of history when threatening events were on the horizon, and so, this time, they made sure that they were prepared to react at the first sign of danger so as to ensure their survival. I get that; that makes sense.

But to build tall walls and convince themselves that there was no way the zombies could get in, that’s just silly. Zombies aren’t like people where they have deterrents or can be discouraged – they’re like animals that have human abilities without the human limitations (i.e. exhaustion, reaction to pain, needs, etc.). So, of course, when they start having some sort of dance inside the walls*… which, again, was started by a young girl, I believe, who somehow got hold of a megaphone … of course, the zombies start to build the biggest human/zombie pyramid ever conceived and, eventually, breach the wall.  Once inside: panic as the zombies quickly start biting and creating more and more zombies, and the city fell within like 10 minutes, it seemed.  So much for a giant wall, right? All it takes is one zombie to end the game.

*By the way, I wonder why the Israelis didn’t seem to know that the zombies are attracted to sound/noise, even though Brad Pitt and the US military already knew this, seemingly as common knowledge.  That was explained to Brad Pitt when he first arrived at that Korean military base, so I wonder why none of the Israelis knew that?  Actually, it is probably because they erected those walls; news probably didn’t reach them as fast, perhaps.

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All-in-all, I liked the movie; for not being a fan of the zombie genre, in general, I liked the different approaches that they took in this film.  I probably liked it more than “I Am Legend” — which is the closest comparison that I have offhand.  “I Am Legend” had more potential, but I didn’t like how that movie played out; Will Smith’s character (Neville) eventually breaking and making mistakes irritated me.  At least in “World War Z”, Brad Pitt’s character kept his mind right and focused on not only surviving but solving the problem.  I liked that commitment.

I haven’t adopted a formal rating system but I’d give it a 3.5 out of 5, I’d say.   Again, it’s not my preferred genre, but I think that they did a good job with it.  The kids are super annoying (as expected) but they’re not around for a lot of the movie, and really only super annoying at the beginning.  I’d recommend checking it out on Netflix if you get a chance.

-Ryan.