Pacific Rim

Pacific Rim is the first thing in a long time with Guillermo Del Toro's name on it that I really enjoyed.  Visually it was surprisingly beautiful. The action was kinetically charged. Funnily enough, the physics of it all felt a little too real for the style of action which ended up being immense, powerful, and momentous. While there wasn't much to say in praise of the characters, archetypical relationships, or even the plot, if you went in with expectations to the contrary you would find yourself in the wrong film. It was over-the-top squeal inducing fun which managed to make me go, "whoa." more times than I expected. It was uber-heavy giant robot on monster action with the occasional laugh (mostly courtesy of Charlie Day) and I loved every minute of it. The only real criticism I have about this movie is in regard to the sound which was often too overwhelming in the down moments to make out some of the dialogue and the soundtrack was basically one song repeated over and over and over. Otherwise, brilliant film. Beautiful entertainment. 8/10

More Things I've Seen Somewhat Recently

To prove I haven't stopped going to the movies and that I do still have opinions about the films I've seen I'm gonna run down a quick list of everything I've seen in the last couple months with a brief blurb and a rating. In no particular order.

Iron Man 3 - A new direction for Iron Man which despite a slightly toned down vibe is more exciting and just as enthralling as all of the previous installments. It's brilliant for playing off of elements from the Avengers and brings Tony Stark back down to Earth in the most wonderful way. My favorite Iron Man yet. 9/10

Star Trek: Into Darkness - A strangely paced follow-up to 2009's Star Trek which trades the fluid plot of it's predecessor for spurts of story. Well acted with rewarding action, this sequel delivers an entertaining ride if not one quite as ground-breaking as the former. 8/10

42 - An excellent movie which "plays the race card" with a graceful balance of sensitivity and austerity. Like race relations sports films before it, 42 handles the subject matter with an intriguing combination of sport and personal story while being perhaps the most visually beautiful and movingly penned of its kind. 9/10

Oblivion - An overwhelming (at first this is great but afterwards is a little disappointing) sci fi epic which manages to acceptably combine a plethora of classic science fiction elements into something un-originally fresh (bit paradoxical). Excellent soundtrack and decent story make for an enjoyable film. 7.5/10

Man of Steel

It's been almost a year since I wrote a full review of a film. The last one I did was The Dark Knight Rises so I think it's a bit fitting to return with another DC film.

Man of Steel starts out with an impressive sequence during which Zack Snyder channels the spirit of James Cameron and unleashes some sci-fi action that sets the pace for the film (even if it doesn't really resurface until the second half). This brings me to the first topic of discussion; the action.

Zack Snyder is a masterful action director and this is undeniably an epic work to add to his already impressive portfolio. The opening sequences were incredible because they took a distinctly more science fiction approach, something that has been lacking in sleekness in other Superman iterations. It was fast paced and alien and awesome but it had a purpose and that itself was really interesting to think about. Then we're slapped down to Earth where more typical Superman action starts to take place, trucks end up impaled by telephone poles and large structures get lifted. But because it wasn't "Superman" doing this stuff and because it was happening in little chunks amid more personal struggles we were following a journey, watchin Kal-El's development as a person. And then about halfway in we get to the big action, the Superman of modern comics action, and everything exploded. The fight scenes in Smallville were incredible, granted, but from that point on the movie kind of dissolved into one over-the-top ongoing action sequence that literally beat you over the head.

While the action was really incredibly designed it was disappointing that the film chose to abandon some of the more contemplative and developmental elements in favor of an onslaught of stylized destruction. Particularly so because these elements, like Clark's connection to his father and mother or his connection to the last survivors of Krypton, were actually powerfully presented. They just weren't presented prominently or long enough. The first half of the film was wonderful because it introduced Clark Kent in an artistic and compelling manner. Something which I don't think any previous Superman managed to do. It made you care about his character and his family. Above all it made you feel that Kal-El was an outsider and you could connect with and understand his struggle to fit in on an alien planet.

I feel like this has turned into more of a critical summary than a review so I'll talk about a couple other filmmaking elements before I wrap up.

I was hopeful, impressed, and then finally not as excited as I had hoped about Hans Zimmer's score for the film. I felt like his score for TDKR was a departure from the excellence that he and James Newton Howard had achieved with TDK but the teasers and previews for MoS presented emotion and depth which got me incredibly excited for the soundtrack. This however may have biased my opinion for the film as a whole. As I was expecting more contemplative and compelling on-screen action I expected the entire score to reflect that. As I've previously mentioned the film kind of dissolves into an hour long slug-fest so those musical ideas largely go out the window. That's not to say the score wasn't great. It fit the action 100% and it is one of the most pounding and dramatic scores that Zimmer has ever produced. Perhaps his best percussive score.

Cinematography was amazing. Snyder has one of the sleekest styles in Hollywood which made his partnership with Amir Mokri perhaps the greatest film directorial pairing in recent sci-fi action history.

Writing was pretty good though a little heavy handed at times. It was definitely engaging and what's most surprising is that the slower moments of the film were the more intriguing. The dialogue between Clark and Zod (particularly the vision sequence) was fantastic and despite the over-the-top superhero narrative quite a lot of the film didn't feel too convenient.

Which brings me to my final point. I'm not sure whether it's a writing or an acting issue. I did not enjoy Lois Lane's character or the majority of the characters from the Daily Planet. Not because they were particularly weak characters but because they felt out of place and unnecessary. Lois Lane was the biggest "convenience" of the film, that she could be involved in such a wide space of the action despite having such a minimal connection to Clark bothered me. And the connection to the Daily Planet was even weaker. The sequences involving those characters felt trivial and weightless compared to everything else that occurred. In fact because the film chose to focus on the action so prominently there was little time for much development of a relationship between Clark and humanity and thus scenes that didn't revolve around Clark were sort of jarring in that they felt vastly less important. It was also for this reason that scenes like the ultimate fight between Clark and Zod had less gravity than they should have had.

In summation: Man of Steel is an incredible superhero film helmed by a team of masterful filmmakers. The style of which both ascends and grounds the character of Superman and which stylistically and narratively introduces a rebooted Superman which can fit into the new genre of gritty superheroes (I can definitely see the strengths of this film and the Dark Knight trilogy playing into a potential Justice League film, but with conflicting films like The Green Lantern and a lack of any other Justice League live action features DC is a long way away from that). While the film had some heart it was greatly overshadowed by a slew of manic action and disappointingly this action became less entertaining than the quieter moments of the film. And despite the brief glimpses of relatable human emotion ultimately the film sacrificed itself (Jesus style) in favor of (admittedly impressive) fight scenes. Final verdict: 7/10

Adventures in Netflix: The Cabin in the Woods

This is another big film that I didn't catch in the theaters, was a little embarrassed to have to watch on netflix, but ultimately was glad it was provided. I heard a lot about this movie before I saw it so I was a little bit biased as I sat down. The majority of people who told me about it said it was great, revolutionary even. I don't exactly disagree but I'd like to pose an argument against those comments. The movie was a different take on the entire horror/slasher genre simply because it understood and outwardly embraced the formulaic nature of said genre. Instead of simply making a movie that fit the formula it made a comment about that formula. The whole film is a setup, people in this facility are making supernatural things happen to your stereotypical group of teenage(ish) friends. They know and comment to the audience that things happen the way they do in scary movies because it is in fact a ritual. It's akin to the fourth wall being broken as it breaks down the formula for you. Then, the main characters escape the formula and break into the puppet-master realm. While this is a nice concept, a self-aware slasher, I have a problem with the execution. The film does indeed use itself to make comments about the formula of horror films, but it does nothing to subvert that formula, and in the end, despite some twists and its meant-to-be-progressive attitude, it still follows the formula almost to a tee. At one point in the film one of the central puppet masters basically remarks that he is rooting for one of the kids to survive because she's got heart. Then immediately afterward he's back orchestrating her death in typical slasher fashion. If the intention of this film is to be revolutionary in its portrayal of slasher films it's not enough to have a character mention in passing that it's too bad a formulaic character has to die by the formula if they then continue to use them as part of the formula. Recognizing that the formula is stupid but then using the formula is just hypocritical. Toward the end it seems like the characters escape the formula because they are no longer playing the game that's been laid out for them. However, though they've escaped their planned demise they're still part of the movie formula, it's now just in a different skin.

So that's my issue. It is revolutionary in the sense that it's a horror film that unravels horror films and reassembles them in a transparent mesh. That's what it'd have you think, but it's not really a reassembly so much as it is taking the formula and replacing classic elements with elements that know they're elements. Similar elements nonetheless. All that said, this is still a ridiculously entertaining film. There are some really really brilliant moments and uses of classic horror techniques. The idea that this horror stuff is all part of a bigger darker circle is an interesting concept. And, despite this film still being indisputably categorizable as a horror film, it's still a unique film that hasn't been conceptualized before. 4/5 Stars.

The Dark Knight Rises

Well, here goes. I was not as fond of this film as multitudes of fanboys have been. Don't get me wrong, it was a great film but it was lacking something special which I'm still not quite able to put a finger on. So in lieu I'll explain what I thought was successful and unsuccessful about the film.

For possibly (though definitely arguably) the first time in the Nolan trilogy, we have on our hands a film that felt like Batman. At least for the first 45(ish) minutes. And it's actually really simple why; Catwoman + Wayne Manor. Anne Hathaway was great, and the first time she switched up personas I knew that her performance would be something special. Especially because it was during a distinctly Catwomanish burglary scene. This paired with some expertly understated musical choices (I'll be back for this later) by Hans Zimmer gave this film two things working for it very quickly and, again, made it finally feel like this series was harking back to the Batman films of the 90s or even the more stylistic cartoon iterations. The opening scenes were Dark Knight closure meets distinctly over-the-top Dark Knight action, but it was exciting and disorienting enough to put the viewer on edge. It set the pace for the story to come which made the immediate jump back to Gotham surprisingly rewarding because you could see that with the absence of Batman/Bruce and the deep seeded unrest amid this calm, all was not right and something very sinister was brewing. And then, Wayne Manor. If only for the setting, it finally felt like the series was home. From Bruce perched like a shadowy sentinel to the Bat Cave, it was undeniably Batman. And this continued on to the expansive use of the sewer system of Gotham. Really showing the underbelly of Gotham for the first time. Pure Batman.

There is absolutely nothing I can say to criticize the style of this film. As usual, Mr. Nolan has crafted a piece of cinematic magic. The acting was equally great. As earlier indicated, Anne Hathaway was surprisingly strong, Christian Bale's performance was intense, Gary Oldman and Michael Caine give great emotional performances, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt definitely added a lot of character to the film.

The music of this film was a toss up for me. Hans Zimmer is fantastic as usual but this score didn't feel as exotic or inventive as the previous two. Most of the big themes were recycled from the previous scores but even in the instances where that music was tied into this new score, it just wasn't as exciting (maybe there's just no going back after James Newton Howard). But, unlike the other films it didn't just present themes and story, it worked through a cadence. Which was really brilliant. This idea of "Rise" was built into the very structure of much of the score, relying on this driving beat mimicking the chants of "deh-shay deh-shay bah-sah-rah bah-sah-rah" throughout the different musical ideas. It provides an undertone to all of the themes, making sure it's all kept together and above all making sure everything this movie does has this driving force that's pushing the entire thing over the edge. As I mentioned earlier, Zimmer also did some fantastic work at understating certain concepts. The violin meets piano themes of "Can I Cut In?" (Basically Catwoman's theme) still enlisting the help of that driving beat (only softly in the bells) is in my opinion the greatest musical achievement of this entire score. It's the very idea of musical foreshadowing and undertone.

The plot of the film was decent. Highly entertaining to follow while managing to take the viewer to some really surprising places, but, disappointingly, nowhere near as intelligent as the plot of The Dark Knight. I credit this mainly to the weakness of Bane's character. The film introduced his character in much the same way as the Joker was introduced in the previous film. Quickly, without much back-story, and above all overwhelmingly in control. Both these characters knew what they were doing. But because the Joker was almost this mythic figure of super-human (or perhaps sub-human) origin, Bane would need to be something completely different or risk feeling like a knock-off. Sadly, the film did little to distinguish Bane as a different breed. His most unique attribute being his imprisonment and cult-like following were barely acknowledged by the character, making all of his actions in the film feel way too easy. You never saw the plan or what went into his plots, you only saw the results, which is exactly as the Joker would have operated. So Bane felt like a stand-in for a much better character. And beyond that, his chaos didn't even serve a deeper purpose. It was like there was action with no deeper thought behind it. Sure this film brought back the themes of chaos and fear explored in Batman Begins, but there was no social commentary behind Bane's greater purpose and as a result little commentary behind Batman's actions. Even Bruce's imprisonment sequence felt a little shallow because of it, it was like in writing it, they were grasping for some greater reason for the "Rise" but never quite nailed it. I'm not saying all of this was a bad thing (it did still make for a good movie), it's just hard to accept the lack of substantial concept when the previous film was so full of it. (Note: I'm gonna choose not to get into the thoughts I have about Heath Ledger's death and that impact. I'll just leave this for what it is. Though I will say that the words Arkham City come to mind when contemplating the possibilities.)

In closing out the trilogy this film did several little things to tie in past elements or cater to the fans that were all spectacular in their own ways, but, that I have mixed feelings about. Here's a list. If you don't like spoilers, you might want to skip this section. Then again, if you haven't seen it yet, shame on you.

Good

• Scarecrow - Really glad to see this character back even in his minor capacity if only because he's so entertaining
• Harvey Dent's Death - Recognizing and using the splitting of morality involved with the circumstances surrounding Two Face's death is probably the best thing this film did. It gives a face to the deep seeded unrest I mentioned earlier on and gave rise to perhaps the most subtle element of the entire film (one which lacked it wholesale), the discussion of morality and purpose.
• The Bat - In the tradition of expanding Batman's arsenal of hi-tech weapons, it's to be expected that new technology is created. The toys presented in this film are probably the most fun.
• Wayne Manor - Already talked about this. Great location.
• The Bat Cave - See above.

Bad

• *SPOILER* (Highlight to see) John Blake = Robin - Anybody who I talked to about this film before it came out will know how much of a squealing fanboy I was in the hopes that Dick Grayson might make an appearance in the film. Well, I got my Robin, but to make a character (even one who just might be my favorite character in the movie) with the middle name Robin, Robin, just feels like an un-canon cop-out. 
• *SPOILER* (Highlight to see) Batman Dies?! - As much of a "sort of" that yields, and even as effectively as it puts an end to a saga, it's really disappointing because heroes aren't supposed to die, they're supposed to respawn and leave room for more heroism. While the film did give some hint at Robin continuing the legacy, I think I've already made clear that I feel that's a complete cop-out.
• Ra's Al Ghul and the League of Shadows - As with other elements, it was a nice tie-in, so this one is less a bad thing as it was an ineffective element. It just didn't add very much to the story. 

Overall, an excellently made production. A fitting end to the trilogy. It lacked in substance and reason, but made up for most of that by just being really entertaining. A rating is particularly hard for this one. 7.5/10.

Adventures In Netflix: The Corridor

Have you seen Dreamcatcher? I thought it was pretty bad (and I really tried to like it too). Well if you can imagine that movie as a less big-budget Hollywood film with some slightly more thought-provoking concepts and a dash of this magical idea I love to talk about called subtlety you'd have something like The Corridor on your hands. The film is by no means perfect. The acting was a little rough (sometimes because of the writing) and the last 15 or so minutes of the film were sort of lackluster. But, this is one of those movies that I stumbled across and ended up really enjoying. The setting is fantastic, the characters are relate-able, and the film didn't hyper-extend itself. It knew it's limits and because of that the action was well conceived and it managed to introduce some really great sci-fi elements with very little effort. At the end you're left with the journey as opposed to the destination. Vague, I know, but if you watch it you'll understand. 4/5 Stars.

Adventures in Netflix: Transformers: Dark of the Moon

I'm possibly the last person to see this movie. But honestly I couldn't care less. I'm sort of surprised I even watched it. I can't say it was the greatest decision I've ever made, but it could have been much worse. I don't have all that much to say about the film so I'll make this quick. Steve Jablonsky is one of the most overlooked Composers in Hollywood, magnificent work as usual. Michael Bay makes a very busy film yet manages to make it look slick. And as always the effects artists are basically wizards. This movie was much better than the second one, and possibly better than the first (not saying much admittedly) for one key reason. The Transformers series finally chose not to take itself too seriously. Sure Dark of the Moon was supposed to be dramatic, but it took time (too much really, I'll get to that in a minute) even during really important moments to poke fun (sometimes at itself). Even the action was a little bit more imaginative. The result: gravity where it needed it, a less in-your-face vibe everywhere else. It was a bit refreshing considering it's an entire series based around toys. The time it took to do so, though, was unwarranted. This movie could have been basically the same had they cut out anywhere between 45 and 60 minutes. It was an exercise by Mr. Bay in self-indulgence. He wanted to string the (painfully simple) plot out so that he could throw in as many effects as possible. Simple as that. 3/5 stars.