Mid-Summer 2013 Scraps and Smurfs

SMURFS 2
ANIMATED/COMEDY

PLOT: The evil but comical Gargamel kidnaps Smurfette to make the formula to make his brand of Smurfs-The Naughties into real Smurfs.

                The story is really not important as the cute, whimsical tale of Poppa Smurf and group and human friends trying to save Smurfette.  It is funny, sweet and it’s a moral tale how important family is.  Not as good as the first but still entertaining.  It didn’t make much money as the first but it is not bad.

FRUITVALE STATION

DRAMA

PLOT:   New Year’s Eve 2008, Oscar Grant III, a 22 year old black man was killed by a white officer.

                The tragic event is told from the morning until the end of his life of Oscar Grant played by Michael B. Jordan (Chronicle).  He is a young man who served time now trying to find work to support his girlfriend Sophia (Melonie Diaz) and his daughter.  He loves his mom too played by Octavia Spencer (The Help) and she loves his son but doesn’t want him in jail.  The film is very sad so beware what you’re getting into.  All the actors are amazing.  What also is amazing is that the film is color-blind to the romance. Oscar is black and Sophia is Latina not emphasized at all which is very good.  Director Ryan Coogler did a good job on his first movie.  I hope he does more films.

           

DESPICABLE ME 2

ANIMATED/COMEDY

PLOT:  Gru an ex-villain is hired to help a secret organization to stop a new super villain.

                This animated film is just hilarious!!!  Gru is trying hard not to be a bad guy and raise his adopted three daughters when he is needed to stop a new super criminal.  The film is funny and his minions are even funnier!!  The only bad thing is the stereotyping of Latinos.  It has made millions and when you see the movie you can see why.

Big Epic Action, Big Credibility Problems

LONE RANGER

ACTION/ADVENTURE

PLOT: A spectacular remake of the classic TV show.

                This is a popcorn movie!!  Big and loud with amazing special effects.  The movie tells the origin of the Lone Ranger.  Armie Hammer is John Reid/Lone Ranger.  He is very good at being bland.  He is a good actor.  He was in The Social Network and J. Edgar Hoover but this flick doesn’t require acting.   The star is Johnny Depp who plays Tonto, the Native American who plays Ranger sidekick.  Depp does his usual weirdness and he is very good most of the time. 

The villain Butch Cavendish played by William Fichtner is very crazed and the writers add something to make him more evil.  What is wrong with the movie?  It is too long and it is told in flashback by Tonto!!!  It was one of the financial flops of the summer and if you watch it you will know why. PLEASE watch it on video or Movie on Demand!!

PACIFIC RIM

ACTION/SCI-FI/FANTASY

PLOT: Monsters from the sea try to destroy mankind and the government creates mega-machines to stop them.

                The plot is all you need to know about this movie.  It is AMAZING film.  If you don’t like monsters or machines stop reading this right now but if you do this movie is for you!!  I didn’t list the actors in the film because they are not important but you just can’t make a movie with killer giant creatures versus killer robots.  Guillermo del Toro the director loves monster movies and he got it right!! It is big, loud and epic!!  Too bad he didn’t do Godzilla 2014.  See it on the big screen, see it in 3D but above all SEE IT!!!  The summer movie I have been waiting for!!!

WHITE HOUSE DOWN

ACTION/DRAMA/THRILLER

PLOT:  Another movie about terrorist taking the president prisoner.

                This film could be easily called Die Hard in the White House.  Channing Tatum (GI Joe, Magic Mike) is Cale who badly wants to be a Secret Service agent to impress his distant daughter then by incredible events proves he is the perfect for the job.  People will be debating which is the better picture this movie or Olympus Has Fallen.  Both have their strengths and weaknesses.  At least WHD is funnier and has Jamie Foxx as the president.

Retreads, Reloads & Knockoffs

FDR:  AMERICAN BADASS-2012

ACTION/COMEDY

PLOT:  A different spin on Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

                This outrageous, obscene flick came out last year.  I found out about it by accident but I am glad I did!!  FDR is a horny, foul-mouth hero/president.  Story is not important but the crazy comedy is!!  Barry Bostwick is great as FDR but I don’t know why he wanted to star in the low-budget B-movie mess.  Kevin Sorbo (Hercules himself is in and one of the producers!!) as pot-head Abraham Lincoln.  It is a trashy gem for all who are into bad cinema!!!

12 ROUNDS 2: RELOADED

ACTION/DRAMA

PLOT: EMT gets caught in a deadly game.

                Randy Orton is Nick Malloy just an ordinary EMT who saves the wrong guy and he has to play sick games with a hi-tech artist.  It is sequel in name only.  No one in the original movie is in it.  Wrestler Randy Orton is no actor but he reacts like a real person in the insane situations.  It is better than I thought it would be.

ATLANTIC RIM aka Attack From Beneath

SCI-FI/ACTION

PLOT: Giant monsters come from the sea and government makes giant robots to attack them.

               

                This is a rip-off of the summer blockbuster movie Pacific Rim.  The original title is this but they had to change it.  It is a better special effects movie from Asylum who makes films for Syfy.  A Syfy regular David Chokachi (Baywatch), Jackie Moore and rapper Anthony ‘Treach’ Criss and the soldiers who get in the mecha machines to fight off the monsters. Graham Greene from Defiance is funny as a no-nonsense admiral who delivers silly lines with a straight face is.  It is great fun if you don’t take it seriously.

               

Of Zod and Zombies

MAN OF STEEL

ACTION/ADVENTURE/FANTASY

PLOT:  A reimaging of Superman.

If you don’t know Superman’s origin you shouldn’t be reading this.  It is the most action-packed version I have ever seen.  Director Zack Snyder who did Watchmen knows what the fans want and he does a great job.  Henry Cavill does a good job of being Superman but it is Michael Shannon who plays the evil General Zod and his equally evil assistant Antje Traue as Faora-Ul who steal the show.  If you like Superman you will see this regardless any reviews but it is good popcorn movie.

THE PURGE 

SCI-FI/THRILLER

PLOT:   For one night everything illegal even murder is legal.

                In the future employment is down, crime is down but the price is 12 hours every year you can commit a crime without jail time.  The premise is better than the movie.  It stars Ethan Hawke as James Sandin (Sinister) and Lena Headey (300 and Game of Thrones) as his wife Mary.  They have two annoying teens and the family goes on lockdown that night but a homeless black guy (Edwin Hodge) begs and one of the teens invites him in with deadly consequences. 

There are two good reasons to see this movie –one, we are all barbaric when extremely pushed and two Rhys Wakefield as Polite Stranger who scares you. MAJOR SPOILER the black man LIVES!!!  The film shocked Hollywood insiders for it was low budget-all the carnage happened in the house and made money.  Rumor there might be a sequel.

WORLD WAR Z

ACTION/HORROR

PLOT:  One man tries to stop virus that turns people into zombies.

                Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) works for the United Nation as a crime investigator to find out where the virus started and how to stop it before ALL humans into zombies.  The film is based on a book by Max Brooks.  Always read the book because movies condense and change the novel.  The zombies are not slow, attracted to sound and don’t sound human. Some action sequences are frightening and kinetic.  I don’t know why Mr. Pitt would make a movie like this but he is believable as Lane scared yet determined to find the cure.  Daniella Kertesz is interesting as Segen as a tough female soldier.

After Earth's Great Epic Gatsby

THE GREAT GATSBY

ROMANCE/DRAMA

PLOT:  A remake of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel.

                The novel has been around but they made a movie in 1974 starring Robert Redford and now this one with Leo DiCaprio.  Gatsby is a mysterious guy and he is in love with a married woman.  I never read the book but it’s more to it than that.  Director Baz Luhurmann has made the most visually beautiful film I have ever seen.  It is well acted and well made but it is slow.  Females made this movie a hit because of his love for the married woman.  I would recommend it for couples and romantics.

AFTER EARTH

SCI-FI/DRAMA/ACTION

PLOT:  A father and son crash land on future savage earth.

                This movie is better than most M Night Shyamalan films and the story is from Will Smith.  Many fans and critics think it was a vanity project but how many people in Hollywood would give a young black actor a starring role in a futuristic drama?  Another thing many folks are upset about is Will Smith as Cypher Raige, a no-nonsense general.  He is very, very serious in this role and many people are not used to that.  It also has every cliché in the book as young Jaden Smith must save him and his father.  Wait until video, it will do better.

EPIC

ANIMATION/FANTASY

PLOT:  Teenaged girl gets trapped in a secret world in the forest where she has to save it.

                Every 3D animation is the same-great special effects and top named stars that lend their voices such as Beyonce, Colin Farrell Josh Hutcherson  Christopher Waltz and Steven Tyler(yes that one from Areosmith) but it has to have heart and humor which it does thanks to Azia Ansari as a wise cracking slug!!  Young girl has to live with her father who believes there is a world of little creatures.  She finds it out and she has to protect and save it.   I didn’t want to see it but it is great for kids and for grown up who want to be kids again.