GODZILLA!! (2014) - 3 1/2 stars

This is going to be a tough review. It is very similar to my Amazing Spiderman 2 and Man of Steel review. 

SPOILER ALERT!! THIS REVIEW WILL PROBABLY CONTAIN SPOILERS! DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE!

Overall, I thought the film was good. It is a great thrill ride and suspenseful drama!

For starters, I'm not the biggest Godzilla fan but I have seen my fair share. I was very excited to see this film since the first announcement. It has been so long since we last had a good Godzilla movie. The 1998 Godzilla that starred Matthew Broderick was a disaster! With this film starring Bryan Cranston and Ken Watanabe, I was very excited.

The movie starts out with the origins of the beast. At least we think. The opening credits with the archival footage and nuclear bombs was a nice touch and a great way to setup the film. Having recently re-watched the original 1954 film, it was very nostalgic for me. Bryan Cranston was great in his role. He really brought something to the character. The scene were he is frustrated and talking to them about what he knows was very emotional. Ken Watanabe was really good in his role as Dr. Ichiro Serizawa just like in the original film. What really drew me away from the characters was the fact that Bryan Cranston wasn't in it that much. From the trailers that I saw, I thought he would have been one of the main characters. Instead we get Aaron Taylor Johnson who you would know better from Kick-Ass. We follow him around trying to get back to his family back in the US. He was OK but I didn't feel like they promoted him correctly. Elizabeth Olsen who plays his wife was ok but nothing special.

The visuals and sound effects were great!! The size, scope and design of Godzilla and the other monsters are fantastic!! Once they reveal Godzilla, you are amazed! I know that at least 2 or 3 times, I verbally said out loud "OMG!" It was great! The disaster scenes were fantastic with the MUTO in Hawaii causing a tidal wave and Las Vegas breaking through the casinos. I also liked the scene with Aaron Taylor Johnson on the train tracks and the MUTO attacks it. Very intense! It was some of the best disaster porn I have seen since the movie 2012 or Olympus Has Fallen.

It was a great suspense build up to the reveal of the monsters. You get glimpses and you hear them a lot in the first part of the film but it takes a while to build. I liked that suspense. Now here is the problem with that though. I don't think most audiences will like it. They came to see a Godzilla movie and they want him from beginning to end. 

I liked it but I didn't like it. It takes too long! And when the great action fight scenes with Godzilla and the MUTOs happens the director or the editor, cuts away! The monsters see each other and then the director or editor says "Ok, let's go back to the humans!" WHAT?!? I wanna see them fight!! I get it. You are teasing the audience. Ken Watanabe's character at one point says "Let Them Fight!" I agree! Let them fight and let us see it! We do get a great battle between Godzilla and the other monsters but it is a little too late. I wanted to see more and earlier. But let me tell you, when they do fight, it is awesome! Very big and EPIC! Godzilla is fantastic! VERY BIG!!! I kept waiting to see if they were going to use the atomic breath and they did!! It was so cool!! Godzilla's back lights up and then BAM!!! He even opens up the last MUTO's mouth and breathes down his neck! WHAT?!? AMAZING! That is what I wanted to see more of. 

Overall, I would say it was good! The build to the reveal is good and the climax is great. But I just wish they had more. Like I said with Amazing Spiderman 2 and Man of Steel, it was good in parts but not amazing! I would have liked a little less human story. It kind of got into the way. I didn't care about them except Bryan Cranston but he wasn't in it enough. Also, there was a little too much convenience! Something bad was going to happen and then oh let's just let them get loose or find safety. Every-time! I understand it some of the time but all of the time?!? I didn't expect Elizabeth Olsen's character to live but she does. So convenient! Kill off some of the characters besides Bryan Cranston. I would say if you go see it, it should be in IMAX! I would recommend the film but lower your expectations some. I might actually bump up my review to 4 stars but I need to see it again.

3 1/2 stars out of 5.

The Amazing Spider-man 2 - 3 Stars

SPOILER ALERT!!! IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THIS MOVIE, PLEASE DON’T READ THIS REVIEW! I WILL PROBABLY SPOIL VERY IMPORTANT PLOT POINTS! 

Now that is out of the way, WOW! What an interesting movie. Let me start by saying, it is a good movie but not Amazing! After seeing the first Amazing Spiderman movie and really enjoying it, I was very excited to see the second. The marketing on this movie has been great but a little saturated. I managed to not watch too much promotion for fear that I would have seen 80% of the action in the movie. Little did I know that the entire Rhino sequences would be placed right in the trailers. Ok, let’s start with the characters. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone are great as Peter Parker/Spiderman and Gwen Stacy. The chemistry between the two comes off on screen in a fantastic way! It probably helps that they are in a relationship in real life. However it’s not a natural thing to do. I don’t think Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s relationship ever came across to the screen in that natural way. One thing I didn’t like about this Spiderman character was that he had this heavy New York accent that seemed to come out of nowhere. As Peter, I couldn’t even here it but all of a sudden as Spiderman he became a New Yorker. Very weird! A lot of people might not catch it but I did. Jamie Foxx is a great actor. However in this film, all I kept seeing was Jamie Foxx. As an actor that is playing a villain in a superhero movie, I should see you lose yourself to that character. Kind of how I feel Andrew Garfield does with Spiderman. Silly quips and cheesy one-liners for Jamie Foxx’s character as Electro were kind of stupid. Changing his voice with the electric synthesizer sound didn’t really help him lose himself as an actor. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the sound. It was pretty awesome. Dane Dehaan as Harry Osborn was really good. He was supposed to come off as this “I’m better than you” type of attitude and I think he pulled it off well. You could feel the evil inside of him. I also believe Dane Dehaan is going to be the next Leonardo Dicaprio.  I would love to see the two of them in a film. To wrap up this segment, I hated Paul Giamatti as Rhino! So stupid and unnecessary. I understand they are trying to set it up for the Sinister Six movie but he was awful!! Bad accent and horrible acting. Totally took me out of the mood I was in. Especially the end scene!! The same can be said for Chris Cooper as Norman Osborn.

As far as the visuals/action, the new changes that they made to the Spiderman suit were great improvements.  The white eyes instead of the black. The belt they added. The web shooters being more integrated and upgraded. Adding little things like fabric folds for when he is swinging so that it catches the wind, just gave it that more punch. The action scenes were awesome! I loved the two big action sequences with Electro. Great use of sound and visuals. The score was very nicely done as well. The mix done for Electro was a cool new trick. Hans Zimmer has always been one of my favorite composers. However there was one scene where Peter is trying to put together a graph of all the clues about his parents death in his bedroom and there is a montage with the song “Gone, Gone, Gone” by Philip Philips. That was totally out of place!! It was like what are we watching?? Am I in a romantic comedy now all of a sudden? It was totally out of left field and removed me again from the movie! So stupid!! The way they created Electro’s costume wasn’t very creative! Basically they stole the same design that was used for Dr. Manhattan from The Watchmen and combined it with Mr. Freeze from Batman and Robin. Very un-original!!! I understand you can’t do the comic thing with the giant yellow bolt on the head but change it up some how.  I felt like the visual effects of the electricity coming off his hands and body was pretty cool and I liked the effect of him transporting himself into the outlets but I still had issues with the costume and makeup.

As for the plot, I felt like it was all over the place. The most interesting aspects of the film were the chemistry between Peter and Gwen. I also liked the chemistry between Peter and Harry. However they really didn’t spend a lot time developing the relationship between the latter. Why was Electro so mad at Spiderman? Did he really have to get so obsessed with Spiderman after he only met him once? How come we didn’t spend more time with his character Max before he changed into Electro? Why did we have to repeat the same plot steps that were done with Jim Carrey’s The Riddler character in Batman Forever? Go back and re-watch it. It’s the same thing! Again WHY IS RHINO THERE?? Why did we only spend 5 mins with Chris Cooper in a bed? (Who is not really dead by the way.) How did Harry Osborn become the Green Goblin and be able to fly on the glider so easily? Oh and I hated that Gwen was able to help Peter figure out the magnetic web shooters so easily!! Why is she helping?? Why is Aunt May taking nursing classes? I think they had originally planned to use Aunt May as a nurse to help with the death scene of Gwen Stacy but it ended up on the cutting room floor. I thought the plot needed more adjustment. There were way too many villains and it seemed as though the director didn’t really learn much from Sam Raimi’s Spiderman 3.

The best part of this movie to me was the death of Gwen Stacy! Sort of! I loved how they basically took the comic book pages and put them on screen. Slight changes but still gave us the death scene us comic book fans wanted. Everything from the costume to the way she was killed. I knew it was coming but most of the audience that was with me didn’t and they just gasped!! I did too actually! It was very emotional and impactful! The pain on Spiderman/Peter’s face and actions are fantastic! Again I think this plays into the relationship that Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone have. The way the movie shows the passage of time after her death is really cool with Peter standing at the gravesite during the seasons. Now here is where the “Sort of” comment that I made earlier comes into play. I think they should have waited to kill off Gwen until the 3^rd movie. In the comics, Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane are friends. They should have built that friendship in this movie and then used the 3^rd movie to introduce the love building between Mary Jane and Peter Parker after her death. How do you introduce Mary Jane as her friend now? I also think the death scene is where they should have ended the movie. They could have shown Peter Parker trying to cope with the death of his girlfriend and trying to get back to reality but struggling. Movies don’t always have to have a happy ending. Leaving it on a sad note and have the audience wanting to come back for more would have been better. Instead we get a quick little speech from Aunt May and then another audio recording from Gwen’s graduation speech just like we did with Uncle Ben’s voice mail from the last movie. Go back and watch the end of Amazing Spiderman 1. IT’S THE EXACT SAME THING!!! And then we get the stupid Rhino scene! Sure let’s have Rhino shooting at police officers and a crowd just chanting instead of running for fear of their lives. Then let’s bring in a little kid to save the day and have him talk to Spiderman for 5 mins while the Rhino just stands there. It was so stupid and lazy!!

Despite what it might sound like in this review, it was a good movie. I had fun at times watching it and it is a visually stunning movie. I just wish they had more to offer after the first one was such a great re-boot for me. I’ll probably watch it again and buy it on Blu-Ray. I’ll give this movie a 3-star rating.

NEBRASKA - 5 Stars

Every year I usually pay close attention to the Oscar movie race and watch pretty much all of them before the Oscar show. However this year was a little different. I didn't really know much about the nominations. I still haven't seen them all but caught a little teaser of this film during the Oscars. So going into this film, I wasn't completely interested. This film completely took me by surprise! I think the best way to go into viewing this film is by not knowing anything about it at all. Even my wife who doesn't like "old movies", liked it. The reason why I say "old movies" is because it is in black and white. She doesn't like movies that look "old" will automatically categorize it in the "old movie" genre.

This movie had everything! It had so much charm than I had seen in a film in a long time. Bruce Dern stars as an aging-alcoholic father who thinks he won a million-dollars in a sweepstakes and takes his family along for the ride. Bruce Dern is brilliant in this role! He reminded me of several older people that have this same mentality. Getting older is something that we all have to do but how we handle it or how we handle those who get there before us, is important. Playing a role like this doesn't seem too challenging to the average person but he brings this character to a vision that most everyone can see. You will find that you know someone that resembles this character. You might even fear that you will become this character one day or that one of your parents will. June Squibb who plays the mother role is fantastic! She had me dying with laughter! At first, she seems to be a mean old woman but then you grow to love her. Will Forte as the son was pretty good as well but the main focus for me was Bruce Dern's character.

The cinematic choice to shoot the movie in black and white was a great move! It was funny because my wife and I were watching the film at first and trying to guess what colors things where. Like I said "I wonder if the car they are driving is red?". And she would say something like "I bet his hat is blue.". After about 30 mins into the movie, we forgot that the film was in black and white. After the movie was over, we watched some of the making of and was like "Oh yeah, the car is red, I forgot all about that."

I felt like the score was composed beautifully by Mark Orton. For majority of the film, you don't even recognize that it's there because it's so subtlety. It blends into the scenes so seamlessly. It really almost brings the film back into the early 30's movie era before music was used so heavily.

This movie to me was exactly what a best picture nomination should look and feel like. A great story with fantastic acting, great direction and great cinematography. 

This movie is 5 stars for me!! I will buy the Blu-Ray!

Man Of Steel - 3 1/2 or 4 Stars

SPOILER ALERT!!! DON'T READ THIS IF YOU DON'T WANT THE FILM TO BE SPOILED OR RUINED!!!

This review could have been much longer and I could have broken it down scene by scene but I decided not to because I didn't want to bore too many people.

Man of Steel was a very good movie but it wasn't great. Let me break it down. Man of Steel or Superman as we all know him is the Great American Boyscout. He stands for truth, justice and the american way. He personifies perfection and honesty. He believes that there is some good to everyone and really believes in justice the right way.

In this film, they did a lot of great things with this character but I never felt the above message from this version. I felt like there was too much Nolan to this film. If anyone has seen the Dark Knight Trilogy will know that Nolan has a very realistic and dark tone to his films. They do that with this Man of Steel film. It left me feeling like I wasn't having a "fun" time. Throw some fun jokes in. Have Clark stumble a little. Slapstick it a little.

I loved what they did with the re-imagining of Krypton. It gave the planet life and it helped the audience realize that Superman is really an alien. This is a completely different planet. I loved that they expanded on why Ka-El was so special and why Jor-El and Lara were saving their son. They expanded on the relationship between Jor-El and Zod.

Once we get to Earth and Clark Kent is going through his changes, I loved those aspects and flashbacks but I needed more. I liked that he was so scared of his powers as a young child but then i felt that they needed to expand on him trying to be more human than alien or super. Expand on his other powers (speed, super breath) and have him learn them.

I didn't feel the connection between his love for humanity either. He didn't save humans enough. I would have liked to seen him save more humans than just Lois and an oil rig. Show more a Superhero side to humanity so we know that you love the humans. And I didn't care for Amy Adams as Lois Lane. She didn't look like Lois Lane and she didn't act like Lois Lane. Lois Lane is a brunette and has a sexy build to her. I didn't get that from Amy Adams. Lois Lane is the type of character that would risk anything and proudly to get the story and to defend someone or something with an aggressiveness. This Lois Lane was too much of a "Damsel in Distress". Why did Superman and Lois Lane kiss? There is no love connection there. At least not yet. They didn't establish that. They didn't build on that connection.

I liked Henry Cavill as Man of Steel from a physical form but not in attitude or presence. I think he needed more dialogue. I think he needed more of a connection with his father (Johnathan Kent). There wasn't enough remorse for their relationship after his father died. I don't think him as Clark Kent really understood what his father was trying to make him to be which is Super.

I really liked Fiora's character. She was what I wanted from Michael Shannon as Zod. I felt like Zod's lines were good but he didn't deliver them as well. Benedict Cumberbatch as the villain (I won't say what villain; cause I don't want to spoil it) in Star Trek Into Darkness was what I expected from Michael Shannon.

Also, Laurence Fishburne was good as Perry White. I felt like that was good casting. Perry White actually was what Lois Lane should have been. Someone who fights and is aggressive.

Now on to bigger things, Man of Steel killing Zod. At first, I had an issue because Superman doesn't kill people however in the Dark Horses and Superman 1987 Issue #22; Superman did kill kryptonians cause they were too powerful and they destroyed all humans. That is essentially what happened here in Man of Steel. Superman had no choice but to kill Zod in Man of Steel because Zod was determined to kill all humans. Would Superman just sit there and watch these poor innocent humans die? So after thinking about it, I'm OK with it and I understand why they did it. His remorse afterwords though should have been touched on more. He yells and you can see it on his face but it would have been nice to hear a better explanation about the implications with either Lois Lane or his father (Johnathan at his grave site) or even the military.

Which also leads to me to my next thought that I didn't really get the feeling that Superman really cared for humans. He did but he didn't show enough of his savior self. I would have liked to seen him save some people from a burning building and vanish like a ghost or something. Heck save a cat from a tree like he did in the original Richard Donner film. There really wasn't a connection that he cared for humans and that we as humans needed him except to kill Zod because he was destroying everything.

In closing, don't be confused by reading all of this that I hated the film. I didn't. I really enjoyed it but getting back to my original thought, I wasn't having fun. It was very brooding. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Look at what happened with the Dark Knight Trilogy. But it didn't seem fitting for a re-boot or re-introduction to the Superman franchise. I really liked the Jor-El stuff. I really liked the Johnathan Kent stuff. The action was great. He actually punched people and punched them hard!!! I give it a B+. I recommend it but go with an open mind if you are a comic book geek.

Oh, one more thing. I actually wanted more Clark Kent. Show me the definition of Clark Kent. Give me two personalities. Show the difference and why people can't tell that Clark Kent is Superman. The glasses don't work if you don't explain the disguise.

Green Lantern – 2 stars

This was kind of a dud. It had some cool effects with the scenes of the ring transforming into elements. The best parts of the film were when they were at Planet Oa. I would have liked to see more action with the Green Lantern Corps but I know the story wasn't really about that. I thought Ryan Reynolds wasn't very believable as Green Lantern. He played a good Hal Jordan but that was it. The problem lied more in the script writing than his acting so I can really fault him for that. I also felt like the movie was a little too cheesy and more comical than it should have been. I liked Sinestro and would have liked to see more scenes with him however it seems like it will get its place in the sequel.

Overall it was just OK. Pretty good visuals. The giant monster which looked like a turd didn't work for me as well.

2 Star Rating

Super 8 – 5 stars

Excellent!! 

This is my favorite movie so far this year! It had a classic Steven Spielberg formula! It had action, drama, comedy & sci-fi. I loved everything about it from the actors to the editing to the direction. This movie made me feel like a kid again watching ET for the first time or the Goonies or Stand By Me. JJ Abrams and Steven Spielberg should team up again. I even liked the alien being really scary. They didn’t try to dumb it down and make it cute and cuddly. The audience felt sorry for him in the end but in a sense of wanting him to go home….not to stay on Earth. I saw it in IMAX also which was so cool!! Can’t wait for the Blu-Ray!

Update - I bought the Blu-Ray!

Thor – 4 stars

I really liked Thor. It had a great cast, dialogue & special effects. Chris Hemsworth really commanded the role of Thor and so did Anthony Hopkins as Odin.  My favorite role was Tom Hiddleston as Loki. He was a very standout character. I haven’t read much of the Thor comics so I don’t really have a lot to go on. I would have preferred to seen the movie in 2D instead of 3D so I’m excited to see it again at home. Can’t wait for the Blu-Ray!

Update - I bought the Blu-Ray