After Earth review

AFTER EARTH:

WHAT A TWIST, ANOTHER BAD SHYAMALAN MOVIE!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: * 1/2 out of 4

COLUMBIA PICTURES

Will Smith (left) and Jaden Smith (right) in After Earth

            Poor M. Night Shyamalan, he had a great start back in the 90s with The Sixth Sense, it was dark, twisted, entertaining, and people loved it. Then he went on to directing Unbreakable, which was also good but wasn’t quite the success Sixth Sense was.

Following that was the Mel Gibson movie, Signs which was okay, but there were a lot flaws in the story and the twists are absolutely hilarious. Pretty much after Signs he started taking steps backwards with films like The Village, Lady in the Water, The Happening, and the Nickelodeon movie that shall not be named.

After countless box office bombs and four Razzie wins, he took a different approach with his latest movie, After Earth which stars Will Smith (Men in Black trilogy, Hancock, Bad Boys) and his son, Jaden Smith (The Karate Kid) and it definitely wasn’t like his movies from the past, it looked more like a James Cameron or Ridley Scott movie, at least from what I saw in the trailer.

Once the film came out and I started watching it, the film slowly began to reveal its ugly Shyamalan face. The story makes no sense, the acting is dull, Jaden’s performance is beyond annoying and whiny, and worst of all, Will Smith’s performance is so boring, and that’s quite an insult to his career, because usually he’s the one who makes a bad film more enjoyable like Independence Day.

An intense crash landing leaves teenager, Kitai Raige (Jaden Smith) and his father, Cypher (Will Smith) stranded on Earth one thousand years after a catastrophic event that forced humanity to leave the planet (sounds like another movie that came out this year, doesn’t it?). Kitai’s dad is severely injured with a broken leg so he must embark on a life changing journey through “After Earth” to find a message transmitter located in the tail of their destroyed ship and send a signal through space for help.

During his adventure he encounters dangerous situations, evolved animal species, and a frightening and mysterious alien creature that has never been stopped and escaped during the crash.

You can tell I’m not a fan of M. Night Shyamalan, I enjoyed most of his earlier films like The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs, but after that he went downhill and After Earth certainly isn’t helping, much like his 2010 dud, The Last Airbender. It honestly felt like a “Shyamalanized” remake of Oblivion.

If you’re looking for an outstanding sci-fi movie with good storytelling, watch something else like Star Trek into Darkness, Iron Man 3, or Oblivion. Also if you’re looking for a movie with a great twist, watch The Sixth Sense again, it’s one of M. Night Shyamalan’s very few films that were great.

            Pray for Shyamalan folks, pray for him.

Epic review

EPIC:

BEAUTIFULLY ANIMATED, FUNNY, AND "EPIC"!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

20^TH CENTURY FOX

MK (Amanda Seyfried) and Nod (Josh Hutcherson) soar in Epic

That’s twice now I found an animated movie that I can’t get tired of (the first being Wreck-It Ralph), Epic, the new animated feature by Blue Sky Studios, the animation team behind the Ice Age series, Horton Hears a Who!, and Rio. Epic’s animation is just absolutely gorgeous and fun to look at, especially if you’re seeing it in 3D, almost like a cartoon Avatar. Besides beautiful animation the story is creative despite some of the narrative themes being rather familiar (Avatar, Fern Gully, etc.), the action is surprisingly very gripping even for an animated kids movie, and the comedy, while childish at times it can offer some chuckles and a few laugh out loud moments.

A teenage girl named MK (voiced by Amanda Seyfried-Les Miserables, In Time, Mamma Mia!) moves to live with her scientist dad (voiced by Jason Sudekis) and she finds a magic flower pod that transports her to a magical world of nature, with talking snails and slugs, an army of soldiers known as the Leafmen, and an evil race of beings who want to destroy the forest. She teams up with the Leafmen, led by warrior, Ronin (voiced by Colin Farrell-Daredevil, Horrible Bosses, Total Recall) and his younger brother, Nod (voiced by Josh Hutcherson-The Hunger Games) and a comedic snail and slug duo (voiced by Aziz Ansari and Chris O’Dowd) to defeat Mandrake (Christoph Waltz-Inglourious Basterds, The Green Hornet, Django Unchained) and his army of Boggans who want to destroy the forest and rule the Leafmen world.

If Wreck-It Ralph and Brave were the best CG animated films from 2012 then Epic is the best CG animated feature of 2013 so far, better than The Croods and definitely better than Escape from Planet Earth. The animation is wonderful, the pacing is really good, the action is intense and exciting, the comedy isn’t so bad, the characters are likable, and for a non-Pixar or DreamWorks animated movie it stands well on its own.

The voice cast they chose for the movie were very good decisions, Amanda Seyfried is likable as the voice of MK, Josh Hutcherson is charming as Nod, and Christoph Waltz is phenomenal as the voice of the villain, Mandrake, I mean of course Christoph Waltz is always great, even if he’s in a lackluster or awful movie (Green Hornet or Three Musketeers) he delivers a powerhouse performance and makes the movie more memorable and fun to watch.

Epic won’t just appeal to children, but adults and even teenagers will most likely have a good time watching it. It’s also one of those “You gotta see in 3D” movies; believe me the 3D is well worth it.

For the moment, Blue Sky created the most amazing 3D animated movie out in theaters. But I guess we’ll have to see what Pixar, DreamWorks, and Illumination will concoct in the future with Monsters University, Turbo, and Despicable Me 2 in order to decide who created the best animated film of 2013.

The Hangover Part III review

THE HANGOVER PART III:

THIRD TIME IS NOT THE CHARM! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** out of 4

WARNER BROS. PICTURES

(From left to right) Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, and Ed Helms as Phil, Alan, and Stu in The Hangover Part III

            Don’t get me wrong, I love The Hangover, the hilarious 2009 comedy about three friends who get wasted in Vegas, cause trouble, and can’t remember a thing. Not only was it funny and stupid, it was also very clever and original.

The sequel from 2011, The Hangover Part II, while still funny, it was basically the first movie told all over again but in Bangkok, Ed Helms gets a tattoo on his face instead of losing a tooth, and there’s a drug selling monkey instead of a baby. It wasn’t terrible but I certainly don’t find it nearly as enjoyable or unforgettable as the first movie.

Now director, Todd Phillips (Project X, Old School, Due Date) has released a third Hangover movie, still with the same cast from the previous two films (Thank God!) and some new scenarios Alan, Phil, and Stu get into. While more original than the second movie, it still doesn’t live up to the first Hangover, once again; it’s not terrible but kind of underwhelming.

After the events of Hangover Part II we find Alan (Zach Galifianakis-Due Date, Dinner for Schmucks, Puss in Boots) trying to grow up and stop being a “Man Child” with support from his friends, Phil (Bradley Cooper-Silver Linings Playbook, Limitless, The A-Team), Stu (Ed Helms-The Office, The Lorax), and Doug (Justin Bartha). That is until the Wolfpack is kidnapped by Marshall (John Goodman-Monsters Inc., The Big Lebowski, Speed Racer) and orders them to find their friend/enemy, Leslie Chow (Ken Jeong) who stole all of Marshall’s gold, partying, and getting high in Vegas, otherwise he’ll kill Doug.

So you can expect all the madness that made The Hangover movies colossal box office hits, with a few surprises thrown in here and there. Like a comical yet gripping heist in the Caesar’s Palace hotel with Alan and Phil, driving with a giraffe in a truck, and Alan getting a love interest (played by the always funny, Melissa McCarthy-Bridesmaids, Identity Thief, The Heat).

            I personally thought The Hangover Part III was a little better than Part II with storytelling, however it ran short on laughs and jokes. But I guess I can’t bellyache too much, it is the third installment of a comedy trilogy, and luckily the final chapter. It would be pretty hard for me to sit through a Part IV after seeing this movie, again, not terrible and not one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen, but it’s pretty underwhelming when you get down to it, besides where’s the clip show at the end? If you want to watch a hilariously clever comedy with an amusing cast of characters you probably won’t find it here, so watch the first Hangover again. 

Fast & Furious 6 review

FAST & FURIOUS 6:

FAST CARS, NOS POWERED ACTION, AND LOADS OF FUN!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

UNIVERSAL PICTURES

Vin Diesel (right), Paul Walker (left), and Dwayne Johnson (middle) as Dom, Brian, and Hobbs in Fast & Furious 6

            Sixth time’s the charm in the colossally successful Fast & the Furious franchise, the first Fast & the Furious back in 2001 was good, the sequel was meh, third one, meh, fourth meh, fifth, awesome, sixth, THE BEST! It’s very rare to find a franchise with a large amount of sequels and can still manage to be fresh and new.

Not only does Fast Six follow the same formula that made Fast Five work, but they seem to have made it better. There’s more action, more fast cars, more goofy one-liners, and more Vin Diesel being…well, Vin Diesel.

Some time after the events of Fast Five, Dom (Vin Diesel-xXx, The Fast & the Furious, Babylon A.D.), Brian (Paul Walker-2 Fast 2 Furious), and their crew have scattered all over the globe and are unable to return to their normal lives. That is until Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson-The Mummy Returns, The Scorpion King, G.I. Joe: Retaliation) reunites the team to track down an organization of lethally trained mercenary drivers across twelve different countries led by the villainous, Shaw (Luke Evans) and his second in command, Dom’s former love interest who he thought was dead, Letty (Michelle Rodriguez-Resident Evil, Avatar, Battle: Los Angeles).

The only way they can stop this villainous group is to outmatch them at street level so Hobbs asks Dom to reassemble his team to help him defeat them.

Fast & Furious 6 is by far the best in the series, it followed the same formula that made Fast Five a hit but added a few modifications under the hood like more badass cars, action sequences that will leave you at the edge of your seat (especially during the climax), and plenty of high octane humor that’s worth a few laughs and chuckles. If Fast Five managed to create a new style for the Fast & the Furious series that worked, and Fast & Furious 6 made it even better, I can hardly wait to see what they’ll do with Fast & Furious 7.