Transcendence review

TRANSCENDENCE:

UNIQUE CONCEPT, VERY STUNNING IN THE VISUAL DEPARTMENT, AND A DECENT PERFORMANCE BY JOHNNY DEPP, BUT IT’S NO INCEPTION!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** 1/2 out of 4

WARNER BROS. PICTURES

(From left to right) Rebecca Hall, Johnny Depp, and Morgan Freeman in Transcendence

            From executive producer, Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, Man of Steel) and Wally Pfister in his directional debut, comes Transcendence, the latest big-budget, sci-fi thriller with complex plot elements, character development, and visual effects. Honestly, while I think the film’s premise is very unique and keeps you guessing until the end, it often gets very confusing and might require a second viewing to understand everything, but Inception this ain’t!

            The film stars the always amusing, Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Edward Scissorhands, Dark Shadows) as Dr. Will Caster, a researcher in the field of Artificial Intelligence, who is working on a sentient machine to combine the intelligence of everything ever known with human emotions. His experiments have made his famous and also a target for anti-technology extremists who will stop at nothing to put an end to his experiments.

            In their attempt to wipe Will out of the picture, they become a catalyst for him to become a participant in his own transcendence. However, for his wife, Evelyn (Rebecca Hall-Iron Man 3, Frost/Nixon, The Town) and best friend, Max Waters (Paul Bettany-Iron Man trilogy, The Avengers, Margin Call) who are both researchers and have worked with Will, the real question isn’t if they can, but if they should initiate the experiment to bring Will back.

            Their fears and nightmares are realized and Will’s crave for intelligence grows rapidly into a quest for power. The real fear is there may not be a way to stop him.

            Overall, for a directional debut, Transcendence is a passable sci-fi thriller, I wouldn’t say on the levels of films like Inception or Memento, but it has some interesting ideas and impressive effects on screen. The acting’s not that bad either, Johnny Depp is entertaining in just about anything he’s in and it’s always nice to listen to the voice of the amazing, Morgan Freeman (The Dark Knight trilogy, Oblivion, The Shawshank Redemption) as he portrays, FBI agent, Joseph Tagger.

            Despite Nolan, not having a major part in the making of the film, the overall appearance of Transcendence definitely has a spark of his style in there, the effects, story, and twists all scream Christopher Nolan. It probably would have turned out to be a better movie if Nolan directed, even so, the movie’s not terrible and while it has a few flaws, the concept, performance by Depp, and the scope and how the film looks make up for it.

            A visually stunning and decent start for Wally Pfister, not a perfect film, far from it, but it’s a fine attempt, let’s hope he fixes up the “Bugs” and directs better movies in the future, that won’t take so long to “Upload” in the audiences’ minds.

            So, take it for what it’s worth, and see for yourself, Depp’s “Transcendence”.

Rio 2 review

RIO 2:

IT’S CUTE, BUT NOTHING SPECIAL!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** 1/2 out of 4

20^TH CENTURY FOX

Blu and family, Pedro, and Nico having a fiesta in Rio 2

            Here we go again, another questionable and pointless sequel from animation studio, Blue Sky and thankfully it’s not another bad Ice Age sequel. But instead it’s a sequel to the family-friendly 2011 film, Rio, and while I didn’t consider the first Rio to be a fantastic animated film, I liked it.

            It had spectacular animation, likable characters, and plenty of humor, not quite on the level of a Pixar or DreamWorks movie, but good enough.

            I couldn’t imagine a sequel to this movie being made because it felt so self-contained. But we all know what happens when a movie does well at the box office, the studio makes a follow-up. Like its predecessor, Rio 2 has that beautiful Blue Sky animation and the characters are still enjoyable, but sadly it lacks the charm and wit of the first movie.

            A few years after the events of Rio, we find the Blue Macaw who just learned how to fly, Blu (voiced by Jesse Eisenberg-Zombieland, The Social Network, Now You See Me) and his mate, Jewel (voiced by Anne Hathaway-The Dark Knight Rises, Les Miserables) are now a family and have three children, music-loving, Carla, bookworm, Bia, and free-spirited and only son, Tiago. Everything seems to be going great for Blu in Rio de Janeiro, until they realize there are more Blue Macaws besides them, out in the Amazon.

            So Blu, his family, and his friends, Rafael (voiced by George Lopez), Pedro (voiced by will.i.am), and Nico (voiced by Jamie Foxx-Django Unchained) take flight to the Amazon and find Jewel’s long-lost family and friends. Jewel is excited about finding her family, and Blu on the other hand is having a hard time fitting in, developing a relationship with Jewel’s strict father, Eduardo (voiced by Andy Garcia-Ocean’s trilogy, The Godfather Part III, Smokin’ Aces), and competing with Jewel’s childhood friend and showoff, Roberto (voiced by Bruno Mars).

            Across the Amazon, Blu’s former owner, Linda (voiced by Leslie Mann-17 Again, Funny People, Mr. Peabody & Sherman) and her husband, Tulio (voiced by Rodrigo Santoro-300, Lost, 300: Rise of an Empire) get stuck in a little snafu with an evil group of illegal loggers who are plotting to chop down the trees in the Amazon and find the macaws’ nests. Oh, and Nigel (voiced by Jemaine Clement-Men in Black 3, Muppets Most Wanted), the sadistic Cockatoo from the first movie is back and he’s plotting to kill Blu and his friends, with the help of his poison dart frog sidekick, Gabi (voiced by Kristin Chenoweth).

            So as you can tell, the biggest issue I have with Rio 2 is too much is going on in the movie. They should have chose between having the evil loggers or Nigel as the antagonist, rather than both, it would have made things a lot simpler.

            Aside from too many antagonists, the existence of this film is very questionable. Sure I get that the first movie did well in theaters, but Rio should have stayed self-contained and the story shouldn’t have continued.

            But there are aspects of the film that I like, the animation is beautiful, the voice acting is decent, and once in a while, Pedro and Nico will have a funny thing to say. Unfortunately it can’t save the film’s plot, if they cut some of it down and added more charm and wit, I’m sure this would have been a better movie.

            It’s not terrible, believe me I’ve seen plenty of sequels that were worse (Smurfs 2), but there is no comparison to the first one, it was a lot more charming and funny and the plot was simpler and much more fun. If you want a better animated movie to see in the theater, I recommend waiting a couple of months for How to Train Your Dragon 2 to come out, or see The Lego Movie again.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier review

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER:

A DARKER AND MORE EXCITING STEP AHEAD OF ITS PREDECESSOR!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** 1/2 out of 4

MARVEL STUDIOS

Captain America battling The Winter Soldier in Captain America: The Winter Soldier

            Captain America is back in action in this thrilling sequel to the 2011 blockbuster, Captain America: The First Avenger and another great film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And while I do like The First Avenger, Captain America: The Winter Soldier surpasses the first movie in every way, with more fast-paced action, stronger character development, and a darker premise to the predecessor.

            Chris Evans (Fantastic 4, TMNT) dons the spandex and metal shield once more as World War II veteran Steve Rogers/Captain America, trying to adapt to the modern world after being frozen for 70 years and is now working for S.H.I.E.L.D. Little does he know, there is a secret Hydra organization that has been causing wars and catastrophic events for many years after the defeat of their former leader, the Red Skull.

            Hydra has compromised S.H.I.E.L.D. and is plotting something big and terrible that could destroy the world. So it’s up to Rogers, his “Wingman” Sam Wilson, better known as Falcon (Anthony Mackie-The Hurt Locker, Million Dollar Baby, Pain & Gain), S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson-Her) and Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders-The Lego Movie), and the eye-patch wearing director of S.H.I.E.L.D. himself, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson-Pulp Fiction, Django Unchained, RoboCop) to put a stop to whatever Hydra has planned and battle a mysterious figure known as The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan-Rachel Getting Married, Black Swan, Hot Tub Time Machine).

            Overall Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a great addition to the Marvel Universe and a rare Marvel sequel that surpasses its predecessor, much like what Spider-Man 2 did back in 2004. While I thought the action was fun and cool in The First Avenger (especially since it all takes place in World War II), the action here is fast and in your face, which is the kind of action I love in a Marvel movie, glad it didn’t disappoint.

            Besides the action and dark plot elements, the film also has strong character development, especially from Chris and Scarlett. They have very good chemistry and make quite an effective team when they’re running around and kicking butt like the heroes I come to expect from Marvel.

            This is up there with The Avengers and Iron Man as one of the best films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, though I wouldn’t say it’s better than The Avengers, it’ll be a long time until there’s a comic book movie better than that. But like The Avengers, the action is jolting and keeps you at the edge of your seat, the characters are amusing, the villain is awesome, and it’s often funny, but don’t expect any Hulk smashing here.

            It’s also probably my favorite film so far in 2014; after all it’s very rare not to love a film from Marvel Studios. I’m excited to see what Marvel concocts in August with Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers: Age of Ultron in 2015.

            But in the meantime, we have The Winter Soldier to keep us busy, so “Gear Up”.