Hercules review

HERCULES:

THE ROCK SHINES AS THE GREEK GOD IN THIS ENJOYABLY SILLY RETELLING OF THE ICONIC LEGEND!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** 1/2 out of 4

PARAMOUNT PICTURES AND MGM

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson fights for good and looks buff as Hercules

            Director Brett Ratner (Rush Hour trilogy, X-Men 3: The Last Stand, Tower Heist) and former wrestling superstar, Dwayne Johnson, better known as The Rock (The Scorpion King, Fast & Furious franchise, G.I. Joe: Retaliation) join forces to bring a new retelling of the classic story about the legend of Hercules, based on the Radical Comics series by Steve Moore. Thankfully it’s not like the other Hercules movie that came out at the beginning of this year, The Legend of Hercules, which opened to unanimously negative reviews and became one of the biggest box office bombs since Cutthroat Island.

            This new Hercules is okay which is a a huge improvement over Legend because there was actual effort put into it even though it's mostly a mindless, crowd-pleasing blockbuster that chooses style over substance, and some of the creature effects on the Hydra, lion, and Cerberus, while nothing fancy, they look decent enough to overshadow some of the film’s cheesy effects, and let’s not forget Dwayne fighting soldiers and looking buff, it’s over-the-top, entertaining trash.

            The half God, half human, Hercules is the leader of a group of mercenaries that was formed by the prophet, Amphiaraus (Ian McShane-Coraline, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Jack the Giant Slayer), thief, Autolycus (Rufus Sewell-The Legend of Zorro, The Illusionist, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter), warrior, Tydeus (Aksei Hennie-Headhunters), archer, Atlanta (Ingrid Bolsø Berdal-Chernobyl Diaries, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters), who is basically a female version of Orlando Bloom’s Legolas in The Lord of the Rings franchise, and the storyteller, Iolaus (Reece Ritchie-10,000 BC, The Lovely Bones, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time), who desperately desires to have his heart pierced by a flaming arrow in battle for the sake of the legend.

            It is said Hercules is the demigod son of Zeus, the king of Gods (Who we never see in this adaptation, by the way!), because he completed the legendary tasks known as the Twelve Labors, only to be betrayed by one of the three sisters of Zeus, Hera, who drove him insane and caused him to murder his wife, Megara (Irina Shayk) and children, during a visit with King Eurystheus (Joseph Fiennes-Shakespeare in Love, Elizabeth, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas).

            Since the great tragedy, Hercules rejected Zeus and chose to live his life as a mortal, and is often tormented by frightening visions of the three-headed monster known as Cerberus, pet of Hades, Lord of the Underworld (Who we also never see in this film!). One day Hercules and his crew are visited by Ergenia (Rebecca Ferguson), the daughter of Lord Cotys (John Hurt-Alien, Harry Potter franchise, Hellboy), who asks Hercules to train the armies of Thrace to protect the kingdom from the bloodthirsty warlord, Rheseus (Tobias Santelmann) and his army of Centaurs.

            During his time of training the armies, Hercules and his crew realize dark truths about what happened in the past and a secret being hidden by Cotys. So it’s up to Hercules, his mercenary crew, and an entire army to discover the truth about Cotys and preserve the peace before it’s too late.

            Overall, this new Hercules movie is mindless fun, almost like a so bad it's good movie. The film has very laughable dialogue, the story is absurd with some of the choices made, and the visual effects often look cheap.

            With that said, the creature effects and fight choreography can be fun to watch, but other times it just looks like a poor man’s version of Gladiator. Also Dwayne Johnson is very enjoyable to watch as Hercules, you can tell he’s having fun with the role and even if the writing is laughably bad, it’s nice to see him try and pull something off with it.

            If you just want to see some over the top action and cheesy dialogue and not care about a strong plot or character development, you should have a fun time with this movie. However, if you want something silly with more substance to it, I'd suggest seeing Edge of Tomorrow or just wait for Guardians of the Galaxy. 

            A significant improvement over The Legend of Hercules, but I'd still recommend sticking with the Disney animated movie, sure it isn't a perfect movie, but it's much better crafted and more fun to watch than either one of these other Hercules films. 

Lucy review

LUCY:

SCARLETT JOHANSSON USES 100% OF HER BRAIN AND KICKS BUTT, HOWEVER THE FILM FEELS LIKE IT ONLY USES 50% OF ITS BRAIN!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

UNIVERSAL PICTURES

Scarlett Johansson using 100% of her brain as Lucy

            Director and screenwriter, Luc Besson (The Fifth Element, Taken, The Family) returns with his latest thriller from EuropaCorp, Lucy, in which Scarlett Johansson (The Avengers, Her, Under the Skin) stars as a young woman who, after a gruesome operation, learns how to enhance her brain. While the setup of the film is clever and it keeps you guessing until the very end of the film, it’s not a completely perfect thriller, it does seem to tackle various elements from other sci-fi films like The Matrix, Limitless, and most recently, Transcendence, but it certainly doesn’t make the film terrible nor is it worth missing.

            Studies have shown that the average person uses 10% of their brain capacity. That is until an everyday young woman named Lucy (Scarlett) is called in to deliver an important package to a group of ruthless thugs in Taiwan, what’s in the package you may be asking yourself? It’s packets of a powerful drug that can enhance the human mind.

            Soon she is forced into working as a drug mule for the mob because they surgically inserted an entire package of the drug into her body and it may end up killing her. Lucy asks for the aide of Professor Samuel Norman (Morgan Freeman-The Shawshank Redemption, The Dark Knight trilogy, Transcendence), who has been studying the effects of the human brain and what could happen if someone uses the entire 100% of it.

            In time, Lucy discovers what she can do with her brain, she develops the abilities to hack into various electronic devices such as television sets, computers, and phones, levitate objects and people, and she can read minds and memories. It’s up to Lucy, Samuel, and his team of scientists to test the effects of the drug before the mob finds Lucy and puts an end to her life.

            Overall, Lucy is a fun and entertaining action thriller, not exactly high hard, but strong popcorn fun for the summer. The action is gripping and keeps you on the edge of your seat, the plot is complex, but not extremely complex like Inception or any of the other films directed by Christopher Nolan, the special effects are impressive, and Scarlett is a strong female lead who can still kick butt, just like her performance as Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff in Iron Man 2, The Avengers, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, honestly if this was a Marvel movie, this would have been an interesting way to tell us Natasha Romanoff’s backstory in The Avengers.

            But as is, it’s an entertaining action movie with some cool effects, no more, no less. However the ending of the film is rather weak and familiar, a very similar ending to the movie, Transcendence (which also starred Freeman), it doesn’t mean the film is bad and lacks creativity, no it’s pretty damn creative when it comes to depicting what Lucy is seeing during the drug effects, plus I do prefer this film over Transcendence.

            If you want to take a break from all those loud explosion fests of the summer and enjoy something with a clever concept and twists and turns, you got a date with Lucy, and trust me she is someone worth hanging out with this summer.

Planes: Fire and Rescue review

PLANES: FIRE AND RESCUE:

UNDENIABLY SUPERIOR THAN ITS PREDECESSOR, IT’S STILL ONLY APPEALING TO THE YOUNGER GENERATION AND THAT’S IT!

 By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** 1/2 out of 4

DISNEY

Dusty Crophopper is back in Disney’s Planes: Fire and Rescue

            Dusty Crophopper, the underdog crop duster from the 2013 Disney Cars spinoff movie, Planes is back in this questionable sequel, Planes: Fire and Rescue. Again, like its predecessor, I didn’t hate it, but I can say that it certainly isn’t a good movie…for adults that is.

            Of course, it will appeal to kids, with its colorful and family-friendly animation, goofy voice acting, and if they’d rather not see How to Train Your Dragon 2 again or rent The Lego Movie from Netflix.

            The main protagonists characters from Planes return in Planes: Fire and Rescue like Dusty (voiced once again by Comedy Central’s Dane Cook-Dan In Real Life), Dottie (voiced by Teri Hatcher-Coraline, Desperate Housewives, Spy Kids), Skipper (voiced by Stacy Keach-Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, American History X, The Bourne Legacy), Chug (voiced by Brad Garrett-Porco Rosso, 2 Stupid Dogs, Tangled), Sparky (voiced by Danny Mann), and a few others.

            To the first film’s credit, I may have found it mediocre; I did get a kick out of Roger Craig Smith’s voice as Dusty’s rival, Ripslinger, he was the one who made the movie for me.

            The voices for the new characters in Planes: Fire and Rescue aren’t too bad, and it’s definitely better than the cast from the first film, because back in Planes, I pretty much only enjoyed one character voice in the entire film. This time there are more talented voice actors in the sequel such as Ed Harris (Apollo 13, The Rock, The Truman Show) as veteran fire-and-rescue helicopter, Blade Ranger, The Smokejumpers voiced by Regina King (The Boondocks) as Dynamite, Corri English (Runaway Jury, NCIS, Space Ghost: Coast to Coast) as Pinecone, Bryan Callen (The Hangover, MADtv, About Last Night) as Avalanche, Danny Pardo as Blackout (Okay Transformers, sue something!), Matt Jones as Drip, Jerry Stiller (Seinfeld) as RV, Harvey, and even some characters voiced by iconic voice actors, Patrick Warburton and Kevin Michael Richardson, at least there are more likable voice actors behind this film than its predecessor.

            Some time after the events of Planes, we find Dusty Crophopper doing what he does best, racing in the World Grand Prix and winning trophies. That is until he realizes that his engine is damaged and may never be able to race again.

            So during his time before the next race, he shifts gears and flies into a world of wildfire air attack (Don’t we have Smokey Bear to teach us about that?). Soon Dusty meets a group of firefighting cars and planes led by veteran fire-and-rescue helicopter, Blade Ranger.

            Blade’s air attack team consists of spirited, talkative, and Dusty’s number one fan, Lil Dipper (voiced by Julie Bowen-Happy Gilmore, Multiplicity, Horrible Bosses), heavy-lift helicopter, Windlifter (voiced by Wes Studi-Dances with Wolves, Heat, Avatar), ex-military transport, Cabbie (voiced by Dale Dye-JFK, Under Siege, Starship Troopers), and the acrobatic, Smokejumpers.

            Dusty decides to assist them with firefighting and much like the first Planes and Cars movies, he has a lot to learn if he’s going to become a firefighter.

            Overall, Planes: Fire and Rescue is an improvement over Planes with its story and voice acting, but it’s still too juvenile and more targeted towards kids to be considered decent family entertainment, unlike How to Train Your Dragon 2, Frozen, and The Lego Movie, where they managed to appeal to both children and adults.

            But with that said, this isn’t a terrible movie, none of the Cars or Planes movies are bad enough for me to pull my hair out and go on an explosive rant, unlike other certain family films that I know of (Free Birds, The Smurfs, the Alvin and the Chipmunks Squeakquels). The animation is colorful and the scenery can be very beautiful at times (But there’s definitely no comparison between this and the animation from Frozen, Frozen is far superior).

            Surprisingly the story in this film is better than the plot from Planes, it didn’t feel like Cars in the air again, this times it’s Cars…in the air…and on fire. At least it’s not Secret Agent Planes, like the plot of the widely despised, Cars 2.

            And like I said before, the voice acting is decent as well with the new characters, and I may not be a fan of Dane Cook, but he did okay as Dusty in these films, nothing great but nothing bad either. Although if I had to pick one, I’d still have to say Owen Wilson is better than Dane as Lighting McQueen in the Cars movies.

            If you’re looking for a satisfying family night out at the movies, I would recommend skipping this, you’d be better off seeing How to Train Your Dragon 2 again, you’ll have more fun. But this movie isn't terrible and as far as entertainment for little kids go, it's mostly harmless and they might find some enjoyment in it, but there is very little in here for adults.
            Also if you want to see a clever, exciting, and funny animated feature from Disney, I’d recommend waiting until Big Hero 6 comes out in November.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes review

DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES:

VISUALLY STUNNING, JOLTING ACTION, INCREDIBLY STRONG STORY, AND ANOTHER SUMMER SEQUEL THAT OUTSHINES ITS PREDECESSOR!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: **** out of 4

20^TH CENTURY FOX

Caesar the Ape commanding his army of genetically altered apes in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

            Everyone’s favorite CG ape, Caesar is back in the highly anticipated sequel to the 2011 hit, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, reboot of the iconic Planet of the Apes franchise. In the director’s chair now is Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, Let Me In), Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty, Public Enemies, White House Down) stars as the new human protagonist, Malcolm, and Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey) reprises his Motion Capture role as the leader of the ape clan, Caesar, sadly there’s no James Franco this time around (Technically).

            A decade after the events of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, we find that Caesar and the rest of his ape companions have started a family together in the forest, away from those pesky humans. Almost like a District 9 scenario, the humans and apes are living separately, the apes live in the forest, while the humans try and survive in the wasteland that used to be San Francisco.
            It turns out a deadly virus has been unleashed, caused by people getting infected by the ALZ-113 (one of the drugs from the last movie) and the leader of the surviving humans, Dreyfus (Gary Oldman-The Dark Knight trilogy, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Bram Stoker’s Dracula) plans on preparing the survivors for war against the apes.

            That is until survivor; Malcolm (Jason Clarke) tries to settle the situation peacefully without resulting to war. So he searches for Caesar and the apes, with his second wife, Ellie (Keri Russell-Mission: Impossible III, August Rush, Austenland), and his teenage son, Alexander (Kodi Smit-McPhee-Let Me In, ParaNorman).

            Malcolm informs Caesar of what the humans are planning and tries to get the apes to help him put a stop to the war between humans and apes.

            Of course, since this is a Planet of the Apes film, what follows are several conflicts between humans, conflicts between apes, conflicts between both humans and apes, all leading up to a thrilling climax.

            Overall, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, I don’t think is just as great as its 2011 predecessor, but I think it’s even better. The story is well written, Matt Reeves’ brilliant direction (not saying Rupert Wyatt did a bad job directing the previous film, his directing was fine too), and very strong human and ape characters.

            The CG animation on the apes have kicked up a notch and they look more realistic than they did back in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, you can still tell they were CG by the way they were moving and talking, but the overall appearance of them is a major improvement. Along with the animation, the art and set designs are spectacular and definitely feels more like a Planet of the Apes movie, the destroyed ruins, the post apocalyptic world, almost doesn’t feel like the same Earth from Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

            Besides the special effects and set and art design, the 3D was very impressive, you really feel immersed into this apocalyptic world they created and it feels like you’re swinging around with these apes, it’s up there with Avatar, How to Train Your Dragon, and Gravity as one of the best 3D experiences you’ll have in the cinema.

            The film surprisingly has very strong emotion and character development, mainly from the apes. All they want to do is protect their home and the humans want to do the same thing, like the first film, there’s no real antagonist in the film, at least not until later, but even then, it’s all confusion and fear.

            I never thought I would end up feeling so emotional over computer-generated apes.

            This might currently be the best film of the summer so far, it elevates what its predecessor did and takes the series to a whole new level, evolution if you will.

            So, if you enjoyed Rise of the Planet of the Apes or the Planet of the Apes franchise altogether, you’ll most likely get a kick out of this new film, especially if you’re watching it in 3D. If you live nearby a movie theater that has a large film format like Regal RPX, Cinemark XD, or Cinerama and is playing the film in 3D, I would strongly recommend seeing it in the largest format available, you’ll feel like an ape swinging on vines in no time and will most likely be excited for the upcoming third film in this new franchise once the movie ends.                    

A Brony Tale review

A BRONY TALE:

A WELL-MADE DOCUMENTARY ABOUT ONE OF THE STRANGEST FAN-BASES OF OUR GENERATION!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

HODGEE FILMS

Applejack from My Little Pony goes on an incredible journey in A Brony Tale

            Last week, I saw and reviewed the Roger Ebert documentary, Life Itself, and I said it was one of the greatest documentary films I have ever seen. And what did I follow that film with? A documentary about My Little Pony!

            That’s right, I went to see the latest Brony documentary, A Brony Tale, directed by Brent Hodge and follows the journey of voice actress from Vancouver, Ashleigh Ball, who provided the voices of Applejack and Rainbow Dash on the cult hit cartoon series, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. What is a Brony, you may ask? Well, My Little Pony was originally intended for little girls, because of its cutesy and family friendly appearance and the main characters are all female ponies.

            It turns out it became a cult hit with men in high school, college, and beyond, you would expect men to be more interested in entertainment that is strong and loaded with action and explosions, not something cute and fluffy. But don’t worry there are female audiences out there who enjoy the show just as much as the males; their fan name is called Pegasisters.

            However this is not the first Brony documentary we’ve had, before A Brony Tale there was a 2012 documentary about the fandom titled, Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony, which I have not yet seen.

            Ashleigh invites us on an incredible journey to her very first convention dedicated to Bronies, known as BronyCon in New York City. Along the way she learns more and more about Bronies and how My Little Pony changed people’s lives, she even watches a Sparta Remix of Rainbow Dash.

            We also learn about Ashleigh’s past voice over work on cartoons like Care Bears and Warner Bros. Animation’s Coconut Fred’s Fruit Salad Island and her other passion besides voice acting; she has a deep passion in music (and she has a wonderful singing voice, by the way!).

            Besides Ashleigh’s experiences at BronyCon, there are also interviews with everyday people, who happen to be Bronies like a DJ who remixes My Little Pony songs for dances and parties, several patrons of BronyCon, even an entire charity dedicated to Bronies called Bronies for Good, and an encounter with the Manliest Brony in the World.

            The film also has brief appearances by voice actors, Andrea Libman, who provided Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy’s voices, and Nicole Oliver, who did the voice of Princess Celestia on the series, during a panel at BronyCon. Which brings me to another story occurring in the film.

            There is a young artist and fan of My Little Pony, named Bryan Mischke, a "Military Brony"who drew this wonderful picture of Princess Celestia to show Nicole Oliver at BronyCon, and what follows is an extremely uplifting and charming moment (Now I know what I should do next time at Seattle’s Emerald City ComiCon).

            Overall, I wouldn’t say A Brony Tale left as big of an impact on me as Life Itself, but from what I got, this is a well-made documentary film and it also helped me understand more about the Brony phenomenon.

            I had some personal experiences with Bronies in my life, I knew some people in high school and on Facebook who like the show and also a lot of Brony events at the Emerald City ComiCon in Seattle. Ever since the 2012 Emerald City ComiCon, people have been dressing up as their favorite ponies, lots of merchandise, and a couple of the voice actors from the show attended, Tara Strong (voice of Twilight Sparkle) and Andrea Libman.

            At first I thought Bronies was a very strange fan base because I came from a generation where boys liked action cartoons and the girls liked fluffy and cuddly cartoons. As a kid, I watched cartoons like Batman: The Animated Series, Dragonball Z, Pokémon, and a little bit of Transformers (Although I didn’t become a die-hard fan until the movie came out in 2007), but I also remembered watching shows like The Powerpuff Girls, Kim Possible, and a little bit of Totally Spies (Yeah, I did watch some episodes of this when I was a kid!).

            So, after remembering that I watched cartoons like The Powerpuff Girls, I started to understand the appeal of My Little Pony more. There is absolutely nothing wrong with boys and men liking a cartoon like this, you’re not creating a great tragedy or destroying media, you’re enjoying a cartoon and you’re showing how much you enjoy it with everyone.

            I’m not really a Brony, granted I have seen a few episodes of the series on a DVD, and from what I got it’s not a bad show, I like the animation and art direction, the voice acting is pretty good, and the concepts of these episodes can be very clever at times. I guess you can consider me a Rising Brony because I’m undecided whether or not to continue, right now I’m just galloping through what I like and sharing my opinions, but who knows maybe one day, I’ll sprout some wings and fly with the rest of the fellow Bronies, they’re people like you and me.

            And Ashleigh makes it perfectly clear that as long as My Little Pony is around, there will be Bronies. It’s quite a fascinating fan base and this is a wonderful film that depicts it, whether you’re a Brony or not, you may end up enjoying this film.
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