Pixels review

PIXELS:

ADAM SANDLER CONTINUES TO DESTROY HIS CAREER AND BRINGS SOME OF THE 80S MOST BELOVED VIDEO GAMES ALONG WITH HIM!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** out of 4

COLUMBIA PICTURES

Pac-Man eating up trouble in Pixels

            So it has come to this, the first review of an Adam Sandler movie on this blog, ever since Adam Sandler and Happy Madison Productions released films like Jack & Jill and That’s My Boy, I took a very long break from his movies, with the exception of Hotel Transylvania, which was pretty good. But aside from that I haven’t seen any Sandler or Happy Madison movie in theaters ever since That’s My Boy, I didn’t see Grown Ups 2, I didn’t see Blended, and I sure as hell didn’t see Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2, but I digress, the same can be said by most of the live-action movies based on video games that Hollywood keeps making, however I did see the Need for Speed movie, I’ll leave it at that.

            But once I saw the trailer for Adam Sandler’s video game disaster movie, Pixels, directed by Chris Columbus (Home Alone, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets), I decided to come out of “Sandler Retirement” and take a look at this movie, after all I love video games, classic, current, and so on, and after seeing movies like Tron: Legacy and Wreck-It Ralph, I don’t see how I could miss this, no matter how many mixed thoughts I might have about the finished product.

            And it’s…another unfortunate misfire, not even close to the quality of Happy Gilmore, 50 First Dates or Hotel Transylvania, but I wouldn't call it one of his worst either like Jack & Jill or That’s My Boy, I liked the idea behind the film though, apparently the movie is based on a short film which I’m very curious to watch, and it’s pretty much a monster movie but replace all the monsters with iconic video game characters like Pac-Man, Centipede, and Donkey Kong, honestly it’s eerily similar to the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man climax from Ghostbusters or a Men in Black scenario, and the entire movie reminded me of films like Jumanji, Zathura, and the upcoming Goosebumps movie.

            In 1982 NASA launched a time capsule into space in hopes of contacting with extra-terrestrial life (Don’t worry there’s no 8-Bit E.T. in this movie!). The time capsule contained images of Earth’s life and culture, such as rubix cubes, popular TV shows, and of course classic arcade games such as Pac-Man, Centipede, Donkey Kong, Defender, and others.

            The capsule did in fact reach extra-terrestrial life, but the message was mistaken as an act of war. So an unknown alien race sent down real life video games to destroy the planet.

            From Pong paddles destroying a palace, Centipede eating people alive, and Donkey Kong throwing barrels, to Tetris blocks destroying buildings, and Pac-Man eating everything in its path to name a few. When all else fails the American government calls upon not the Ghostbusters or the Men in Black, but instead old school gamers from the 80s, Sam Brenner (Adam Sandler-Happy Gilmore, 50 First Dates, Hotel Transylvania), former champion of Pac-Man who now works as a TV repairman, US president and Sam’s childhood friend, President Will Cooper (Kevin James-The King of Queens, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Here Comes the Boom), theory obsessed and socially awkward genius, Ludlow Lamonsoff (Josh Gad-Frozen, The Wedding Ringer), master of Centipede, and Eddie Plant (Peter Dinklage-The Station Agent, Game of Thrones, X-Men: Days of Future Past), king of Donkey Kong are recruited by Lt. Violet van Patten (Michelle Monaghan-The Bourne Supremacy, Mission: Impossible III, Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol) to use their game playing knowledge, high tech weaponry, and of course, “Ghosts” to save the world from 8 bit warfare, Contra style with extra Doom and a Donkey Kong.

            Overall, Pixels continues Adam Sandler's streak of misfires but it doesn't stab the coffin of his once talented career as hard as some of his other films, like I said the idea of the movie is awesome, classic video games come down and destroy the real world, I’m surprised we never had a movie like that, although we did have a Futurama episode with that sort of premise and Peter Dinklage is awesome, enough said, he’s the actor who makes the movie, personally I probably would have liked it more if it was just Dinklage and Q*Bert (Who apparently learns how to speak English, probably from hanging out with Wreck-It Ralph and Fix-It Felix Jr. a lot) battling the video games, because he’s the character who’s thoroughly funny from beginning to end, he’s like an adorable Billy Mitchell.

            And of course, the chaotic video game scenes are a ton of fun to watch and laugh at the absurdity, very much like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in Ghostbusters and probably some moments from Men in Black. The movie is worth watching for Dinklage and the video game scenes, everything else you can just fast-forward.

            What does bring the film down is the Happy Madison humor, Adam Sandler and Kevin James are just doing their ususal shticks but they’re not as annoying in this as they are in some of their other recent films, Josh Gad is obnoxious and the complete opposite of his Olaf character from Frozen. There are a lot of weird and lazy jokes in the movie that aren’t very funny, to be fair there were a few moments where I laughed, some of the video game scenes are imaginative and at times humorous, Dinklage, enough said, and probably the scene where Pac-Man creator, Toru Iwatani gets his hand eaten by Pac-Man. 

            But if you do have kids who are ten years old and love video games, they’ll probably get a kick out of it, the effects are pixelated fun and they might get a few laughs out of it. Otherwise just watch Wreck-It Ralph again or even that crappy 1989 feature-length Nintendo commercial, The Wizard, at least that movie attempted to be funny and enjoyable. 

Ant-Man review

ANT-MAN:

TINY SUPERHERO, BIG ACTION-PACKED ADVENTURE FULL OF “MARVELOUS” EXCITEMENT AND HUMOR!

By Nico Beland

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

MARVEL STUDIOS

Paul Rudd as Scott Lang, better known as the insect-sized superhero, Ant-Man, and no we’re not changing the name!

            In the tradition of Marvel Cinematic Universe films like Iron Man, The Avengers, and Guardians of the Galaxy, we now take the Marvel action to an insect-sized level with Ant-Man, based on the Marvel comic book of the same name, directed by Peyton Reed (Yes Man), written by Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, The World’s End) and Adam McKay (Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, The Other Guys, Step Brothers), and starring Paul Rudd (Anchorman, Knocked Up, The Perks of Being a Wallflower) as the titular character. Much like Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man takes the route of a comic book movie that does a relatively equal balance of superhero action and decent comedy, which is certainly something Marvel Studios is excellent at, and this movie is no exception.

            The film is entirely an irreverently entertaining blast from beginning to end, with some impressive special effects, wild action, some decent comedy, a likable hero, and an intimidating bad guy, it’s a Marvel movie for all sizes.

            Several months after the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron, we find former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and physicist, Hank Pym (Michael Douglas-Wall Street, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Don’t Say A Word), creator of a suit with the ability to shrink to the size of an ant called the Ant-Man suit, being forced out of his own company by his estranged daughter Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lily-The Hurt Locker, Real Steel, The Hobbit) and protégé, Darren Cross (Corey Stoll-Midnight in Paris, The Bourne Legacy, This Is Where I Leave You) who created his own Ant-Man suit called the Yellowjacket, an experimental size-altering suit that he believes will revolutionize warfare and espionage.

            Hank believes Darren is plotting something big with the Yellowjacket suit, so he calls upon a person with a major problem and a chance to redeem himself. In comes, Scott Lang, a thief who was released from prison to be recruited by Hank to don the Ant-Man suit and learn to become the hero that can stop Darren from putting a “sting” on American warfare.

            Hank and Hope teach Scott how to use the Ant-Man suit, communicate with his microscopic companions, and even how to throw a strong punch in their plan to save the world from a Yellowjacket swarm of evil.

            Overall, Ant-Man is a very ambitious movie and hits all the basics of a fun summer blockbuster, the likable wise cracking hero, the over the top action, some cheesy jokes and humor, and an intimidating villain. Paul Rudd does an outstanding job portraying Ant-Man and I’d like to see him work off Tony Stark and Star-Lord in one of the Avengers: Infinity War movies, Michael Douglas as an inventor and teacher, that also works, Corey Stoll as an evil CEO, pitch perfect there, even Avengers favorites like Anthony Mackie from Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Avengers: Age of Ultron and Hayley Atwell from Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Marvel’s Agent Carter reprise their roles as Falcon and Agent Peggy Carter, and the obvious comic relief like Michael Peña (Crash, End of Watch, American Hustle) and rapper T.I. (Takers) get some decent giggles, now that’s a cast for a thoroughly entertaining Marvel movie.

            What really makes Ant-Man shine is the creativity with all the different ants that help Scott save the day, electric crazy ants, carpenter ants used for flying, and fire ants used to cross over dangerous areas to name a few. Just seeing Ant-Man flying on a carpenter ant through a laboratory to deactivate the building’s power is just as epic as an alien battle in The Avengers or a space battle in Guardians of the Galaxy, I saw it in IMAX 3D and the conversion managed to make everyday appliances look massive and epic on the giant screen with 12,000 watt sound, you feel like you’re right there with Ant-Man and I love 3D movies that can immerse viewers like that.

            I can gladly consider Ant-Man to be one of my favorite films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, behind The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Iron Man, and Thor and I honestly prefer this movie over Avengers: Age of Ultron (YES, I just said that!), I loved both movies but Avengers: Age of Ultron hit a lot of “Been there, done that” moments, the climax in Ant-Man was a little more fun to watch, seeing a bunch of ants flying around and battling the Yellowjacket, the climax felt new and like I’ve never seen it before.

            If you loved movies like The Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy, you’ll probably love Ant-Man, it’s action packed and funny all the way through and it proves that big things, even Marvel superheroes can come in small packages.

Minions review

MINIONS:

A SILLY, COLORFUL, ANIMATED FILM THAT KIDS WILL PROABLY GO “BANANAS” OVER, AND THE ADULTS MIGHT LIKE IT AS WELL!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

UNIVERSAL PICTURES

(From left to right) Stuart, Kevin, and Bob…the Minions

            A Minions movie, who came up with this brilliant idea? It’s the ultimate cash grab when it comes to family entertainment. Everyone should be familiar with the incredibly popular yellow, banana loving little guys from the hit Despicable Me franchise by this point, I still stand that the Minion slapstick moments from Despicable Me and Despicable Me 2 are some of the funniest physical humor I’ve ever seen in an animated movie, so how about an entire hour and a half of that?

            That’s pretty much what the Minions movie is, a prequel to the first Despicable Me movie and the first movie to be entirely focused on the Minions. And for what it is, it’s a decent animated comedy, some of the Minion humor gets a little tiresome after a while but with enough creative scenarios, energetic animation, side characters, and visual gags, it’s pretty much what you would expect, it’s the Minions on an adventure to find a master with often hilarious results.

            Minions have existed on Earth far longer than humans, dated all the way back to the Jurassic period (and no this isn’t a Minions/Jurassic Park crossover!). Throughout their entire lives, the Minions have been on a quest to find the most “Despicable” master they could to lead them and so they could have a purpos

e in life.

  

          They survived the age of dinosaurs, the dawn of man, the reign of Anubis, the French Revolution, and they even blew the dark ages to dust…literally on their quest to find a master to serve, but unfortunately everything fails. So three Minions named Kevin, Stuart, and Bob set off on an adventure to find the greatest villain of all time for the Minions to serve before they go extinct.

            Kevin, Stuart, and Bob make their way to Orlando, Florida, 1969 B.G. (Before Gru) home of Villain-Con, an entire convention dedicated to supervillains; think Comic Con minus the superheroes. While there they learn about one of the greatest supervillains of all time, as well as the first female villain, the Red Hot as Lava, Scarlet Overkill (voiced by Sandra Bullock-The Blind Side, The Heat, Gravity) and her tech savvy husband, Herb (Jon Hamm-Mad Men, Million Dollar Arm) who recruit Kevin, Stuart, and Bob to steal Queen Elizabeth’s crown so she could rule England and possibly the world, what follows is slapstick, shenanigans, traitors, and over the top action.

            Overall, Minions is a passable movie to show the kids, but unlike Cars 2, Planes, Alvin and the Chipmunks, and Smurfs, there’s actual thought and effort put into the film that should get some giggles and joy out of older audiences as well, but it’s more strictly a kids flick, but there’s nothing wrong with that. This could have easily been a complete corporate sellout and just focus on the Minions doing their shenanigans that you would see during segways in the Despicable Me movies and the Minion shorts on the Blu-Rays.

            Fortunately with some equally funny side characters, over the top voice performances, and some creatively silly situations, this can be a fun family outing, assuming you’ve already seen Inside Out. It’s not on par with Despicable Me or Despicable Me 2, but for a movie that should have been dead on arrival, it manages to deliver some silly belly laughs and colorful animation that is sure to turn you and your entire family “Yellow with Bananas”.

            But, PS if you want a really smart and unforgettable animated movie for the entire family, I’m sure Inside Out is playing next door.

When Marnie Was There review

WHEN MARNIE WAS THERE:

A MORE REALISTIC ANIME MOVIE FROM STUDIO GHIBLI, BUT WITH ITS GORGEOUS ANIMATION, MEMORABLE CHARACTERS, AND EMOTIONAL DRAMA, IT MANAGES TO CAPTURE SOME OF THAT MIYAZAKI MAGIC, EVEN WITHOUT THE PRESENCE OF THE ACCLAIMED FILMMAKER!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: **** out of 4

GKIDS

Anna (left) and Marnie (right) in Studio Ghibli’s When Marnie Was There

            We certainly got a lot of memorable movies from Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli, didn’t we? We had the action packed Castle in the Sky, the magical Kiki’s Delivery Service, the intense fan favorite, Princess Mononoke, and the unforgettable masterpiece, Spirited Away. And even the Studio Ghibli projects that Hayao Miyazaki didn’t direct were mostly pretty solid like The Cat Returns, The Secret World of Arrietty, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, and Goro Miyazaki’s From Up on Poppy Hill, and here’s another one, When Marnie was There, based on the book by Joan G. Robinson.

            Now let me make one thing perfectly clear, I never read the book coming into this movie so I have no idea how closely it follows the book, also I ended up going to an English subtitled showing of the movie so I can’t critique the English dub release. But as a moviegoer, this is probably one of the best anime movies in the Studio Ghibli library, the animation is beyond beautiful, the characters are very well developed and memorable, the emotion is incredibly strong, and the Japanese language made the emotion feel more natural and alive than any American dub.

            12-year-old Sapporo girl, Anna Sasaki (voiced by Sara Takatsuki) who lives with her foster parents, Yoriko and her husband and loves to sketch is sent to spend the summer in Kushiro, a rural town by the sea with clean air, after she collapses from an asthma attack. She stays with relatives of Yoriko, Setsu and Kiyomasa Oiywa, and at first she has a tough time adapting to the new town, until one night she rows to a mysterious mansion by the sea and meets a beautiful young girl named Marnie (voiced by Kasumi Arimura).

            Anna and Marnie get to know each other by talking to each other while rowing in the sea, dancing at fancy parties at the mansion, and sharing Marnie the sketches that she drew. However Marnie tells Anna that their friendship must be kept secret and asks her to promise not to tell anyone.

            Anna soon discovers that Marnie has a very tragic backstory involving her Nanny and the mansion’s mean housemaids, honestly it’s sounding a lot like an anime Cinderella scenario, but I digress, and Anna decides that she will do anything for her friend and stand up against those that made Marnie’s life terrible and she may eventually discover a secret truth about Marnie.

            Overall, When Marnie Was There is a breathtaking anime movie, even without Hayao Miyazaki’s involvement it still manages to deliver something amazing through its animation and complex characters. Also the Japanese audio feels more authentic when watching the movie in an art house theater, it almost feels like watching the movie in Japan, but I may check out the English dub of the film sometime soon, but that’s for another day.

            The Japanese voice actors read their lines very well and leave an impact on you, the viewer. When they are happy and having fun, you feel happy, when something sad happens to them, you feel sad along with them, which is exactly why I describe Studio Ghibli as the anime equivalent of Pixar.

            The animation is gorgeous looking, especially the animation on the water, a lot of the time it looks like you could swim or row in that water. The scenery is also very colorful and lifelike, it looks a lot like Japanese art paintings mixed with animation, you can really tell the animators put a lot of time, thought, heart, and effort into the animation.

            Best Studio Ghibli movie ever? No, that’s still reserved for Spirited Away, but I can consider it the best non-Hayao Miyazaki related Studio Ghibli movie I’ve seen since The Secret World of Arrietty and From Up on Poppy Hill. Any fan of anime should definitely check this movie out, dubbed, subtitled, or otherwise.            

Terminator: Genisys review

TERMINATOR: GENISYS:

PART SEQUEL, PART REBOOT, ENTIRELY CONFUSING, BUT ARNIE’S BACK!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** out of 4

PARAMOUNT PICTURES 

Arnold Schwarzenegger reprises his iconic role as the T-800 in Terminator: Genisys

            Arnold Schwarzenegger (Total Recall, Predator, True Lies) certainly doesn’t lie when he says, “I’ll Be Back!” in every Terminator movie that gets released. And now we’re at the fifth installment of the long running Terminator film franchise that all started in 1984 when director James Cameron stepped in and made Arnold Schwarzenegger the action star we know and love as the iconic T-800 in the sci-fi action classic, The Terminator.

            With unanimous praise and successful box office results, The Terminator stands as one of the most popular sci-fi movies of all time, thus resulting in a monster hit with the 1991 sequel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, also directed by Cameron. Besides Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park and Robert Zemeckis’ Forrest Gump, Terminator 2: Judgment Day was one of the early films of the 1990s that perfected the use of computer special effects and while some of the effects are a tad dated, I still stand as them being some of the best special effects ever to be put in a movie, all thanks to Robert Patrick as the liquid metal Terminator sent to kill John Connor, the T-1000.

            After Terminator 2, the franchise slowly went downhill with the adequate third installment, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and the action dominated fourth installment, Terminator: Salvation, which was Schwarzenegger-less and plot and character development were non-existent, it honestly felt like a pre-Transformers 2 because both Terminator: Salvation and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen came out the exact same summer and both films tanked hard. And now director, Alan Taylor (Thor: The Dark World) brings us this new fifth installment of the Terminator franchise, Terminator: Genisys, which Arnold Schwarzenegger reprises his role as the T-800, the first time reprising the character since 2003’s Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, the Terminator: Salvation CG Arnold cameo doesn’t count.

            Unlike Terminator: Salvation, Terminator: Genisys is closer to what I expect out of a Terminator movie, Arnold Schwarzenegger making cheesy puns, over the top special effects, robots, and time travel. But that’s not saying much, because this movie really hammers in references and plot elements from previous Terminator movies where you just wish you were watching the first two movies again, as well as some random plot elements that don’t go anywhere, the overall film seeming confused of whether or not it’s trying to be a sequel or a reboot, and a lot of stupid moments, and I mean incredibly stupid moments.

            In the year 2029, the world has been taken over by Skynet and the machines and taking humans to prison camps to be exterminated. John Connor (Jason Clarke-Public Enemies, Zero Dark Thirty, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes), the leader of the Resistance, who leads the war against the machines, is notified that Skynet will attack both the past and the future, thereby changing warfare forever.

            Connor recruits his future father, Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney-Jack Reacher, Divergent, Unbroken) to travel back in time to 1984 to find his mother Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke-Game of Thrones) and stop the T-800 that was sent to kill her. Once he finds Sarah Connor, Kyle realizes that another T-800 was sent to protect her that she nicknamed Pops and Sarah has a plan to put Skynet out of a commission before it’s even born.

            Unfortunately their plan suddenly changes when they hear of a new program designed by Skynet called Genisys (and no, I’m not talking about Sega!) that is soon to be going live on every computer, tablet, and smartphone in the world, and once it does Skynet will have control of the entire world. So it’s a race against time to save the future as Sarah, Kyle, and the T-800 battle a new T-1000 (Lee-Byung-hun-G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, RED 2) as well as their latest Terminator model, the T-3000, and take the fight to Cyberdyne Systems and put an end to Genisys as well as the war against the machines.

            Overall, Terminator: Genisys is quite an ambitious movie; I’m not surprised that my thoughts were all over the place, but thankfully, for better or for worse, it gave me more to talk about than Terminator: Salvation, which can pretty much be summed up as loud, obnoxious, explosion fest that came out a month before the louder and even more annoying Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

            It’s far from being good, I mean Oh My God, it doesn’t even come close to being as awesome or engaging as The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day, hell even Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, while nothing spectacular is a much better example of how to do a proper Terminator movie and it’s where the franchise should have ended in the first place. This one just hammered in the stuff we saw back in 1984 and 1991 but most of it feels really half-ass and almost seems like what you would expect from a Transformers sequel where they don’t even try to give something new.

            But with that said, I came into the movie, not expecting much to begin with, I was mainly just expecting a dumb Schwarzenegger sci-fi movie, and pretty much that’s exactly what I got. Arnold, while the guy is definitely too old to Terminate, he certainly gives it his all and he is fun to watch, undeniably, even in a bad movie like Last Action Hero, he tries his best to be the fun action star that he is, even if the movie is a serious waste of time.

            Some of the ideas are a little creative like the idea of traveling to the future and of course the action for the most part are the best aspect of the film, especially this great helicopter chase in the middle of the movie, but overall this could have just been a theatrical film adaptation of the TV show, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

            So if you just want something stupid and mindlessly entertaining this might be a guilty pleasure, but if you’re a die-hard Terminator fan, don’t even try, go back to the first two movies.

I’LL BE BACK…WHEN TERMINATOR 6 COMES OUT!