The Fate of the Furious review

THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS:

UNNECESSARY IN ITS EXISTENCE, BUT FUN!
By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

UNIVERSAL PICTURES

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (left) and Vin Diesel (right) return as Luke Hobbs and Dominic Toretto in The Fate of the Furious

            Who asked for this after the surprisingly beautiful finale to 2015’s Furious 7? I was very skeptical when I first heard an eighth installment of the long-running Fast & Furious franchise especially after the death of Paul Walker, who played Brian O’Connor in the earlier films.

            Furious 7 expanded the action of the franchise to the point where the climax was a car chase involving a futuristic looking attack drone, and was a perfect farewell to Walker, it would have been a perfect conclusion to the series. Guess what, grossed over a billion dollars at the box office, became one of the highest grossing films of all time, and Universal just wants to shake as much cash out of these movies as possible.

            That’s where The Fate of the Furious comes in, with Vin Diesel (Riddick trilogy, XXX, Guardians of the Galaxy), Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (The Scorpion King, Central Intelligence, Moana), and (most) of the cast from the franchise reprising their roles, and under direction by F. Gary Gray (A Man Apart, The Italian Job, Straight Outta Compton). Obviously, F. Gary Gray blew us all away with Straight Outta Compton and has directed good films before but I was worried because this was the first film in the franchise since 2006 to not feature both Diesel and Walker, and one of my favorite aspects of the first film as well as 5-7 was the chemistry between the two actors, not to mention both of the non-Diesel and Walker films that came before sucked the big one, 2 Fast 2 Furious and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.

            So, I came into this movie not expecting much, and really, that’s what I got, The Fate of the Furious is dumb fun and nothing more. Over-the-top action, fast cars, corny dialogue, and beefy dudes and hot babes behind the wheels, pretty much everything that made Fast & Furious the franchise it is today.

            After the events of Furious 7, we find street racer, Dominic Toretto (Diesel) on his second honeymoon with his wife, Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez-Resident Evil, Avatar, Machete) in Cuba and starting a new peaceful life after Letty got her memory back. However, he is approached by a woman named Cipher (Charlize Theron-Monster, Prometheus, Mad Max: Fury Road), who is revealed to be a cyberterrorist and manages to manipulate Dom into working for her.

            One night, after a successful mission, Dom goes rogue and turns against his team to help Cipher plunge the Earth into World War III. It’s up to Letty, Agent Luke Hobbs (Johnson), Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson-Flight of the Phoenix, Transformers 1-3, Death Race), Tej Parker (Chris “Ludacris” Bridges-Hustle & Flow, Crash, RocknRolla), covert ops team leader, Frank Petty (Kurt Russell-Tombstone, Death Proof, Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2), and hacker, Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel-Twenty8k, Game of Thrones, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials) to stop Toretto and Cipher, and find out what she did to him, but the team will have to join forces with an old enemy, Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham-Crank, The Transporter trilogy, The Expendables trilogy).

            The film also stars Luke Evans (The Hobbit trilogy, The Girl on the Train, Beauty and the Beast (2017)) as Owen Shaw, Elsa Pataky (Snakes on a Plane, Manual of Love 2, The Wine of Summer) as Elena Neves, Kristofer Hivju (Manhunt, Game of Thrones, The Last King) as Rhodes, Helen Mirren (Excalibur, The Queen, RED) as Magdalene, rapper, Tego Calderón as Tego Leo, and singer, Don Omar as Rico Santos.

            Overall, The Fate of the Furious delivers exactly what it advertises, vehicular mayhem and action at its finest. The highlight being the chase sequence in the middle of the film, yeah, the best action scene in the movie isn’t the climax this time around.

            The climax, while fun, I felt was kind of underwhelming, it was a chase on ice involving a submarine. It’s not bad but I wasn’t nearly as thrilled by it as I was with the drone chase in the last movie.
            The acting is pretty standard, traditional Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson performances, but the one who steals the show is Charlize Theron. She makes a great villain and the way she gets Dom to do what she says is actually kind of terrifying, I’m not giving it away, quite possibly as enjoyable as she was as Queen Ravenna in the Huntsman movies.

            If you’re a fan of the Fast & Furious franchise you’ll probably enjoy The Fate of the Furious even without the presence of Paul Walker. Don’t expect it to be as exciting as the earlier films but you’ll get plenty of Fast, dumb, fun.

Smurfs: The Lost Village review

SMURFS: THE LOST VILLAGE:

A PASSABLE SMURFS MOVIE THAT KIDS WILL LIKELY ENJOY!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** ½ out of 4

COLUMBIA PICTURES AND SONY PICTURES ANIMATION

Something Smurfy this way comes in Smurfs: The Lost Village

            As many of you know, I’ve had some bad experiences with film adaptations of Peyo’s iconic Smurfs cartoon in the past, me and everyone else. The Smurfs was a cartoon I barely watched growing up, I recall seeing bits and pieces of it when Cartoon Network was rerunning it, but it did not spark my interest.

            I’m not prejudiced towards The Smurfs, it’s pretty hard to rip on something clearly meant for little kids. Unless we’re talking about the dreaded live-action/animated films from Sony Pictures Animation, they Smurfin’ sucked, nothing more to say.

            Due to the very poor critical reactions towards the live-action movies, or Sony just wanting to shake more money out of children’s pockets, we got an all-animated reboot, Smurfs: The Lost Village. I had very low expectations coming into this movie due to my dissatisfaction of the earlier films, and after seeing the trailers and ads; but it looked much more promising and closer to its source material than The Smurfs (2011) or The Smurfs 2.

            I saw the movie, and came out very surprised, no, it’s not a good movie, but for a Smurfs movie, it’s a huge, HUGE, improvement over the earlier films. No live-action, no magic portal to the real world, no Neil Patrick Harris, no New York City (Bad City, you’re sleeping in the doghouse!).

            It’s the Smurfs in their own unique world and the bizarre things they encounter on their journey. So, this movie alone has much more imagination and more of an understanding of what The Smurfs is than either one of the live-action movies, and I’m so relieved to say that.

            The film follows, Smurfette (voiced by Demi Lovato-Camp Rock, Princess Protection Program, Glee), the only girl Smurf in Smurf Village, feeling out of place due to her being created by the evil wizard, Gargamel (voiced by Rainn Wilson-The Office, Monsters VS Aliens, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen) to capture the Smurfs so he can extract their magic essence and become the most powerful sorcerer ever. But thanks to Papa Smurf (voiced by Mandy Patinkin-The Princess Bride, Dick Tracy, The Wind Rises) she was able to turn her back on Gargamel and become good.

            During a fun day with her friends, Clumsy Smurf (voiced by Jack McBrayer-30 Rock, Phineas and Ferb, Wreck-It Ralph), Hefty Smurf (voiced by Joe Manganiello-Spider-Man, How I Met Your Mother, Ture Blood), and Brainy Smurf (voiced by Danny Pudi-Greek, Community, Powerless), Smurfette discovers a map that could quite possibly lead to another village of Smurfs. Upon hearing about the village, Gargamel and his lackeys, Azrael the cat and Monty the eagle plots to find it, capture all the Smurfs, and extract their essence.

            It’s up to Smurfette, Clumsy Smurf, Hefty Smurf, and Brainy Smurf to get to the village, warn the Smurfs about Gargamel, and fend him off.

            The film also features the voices of Julia Roberts (Hook, My Best Friend’s Wedding, The Ant Bully) as Smurf Willow, Michelle Rodriguez (Fast & Furious franchise, Avatar, Turbo) as Smurf Storm, Ellie Kemper (The Office, Bridesmaids, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) as Smurf Blossom, Ariel Winter (Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete, Phineas and Ferb, Mr. Peabody & Sherman) as Smurf Lily, singer, Meghan Trainor as Smurf Melody, Jake Johnson (Safety Not Guaranteed, New Girl, High School USA) as Grouchy Smurf, Gordon Ramsay (Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, Hell’s Kitchen, MasterChef) as Baker Smurf (Fitting), Tituss Burgess (30 Rock, The Angry Birds Movie, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) as Vanity Smurf, Gabriel Iglesias-The Fluffy Movie, The Book of Life, Cristela) as Jokey Smurf, Jeff Dunham (The Jeff Dunham Show, Delta Farce, From Up on Poppy Hill) as Farmer Smurf, and the film’s director, Kelly Asbury (Shrek the Third, Gnomeo & Juliet) as Nosey Smurf.

            Overall, Smurfs: The Lost Village is everything the first live-action Smurfs movie should have been, but wasn’t. The movie understood the source material while still being a serviceable kids film.

            The Lost Village did not need magic portals, New York, or Neil Patrick Harris, instead it gave us new Smurfs, a simple but decently-paced story, humorous voice acting, and something the live-action movies were completely devoid of…IMAGINATION! The world of the Smurfs in this film is fascinating and amazing to look at, even if the animation isn’t exactly the best.

            Instead of boring old New York City or Paris, this film has Smurf eating flowers, rivers that float in the air, glowing bunnies that sound like horses, and plants that punch Smurfs with boxing gloves…where the Smurf was all this in your movies Raja Gosnell!?! The live-action films I can only call Smurfs by name, everything in this movie feels like an updated Smurfs cartoon, and I wouldn’t mind showing it to my kids and this coming from a guy who would keep the live-action movies as far away from my children as possible.

            A huge improvement over the earlier films, but there is a huge problem I have with this movie, the humor. Obviously, this movie is meant for kids, what is a common cliché for comedy in children’s films? Lots of butt and fart jokes, except here pretty much the entire comedic aspect of the film is fueled on this type of humor and it gets old REAL fast.

            But I am willing to forgive this movie for its lack of laughs because concept and story wise, it delivered what I wanted to see in a Smurfs movie, the world of it. The live-action movies lacked the imagination of the cartoons and humor, this movie lacks the humor but the imagination and creativity is in full force here, so I’m glad I saw it.

            If you want something harmless to take the kids to on a Saturday matinee or if you’re a longtime Smurfs fan, Smurfs: The Lost Village may deliver what you’re looking for.

Ghost in the Shell review

GHOST IN THE SHELL:

A RARE AMERICAN ADAPTATION OF A BELOVED JAPANESE ANIME…THAT’S ACTUALLY NOT THAT BAD!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

PARAMOUNT PICTURES AND DREAMWORKS PICTURES

Scarlett Johansson as Major Mia Killian in Ghost in the Shell

            Unbelievable, after two infamous attempts to adapt a beloved Japanese anime into an American live-action film, Speed Racer and Dragonball: Evolution, we finally have an adaptation of an anime film that, for the most part, worked. Director, Rupert Sanders (Snow White & the Huntsman) and produced by Marvel Entertainment alumni, Avi and Ari Arad (X-Men 1-3, Spider-Man trilogy, Iron Man) bring the fascinating world of Mamoru Oshi’s Ghost in the Shell to life in (so far) the best American live-action adaptation of a Japanese anime we’ve gotten.

            I was both excited and very nervous about the film when I first saw the trailer back in November. It looked stunning from a visual perspective and Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Jungle Book) kicking ass is always welcome no matter what she is, despite the controversy surrounding her casting choice.

            But, I can’t erase the sins of Speed Racer or Dragonball: Evolution, two notorious American adaptations of popular anime that were pretty much a complete insult to its source material. However, I recall talking about the production of the live-action film in my review of Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie from 2015, so it makes sense for me to watch it and see how it holds up compared to the 1995 classic or any of its sequels.

            And, the film is solid, not nearly as amazing as the original movie but it’s so refreshing to see a live-action adaptation that understood exactly what the world of Ghost in the Shell had to look like, keep the fans satisfied, and remain a standalone movie. It lacks the complex storytelling of the original film and kind of reverts to the typical good vs evil formula, but it’s done fine and the action is thrilling enough to keep audiences entertained, even if you haven’t seen the anime films before.

            Set in the near future where the majority of humans are augmented with cybernetics that enhance various traits like vision, strength, and intelligence, Major (Johansson) is the first of her kind, a woman who was saved from a terrorist attack, and was transformed into a cyber-enhanced soldier with a human brain devoted to stopping the world’s most dangerous criminals, courtesy of Hanka Robotics, the world’s leading developer of augmentative technology. But when terrorism reaches new heights including the ability to hack into people’s minds and control them, Major is uniquely qualified to stop them.

            Unfortunately, she soon discovers she’s been lied to and maybe the people who saved her, didn’t really save her, but stole her real life. Major is determined to find out who she was and find out who did this to her and stop them before they do it to others.

            The film also stars Takeshi Kitano (Yes, the man behind Takeshi’s Challenge) as Chief Daisuke Aramaki, Michael Pitt (Funny Games, Boardwalk Empire, Hannibal) as Hadley Cruz, Pilou Asbaek (R, A Hijacking, Game of Thrones) as Batou, Chin Han (The Dark Knight, 2012, Captain America: The Winter Soldier) as Togusa, Juliette Binoche (The English Patient, Chocolat, Godzilla (2014)) as Dr. Ouélet, Lasarus Ratuere (Terra Nova, The Mule, Ready for This) as Ishikawa, and Peter Ferdinando (Snow White & the Huntsman, 300: Rise of an Empire, High-Rise) as Cutter.

            Overall, Ghost in the Shell is one of those rare American adaptations of a popular anime that actually understood the source material and delivered a faithful re-telling of the first film. A minor issue I had with the film though, was the screenplay by Ehren Kruger, it’s not Transformers sequel bad but it can get really corny at times, thankfully it doesn’t ruin the movie.

            Most of the performances are solid, Scarlett Johansson as Major, the badass heroine, that’s pretty much been working for her since Iron Man 2, Peter Ferdinando is a great over-the-top villain as Cutter, Pilou Asbaek nailed Batou’s character, which shocked me because I thought his portrayal looked kind of silly in the trailer, and every time Takeshi Kitano was on-screen I couldn’t stop making jokes about Takeshi’s Challenge and perhaps you can call that game a prequel to this movie…just saying.

            Visually, it looks like the Ghost in the Shell world brought to life, really, the only way I can describe how it looks on-screen is like a hybrid of Blade Runner, A.I., and Back to the Future. Every shot of the city in this movie is absolute eye-candy, especially if you watch it on IMAX.

            It’s not a perfect adaptation of the anime, but just saying Ghost in the Shell is a solid movie at all and it understood the source material was so relieving. Die-hard fans, no need to worry, this is no Speed Racer or Dragonball: Evolution, it’s an American adaptation of a popular Japanese anime with EFFORT! And I’m so glad to say that, and on a side-note the film must be viewed on IMAX 3D, you won’t regret it.