Review: Kick-Ass

IMDb

Title: Kick-Ass
Distributor: Lionsgate
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Writer(s): Jane Goldman(screenplay) & Matthew Vaughn(screenplay)
Staring: Aaron Johnson, Evan Peters, Clark Duke, Lyndsy Fonseca, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Mark Strong, Chloe Moretz, Nicolas Cage
MPAA Rating: Rated R for strong brutal violence throughout, pervasive language, sexual content, nudity and some drug use - some involving children
Running Time: 117 min
Synopsis: Dave Lizewski is an unnoticed high school student and comic book fan who one day decides to become a super-hero, even though he has no powers, training or meaningful reason to do so.

What Others Are Saying?

Rotten Tomatoes: T-Meter: 78% (Fresh), Top Critics: 76% (Fresh), RT Community: 92% (Fresh)
Metacritic: Critics: 67 out of 100, Users: 8.6 out of 10
MRQE Metric: 72: (29.6% A, 43.8% B, 20.6% C, 5.0% D, and 0.0% F)
Yahoo Movies: Critics: B Users: A-

My Review

Source Material: Based on comic book series written by Mark Millar and illustrated by John Romita, Jr

Entertaining Value:

• Action Elements: A lot of stylized fighting aka kicking ass.
  
• Comedy Elements: There are a good amount of reference to comic books and pop culture. The brutality of the fights were funny to the guys in the crowed.
• Dramatic Elements: Just high school drama.
  
• Sci-Fi / Fantasy Elements: Anything that would fit into a comic book realm.
  

Cinematic Value:

• Acting and Dialogue: B+: The line deliverance was great. As far as performance there were not to bad since most of the cast are all newish to the business
• Art Direction: B+: I think the costuming was the best part of the art in the film.
• Cinematography: A-: Action sequence were great. The film makers experimented with cool techniques and they worked beautifully
  
• Direction: A: Were looking at a fairly new director here, who has some pretty awesome producing credits with films like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. I liking Matthew Vaughn more and more. How did he do on this film, well Kick Ass (some pun attended).
• Editing: A: The transitions in the film were sweet. I liked how the editing paired very nicely with the cinematography.
  
• Screenplay: B: The story seem to be pretty solid, from what I have heard from my friends who read the comic is its fairly close to the book.
• Sound and Music: A: The sound track was great, it to fit the on screen action.
  
• VFX: A: I personally want to say kudos to all who did there own stunts on this film, it was one of the better action movies with real kick ass fighting in, that I liked. Therefore, I also have to give props to the stunt guys also case they made everyone else look bad ass.

Moral and Ethical Value:

• Themes: Superheros
  
• Moral of the Story: Standing up form someone could pay off in the end.
  
• Take Home: The most Kick Ass movie ever.
  

Overall: A-: Its deferentially a good guys movie Comic book nerd should also like it. But its also a pretty funny movie, but it rated R so its not for everyone, duh.

Review: Clash of the Titans

IMDb

Title: Clash of the Titans
Distributor: Legendary Pictures (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Director: Louis Leterrier
Writer(s): Travis Beacham (screenplay), Phil Hay (screenplay), Matt Manfredi (screenplay), and Beverley Cross (1981 screenplay)
Staring: Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for fantasy action violence, some frightening images and brief sensuality.
Running Time: 118 min
Synopsis: The mortal son of the god Zeus embarks on a perilous journey to stop the underworld and its minions from spreading their evil to Earth as well as the heavens.

What Others Are Saying?

Rotten Tomatoes: T-Meter: 31% (Rotten), Top Critics: 33% (Rotten), RT Community: 53% (rotten)
Metacritic: Critics: 40 out of 100, Users: 5.4 out of 10
MRQE Metric: 44: (0.0% A, 29.3% B, 28.1% C, 34.6% D, and 7.8% F)
Yahoo Movies: Critics: C+ Users: B

My Review

Source Material: Based on the 1981 film Clash of the Titans written by Beverley Cross. The original film is based off a Greek mythological story about Perseus and Andromeda.

Entertaining Value:

• Action Elements: There a lot of "Fantasy Action" so sword play and what not, but it wasn't as epic as I wanted it to be / expected it to be.
  
• Comedy Elements: I think I could count the "jokes" of the film on one hand.
• Dramatic Elements: There are a lot of daddy issues, but no highly dramatic scenes.
  
• Sci-Fi / Fantasy Elements: It's Greek Mythology so its chalk full of VFX
  

Cinematic Value:

• Acting and Dialogue: B-: A friend / co-worker told me, "I cant get over the fact Liam Neeson is playing Zeus" I replied with, "But Liam Neeson is a god." It sad but true the best acting comes from the main gods from the film Liam Neeson as Zeus and Ralph Fiennes as Hades. Everyone else was decent the only person I think was a bit off when it comes to acting chops is Sam Worthington. He maybe on the up rise right now with Avatar but he is mediocre at best. When he gave the "let get ready for battle men" speech I wasn't convinced to fight, like I would have been in another movie.
• Art Direction: B+: I did like the authentic feel of the film. Greece during the Golden Ages
• Cinematography: B-: It could have been better. There were a lot of shots I liked very much so, mainly the action ones. Also bad use of 3-D there could have been really cool parts but there wasn't...i guess nothing will ever live up to Avatar for a while.
  
• Direction: A: We have seen Louis Leterrier work before in the films Unleashed, Transporter 2, The Incredible Hulk. I personally liked both Transporter 2 and The Incredible Hulk. Clash of the Titans seem to me that it didn't do his name justice.
• Editing: B-: There were some scene that confused me.
• Screenplay: C: It veered to far from the original story. There where some parts I was like, "you could have left that out completely but fans of the old movie will hate you for it" Big key element I would have liked to seen but were cut: Better use of Acrisius/Calibos character, use Andromeda as the love interest and not Io, and the use of Bubo.
• Sound and Music: A: The score was good all around, some piece of the music fit beautifully with the action happening on screen.
  
• VFX: A: The open story about the gods over throwing of the titans was the best use of graphics and visual effect to tell a story via stars, cause most of our constellations do tell of stories from Greek mythology including this one. Very nice touch. The film carries this greatness of VFX in other parts of the film also like the Kraken

Moral and Ethical Value:

• Themes: Men vs Beast and Men vs God
  
• Moral of the Story: Good defeats evil.
  
• Take Home: Greek mythology is close to my heart
  

Overall: B: Its a good guy movie. its a decent action movie, it an okay sword and sandal movie, so maybe consider seeing it at least once.

Review:Alice in Wonderland

IMDb

Title: Alice in Wonderland
Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures
Director: Tim Burton
Writer(s): Linda Woolverton (screenplay), Lewis Carroll (books)
Staring: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Crispin Glover, Matt Lucas, Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen, Alan Rickman
MPAA Rating: Rated PG for fantasy action/violence involving scary images and situations, and for a smoking caterpillar.
Running Time: 108 min
Synopsis: 19-year-old Alice returns to the magical world from her childhood adventure, where she reunites with her old friends and learns of her true destiny: to end the Red Queen's reign of terror.

What Others Are Saying?

Rotten Tomatoes: T-Meter: 53% (Rotten), Top Critics: 61% (Fresh), RT Community: 74% (Fresh)
Metacritic: Critics: 53 out of 100, Users: 5.9 out of 10
MRQE Metric: 60: (10.6% A, 36.7% B, 39.0% C, 12.9% D, and 0.0% F)
Yahoo Movies: Critics: NA Users: B

My Review

Source Material: Based on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll. I haven't read the books so I don't know how it hold up to the source material but because I know how Tim Burton treats source material I am guessing its perrty close.

Entertaining Value:

• Action Elements: There a lot of "Fantasy Action" so sword play and what not.
  
• Comedy Elements: There are some cleaver line said from the Hatter that can be quite funny.
• Dramatic Elements: Enriched with drama and back-story.
  
• Sci-Fi / Fantasy Elements: One of the first fantasy so yes there is a good amount of VFX type shoots.
  

Cinematic Value:

• Acting and Dialogue: A: I loved the cast, I know being a Tim Burton film were going to see Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter but the other cast members were just as great.
• Art Direction: A+: Very beautiful, Seeing that magical world come to life was awesome. If I am not mistaking Tim Burton did some art direction project on his earlier films, so I expect the best.
• Cinematography: A: The Cinematography complimented the art direction like in every Tim Burton film. I think is was beautiful and magnificent.
  
• Direction: A: This film surely has the Tim Burton style, some pacing issues like near the begging it dragged a bit and near the end it was too fast the final battle was lacking length.
  
• Editing: B: It was cut together well but like I said before there was some pacing issues.
• Screenplay: A-: I think the story highlights the wonderfulness of both Alice stories while at the same time holding its own as an "original" story.
• Sound and Music: A: Finally a film with a score. It seem all the films I enjoyed watching over the past couple of months have been flooded with music from mediocre sound tracks.
  
• VFX: A: There was a good mixture of live action and animation, both of which blend together to create a pretty flawless Underland (Wonderland).
  

Moral and Ethical Value:

• Themes: Innocents, Ignorance, Betrayal
  
• Moral of the Story: Good defeats evil.
  
• Take Home: Following the white rabbit could lead to a wondrous adventure.
  

Overall: A-: Visually it was amazing. The other elements of the film hold up to be good also, I say see it once if not twice (once in 2-D and once in 3-D)

Review Shutter Island

IMDb

Title: Shutter Island
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Director: Martin Scorsese
Writer(s): Laeta Kalogridis (screenplay), Dennis Lehane (novel)
Staring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo
MPAA Rating: Rated R for disturbing violent content, language and some nudity.
Running Time: 138 min
Synopsis: Drama is set in 1954, U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels is investigating the disappearance of a murderess who escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane and is presumed to be hiding on the remote Shutter Island. .

What Others Are Saying?

Rotten Tomatoes: T-Meter: 66% (Fresh), Top Critics: 62% (Fresh), RT Community: 87% (Fresh)
Metacritic: Critics: 62 out of 100, Users: 7.1 out of 10
MRQE Metric: 71: (26.3% A, 46.3% B, 20.9% C, 5.0% D, and 0.0% F)
Yahoo Movies: Critics: NA Users: B

My Review

Source Material: Baed on a book with the same title by author Dennis Lehane

Entertaining Value:

• Action Elements: There are some action sequence but this film is more dramatically driven.
• Comedy Elements: Maybe a few cleaver lines but not much of a comedy.
• Dramatic Elements: Highly dramatic with great acting
  
• Sci-Fi / Fantasy Elements: Some dream sequence have some neat effects but that about it.
  

Cinematic Value:

• Acting and Dialogue: A-: The acting was very believable and Leonardo DiCaprio dose a good job even thought I am not a fan of his work generally.
• Art Direction: B+: The art direction it was a very colorful movie, which contrasted the dark content. I have to say great make-up
• Cinematography: A-: They had some very cool shoots, with a good amount of verity
  
• Direction: A: The movie felt a little long but over all Martin Scorsese knows what he is doing for sure.
  
• Editing: B: It was cut together in away that kept you thinking, and on the edge of your seat.
  
• Screenplay: B: It was a decent story. most people will guess the plot twist but it dose a very good job going back and fouth on the guessing game.
• Sound and Music: B: Brought an effect dark felling to the film
  
• VFX: B: Some of the dream sequence where neat...but it's the make up that take the cake...great make-up
  

Moral and Ethical Value:

• Themes: "Crazy is a normal thing here"
  
• Moral of the Story: The mind is a beautiful thing to waste.
  
• Take Home: Maybe I should get a physic test, just kidding, but really I may be crazy.
  

Overall: A-: I enjoyed this movie, I think you should give a chance.

Review Cop Out

IMDb

Title: Cop Out
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures Fox
Director: Kevin Smith
Writer(s): Robb Cullen (written by) & Mark Cullen (written by)
Staring: Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan
MPAA Rating: Rated R for pervasive language including sexual references, violence and brief sexuality.
Running Time: 107 min
Synopsis: A comedy about a veteran NYPD cop whose rare baseball card is stolen. Since it's his only hope to pay for his daughter's upcoming wedding, he recruits his partner to track down the thief, a memorabilia-obsessed gangster.

What Others Are Saying?

Rotten Tomatoes: T-Meter: 20% (Rotten), Top Critics: 21% (Rotten), RT Community: 63% (Fresh)
Metacritic: Critics: 32 out of 100, Users: 4.0 out of 10
MRQE Metric: 37: (0.0% A, 10.2% B, 46.7% C, 31.5% D, and 11.5% F)
Yahoo Movies: Critics: C Users: B

My Review

Source Material: Original screenplay written by brothers Mark and Robb Cullen

Entertaining Value:

• Action Elements: With being a comedy about cops their is some action sequence but they more slapsticky cause the comedy aspect of the film.
• Comedy Elements: There are a few one-liners that got the whole theater laughing but these happen mainly in the opening credits .
• Dramatic Elements: Umm not so much, they actually make fun of melodramatic moments in movies.
  
• Sci-Fi / Fantasy Elements: No shiney Sci-fi elements this time.
  

Cinematic Value:

• Acting and Dialogue: B-: The strongest actor was Bruce Wills but the strongest comedic performer was Sean William Scott. Tracy Morgan wast as annoy as he usually is in movies. There some great one liners, and pop culture references
• Art Direction: C-: Nothing too fancy here
• Cinematography: C-: Agian nothing too fancy here
  
• Direction: B: Kevin Smith is very good at asembling a good comdey, this was good but there was some chemistry missing. Maybe that because he not using his normal comic players
• Editing: C: Nothing special
  
• Screenplay: B: The story wasn't half bad, a bit cliche but it work for a comedy
• Sound and Music: C: I wasn't the biggest fan
  
• VFX: NA not enough to commit on
  

Moral and Ethical Value:

• Themes: Friendship, "A Couple of Dicks"
  
• Moral of the Story: Friends stick up for each other together even in the hard times, I got your back
  
• Take Home: A couple of laughs, that's about it.
  

Overall: C: Even thought I liked this film for it comedy aspects it relay suck every else.

REVIEW: Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief

IMDb

Title: Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Director: Chris Columbus
Writer(s): Craig Titley (screenplay), Rick Riordan (novel)
Staring: Logan Lerman, Brandon T. Jackson, Alexandra Daddario, Jake Abel, Sean Bean, Pierce Brosnan, Kevin McKidd
MPAA Rating: Rated PG for action violence and peril, some scary images and suggestive material, and mild language.
Running Time: 119 min
Synopsis: A teenager discovers he's the descendant of a Greek god and sets out on an adventure to settle an on-going battle between the gods.

What Others Are Saying?

At The Movies: A.O. Scott: NA, Michael Phillips: NA
Rotten Tomatoes: T-Meter: 48% (Rotten), Top Critics: 35% (Rotten), RT Community: 69% (Fresh)
Metacritic: Critics: 48 out of 100, Users: 6.7 out of 10
MRQE Metric: 50: (0.0% A, 25.8% B, 54.1% C, 18.0% D, and 0.0% F)
Yahoo Movies: Critics: C+ Users: A-

My Review

Source Material: Based off a book with the same title written by Rick Riordan. How does it match up to the book? I just started to reading the book cause I enjoyed the movie. So far the biggest difference I saw between the book and movies is Percy Jackson age. In the book he is twelve and in the movie he's a junior higher, if not older.

Entertaining Value:

• Action Elements: Its an adventure so Percy and his friends are away in a state of peril, which lead to many action sequence
• Comedy Elements: Being a kiddish type film it has some cheesy line and some decent slapstick.
• Dramatic Elements: The drama comes mainly from the fact that all the demigods come from broken homes aka "daddy issues" and "abandonment" I think these iusse may hit home with the youth today, especially with the divorce rate rising daily.
  
• Sci-Fi / Fantasy Elements: Well, we are dealing with Greek mythology so yes it jammed packed with all kinds of sci-fi/ fantasy elements.
  

Cinematic Value:

• Acting and Dialogue: B+: I think the children actors did a fine job since most of them it there first acting job especially on the big screen. I like there were some big named actors to play small roles and cameos. It helped to balance out the amature actors. As far as the dialogue it did get a bit cheesy but I am willing to bet that's because it meant for a younger audience.
• Art Direction: B: High fantasy movies like this one shine in the artistic categorizes. some of the different worlds they had to create like The Underworld were cool and beautiful in away.
• Cinematography: B+: This film capture the fun qualities of an adventure. This was done mainly in the fact that the action sequence where shot properly.
  
• Direction: B: It has that child friendly style that Chris Columbus has mastered in films like Home Alone and the first two Harry Potters. But I will give him props on know how to do put together a fun adventure that both kids and adults can enjoy...This is the man who wrote the Goonies, can you say CLASSIC.
• Editing: B: The film was easy to follow, no real unique editing style.
  
• Screenplay: B: The story was good but I maybe saying that out of bias toward being a huge fan of mythology especially Greek mythology.
• Sound and Music: C: I am going to say it was way to cliche, example some says "If you see my dad on the highway to hell kick his ass for me" cue in Highway to Hell music by AC/DC.
  
• VFX: B+: It has the same wow factor that the first Harry Potter's had. After seeing Avatar its going to take a lot to blows me out of the water with its visual effects. But at the same time this is the first movie that is VFX based that I have seen since Avatar, which is like comparing apples and oranges, you just can't do it.
  

Moral and Ethical Value:

• Themes: Friendship, Coming of Age
  
• Moral of the Story: Always strive to do the right thing.
  
• Take Home: Always stand-up for what you believe in even if others don't agree with you.
  

Overall: B+: Even with my bias to Greek mythology it's a good movie. I hope it get an enough money to finish the rest of the books. The first movie excited my interest.

Review: The Book of Eli

IMDb

Title: The Book of Eli
Distributor: Alcon Entertainment (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Director: Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes
Writer(s): Gary Whitta (written by)
Staring: Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Mila Kunis
MPAA Rating: Rated R for some brutal violence and language.
Running Time: 118 min
Synopsis: A post-apocalyptic tale, in which a lone man fights his way across America in order to protect a sacred book that holds the secrets to saving humankind.

What Others Are Saying?

At The Movies: A.O. Scott: Skip It, Michael Phillips: See It
Rotten Tomatoes: T-Meter: 45% (Rotten), Top Critics: 50% (Rotten), RT Community: 82% (Fresh)
Metacritic: Critics: 53 out of 100, Users: 7.8 out of 10
MRQE Metric: 55: (5.0% A, 40.1% B, 34.9% C, 15.3% D, and 4.4% F)
Yahoo Movies: Critics: NA Users: NA

My Review

Source Material: Written by Gary Whitta

Entertaining Value:

• Action Elements: This film is fairly action pack with some pretty cool hand-to-hand combat scene with Denzel Washington in a lack of better terms kicking ass.
• Comedy Elements: The comedy in this film come primary from the raw brutality of some of the scenes, Schadenfreude, pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others.
• Dramatic Elements: There are a few moment between Denzel Washington and Mila Kunis characters but nothing that impacting. The film is mainly action based.
  
• Sci-Fi Elements: There are some sci- fi element only because this film takes place in a post-apocalyptic world. How we live has adapted to our surroundings therefore bring some sci-fi elements.
  

Cinematic Value:

• Acting and Dialogue: B+: Gary Oldman is by far the strongest actor on screen, with Denzel Washington being a close second. Mila Kunis is eye candy with some acting talent. So overall the acting wasn't that bad.
• Art Direction: B: The new post-apocalyptic is believe which is always a good thing which may point more toward the effect team, than the art department, either way it was decent.
• Cinematography: B: The one thing that I noticed was this film was one of those few films that knew how to capture action on film without it being to shaky.
  
• Direction: B: It seem co-direction movies have a slightly better advantage and that shows in this film. The pace of the film was good, not to long but maybe a bit short, on the fact they could explained some things better...(read on in screenplay section)
• Editing: B: The film was easy to follow, no real unique editing style.
  
• Screenplay: C+: I mention in the direction section about the lack of story to explain some of the mysterious things like the power of the book during this post-apocalyptic time, and what cause the world to turn out the way it is in the film.
• Sound and Music: B-: I enjoy the score.
  
• VFX: B+: There were more particle effects that CGI effects which in a film like this it worked better than most VFX movies.
  

Moral and Ethical Value:

• Themes: Religious, Betrayal, Hope
  
• Moral of the Story: Strive for determination, and always finish race even if your last.
  
• Take Home: Diligence will get you far in life.
  

Overall: B: This seem like is going to be one of those movies you either going to like it, mainly because of the action or you going to hate it because of the holes in the story. Personal I recommend it because I liked I but its hard to tell.