Red | Review

Only so often will you be able to see Queen Elizabeth, Henry VII, King Agamemnon and Nelson Mandela shooting guns in the same movie. Cherish this moment people. Cherish it.

So what we have here is a comic book adaptation called Red which pretty much has the best and oldest dramatic actors in Hollywood take a swing at an action comedy flick. Oh and then there's Bruce Willis of course.

The film's about Bruce Willis' character who's a retired ex-FBI agent or something, who was an extreme badass in his time. He has trouble settling in a peaceful life when all of a sudden he finds that he and his ex-team have been ordered killed because of something they witnessed during their course of duty and become outlaws in bringing the guys behind their execution order down. And along the way Bruce Willis picks up Mary-Louis Parker who looks mega fine at 50.

How is it, that these bunch of old ass actors were able to make a much better version of The Expendables than all those other action stars combined? Sure there were some underused actors in the film, ahem.. Morgan Freeman, but Red is actually one action packed and genuinely funny movie.

The beginning of Red does kind of drag a bit, it's only when Bruce Willis' character picks up Mary-Louis Parker and the rest of his teammates that the film finally becomes the action comedy it promises to be. Bruce Willis was actually the weakest link in this. He was there to do one thing and that was to connect all the other cast members together for one big mullah. Once Bruce Willis got Hellen Mirren, John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman and Mary-Louis Parker into the room, he immediately becomes a none character.

The big three on the other hand, Hellen Mirren, John Malkovich and Morgan Freeman played off one another in amazing comedic fashion. I don't think it was really even their effort of being funny and more of the idea that all these acting greats were actually in an action movie that was the joke. I particularly loved John Malkovich who as always, plays a fantastic psycho and Hellen Mirren who looks so hella hot holding an AK-47.

Karl Urban gave the best archetype performance in this movie. His character I felt, in the midst of all the other actors was the most interesting in Red. He does start out like the typical villain but he grows on you as the film progresses and you can't help but root for the guy by the end of the movie. Mary-Louis Parker was great, I felt like she wasn't given much to do other than be the screaming Bond girl that gets dragged around by the hero but she made it worked most of the time.

For an action movie, the pacing only picks up towards the last 20 minutes of the movie. Red felt more like an action flick 10% of the time and the rest were the comedy segments of the film. But when they do get to that last action scene, it's all out Mission Impossible style awesomeness.

This is something worth watching in the cinema, not worth buying on DVD, but still a good comedy film on it's whole.

RATING: 6/10

TRON: Legacy | Review

I ran all the way home from shooting to watch THIS?

So two years ago, Disney previewed a Light Cycle teaser of TRON at ComicCon and I immediately had a geekgasm, everything about looked amazing and I was so psyched to see TRON: Legacy. Now I've never seen the original film, nor do I know anything about the premise, but based on what I saw last night.. Disney just blew a huge chunk of money making a 2 hour long music video.

The film is about Sam, son of Kevin Flynn played by Jeff Bridges from the original TRON investigating his father's disappearance when he gets a page from his dad's abandoned arcade and gets sucked into The Grid, the world within a video-game that his father created in the original TRON. There he finds out that his dad has been trapped there by a digital incarnation of himself who turned against him and is causing all kinds of hell in The Grid.

Reviews for the movie have been extremely polarized lately and I come to offer you a better understanding of TRON: Legacy. In a way, this film is amazing and in another, it is a sausagefest of black lights, Olivia Wilde and a non-existent story. It's really a matter of perspective when it comes to Legacy.

The visual effects in TRON is mind-blowing. This is that kind of special effects that was as flashy as Transformers yet pristine like Avatar, creating a magnificent world of a video game come to life on the big screen. The film starts rolling with a very badass disc-fighting scene and then a Light Cycle race which were just absolute eye candy for the audience. The action scenes in this film are amazing the only problem is, most of it happens in the first 40 minutes of the film.

The other half of the film is laden with boring, nonsensical exposition and a disgusting performance by Michael Sheen to keep the audience entertained before the film finally switches back to action mode in the last 15 minutes. If you're gonna make a movie with a good story, then have a good story and good characters,
If you're gonna make a movie with a bad story, then have a lot of action to distract me. And on that note, TRON: Legacy failed at both in some levels.

But I gotta give praise to the entire technical crew behind the film. TRON: Legacy is just so gorgeous that just watching the empty world of The Grid with no actors or story in it is already worth the admission ticket. The film's special effects, sound editing, editor and cinematographer are definite shoe in's for the Oscars along with the art directors and possibly Daft Punk who made a surprisingly compatible, heart-stopping score that went so well with the action scenes.

In terms of characters, there are lots of issues. I loved the character of Clu and I thought Jeff Bridges and the effects team did an amazing job of putting him together, but the other characters in the film, particularly Beau Garrett, Olivia Wilde and Garrett Hedlund, who served more of set pieces to the action and visuals. The Kevin Flynn character himself was inconsistent, switching from a zen Jedi Master like person to an all-out hippie Big Lebowski. And the biggest disappointment of all is the appearance of Tron himself. I will say no more, only that if you're gonna have a sci-fi icon come back into a sequel named after him... you gotta do something more with the guy. Just saying is all.

So yes it's all a matter of perspective. Personally, I loved TRON: Legacy because I came into it knowing nothing of the Grid universe and only expected to see boundary busting visuals. On that level, Legacy was a fantastic film. However, I cannot deny that this was a severly flawed blockbuster with gaping storylines and a multitude of throwaway performances.

RATING: 5/10

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole | Review

Who would have thought a movie with talking animated owls would be so awesomely badass.

So we got Zack Snyder director of 300 and Watchmen doing one of the most shocking career shifts I have ever seen, doing animation and a fantasy animated film at that. And I have had my problems with his overuse of slow-mo's in the past but Snyder has finally found a way to use that slow-mo to great effect. I fucking love this movie.

So the movie is an adaptation of a series of books that follows an owlet, Soren who gets kidnapped along with his brother, Kludd to live in an evil brainwashing clan where he is forced to mine a magnetic element which will be used by the so-called 'Pure Ones" to defeat the Guardians of Ga'Hoole, legendary owl warriors on the scale of King Arthur where everyone has heard of them but no one knows if they exist. Soren escapes the clan and goes on a journey with his new found friends to find the Guardians.

A few months ago I was discussing in a post my predictions for Best Animated Feature for the Oscas, and  think Legend of the Guardians has a strong chance of getting nominated just based on the film's spectacular visuals. The company that animated Legends did Happy Feet and the visual effects of the film was so detailed and beautiful. These guys really know how to make birds man.

The visuals alone are so gorgeous who cares how limited the story was, I was mesmerized watching this on the big screen and even better in 3-D. I think if there is any flying whatsoever in a film, it's gonna look amazing in 3-D. The biggest compliment I can give the film is that these owls look real. The feathers, the postures even down to the smallest movements seem realistic, you almost forget this is an animated film.

The voice cast in this was great. We had Hellen Mirren, Hugo Weaving, Jim Strugess, Geoffrey Rush and David Wenham in this. All giving great voice work which I think is the better formula for animated films to have voices that suite characters instead of just throwing in celebrity voices that are so easily recognizable that it throws the audience away from the main focus of the film, which is the story.

But the writing of Legends leave much to be desired. One being the villains of the film which were poorly undeveloped. I mean they really didn't have much motivations to be evil and go kidnap children and force labor them. They weren't filling their bank accounts being evil, they were just bad because it was a plot convenience I never like seeing in the film. But that's one of the very few complaints I have about Guardians.

Another movie reviewer also pointed out how similar the storyline and characters of Guardians relate almost coherently with that of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. And I do see where they are coming from when they make that criticism and to some extent I believe they are right but I felt that the story was more of coming from the same source as the other two instead of a blind rip-off.

The biggest complaint though was a montage scene they did in the middle of the film where the owls were training for a fight and they have a song played in the background that was sung by no one other than Owl City. I mean..... C'mon!!

Amidst the flaws, this is one magical film for the holidays.

RATING: 7/10