Sunday, May 25, 2014

X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

Rated: PG-13 - Runtime: 131 min
tesg's Rating: Three stars (out of four)

Some of the key players from the first three X-Men movies send Wolverine back in time to hook up with a couple of the guys in the prequel to change history and reset everything to two and a half movies ago so that we never ever have to watch the last two movies ever again.

Which is a pretty great gift to humanity.

Thanks for coming, cast of the prequel.  Say 'hi' to the Duke cousins for us.

Saturday, May 17, 2014

Godzilla (2014)

Rated: PG-13 - Runtime: 123 min
tesg's Rating: Two stars (out of four)

Most people probably think of Godzilla in the tone of the campy color Japanese films where Godzilla saves humanity from really ridiculous monsters.  True film buffs will direct you to the original 1954 Japanese film, a darker tone classic monster movie where Godzilla is introduced as an enemy they're trying to kill while a political debate goes on about learning from the circumstances that led to Godzilla's creation.

This new feature is trying to be both without the camp factor.  The result is a mess.  The feature has a dark tone.  There's too much human drama...Godzilla doesn't even show up until about halfway in.  The monsters just look out of place amidst the modern high-tech special effects.  The monster battles are seemingly always abbreviated.  Heck, some of the human scenes seem abbreviated.  Key points that should be documented within the movie aren't...we're just supposed to assume they happened.

It's certainly better than Roland Emmerich's horrible 1998 effort, but hey...what isn't.

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Under the Skin (2014)

Rated: R - Runtime: 108 min
tesg's Rating: Two and one half stars (out of four)

This is a slow-moving supernatural thriller that tells its story more through visuals than dialogue.  A girl seeks out men who are alone in life and not likely to be missed by anyone and lures them into a black goo.  What exactly happens to them and where this leads to are hashed out as the movie progresses.

It does a good job of that, but this won't be everyone's cup of tea.

Friday, May 2, 2014

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

Rated: PG-13 - Runtime: 142 min
tesg's Rating: Two and one half stars (out of four)

It wouldn't take a lot of effort to put in some filler characters and turn this script into a season-long television series.  And with a few action scene exceptions, this movie FEELS like a television series, quality-wise.