Wreck-It Ralph review (First Moviewatchin' Psychopath Post!)

WRECK-IT RALPH:

ROGER RABBIT GETS “WRECKED” BY THIS CHARMING AND HILARIOUS GAMING TRIBUTE!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: A+ (and beyond) (4 stars)

Reviewed November 2012

DISNEY

(From left to right) Dr. Eggman, M. Bison, Zangief, Sergeant Calhoun, Giff, Q-Bert, Sonic the Hedgehog, Wreck-It Ralph, Vanellope Von Schweetz, Fix-It Felix Jr., and Clyde the Ghost in Disney's Wreck-It Ralph

I’M GONNA WRECK IT!

            Disney’s new animated comedy Wreck-It Ralph is a stunning, unforgettable, and hilarious tribute to some of our favorite video games we grew up with. It has a similar premise to Disney’s 1988 classic, Who Framed Roger Rabbit with several cameos in it but Wreck-It Ralph has their guest characters together in a way which has never been done before.

            Ralph is the “bad guy” in the popular arcade game, Fix-It Felix Jr. and he’s been doing the same job for thirty years now. He’s sick and tired of the same old thing, Ralph gets pushed off the building and Felix gets gold medals and everyone loves him.

            So at the Bad-Anon meeting in the Pac-Man arcade machine he tells all the other “bad guys” (Dr. Eggman, Bowser, Zangief, Giff, Clyde, Zombie, etc.) that he doesn’t want to be the “bad guy” anymore and sets off on a “Game Changing” adventure through all the games in the arcade to prove he can be a hero.

            Ralph adventures through various game worlds, from the edgy first person shooter game, Hero’s Duty to the sweet and savory racing game, Sugar Rush Speedway where he meets the Hero’s Duty sergeant, Sgt. Calhoun and the cute but annoying Vanellope Von Schweetz from Sugar Rush.

Meanwhile Felix and the rest of the characters from Fix-It Felix Jr. realize Ralph is missing and they go off to find him, otherwise their game will be “Out of Order” and the arcade owner will pull the plug on them and it’s “Game Over”.

The film has a very hilarious voice cast including John C. Reilly (Talladega Nights, Step Brothers) as Wreck-It Ralph, Sarah Silverman (The Sarah Silverman Program) as Vanellope Von Schweetz, Jack McBrayer (30 Rock) as Fix-It Felix Jr., and Jane Lynch (Glee) as Sgt. Calhoun. Roger Craig Smith (Resident Evil, Sonic the Hedgehog) also reprises his voice role as Sonic the Hedgehog in the movie.

Wreck-It Ralph is fun for adults as it is for kids, especially to the ones who play video games. Unlike most video game based movies (Super Mario Bros., Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, Silent Hill) Wreck-It Ralph takes the characters we know and love and blend them together into a completely original masterpiece.

This is the movie gamers have been waiting for, a movie about video games that Hollywood doesn’t screw up. Unlike most of them where they have little or no accuracy to the video games they were based on, Wreck-It Ralph laughs at them with its charm, wit, and thrills and still able to keep some accuracy of the video games in there.

 Disney really outdid themselves with this one; I loved it just as much as a Pixar movie.

Kids will enjoy the slapstick humor and parents will love the positive messages and charming characters, and both kids and parents old enough will love the video game references rolled into it. It’s something the whole family could enjoy that’s worth your “quarters”.

The Avengers review

MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS:

EARTH’S MIGHTIEST HEROES ASSEMBLE IN AN ADRENALINE BLAST OF MARVEL COMICS ORGASM!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: A+ (4 stars)

Reviewed May 2012

MARVEL STUDIOS

Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) Avenging the world in Marvel’s The Avengers

            I’ve been a fan of Marvel comics for years and I saw every theatrically released movie based on their comics but never would I have expected a film like this to come along, a movie with not one, but four of Marvel’s mightiest superheroes fighting on the same side to protect the world in the long awaited Marvel’s The Avengers. It’s the sixth installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the first installment to feature every superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Although I wasn’t expecting this movie to be made at the time, the release date for The Avengers was set before the first Iron Man back in 2008; it’s a good thing they waited until the time was right to release it.

The world is on the brink of disaster and Nick Fury, director of the top-secret peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D must assemble a team of heroes to protect it. He calls upon billionaire and weapons developer Tony Stark a.k.a. Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.-Iron Man, Tropic Thunder, Sherlock Holmes), Thor the God of Thunder from Asgard (Chris Hemsworth-Thor, The Cabin in the Woods, Snow White & the Huntsman), Super Soldier Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans-Captain America: The First Avenger, Fantastic 4), scientist Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo replacing Edward Norton-Collateral, Zodiac) who was exposed to gamma radiation and transforms into the enormous green rage monster known as The Incredible Hulk (voiced by Lou Ferrigno-The Incredible Hulk TV series), and a couple of trained assassins Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner-The Hurt Locker, Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol) and Natasha Romanoff or Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson-Iron Man 2, The Spirit, We Bought a Zoo) to defeat an army of aliens assembled by Thor’s adopted brother and nemesis Loki (Tom Hiddleston-Thor, Deep Blue Sea) who recently acquired a powerful weapon that can wipe out the entire planet, the Tesseract (Hydra’s secret weapon from Captain America: The First Avenger).

            The Avengers is so far the best film out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe because it was able to stay exciting and funny and have a good story at the same time with excellent writing and direction by Joss Whedon (writer-The Cabin in the Woods, Serenity, various Pixar animated films) who was a big fan of The Avengers Marvel comic books. The Marvel heroes and villains were in good hands. The cast’s acting was solid with surprisingly good chemistry from them especially from Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, and Robert Downey Jr. who seemed to have enjoyed working together since Mark Ruffalo and Robert Downey Jr. both played geniuses except one of them has breathtaking anger management problems. The bitter rivalry between Captain America and Iron Man was flawless, amazing visual effects and action sequences especially the climactic final battle between the Avengers and Loki’s army, plus Scarlett Johansson and Jeremy Renner got to kick some serious @$$ during the final battle.

During production Joss Whedon used the Avatar Motion Capture technology when Mark Ruffalo played the Hulk. Unlike Eric Bana and Edward Norton where directors Ang Lee (The Hulk 2003) and Louis Leterrier (The Incredible Hulk 2008) used computer animation for the Hulk and making him look like a character from a video game, Mark Ruffalo actually played the Hulk thanks to the Motion Capture technology and Lou Ferrigno provided the Hulk’s voice.

            The Avengers is currently the top grossing superhero film of all time; The Dark Knight previously held the record back in 2008, the top grossing film of 2012 in front of The Hunger Games, and the best movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, even better than the first Iron Man. It’s so thrilling, funny, and entertaining that once the movie is over you’ll go back in line, buy another ticket, and see it again.

            The Avengers should satisfy all fans of comic books at least until The Amazing Spider-Man and The Dark Knight Rises come out later on in the summer.