The Hunger Games review

THE HUNGER GAMES:

A THRILLING AND ACTION PACKED WINNER!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: A (3 ½ stars)

Reviewed March 2012

LIONSGATE

Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen fighting to the death in The Hunger Games

           

            Director Gary Ross (Seabiscuit, Pleasantville) takes a new approach with his film adaption of Suzanne Collins’ best selling novel The Hunger Games and it’s a thrilling, emotional, and completely entertaining movie, and it stays accurate to Suzanne Collins’ book.

            In the near future the nation of Panem selects one man and woman from twelve districts to participate in a competition of survival known as The Hunger Games. Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence- X-Men: First Class) of District 12 volunteers to take her younger sister Primrose’s place in the latest match, the 74^th Annual Hunger Games.

Katniss is joined up with Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson- Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant, Journey to the Center of the Earth) who was also selected to participate in the competition for District 12, a stylist named Cinna (Lenny Kravitz), Capitol escort Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks), and a drunkard and the only District 12 victor Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson- Zombieland, The Messenger) to help her make an impression and possibly win the game, for Prim.

Unfortunately, it’s not that easy because the members of the twelve districts must fight to the death until only one is left, but Katniss is a good hunter and great at archery so she’s got a fighting chance.

The film is well executed with gripping visuals, good chemistry by the cast, and it has plenty of exciting action that should please the audience. It does have its dark moments and although the film is PG-13 they depict it pretty graphic, almost R-rated material.

The Hunger Games is a perfect movie adaption of a popular book in every way, it’s not quite at the Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings level but The Hunger Games is pretty close to them. It’s a completely better film adaption than the silly Twilight films with its charming cast, enchanting visuals, and good plot structure with plenty of sequels to top it off.

Not only is it a great movie adaption of an excellent book, The Hunger Games is an amazing movie in general. The visual effects, terrifying creatures, and dramatic violence are well pieced together in a truly inspirational script with brilliantly executed performances by the film’s cast.

It’s not just a game; The Hunger Games is an experience. 

Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol review

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE- GHOST PROTOCOL: THE SUMMER BLOCKBUSTER…OF THE HOLIDAYS!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: A (3 ½ stars)

Reviewed December 2011

PARAMOUNT PICTURES, SKYDANCE ENTERTAINMENT, AND BAD ROBOT

Tom Cruise kicking butt as Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible- Ghost Protocol

Your Mission, should you choose to accept it…

Tom Cruise (Mission: Impossible series, Top Gun, War of the Worlds) returns as secret agent, Ethan Hunt in the fourth installment of the Mission: Impossible series, Mission: Impossible- Ghost Protocol, directed by Brad Bird (The Incredibles) and produced by Cruise and Mission: Impossible III director J.J. Abrams (Lost, Super 8, Star Trek, Cloverfield). This is a rare fourth installment that doesn’t have a sour aftertaste and it’s the first Mission: Impossible movie to have segments of the film shot with IMAX cameras which definitely adds a whole new experience to the movie.

            The IMF (Impossible Missions Force) is shut down after a bomb destroys the Kremlin, which causes Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his new team, Jane Carter (Paula Patton) and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg-Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Paul) to go rogue to clear their organization’s name. It turns out the bomb attack on the Kremlin was caused by a Russian organization led by Kurt Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist).

The bomb attack is nothing compared to what Hendricks really has planned. He’s planning to blow up half the world by unleashing a nuclear missile. During a little joyride through the city, Hunt’s colleague Luther Stickell (Tom Wilkinson-The Green Hornet, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Debt) explains to Hunt about the bomb attack which the IMF was framed for, while the president initiated “Ghost Protocol” he also tells him if Hunt’s team is caught by the Russians while they’re infiltrating their “base” they will be branded terrorists out to insight global nuclear war.

Ethan and his team must infiltrate Hendricks’ base and stop him from unleashing the missile. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

The movie had exciting action sequences, gadgets, and spectacular IMAX scenes. Particularly the scene where Tom Cruise is climbing up the Burj Khalifa with magnetic gloves-- a scene that will give you chills when watching the IMAX version of the movie. The gloves Ethan Hunt used during that scene were cool but his jet and car in the movie were just plain amazing.

Though the movie’s plot is written a little thin and tends to be predictable at times, it’s still a great action movie with plenty of excitement and thrills to satisfy fans of the franchise. The IMAX version has 30 thrilling minutes of select footage shot with IMAX cameras, so a lot of the scenes stretched beyond normal movie theaters.

            It may not be better than the 1996 original Mission: Impossible but Mission: Impossible- Ghost Protocol is slightly better than the second and third installments of the series (The second and third Mission: Impossible movies are not terrible but they’re not as good as the original or Ghost Protocol), it still delivered the action and excitement of all three films plus add in the gripping IMAX segments and that’s Mission: Impossible- Ghost Protocol.

THIS REVIEW WILL SELF-DESTRUCT IN 5 SECONDS! 

NOVA Episode review

NOVA: HUNTING THE EDGE OF SPACE:

IT’S LIKE GRAVITY AND INTERSTELLAR, EXCEPT IT’S REALLY HAPPENING AND LACKS THE IMAX EXPERIENCE!

By Nico Beland

Documentary review: B+ (3 stars)

PBS

            So far, 2014 has been my year of experimenting with media reviews, I reviewed documentaries, posted recaps of the Emerald City and Rose City Comic Con, and I reviewed a couple TV shows, and now my first and probably only review of a PBS documentary, a NOVA episode titled, Hunting the Edge of Space. Now don’t get me wrong, I like space documentaries, especially IMAX ones like Space Station 3D and more recently, Hubble 3D, but I usually don’t tackle them with a review, but today I am going to make a special exception.

            The documentary has some breathtaking shots of how a galaxy is formed, an interesting story about the invention of the telescope, and lots of interviews. The best part of the documentary is watching the galaxies form because I have never seen anything like that before and it really caught my intention and almost looked like something out of a science-fiction movie, I actually almost forgot I was watching a PBS space documentary, it almost felt like I was watching Interstellar again, except more realistic.

            The special explained in great detail how a simple instrument like the telescope has changed our understanding of our place in the universe, now we have the massive Hubble space telescope and satellites orbiting through space and providing us a glimpse of what is going on beyond our planet. I felt this documentary doesn’t belong as a NOVA episode on PBS, but rather a documentary on an IMAX screen, but that’s just me.

            I haven’t watched a whole lot of NOVA, but perhaps after watching this 2-part documentary about space and the telescope, it might encourage me to check more of it out. Plus, this is my time to experiment with my reviews and don’t rely completely on traditional movies but all kinds of things in the media, whether it’s a TV show, independent film, or a documentary like this one.

            It certainly was quite a journey to the edge of space that any fans of NOVA or space documentaries should enjoy, but for me, I’ll probably just give Gravity and Interstellar more viewings.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes review

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES:

A REBOOT THAT’S JUST AS SOLID AS ITS ORIGINAL FRANCHISE!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: A (3 ½ stars)

20^TH CENTURY FOX

Digital ape Caesar in battle against humans in Rise of the Planet of the Apes

            Who would have thought a reboot of the successful Planet of the Apes franchise would be possible, even after the poor reception of Tim Burton’s 2001 Planet of the Apes remake. In comes director, Rupert Wyatt (The Escapist) and the charming James Franco (Spider-Man trilogy, Milk, 127 Hours) who stars as Dr. Will Rodman, a scientist who created a drug that is claimed to cure his father’s Alzheimer’s disease, known as ALZ-112.

            The ALZ-112 has been tested on laboratory apes and after the death of a mother ape, Will ends up adopting a young chimp named Caesar (Andy Serkis-The Lord of the Rings trilogy) and during the time spam of raising him, Caesar has gained high intelligence, due to the genes from the ALZ-112 from his mother.

            Everything seems to be going great with Will and Caesar, until Caesar notices a conflict between Will’s father, Charles (John Lithgow-Shrek) and a neighbor and goes amuck. Shortly afterwards he is taken to an animal shelter being run by the ruthless John Landon (Brian Cox-Super Troopers, X2: X-Men United, Braveheart) and his ape-abusive son (Tom Felton-Harry Potter franchise).

            Meanwhile Will is still experimenting with the ALZ-112 so it can perfectly cure the disease, completely unaware of the torment Caesar is going through. Soon enough Caesar befriends the other apes in the animal shelter, breaks free, and acquires containers of the ALZ-112 drug and uses them on the apes.

            The genetically altered apes break out of the animal shelter and plunges San Francisco into a war zone between humans and apes. So it’s up to Will and his girlfriend, Caroline Aranha (Freida Pinto-Slumdog Millionaire) to find Caesar and put an end to this “Ape-ocalypse”.

            Overall, Rise of the Planet of the Apes is an incredibly strong re-imaging of the iconic franchise. With its complex but entertaining premise, strong acting, and breathtaking CG special effects and motion capture, all done by the brilliant CG designers who worked on James Cameron’s Avatar and being brought to life by Gollum himself, Andy Serkis as Caesar.

            It’s a shame the film wasn’t released in 3D or IMAX, then I would have felt like I was actually swinging around with these digital apes (Luckily, we got the sequel for that). But even without the 3D, the effects and scope of the film look spectacular, you can see all the hairs and facial details on the apes and some of them actually look like real apes.

            I’m not sure how it holds up compared to the 1968 Planet of the Apes, which starred Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowall. Both films looked spectacular with its effects, plot structure, and character development, and while I do praise the CG effects of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, I would have to say I still prefer the original effects from the 1968 film, because the apes were actually there with the humans.

            I do know, it’s a major improvement over Tim Burton’s 2001 re-imaging, pretty much the only thing he captured well was the look of the movie and it’s a shame because he’s usually very brilliant when it comes to making movies like this.

            But oh well, Rise of the Planet of the Apes made up for it, with its adrenaline pumped final battle and a solid ending that’s still open for a sequel. Not only is this a brilliant Planet of the Apes re-imaging, but it’s a brilliant film altogether.

Whale Rider review

WHALE RIDER:

WHILE THE FILM DRAGS IN THE BEGINNING, OVERALL IT’S AN UPLIFTING AND IMPRESSIVE JOURNEY!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: B (3 stars)

NEW MARKET FILMS

Keisha Castle-Hughes in Whale Rider

            Here we go again, another story about a kid and an animal, and to think we had plenty of those back in the 90s, this time it’s a movie about a whale (Now that sounds familiar), only in this film it takes place in New Zealand. The film I am talking about is Whale Rider, directed by Niki Caro and starring Keisha Castle-Hughes (Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, The Nativity Story) as a little girl named Pai, living on the eastern coast of New Zealand. 

            In New Zealand, the Whangara people believed that their ancestor, Paikea was saved from drowning by a whale. Since then, the tribal group has granted leadership positions for first-born males, believing they are descendants of Paikea.

            The tradition is tested when a young mother dies during childbirth along with her newborn son. His twin sister manages to survive and the father runs off with grief.

            The little girl, now going under the name, Pai (Keisha Castle-Hughes) is brought up by her stubborn grandfather and caring grandmother.

            Koro, the leader of the tribe is upset because Pai’s twin brother was supposed to be the new leader. Soon Pai joins the tribe and discovers a secret that she may be a descendant of Paikea.

            Honestly, I couldn’t completely get into this movie, it’s not terrible and I could tell a lot of effort was put into it, but I found it to be rather overrated and could have used more whale scenes.

            Once the whale showed up, it became more interesting and the scenes of the whale swimming in the water are absolutely beautiful.

            Besides the whale scenes, I also have to give Keisha Castle-Hughes credit for her performance as Pai, she portrays the character very well and you want to know what happens to her.

            If the film had more scenes involving the whale and a more interesting plot, I probably would have had more positive things to say about it. But for what it is, it’s a decent flick, not really my type but I’m glad I checked it out.

Mere Dad Ki Maruti review

MERE DAD KI MARUTI:

THOUGH IT MAY NOT APPEAL TO PEOPLE WHO AREN’T BOLLYWOOD FANS, IT HAS ITS SHARE OF HUMOR AND HEART TO BOOT!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: B- (3 stars)

Sameer, Tej, and Jasleen in Mere Dad Ki Maruti

            My first review of a Bollywood movie; I really should have seen this coming. For those of you who don’t know, Bollywood movies are Hindi films made outside of the Hollywood system, and are usually made in India.

            They mostly consist of characters singing, dancing, and having a great time, there’s often comedy put in and some heart behind it.

            This being one of them, Mere Dad Ki Maruti, set in Chandigarh, where a wedding is about to take place. Father, Tej Khullar bought a new Maruti car for his daughter and soon-to-be son in law.

            Unfortunately things get out of hand when his college going son, Sameer secretly takes the car for a little joy ride, to impress the hottest girl in school, Jasleen. It soon becomes chaos when the car gets stolen, trouble with the law, and a disappointed father.

            While Bollywood films aren’t really my style, I thought Mere Dad Ki Maruti overall was decent. The characters are funny and amusing to watch and there’s plenty of gags and humor to boot.

            I guess my only issue is the plot, it’s pretty much a Hindi knockoff of Dude Where’s My Car, but that’s not really a major problem with the movie nor does it distract from everything else.

            It was an interesting experience during my time of being a “Moviewatchin’ Psychopath!” to watch a Bollywood film, aside from the traditional Hollywood made movies that I usually see in the cinema.

            This may lead to me trying out more Bollywood movies on Netflix or Xfinity On Demand, perhaps if I watched more of them, I would have the right mind set to discuss these types of movies.

            If you’re a fan of Bollywood films or foreign language movies, you’ll probably like it okay, but people who focus mainly on the Hollywood system may not be that engaged, but it’s worth a shot.