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.

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.