Jan 19 2019

Logan Lerman Weekend – Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief (2010)

Director: Chris Columbus

Writer: Craig Titley (Screenplay) Rick Riordan (Novel)

Starring: Logan Lerman, Peirce Brosnan, Uma Thurman, Steve Coogan, Sean Bean, Alexandra Daddario, Brandon T Jackson, Jake Abel

Plot: A teenager discovers he’s the descendant of a Greek god and sets out on an adventure to settle an on-going battle between the gods.

Tagline – Worlds collide.

Runtime: 1 Hour 58 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Fun Adventure Film

Story: Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief starts when struggling high school student Percy Jackson (Lerman) learns about his mysterious father, when a teacher turns into a monster of sorts, Percy is a demi-god and is being targeted by the Greek Gods who believe he has stolen Zeus Lightning.

Percy’s life changes when he is taken to a secret location for all demi-gods by his protector Grover (Jackson), where he must learn to fight like the rest of the demi-gods as he is joined by Annabeth (Daddario) on an adventure to learn who has the stolen the lightning.

Thoughts on Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief

Characters – Percy Jackson is your average struggling high school student, raised by his mother with no clue about his father. His life is about to change forever when he learns that he is a demi-god and must prove he isn’t the person responsible for the potential war between the gods and learn his place in the world. Grover is the protector of Percy in the real world and helps guide him through the world. Annabeth is the best warrior of the demi-gods in training, she hasn’t been to go on quests before and sees this as her chance to experience the world. Zeus is in search of his lightning bolt with the gods believing it is Percy. Chiron trains the demi-gods in battle, he keeps them safe while they are preparing to any encounters. We do have the gods we know too with Athena, Hades and Poseidon being involved in the adventure.

Performances – Logan Lerman is good in this leading role, when it comes to this genre, we need a young actor that can bring the energy and the acting which Logan brings. Brandon and Alexandra give great supporting performances which bring together both the comedy and the brains needs to guide Percy. We have the A-listers here too with Sean Bean, Pierce Brosnan, Uma Thurman and Steve Coogan having fun in the role.

Story – The story follows an unlikely high school student that finds himself learning his true identity as a demi-god and must go on his first adventure with the Gods searching for him. This is a wonderful introduction to the character of Percy and the people will be working with or fighting against. We go through the learning curve with Percy which also brings the mythology of the Greeks to different location around America. We do get darker moments in the story even though it is just as fun as it needs to be for vision of the Greek Gods in modern society. The flaw in the story comes from the fact that Percy does seem to get out of each situation too easily as a lot are dealing with the idea of Gods he wouldn’t know how to battle against.

Adventure/Fantasy – The adventure side of this film takes Percy into a world he had no idea of, Annabeth into the real world and the two needing to advise each other through the battles they will face. The fantasy world of Gods and monsters is front and centre here, mixing with he modern day world wonderfully well.

Settings – The film brings the mythology of the Greek Gods to America where we learn just how the two become one with the iconic locations from history being reimagined in America.

Special Effects – The effects in the film are good, we have a lot that could come off terrible, but this is a success for the ambitious ideas behind different moments in the film.

Scene of the Movie – Hades meeting in the underworld.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – It is too easy for Percy to escape certain situations.

Final Thoughts – This is a fun adventure film that is a great introduction to a much bigger series of stories we could see coming in the future.

Overall: Fun and enjoyable throughout.

Rating

Jan 19 2019

ABC Film Challenge – Best of 2018 – S – Solo a Star Wars Story (2018) Movie Rob’s Pick

Head over to Movie Rob’s for more reviews

“It’s risky, but it’s worth a try.” – Qira

Number of Times Seen – 5 (24 May 2018, 30 May 2018, 13 Sep 2018, 30 Oct 2018 and 14 Jan 2019)

Link to original review – Here, Here, Here and Here

Brief Synopsis – A young scrounger tries to find a way to survive on the streets of the crime ridden planet of Corellia in the hope to eventually reach the stars.

My Take on it – When Darren informed me of this month’s topic, this was another film that immediately popped into my head as being among the best of the movies released in 2018.

I have always been a fan of everything Star Wars and I have loved every one of the films that they have made (besides the Star Wars Holiday Special (1978) which was terrible).

This film is a great addition to the entire SW universe because it allows us to see the origin of an extremely important character who is not part of the Skywalker lineage.

We get to learn so much about how the character of Han Solo came to be based on his early life.

They do a great job explaining his origins along with giving us enough explanations about his various character traits and how they became to be over the years.

It may seem to some that they cram in way too much, but that’s the point of an origin story especially when you know that you probably will only get one chance at doing one.

There are some amazing action scenes in this film and is probably one of the most action packed films of the saga (to date) because we get to see so many varying kinds of action scenes that show different aspects of the kind of world a smuggler could live in.

The special effects are superb and they do a wondrous job transporting us to that Galaxy Far Far Away even if things are a bit different from what we have been used to in the past.

Ron Howard does a great job directing this film and keeps things so thrilling the entire way through.

The choice to keep the Jedi out of this film’s story works really well in order to give us a look at other things in this Galaxy that are both related and unrelated to everything we already know about it.

The cast of this film is great and Alden Ehrenreich does an amazing job both imitating the past performances of Harrison Ford in the role while at the same time bringing a youthful and inspirational interpretation to this role.

The rest of the characters all help keep things quite enjoyable throughout and all play the parts of the story really well in order to help create and transform this character into the smuggler we all love so much and who might be one of the original trilogy’s best characters.

This is a film that will be quite high on my list of Favorite films from 2018 and even though Ive seen it 5 times in just 9 months, I can’t wait to see it again soon.

Bottom Line – Such a great new addition to the Star Wars Universe. WE learn so much of how the character we all came to love came to be. This is a fun origin story because they cram in so much of the traits that we already know about yet still give us reasons for those traits becoming a part of this character. The action scenes are presented in a really thrilling way and Howard does his best to give us such a great ride along the way. The special effects are also great and immediately get the viewer into the mood of the Galaxy Far Far Away. Love the fact that they felt no need to bring the idea of Jedi into the story and only occasionally mention the Empire itself which allows for us to see other aspects of this Galaxy that are bit related and unrelated to everything else we already know. The cast is also great and Ehrenreich does a great job of imitating Ford while also bringing his own interpretation to the role. The rest of the characters all fit into place really well here and help give us such a fun and enjoyable chapter in the life of one of the original trilogy’s best characters. Will definitely be quite high on my end of year Top Ten List. Highly Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – The movie finally addresses a long-time fan theory about the series. When Luke and Obi-wan meet Han Solo in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977), Han boasts about the Millennium Falcon’s speed by claiming that it was the ship that “made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs”. However, people quickly pointed out that a parsec is a measure of distance, not time (one parsec being approximately 3.26 light years, or just over nineteen trillion miles). Star Wars printed materials explained that the Kessel Run is a route of fixed distance, but Han was able to navigate it much quicker, by finding a short-cut that limited his flight to somewhere at, or over, twelve and a half parsecs. This fact was again referenced in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015). This movie agrees with that, by showing that the Kessel Run is normally twenty parsecs long, and runs along a series of corridors through a nebula. Han managed to traverse the nebula itself, risking the debris, very large creatures, and a phenomenon called “the Maw”, and making it to the other end in twelve and a half, to just under thirteen, parsecs (but he says he “rounded it down” to twelve). This film reveals that it was actually slightly more than twelve, but Han was rounding down. Still an impressive feat, considering that Lando says it’s impossible to make it in less than twenty. (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy (9/10) (slight downgrade from original review)

Jan 19 2019

ABC Film Challenge – Best of 2018 – S – Sorry to Bother You (2018)

Director: Boots Riley

Writer: Boots Riley (Screenplay)

Starring: Lakeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, Jermain Fowler, Omaria hardwick, Terry Crew, Patton Oswalt, David Cross, Danny Glover, Steven Yeun, Armie Hammer

Plot: In an alternate present-day version of Oakland, telemarketer Cassius Green discovers a magical key to professional success, propelling him into a universe of greed.

Runtime: 1 Hour 51 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Weird and Wonderful

Story: Sorry to Bother You starts when Cassius Green (Stanfield) gets a brand-new job as a cold caller, his good friend Salvador (Fowler) also works there and his girlfriend Detroit (Thompson) are trying to plan some sort of future together, joined by new co-worker Squeeze (Yeun) and Langston (Glover) they start searching for the improvement in the job.

When Cassius gets a promotion his life will change forever as he now knows what it is to be away from the financial struggle he has been living through.

Thoughts on Sorry to Bother You

Characters – Cassius Green is a telemarketer living in his Uncle’s garage with his girlfriend, he wants to make more of his life while remaining loyal to his friends, when he gets the chance to make the money, but it will come at a cost, leaving him torn between both worlds needing to make the right decision. Detroit is the girlfriend of Cassius, she is an artist at heart enjoying being close to the streets with her work, she wants to stay loyal to the people that support her. Salvador is the best friend that works with Cassius, he is the one that could see his friend turning his back on him. Mr well they bleep out his name, he welcomes Cassius to upper level seeing him as the star employee. Sergio is the uncle that is tight for money but will support Cassius however difficult it happens to be. Langston shows Cassius how to make an impact in the job, while Squeeze becomes the friend at work trying to make a difference with everything for the employees. Steve Lift runs a company which in the eyes of some is slave labour, he plays it off an opportunity and is happy to see the money roll in.

Performances – Lakeith Stanfield in the leading role is the true star of the film, each scene he is in we are wanting to see more from him, he hits every emotion needed for his characters reactions. Armie Hammer continues to show us just how talented he is with his role in this film. we do get strong performance from the supporting cast with Tessa Thompson, Steven Yeun and Jermaine Fowler getting the best moments.

Story – The story shows us how one man’s life can change once he shows that he has a new skill he didn’t know he had, it plays along the lines of getting rich and need to stay loyal to his friends. This is the core of the story, but it soon goes in a different direction, one that will surprise you with what is being built up to. This is a story that is trying to send a message about employment problems a racial vision of people. It does have ideas that things could be changed in the future even if they are focusing what could only cause a bigger problem over solving them. This is going to be a story which you can see people turn away because of just how weird it gets, but it will be a unique vision too.

Comedy/Fantasy/Sci-Fi – The film does have comedic elements once we get to see what is going on too, it is unique in its style, the fantasy side of the film comes from what is meant to be happening behind closed doors in the film.

Settings – The film is set in Oakland, without doing any research this is just a normal American city that doesn’t always give opportunity to the people from the city, it works because it shows how things can get out of hand here.

Special Effects – The effects in the film are good when we see what is happening with the master plan in the film.

Scene of the Movie – The calls are filmed in a unique way which will be remembered.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The forced rap.

Final Thoughts – This is easily one of the most unique films you will see this year, it has one of the weirdest twists that any story will offer with great performances throughout.

Overall: Something you will never forget.

Rating