Tag: 2014

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Movie Review

Elsa & Fred (2014) Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – Romance – E – Elsa & Fred (2014) Movie Review

Director: Michael Radford

Writer: Marcos Carnevale, Marcela Guerty, Lily Ann Martin (Screenplay)

Starring: Shirley MacLaine, Christopher Plummer, Marcia Gay Harden, Wendell Pierce, Jared Gilman, Erika Alexander

Plot: A withdrawn senior experiences life in new ways when he begins spending time with the free-spirited woman who lives across the hall.


Tagline – It’s never too late.

Runtime: 1 Hour 33 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Elsa & Fred starts when serial liar Elsa (MacLaine) learns she is getting a new neighbour in Fred (Plummer). An recently widowed man who is closed off to the world, being forced into moving in here to be closer to his daughter Lydia (Harden), with a new home carer Laverne (Alexander).

When Elsa starts to get to know Fred, she is trying to get him out of his shell, while showing all the weaknesses in her own ways, which has seen her always talk her way out of situations.

Thoughts on Elsa & Fred

Characters – Elsa is a serial liar, who always ends up making up stories to escape her own truths in life. She is carefree and always trying to capture her youth again, which will see her befriend the new neighbour.

Fred is being forced to move closer to his daughter, so she can hire a carer and know where he is during his own medical problems. He doesn’t like letting people into his life, but Elsa seems to find a way to bring him out of his shell.

Lydia is the daughter that has moved Fred closer, she does get involved in his life more than normal, but only because she cares, while her husband’s plans go on more than they need to.

Performances – Shirley MacLaine is great with her role, which she has to seem like she is distant from certain real world moments. While Christopher Plummer as a grumpy lonely man that comes out of his shell shines through the film, with the supporting cast all doing great through the film.

Story

The story follows two neighbours that meet when one moves in and they help each other out of the difficult moment they are facing in life. A moment that they both need instead of facing getting old too soon.

This is a story that shows the importance of letting people into your life when you feel the weakest. Seeing how they will look to help you overcome the struggles you have been through and help you escape to enjoy the next stages of life. How family can be there to support you, but it will be the strangers in life that you will find offer a different kind of love. It does play out like you would expect, which makes it an easy watch throughout.

Comedy/Romance – The comedy in the film comes from the different situations the pair find themselves in. It will get chuckles rather than laugh out loud moments, while the romance shows us that you are never too old to fall in love.

Settings – The film is set in New Orleans, where both sides have lived most of their lives, and inside one apartment block could bring them closer than they imagined.


Scene of the Movie – The holiday.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Bit too predictable.

Final Thoughts – Elsa & Fred is a sweet comedy that will get laughs and emotions running as the elderly couple fall in love.

 

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Movie Review

Mr Peabody & Sherman (2014) Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – Animation – M – Mr Peabody & Sherman (2014)

Mr Peabody & Sherman Poster

Director: Rob Minkoff

Writer: Craig Wright (Screenplay)

Starring: (Voice Talents) Ty Burrell, Max Charles, Stephen Colbert, Leslie Mann, Lauri Fraser, Guillaume Aretos

Plot: The time-travelling adventures of an advanced canine and his adopted son, as they endeavor to fix a time rift they created.


Tagline – He’s leaving his mark on history.

Runtime: 1 Hour 32 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Mr. Peabody & Sherman starts as we meet Mr Peabody, a genius dog that was created and achieved everything in life. His grandest achievement being adopting a young boy Sherman. The pair travel through time, where Mr Peabody will teach Sherman about history.

Sherman is facing his biggest challenge alone, school. Where he becomes the victim of the bully Penny, leading to his reputation needing Mr Peabody wanting to fix things. This will only make things worse as Penny goes through time with Sherman, with Mr Peabody needing to rescue them.

Thoughts on Mr Peabody & Sherman

Mr. Peabody & Sherman is a wild animated adventure movie. It will see the unlikely couple of the world’s smartest ever dog teaming up with a young boy to travel through time. Hoping of learn in a way unlike anything seen before. The pair must work together to rescue a classmate of Sherman’s. Which will bring the pair through their toughest father son relationship to date.

It will have the messages about needing to let your children make their own mistakes in life. Letting them learn and experience the world in a way that only they can, not holding them back from their potential. The journey through time will bring us to different locations where major conflict takes place, showing the lighter side of the darker moments in history. This is ultimately a very fun animation adventure that will have plenty of laughs along the way for every member of the family to get a kick out off.

Final Thoughts – Mr. Peabody & Sherman is a truly enjoyable animation movie with plenty to enjoy throughout.

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Movie Review

Age of Tomorrow (2014) Movie Review

Age of Tomorrow – Plenty of Peril

Age of Tomorrow Poster

Director: James Kondelik

Writer: Jacob Cooney, Bill Hanstock (Screenplay)

Cast: Kelly Hu, Anthony Marks, Robert Picardo, Lane Townsend, Morgan West, Mitchell Shawn

Plot: Mankind must fight to survive as Earth is invaded by hostile UFOs bent on destroying the planet. As the epic battle wages on, astronauts sneak aboard the mothership where they discover a portal to the aliens’ home world.

Runtime: 1 Hour 30 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Age of Tomorrow starts when Captain Wheeler (Marks) is summoned by General Magowan (Picardo) for an urgent mission. Dr. Gordon (Hu) has been tracking an impact object through space. One that will hit in 48 hours. The mission will see Wheeler and his unit go into space to destroy the object.

Arriving on the object, the crew learn that the object is extra-terrestrial in nature. Sending crafts to Earth, leaving the crew to fight back against the enemy. Hoping to save Earth.

Thoughts on Age of Tomorrow

Age of Tomorrow is an action sci-fi thriller from Asylum, the low budget production company. That introduction will help show what we talk about next. Starting off wanting to be more like Armageddon, it takes the turn into Independence Day.

Following a couple of different groups of people. We get to dive into each of them, ones by one. As they start getting rolled further along, seeing the supporting characters picked off.  Unlike many of the lower budget movies we see from them. We do seem to get one of the better ones here. One that feels like it has peril involved in every part of it.

This won’t go down as one of the greatest of all time, but it will entertain for the time given. Constantly wanting to keep us guessing along the way, not holding back on anything either. Creating one of the most terrifying alien creatures in recent years.

What the movie here.

Final Thoughts – Age of Tomorrow is one of the better Asylum movies, with perils around every corner.

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Movie Review

Mega Shark vs. Mecha Shark (2014) Movie Review

Mega Shark vs Mecha Shark is big loud low budget shark movie.

Mega Shark vs Mecha Shark Poster

Director: Emile Edwin Smith

Writer: H Perry Horton, Jose Prendes (Screenplay)

Starring: Christopher Judge, Elisabeth Rohm, Matt Lagan, Debbie Gibson, Fiona Hardingham

Plot: A new mega shark threatens to destroy humanity. The government creates an exact robotic copy of the shark, either equal to or greater than the original. Now they must fight to the death while people and whole cities get in the way.

Runtime: 1 Hour 25 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Mega Shark vs Mecha Shark starts when a new Megalodon is found in the ocean, seeing sea travel and plane travel over the oceans crippled. Jake Turner (Judge) and Rosie (Rohm) lead mission to stop the mega shark.

The plan is to release a robotic shark piloted by Rosie to fight back against the megalodon before too many lives are lost, before needing to make the final upgrade, an AI system Nero.

Thoughts on Mega Shark vs. Mecha Shark

Characters & Performances

Jack Turner is the soldier that has created the Nero operating system that could take on the problems being faced. He will work to bring the megalodon down, putting the resource created into play. Rosie is Jack’s partner, the two have worked together for years. She will pilot the Mecha shark before being forced to hand it over to the AI system. Rosie will need to risk the most to make the sharks stop terrorising the oceans. The human characters aren’t that well developed in this movie. Most of them needing to complete one task to the next. With military wanting quick explosive response and the rest of the characters never getting much more. The performances are fine for the low budget B-style movie. Being some of the better compared to the more recent attempts of big budget looking low budget movies.

Story

The story here will see the megalodon return once again, this time the world is more prepared. When they use their own Mecha shark to take down the deadly shark. Only for the AI to start making itself own mind up about how to handle the killer shark. The story will see the couple needing to think fast to find a solution before more people die. All while the bodies are starting to pile up around them. This doesn’t do too much more to the giant shark movies, but can be an entertaining story for the shark lovers out there.

Themes

Mega Shark vs Mecha Shark is a low budget sci-fi big monster movie, with sharks being the biggest draw for this movie. They cause devastation and don’t look that real doing it but it is all good for a movie that is meant to entertain, rather than look the most realistic.  

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Movie Review

Rio 2 (2014) Movie Review

Rio 2 is the standard sequel that will do most of the same well without going too wild.

Rio 2 Poster

Director: Carlos Saldanha

Writer: Don Rhymer, Carlos Kotkin, Jenny Bicks, Yoni Brenner (Screenplay) Carlos Saldanha (Story)

Starring: (Voice Talents) Jesse Eisenberg, Andy Garcia, Jemaine Clement, Jake T Austin, Carlinhos Brown, Kristin Chenoweth, Jim Conroy

Plot: It’s a jungle out there for Blu, Jewel and their three kids after they’re hurtled from Rio de Janeiro to the wilds of the Amazon. As Blu tries to fit in, he goes beak-to-beak with the vengeful Nigel, and meets his father-in-law.


Tagline – It’s on in the Amazon

Runtime: 1 Hour 41 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Rio 2 starts as Blu, Jewel and their children head into the Amazon. Searching for a sighting of their species after believing they are the only ones left of their kind. The adventure will take them through the dangers before meeting Eduardo, Jewel’s father with another flock of their kind.

As Blu must learn to adapt to the rainforest, Eduardo looks to make him more manly. Shaking of the city bird he has only every known, while the old foe Nigel looks to get revenge on Blu.

Thoughts on Rio 2

Rio 2 is the sequel to the popular Rio, which will see Blu needing to adapt to a new environment again. This time the rainforest. This will see him need to stand up against his fears once more to try and do the right thing. While also have the stark warning about deforestation. We get the singing and dancing side of the film too. Which will lighten the mood of the darker subject matter we are going through.

When we break down most of the story, it does feel like a safe re-step of the same issues Ice Age brought up in that location. The animation looks beautiful, like you would expect, which is the best part of the film, with the vibrant colour schemes we see throughout the film.

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Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – Action – P – The Prince (2014) Movie Review

Director: Brian A Miller

Writer: Andre Fabrizio, Jeremy Passmore (Screenplay)

Starring: Jason Patric, Bruce Willis, John Cusack, Jessica Lowndes, Gia Mantegna, Rain, 50 Cent, Don Harvey

Plot: When his daughter is kidnapped, a retired assassin is drawn back into the life he gave up. To rescue her, he must confront his former rival.


Tagline – Mercy is for the weak.

Runtime: 1 Hour 33 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: The Prince starts when a mild-mannered former assassin Paul (Patric) known as ‘The Prince’ goes in search of his daughter Beth (Mantegna) he finds her roommate Angela (Lowndes) who joins in in New Orleans after Beth gets caught up in a drug ring.

Paul reappearance has led to Omar (Willis) putting everything he has to get revenge on Paul for killing his wife and daughter, leading to us see if Paul can save his daughter and make it out alive.

Thoughts on The Prince

Thoughts – The Prince is a revenge thriller that shows a lethal assassin going in search for his daughter, only to find a target on his back because of what he did in a previous life. The way Paul goes on the hunt for his daughter, shows the ruthless nature he could show, while maintaining the everyday persona he has created in everyday life. The different sides to everything going on shows us just how easily someone can get dragged back into the criminal world, only we could have seen a lot more from what Omar was all about, as his main assassin Mark has plenty of quirks to how he operates, only we don’t dive into them when it comes to the kills. When it comes to performances Jason Patric is the strongest out of the big three named stars, with Bruce Willis and John Cusack lacking the impact they could have had, as Willis seems to be struggling in the villain roles. The action itself is by the book when we get it, a few shots here and there, nothing landmark in the action sequences, be it how they a choreographed or location based.

Final Thoughts – The Prince is a by the book action film that is an easy watch.

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Movie Review

She’s Funny That Way (2014) Movie Review

Director: Peter Bogdanovich

Writer: Peter Bogdanovich, Louise Stratten (Screenplay)

Starring: Imogen Poots, Owen Wilson, Jennifer Aniston, Kathryn Hahn, Illeana Douglas, Will Forte, Rhys Ifans

Plot: On the set of a playwright’s new project, a love triangle forms between his wife, her ex-lover, and the call girl-turned-actress cast in the production.


Tagline – Show biz has always been a little screwball.

Runtime: 1 Hour 31 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: She’s Funny That Way starts as we meet call girl turned actress Isabella Patterson (Poots) who is telling her story about how she got her big break thanks to a chance encounter with a director Arnold Albertson (Wilson) who makes him an offer to leave the life.

In a twist of events Isabella gets an audition for Arnold’s new play, turning his life upside as his wife Delta (Hahn) is working on the play and she is perfect for the role, as Isabella finds herself in the middle of a love triangle, while Arnold’s secret is revealed.

Thoughts on She’s Funny That Way

Thoughts – She’s Funny That Way is a comedy drama that will see a group of people whose lives interweave over a series of events when it comes to casting a new Broadway play. This is a film that will see all the branches of the story that will come together through the film to show the connected lives coming together. We do have an all-star cast that will come together to make this enjoyable to watch, even if some of the stars don’t get as much time as you would like to see from the cast. It will show how personal life and professional life can come together and cause mayhem for the people involved, using the New York location to increase the chaos theory going on in the film.

Final Thoughts – She’s Funny That Way is a busy comedy drama constantly throwing something new into the story.

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Movie Review

Plastic (2014) Movie Review

Director: Julian Gilbey

Writer: Chris Howard, Sacha Bennett, Julian Gilbey (Screenplay)

Starring: Ed Speleers, Will Poulter, Alfie Allen, Sebastian De Souza, Emma Rigby, Thomas Kretschmann

Plot: Sam and Fordy run a credit card fraud scheme, but when they steal from the wrong man, they find themselves threatened by a sadistic gangster. They need to raise £2m and pull off a daring diamond heist to clear their debt.


Tagline – Hustle. Heist. Repeat.

Runtime: 1 Hour 42 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Plastic starts when four college students Sam (Speleers), Fordy (Poulter), Yatesey (Allen) and Rafa (De Souza) have been running a credit card fraud scheme out of their dorm room. When the guys rob the wrong person, they will find a sadistic gangster Marcel (Kretschmann) who puts them in the position of needing to pay 2 grand a week or get 2 million in two weeks.

This will see the boys recruit Frankie (Rigby) who works for a credit card company, as they travel to Miami to target the biggest spenders to make the money and escape their debts.

Thoughts on Plastic

Thoughts – Plastic will follow ambitious criminal students that are looking to make money quick of big spenders with credit fraud, that somehow manage to turn their small time business into an international diamond heist within a matter of weeks to clear their names. This is a story that is incredibly hard to suspend your disbelief, as the increase in their heist is so dramatic, it doesn’t make you believe it could possibly happen. The four main characters do fall into the typical figures we would expect to see in a heist team, the leader, the calm smarter one, the loose cannon and the one easily led astray. The younger cast all works well through the film, with the gangster figures being the over the top, which is needed in this environment. The style everything unfolds is everything we have seen in the heist genre through the years, where everyone has their own way to stay ahead of the game.

Final Thoughts –Plastic is a flashy, entertaining heist movie that goes big.

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Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – Horror – K – Killer Mermaids (2014) Movie Review

Director: Milan Todorovic

Writer: Barry Keating, Milan Konjevic (Screenplay) Marko Backovic (Story)

Starring: Kristina Klebe, Franco Nero, Natalie Burn, Dragan Micanovic, Miofrag Krstovic, Slobodan Stefanovic

Plot: Two young American women go on a Mediterranean vacation and uncover the watery lair of a killer mermaid hidden beneath an abandoned military fortress. What was once a carefree adventure becomes a deadly fight for survival.


Tagline – Mysterious. Irresistible. Deadly.

Runtime: 1 Hour 34 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Killer Mermaids starts when two friends Kelly (Klebe) and Lucy (Burn) head to Montenegro for a holiday away with an old college friend Alex (Stefanovic) they meet Boban (Micanovic) who takes them all to a forbidden former military island of the mainland.

Once on the island the friends find themselves needing to fight for their lives when Nike (Nero) starts hunting them to protect a secret on the island.

Thoughts on Killer Mermaids

Characters – Kelly is one of the two tourists, she has a fear of the water, seems the more grounded of the two and wants to do the right thing more than the rest of the group. Lucy is the best friend that is all about the party, which is what she wants from her time on the holiday. Alex is the old friend and local that is showing the girls around the island, with Boban who seems to be some sort of rival on the island. The Guardian of the mermaids, finding victims to feed them with, bringing the closest to a serial killer like figure.

Performances – The performances in the film are not the strongest, with only Miodrag Krstovic being scary to watch with his actions through the film, everyone else is the standard scream in the horror movie moment.

Story – The story here follows a group of tourists that find themselves being hunted down on an island which is being used to feed mermaids, they find themselves running for their lives. This story doesn’t really break away from the traditional horror elements, group of people that will get hunted down to escape an evil, trying to through a couple of twists along the way, but it is mostly running around a deserted island looking to survive, with very little use of the mermaid.

Horror – The horror in the film doesn’t seem to hit the heights it promises, with most of the film being running around in the dark, rather than being stalked by a more deadly killer that is meant to be a bloodthirsty mermaid.

Settings – The film does keep us in remote location with the island off the coast which the characters find themselves trapped on during the attacks.


Scene of the Movie – The first mermaid sighting.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – If you aren’t a fan of the open water, why would you go to a seaside resort?

Final Thoughts – This is a horror that does bring us a villainous creature in mermaids, only to hold them back too much and end up being just a normal horror with nothing special.