Fast And Furious 6 Review: One Hell of a Ride

Never in a million years did I ever think that the Fast and Furious movies would become one of my favorite film franchises. In the last few years, the series has gone from this story about street racing to a massively entertaining, ridiculous thrill ride that seems to just keep getting better and better. The last film in the franchise, 2011's Fast Five, gave the series a much needed overhaul, turning it into a heist series rather than a racing one. Now, Dominic Toretto and his crew are back in Fast and Furious 6.

The film picks up right where Fast Five left off, as Toretto (played once more by Vin Diesel) and his crew are living in luxury and in non extradition countries after their successful job in Rio. However, the team still remain wanted fugitives back home. Meanwhile, Diplomatic Security Service agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson" is hunting down elusive criminal Owen Shaw and his crew, who have recently been going after major military convoys carrying vital material. This causes Hobbs to realize that in order to catch criminals, you need criminals. So Hobbs offers Dom and his crew the chance to be pardoned of all crimes in exchange for taking down Shaw. There's also another catch: Hobbs also reveals to Dom that his thought to be dead lover, Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez) is alive and working for Shaw.

Now as I said before, I never thought in a million years I would consider the Fast and Furious films to be one of my favorite franchises. And yet these movies keep consistently getting better. It's rare for a franchise to make it to a sixth installment and it's even MORE rare to have the sixth one be one kickass ride. I absolutely loved Fast Six (or Furious Six as the title on screen says).

 The acting, for the most part, was actually pretty good. I'm not saying these were world class Oscar caliber performances but for a Fast and Furious movie, these were pretty good. Vin Diesel and Paul Walker still have excellent chemistry together after all these years. It's amazing how much they see each other as family. And Walker gives O'Connor some interesting development this time around, making him remorseful for what he put Letty through. Michelle Rodriguez also does fairly well here, making Letty seem tough but at the same time vulnerable. She's just trying to figure out which side is the right one.  Dwayne Johnson, who has the biggest arms I think I've ever seen, still kicks a ton of ass here. He's just so enjoyable to watch. Plus it's really funny the way he says "sumabitch."

The rest of Dom's crew does fine as well, with the standouts being Tyrese Gibson and Ludacris. They have such good chemistry together plus they both deliver some of the funniest lines in the movie. As for the villains, I really liked Luke Evans as Owen Shaw. He was almost like the evil doppelganger of Toretto. Where Toretto cares about his family and will do anything to look out for them, Shaw believes anyone associated with him is expendable. It was really interesting to see these two ideals clash with one another.

I am amazed at how this franchise has gone from racing cars throughout L.A. to saving the world and preventing a world crisis using fast cars. Screenwriter Chris Morgan really has helped evolve this series, making it more action packed and personal than what it was in the past. The thing that really impressed me with this latest installment, his fourth Fast and Furious movie overall, is that Morgan somehow manages to connect all the past installments to this one and makes them all one giant connected story. If you do plan on watching this film, go back and watch the other films for a refresher course. It'll help.

But the big thing that most people love about these movies is the ridiculous over the top action. And by God does director Justin Lin not disappoint in this department. The action in this movie is just as crazy as last time, if not crazier. I mean there's a scene where a tank smashes and destroys everything and Toretto and his crew have to stop it. This scene alone shows the lofty ambitions that Lin has for his action scenes. He handles it swiftly, making it able to see what is going on in the scene itself. He also uses practical effects, something which you don't see much of anymore. Lin, to me, is one of the best action directors working today.

I will admit that you really REALLY have to suspend your disbelief at some of the action scenes, especially at the end. If you go in trying to incorporate logic in this film, then this is not your type of movie. At all. Also, while I like the message of family and looking out for them in the film, sometimes I felt it was shoved a bit too much at the audience.

But overall, Fast and Furious 6 is an absolute blast to watch. If you're looking for a hell of a good time with some friends, check it out.

Grade: B+

Star Trek Into Darkness: Summer Entertainment at its Finest (SPOILER FREE)

Greetings! It's been a long time since I put a review up on this blog of mine. Apologies for that, the last two months have been absolutely crazy what with school finishing for the summer and then finals week was last week for me so it's just been hectic. I have managed to see quite a few movies in the last couple of months, I just have not had the time to sit down and type up reviews on this blog.

But now it's summer and I plan on typing up more reviews now that I have a ton of free time on my hands. With that being said, let's begin today's review.

The summer movie season is once again upon us as we have had Iron Man joining the billion dollar club at the box office and F. Scott Fitzgerald's vision coming to life on the big screen (If I had to give both films grades right now, Iron Man would get an A- and Great Gatsby would get a B). But now, it's time to revisit Captain James T. Kirk and the rest of the crew of the U.S.S Starship Enterprise in Star Trek Into Darkness, the sequel to J.J. Abrams' 2009 reboot. The film reunites Abrams with the cast of the last movie, as Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto), along with Uhura (Zoe Saldana), Scotty (Simon Pegg), Bones (Karl Urban), Sulu (John Cho), and Chekov (Anton Yelchin), as well as the rest of the crew of the Enterprise go after John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch), a terrorist responsible for bombing London as well as attacking Starfleet. However, Kirk and his crew realize that not everything is what it seems.

Now I will say this right now: I am not what you call a "Trekkie." I was never a gigantic fan of Star Trek I was always more of a Star Wars guy. However, I loved the hell out of Abrams' 2009 reboot to someone who was not that big of a "Trek" fan, it was an excellent introduction to someone like me who wasn't a fan (since then I have seen the original show AND Next Generation AND the movies). So I was greatly curious to see what Abrams had planned for his second outing.

I'm just going to cut to the chase right now: I loved this movie. Loved loved loved loved this movie. To me, this is summer blockbuster entertainment at its finest.

The performances in this movie are fantastic all around. Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto are excellent together as Kirk and Spock respectively. They still show excellent chemistry together and you truly believe that the two could be life long friends. It was also nice to see Kirk's character evolve a little bit. There's still a bit of the cockiness from the first movie in there, but there's also a bit more maturity in there, with Kirk slowly becoming the leader he was meant to be. The rest of the supporting cast was great as well. Everyone seemed to be given more to do this time around, which was fantastic. The standouts to me were Pegg as Scotty, who is excellent in this role, Saldana as Uhura, whose relationship with Spock is explored a bit deeper this time around, and Urban, who captures the original Bones' mannerisms so well. It was also nice to see Peter Weller in a movie again

But the standout in this movie is Benedict Cumberbatch as John Harrison. I loved Cumberbatch on Sherlock (if you haven't seen Sherlock yet, stop reading this review and go watch it Go. It's amazing. I'll wait.....back? Let's continue). I was excited when Cumberbatch was announced to be the villain because he can pull off menacing and controlled, someone who has a plan and has to execute it by whatever means necessary. And my God, was he amazing in this role. Cumberbatch gives the best performance of the entire film. He is one of the best villains I've seen on screen in a while.

And that's all I can say on Cumberbatch's character because, as a wise person once said, spoilers....if you get that reference, give yourself 20 bonus points.

Another thing I thoroughly enjoyed is Abrams' direction in this movie. Yes there are tons and tons of lens flares in this movie but it's the way he handles the action is what fascinates me. He handles them so well and you can actually see what is going on. The action is also fantastic to watch, especially the final fight scene. Also, his creature designs and the way he shows us the planets are breathtaking. Abrams' next project is Star Wars Episode VII and I am greatly interested in what he has planned for that movie.

There were some things that annoyed me about the movie. For one. Dr. Carol Marcus (Alice Eve), I thought, was greatly underused. She seemed to have little to no pint being in this movie, other than eye candy...not that I'm complaining mind you but still I thought she could have been given a lot more to do. Also...yeah the amount of lens flares Abrams has does get a bit annoying at times.

But overall, Star Trek Into Darkness is an excellent movie. It is easily the best film of the summer so far and one of the best of the year in my opinion.  Abrams yet again creates another enjoyable fun ride that Trekkies and non Trekkies can both thoroughly enjoy.

Grade: A

Oz the Great and Powerful: Surprisingly Entertaining

 

Everyone knows the story of The Wizard of Oz. We all grew up watching the 1939 classic starring Judy Garland as Dororthy, a young girl from Kansas whisked to the land of Oz where she must reach the Wizard in the Emerald City in order to find her way home while trying to outsmart the Wicked Witch of the West. However, how did the Wizard get to Oz? How did he become the great and powerful man that the citizens of Oz know so well? That's the main starting point for Sam Rami's Oz the Great and Powerful, a prequel to L. Frank Baum's works and the classic 1939 film.

The film focuses on Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a small time carnival magician from Kansas who dreams of being a great man. One day, while traveling in a hot air balloon, he gets caught up in a tornado which drops him into the wonderful land of Oz. There he meets two witches: Theodora (Mila Kunis) and Evanora (Rachel Weisz), who insist that he's this mighty wizard destined to defeat the Wicked Witch and restore Oz to normalcy. However, once Oscar, or "Oz" as his friends call him, meets Glinda (played by Michelle Williams), he finds that not everything is as it seems.

Now, going into this, I was hesitant. For one thing, in terms of visuals, the film looked like a cut and paste version of 2010's Alice in Wonderland which made Disney a ton of money so I guess they were wanting something similar that would also bring in tons of cash. Also, it was a prequel to The Wizard of Oz, something almost everyone grew up with. Most people associate author L. Frank Baum's world with the 1939 classic so how were they going to tackle this? Despite all these questions, I still kept an open mind. The director of this film, Sam Rami, made the Spider-Man trilogy and the Evil Dead trilogy so I was curious to see how we would do with a family film.

To my complete surprise, I enjoyed this movie greatly. Does it have some problems? Yeah but the good honestly outweighs the bad.

The performances are pretty enjoyable for the most part (I have a problem with one of the actors but more on that later). James Franco looks like he's having a ton of fun in his role as the Wizard. He gives a certain charm to his character and whenever he has a big goofy grin on his face, I couldn't help but smile as well. The three witches were also fun to watch. Michelle Williams, who I swear looks like she doesn't age, was great as Glinda. She makes the character her own version and gives her more of a mystical side. Rachel Weisz was also pretty good as Evanora, she made her character deceptive and conniving and she was just a blast to watch.

As for Mila Kunis....here's the thing I like Mila Kunis. I think shes' an excellent actress. However, I do think she was the weakest link in the cast. That's not to say she was bad in this movie not at all. I just thought she was not as strong as she could have been. She sounds like she's just reading her lines rather than put emotion in. Also the reveal of what her character becomes (which I won't spoil what the reveal is but if you've seen the posters, you know what I'm talking about) I just couldn't get behind because it just seemed like a miscast in my eyes.

The supporting actors were enjoyable to watch as well. Zach Braff plays a flying monkey dressed in a bellhop suit who helps the Wizard on his quest. He had some of the funniest lines in the whole movie. It made me wonder why Zach Braff isn't in more stuff these days. Joey King, who plays a little China doll girl who is incrdibly fragile (literally) was adorable in this. You really manage to feel for this character and the pain she is going through.

Bruce Campbell and his godly chin also show up in this movie....nuff said.

Another thing I really like in this movie is the visuals. The movie looks flat out gorgeous, probably some of the best i've seen all year. Unlike Alice in Wonderland, whose world was dark and gloomy, Oz is what it should have been: bright and vibrant and colorful. The direction is well done as well. Sam Rami maintains his usual sense of quirkiness with the fascinating creature designs and the design of the land itself. Also, having the film open in the original 4:3 ratio and making it black and white like the original and then to expanding to widescreen was a stroke of brilliance

I liked how the film didn't fully rely on the original film to tell their story. They managed to tell their own story without stuffing references from the original in. Yes, there are nice little hints and nods to the original, but they are  However, if you go in thinking that the ruby slippers are going to make an appearance, they are not in the film (they legally can't. Warner Bros still owns the rights to The Wizard of Oz so Rami and his team had to essentially go off the source material and make their own little changes i.e. the design of the Emerald City is different, the color of the Witch's skin is different etc).

I will admit the film does have some issues. For one, while the land of Oz looks visually fantastic, there are some moments where the CGI looks really fake and you could notice there was a greenscreen behind them, which took me out of the movie for a bit. Also, it does tend to get a little bit silly at some parts.

But overall, Oz the Great and Powerful was a surprisingly good film. There are some bad moments but the good outweighs the bad.  I had a lot of fun with it and I would say if you are looking for a good time at the movies, then check it out. You won't be disappointed.

Grade: B+

Oscars 2013: Recap of Winners and my Thoughts

Last night, the 85th annual Academy Awards aired on ABC and for the most part, I was extremely pleased with the results of the ceremony. Everyone I wanted to see win did take home their respective awards however there was some suprises spinkled here and there throughout the night. But before I get into my thoughts of the big winners of the night, let me talk about some of the other big moments of the night.

First, I might as well give my thoughts on Seth MacFarlane's hosting this year. For being a first time host, I thought he killed it. He was entertaining, confident, and pretty damn funny. I will admit though that while I did like his opening monologue and the fact that he made fun of potentitally being "the worst host ever" (James Franco holds that one), I will admit it could have been cut down a little bit some of it was unnecessary. And I could not believe some of the jokes they let him get away with, some were funny (his shots at the Academy such as snubbing Ben Affleck and commenting that Jean DuJardin has gone nowhere sinc The Artist were pretty amusing) and then some were just sort of like "he said what?"(Chris Brown and Rihanna's date movie is Django Unchained.....yeah I was surprised he got away with that). But for the most part, I loved Seth as host I would not mind seeing him again somwhere down the road.

Another big thing I was looking forward to was the James Bond tribute the Academy had planned. I had heard a rumor that all actors who had played Bond were going to be on stage and I was hoping it would be true. Plus, you had Shirley Bassey and Adele perfoming how could you go wrong with that? Well, other than a rousing performance by Bassey, who can still hit that high note, the tribute itself was massively underwhelming. All that it was was a montage and then Bassey's performance, with Adele singing later in the broadcast. I mean why couldn't they have all the Bonds come out on stage together for the first time? I know Sean Connery especially would have difficulty getting to stage but it would have been fantastic to see them all together.

But now let's get down to the big winners of the night, starting with the Best Supporting categories (the winners will be in Bold)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:

Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained
Phillip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook
Alan Arkin, Argo
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln

I was extremely happy with this win. I thought Waltz's performance was fantastic in Django. Quite honestly, I thought that Tommy Lee Jones or even Alan Arkin might come in and surprise everyone by winning the award for the night but I am happy with this win overall. Plus, Waltz had a excellent speech, very charming.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Sally Field, Lincoln
Jacki Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook
Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Amy Adams, The Master

This win came as absolute no surprise to me. As I said in my predictions post, Hathaway had this one in the bag so there was no real surprise to her winning this category. I thought her speech was nice, she was grateful. It's just nice to see someone who starred in a Disney rom com go from that to winning an Oscar.


BEST ANIMATED FEATURE:Wreck-It Ralph
Frankenweenie
Brave
ParaNorman
The Pirates! Band of Misfits

Damn I was upset with this category. To me, I honestly thought that Wreck-It Ralph, ParaNorman, or even Frankenweenie deserved to win in this category. I never thought Brave was at any all that particulary good (and I'm not just saying that because it didn't hold up to other standards of Pixar movies). For me, while the mother-daughter relationship is explored very well, something about the second half threw me off. Maybe it was because I thought the whole movie would go into one direction for me (and it looked like it would in the first 40 minutes) but then I was surprised to see it go in an entirely different direction. I don't know but for me, I wasn't too pleased with this one


BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Mark Boal – Zero Dark Thirty
Quentin Tarantino – Django Unchained
Michael Haneke – Amour
Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola – Moonrise Kingdom
John Gatins – Flight

Tarantino baby! I was absolutely ecstatic with him winning this award. Out of all the nominees, I think he honestly deserved it. If not him, then it should have been Moonrise Kingdom. However, Tarantino definitely earned this one, as Django's script had some of THE best dialogue I've heard in years. Also, his acceptance speech about how writers are the main component of a film.....one of the highlights of the whole evening.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
Tony Kushner – Lincoln
Chris Terrio – Argo
David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook
David Magee – Life of Pi
Lucy Alibar, Behn Zeitlin - Beasts of the Southern Wild

In my Oscar predictions post, I mentioned that I would like to see Argo win. While I am happy that it won in this category,  in the back of my mind, I was kind of rooting for Silver Linings Playbook for the win. That film, as anyone who read my review knows, made me walk out of that film happy and most of that was in part to the chemistry between the characters and the dialogue between each other, which I thought was excellent. But regardless, I was happy with Argo's win.

BEST ACTOR
Denzel Washington – Flight
Hugh Jackman – Les Miserables
Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln
Joaquin Phoenix - The Master
Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook

This win did not come a surprise this was the only guaranteed lock of the whole evening. Whenever Daniel Day-Lewis is nominated, he's essentially guaranteed to win. However, his speech was hilarious. He's usually known for being a serious actor and who knew he could be really funny? I loved the speech and after this, does anyone else want to see Daniel Day-Lewis do a comedy just to see how that would turn out?

[Speaking of Lincoln: Seth MacFarlane's joke about John Wilkes Booth and Abraham Lincoln was the best joke of the whole night.]

BEST ACTRESS:
Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook
Quvenzhane Wallis – Beasts of the Southern Wild
Naomi Watts – The Impossible
Emmanuelle Riva – Amour
Out of all the acting categories of the night, this was the one I was incredibly happy with. While I thought Jessica Chastain was going to take home the award for the night, I was pleasantly surprised when Lawrence's name was called. I loved Lawrence's performance, she could go from witty to angry in a matter of 2.5 seconds it was incredible. I am very happy with her winning this award she fully deserves it.

Oh and before I forget: Yes, she fell up the stairs getting her award. We know, it happened. Let's move on from it.

BEST DIRECTOR:

Ang Lee – Life of Pi
Steven Spielberg – Lincoln
David O. Russell - Silver Linings Playbook
Michael Haneke – Amour
Behn Zeitlin - Beasts of the Southern Wild

I honestly would have thought Spielberg would have taken home the directing prize for Lincoln, but nope, it went to Ang Lee for Life of Pi. I can't say if Ang Lee deserves to win for this award because I never got around to seeing Life of Pi before Oscar night unfortunately. So I can't comment on whether he deserves it or not.

BEST PICTURE:

ArgoAmour
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty

Argo fully deserves its Best Picture win. I was happy when it started winning awards left and right at the Director's Guild, Screen Actors Guild, Producers Guild, Golden Globes, and the BAFTAs. It's just nice to see Ben Affleck come so far after his career slump back in the early 2000s and to now see him win a Best Picture Oscar is inspiring.

So that's my thoughts on the big winners on Oscar night. Overall, the show was one of the best I've seen in a while and I'm happy with most of the winners.

Trailer Roundup: Super Bowl Edition

The Super Bowl is once again upon us and once again it is time for movie studios to unleash TV spots for their upcoming spring/summer blockbusters during the Big Game. And man did studios show off a pretty good haul of what's to come in the coming months. Below is the TV spots that aired during the big game along with my thoughts on them.

OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL-March 8

 

 

 

Oz the Great and Powerful is a film I have mixed feelings on. On one hand, it's from director Sam Rami, the man who directed the Spider-Man and Evil Dead trilogies. I'm interested to see what he does with a straight up fantasy movie. I'm also curious to see how it ties into the original Wizard of Oz. I know the plot revolves around the Wizard arriving in Oz and meeting the three witches but I'm curious as to see what specific aspects tie in to the original story.

 

However, the one thing that really bugs me is how similar the film looks to Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. Burton didn't produce this, but when you watch the trailer, you have to wonder if maybe he did.

 

The Super Bowl spot here does not offer anything new. It's the same footage that we've seen from the two trailers that have been released. Overall, a bit of a letdown but I'll still most likely check it out when it hits theaters.

 

 

 

WORLD WAR Z- June 21

 

 

World War Z is a film that interests me greatly. I have read the book by Max Brooks upon which this film is based and I am curious to see just how it will translate to film. The book is comprised of multiple stories detailing survivors' experience with the zombie apocalypse. In the film, we follow Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt), a U.N. employee who goes around conducting interviews with survivors. It makes me wonder: will the filmmakers do stories from the book or will they create entirely new stories? Either way, I'm extremely curious to see how the film stays to the source material.

As for the TV spot, it's all footage from the trailer, though it does a pretty good job of teasing exactly what happened.  I'm definitely intrigued by how this will all play out.

 

 

 

THE LONE RANGER-July 3

 

 

 

When I saw the first trailer for The Lone Ranger, I had no interest whatsoever after watching this. It just looked like a dumb, goofy Western action film and we all know what happened the last time this kind of film came out (coughWild Wild Westcough). Now, after seeing this Super Bowl spot, it looks slightly better but I still have my doubts. The action in this movie does look like it will be entertaining and Arnie Hammer looks like he'll be pretty good as the Lone Ranger. Also, I like how they seem to be exploring the spirtual and supernatural side to the Ranger as to how he came back from the dead.

 

However, I still feel wary on this. I know the film is supposed to look like it might be a fun dumb ridd, but I'm worried it might be TOO dumb. Disney spent $250 milion on this movie and after the flop that was John Carter, they have a lot riding on this one. Also while I love Johnny Depp, he looks like he's doing the whole Jack Sparrow bit again (which would make sense considering that Gore Verbinski made this). I'm still optimisitic about this one, but I have my doubts on it as well.

 

Also, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter are in a movie together NOT directed by Tim Burton?? Now that's a surprise.

 

 

 

IRON MAN 3-May 3 

 

 

Now we start getting into the good stuff. I have been greatly anticipating Iron Man 3 ever since the credits on The Avengers started rolling. This time, Jon Favreau passes on the directing torch to Shane Black, who made the criminally underrated Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. I think Black is an excellent choice to direct here, because the dialogue will be pretty damn good (he's also writing the screenplay) and the action will be fast paced and intense.

Also, I like how the story is going to deal with the aftermath of what happened in The Avengers. Tony Stark seems to be shaken after the battle in New York that *SPOILER ALERT* ended with him taking a nuclear missle through a portal into another dimension, which honestly would shake most people. This film is also the start of "Phase Two" of Marvel's Cinematic Universe so I'm curious to see what seeds this movie will plant that will appear in future films.

As for the Super Bowl Spots, there are two. One that aired during the Big Game and an extended one premiered exclusively to Facebook. Both of these trailers are awesome I particularly like the trailer that premiered during the Big Game. It doesn't show a whole lot as to what's going on, but it basically says, "Yes, this will actually happen in the movie, how will Tony Stark get out of this situation?" It's short but man is it satisfying. The extended one gives a little bit more footage but not a whole lot more. Still both of these trailers look awesome and I can't wait for this movie to come out.


Here's the spot that aired during the Big Game:

 

 



 

and here's the spot that premiered on Facebook!

 

 

 

 

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS-May 17

 

 

I will admit that I am not a "Trekkie." I am not the biggest fan of the Star Trek franchise (I only casually watch "The Next Generation"). However, I flat out adore J.J. Abrams' 2009 reboot. As someone who is not the biggest fan of Star Trek, I love this movie. Which is why I can not wait for this sequel, this movie looks fantastic. Right from the get go, you can see this is going to be a much darker Star Trek film, with the story this time around being the crew of the Enterprise going after Benedict Cumberbatch's character.

 

And that's all we know about the plot because with a J.J. Abrams film, he will keep plot details as close to the chest as he possibly can. And I love that about him, I love when directors don't reveal anything about their film in order to keep the audience surprised.

Also, I am liking Benedict Cumberbatch's turn as John Harrison (that's the name I'm reading though everyone is going nuts over whether he's Khan or Gary Mitchell or not....I may not watch Star Trek, but I know some names). He is absolutely menacing and seems really pissed at the Federation for some unknown reason not yet revealed to us. I can't wait to find out more about this when it comes out.

 

 

FAST AND FURIOUS 6-May 24

 

 

Out of every Super Bowl movie trailer that premiered on Sunday night, this was one of the ones I was looking forward to the most. This is the very first look we got at this movie and my God did it not disappoint. I loved Fast Five that movie completely took me surprise by how entertaining it was. It's easily one of my favorite action movies of all time and this one looks just as entertaining.

 

The story this time around is that Dom (played once again by Vin Diesel) and his crew are rich, but they can't go home. Agent Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) then shows up asking for their help in taking down a team of drivers who's second in command is Dom's thought-to-be dead girlfriend Letty. The team agrees to take the job on the condition they recieve full pardons for their crimes so that they can go home. And then....mayhem and badassery ensues. The film's action in this, like the last film, looks so damn entertaining to watch everyone looks like they're having a blast making this. This was easily one of my favorite spots of the whole Super Bowl and I can't wait to see more.

 

 

Those were the big spots released during the Super Bowl and looking from this roster.....we got a damn fine haul coming in 2013. 



UPDATED: Star Wars: J.J. Abrams Reported to Direct Episode VII!

In a surprising turn of events, it seems as if J.J. Abrams, who is known for films such as Star Trek and the upcoming Star Trek into Darkness is directing the upcoming Star Wars Episode VII, In a news story first reported by The Wrap (and  reported by other sources such as Variety and The Hollywood Reporter), it seems as if Abrams is nearing a deal to direct the seventh installment in the legendary franchise, which to date has grossed $4.4 billion dollars worldwide.

This is interesting to me because Abrams said back in October that he did not want to tackle Star Wars. I guess now he changed his mind and is nearing a deal with Disney to direct. I'm taking all of this with a grain of salt until I hear confirmation from Lucasfilm and/or Disney.  Regardless though, if this proves to be offically confirmed by Abrams or Lucasfilm, I think this is absolutely fantastic news.  Abrams knows his way around science fiction. Look what he did with Star Trek. I wasn't even a fan of Star Trek before Abrams' 2009 reboot came out and after I saw it, I was blown away by it. And let's be honest here....Star Wars is not what it once was. The prequels SUCKED and all the rereleases adding new things into the original trilogy were unnecessary. Who better to breathe new life into a franchise then the guy who made another sci fi franchise feel new again?

Again I'm taking this all with a grain of salt and hoping to hear a confirmation from Abrams and/or Lucasfilm/Disney very soon. I'll keep you all updated when a statement does get released.

UPDATE: Well it's official folks: The Walt Disney Company and Lucasfilm issued a statement on Friday saying that J.J. Abrams IS the official director of Star Wars Episode VII. Click here for more info.

Zero Dark Thirty: A Powerful Experience

It's very rare for me to walk out of a film these days and have it leave a profound effect on me. Usually, when I walk out of a film, I'll be like "that was pretty good" or "wow that was great I loved it!" But it's rare for me these days for a film to leave me feeling something. It seems to be happening a lot with the movies I have seen recently, what with Silver Linings Playbook  also eliciting a emotion out of me recently.

Zero Dark Thirty is another one of those films.

Zero Dark Thirty (which takes its name from the military term meaning a non-specific hour where it's either extremely late or early in the morning when it's still dark out) reteams director Kathryn Bigelow and writer Mark Boal, who first worked together in 2009 on The Hurt Locker.  The film recounts the 10 year manhunt for Osama Bin Laden, the man responsible for one of the worst attacks in American history. We focus on CIA agent Maya (Jessica Chastain) as she embarks on a 10 year mission to track down Bin Laden, a mission which consumes nearly 10 years of her life. Her mission ends in the now famous raid of Bin Laden's compound and his death during the raid.

Now as I said, this film elicited an emotion out of me after watching it, something films rarely do to me anymore. After watching this, I felt....stunned. Stunned at how powerful this film was. It seemed I wasn't the only one: when the credits rolled at the end of my screening, nobody said a word. Everyone left in silence. That's how powerful this was.

The acting in this movie is simply incredible. Jessica Chastain is an absolute powerhouse in this movie. She brilliantly pulls off the range of emotions Maya goes throughout her 10 year mission, from fresh-faced and naive in the beginning to becoming world-weary and hardened by what she has seen, with only one goal on her mind: to track down and kill Bin Laden by whatever means necessary. Chastain easily conveys these emotions well, especially Maya's frustration at not being able to have captured Osama yet. In my Silver Linings Playbook review, I said I would like Jennifer Lawrence to win the Best Actress award. However, if Chastain ends up beating Lawrence and winning the Oscar, I would be entirely fine with that Chastain gives a great performance.

The rest of the supporting cast did a fine job as well. George Clarke, who plays Maya's colleague Dan, did a great job. I have never seen him in anything else before this and I hope to see more of him in future films. Kyle Chandler, who plays Joseph Bradley, Maya's boss, also does a fine job with his role. It was also fun to see the way the Navy SEAL team who took down Osama interact with each other, especially Joel Edgerton and, surprisingly, Chris Pratt, who is well known for starring on NBC's sitcom Parks and Recreation and turns in a surpisingly dramatic performance. He and Edgerton and the rest of the SEALs interact so well with each other, you would think they actually went through a war together.

Also, this film is one hell of an intense ride. This is thanks in part to Bigelow's directing, which once again proves why she's one of the best directors working in Hollywood today. Her direction is excellent, building up scenes with a lot of tension and even making some scenes you would think would not have a lot of tension pretty intense. Also, she does not shy away from some of the waterboarding/torture scenes, which has caused a lot of controversy since it's released. I'll just say this: there were a couple times I flinched in this over how real these scenes were.

And then you have the last 30 minutes of this film. The last 30 minutes of the film depicts the raid on Osama's bunker and are easily some of the most intense moments I've ever seen in a film. The entire time I witnessed this, I was on the edge of my seat. What's cool is during some parts of the raid, Bigelow shoots in night-vision mode, letting us see what the SEALs see through their night-vision goggles. Bigelow makes you feel like you're in the middle of the raid yourself.

The screenplay is also really well done. Mark Boal knows how to make an excellent military movie (see: The Hurt Locker) and he does it again here. The script crackles with intensity and true emotion.  What's interesting to note about the script is that this script was originally not the film Bigelow and Boal were supposed to make. They originally had another movie planned about finding Bin Laden which would end on an uncertain note about whether we would find him or not. But then, we actually got Bin Laden so Bigelow and Boal essentially started from scratch but still kept some elements of the original film in this movie. It never seemed like there was one part from the scrapped film and one from this newer movie clashing together so props to Boal for making it seem smoothless.

I will say that the film is a long one (two and a half hours to be exact) but it seemed to go by pretty quickly actually.

Overall, Zero Dark Thirty was an excellent, well-made film. It's definitely one of my favorites from 2012. I walked out of the theater stunned by the realism I had just witnessed. As I type this, nearly four hours after I drove home from the theater, it still sticks with me. If a film can evoke that kind of a response out of you and can stay with you hours later, then by all means it has succeeded as a film.

Grade: A