Talk Movies (Movie review)

Imprisoned by the torrent of rains this rainy season, I was finally able to watch most of the block buster movies released in the first half of the year. I’ll mention a few and run through my opinions of them. First up on my list is:

The Avengers:- I remember being at the Cinema in May wanting to watch this movie and I can still taste my disappointment when I was told the ticket was sold out. It has been sold out for 2 weeks in a row since the movie premiered and getting a ticket was still hard. I finally had to settle for watching the pirated version and when I was done, I could see why the movie was so hyped.

It was action packed with humour and great visual effects. I was at the edge of my seat for this one. This superhero film produced by Marvel Studios (based on the Marvel Comics superhero team) and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures was worth the wait. Anyway with a star studded cast such as Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, and Samuel L. Jackson, it’s no wonder why this movie was such a box office hit. It’s currently the highest-grossing 2012 film, covering its estimated $220 million production cost 12 days after its release.

Lucky for me I watched Mirror Mirror (starring Julia Roberts as the witch) before I got around to this movie. If you didn’t, too bad. You might not be able to appreciate the humour of Mirror Mirror if you watched it after this movie. Back to the film at hand....*clears throat*.

Snow White and the Huntsman:- I totally adore this movie starring Kristen Stewart (Snow White), Charlize Theron (Ravenna), Chris Hemsworth (the Huntsman), Sam Claflin (William), Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone, Ian McShane, Eddie Marsan, Toby Jones all as Dwarves. It was brilliant! The movie gave depth to the story while keeping all the elements of the story intact. The dialogue tight, Charlize Theron’s performance was on point, great unexpected twists, cool special effects and no wasted scene in this movie, although I agree, the scenes were poorly paced. The movie answered my childhood questions about the Snow White fairytale like ‘what was the hype about being 'the fairest of them all'?’ and ‘how come the queen kept snow white all these years?’. But what I loved the most was the redefinition of ‘true love’s kiss’. The only parts I didn’t enjoy was the end - the fight between Snow White and Queen Ravenna wasn’t up to par with my expectation and there was such a lag in the last scene that I was left wondering, now that she’s crowned, what next?

Wrath of the Titans:- Really? Do I have to speak on this one? I wasn’t impressed.

With a tagline: ‘Feel the Wrath’, I expected more devastation and challenges for Perseus (played by Sam Worthington) besides fighting the God of war Ares (played by Edgar Ramirez), a 2 headed fire-breathing beast and evading Cyclopes. It sincerely lacked a great storyline with humorous unforgettable characters besides Perseus. I admit it had its moments like Andromeda’s war cry after Zeus (played by Liam Neeson), Hades (played by Ralph Fiennes) and Perseus defeated Kronos; and the part where Helius (played by John Bell) told Agenor, Poseidon’s son (played by Toby Kebbell) that he heard he was a great disappointment and Agenor agreed that he was ‘great’ totally omitting the disappointment part. At least now the world understands why the Greek gods are no more and why it’s called Greek ‘mythology’. I’m glad the God I serve doesn’t die or disappear into oblivion when people stop praying to Him. He may have taken up human form like Zeus but only to conquer sin and death; before he transcended to the heavens where we go to join him when we die.

Safe house:- if you haven’t watched this movie, let me just tell you now, it’s the most realistic espionage movie I’ve watched this quarter. Ryan Renolds put up such a spectacular performance, I promised to never look at him and think ‘funny’ ever again. Denzel Washington of course, gave a stellar performance as Tobin Frost (the human asset manipulator). In the making of this movie, Ryan actually bashed Denzel’s nose in the car fight scene and the production had to be halted till Denzel’s nose bleed had subsided. Every time there was a fight scene or gun battle, I held my breath because it was brutally intense. Even though it was your usual protect the ‘guest’ kind of CIA storyline, it was quite entertaining to watch. I love this quote from the movie, “You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life”. Thumbs up to Daniel Espinosa for directing this action-thriller. It was a good one.

Safe:- I must confess, I am partial in my appreciation of movies especially when it stars people I love.

One of such loveable stars of mine is Jason Statham and this movie definitely got my attention. Playing an ex-cop (Luke Wright) whose past time gets him on the wrong side of the Russian Mafia and dirty cops, Jason’s character is saved from suicide by the sight of a little Chinese girl, Mei (played by Catherine Chan), in trouble. Two things in particular made me laugh in this movie 1. How he bad guys could always tell when Mei was lying and 2. How brutal Jason Statham was whenever he had to beat up anyone or take them down. So far, I think we’ve found the modern day Steven Seagal in hollywood. This movie might not have been a huge deviation from what we are used to seeing him do in other films like the Transporter, but that doesn’t stop this from being an enjoyable movie.

John Carter:- If you manage to start this movie and resist all attempts to get distracted, you won’t be as confused as I was when the story flashed back from what seems like modern day (just after the American Civil war) to the Arizona desert and then to Barsoon, which is actually Mars. The film is largely based on A Princess of Mars (1917), the first in a series of 11 novels to feature the interplanetary hero John Carter (Taylor Kitsch). Unlike most Disney movies, I appreciated the fact that with this movie, attention was given to Disney’s older audiences. Though it didn’t do so well in the North American box office, it was a huge hit elsewhere in places like Russia, China and Mexico where it remained nos.1 box office hit for two consecutive weekends. This sci-fi action/adventure movie is good for family entertainment.

Till I come online again to talk movies, enjoy your weekend.