Movie Review - Blackhat

Blackhat

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Leehom Wang, Wei Tang, Viola Davis, Andy On, Christian Borle, Danny Burstein, Jason Butler Harner, Tyson Chak, Brandon Molale, and more.

Directed by: Michael Mann Written by: Morgan Davis Foehl Cinematography by: Stuart Dryburgh Music by: Harry Gregson-Williams, Atticus Ross, and Leopold Ross

Premise: When someone causes a nuclear reactor in China to overheat, then causes havoc on the New York stock exchange, China and the U.S. join forces to find the cyber culprits and stop them. But Dawai, the head of the Chinese contingent, decides they need one other person on the team if the bad guys are to be caught before they cause more chaos, his friend from his MIT days, Nick Hathaway - who's currently serving out a thirteen year sentence in a U.S. prison. (Rated R)

Review:

1) Acting - Thumbs Up: Chris Hemsworth did well as the guarded but helpful jailbird Nick Hathaway.  Leehom Wang, though, stole a lot of the spotlight as the smooth Chinese investigator Chen Dawai. Viola Davis also gave a great performance as Carol Barrett, the FBI agent in the joint task force. Wei Tang did well as Dawai's sister and Nick's love interest, though her accent was so heavy, it wasn't always easy to understand her English, so some important comments and moments were lost here and there.

2) Special Effects - Total Thumbs Up: The beginning of the film was a lot of fun as the special effects department worked some great magic and lovely use of macro photography to draw the audience down into the inner workings of the computers and the electronics of the Chinese nuclear power plant. This fun bit totally set the expectation bar high. Sadly, the rest of the film didn't live up to the great work in the beginning, though not from the special effects angle.

The explosion at the plant was well done. The small truck at the parking lot and how it's used was fabulous. Definitely a different approach to breaking and entering.

There's lot of gun play in spots as well as the use of other more potent armaments. There were at least two spots were the amount of lead flying was close to jaw dropping.

3) Plot/Story - Neutral: Sadly, there were a lot of fallacies in the film. While it is possible to be in jail for eighteen months and still be on top of the 'game' with programming, fifteen years or so is a lot harder to swallow. Operating systems change in but a handful of years and using illegal cellphones in jail are not going to keep you in the latest programing language.

This movie is long for an action film, 133 minutes, but the time wasn't always used to good effect, which was a pity. While we get some info here and there about Nick, we pretty much get nothing on Lien aside from her being Dawai's sister and a network specialist. There's a quick hint that Nick and Dawai were super close, once upon a time, yet nothing is even hinted at for this seeming closeness or the fact they allowed each other to lose touch.

As a bad guy trying to pull of an amazing feat of money making, he really wasn't very smart. Of all the places to try to use your 'special' program, why would you ever pick on a nuclear plant? The guy basically lit up a giant sign saying 'look look look at me!' when stealth is what was called for. It was a stupid risk and in the end, because he did it that way, he is eventually stopped. (And the equipment he was testing wasn't even that uncommon!) If he'd skipped the nuclear plant altogether and gone for a test somewhere less volatile, no one would probably have ever known he'd ever pulled his ultimate stunt and he and his cohorts would have made billions!

We're not going to talk about the lame love setup on this film. Had to have been pure hormones. Lots of long glances with strung out time which led to a lot of nothing.

And, if you don't want the audience to realize you're about to blow up the car - don't wait so friggin' long to do it! (I freaked my husband out. I did an aside and said "the car's going to blow up". Two seconds later, blow up it did! They really waited way too long - like holding up a sign.)

4) Stunts - Thumbs Up: The film had a nice fight scene in a Korean restaurant, though it was totally spoiled by the dreaded "shaky cam". Nothing wastes orchestrated violence more than the audience not being able to see it because the screen is shaking. Ugh. It moved around so much you couldn't even tell two of the guys had knives. All that beautiful stunt work wasted. Sigh. (The last half of the film was chuck full of shaky cam moments too. Double Ugh)

5) Locations/Cinematography - Total Thumbs Up: Aside from the beginning sequence, the locations and spanning cinematography shots at those spots were the most enjoyable parts of the film. Shot is Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, and elsewhere, there was a lot of things to see. And they picked great times in the day and angles to do the spanning shots of these places as well - just at sunrise or almost past sunset - some truly amazing colored skies and clouds, as well as tons of lights shinning up from the darkness. Some truly gorgeous filming. Too bad it was wasted on such a slow, clunky plotted movie. The patchy editing didn't help much either...

Conclusion: Started out great, had some awesome cinematography shots, but the clunky, drawn out plot and lack of depth to the characters just bogged the whole thing down. A pity, really.

Rating: 2.75 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Catch it on Cable)

Movie Review - Thor: The Dark World

Thor: The Dark World

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tim Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Christopher Eccleston, Idris Elba, Jaimie Alexander, Zachary Levi, Ray Stevenson, Tadanobu Asano, Rene Russo, Adewale Akinnouye-Agbaje, Kat Dennings, Stellan Skarsgård, and more.

Directed by: Alan Taylor Screenplay by: Christopher Yost, Christopher Markus, and Stephen McFeely Story by: Don Payne and Robert Rodat Based on the Comics by: Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby Cinematography by: Kramer Morgenthau Original Music by: Brian Tyler

Premise: Over five thousand years ago, though the time of darkness drew to a close, the dark elves discovered a way to return the universe to how it had been before. Stopped after a bloody war by Odin's father, the dark elves and the aether weapon they'd hoped to use were long thought destroyed. As a new convergence of the nine worlds nears, Jane Foster stumbles upon the fact neither is actually gone. (Rated PG-13)

Review:

1) Acting - Total Thumbs Up: Chris Hemsworth reprises his role as the hammer weilding Thor. He's matured in the two years since his first arrival on earth and that maturity comes across easily thanks to Chris' skills. Natalie Portman also returns as Jane Foster. I loved all the weird quirkiness of the character, and it was a lot of fun watching her child like fascination as she gazed upon the people and wonders of Asgard, and 'geeking out' over the science. Tim Hiddleston gives great range to all that is Loki, a character as mercurial as the aether they seek to keep from the dark elves' grasp. Chris Eccleston brought a grave air to his portrayal of Malekith, even as Anthony Hopkins mirrored him in his fury to keep his way of life, even if it took every last living soul to do so.

2)  Special Effects - Total Thumbs Up: Tons of special effects work their magic through the film. From the super cool dark elf ships to the awesome grandeur of the convergence, the special effects team didn't disappoint.

I was very happy they took time to show us more of Asgard. The Asgardians' ceremony for dead was impressive. Even better, they didn't forget, as so many movies and TV shows do, that the headliner wasn't the only one to lose their life. The gorgeous ceremony looked like an amalgamation of viking/Norse, and Japanese traditions. Gorgeous.

The workings of Asgard's defenses were totally fun to watch, but even more so were the cool fighters of the dark elves. The technologies of the two races as well as the 'look and feel' were different from each other, reinforcing their separation, and the dark vs. light aspect of the story. The dark elf grenades were super nasty! They also made for some very cool visuals.

3) Plot/Story - Total Thumbs Up: The story was always moving. Even in parts where you'd expect the action to slow down, they managed to do things in such a way that it kept moving forwards instead. The story also had tons of cute moments - quirky and/or funny bits that added layers of fun. One of them was an unexpected Captain America cameo - funny and unexpected yet totally fit the moment. Jane's dinner date was another.

The themes of family and responsibility are woven throughout, as well as that of stubbornness and resistance to change. They gave Heimdall some great scenes to play in!

4) Stunts - Total Thumbs Up: The stunt guys were kept very busy in the film. There is a ton of hand-to-hand combat, getting thrown, falling, rolling. The whole department was very busy indeed.

5) Locations/Cinematography - Total Thumbs Up: Whether real or CGI, the cinematography was fantastic. The view during the ceremony for the dead, the close and intimate shots of Asgard, watching the dark elf ship cut furrows in Greenwich, the convergence of the nine worlds, and more - gorgeous! The film is worth watching just for the locations and beautiful shots alone. Wait until you see Thor's view from his bedroom or Heimdall's at his post - food for the eyes.

6) Costuming/Makeup - Total Thumbs Up: Each race and world had their own unique styles of clothing, armor, and even hair styles. Half the fun of watching Jane in Asgard was seeing her go native.

Conclusion: "Thor: The Dark World" easily outdoes the first"Thor" film. The movie is constantly moving and with the fun, quirky bits they throw in, totally entertaining. IMAX, if not IMAX 3D, would be well worth it for the great visuals. Make sure to sit through the ENTIRE set of credits. We get two extra bits, and one is at the very end.

Rating: 4.25 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Worth Paying Full Price to See Again)

Movie Review - Red Dawn

Red Dawn

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Josh Peck, Josh Hutcherson, Adrianne Palicki, Isabel Lucas, Connor Cruise, Edwin Hodge, Brett Cullen, Alyssa Diaz, Julian Alcaraz, Will Yun Lee, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and more.

Directed by: Dan Bradley Screenplay by: Carl Ellsworth and Jeremy Passmore Based on the 1984 film "Red Dawn" Original Music by: Ramin Djawadi Cinematography by: Mitchell Amudsen

Premise: While home on leave, Jed Eckert witnesses the crippling of his hometown by a massive blackout. The next morning, he wakes to find it being invaded by North Koreans. Banding together an unlikely set of fighters, Jed decides the invaders will not be taking over his home without a fight. (Rated PG-13)

Review:

1) Acting - Thumbs Up: Chris Hemsworth and Josh Peck did a good job showing the audience their family's strained relations without ever actually talking much about it. Josh Hutcherson showed his usual flare.  Connor Cruise had several poignant moments and he carried them off beautifully.

2) Special Effects - Total Thumbs Up: Bullets flew everywhere and there were explosions galore. The scene when Jed and Matt look up into the sky and see the invaders dropping down was quite affecting and well done. Sadly, some of the efforts of the special effects department were diluted or downright sabotaged by the use of shaky cam on several of the scenes.

3) Plot/Story - Neutral: I'll be honest, I didn't pick to see "Red Dawn" because I expected it to have depth or a convoluted plot. And it was a good thing I didn't. This film is best watched without thinking too hard. As difficult as the premise was to believe in 1984, it is ten times more so in 2012. With the amount of technology now at our disposal, a campaign of this magnitude could not have been arranged without word getting out. A secret pulse weapon is mentioned purely to set up the premise and nothing more is learned about it at all.

I saw the original back in the day, but don't remember much. My husband said the remake followed most of the main points of the original. The brothers are at odds due to the death of a loved one years before, and their issues clash during different parts of the film, but eventually they reach some resolution.

Sadly one of the more satisfying moments in the film was marred by the fact the item and location hadn't been shown previously, so ended up being a point of bad story telling. Still, they did try to give some quick filler to substantiate their survival, so some things were well thought out. Killing didn't come naturally to all of them and the hard decisions some had to make were hard, and the audience was able to see that.

4) Stunts - Thumbs Up: With bullets and explosions, we always get stunts. The gags were solid and worked well, except those that were made blurry by shaky cam. Still, enough flying bodies and some hand-to-hand fights were present to fulfill our action quota.

5) Locations/Cinematography - Thumbs Up: There were many nice sweeping shots of the different locations and they gave the audience a good feel of the town and the thick woods our heroes hide in. The fall colors in the forests made for a nice backdrop. It also helped create a starker contrast after Captain Cho's attempt to destroy their hiding place changes the terrain.

Conclusion: "Red Dawn" was fast paced and fun. A nice diversion as long as you don't look at it too closely. Hubby felt the original film was better.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Better For Matinee)

Movie Review - Snow White and the Huntsman

Snow White and the Huntsman

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron, Sam Claflin, Sam Spruell, Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone, Nick Frost, Eddie Marsan, Toby Jones, Johnny Harris, Brian Gleeson, Vincent Regan, Noah Huntley, and more.

Directed by: Rupert Sanders Screenplay by: Evan Daugherty, John Lee Hancock, and Hossein Amini Screen Story by: Evan Daugherty Original Music by: James Newton Howard Cinematography by: Greig Fraser

Premise: After having been held captive for a decade, Snow White escapes the clutches of her step mother on the eve she was to be killed to give Ravenna eternal beauty and power. Escaping into the Dark Forest, she forces the queen to seek outside help in tracking her from the Huntsman. A broken man since he lost his wife, the Hunstman agrees to find Snow White after the queen promises she can bring back his beloved. Yet when he meets her, it comes to light that all is not as he'd been told. (Rated PG-13)


Review:


1) Acting - Thumbs Up: Charlize Theron made for a tasty evil queen. Her desperation to remain beautiful and shattered self worth were easy to see and made you empathize despite yourself. Chris Hemsworth also did a good job as the heartbroken Huntsman. Kristen Stewart also did well, despite the fact she was given little to work with. 


All the dwarves were played by normal height actors shrunk to size. And while I love Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins, and several of the other actors portraying the dwarves, after having seen the available talent of diminutive men as shown in "Mirror Mirror", "Special Unit 2", and "Game of Thrones", it seemed odd for the film makers to have used special effects to create the shorter men rather than pull from the awesome pool of talent already out there.


 2) Special Effects - Total Thumbs Up: While the special effects were top rate, it proved hard not to be a little disappointed as most of the major ones had already been given away in the previews or proved to be drug induced hallucinations rather than the real thing. It also didn't help matters that the edit on the previews created certain false expectations in plot and number of special effects, which did not materialize. 


3) Plot/Story - Neutral: The story of Snow White has been done many times, so it's not like viewers don't know what to expect. I must give credit in that it was nice to see them delve deeper into Ravenna and what brought her to be as she was, and that a lot of detail and thought was given to the Huntsman as well, with a twist to the original, but the character of Snow White had no real detail or flavor whatsoever. 


Worse, Ravenna's brother, Finn, exhibited all the worst traits his sister loathed in men and exercised them. As long as the two were together, I found it very difficult to believe she would not have discovered his predilections and corrected them through magical surgery or other means.


One last sad point with the plot was that though there were excellent actors involved, the film lacked life. There was no spark to the story, making the whole come across as bland fare. The chosen previews in no way helped this, as they showed most of the effects used and led viewers into making false assumptions with regards to some of the combat scenes and the majority of the Dark Forest.


5) Locations/Cinematography - Thumbs Up: Excellent spanning shots were doled throughout the film. Many of the shots allowed even comparisons by viewers of the state of things pre and post Ravenna, which made for great contrast and encapsulated how dark everyone's lives had become. 


6) Costuming/Makeup - Thumbs Up: Make sure to take a close look at all of Ravenna's dresses, especially the ones after she takes over everything - the one with a full collar of bleached crow skulls was especially impressive. Unless you looked closely, you wouldn't even realize what it was made from. Kudos for the work on all her clothes.


For Snow White, while I loved the puffed sleeves giving subtle homage to the Disney version, the rest of her main costume made no sense whatsoever, which truly distracted from the film. Here you have an eighteen year old who has been imprisoned in a tower and never let out for ten years, yet she has a dress on as well as thick pants and strong leather boots? It is implied they might have been gifts from Finn, but a lech would not have given a young girl clothes to hide her femininity from his view, especially as he liked to watch her while she slept. Unfortunately, since all the other characters and costumes were so well done, it made this inconsistency stick out even more.


Conclusion: I wanted to love this film, but despite the good acting and great visuals, it left me feeling flat and strangely dissatisfied. The previews, I feel, did the movie a great disservice and raised expectations or created assumptions that the film did not actually deliver on, prepping the viewer for unexpected disappointments. 


Rating: 3.5 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Better For Matinee.)

Movie Review - THOR

THOR

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Stelan Skarsgard, Kat Dennings, Clark Gregg, Ray Stevenson and more...

Directed by: Kenneth Branagh Screenplay: Ashley Miller, Zack Stentz, Don Payne Story: J Michael Straczynki and Mark Protosevich Based on Comics by: Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Larry Lieber Original Music: Patrick Doyle

Premise: "Pride comes before a fall." Thor, son of Odin, gets thrown from Asgard after defying his father's orders. Now he has to deal with being on Earth. But all isn't as it would seem.

Review: The movie was fun! Had several funny bits that really brought a lot into it, especially after the heavy fodder from the beginning.

Totally loved Asgard. And we got to see a beautiful pan of the place (with some possible Jack Kirby homage) and even caught glimpses of Asgardian magic/science. For the two realms we get to see aside from Earth, the IMAX was great!

The 3D doesn't do much, but it totally shines at the credits when we get to travel through the Yggdrasil and follow galaxies, stars, and nebulas as we hit each of the nine realms. All the special effects were good, some of the sky effects quite awesome.

Oh, and I want me one of the Asgard Guardian machines. They ROCK!

Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman had decent chemistry, which was nice. Thor's friends were a little underused, but they had their moments. Watching Thor and his Hammer go at it in the Northern Realm was a blast! That is one dangerous hammer.

The distinctive look of Thor and Loki were mostly preserved, which was great.  Shield gets into the act, as all of this is leading towards The Avengers movie. (Make sure to sit through the credits! Another minute or two more of movie at the end!)

Overall it was a decent romp and worth a look.

Rating: 4 out of 5  (Hubby's Rating: Would pay full IMAX 3D price again)