Mini Movie Reviews - 2014 June to August

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - The whole cyberspace shivered with fear when the news came that Michael Bay was producing a reboot of TMNT but fortunately, it's not nearly as bad as the people were expecting. Despite the unclear story (something something mutagen something) & the climax kinda similar to The Amazing Spider-Man (why not copy from good movies man?), it's basically a proto-Transformers movie (luckily, mainly the good parts) directed by Jonathan Liebesmen. But the reasons why the film succeeds are that the Turtles are fun, it accurately captures the personalities of Raphael and especially Michelangelo (any last words? - "i still don't understand the ending of Lost!"), a snow-based action sequence that is fun to watch & ya, they have taken some time for the fight choreography in this one, which is the best in the series. Final Verdict - If you are going for a movie where a rat teaches 4 turtles to be ninjas then you know what to expect. Though this Michael Bay produced reboot is a flashy, action-oriented, kids humour kinda movie, it's funny & reminds you of the original movie. Enjoyable & worth a watch, so Cowabunga! P.S. The end credits song is 'Shell Shocked' by Wiz Khalifa, Juicy J and Ty Dolla Sign featuring Kill the Noise and Madsonik.

The Expendables 3 - Within 10 seconds of 'directed by', the whole theatre was empty! (never a good sign). It has so many problems like Stallone's slurry speech delivery, lack of cohesive editing, bad CGI for the planes (everything except the actors), It's got more actors than the whole academy & yet those who carry the film are not even the main heroes & most importantly, the script is PITILESS. It has No Life, No Style & nothing special that makes the movie come alive. It takes over 60 minutes to start the real story but by then the lack of momentum has almost killed it. Final Verdict - What Stallone (hoped) really wanted was to show that 80's action heroes were real men & all the new wannabes are just silly people (by the end, they all look kinda silly!). The only good things are that the movie is 1/2 saved by Mel Gibson, 1/4 saved by Antonio Banderas & 1/4 saved by Wesley Snipes so if u still wanna go, keep Extremely Low Expectations. There's 1 scene where Mel Gibson looks at a painting & says "it's shit", turns & says "how much is it worth", (3 million), "i'll take it." That's the perfect way to sum up the movie.

Guardians of the Galaxy - When was the last time u saw a movie where everybody keeps stealing the movie from each other? Or where the title appears over the main hero's head while he's dancing under it at the bottom of the screen?! It's got a Delightfully Weird screenplay, Great Characters with Chris Pratt (1/2 Han Solo, 1/2 Marty McFly), Zoe Saldana (a formidable assassin), the voices of Vin Diesel as Groot (an innocent tree) & Bradley Cooper as Rocket (a racoon with a machine gun!) who are both interesting but more interestingly, Batista (yeah that Batista) gets The Perfect Role for him as a vengeful badass that could be a breakout role (a small bit of his WWE entrance in the slow motion walk too!) & more good things like nice 80's songs, fanatical villains, etc, etc, etc. Final Verdict - Forget all brooding superheroes, these guys have Personalities, Attitude & most importantly, they have Fun. It's a totally CRAZY, totally UNIQUE comic book movie & easily Marvel's Best Ever. The Avengers might be better individual heroes, but as a team, GOTG is More Fun To Be With. 4 words - Marvel meets Star Wars! It's something Special so Go For It!

Hercules - This movie was so awesome that there were only 3 people in the theatre (including me!). From the legend of the Mighty Hercules, they took out the legendary part(?) & made him into a mortal man who is brooding & haunted by his past just like all those superhero movies with gritty reboots (which proves to me that Hollywood is mostly filled with thoughtless idiots). They had an idea to make Hercules a mercenary who is human & uses tall tales to scare opponents but after that, they do nothing with it. Somehow you get the feeling that there is an R rated movie inside it that was cut down into a PG-13 movie. If it hadn't been for The Rock, this would have been a straight to DVD movie. Final Verdict - Despite having The Rock's charisma & appropriate music, (other than the "I Am Hercules" scene) this movie lacks something special & has nothing which is spectacular. How can a movie that has The Rock & Ian McShane still be Not Cool? The answers are lack of characterization, asks no audience 'emotional investment', too much convenient storytelling etc. Only go if you are a super-hardcore Rock fan, other than that there's no point in going. Because not even a Demi-God can save this movie.

The Grand Budapest Hotel - A girl reads a book, where the author, speaks of his younger self, who meets an old man, who speaks of his younger self, who meets the main character, who speaks of himself, and about all the things happening around them, in the grandest hotel in Zubrowka! Most reviewers have compared this movie to a cake & that's a good definition because it's got layers of viewpoints (refer above), is made with a crazy mixture of comedy & drama, and lots of uncanny colours (light orange, light pink, light blue, etc.) that are totally unconventional. Who knew Ralph Fiennes could do comedy? & that they would use practical effects like small models & other old techniques in this CGI age? & that all those fake looking effects actually make the movie funnier?! Final Verdict - Though you mightn't be sure if the movie makes a clear point & whether all the characters had some growth (more stand-ins than characters), it's got a large cast of great actors so you won't mind. Plus, all that is secondary to it's Visual Look (Wes Anderson movie) & it does have lots of serious laughs. Overall, it's an off-beat, wacky comedy & it is Funny, has Dry Wit & is Visually Delectable. Give it a shot, It's Worth It.

Transformers: Age of Extinction - last time they landed on the moon, this time they landed at the arctic, seriously these guys need a GPS! The real reason the climax is in China is bcoz 1)China is now the 2nd biggest movie market (especially 3D) & 2)there's a 'oh! china' tone, so it's gonna be a huge box office success. You might wonder if it's really a Michael Bay film due to the restraint in the 1st half but by the end, everything is hitting everything, there's endless explosions, no clear idea what exactly the storyline is (story? what story?), all of which makes the movie length unbearable. The good things are that it's easier to tell the Bots apart due to better design, Mark Wahlberg is an improvement & the 3D's depth is excellent but it's got a 'will take 3 movies to explain' feel to it which makes u wonder if people will spend money to lose all interest by the end. Final Verdict - The real reason why people like Transformers is that they want to see robots transform to cars & cars transform to robots. If that's ur reason, then definitely go bcoz it's the Best Looking Transformers yet. For any other reason, don't bother. The 1st half is as Awesome as the 2nd half is Incomprehensible. If you want to go, just remember to Turn Your Brains Off.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 - Have u ever noticed that when critics won't be impressed by the 1st one but it becomes well loved & there's a sequel, they will try to overcompensate & give the 2nd one an undeserved great rating? This Is What Happens Then. When the makers forget all the things that made the 1st one wonderful (aerial fight sequences, emotional story, nice music) & just make up something, This Is What Happens Then. When they make a movie that has jokes for adults (didn't hear many laughs) & aimed at kids (saw kids yawning) but doesn't have really anything to say, This Is What Happens Then. Despite the superb background animation (imagine Scandinavian bluish ice), the serious story & the upbeat tone of the final scenes, there's nothing in front of it so overall this is nothing more than 'watch & go'. Final Verdict - They tried to go bigger but it Didn't Become Better. They improved the scope but they Forgot To Improve the film. Just to confirm, i followed a bunch of people to hear what they thought & they all said the same thing - The 1st one was much better! They have added some masala elements but it's got NOTHING To Remember. 3 words - Ya Ya Whatever!

Edge of Tomorrow - This is probably the smartest video game movie ever made from non-video game material, & that's a total compliment! Though the 3rd act is hollywoodish, everything until then is attention grabbing & ur mind will be completely focused on the screen. You won't even look once at ur watch! It goes way beyond what u would expect from a Sci-Fi/Action Blockbuster bcoz despite being a time travel movie, what makes it interesting are the alien design, an unflinching action heroine & the journey of Tom Cruise from the beginning as a coward to the end as a battle-hardened killer. Plus the graphics is so good that u won't even notice them! It's a credit to the director that despite so many things (that are good) the focus remains mainly on the interactions between these two. Final Verdict - Remember all those 'big concept' films that u would enjoy & tell your friends about? This is That. Because this is a movie that You Need To Go For. Go for it as it's an Entertaining, Interesting, Fun Film that deserves your time. This weekend, All You Need Is This. P.S. The end credits song is 'Love Me Again' by John Newman.

Kochadaiiyaan - The auto driver kept referring to it as 'Rajini's cartoon'! You'll never see a Japanese anime film trying to be like a live-action film, because they know that will only show its demerits rather than the benefits of this genre. Other than some elephants & Rajinikanth standing on top of a dolphin, what exactly was the benefit of making this film in animation? Because despite all the big talk about technology improvements blah blah blah (most of it is good looking but Deepika Padukone's face is Just Plain Terrible), it's simply Rajinikanth's charisma that makes it watchable. On its behalf, it's got a long, complex story, A.R.Rahman regains his rhythm in the music & his score contains tons of western influences that makes the time pass by. Final Verdict - Despite animation being able to come close to his charisma, it's obvious that without Rajinikanth, this movie wouldn't survive. Though it's an improvement in Indian animation & it does have some good things, overall, it's just Watchable. ONLY for Anime or Rajinikanth fans.

X-Men: Days of Future Past - The 1 who got the most claps was Wolverine, naturally! They will say it's a time travel, commercial blockbuster blah blah blah, but what they won't say is it's a "Hidden Reboot" (like Star Trek1) which while bringing all the fan favourite characters together, actually rewrites the timeline so that they can have everyone from X-Men 1 to 3 back alive for future movies (& commercial success). It takes 1 of the best storylines from the comics (& animated series), adds some twists & turns but reduces its complexity to a normal blockbuster level. Wolverine may be the peacemaker(!) between Professor, Magneto & Mystique, but it's their actors, their emotions (& the visual confidence) that pull the movie through, especially Quicksilver who steals the show with 1 Delightful Superfast Sequence. Final Verdict - Despite some unconvincing turns, characters who disappear (Quicksilver doesn't come back after his sequence, why bring in Bishop when he had no purpose in the movie?), lots of logical questions & plot holes, overall this is Quite Good For Timepass. After X:Men 1, this is the best 1 & so, the X:Men series Returns To Form.

TBA...

could it be GOTG or TMNT? We'll see.

Thank you for reading Mini Movie Reviews - 2014 June to August. Hope you have enjoyed it and had a good time with my movie reviews. There are 2 opinion polls below regarding which movie you thought was the best movie and what you thought about my article of movie reviews, so please feel free to take them, comment and give your opinions. Hope to see you soon on another article about movie reviews. Have a good day and once again, thank you for reading Mini Movie Reviews - 2014 June to August.

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