X-Men: Apocalypse

Finally, I got to see one of my most anticipated movies that I wanted to watch this summer, “X-Men: Apocalypse,” which came out a month ago. Today, I will let everyone know what I thought about it.

Leonard Maltin started his review out by saying, “This screen series based on the colorful Marvel characters has proved to be both durable and flexible: having enjoyed a great run in its initial phase, it spun off two Wolverine vehicles for Hugh Jackman (with another on the way) and then rewound the timeline to create a series of prequels, beginning with the excellent X-Men: First Class.” Director and co-writer Bryan Singer, who kicked off “X-Men” in 2000 has released the latest sequel, “X-Men: Apocalypse” and gave another winner. (He even included a not-so-subtle in-joke about the first sequel he didn’t direct in the series.)

Maltin stated, “Essentially, the screenplay (credited to series veteran Simon Kinberg, from a story by him, Singer, Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris) follows one major through-line: the world’s first and most powerful mutant, Apocalypse, has awoken after thousands of years.” Seeing the world how it looks in 1983, affected by war and conflict, he decides that it must be destroyed in order to be reborn – with him as its automatic leader. Although he is unrecognizable under pounds of makeup and costuming, this villainous character is played by Oscar Isaac, who, as Maltin said, “in his few short years onscreen has proved to be a rare talent—and something of a chameleon.”

Besides him, you need a notepad to keep notes on who’s who and who’s new: we have familiarized to the idea that James McAvoy is the younger Professor Charles Xavier/Professor X and Michael Fassbender is Erik Lensherr (aka Magneto), the roles made by Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. We have also seen Jennifer Lawrence take over the role of Raven/Mystique, Nicholas Hoult as Hank McCoy/Beast, and Lucas Till as Alex Summers/Havok. Sophie Turner from “Game of Thrones” comes in the role of Jean Grey and Kodi Smit-McPhee is now a German-accented Kurt/Nightcrawler.

Evan Peters, as Peter Maximoff/Quicksilver, stole the show in the 2014’s “X-Men: Days of Future Past.” We met Rose Byrne as CIA Agent Moira MacTaggert five years ago in “X-Men: First Class.” However, Tye Sheridan is new to the series, taking over the role of Alex Summers’ brother Scott/Cyclops, and other newcomers include Ben Hardy as Angel, Alexandra Shipp as Ororo Munroe/Storm, Lana Condor as Jubilee, former “Daily Show” correspondent Olivia Munn as Psylocke, Wrestler “Giant” Gustav Claude Ouimet as The Blob, and Tómas Lemarquis as Caliban among others. Hugh Jackman makes an uncredited cameo as Logan/Wolverine.

Whether new or not, the characters’ motivations are completely clear and the story is told without the clutter you would expect with so many people involved. The action scenes are shot on a grand scale, appropriate to the power of the film’s god-like villain, and the visual effects are amazing. As usual, Bryan Singer’s longtime editor and collaborator John Ottman also gives the strong music score.

Maltin complained, “My only quibble with the picture is its length. When I’m caught up in a movie I become unaware of time, but if I start to feel antsy I know it’s beginning to wear out its welcome. X-Men: Apocalypse is first-rate (first class?) all the way, but I can’t help believing that it would be even better if it told its story more compactly. That’s a relatively small complaint when weighed against the movie’s many assets.”

I didn’t mind the runtime, but my only complaint is that with all these X-Men, how come everyone is not utilized? I want to see all these X-Men do something, but I don’t, which I often wonder what this series is doing wrong that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is doing right.

Spoiler alert: In the post-credits scene, men visit the Weapon X facility to get data on William Stryker's (Josh Helman) mutant research, including an X-Ray and blood sample labeled "Weapon X," for the Essex Corporation.

Overall, I would say that if you still have a theater that is playing this movie, go see it, it’s not a complete waste of time. If not, than I definitely say that this is worth the rental when it comes out on Blu-Ray and DVD. The characters are great, the action is engaging, the pacing is a little bit of a problem, and the dialogue is nice with some great comedic timing. I don’t like this as much as the first two or “Days of the Future Past,” but it’s still a good one. I would rate this with a 9-.

Thank you for joining in on all my reviews in the month of June, stay tuned next month for an exciting review of a classic series that has a huge fan-base.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows

Good news dudes: last Thursday, I went with my cousin to check out the new Ninja Turtles movie, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows,” which came out at the beginning of June. Today, I will give my review on this awesome sequel.

Eric Snider started his review out by saying, “Well, it took 26 years and six attempts, but they finally made a “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” movie that I enjoyed! Which is magnanimous of them, since I wasn’t the target audience and never expressed any interest in being part of it. But “Out of the Shadows,” the sequel to 2014’s loud, dumb reboot, at last achieves the goal the franchise has been reaching for all along: It’s made for 12-year-olds without “made for 12-year-olds” being meant as an insult.”

Snider goes on to say, “Often, that designation means a movie is shallow and lazy, or that it panders to a juvenile sense of humor, or that it’s full of plot holes and incoherence that the filmmakers assume kids won’t notice or care about. In truth, “12-year-olds” is often shorthand for “idiots.”” This film, on the other hand, is lighthearted, easy-going, and occasionally funny. Everyone has clear reasons and goals, and the fights (and energetic action scenes) make logical sense, arising out of character and not out of machine. The Turtles are shallow, but not annoyingly or mindlessly so, and they’re skillful of serious conversations about important things. Like a good comic-book sequel, the story brings back old villains, introduces new ones, and continues the established mythology. Snider credited, “It’s a better, more lucid superhero movie than “Batman v Superman” was, not that that’s saying much.”

Snider mentioned, “You notice almost immediately that the film wants to be straightforward and un-confusing, like the Saturday morning cartoon it should have been.” Right away, the four Turtles are reintroduced by name, along with their essential character traits – Leonardo (Pete Ploszek) the leader, Raphael (Alan Ritchson) the muscles, Donatello (Jeremy Howard) the brains, and Michelangelo (Noel Fisher) the comic relief. Later in the film, they introduce themselves to a new friend, corrections officer Casey Jones, played by Oliver Queen/Green Arrow from the DC show on CW, “Arrow,” Stephen Amell, successfully retelling the cast for audience members who might otherwise have difficulty telling the almost-identical Turtles apart.

Main dialogue and plot points are repeated a lot. When the Turtles find out that associates of Shredder, played by Brian Tee, the main antagonist they arrested in the last movie, are planning to help him escape from prison (among the associates is his daughter, Karai, played by Brittany Ishibashi), Donatello says, “They’re gonna break him out! He’ll be free again!” In the next scene, Donatello says the same line almost verbatim to his Master Splinter, voiced by Tony Shalhoub and motion-capture done by Peter D Badalamenti, who then says it again in a different way, with the addition of along the lines of how Shredder will be back to his old job of reigning terror. Snider said, “Most of the dialogue is declarative like that, a quality that makes me roll my eyes or sigh with boredom when it’s in an adult movie, but which is perfectly suitable for one intended for kids. (An even better movie would do this without being obvious about it, but we’re taking baby steps here.)”

The villains, as well, keep repeating their mission in laymen’s terms. (Snider said, “Like 37% of all films, this one is about an effort to collect the mystical artifacts required to open a portal to somewhere.”) Besides Shredder, there’s Krang, voiced by Robert Barone from “Everybody Loves Raymond,” Brad Garrett, an intelligent, creepy alien who, described by Snider, “looks like a cross between an octopus and a brain and who resides in the chest cavity of a powerful robot that does not always obey his instructions. Krang seems like something out of “Futurama,” which is fine with me.” When he assigns Shredder to get the artifacts so Krang can conquer Earth, Krang also gives Shredder purple ooze that can turn people into mutated animals. Shredder uses it on two unenthusiastic fellow convicts, Bebop (comedian Gary Anthony Williams from “Whose Line is it Anyway?”) and Rocksteady (WWE Wrestler Stephen “Sheamus” Farrelly), who become giant warthog and rhino, respectively – and they love it. Bebop and Rocksteady (the movie makes sure to keep saying their names together like that, “Bebop and Rocksteady”) “love” being powerful mutants who destroy things. Their passion is enjoyable.

Donatello actually hypothesizes, after a small experiment, that the purple ooze could also make the Turtles look human. As a result, they wouldn’t have to hide in the sewers and let useless cameraman Vern Fenwick, reprised by Will Arnett, take all the credit for their heroics (which does sound radical, if you think about it). The Turtles disagree among themselves based on this idea, leading to a split – a huge issue for a group that is dependent on unity and teamwork. Snider said, “When Splinter tells Leo that “it’s the different points of view that make the team strong,” I realized with astonishment that his statement makes sense because the Turtles are actually four distinct individuals this time, rather than being interchangeable.” Leonardo’s on a bit of a control freak as the team’s leader, Raphael is short-fused and narrow-minded sometimes, Donatello has a crush on April O’Neil, reprised by Megan Fox, who is overtime getting better at acting, and Michelangelo is somewhat of the sweet, carefree turtle.

All of this is at odds with the film’s messy, brainless prequel (which I thought was tubular). Dave Green is the new director, but two of the three screenwriters, Josh Appelbaun and Andre Nemec, are the same. Snider said, “Maybe we should blame the 2014 film’s badness on its third writer, Evan Daugherty, who wasn’t involved this time? Let’s see, Daugherty’s credits also include “Snow White and the Huntsman” and “Divergent.” So yeah, I’m comfortable with that.”

Snider goes on to say, “I don’t mean to suggest that “Out of the Shadows” is excellent.” The human characters are not completely interesting (although actor, producer, director, screenwriter, playwright, author, and songwriter Tyler Perry’s Baxter Stockman, clearly inspired by Neil DeGrasse Tyson, is close) and everything to do with Casey Jones and police chief Laura Linney is clichéd. (She doesn’t believe his story about the Turtles trying to stop Shredder’s escape, even though it happened during a high-speed freeway chase that must have had quite a handful of witnesses). Although Jane Wu as Jade is quite the eye-candy. It’s also another film where the climax has parts of New York City being destroyed by the Technodrome being assembled in the sky. However, it treats its silly heroes and story just seriously enough for us to get into it without getting “too” serious, which makes a huge amount of difference.

Here’s what I say: maybe the rest of you dudes learned how to tell the Ninja Turtles apart years ago, which is really righteous. Snider admitted, “Maybe the cheerful, slightly off-beat tone of the movie is how the comics or TV cartoon always were. Or maybe it’s a betrayal of those things! Maybe true TMNT fans will hate this. Don’t know, don’t care. I had fun with it.” I agree with him on this because I thought I had a cowabunga time with this.

In the end, I think this movie is an improvement over the first one, but I don’t think a lot of people will like it, although I think this is an enjoyable popcorn flick, like the first one. It's not as good as the live-action trilogy from the 90s, but I like them still, in their own way. All of the characters are enjoyable, each turtle gets used equally, the action is great, and it was nice to finally see Shredder, Krang, Bebop and Rocksteady in a movie together. The good news is that the four actors who play the turtles and Megan Fox have signed on for a third film. Tyler Perry will also be back in the third film, so we’ll see what kind of Turtle Power they are going to give us in that one.

Well, thank you for joining in on all my reviews in June. There’s one other film I want to see in theaters, which I might see this weekend, although I’m not sure. If I don’t see it before the month is over, then stay tuned next month of another great month of reviews.

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb

We have now come to the third and final installment in this trilogy, “Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb,” released in 2014.

Now in its third installment, it’s stronger than ever that this trilogy is based on one joke that has been extended way beyond the breaking point, and not that smartly at that. Fortunately, this movie remembers must of the disturbed silliness that made the second movie completely enjoyable. So it’s watchable even if there aren’t a lot of new ideas, and even if filmmaker Shawn Levy is really happy to settle for unnecessary digital effects work where a small amount of character comedy would have been way more likable.

Back in his previous job as a night security man in New York, Larry is now, as Rich Cline described, “Orchestrating the museum exhibits when they come to life to provide spectacular shows for visitors who think this is all a special effect.” Even his boss, played by Ricky Gervais, doesn’t know what’s really happening. However, when a glitch in the magical Ancient Egyptian powers causes commotion, Larry figures out that he needs to fly to London so he can reunite Ahkmenrah with his father, played by Ben Kingsley, who’s on display at the British Museum. Larry’s teenage son Nick, played by Skyler Gisondo, comes with Larry, as does his exhibit friends Teddy Roosevelt, tiny soldiers Octavius and Jedediah and everyone else. However, in London, while sneaking around the Museum’s night security Tilly (comedian Rebel Wilson), Larry and his team wakes a knight statue Lancelot (Matthew Crawley from “Downton Abbey,” Dan Stevens), who joins in on their journey with rather a lot of enjoyment. Cline mentioned, “Until Lancelot turns up, everything about the film feels oddly tired, from the starry cameos to effects work that strains to be clever. Then Stevens injects a badly needed jolt of blue-eyed charisma and warped comical timing that makes the rest of the movie rather good fun.” Rebel Wilson’s side-plot is actually pretty funny, with some perfectly silly touches. Even the cameos get better, notably a part on a West End stage that’s honestly inspired silliness. Coogan and Wilson give some harsh joking to escort everything that happens, and Stiller, and Cline said, “Kind of hangs on for dear life.” However, the filmmakers don’t really care about these characters. They’re just trying to create something visually remarkable that’s also silly fun.

Cline said, “The quality of the digital trickery is certainly impressive, most notably in some freak-out moments like a room full of broken statues trying to move with missing limbs. And a sequence inside an Escher painting is eye-popping. But there's little coherence between these set-pieces, and no real momentum to the thin plot.” There’s also the problem that the filmmakers are evidently not interested in museums at all. They never make anything of the interaction with history or art (Cline said, “they don't even understand that a historical collection like the British Museum is unlikely to contain a dinosaur skeleton or an Escher painting”). Instead they’re just happy to give a bit of high-budget, middle-brow entertainment.

Unlike the previous two installments where I was there with my sister and one other cousin, this time we had some members in our extended family that came with us to see this movie. Rightfully so, this movie is dedicated to the loving memories of Mickey Rooney and Robin Williams. I applauded when Robin Williams’ name came up, as that man deserved it since he was my favorite comedian. One of my friends joined in when I applauded for him, and I can only imagine what it would have been like if we saw this on opening weekend. Possibly the whole theater would have applauded, but when we went and saw it, only I and one of my friends applauded since he is, and always will be, sorely missed from the movie and comedy world.

In the end, I definitely say to check this movie out since this movie actually comes full circle and ends on a strong note. If you loved the previous two installments, than you will get into this one just fine. Especially if you have small children, they will be fairly entertained when watching this. Check it out and see for yourself.

Now that I have finished the “Night at the Museum” trilogy, stay tuned next week to see what I finish the month of June out with.

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

You could probably think of every reason why "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian," released in 2009, shouldn't be a good sequel. Normally, sequels just repeats the same story only larger and louder. Some of that is evident here. Yet the change of location from New York's Museum of Natural History to Washington D.C.'s Smithsonian Institution, along with the addition of some new characters, is different. Kids will enjoy themselves.

The story starts off some time after what transpired in the first film. Former museum guard Larry Daley has become successful as the creator of certain valuable products as a glow in the dark flashlight. Visiting his old friends - museum exhibits that come to life at night by a mysterious Egyptian artifact - he learns that a huge renovation is happening and most of them will be stored at the Smithsonian. When he gets a hysterical phone call from the miniature cowboy Jedadiah that they are under attack at the Smithsonian, he flies down to Washington D.C. to try and rescue them. What he finds out is that the plaque also has been put into storage, so the same ancient magic works there. Larry's main enemy is Kahmunrah (the voice of Moe, Chief Wiggum, Apu, Carl, Comic Book Guy, Lou, Professor Frink, Superintendent Chalmers, Bumblebee Man, Crazy Old Man, and Dr. Nick Riviera from "The Simpsons," Hank Azaria), the evil brother of the kindhearted Egyptian pharaoh Ahkmenrah (Rami Malek) from the first film. David M. Kimmel said in his review, "Sporting an accent borrowed from Boris Karloff, Kahmunrah announces his plans for world domination once he uses the plaque to open the gate to the underworld." Larry's task is to rescue his friends and ruin Kahmunrah, helped by some new friends, including the famous aviator Amelia Earhart, played by Amy Adams.

Since the Smithsonian is a handful of museums around the famous Washington Mall, there's a wide variety of new characters and exhibits which can come to life, from Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial (Azaria) to the famous World War II photograph of a sailor (Clifton McCabe Murray) and a woman (Alberta Mayne) in a loving kiss. While Kahmunrah has the assistance of Napoleon (Alain Chabat), Al Capone (Jon Bernthal) and Ivan the Terrible (Christopher Guest), Larry is able to call on the Tuskegee Airmen (Keith Powell and Craig Robinson), General Custer (comedian Bill Hader), and a collection of Albert Einstein bobblehead dolls ("American Pie" actor, Eugene Levy). Returning from the first film are old friends, including Teddy Roosevelt and the Roman officer Octavius.

Kimmel mentioned, "It’s a lot of silly, raucous nonsense, but it makes good use of the change of setting, including setting Octavius in a battle with a squirrel on the White House lawn. Best of all are Azaria, a brilliant comic character actor who has yet to get his due outside of his voicework on “The Simpsons,” and Adams as the feisty Earhart, thrilled to be off on a new adventure."

There's no doubt about it that the first sequel in this trilogy is summer fun, targeted for family audiences. This succeeds as well as it does because of no small part to a smart script and some amazing casting choices. The kids won't be disappointed. Their parents may also enjoy it, as well.

When I saw this in the theaters, I instantly liked this one better. I thought it did a good job telling the next story and I think that it's one of the good sequels ever. If you saw the first movie and liked it, then you should watch this one. You will fall in love with this one as well, I promise you. Although my brother doesn't like that this movie didn't get the geographical accuracy of D.C. right, but I think that's serious nit-picking. Just watch this movie and I promise you, you may like this one over the first.

Look out next week when I talk about the final installment in the "Night at the Museum" trilogy. Is the third movie a shameful installment that is the worst in the series like a bunch of third installments in trilogies or is it actually the definitive cap on the series that ends it off well? Only one way to find out: wait until next week to know what I thought.

Night at the Museum

This month I will be looking at a trilogy that I’ve been wanting to review for a couple of years, especially since the latest one didn’t come out that long ago. I’m referring to the “Night at the Museum” trilogy. It will be a tough one to get through since the late Robin Williams was in them, but I’ll try to see how good I can do without breaking. With that said, let’s take a look at the first “Night at the Museum” movie, released in 2006.

“Night at the Museum” has an idea that sounds fantastic until you look closely at it. It’s about a security guard at a large museum who finds out his first night on the job that between sunset and sunrise, everything in the museum comes to life. Eric D. Snider said in his review, “A little close to “Jumanji,” sure, but that’s workable.

The problem is, where can you go with such an idea? Any scenes taken place outside the museum, or set inside the museum during daylight hours, will seem unrelated. Snider said, “Why waste our time with other stuff when there are living dioramas and T-rex skeletons to look at? And furthermore, what’s the actual story going to be?” “A museum where the exhibits come to life” isn’t a story, it’s an idea. You have to DO something with it to turn it into a story.

The “Night at the Museum” writers – who Snider credits as “the hacktastic duo of Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon (both so funny as actors on “Reno 911,” and so bad as writers of family dreck like “The Pacifier” and “Herbie Fully Loaded”)” – have brought to life a Milan Trenc’s children’s book to have a trio of retiring security guards (Dick Van Dyke, the late Mickey Rooney, and Bill Cobbs) who tell the new guy, Larry (the hilarious Ben Stiller), the cause of the museum’s secretive power.

It’s the first special-effects-heavy comedy for star Ben Stiller or director Shawn Levy (“Cheaper by the Dozen,” “The Pink Panther”), but both adjust very well. Snider said, “Perhaps because the many digital effects make rampant improvisation too expensive, Stiller is much more subdued than usual, with the resultant performance for more likable than when he’s sweatily trying to get laughs.” Levy, for his part, keeps the pace sharp and the storytelling simple.

The museum has a wide range of exhibits, including dioramas with tiny Old West figures and ancient Roman warriors. When they come to life, the tiny wax figures – Jedediah (comedian Owen Wilson) the cowboy and Octavius (the great Steve Coogan) the Roman – fight with each other rather hilariously and, according to Snider, “lead their Lilliputian forces to attack Larry.”

On the normal-size deal, there are Huns (Patrick Gallagher, Randy Lee, Darryl Quon, Gerald Wong and Paul Chih-Ping Cheng), lots of vicious African mammals, and a wax figure of President Theodore Roosevelt (Robin Williams) who has a long crush on the wax figure of Sacagawea (Mizuo Peck). Larry talks with all of them and more, at first unable to control the pandemonium that takes place every time at sunset, but soon taking control and leading his responsibilities like a general.

Just about everything else about the movie is insignificant. That includes Larry’s scenes trying to make his only son Nick (Jake Cherry) look up to him, and his attempts to become friends and impress a college lecturer (Carla Gugino). Also, so are the half-hearted attempts to make it look like Larry has taken control of the late-night pandemonium by learning and applying history. Who made the rule that “family movies” must be filled with tacky feeling and life lessons? Can’t a guy just go around a museum being followed by reanimated mastodons and wax-figure Neanderthals (Kerry van der Griend, Dan Rizzuto, Matthew Harrison and Jody Racicot)? When that’s the premise of the movie, “Night at the Museum” is fine.

I saw this movie on New Year’s Day of 2007, I believe, in IMAX. I fell in love with this movie because it was very entertaining and I loved every minute of it. If you can, watch this movie because it is an enjoyment and education for the whole family.

Want to know how the sequels are? Find out next week when I look at the first sequel in “Night at the Museum Month.”