Furious 6

Since Justin Lin signed on to direct the fast films back in 2006 no one ever dreamed he would bring the series to new heights, in Furious Six he does just that.

Following in the same vein as Fast Five, Furious Six is less about street racing and more about insane crazy action. The movie is simple, a bad guy is causing lots of trouble in europe, Hobbs (The Rock) sees he needs the help of one man to catch this criminal "street racer", Dominic Toreto. So most of the team from Five gets back together, with the other two members still off spending their share of the Rio heist on gambling. If you stayed around after the credits of Fast 5 you'll know that in this film she makes a reappearance, having lost her memory and now working for the villain Owen Shaw (played meticulously by Luke Evans). This is what really gets the whole group back together with Dominic wanting to bring his family back together and Brian (Paul Walker) wanting to fix things he did in the past.

The cast is superb yet again in this instalment with most of the main casting making a return from part 5. New additions to the cast are action stars Gina Carano (Haywire) and Johannes Taslim (The Raid: Redemption). And as before I loved the inclusion of Luke Evans as the main villain. I thought he was fantastic and made for a much better bad guy than the one seen in Fast Five. More of a dastardly bad guy than some pompous rich pussy character.

Score wise its changed from Brian Tyler, long time composer of the series, to Lucas Vidal (The Cold light of Day, The Raven). He crafted a pretty fascinating score and I have hopes I'll be able to give it a separate listen if it ever gets released.

What took me by surprise in this is how well Justin and Chris were able to give the whole series a sense of finality, they do bring the series full circle, brining the main cast back to where it all began and even now finally giving an nod to where Justin's Tokyo Drift film fits in the the chronology.

There is a real good teaser during the credits, like Fast 5, that will have you screaming for Part 7. I promise you that 7's villain will amaze!

Like Fast 5, Furious Six is the must see blockbuster this summer.

5 out of 5.

Star Trek: JJ Abram's Sequel

 

   I was never a fan of Star Trek, never a real fan. I was more of a fan of Star Wars. But when I heard JJ Abrams' was doing Star Trek I knew I had to see it. Reason is because he practically made the Mission Impossible movies good, with MI3 in 2006 he made way for Brad Bird's 4th instalment Ghost Protocol. Star Trek Into Darkness may be Abrams' best film to date.

Story wise the film may not be as intricate as the 2009 reboot was but its because that in that film they really made an effort to bring the characters back and give them a firm standing. The best part of Star Trek Into Darkness is how the events of the previous movie effect the continuity of the franchise. To me this was a brilliant idea and makes sense but if Abrams' doesn't want Trekkies to kill him best he stay away from messing with continuity.

The casting is brilliant here. Alice Eve plays a devilishly charming girl and gives Kirk a possible future love interest. Benedict Cumberbatch plays the villain Jonathan Harrison and he is beyond brilliant. While there is a good detail on the villain's backstory and he is way more compelling than Eric Bana's villain character from 2009. What Cumberbatch succeeds in doing is giving the character depth both on the outside and inside. I loved him in this and thought he made the perfect villain.

The continued bonding of Kirk and Spock was done perfectly and all the others, old and new, got their time to shine. Simon Pegg was very good in this as well, along with all the others including Bruce Greenwood and Karl Urban. Chris Pine was just perfectly vulnerable in this and I can't wait to see him play the role of Jack Ryan.

Overall I felt that this film hit all the right notes and came off as a fantastic sequel to the 2009 reboot, I mean come on people, did we really want a Quantum of a sequel or isn't better to appreciate it for what it is, a film that Rises to the occasion.

Star Trek Into Darkness gets a 5 out of 5 from me as its just a top notch better than the 2009 film with a more efficient villain.

New Release, Mama

I just got done watching the horror-fantasy film Mama. I'll keep this short cause its late. It had some great acting from its cast, Jessica Chastain really thrived in her role as Annabelle. The atmosphere was terrific, very spooky. Composer Fernando Velázquez crafts a very elegant and spooky score, which tops the score Marco Baltrami did with Buck Sanders on Don't be afraid of the Dark. Sadly, the ending is disappointing and may not make sense to a lot of people. However I see it as a certain character's choice. Also, its a horror movie and horror movies only work best with some sort of dark ending (Sinister, The Amityville Horror, The Evil Dead) a happy ending would just not do the film any good (though we all secretly wish for it)

I'd give this film 3 1/2 out of 5.

Iron Man 3 dvd cover art

Iron Man Three

Phase two in the Marvel universe has begun, and it's starting out with a solid start. Robert Downey Jr is great as ever as Tony Stark, who takes a turn for the worse this time round as he has panic attacks from his past experiences in the movie The Avengers. There are some nice references in this film to The Avengers, and it gives the film a nice continuation in the overall Marvel Universal Arc. Gwyneth Paltrow returns as the head of Stark industries and love interest to Tony Stark Pepper Potts. Her character gets into the action in this chapter and its excellent development for her character. Her character is not the only one who gets some satisfying development. Jon Favreau's Happy Hogan gets upgraded to head of security at Stark industries and Tony's relationship with Col. Rhodes is developed further. New cast members Guy Pearce, Ben Kingsley and Rebecca Hall brought some refreshing talent to the franchise and crafted some of the most interesting characters seen yet in this series. Ty Simpkins, from Insidious, has an interesting role in this as well. He plays the role of a kid who helps Tony get out of his shell and face the world head on. What was also fantastic was the surprise cameos of some characters from Tony's past making an appearance here. I won't tell you which but I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised.

As far as the story goes Tony gets pushed harder here as the film for a good portion focuses on Tony doing the dirty work without the suit. This was a nice touch cause it got us to see how the real Tony handles the action stuff. A neat upgrade in the film was him enhancing his ability to control his machines mentally. Rhodes gets a name change this time out, from War Machine to Iron Patriot, though he prefers the latter of the two names. The over all feel I got from this third chapter was a more grounded sense of environment and a great balance of humour and dark elements. The film is loosely based off the Extremis storyline from the comics and bringing those elements to the screen gives Iron Man 3 a great refreshing feel. It's also the first in the series to be set around christmas time, which was both interesting and weird (seeing as it is a summer tentpole release)

Brian Tyler, of Fast and the Furious fame, takes over scoring duties from previous helmer John Debney. He does a great job as usual at bringing forth both an action packed and epic sounding score. He crafts new motifs for both Pepper and War Machine and gives Iron Man 3 it's overall darker tone.

I enjoyed Iron Man 3 and I consider it to be a strong lead into Marvel's cinematic phase 2. I did have an issue with the ending, feeling that moments that could of lasted longer seemed to go by at a more brisker pace. It did not hinder the film in the least, characters are pushed farther, the action is darker, grittier and more intense and the final battle in the film is the best in the Iron Man franchise and makes Iron Man 3 the one film to top the previous instalments.

Now the big question, is it better than The Avengers. Truth? no. And why should it be, it's a great instalment in its own franchise and shouldn't be compared to the cross over film. Iron Man 3 is a solid blockbuster film with interesting characters, a great nemesis, excellent visuals and terrific action.

Iron Man 3 gets a 4 1/2 out of 5.

Tomorrow!

I'm Tony Stark, I build neat stuff, I got a great girl, and occasionally save the world. So why can't I sleep?

Friday!

I got you!

This Friday...

Heroes, there is no such thing