The Wolverine

With comic book/ superhero films its a hit or miss. What happens is the characters and story get pulverized by all the CGI and action sequences. Another issue that has plagued films of this genre in the past are to many characters from the comics / too many villains. Spiderman 3 had 3 villains, and a lack of development on new and past characters. The same can be said for X-men Origins: Wolverine. The CGI was lacking, and the film overall just seemed to be the studio trying to craft another x-men picture without the x-men (a young scott summers appears but thats beside the point) In order to have a good superhero movie, the story needs to work. The Wolverine adapts the famous story of Logan's time spent in Japan. In the comics he had gone back to Japan on his own cause of his worry for his love Mariko. The movie version changes this in order to keep with some line of continuity with what's come before, Logan loved Jean Grey and killed her back in 2006. The film details Logan's fallout after he leaves the X-men at the end of The Last Stand.

Wolverine is a solid adaptation of the comic book in which it is based and is stream lined to give the story points to breath. Japan is a great change in setting and really knocks Logan around, especially the villain Viper. Her villain is like a snake, she's over the top and slivers in and out of the background. I found her to be one of Wolverine's most interesting foes. The Silver samurai also has a grand appearance in the film, he is done brilliantly with a few twists to tie him into the version the movie makers have created.

Just to get to the basics, here are five reasons you need to see The Wolverine.

5. The Cast

The Wolverine has such a terrific japanese cast, Hugh does not stand out he molds in with the rest of the cast. Tao Okamoto is so beautiful and strong as Mariko. Hiroyuki Sanada was brillaint as her father, and Rila as Yuiko was fabulous. Famke Janssen also makes a welcome return as Logan's lost love, Jean Grey. Her performance is as good as it ever was. While her character is dead its nice to she her back on the silver screen again.

4. The Story / Setting / Tone

With the change in setting and the cutting back on the X-men baggage gives this film's story the chance to really explore Logan's struggle with his immortality and his guilt over Jean Grey's death. As a comic book adaptation the story from the comic is adapted pretty well here, the way the silver samurai is sure to astound. As well as the great recreation of the villainess, Viper. Played by a russian actress, Viper is a truly dastardly villain here. Logan takes no harm into calling her a major bitch. That's also a thing I enjoyed to in the film, it was not toned down. There is harsh language and there is blood, which was lacking in Logan's previous outing. While not R-rated it's a step above from being too childish. To add on top of that the film creates a great struggle for Logan has his healing powers are put on mute for a time, making him more vulnerable. Now that is what I call taking the character in a challenging direction. An come on, who doesn't want to see Hugh Jackman getting into scuffles with ninjas and samurais.

3. The Score

Marco Beltrami previously worked with James Mangold on the remake to 3:10 to Yuma with Christian Bale and Russell Crowe. Here he gives one of his best scores. The instruments he uses to create rhyme really gets the blood pumping as Logan's trip through Tokyo gets ever more intense. He brings back the classic music of the Bryan Singer films. I loved what John Powell, Harry Gregson-Williams and Henry Jackman brought to the mix but John Ottman had done my favourite score for an x-men film and I defiantly feel Marco has just topped him. Likely, John will top Marco with his score for Days of Future Past, coming out next summer.

2. Hugh Jackman

Hugh taking some time off from the role of Logan, cameoing in 2011's X-men First Class, was a very good thing. This film is his come back. He brings the character soaring back, Logan's charm is back and Hugh is the best he has ever been in the role both in looks and charm. No word of a lie, Hugh surprised me here. His performance was a huge step up from 2009's failure. You can tell this is the story he wanted to tell, his heart was really in it this time.

1. Cinematic Universe

Like Marvel Studios Avenger's film 20th Century Fox is building up the hype for next summer's big tent pole piece X-men: Days of Future Past. A post credit scene ties The Wolverine in with the upcoming film and solidifies its status as the better of the two solo outings for the character.

The Wolverine reverences what came before, there are photographs of Logan from X-men the last stand, and gives insight into the future. Its an exhilarating ride from start to finish, a character driven piece with a terrific villain at its centre and some fantastic action scenes. The future of X-men at 20th century Fox looks very bright indeed.

Future Blueray Release

I am hugely anticipating the release of this disney classic. I am a fan of furries (anthropomorphic human/animals)  and this film replaces the human characters with animals. Its similar to winnie the pooh, in style and story telling.

The Conjuring

It's here, my review of The Conjuring!

James Wan has directed many ho-hum movies in the past, Saw (the start of the torture-porn) and Dead Silence, to more recent haunting fare (Insidious). Insidious was his first step into crafting an efficient horror movie. The Conjuring is his film that tops all the rest. He learned from past mistakes and finally crafts a worthy horror film that deserves a solid sequel. 

The Conjuring tells the true life story of Ed and Lorraine Warren and their most terrifying case, that of

the Perron family. The film begins was a really creeper of a tale of a possessed doll. I found this to be a nice reference to his past film Saw, though I do not think that was intentional. True-fully the doll in the movie looks more terrifying than the real doll. This doll does cause some tension for the Warrens later on in the film and is a great start for the film.
     
   Through out the first bit of the movie we are focused on development of the Warrens and the Perron family. The scares are paced perfectly and the setting, (1970s) is terrific. Quick thought, for a sequel they could focus on the warren's experience on long island, aka The Amityville horror. I mean it, thats what I want to see done in a sequel. The Warren's are so well developed in this film, and played magnificently by Vera Farmiga (Lorraine) and Patrick Wilson (Ed). 

     

     The cast is fabulous, especially those of the Perron family. Ron Livingston and Lili Taylor play the father and mother the the group of daughters. Lili is fabulous, the best she has ever been and it was such a welcome return for her to haunted house movies, The Haunting '99 is one of my favourite horror movies. For the daughters we have the cute Joey King (she is so amazing here) and Mackenzie Foy

A beautiful family photo

(twilight). I feel bad cause when I heard Mackenzie Foy was in this I thought, this movie is gonna be bad. She stared in the final Twilight movie and look at how much people loved that. I love the twilight movies but was unsure at how she could move over from fantasy cheesy horror to true classic horror. The movie turned out great in the end and she was terrific in this.

The direction was spot on, the cinematography was fabulous and the score was truly spine chilling. As far as haunted house movies go, I would call this one as one of the best. Now I have liked horror films that most did not enjoy (Remake of The Haunting) but I truly love this film, finally a film that will sure to become a classic. James Wan's best direction, terrific cast, amazing tension and nail-biting twists, The Conjuring is a 5 star horror film and the best horror film of the year!

New Review Coming soon.

I am lazy this week and will try and work up a draft to type for a review of The Conjuring. If I do not post by friday I will instead post my newer review of the movie The Wolverine.

Internet Down

Reasons to why I have not posted reviews of late it because my internet was down. But now it is back up and I will be doing more reviews. Shockingly the movies I listed as possibles for the next official review I found I lost interest or the reviews were shockingly bad (Lone Ranger), my first new review is coming tomorrow!

Coming Soon

My Review to the highly rated horror film, The Conjuring. Two words, classic horror!

July 1st, Canada Day

World War Z Review

I thought I would not do a review but having now seen the movie again and having it fresh in my mind I've chosen to give my opinion.

WWZ is based off the acclaimed novel by Max Brooks, though if you have read the book and are a fan you may be some what disappointed. The film takes some creative detours from the book in order to make a more coherent movie. The film follows UN investigator, Gerry (played by Brad Pitt) as he tries to help find where the infection started and how to kill it.

 The film is directed by Marc Forester. I know people are not liking towards him due to his instalment in the Bond canon to be, shall I say, less than stellar. Quantum of Solace was the Bond film that disappointed fans and got most people to thinking Bond was gone for good. I, however, felt differently. My only complaint about that film was that it was too short and yes felt less like a Bond movie and more like some artsy action film. But to have a director like that direct a zombie film with Brad Pitt, something good is sure to come out of it. And now I give you World War Z.

What I loved about this movie was just how terrifying it could get. The opening scene alone was so tense filled. Brad and his family on stuck in traffic in Philadelphia when one single explosion rings chaos down the street.

The CGI use on the zombies is actually a plus, it gives the zombies an upgrade making things even more terrifying, who is a running infected and who isn't. You can't tell between the running zombies and the running humans. Some may consider this an annoyance, but its a huge plus. The opening act 1 is the first of some amazing zombie action.

We are then taken from land to sea as we see the military is trying its best to salvage the situation. Gerry leaves his family on one of the military ships as he goes on his search for the origins of the virus. There are not a lot of big names in the film but the few there are, Mireille Enos (The Killing), Matthew Fox (Alex Cross, Lost) and David Morse (16 Blocks, Disturbia). Enos plays Gerry's wife, she is fabulous, even with the limited screen time. David plays an ex-CIA agent who informs Gerry of a place to look for answers, Jerusalem. Matthew Fox's role is as a pilot, he rescues Gerry and his family and is essentially the only one on the ship who really talks to them. I noticed him more in my second viewing.

When Gerry gets to Jerusalem he doesn't get many answers, only that it may be best to find a way to hide from the infected. What follows is a thrilling scene in which the zombies get attracted to the noise the people are making and form a big mountain pile to get over the Jerusalem wall. The movie's zombies are very much like ants here.

From there Gerry boards a flight, not knowing what to do next. This is where his idea comes from as he realizes the infected need a healthy host to infect, if the host already has a virus in them, they would be left out of danger (aka camouflage) With that in mind Gerry gets the plane to head to Whales.

Now, the film is rated PG-13 and it does get annoyingly noticeable. I can except it. The knowledge that what we, the audience, are seeing is more gruesome then they are letting on. The scenario in which Gerry has to severe the hand of a friend in order for her to survive is toned down. You can see some blood but its rather held back.

The third act of the film is one where some complained. I however thought it was the best part. The small cast hired as the crew of the World Health Organization was excellent. I loved  Ruth Negga   she was a joy to watch. Also, Pierfrancesco Favino,  Peter Capaldi  and  Moritz Bleibtreu  (who is in fact from the movie Run, Lola, Run) they were all perfect in their roles. The atmosphere, while quite different from the first two parts of the film, its a cooler segment and more terrifying. I loved it.

The epilogue, while not terrible, tries to say that there is still more to come, yet it seems everything has been tied up nicely.

I loved World War Z, and I do plan to eventually read the book. References I feel are made in the film, the opening segment reminiscent of the 2004 remake of Dawn of the dead, and the apartment building and the health complex brought back memories of the 28 days/weeks films.

I give WWZ a 4 out of 5, a classic B-movie zombie flick!

Apologies

As of now, I've decided to not do reviews for Hans Zimmer's superman score and World War Z. I'll just give the basic rundown.

  Man of Steel Score - Hans Zimmer is a fantastic composer and he did an amazing job creating some very uplifting themes for the new movie. Favourite track "What Are you going to do when you are not saving the world?" Best advice, get the deluxe soundtrack, has a full 28 minute scrapbook of hans Zimmer's experimentation for the movie.
 


World War Z -  Now this movie had huge production issues and the whole third act was re-shot which sent the budget over board. The movie, with Brad Pitt, was actually better than I originally thought. Marc Forster does a great job of making a pretty unique zombie thriller and Brad Pitt is a good as ever. Marco Beltrami provides the terrific score and Muse also adds some musical reference tunes (ala The Exorcist). A film I was surprised to like and do intend to eventually watch again.


So, the next upcoming OFFICIAL review may be a number of movies:

White House Down
Pacific Rim
The Lone Ranger


Not sure yet, I have been lazy with the site lately but I will try better.

Mr. Watson