Interstellar

 

Expectations:
Although we only get a film from Christopher and Jonathan Nolan every two years or so, my praise for the films written and directed by the brotherly duo has permeated many months of this blog. That said, most of you already know how much I love the Nolan brothers and their epic films. From Inception to The Dark Knight to The Prestige, these guys know how to get to me in some special way, and, of course, I expected nothing less from Interstellar. In fact, when I first heard about Nolan's new "space film," I was convinced that Interstellar was going to be the greatest Nolan flick of all time. Why?... Well, I don't know!... Then came the trailer, which was quite underwhelming, in my opinion. If Gravity had yet to be released, maybe I would have been impressed with the visuals, and, had we not seen soooo much of Matthew McConaughey over the past year, maybe I would have been intrigued with that casting move. Unfortunately, as the release of Interstellar got closer and closer, my expectations continued to slowly fall. But, about thirty minutes into the film, when all plot twisting hell began to break loose, I remembered what I long for in a Nolan flick... and why I long for it...

Plot:
Very few people have Nolan's ability to construct such a complex storyline in such a short time frame (although many people complained about the 3 hour run time). I mean, the fact that Inception was able to make any sense, at all, to anybody, really fascinates me, to this very day! Interstellar was able to take advantage of that same understandably complex world in which Nolan's ideas grow, and the film did so with much more ease than I had expected. Of course, I can't say too very much on here, without spoiling anything, but I challenge you to find a more complex, science fiction storyline with such a great heart and so many flowing emotions, throughout! Interstellar was a bit of a mold-breaker for Nolan, with a different feel and a much different setting. However, Nolan stuck to his guns and produced one heck of a story, which is exactly why we tend to always love his films.

Characters:
Although the acting was not poor, there were really no standout performances from any actresses or actors. Sure, there were a few intriguing characters, but nobody was able to blow me away (which is quite a common theme among Nolan films... save The Dark Knight).

Negatives:
Ellyn Burstyn's character (who shall not be named, for the sake of spoilers) was extremely awkward, in my opinion. At that point in the film, I was a bit too caught up in trying to figure out what the heck just happened to really be able to soak in her very short role in the film. But, if I had been able to pay attention more, I still don't see myself liking her. It was just a little weird, for some reason. Additionally weird was the presence of the "smart robots," CASE and TARS, voiced by Josh Stewart and Bill Irwin. They just did not feel necessary, at any point in the film!

Positives:
Although his performance lacked the soul of his turns in The Wolf of Wall Street and Dallas Buyers Club, Matthew McConaughey was still quite impressive in the lead, as Cooper (which miraculously turned out to be his last name, at some point in the film). Honestly, I can't think of another Nolan character that ever earned as much empathy as Cooper earned in the first hour of Interstellar. Kudos to both McConaughey and the Nolan brothers for building a film around such a great lead character.

Conclusion:
While Interstellar will never be thought of as Christopher Nolan's greatest film, it did manage to exceed my lowered expectations and impress me quite a bit. Like never before, Nolan was able to go beyond intriguing me and reach a level that made me truly care what happened to the characters. I have always cared about the outcome of Nolan's films, but the characters are typically nothing more than a piece of the puzzle. This time around, Cooper was the entire picture! There were certainly Nolan-esque moments and impressive visual elements, but, in the end, most of those aspects were washed away, in order to keep the focus on the characters. If you are not a fan of Nolan's other films, check out Interstellar, as it provides many different elements that are sure to impress any moviegoer. I give Interstellar 3.85 out of 5 stars.

X-Men: Days of Future Past

 

Expectations:
Holy moly! I could not wait for X-Men: Days of Future Past! When you go to the movies as much as I do, that giddy, movie-going feeling is diluted a bit, particularly in the summer months. From now until the end of August, I will likely grace the movie theater at least once a week, which means I will see many good, bad, and mediocre films. I will be excited about many and reluctant about a few, but there is absolutely no film that will get me as excited as I was for the X-Men se-pre-quel that I have been waiting on for about two years. In fact, I don't think I have been as excited for a film since 2012's The Dark Knight Rises. I love all of the mutants, and the entire X-Men storyline (yes, even The Last Stand). So, as you might expect, I anticipated great things with X-Men: Days of Future Past. I mean, come on! All of the freaking mutants, young and old, on one screen! It was sure to be absolutely brilliant!

Plot:
It was absolutely brilliant! I have no clue how Simon Kinberg and Bryan Singer were able to tie together the separate time periods and storylines as seamlessly as they did. Add to that their ability to create infinite potential storylines, and you have what could only be described as genius. For years, I've been baffled by the fact that the X-Men franchise was unable to become what Disney's Marvel franchise has become over the past few years. The answer may be found in the fact that Disney owns half of the world already. Regardless, I am certainly hopeful that the amazingly in-depth storyline of Days of Future Past doesn't fly over the heads of those who know no better than Captain America = Good and Loki = Bad. In my opinion, the Avengers will never be able to pull off a story anywhere close to the greatness that the X-Men just unleashed.

Characters:
What makes the X-Men franchise so fascinating is the vast potential of new and old characters that could be brought in out of nowhere. Honestly, I wish there was an X-Men TV show. I would watch the crap out of that! Here are a few high/low-lights of the Days of Future Past cast...

Negatives:
With such a large cast and so much going on, it would be impossible for Singer to bat 1.000, but he gave it his all. Unfortunately, there was one character that felt out of place for pretty much the entire film, and that was Nicholas Hoult's Beast/Hank. While his presence was necessary for a good portion of the storyline, he lacked an original storyline. On top of that, his infatuation with Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique/Raven was definitely forced, which distracted from the story at hand. Aside from Beast, the only other character who wasn't great was Lucas Till's Havok/Alex. With the quick deletion of many First Class cast members, his short time on screen was mostly just an annoying tease. I wanted to see more Havok!

Positives:
Allow me a moment to dote upon American Horror Story's main man and future mega-movie-star, Mr. Evan Peters. While many of you were (are) likely unfamiliar with Peters, he has always been impressive to me, particularly in AHS season 2. In Days of Future Past, Peters' Quicksilver/Peter singlehandedly created the most entertaining moments of the entire film, without a doubt in my mind. I can't wait to see what his future has in store! Additionally, James McAvoy (Professor X/Charles) was able to blow me away, yet again. McAvoy was my favorite part of First Class, and I'm glad that he was given such a large spotlight, yet again, in the sequel. Of course, Michael Fassbender was great, but I do think he was a bit underused in this film... Though, the movie couldn't go on forever.

Conclusion:
If there were a 2014 film that I wished went on forever, X-Men: Days of Future Past would be that film. Kudos to anyone involved in the making of this gloriously perfect film. Sure, there were a few hiccups, but, considering the task at hand, the filmmakers did a great job. After both The Avengers and The Dark Knight, I had a moment of realization that I would never be impressed by those sets of superheroes to that level, ever again. However, leaving the theater on Friday night, I could think of nothing but future possibilities for the X-Men franchise. Days of Future Past may have been good, but I truly believe that the future of the X-Men franchise will kick the butt of the franchise's past... a past that I already loved. X-Men: Days of Future Past gets 4.34 out of 5 stars. Go watch it!

A special side note:
X-Men: First Class was actually the first film that I reviewed on my blog. It is pretty easy to tell that I had no clue what I was doing, but, if you want, you can check it out here.

Closure: April 2014

Somehow, I managed to watch a good many movies in April. I guess I caught the film bug, because many of my TV shows have been totally neglected for the past few weeks. Regardless, it was exciting to have the chance to watch some of my old favorites. It had been quite some time since I last watch The Dark Knight, which is totally unacceptable. Also, I had the opportunity to introduce yet another person to The Prestige, which may or may not be even better than The Dark Knight, depending on what day you ask me. Regardless, Christopher Nolan is a genius, and you should watch every single one of his films... immediately.

Take a look at all of the movies I watched in April:

Movie Watched	Year	Format	Did I Enjoy?	Would I Watch Again?
Captain America: The Winter Soldier	2014	Theater > Full Price	Yes	Maybe
Gravity	2013	Blu-Ray > Redbox	Yes	Yes
Despicable Me 2	2013	Blu-Ray > Borrowed	Yes	Yes
Bad Words	2014	Theater > Matinee	Some	No
21 Jump Street	2012	DVD > Own	Yes	Yes
The Dark Knight (Movie of the Month!)	2010	Blu-Ray > Own	Yes	Yes
X-Men	2000	DVD > Own	Yes	Yes
Midnight in Paris	2011	DVD > Own	Yes	Yes
The Cider House Rules	1999	TV > Netflix	Yes	No
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty	2013	Blu-Ray > Own	Yes	Yes
The Prestige	2006	DVD > Own	Yes	Yes

Man of Steel

 

Expectations:
Admittedly, I know very little about Superman, as a comic character. As a kid, I did watch Lois and Clark with Dean Cain and, growing up, I watched a few seasons of Smallville. However, I don't think I have ever seen an entire Superman movie, and, honestly, I'm not a huge fan of the immortal super hero. The invincibility of Superman has always kept me from really caring what happened to him, because you know he is going to kick butt and survive (same goes for you, Wolverine!). Nevertheless, as an average movie viewer, just like you, my mind is quite vulnerable when it comes to good ad campaigns for films. In my opinion, even with the unnecessary Chrysler and Marines commercials, Man of Steel was advertised quite well, and I really loved the vague teasers that were first released last summer. Not only were the teasers intriguing, but I loved the darkness that felt similar to The Dark Knight trilogy. As I've confessed to you many times before, Christopher Nolan is one of my filmmaking heroes. Anything with the Nolan name attached to it will rob me of $8 and hopefully blow me away. So, with Nolan producing Man of Steel, my expectations and excitement skyrocketed. Even though he lacked the cajones to actually kill Batman in The Dark Knight Rises, Nolan knows what he's doing, and Zack Snyder has plenty of experience, although I hate 300.

Plot:
Going in, I was really thinking that I would get 20-30 minutes of Clark Kent's childhood, but, instead, there was a really long birth scene, which led straight to Henry Cavill as grown-up Clark Kent. Initially, I was disappointed about the lack of childhood, mostly because I wanted more Kevin Costner, who plays Clark's earth dad. However, in the end, as I was enduring the ten billion fight scenes, I was thankful that Kent's childhood did not linger on. Surprisingly, the biggest problem I had with the film was the fight scenes. The visual aspects of the flying and punching was really cool, but the results of one punch may send someone flying through ten buildings, while the next only sends them into the next room. The inconsistencies were quite annoying. Also, each of the ten billion big fight scenes felt like "the big one," which left me a bit disappointed when the final fight scene actually came. At that point, I was just ready for the fighting to end. But, I did enjoy watching the character grow, as the film moved along, mostly because Clark Kent was actually a really good guy with a great head on his shoulders. It was not the usual "I don't really know how to be a super hero" storyline.

Characters:
The focus of this film was on Superman close to 100% of the time, which is expected with the first film in any super hero franchise. Unfortunately, this focus takes away from the success of the villain and any other major characters in the film. Luckily, Henry Cavill was good enough to deserve 100% of the focus.

Negatives:
Let's start with the worst and work our way up... Laurence Fishburne's turn as Perry White, editor of The Daily Planet, was SOOOOO awkward and unnecessary. Will he be integral in the future films? Absolutely! Did he need to make an appearance in this film? Yes! But, that doesn't mean that we need to watch him try to pry some random coworker out of some rubble for like 20 minutes! It just frustrated me, if you couldn't tell. Next we have Lois Lane, played by Amy Adams, who didn't seem to have the spark that she really needs to have with Cavill's Superman. They randomly fell in love, as many super hero couples do, and it just didn't feel hard enough to conceive. It took poor Batman two films to get his girl, and then she quickly blew up. Finally, Christopher Meloni's Nathan Hardy was quite unnecessary as well. Sure, Superman needs to come alongside the military, but he doesn't need to become best friends with thirty different officers.

Positives:
As I've said already, Henry Cavill was great as Clark Kent/Superman, and I was pleasantly surprised. I really thought the filmmakers would go with a more well known actor, after Brandon Roth's failed attempt to revise the role in 2006, but Cavill was certainly the right choice. Kudos to whoever found him! I also enjoyed Harry Lennix's General Swanwick, who turned out to be the NECESSARY military connection that Superman needed, unlike Nathan Hardy.

Conclusion:
With the entire country's expectations as high as they were, I am very pleased that Man of Steel was able to succeed in meeting said expectations. While it didn't blow me away, it did leave me satisfied, and I never lost interest throughout the course of the film. Cavill was brilliant, and I hope he shows up in future non-Superman films. Even with the ten billion fight scenes, the focus remained on Superman, meaning that picking the right Superman was the key to making this film good enough... and it was good enough. The future of this film series could be very bright, if the action is contained a bit. If I were in charge, I would take the reigns away from Zack Snyder, but that probably won't be happening. Nevertheless, I will be watching the inevitable Man of Steel sequel/Justice League prequel, regardless of who is directing. I give Man of Steel 2.99 out of 5 stars.



Repeat

 

In all of my 21 years of life, there is no telling how many movies I have seen. Not only am I clueless about how many films I have seen, but also there are so many different types of films that I have seen, from my early days of The Land Before Time, The Mask, and Toy Story to my present days of The Hangover, Argo, and........ Toy Story. Regardless, as I grow older, I am realizing that there are fewer and fewer films that I can watch over and over and over again. When I was little, I would watch my Disney movies day after day, and I was a perfectly happy child. Today, however, I just can't watch films more than like once every six months or so, and they have to be really, really good for me to even take the time to watch them more than once. Some of this reduction of movie-watching time is due to the fact that I don't have time to do much of anything, with college, work, and friends taking so much of my time, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Also, I go to the movies almost every week, which takes up much of my weekend fun time. However, regardless of how much time I have or how long it has been since I last watched a movie, there are a small number of films that I can watch over and over and over. Are they my favorite films of all time? Not necessarily. But, they all have something about them that makes it very easy to pop that disc into the movie machine. So, I have compiled a list of five films that I can watch at any time of any day and be utterly satisfied. If you have not seen any of these films and are scared of becoming a film addict, steer clear! You cannot stop once you start!...

#5-The Dark Knight

Batman is my favorite superhero of all time, and Christopher Nolan is one of my favorite movie-makers of all time. So, it would have been hard for me not to love The Dark Knight. I will admit that there are times when I fast forward to the parts with The Joker, but it's not because I don't love Bruce Wayne. Seriously, though, who wouldn't want to watch the greatest superhero movie of all time over and over? It may not be the movie that we deserve, but it is the movie that we need, today and every other day.


#4-O Brother Where Art Thou?

I am a huge fan of the Coen brothers, who have impressed me with many of their films. However, O Brother Where Art Thou is easily their best film and probably my favorite comedy of all time. I can easily quote the entire film to you. So, if you ever need a good laugh, come find me and ask me to tell you an O Brother Where Art Thou story. It's sure to relieve. I'm pretty sure that most everyone has seen this film, at this point, but, in case you haven't, prepare yourself for the high amount of floor rolling that you will be participating in... Gopher, Everett?


#3-The Hangover

The Hangover has absolutely redefined the entire comedic genre, and I don't think everyone realizes it. On top of that, it's the comedy of my generation. Hence, my generation redefined the entire comedic genre. Seriously, how many people get excited about PG-13 comedies these days? That's right... No one... For that, you can thank The Hangover! Anyway, none of that really makes me want to watch it over and over. The fact that it is freaking hilarious makes me want to watch it over and over, and, every once in a while, I need to be reminded that tigers hate cinnamon.


#2-Midnight in Paris

Of the five films on this list, Midnight in Paris is easily the least popular and probably the least expected. It is unlikely that you have seen this film, so please go out and rent it! This Woody Allen original has such an amazing vibe that makes me want to move to Paris and write a novel each and every time that I watch. If you are nostalgic, like me, you will absolutely love this film. Please! Please! I beg of thee! Watch Midnight in Paris!!! It will make you feel great about life.


#1-The Social Network

Over the past 2.5 years, there is no movie that I have watched as many times as The Social Network. When I saw the film in the theater, it did not have a very large impact on my life. However, after I bought the DVD (for $12 at Best Buy on its release date!!), I fell in love with the film and the characters. I have never watched a movie that made me feel as smart, thanks to Jesse Eisenberg's turn as Mark Zuckerberg. Although people dislike Zuckerberg's character, they must remember that he isn't an asshole, he's just trying so hard to be one. Whether or not this story is completely true, I absolutely love the film and the characters. When I tell people how often I watch The Social Network, they never seem to understand my connection to the film. I believe that they would fall in love with it, if they would watch it more than a couple of times. If I have never said it before on my blog, Aaron Sorkin is one of my favorite people in the world of film and television. He wrote The Social Network, Moneyball, The West Wing, A Few Good Men, and, most recently, The Newsroom on HBO, and I truly love each and every one of these productions. Really, there is nothing that I dislike about The Social Network, and that is why I can watch it over and over and over, more than any other film...



I would have made the list longer, but there really aren't any more films that I can watch with such repetition. As time goes on, I'm sure that I will stop watching some of these films as often, and I'm sure that I will start watching new films over and over, so there is nothing set in stone. This list is nothing but a snap shot of Spring 2013. Also, just to clarify, I do not have the largest DVD collection of all time. I may watch a lot of movies, but I probably only buy 5 or 6 movies each year. One day, when my girlfriend and I combine our movies, we will have a large collection, but, until then, I remain average. Finally, to reiterate what I have already said, this is NOT a list of my favorite films of all time, just ones that I can watch over and over. Maybe one day I will give you a list of my favorite films, but I'm going to keep you waiting for now. Hope you enjoyed, and I hope you go watch these films, if you have yet to do so. Then, watch them again... and again.... and again.........