My Review: Godzilla (8/10)

"The arrogance of men is thinking nature is in their control and not the other way around. Let them fight."

Godzilla is by far the best film of 2014 in the visual department thanks to some stunning special effects and beautiful cinematography. It is different from last year's Pacific Rim in that you get far less action scenes and much more teases. Some people had a problem with this, but I loved this approach from director Gareth Edwards allowing the tension to slowly build and not making this just one giant battle sequence after another. What didn't work for me in Pacific Rim, worked perfectly for me in Godzilla because I got exactly what I wanted. The human drama might have been weak, but it was enough to engage me and make me care for them as destruction was heading their way. Some may argue that a film about Godzilla should focus on the monster and not just have it on screen for a mere 10 minutes, but I disagree because without seeing him, his presence is felt throughout the film. We may not have gotten the full scale monster that we were expecting at the beginning, but the way Edwards teased the audience by showing just small parts of Godzilla or the path of destruction it left behind was enough to engage me and leave me wanting more. By doing so, Edwards kept the audience engaged and slowly built some memorable and gripping climactic scenes towards the end. It is what other great films like Jaws, Jurassic Park, or even Alien have done, and Edwards inspired by them borrowed those elements and directed a remarkable blockbuster film. If you thought that Godzilla should be on screen for almost the entirety of the film in order for it to be the true star, than you were mistaken because even though it isn't on screen much, its psychological presence is felt throughout the film turning it into the real star. This argument reminded me of Hitchcock's Rebecca which was a film that centered on the title character without ever showing her once on screen, but her presence dominated every single scene just like Godzilla does here. Godzilla's presence is felt throughout the entire movie and that is what distinguishes this film from Roland Emmerich's 1998 version which may have had more monster on screen, but with disastrous results.

Ever since Ishiro Honda directed the original 1954 film, Godzilla has remained the king of all monsters in cinema. After an impressive debut in 2010 with his small indie film, Monsters, director Gareth Edwards was given a much bigger monster to work with. With a larger budget and an all-star cast, Edwards had a heavy load on his shoulders, but he delivered. The screenplay co-written by Max Borenstein and Dave Callaham may be the weakest link in the film, but it works nonetheless. The film opens by introducing us to Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston) who is responsible for the security at a Japanese reactor plant. His wife, Sandra (Juliette Binoche) also works at the plant and their young son, Ford (CJ Adams) studies at a nearby school. Joe has been picking up some strange signals after a series of quakes had affected the region, but his officials refuse to allow him to shut down the plant. What appears to be a big earthquake ends up destroying the plant and Joe is forced to shut it down leaving his wife and hundreds of workers underground contaminated by the nuclear reactor's leak. Fifteen years later we see Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) all grown up returning to San Francisco from his military service to his wife, Elle (Elizabeth Olsen) and his young son, Sam (Carson Bolde). Elle receives a call from Japan that night, and it's the police who claim to have arrested Joe for invading private property. Ford has to travel to Japan to bail his father out of jail and convince him to come back home with him, but what they end up discovering there will change their lives forever.

I really enjoyed the performance from Bryan Cranston (after the success of Breaking Bad, I don't think there is anyone who doesn't like this guy) and I thought he gave the film a powerful dramatic narrative. Aaron Taylor-Johnson may not have what it takes for the lead role, but he delivered. The best dramatic moments took place during the beginning of the film and they were enough to keep me interested in what was going on. I really thought Elizabeth Olsen, Sally Hawkins, Juliette Binoche, David Strathairn, and Ken Watanabe were all underused. They are all talented actors and should have been given stronger characters, but they all felt like cardboard cutout characters. Watanabe's character especially didn't seem to serve no other purpose in the film than to inform the audience and explain what was going on. The human drama along with the screenplay didn't work as well, but the spectacular visuals and great action scenes carried this film a long way. The score by Alexandre Desplat is also spectacular and helped set the tone of the film. The final 15 minutes of the film are gripping and there are also several memorable scenes like the one that takes place in Hawaii or the HALO parachute jump scene. I'm not one usually blown away by CGI, but this time I was really impressed with Godzilla. This isn't a perfect film, it has many flaws, but it works way better than other recent disaster or monster related films.

My Review: Total Recall (5/10)

¨The past is a construct of the mind. It blinds us. It fools us into believing it. But the heart wants to live in the present. Look there. You'll find your answer.¨

This new version of Total Recall is better than the original, but that`s not saying much considering I wasn`t very fond of that one either. This remake shares sort of the same problems that the original had considering there is a whole lot of action going around, but hardly any time for character development. The entire movie feels like one big chase scene and by the end instead of feeling the climax you are wishing it would end already. The movie isn`t that long, but it feels like it. What I liked better about this film was the look of it. The dark futuristic vision of the world was engaging and some of my favorite scenes involved this imagery and brilliant futuristic designs. This movie has a much better look and it was also a plus that it took place entirely on Earth instead of Mars like in the original. I also think Colin Farrell is a much better actor than Arnold, but when it comes to action scenes Arnold was the best and in this film Farrell doesn’t have much to work with besides running around from one action scene to another. The action scenes have gotten repetitive and there isn’t anything unique about them in this movie either; director Len Wiseman could have come up with a better plot to engage the audience and not focus as much as he did with the action scenes. The setting was the highlight of the movie for me and I enjoyed some of the devices they imagined in this futuristic world but that was about it. Wiseman, who is better known for directing the Underworld franchise, also hired Kate Beckinsale to play the role Sharon Stone did in the original. I had no problem with the casting, which for me was good, but I wished the characters were given more meat.

Sometime in the future only two countries exist: The United Federation of Britain and the Colony. It is a dark time where most people live in poverty in the Colony and have to travel across the world to Britain to work. There is very few habitable space for the people as a Chemical warfare has destroyed most of the planet. Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston) is the Chancellor of UFB who is dealing with a rebellious group from the Colony under the leadership of Matthias (Bill Nighy). Times are unstable and the future doesn’t look bright for the residents of Earth. Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell) seems to be living a normal life as a factory worker with a beautiful wife named Lori (Kate Beckinsale), but he feels like escaping from the routine of work and decides to pay a visit to Rekall, a company that specializes in implanting brain memories. At Rekall he asks for an escape from his everyday life and he chooses the option of becoming a spy. Before they implant the memory something goes wrong and Quaid realizes that he is not who he thinks he is. He has special abilities and even his wife seems to turn against him. Quaid suffers an identity crisis and begins picking up clues about his past which involve him working as a spy for the resistance movement. He immediately begins to be chased by Lori and Cohaagen`s people and meets Melina (Jessica Biel) who claims to know him from the past, but with another name. Quaid will have to try to discover whether what he`s experiencing is real or if it`s just a fantasy implanted on him from Rekall.

The main idea is very similar to the original film, except for the fact that the resistance movement is in Earth and not in Mars, although it is a very different planet by now. Colin Farrell plays the same role Arnold did, Kate plays Stone`s role although Kate gets much more screen time as she`s also the main persecutor as well, and Biel plays the role of the heroin who helps unlock Quaid`s past. This film has a better cast in my opinion, but the plot is equally as poor developed. At least in the original version we had some funny one liners (what Arnold did best), but here the film is much darker and serious. I enjoyed this version a little more, but I still didn’t enjoy it very much. Maybe if the final action scene were a little shorter I could`ve enjoyed it a little more. Total Recall shouldn’t of been remade it, it just isn’t that remarkable of a film in my opinion.

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My Review: John Carter (6/10)

¨Did I not tell you he could jump!¨

John Carter was one of the biggest box office disappointments of the last decade, and it`s too bad because it actually isn`t that terrible. I actually enjoyed most of it thanks to the spectacular visuals and the interesting science fiction story. I had the same reaction with John Carter as I did with Avatar, I didn’t find them to be great movies, but I didn’t hate them either. This film was directed by the creator of Finding Nemo and Wall-E, two hugely successful films, so I guess they can forgive Andrew Stanton for the loss. Stanton proves he can manage the artistic side of his films, but I think what John Carter lacked was a little more comedy to loosen the tension. Sometimes it`s good in these type of fictional films to lighten up the mood by not taking itself too seriously. That was the biggest error I found in John Carter, it took itself way too seriously when the premise actually is a little ridiculous. I did have a lot of fun however with the action scenes and the spectacular visuals. John Carter is actually based on the stories written by Edgar Rice Burroughs over a century ago, ¨A Princess of Mars¨. These stories had a great impact and influenced other writers` imaginations for such works as Superman, Flash Gordon, and Avatar. John Carter should have been better distributed as most people had never heard of it before and probably thought it was just a copy of all these past science fiction films. It wasn`t a great film, but it deserved a lot more recognition than what it received.

The story takes place during the late 1860`s while America was facing a Civil War. Captain John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) had withdrawn from the war and was searching for gold in a hidden cave. When an Officer named Powell (Bryan Cranston) comes searching for him to join his cavalry, Carter flees once again only to be caught in the middle between Powell`s men and some Apache Indians. Carter ends up hiding in a cave and discovers the gold he had been looking for, but out of nowhere a mysterious man shows up with some sort of device that transports him to another planet. Carter finds himself in Mars (or as the natives call it Barsoom) with no idea as to where he is, but he discovers that he can jump extremely high and long distances. A group of natives known as the Jeddaks led by Tars Tarkas (Willem Defoe) find John Carter and take him prisoner. Mars is in the middle of a civil war as the people from Zodanga are trying to conquer the entire planet. The only resistance is put up by the people of Helium, but the leader of Zodanga, Sab Thon (Dominic West), has recently been given a powerful weapon that can easily destroy the city. The weapon came from Matai (Mark Strong), who seems to be from the same species as the person Carter found in the cave. Sab promises not to destroy Helium if Princess Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins) agrees to marry her, but Matai has other intentions with the planet. Dejah runs into Carter and realizes he can be their only hope for salvation.

The action scenes in this film are pretty interesting, but the movie suffers from not having some sort of comedic relief. At times the movie seems to move too slowly and it begins to drag, but the great visuals make up for it. Taylor Kitsch gives a believable performance, but we can’t help but feel something is missing in this new world (perhaps a better supporting character). I still think John Carter is much better than what the trailer makes you believe it is. Edgar Rice Burroughs was a great writer and he had some interesting ideas, the problem is that this movie isn’t a novelty as his stories were over a century ago. The sad thing is we now have seen and grown to love films that actually were inspired by John Carter. Burroughs also created the Tarzan stories and in a way John Carter resembles him in some aspects of the story. John Carter is worth a watch for what the story has meant and for the great visuals that Stanton has created, but there is not much more to it.

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My Review: Contagion (8/10)

¨It`s figuring us out faster than we`re figuring it out.¨

The first thing I wanted to do after the movie was over was to wash my hands and get disinfected. Contagion is a great thriller about an epidemic that is spreading around the world and taking millions of lives while at the same time spreading panic and fear everywhere. The film is a great case study on human behavior and it felt very authentic (especially after the Swine-flu scare that spread over the globe a couple of years ago). Some may complain due to the pace of the film or the multiple stories that are going on that don`t let you focus on any of the characters, but I really enjoyed it and thought Steven Soderbergh made the right decision by focusing on the virus and letting it be the true central character as we see it spread throughout different parts of the world and affect almost everyone in the same way. The virus and the fear combined together produced sufficient thrills for me despite the slow pace of the film, and I really enjoyed the script from Scott Z. Burns who had previously collaborated with Soderbergh and Matt Damon in the 2009 comedy The Informant. It`s very difficult to typecast director Soderbergh since he makes a wide variety of films and it`s almost impossible to compare his works due to the variety of his projects, but I would have to say Contagion is the most similar to his Oscar winning film Traffic due to all the multilayered plots that were going on. In Traffic the main character was the drugs, while in Contagion it`s the virus. Out of Sight remains my favorite Soderbergh film however.

The movie begins with Day 2 of the virus where we see a sick woman named Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) who is travelling from Chicago to Minneapolis. She had been on a business trip to Hong Kong but spent a few hours in Chicago. Once she arrives home, her husband Mitch (Matt Damon) finds her really ill and decides to take her to the hospital after she suffers a convulsion. Apparently some guy in Hong Kong died from similar symptoms, and so did someone in London, Japan, and Chicago. The virus seemed to have started somewhere in Hong Kong, but it is spreading all over the world. Some doctors in the U.S. Center for Disease Control decide to investigate what could have caused the deaths. Dr. Ellis Cheever (Lawrence Fishburne) is in charge of the investigation, and he sends Dr. Erin Mears (Kate Winslet) to Minneapolis in order to try to pick up as much information as she can and see how Beth`s death could be related to the one in Chicago and across the globe. Erin has an interview with Mitch who seems to be immune, but he won`t take chances with his daughter Jory (Anna Jacoby-Heron) and overprotects her. Dr. Ally Hextall (Jennifer Ehle), who also works for the Center, is in charge of trying to find a vaccine or a cure. Meanwhile the World Health Organization decides to send one of their own to Hong Kong to try to point out where the virus could have begun. Dr. Leonora Orantes (Marion Cotillard) arrives to the populated city and begins her investigation with the help of a local named Sun Feng (Chin Han). Everyone is working against the clock as the virus continues to spread over the world at an alarming rate, and conspiracy theory-blog writer Alan Krumwiede (Jude Law) doesn’t help control the chaos as he complains about the government working alongside pharmaceutical companies to make a profit.

There are so many different stories going on that it can be hard to track what is going on if you aren´t paying attention. Everything happens so fast, and the urgency has to do with how quick the virus begins to act and kill people. Many characters or stories get sidelined at times, but that is ok because the main character is the virus itself and it is everywhere. Soderbergh makes sure we get this point across by filming a lot of close up shots of people shaking hands or touching objects that someone else later picks up. The threat is eminent and everywhere. In a way Contagion is a disaster movie, but it is different from most films which usually tend to take an all-action approach or that focus on a few characters. In Contagion there are so many characters and stories going on that some don`t even get a resolution, but it is ok because we find a resolution to the main character: the virus. I know some might find this difficult to deal with and would have wished for the story to have focused on one character, but that isn`t the way Soderbergh works. The only downside to this is that some great actors such as John Hawkes, Marion Cotillard, Elliott Gould, and Bryan Cranston don`t get enough screen time and their talents seem underused. It really doesn’t matter because Contagion is a smart and entertaining thriller well worth a watch. 

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My Review: Drive (10/10)

¨If I drive for you, you give me a time and a place. I give you a five-minute window, anything happens in that five minutes and I'm yours no matter what. I don't sit in while you're running it down; I don't carry a gun... I drive. ¨

Drive is probably my favorite film of the year so far. I hadn’t even watched the trailers for this movie so I had no idea what it was about, but what a special surprise I was in for. The movie hooked me from the very opening action scene up to the very end. Yes, the film is slow at times, but it`s also intense and original. This arthouse action movie works in great part thanks to a terrific performance from Ryan Gosling. He keeps on surprising me; he is a hugely talented actor and can excel in any role. This time he proved himself in this action film as the lead man. The reason the movie is so slow at times is because it is character driven, and Gosling`s character is so quiet and laid back; he hardly speaks and the dialogues he has feel real and authentic. The dialogue in this film was brilliant, everything about it made it perfect. I would absolutely watch this movie over and over again because it is just that good. I couldn’t believe the direction the movie was taking. It is one of those action movies that is hard to predict and I loved not anticipating what was going to happen next. Gosling is a star, he is great in this movie and the feel that the movie has is just so amazing. It`s hard to get this overwhelmed by an action film these days because we`ve seemed to have seen it all, but Drive feels fresh and original. It doesn’t focus so much on the action and the heists as much as it does on the characters. Gosling`s character grows increasingly dark over the course of the movie, and so does the violence in this movie. It really has a Tarantino/Cronenberg feel to it (A History of Violence, Pulp Fiction). Drive was amazing, but many people may be put off by all the violence.

The movie focuses on a driver (Ryan Gosling) who`s name is never said in the film; he has a part time job as a Hollywood stunt man specializing in crash scenes, but spends most of the time at a mechanic shop working for Shannon (Bryan Cranston) on some classic cars. Shannon knows that this guy is extremely talented and wants him to become a NASCAR driver, but in order to do so he needs to buy a car first. Shannon decides to make a deal with an old mobster friend named Bernie (Albert Brooks) who gives him the money to buy the car. Bernie also has an associate, Nino (Ron Perlman), a New York Jewish mobster who broke Shannon`s pelvis in the past for trying to overcharge him for a job he had done. Differences settled however they all decide to put their money on the driver, who is a quiet fellow who spends some nights as a wheelman on heist jobs. He is very professional about it. He soon begins a friendship with a neighbor, Irene (Carey Mulligan) and her young son, Benicio (Kaden Leos) and the relationship seems to slowly develop into a romantic one until Irene`s husband, Standard (Oscar Isaac) returns home from prison. Standard promises to leave his past life behind him, but he owes a lot of money to some people back in prison who offered their protection in exchange. Now Standard is forced to accept a heist or else his family will be in great danger. The driver finds out about the threat and decides to help Standard, but something goes wrong in the heist and the movie develops violently from that point forward. 

 

I can`t help but repeating myself when I say this was a great film. Ryan Gosling really gives one of the year`s best performances and his character is really intriguing. Gosling is a smart actor, he knows what roles to accept and he makes the best of them. In Drive he was given a really great script that allowed him to show off his full potential. The character is so central to the film that Gosling basically carries the movie, although the supporting cast was also great. Bryan Cranston, Ron Perlman, and Albert Brooks were great in their roles, and Carey Mulligan also had great chemistry with Gosling. Their relationship felt very real and nothing felt forced. Drive isn’t your typical Hollywood action film, it`s more of an indie film, and a dark one. There is a lot of violence, some strong scenes, so it might not be for everyone. I really enjoyed it and thought it was one of the best arthouse action films I`ve seen in a long time. Last year I was blown away by Affleck`s action film, The Town, but this year Drive manages to surpass it. Gosling`s character reminded me a lot of De Niro en Taxi Driver; he is just that good. The action scenes were also very well choreographed and there were some great driving scenes, although the best thing about the movie was the character driven story. I also enjoyed the soundtrack of the film which felt retro. Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn (known for The Pusher trilogy) did a great job with this film, and Hossein Amini deserves a nomination for his screenplay adaptation of James Sallis`s book. Drive is one of the best films of the year. 

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