Avengers: Age of Ultron (7/10): And the Build-up continues...

"I know you're good people. I know you mean well. But you just didn't think it through. There is only one path to peace... your extinction."

Age of Ultron doesn't live up to the first Avengers mostly because the novelty of seeing all these superheroes together has warn off, but it is still a very entertaining film with some positive elements to take out of it. First of all, the villain voiced by James Spader is an improvement over most others we've seen in the Marvel Universe. He is actually a menace to the heroes, and although Ultron isn't as charismatic as Loki, he still represents a much more dangerous threat for them so we feel there is much more at stake. The addition of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch also enhances the franchise. Olsen is an actress I've admired ever since her screen debut in Martha Marcy May Marlene, so it was exciting to see her play this role alongside other fantastic actors. Aaron Taylor-Johnson's Quicksilver wasn't used as well as he was in X-Men, but it was still fun to see him on screen. Quicksilver was the highlight for me in the latest X-Men franchise, but here he is simply another new character. It was much more fun to see his quick movements in slow motion instead of at such a rapid pace. The returning characters also enhance the sequel and make it entertaining. Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man is by far my favorite character in the franchise and Mark Ruffalo's Hulk always delivers some of the best comedic moments. Age of Ultron delivers plenty of fun scenes, but it also tries to take itself a bit more seriously, and that didn't work as well for me considering I found Captain America The Winter Soldier to be a slightly better and interesting serious thriller. In summary, it doesn't match the comedy of its predecessor and it doesn't stand out as a more serious film either. The run-time does begin to feel a bit heavy, but I still have to admit that I had a fun time with the movie. There is a lot going on and with the addition of the new characters some of the scenes feel rushed and the plot gets a bit convoluted.

The main problem  with these Marvel movies is that they're getting more and more difficult to view as individual films. They seem to be always building up to something and I expected all the build-up in the previous films was going to lead to something important in this second Avengers movie, but what we get instead is more of a build-up to the next phase of the Marvel universe. Ultron presented a great threat to the heroes, but everything was rushed and it seems it was resolved all too easily by the end. It's still hard to resist a film with so many likable characters and charismatic leads, but I couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed with Age of Ultron when the introduction of the main villain seemed promising. Spader's voice work stood out for me in this film as one of the best performances. I was also happy to see Jeremy Renner get much more screen time with his character, Hawkeye, as well as Scarlett Johansson with Black Widow. This is probably as close to an individual film about them we'll get. Captain America and Thor however, are underused and I really didn't care too much about them here.

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My Review: Transcendence (5/10)

"We're not gonna fight them. We're gonna transcend them."

Transcendence is one of those rare films where you can't quite grasp what exactly it is that's missing, but somehow it fails to find a connection with most audiences. Wally Pfister seemed to have all the right ingredients for his directing debut. He had a terrific cast including  Johnny Depp, Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy, Rebecca Hall, Paul Bettany, and Kate Mara, and a strong screenplay that Christopher Nolan even considered to use before going on to make Interstellar. We also know that Pfister can handle the visuals because he has been the cinematographer for Nolan in all his films since Memento. The film looks great and has a strong cast, but the characters and the story simply didn't draw me in. For a film that tries to be thought provoking, I found it extremely difficult to stay awake or even care for the premise.  It tries to build suspense and make us consider how dangerous our technological advancements have become, but it succeeds at neither. I don't want to get into spoiler territory either, but I found the final act incoherent as it was completely changing the message it was giving all along. I was really disappointed with this film and found it quite boring. 

He may seem like the main character, but Johnny Depp doesn't get much screen time in this film. He plays Dr. Will Caster, one of the lead researchers and entrepreneurs in the field of Artificial Intelligence. He works alongside his wife, Evelyn (Rebecca Hall), and they are currently trying to create a sentient machine with human emotions (which is referred to in the scientific community as Technological Singularity, but Will likes to call it Transcendence). Paul Bettany is Max Waters, one of Evelyn and Will's best friends and fellow researcher. Their work has received a lot of attention, but not everyone is happy about this. A radical anti-technology organization led by Bree (Kate Mara) will do what it takes to stop them before they continue having success with their experimentation. 

The performances were solid, but the story just felt flat and failed to engage me. I didn't really care for any of the characters either. Most of the actors were underused, and the only noteworthy thing about Transcendence was its visuals. The inconsistencies in some of the characters is what really hurt this film in my opinion, and I think they simply tried to tie things up too neatly at the end by redeeming some of things that had been done earlier on. The film also seems to have some pacing issues as it drags during several scenes and feels way too long. The film lacks thrills and feels unfocused making it hard to follow at times. I usually like smart sci-fi films, but this one felt all over the place and could have used some of that Artificial Intelligence to help with the production of the film so it would be more coherent. It never transcends from the screen to our brains in the way it so desperately tries to. 

My Review: Iron Man 3 (8/10)

¨Ladies, children, sheep... Some people call me a terrorist. I consider myself a teacher. Lesson number one: Heroes, there is no such thing.¨

Iron Man 3 is the first film following the events of The Avengers, and if you wondered if the movie was going to lose entertainment value considering it shifts the focus back to only one superhero, you were wrong. Despite not having all those great characters together, Robert Downey Jr. manages to capture the audience’s attention once again with his vibrant portrayal of Tony Stark. He has been the main reason why I´ve enjoyed these films so much because they are just a perfect fit. New director, Shane Black (Lethal Weapon), who worked with Downey in Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, knows that the secret to the success of this franchise is letting Downey be himself and focus on his character. In this third film Starks is stripped down of his toys and questions whether or not he is worth anything without the suit. The Nolan effect which has been a key element in superhero movies is present at the beginning of the movie. We see a much more vulnerable Tony Stark, who is suffering from panic attacks due to the events in The Avengers, and who makes mistakes like putting his beloved Potts in danger due to his big mouth. This first part of the movie didn’t work very well because it felt like a different kind of hero, but the effect wears off real quickly and Starks is once again back to his normal self once he realizes he is what makes the suit and not vice versa. Having his character stripped of his toys and having to manage to depend on simple things once again to defeat his foes is what made this film so entertaining. It was like if Stark had to go back to the basics and rediscover himself, although he never loses his goofiness. The villains in this film were also a huge improvement from its predecessor. This might not be as great as the original Iron Man, but it is an improvement from the first sequel. Black did a decent job following Jon Favreau´s work and he manages to keep the franchise afloat.   

Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) has to face a new set of villains in this third film which takes place after the events of The Avengers. A terrorist who calls himself The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) is terrorizing the world through several explosions across the globe. Meanwhile Tony has found himself absorbed trying to perfect his suits and may have crossed the line trying to overprotect his love interest, Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). The reason behind his obsession is that he can´t afford to lose what he loves most. When Stark threatens The Mandarin, his army destroys his home leaving him for dead. Stark has to hide out while he figures out more information about this terrorist. He discovers some information about an AIM program run by Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) which seems to be involved with the well known terrorist. Without being able to use all his equipment and technology, Stark is forced to use his intellect and capabilities to defeat his new enemies, while at the same time trying to protect Potts. Along his quest he makes some new friends, like the young boy named Harley (Ty Simpkins) who helps gather some materials for him to work with, and counts with his always reliable friend, Rhodes/War Machine (Don Cheadle). Rebecca Hall also has a small role in this film as Killian´s assistant, and Paul Bettany lends his voice once again to Jarvis.    

As you would expect, the visuals in this film are great and the action sequences are also very entertaining. The two hours go by in a flash thanks to some decent pacing. The franchise doesn’t bring anything new to the table, but it still offers some great summer popcorn fun entertainment. Iron Man 3 is the perfect way to start off the 2013 summer and we can only hope the rest of the films keep this streak going. I loved the little twists and turns the film takes here by making you think it is going to be so much darker than the rest of The Avengers, but then all of a sudden it returns to its playful self. The Marvel universe is one that doesn’t have to be taken so seriously because we have fun with the lightness of the characters and situations. The entire spin with The Mandarin was incredible. I wasn’t too pleased with the opening minutes of the film considering Stark was much more vulnerable and not as fun as his usual self, but once he got his confidence back everything seemed to play out really well. Black is a master at mixing some great action scenes with tons of comedy (Lethal Weapon and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang are proof of that) and we see it once again with Iron Man 3. Downey Jr. continues to deliver with his clever lines and charismatic self. He is the only reason we need to want to go see this movie.

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My Review: Margin Call (8/10)

¨There are three ways to make a living in this business: be first, be smarter, or cheat¨

Margin Call may be a fictional movie, but it has more truths in it than an actual Hollywood film that claims to be based on a true story. Despite not knowing a whole lot of economics I assure you we are all familiar with what happened in 2008 with the bubble burst in Wall Street because it has affected everyone`s life. First time director and screen writer J.C. Chandor does a great job at recreating what probably happened inside one of the investment banks the night before the financial crisis actually took place. I don`t know much about economics, but this movie is pretty easy to follow thanks to the smart script which in a way serves as an Economic for Dummies book. By making the actors explain the situation to their bosses in ¨plain English, ¨ Chandor is actually telling us what is going on in understandable terms. I wouldn`t argue that their bosses would actually understand everything in harsher terms, but the audience needed to be informed so I`m not going to take credit away from Chandor for this because it needed to be done. If not most of us wouldn`t have a clue of what was going on. Margin Call isn`t just a film about the financial crisis, it also deals with some aspects about important business corporations and how sometimes as employers we are forced to do things that go against our moral beliefs. Most corporations run as ¨a dog eat dog world¨ and ¨survival of the fittest¨, and in this film we see plenty of that.

A Bank investment firm is reducing its personnel in the risk management division letting go of almost 70% of its employees including their main analyst, Eric Dale (Stanley Tucci). Dale seems to be working on something very important, and before leaving he gives his pen drive to a co-worker, Peter Sullivan (Zachary Quinto), so he can finish the work and warns him to be very careful. Sam Rogers (Kevin Spacey) is the division manager and he gives the remaining employees an inspirational speech about them being the best in their line of work and thus surviving in the company. The group decides to go out and celebrate with their boss Will Emerson (Paul Bettany), but Sam stays to see if he can review what Dale was working on. He manages to solve the equation that Dale never quite finished and the result was dreadful. The company is heading towards bankruptcy and the financial meltdown is about to begin. Sam calls his co-worker, Seth (Penn Badgley), and tells him that he should come back to the office with Will as soon as possible. It`s midnight, but the situation can`t wait any longer. When they arrive and discover what is happening they realize they have to call their bosses so up we go through the corporate ladder, first they call Sam, then Sam calls his boss Sarah Robertson (Demi Moore), and she calls Jared (Simon Baker), until the Owner finally arrives in his personal helicopter, John Tuld (Jeremy Irons). They discuss everything that is going on in a meeting and realize that the financial crisis is about to hit hard and have to sell all their stocks as early as possible.

One of the things I enjoyed the most about this movie is that it focuses on the financial meltdown in one confined space. We get to see how the main characters interact with each other inside the company and how everyone has to face a moral dilemma. It`s not just a movie focusing on the financial meltdown, but it`s more of a corporate drama where we have interesting characters who we end up caring about and understanding the moral dilemma they have to go through. There are some real good performances from some of the actors, and the cast is also very interesting. Stanley Tucci is always great in these small roles, Zachary Quinto delivers a strong performance as one of the lead characters, and Paul Bettany along with Kevin Spacey also give powerful performances as the struggle with some moral issues. Everything they have been working for all their lives is about to go down the drain, and the hardest decision is still right in front of them. The script is really engaging and well written. I loved this movie. Inside Job was a great documentary about the financial collapse, but Margin Call gives us a better look inside as to what might have gone on inside these big corporations. Don`t be scared off by the plot dealing with economics, this is a very strong and entertaining drama with good performances.

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My Review: Priest (2/10)

¨You would have made a good priest.¨

Cam Gigandet may have made a good priest, but Paul Bettany definitely didn’t. This was the wrong movie for him, the wrong story, and the wrong script. He should have learned his lesson after working with Scott Charles Stewart in Legion. After that fiasco, somehow both of them decided to team up again for Priest and they managed to make an even worse movie. Stewart`s career as a director seems to be going nowhere and he should stick with working in the visual arts department where he has had greater success. First time screenplay writer, Cory Goodman, wasn’t able to adapt a decent story from Min-Woo Hyung`s graphic novel of the same name. The dialogue in this film is just pathetic, and there are really few positive things I can say about this movie. Paul Bettany isn’t the type of guy you should cast as a leading actor for an action film. He is great in the supporting role or as a villain, but he isn’t the hero type. The post apocalyptic world created is really dark and has worked in the past with other similar movies, but it just didn’t feel real in Priest. From the very opening animation scene one could tell that Priest was heading into disaster territory. The visuals were ok, but the main problem was in the story itself. Fortunately Priest is less than 90 minutes long, thanks to the fact that the simple plot moves rather quickly. I don’t think I could have taken much more if it were longer.

The plot is surprisingly very simple for a post apocalyptic sci-fi futuristic film. Men and vampires have been in war for years and therefore Earth has been almost completely destroyed. Vampires began winning the war, but humans found hope in a secret weapon: priests. These priests were trained specifically to kill vampires, and they became experts in doing so. Priests singlehandedly won the war and the few surviving vampires were sent to outposts and were secluded. Once the war was over, the Church had no more need for priests so they made them live as ordinary citizens among the walled-in cities which were ruled by the Church. There are also some people who question the Church`s authority and they live in small towns outside the walled city. Paul Bettany plays a Priest who still has nightmares about the War with vampires and can`t seem to adapt to life inside the city wall. When he hears that his niece Lucy (Lily Collins), who lived with her parents outside the walled city, has been abducted by vampires he asks for the Church`s permission to hunt the vampires. Monsignor Orelas (Christopher Plummer) tells Priest that it is impossible that the vampires have escaped their prisons and therefore doesn’t give him authority to leave the city walls. Priest goes against those orders and is set to find Lucy along with the town Sheriff Hicks (Cam Gigandet) who was in love with her. Together they discover that the vampires have escaped their cells and are planning on attacking the city walls under the leadership of Black Hat (Karl Urban), an ex-priest who has become a vampire. Along the way they find an ally in Priestess (Maggie O) and together they try to put an end to the new vampire threat and save Lucy`s life before it is too late.

I am not familiar with the graphic novel so I can`t say how faithful this movie is to it, but what I can say is that the story is really weak and the dialogue in this film is terrible. The action scenes are ok, but we`ve seen them before. There is nothing fresh about this new apocalyptic world that Stewart is trying to create. The Book of Eli was a much better post apocalyptic film. It also helps to have someone like Denzel Washington as a lead actor. Paul Bettany isn`t the kind of actor you want to star in your action film. The rest of the cast was alright. Maggie O is good as a supporting character and so was Cam Gigandet. Karl Urban also delivers in his few scenes as the villain. The main problem wasn`t the acting, but the material these actors had to work with. Priest simply fails to deliver in so many ways and I guarantee this movie will end up in my list of worst movies of the year. This is a movie you will want to skip. There are plenty of other hunting vampire films that are much better than this one.

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My Review: Legion (4/10)

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¨ I knew He'd send you, Gabriel. You were always so eager to please Him. ¨

(4/10)Legion is Scott Stewart`s feature film debut as a director after working for many years in the visual effects department. He also collaborated with Peter Schink in writing the script for this movie. Stewart knows how to create cool visuals and he is a master at it, but he still has a long way to go with direction and writing, because those were the major weaknesses that Legion had. There are some moments in this sci-fi apocalyptic thriller that catch your attention, but most of the time is wasted with bad dialogues and plot holes. The few action scenes are well made with nice visuals, but they are too few and the movie begins to drag after a while; which gave me too much spare time to start thinking and analyzing: why don´t these angels just blow up the diner and get it over with. If God really wanted to destroy the human race he`d find an easier way to do it. Legion is a science fiction film and really has nothing to do with the Bible or Christian beliefs in case many were left wondering. Legion could have worked simply as an entertaining film and taken lightly, but the problem is that it is really slow paced and has poor dialogues and major plot holes, so it doesn`t even work as pure entertainment either.

The plot is pretty simple: God wants to destroy the human race because he has lost faith in them, so he sends his archangel Michael (Paul Bettany, Wimbledon) on a mission, but Michael still hasn`t lost his faith in mankind so he disobeys God´s command and has come to protect one particular baby who happens to be the key to saving the human race. The action takes place in a deserted diner where Charlie (Adrianne Palick) works as a waitress and is eight months pregnant. The diner belongs to Bob Hanson (Dennis Quaid), who lives there with his son Jeep (Lucas Black) and together they try to administer the diner. Percy (Charles S. Dutton) also works as an employer at the deserted diner and the only clients that arrive at the place are usually people that are lost. Such is the case with the Anderson family who are waiting for Jeep to fix their car so they can get on their way, and Kyle (Tyrese Gibson) who took a wrong turn and is completely lost. All these people happen to be at the diner when Michael comes to protect Charlie`s baby from the legion of angels that God has sent to destroy them. Together they must help protect Charlie and fight off all these angels who come in human form by possessing the most weak minded. The battle for human survival takes place in this deserted diner.

The cast is pretty good. I enjoyed Paul Bettany`s performance and thought he made a decent action star. He is a good actor and can undertake several different roles. Dennis Quaid, Tyrese Gibson, and Charles S. Dutton also gave decent performances. The problem with Legion wasn`t the cast or the visuals, which were also pretty good (although nothing mind blowing either), the problem was the pace of the movie and the poor dialogue which didn`t help make better transitions from one scene to the next. The action scenes were ok, but as I said before if God wanted to destroy the human race he would find a much easier way to do it. All the angels had to do was blow up the diner and the problem was solved. If you want to see a good apocalyptic movie, then go see The Book of Eli instead. I can`t even recommend this film for pure entertainment alone because it doesn`t even entertain, so skip Legion.

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