The R.I.P.D. isn't the Rhode Island police department

After the main character dies, the story begins.

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This is one of those movies where a lot of the stuff that's in the trailer doesn't happen in the actual movie, which is really annoying but it still held up as a really lively and exciting film, even though it was about dead people. The topic was quite creative, of course it was based off of a comic book series, (which I don't think was very popular, but I could be wrong) so the director didn't really create it. There were lots of funny little jokes that were in the background of the central plot, but they never distracted anyone from what was going on. This Action Sci-Fi comedy was about a police officer who died, but instead of being put through judgement, he was recruited for the R.I.P.D. (Rest In Peace Department). Because of that, he was going to serve his afterlife capturing dead (and evil) people who escaped judgement and were disguised as living people. Some of the key facts about the R.I.P.D. officers, and their enemies, were really senseless but never hard to understand, but that was because, of course, there was no way to possibly understand them in the first place. Still, the ones that did make sense were really funny, like the fact that the officers  passage to earth was through a VCR fixing shop. At first, it was hard to understand why that was a place they could teleport to without being noticed, but then everyone in the audience probably asked themselves when was the last time they had to get a VCR fixed, or even owned one at all. A-

This isn't Red Dawn, There's only one Wolverine

The X-men movies are some of marvel's greatest achievements, so I was very glad to see their most 

famous character return for a movie that couldn't possibly be worse than X-men origins: wolverine.

                                                                                                                                                                                                  

The Wolverine was a great way to show that the X-men weren't gone forever even after the worst marvel movie ever (X-men origins: Wolverine) This one was a sequel to X-men: The last stand, which was OK, but Brian Singer was better at directing the first two, than Brett Ratner was at making the third. This Wolverine move was showing an entirely independent Logan, who used to be known as the Wolverine during his time working with the X-men. He was haunted by the fact that in X-men: the last stand, SPOILER ALERT! he killed Jean Grey.

     This movie involved a story similar to many of his comic and cartoon stories where he goes to Japan, and encounters the Silver Samurai. If you aren't looking for a superhero movie, this can still be good for you because It shows a version of Wolverine where he isn't saving the world or wearing spandex (actually, he only did that in the comics). If you're a huge comic nerd (like me), you can also see this, because it has the most amazing post credits scene ever! (Here's a life lesson: never leave the theater during the credits of a movie produced by marvel, because you can always count on another scene afterwards, no matter what.There were a few big holes in the story, but still not nearly as many as the Dark Knight Rises. I also have to mention that it's perfect for anyone who is ever planning to go to Japan, because it has even more famous pieces of japanese culture than Lost in Translation. Too bad it didn't come out a few months earlier, because I went to Japan this year. This is a movie that you shouldn't miss, as long as you can survive an ending that makes no sense at all. A-

forget the Atlantic, only the Pacific Rim matters

Giant robots fight giant monsters in /pacific rim. It's like a Godzilla-transformers crossover. Why hadn't anyone thought of that before?

     When the first trailers for this movie came out, everyone thought it was going to be a boring, plain, $190 million movie. Everyone except for me. First, I noticed that it was directed by the award-winning Guillermo del Toro, then I thought about how no company would spend so much money on a movie that would fail, then I saw the movie, and I knew I was right all along. The story involved so much more than anyone would ever expect, therefore making it so much more fun to watch. I would have liked it even if it was just monsters versus robots, because it would have been very entertaining. The special effects were amazing, and it has to win best special effects in the Oscars, or I'm going to be even angrier than when Transformers: dark of the moon lost to Hugo in that category. The action involved all sorts of punching, shooting, stabbing, slashing, and ferocity that made it exciting. There were some parts that made the story really unrealistic, but it didn't affect my enjoyment of the movie, so I won't go into detail about that. I really liked the way that the names for the monsters was Kaiju, which is Japanese for "strange monster", and the robots were Jaegers which is German for "hunter". There was a whole subject in the movie about how it took two pilots to control on Jaeger, so their entire mind had to be linked to their partner so they would do the same thing at the same time. That also meant their memories had to be linked, so they had to be a perfect match so they could work together well. It was really complicated, so that probably didn't make any sense. The movie also had lots of mystery, so it could be counted as a mystery film. It was such an imaginative topic, but there was too much crazy weird complicated science, so it was hard to follow. B+.

What about world war A through Y?

Who ever thought that zombies could run and jump? Obviously Marc Forster did.                                               

Rarely does anything this original come from one of the most popular fiction themes of the 21st century. Zombies are so popular from the thrilling, scary, and insanely gory walking dead to the hilarious and romantic Warm Bodies, but no one had ever considered that zombies could run, jump, and climb on top of each other like ants. The book of World War Z was like the other normal zombie stories, so the movie of course wasn't very much like the book that shares it's title. I think that this movie is an instant classic. The story was based on a man trying to find a weakness in the virus that was turning billions of people into cannibalistic monsters. I loved the visuals of the zombies climbing all over each other, and jumping onto the low-flying helicopter. While sitting in the theater, the entire time, I felt the suspense creeping up on me every second, and all the action made it hard to stay still. Unlike most zombie stories, there was no gore, or blood gushing everywhere. The overall feeling of the movie was suspense and excitement throughout. Sometimes it was too much, so it gets a B+.

The end, 6 months overdue

This is the End was a comedy about famous people dying during the apocalypse. It's only funny with actors that people don't like.

The Apocalypse, in most cases, isn't a laughing matter, but this one was an exception. The situation was the religious style armageddon with people who had a good soul being sucked up into heaven, and those who didn't would have to try to survive the oncoming disasters that usually included giant demons. The beginning showed an insane party with lots and lots of drug use. It was crazy how many really famous actors and actresses were cast, but, not many of them survived past the first 20 minutes of the film. The whole part with the world ending and everyone running around scared was really intense, but it had a funny ring to how absurdly terrible it was. The time spent trying to survive had it's funny parts, but most of the time, the jokes were too easy to notice, so it wasn't as much of a funny surprise. I found the certain scenes with the guys trying to get into heaven really funny, and throughout, there were random crazy jokes put in. This won't get more than a B from me.

Not all Ado is about something

Today, I'll be reviewing a Shakespeare romantic comedy drama adapted to film by the same guy who directed the Avengers. Interesting combination.

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Most    

of Shakespeare's  famous stories are known for being dark and tragic, but this one ends with something good happening. The story had it's ups and downs, but over the course of time it stayed relatively happy. I really liked the Kenneth Branagh adaptations of "Much Ado" and "Henry V" but I also loved this version because of it's modern day take on the story. I didn't mind or really care at all that it was all in black and white, because if it was in color, it wouldn't have had that same feel to it that's impossible to describe, but whatever, I'll try anyway: It felt calm and relaxing, because there was no bright lights or colors, or something like that. I think that it was also a bit funnier than any other version that I've seen. So far, I'd say that the director of this movie, Joss Whedon is a good match for William 

Shakespeare. The one thing I loved the most about this story was all that Claudio went  through to get together with Hero. All these bad things happened, but in the end they were in undisturbed love. The downside is that the plot doesn't base mainly on one story, it's two stories in the the same place with the same people, and you'd think that would be good, but the stories didn't connect in any interesting way, so it would have been better if they had just been connected better. Still, that was Shakespeare's fault, not Joss Whedon's. This movie will be given a B+ by me. Help me decide in the comments whether I should review This is the End, or World War Z next time.

Steel is pretty heavy, too

I saw Man of Steel last night, it's the new Superman movie.  

I was really excited about this movie because I was never a big Superman fan because he was so silly looking in the costume. I couldn't wait to see him in the modern world like they did with Batman in the Christopher Nolan trilogy. I also am a huge fan of the director Zack Snyder, who made the amazing adaptations of 300 and Watchmen, which have both been reviewed by me on this blog. I really liked the battles between Superman and Zod, or one of his soldiers, because on earth, Kryptonians are invulnerable to   normal building cars, and anything else that could hit them while fighting with super strength. They would crash through dozens of buildings face first, and be totally fine. It reminds me of Mortal Kombat games, or Injustice: Gods among us. The villain of the movie is General Zod, who is most well known for his line where he yells:"I WILL FIND HIM!" to Kal El's mother, who had just sent him away for safety. Zod appeared in many comics, and in Superman II, with Christopher Reeves. I loved how much of Krypton was in the movie, because it showed the entire part about Zod's attack on the council, showing that it wasn't just the apocalypse of Krypton that caused Kal to be sent to earth. As a DC comics fan, I really liked all the mythology involved in the Movie. I have to say though, It would probably be slightly confusing to non-comic book fans. Because of that, I'll give it a B+, still, you should definetly see it, because it's still in theaters.

300 awesome helmets

Today, I'll be talking about a movie made entirely with green screens: 300

This is based on the true story of the greek-persian battle of Thermopylae, where, against the will of the sacred council of elders, King Leonidas led 300 of his soldiers against the Persian empire, which ruled much of Europe and Asia at the time. They first came to threaten the greek city of Sparta to surrender, but they weren't Athenians; they had a way of not giving up. Maybe that's because they're known to be history's greatest warriors. Unlike the Hunger Games, no one would say to them "may the odds be ever in your favor" because they fought when they were told not to by the council. Actually, when you watch the movie, you'll realize how close they were to actually winning a battle of 300 spartans against a million persian warriors. They didn't clarify what it was that Leonidas kicked the messengers into. It was meant to be a well, but it looked so big, it was more like a pit of doom. They learned that they were in Sparta just before they fell to their deaths. The battles were magnificent and well made, and they taught you just how powerful the Spartans really were. It was good how it was adapted from the book. The book took me about 20 minutes to read. The movie was extended, so it included a whole important role for the queen, which I thought was a good idea. This entire action film was full of blood, death and sadness, but it also had glory, strength and even b its of comedy. Anyone who dislikes this movie should be kicked down a well too. I give it an A.

The two funniest actors in one movie

Here's another recent movie I will review: The Campaign

This comedy is outrageously funny. Zack Galifianakis is a man who has no political experience at all, but would do anything to make his dad proud. He is then given some advice on how to be good in an election. He also has a really weird family. His opponent, played by Will Ferrell is also kind of weird because he becomes crazy when he has an opponent in his election for the first time. The movie also has a little part of the story involve a minor character like Marty Huggins' wife. The story switches between Marty winning and Cam winning, and it becomes hard to tell who would end up winning the election. It has the type of humor where it's really unexpected, and certain characters have their own theme of comedy that they repeat in different ways. The story also reveals how savage some politicians can become when they are desperate. The entire movie was hilarious, so much that sometimes I didn't have time to laugh at one joke because I was laughing so much about the last. The story wasn't very well organized, so This will get an A-

I Watch the Watchmen

So, I know this isn't a recent movie, but I just recently saw: Watchmen, and just to start, I have to say I LOVED this movie. The trailer is here:

The original graphic novel this is based on was written as a miniseries by Alan Moore in 1986-87, so the movie takes place around then, but most of the time, I forgot that, because of all of the advanced technology used in it. The whole story was based around three things: Dr. Manhattan, the suspicions of nuclear war, and the murder of a certain important character in the first ten minutes of the film. The story is very dark and complicated, so you'd have to pay close attention to understand it. There are so many really interesting superheroes. It's also extremely violent in certain places. One of the reasons I enjoyed it so much is because it's so majestic and thrilling. This fits perfectly with the character's tones because the all act either really intense or really grand. I also thought the symbolic smiley face with the blood drop from the original book cover was well used throughout the movie. If you've seen 300, then you would have noticed how great the image quality was, and it's similar to that in Watchmen. Also like 300, they have scenes that are exactly like they were in the book. That's probably because they're by the same director, Zack Snyder, who is also the director of the upcoming Man of Steel movie. I have really high expectations for any action movie done by Zack Snyder, and any Alan Moore book. If you are interested in Alan Moore, see and read V for Vendetta, and if you are interested in Zack Snyder, see and read 300 (the book of 300 was written by Frank Miller) I would definitely give Watchmen an A.

The OK Gatsby

Spiderman is in this movie

So, yesterday I saw The Great Gatsby, which was a 3D, FX heavy emotional drama. One thing I notice about all famous stories is that at least one of the main characters dies at the end, which is why I am not a huge fan of Romeo and Juliet. I enjoyed how this remake was so dramatic, and I wonder if the book and the older movies can give me the same feeling -- the sense of drama and grandeur -- about it. I found it slightly unrealistic that Gatsby could throw such big parties every weekend, even if SPOILER ALERT he was in the business of selling liquor during the days of Prohibition. The big question is why Nick Carraway wrote a whole book about Gatsby when he had sort of given up on writing. I also couldn't understand why Myrtle SPOILER ALERT ran out into the middle of the road. If she really wanted to get the car's attention, she could've just waved to it on the side. Nothing works out perfectly in movies. So many people have read the book, even my Mandarin teacher, who, in high school, read it in Chinese. This is a world-famous book that was written in America. I really got attached to what the characters looked like, and how the actors portrayed them, so I'm scared that if I see the older versions of the movie, that image will be changed. The most interesting of the characters was, of course, Gatsby, who was played by Leonardo DeCaprio. He was so rich and powerful, but acted so timid to Daisy after he hadn't seen her in five years, like a normal person would. In summary, I would give this one a B+

Iron is really heavy

     

So, you may or may not have known about the Chronicles of Owen, which ended abruptly at the beginning of the school year. But now it's the end of the school year, and I'm going to do a whole different type of blog! Movie reviews based on entertainment value. I get so angry that critics don't care if a movie was fun to watch, they only care if it has moral value or a complicated plot. See, let's look at "Amour". On the outside, it was a story about how life is beautiful, and stuff like that, but it was pretty much just a story about an old man being depressed and angry because his wife was slowly and painfully dying. Too depressing to be entertaining. 

Today I'll be discussing:

(Iron Man 3)

       which got an A- on Entertainment Weekly. I am a big fan of Marvel comics, and Iron Man versus his enemies is pretty awesome to watch. Both him, and the villains. Now, if you haven't seen the movie yet, skip the next paragraph

     The Mandarin is an amazing character, and poses quite a threat to Iron Man, so SPOILER ALERT: Why wasn't the Mandarin actually a villain in the movie? I did find that whole scenario kind of amusing, but they ruined one of Marvel's GREATEST VILLAINS. Then I got especially enraged when boring old Aldrich Killian yelled in the end:"I am the Mandarin!" Which makes no sense whatsoever because he doesn't even look Chinese. Of course, neither did Ben Kingsley. The Mandarin looked so hardcore and villainous in the trailers. I also can't stand the fact that Tony Stark blew up all of his hard work in the end by destroying all 42 armors that he had.

     In entertainment value, I'd give this a B.