Honestly, there is no point in reading this review until after you’ve seen the movie. There is no way that my review on a Star Wars movie will influence whether you see this movie or not. So this review will have spoilers. Not to belittle my review, but this is mostly my honest thoughts on the film and not whether you should see it. If you come here quickly to look at the score, I gave it an 89/100. Undoubtedly if you’ve watched the other films, you need to see this film in the theater. If you are newer to the franchise and wonder which movies you need to see before watching Episode VII, I would say you should watch IV, V, and VI. Those are the ones that will help you best understand this film. There is no need to see I, II, or III. I don’t know if you can fully appreciate VII without seeing IV, V, and VI first. It is assumed that you have seen these films. If you haven’t, there is no real effort or desire to explain anything that happened in the past. Continue reading Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015)
Category Archives: Fantasy
The Martian (2015)
Fans of the self-published debut novel will not be disappointed by Ridley Scott’s (Alien, Gladiator) adaptation of Andy Weir’s The Martian. This is a good movie that should be viewed in 3D on the largest screen that you can see it on. While it doesn’t come close to delivering the same experience as Gravity or even Interstellar, it is one of the rare movies that truly benefits by being seen in 3D. Before I get into this review, I want to mention that I will try to write it from the standpoint of someone who has not read the fictional novel as best as I can, as I know this is something that most people have not read. With that said, I will refer to the novel. I will also give some spoilers, but I will provide notice before diving into any of these. If you read around the paragraphs marked spoilers, you will be okay with reading this review before seeing this movie. The Martian is a very good movie, but it is not great. I was not disappointed by it. If I hadn’t read the novel, I think that maybe the trailers and the hype would have left me wanting more. This movie currently sits as my #6 movie of 2015, but I think there is less than a 1% chance it will finish in my end-of-year top 10. It didn’t have the emotional impact Gravity had, nor does it have the What did I miss? I need to watch this movie again type of feeling Interstellar had. Also, as I will mention, something was missing overall from the performances especially considering that Scott landed the cast of the year. While I will heavily critique this movie, I again want to say that I really liked the movie. It was a very good adaptation of the book. It held my interest throughout its 2 hour and 14-minute time frame.
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Insurgent (2015)
As I mentioned near the end of my review on Divergent, what is Kate Winslet (The Reader, Little Children) doing in a movie franchise like this? Anybody could have played the role of this minor character. There isn’t any depth to her character. The movie isn’t going to win any awards. And Winslet could be spending her time in movies that bring out her acting prowess. I understand it from the film’s standpoint. Why not get another big name? Even if it costs 10+ times as much money as getting an unknown actor, it makes sense. The movie, more or less, covers its costs in the first week or two anyway. I’ve always come back to that appearing in movies such as Insurgent allows her to sustain her way of life to take on more roles in independent films that can’t afford to pay her as much because they won’t make as much at the box office. And if this is the reason, then I am cool with it. I am willing to give Naomi Watts (The Ring, The Impossible), who also appears in this movie, the same leeway. It does bother me that these talented actresses are merely supporting less talented actors and actresses in a film that relies on young adult fantasy and adventure scenes rather than the performances of its leads. Nonetheless, I’m willing to accept this with the hope that Winslet and Watts will continue to put out Oscar-contending performances in future films.
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Ant-Man (2015)
I’ll preface this review by saying that I enjoyed Ant-Man, but that I know that if I do end up seeing Ant-Man 2, I will not enjoy it. I say that because traditionally I like superhero origin stories (except for when that same character gets retold over and over and over again like Superman, which…on a side note, I have yet to see a Superman movie that I’ve even remotely enjoyed, but that I am expecting HUGE things from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice). However, as with over 90% of movies that have sequels, superhero movies generally get worse (usually much worse) with each subsequent release. Of course, there are exceptions. Batman Begins was fantastic, but The Dark Knight is possibly the greatest superhero movie ever made. Iron Man and Spider-Man are both amazing movies, but there wasn’t much drop-off to Iron Man 2 or Spider-Man 2. Now Iron Man 3 and Spider-Man 3 were both much worse. But when you think about it, when is the 5th, 4th, or 3rd movie of a franchise ever really the best one? Hardly ever. 90% of the time, it’s the first franchise movie that is the best. I wish viewer franchises would make movies. I wish even fewer movies would be remade. But that is a different topic for another day. Regarding Ant-Man, the best thing that it had going for it was its originality. I cannot think of a scenario where Ant-Man 2 would have any originality that this first movie had. But, of course, we know Ant-Man 2 is coming. And then Ant-Man will probably end up in The Avengers movies, and I’ll look back on this first movie less positively.
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Jurassic World (2015)
It’s been 12 years since we last saw the Tyrannosaurus Rex tearing up the supposedly revamped dinosaur park in Jurassic Park III. While much better than the 50% rating it earned on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie pretty much signaled the end of the franchise. Gone were Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum. There was talk over the last decade to reinvigorate the series, but nothing ever materialized. Then came the move to call this Jurassic World rather than Jurassic Park IV and add all new players to the game. Had this movie been released in 2005 (to continue the pattern of every three years), I think this movie would have stunk. Even with its 2015 release date, it still could have stunk. But it didn’t stink. It wasn’t the original (93% on Rotten Tomatoes and $350 million domestically + another $50 million on re-release in 2013, not to mention the millions it earned overseas and through rentals). However, it was still very, very good. I’ll go as far as to say that if this was the first movie with Jurassic in the name that it would have earned higher than its respectable 71% on Rotten Tomatoes. With over $200 million drawn on opening weekend, it’s likely to smash any of its predecessors at the box office (by contrast, Jurassic Park earned just $50 million in its first weekend). Regardless, I felt that if the movie received a rating of over 65% fresh, it would probably do very well at the ticket office. I didn’t think it would do this good. But I feel like it deserves its positive reviews and its revenue. It was a very entertaining movie and one that I recommend seeing on the big screen.
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