SPY movie review

There are about seven secret agent/spy movies coming out in 2015, so of course, one of them had to surprise us with a different and inspired title.

Spy is another Paul Feig-directed comedy starring Melissa McCarthy. Instead of playing a bridesmaid or a police officer, this time, she's playing a desk-bound agent at the CIA. She gets the opportunity to head out into the field for the first time to take down a terrorist, and spy shenanigans ensue.

Feig is a great director when it comes to comedy and I love how passionate he is about giving his lead roles to women and showcasing all the talented comedic actresses we have; the cast of Bridesmaids, Sandra Bullock in The Heat, and of course, Melissa McCarthy.

McCarthy has had some misses (mostly when her roles aren't anything other than 'fat' and 'obnoxious'), but I feel that Feig really gets how to utilize her, as this is yet another triumph of their collaboration.

This isn't a role you've seen McCarthy do before. She isn't spitting out insults at other characters anymore.  She plays a sweet and harmless-looking woman, who is tossed in this dangerous world of secret agents, and it proves to be pretty hysterical. She's great in the role, the comedic moments really hit, and she actually kicks all sorts of ass.

You can say this film was more of a parody of the spy genre, with the Agent Fine (Jude Law) parodying James Bond and Agent Ford (Jason Statham) parodying every Statham role ever, but really, the film has much more to say than that. Feig makes a strong point that women can sustain the leads in a spy film, as women fill most of the featured roles here and they're all incredible, which makes me love the movie more.

That supporting cast is just excellent. Rose Byrne re-teams with Feig after her amazing work in Bridesmaids and Neighbors and continues to prove how awesome she is, Miranda Hart steals quite  a few scenes herself, and I was completely shocked by what Jason Statham was able to bring to this. He was exceptionally hilarious. I'm convinced this is what his career was building up to, and the payoff was marvelous. 

Unlike the disaster of a comedy that came out a couple weeks ago, Hot Pursuit, the film doesn't take itself too seriously, and offers up moments of levity to remind that they're first and foremost an entertaining comedy. There are a few fun action sequences in there, that are a bit heavy on the slow-mo (like, Zack Snyder-heavy)  but fun nonetheless. The story is rather heartwarming as well.

Spy is a very fun and hilarious comedy that makes you wonder why we don't have more female spy movies, because this is honestly one of the better spy movies in general that has come out in the past couple years.

TOMORROWLAND movie review

In Tomorrowland, Disney controls all movie franchises and thus, the entire world.

Tomorrowland is a Disney film sort-of based off their theme park in Disneyland. The film follows Casey Newton (Britt Robertson), a bright teenage girl who finds out about this wonderful futuristic land called Tomorrowland. She wants to go there and along the way, she meets Frank Walker (George Clooney) and Athena (Raffey Cassidy), people who may or may not help her get there.

Brad Bird is one visionary director that exceeds at creating lively worlds with fun characters for multi-layered stories that manage to be both thought-provoking and emotional. This film is not so far off from that. At its core, there is a lot of Brad Bird. The film has an ensemble of unique characters, who are played splendidly by their respective actors, and who play around in this wonderful world created by Bird. You can really feel Bird's stamp on the world-building, through the many nerdy-fun action sequences and this one beautiful, breath-taking tracking shot. Clearly, the visionary director who brought audiences the Burj Khalifa action sequence in Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol and the fantastic world of heroes in The Incredibles has not lost his touch.

However, a great cast and Bird's directing is probably the height of the film's positive attributes, because there's a glaring amount of Damon Lindelof influence that really brings the film down.

The film is too convoluted for its own good. They thinly stretched out a rather simple "get from point A to point B" story and the plot and the villain's motivation don't make any sense. The finale unveils the mystery, and reveals a poorly developed villain and stakes. Then just as it starts going, it ends. It felt like the film was cut off at the middle and wrapped up. It's pretty trademark Lindelof poor writing and underdevelopment. 

I get what Bird was going for, and I feel like he was able to deliver an optimistic, hopeful sci-fi flick. The cast is stellar, and Bird still remains one of the more interesting and visionary directors working on blockbusters today. Just maybe you keep Lindelof away from the 190 million dollar blockbuster next time?

PITCH PERFECT 2 movie review

Aca-sequel.

Pitch Perfect 2  is the sequel to the 2012 surprise hit, Pitch Perfect. The Bellas are back once again, and after a Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson) commando fiasco, they have to win an international a capella championship so that their team isn't disbanded.

I was a big fan of the first film. I was really taken by how clever and well-rounded it was. It's a really good musical comedy, so I was definitely excited for the sequel, a little skeptical on Elizabeth Banks directing, but excited nonetheless.

One aspect both of these movies get really right is understanding their characters. The individual character storylines are just as good as the story arc of the whole team and each character's comedic moments really hit the mark, because they understand the character and how to approach each one. Sure, most of them are stereotypes, but they're not lazily thrown-in stereotypes, they're handled playfully with an amount of self-awareness. Thus, characters like Fat Amy, Cynthia-Rose, or even the two back-up singers whose names no one can remember all get great comedic moments.

Beca (Anna Kendrick) and Emily "Legacy" (Hailee Steinfeld) get more of the meat of the story, with Beca looking forward to her future outside of the Bellas and Emily trying to prove herself worthy of being a Bella. Much like the first film, the individual character arcs are well-rounded, and they weave together with the arc of the whole team, culminating nicely in a fun finale.

There a couple of heart-warming moments in the film and the musical numbers are still very entertaining. However, other than a Fat Amy solo, there's no new or differing musical number from the first film, which I feel is part of the overall problem of the film: Elizabeth Banks' directing.

I don't think Banks knows what makes a movie fun. She just throws in some random montages of people dancing at parties, random practices, and girls pillow-fighting, with "fun" party music in the background, and it's just not that fun to watch. It's nowhere close to the fun energy you felt watching freshmen audition for the a capella groups back in the first film. It's pretty B-movie directing that the first film was able to avoid.

Even the finale comes down to a battle between opposing forces, while in the first film, it didn't matter who won anymore. Beca and Jesse get together after Beca sings Don't You Forget About Me and Benji proves his talent to everyone else when he (greatly) performs I Got the Magic in Me. This film's finale is fun and there is a heart-warming moment in there, but it literally doesn't capture the magic of the first film.

While Pitch Perfect 2 doesn't capture the magic of the first film, it still manages to deliver on funny characters, a well-rounded story, and an aca-amusing film.

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD movie review

A world gone mad. I love it.

Mad Max: Fury Road is the fourth film of the Mad Max series. The last film, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, came out thirty years ago, and now, director/mastermind George Miller has returned to create a world gone mad. The plot is relatively simple; Furiosa (Charlize Theron) must deliver a tanker to from one point to another, but along the way she encounters Mad Max (Tom Hardy), Nux (Nicholas Hoult), Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne), and a lot of out-of-their-mind crazies.

While Mad Max was more of a character study of a man trying to physically and psychologically survive in an insane world, Mad Max: Fury Road is more along the lines of Mad Max: The Road Warrior, the second film of the series, turning in high-octane and beautifully action-packed thrill rides, but it also surprisingly has an emotionally investing narrative.

I don't think I've adored a modern action blockbuster as much as I do Fury Road. The film is action-packed and chaotic (but not all over the place); it's insane. Miller really delivered on the "world gone mad". I mean, there's a war envoy that has drummers and an electric guitar playing psychopath play music for them whilst battling. Oh, and the guitar shoots fire. It's high-octane, adrenaline pumping madness.

It's purposely constructed like that, and you can see Miller's vision and style there. The action sequences are shot beautifully, with eye-popping colors and landscapes. No bleak dystopian future here (I'm looking at you, Insurgent). Miller also constructs the action sequences to serve the story and the characters. The film isn't fun action sequence followed by exposition followed by a bigger action sequence then exposition, etc. Miller ingeniously constructs his action sequences to tell the story and develop his characters.

Hardy takes over Mel Gibson as the titular character Max Rockatansky. He did a great, great job taking over, and he continues to prove himself a badass, capable actor/action star. Hoult really wowed me with his performance as the crazy war boy, Nux. He just disappeared into that character. I was surprisingly really invested in his character too. He only has one or two non-action scenes where he has a full lengthy conversation (the rest are all during action sequences), but they were able to tell a complete and fulfilling character arc, and that really surprised me. Same could be said for Max and Furiosa, which goes back to my earlier point about the action sequences telling the story and getting you invested in the characters.

Mad Max is the titular character, but hands down, Furiosa steals the movie. Theron is amazing in the almost unrecognizable role. In my eyes, she's the hero of this story. Women in general are the heroes of this story. All I'll say is that the film showcases how desperately they're needed in a man's world gone mad.

Mad Max: Fury Road is a visionary, adrenaline pumping, emotionally investing feminist action blockbuster. Thank you, mastermind George Miller. This is one of the best action blockbusters of the last decade.

AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON movie review

Can't belive we're at another Avengers movie. It feels like just yesterday that I was lining up for Iron Man 3.

Avengers: Age of Ultron is the sequel to The Avengers and the 11th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. S.H.I.E.L.D. is gone, so Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.) and Captain America (Chris Evans) are leading the Avengers as the world's #1 peace organization. Stark's plans of using A.I. in hopes of keeping the peace goes horribly wrong as he creates the Avengers' worst enemy - Ultron (James Spader).

Obviously, Marvel Studios has been on a high streak recently, with top-notch comic book films like Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy, and with Captain America: Civil War on the horizon, you betcha I was excited to see how this film would shape up.

Shockingly, the film manages to double up on the character work and the action. I wouldn't have thought that the most interesting characters coming out of that film would be the characters who don't get their own movie. Less popular characters such as Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) are given much more to do this time around and Whedon adds more depth to them. I applaud the move to give a relationship angle to Natasha and Bruce, because I find they perfectly compliment each other. Also, Hawkeye may have just proven himself to be the most important member of the team, being the most human character in this group of gods. The new characters also get their own moments to shine in the film, but really, it's Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) that gets to take home best newcomer award.
Whedon knows how to create interesting group dynamics while also fleshing out individual characters, and that's as evident as ever here. The back-and-forth between characters is just as effective here as it is in the first Avengers film, and it gets even more interesting when they throw the Maximoff twins and the Vision (Paul Bettany) into the mix.

The action set pieces are what you already expect from Marvel; a lot of laughs and very fun sequences that look like they're pulled straight of the comic. Whedon's strength at keeping action sequences that have way too many things going on focused is also evident here.

The most talked about aspect of this film will definitely be Ultron. I feel that Ultron is the perfect Marvel Studios villain. He captures the studio's charismatic spirit and he proves to be perfect foil for the team. Spader turned out to be a great casting choice, as his really powerful voice could alternate between the genocidal prophet and the narcissitic evil genius, and still pull it off. He's also the center of the main theme of the film - which is the failure of heroes.
Throughout the course of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you never really got the sense that these heroes' failures would prove catastrophic... until Ultron. The film highlights every civilian they have to save/fail to save, the effect of every decision, and life after heroism, after acting as protectors. I like those themes they brought up in the film.

The film is far from perfect, however. Pacing is an aspect of the film that I thought would've improved in the sequel, but it didn't, it's worse actually. There might've been less of a clunky first act in this film (they hit the ground running), but the film made me feel like they were rushing through highlights. There's so many things going on, plotwise, and the film tackles all of it. It's not like The Amazing Spider-Man 2, where most sub-plots were inserted solely as set-up. It's more off the film biting off more than it can chew, and as a result, they happen to rush through a lot of scenes. The build-up is faulty as well, things just happen because plot convenience. They make sense, sure, but build-up would've made the execution a whole lot smoother. Also, it would've had a greater impact had there been proper build-up. I admire the first Avengers film for its simplicity. They brought in just the right amount and gave time for things to sink in. I didn't feel that smooth flow in this film.

As I said, the individual character work was really well done in this movie, and I like the theme they brought up, but I felt that the story never came around full circle, thematically speaking. The final moments of the film happen pretty quickly, and they don't reall tie up the main theme of the movie. It's just sorta left there hanging. It's partially the fault of the how they ended the film, tonally. It would've worked better had they addressed it with the complete opposite of the tone they actually used.

Pacing issues aside, I had a blast with Avengers: Age of Ultron. They got a lot of things really right and the moments where the film gets to breathe prove to be equally as great & important as the fun and exciting action sequences, if not more. The first film earned $1.5 billion worldwide, so I know you're already going to see it.

FURIOUS 7 movie review

Instead of taking a shot every time Vin Diesel says "family", how about we all join hands and cry a river? It's the natural reaction.

Furious 7 is the seventh installment in the Fast & Furious series. The film is directed by James Wan (of The Conjuring). This go around, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his crew are being hunted by Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) for killing his brother back in London in Fast & Furious 6. A covert ops unit led by "Mr. Nobody" (Kurt Russel) also gets involved, enlisting Toretto's crew to retrieve a worldwide tracking device from terrorists. That's the plot, with everything you love about the Fast & Furious gluing all of it together.

I've been a huge fan of the Fast & Furious series only since Fast Five (which is the first one I watched). I watched the other films later, but Fast Five is when they really found their identity, by upping the ante with ridiculous action fare and giving more attention to a single idea brought up in The Fast & the Furious - family. It's what drives the Fast & Furious series for me, and I'm happy to see it's still at the forefront in this installment.

The first act of the movie is undeniably clunky and unfocused set-up for a plot that is nonsensical and convoluted, but the film still manages to tie up all their plotlines together through action sequences, believe it or not. The film really kicks into full throttle in its first big action sequence, showcasing the characters playing off each other with their insane on-screen chemistry. From there, it's just hits all the right notes and delivers on everything you love about and want from a Fast & Furious movie. 

There are unbelievable action sequences that prove to be immensely entertaining spectacle. I don't know how they continue to keep topping the level of absurdity every film, but they somehow succeed at it. However, "this time it's not just about being fast," as Vin Diesel said. The stunt work and fight sequences in this movie are absolutely breathtaking. Tony Jaa and Ronda Rousey make special guest appearances to showcase their amazing skills but even Diesel, Walker, and Statham get to join in on the fighting fun. The choreography and the camera movements lend themselves perfectly to make the fights just as exhilarating as the chases.

What makes these films particularly so exciting to go back to is not just the action sequences, but the earnest way they put forth their simplistic ideas of family and loyalty. It isn't deep analytical subtext, it's a heavily emphasized theme. One that should make you feel close to and a part of this "family". It's what makes you care about these characters, even though they're admittedly one-note. This series is self-aware of what it is and doesn't try to do anything more, which gives it the opportunity to really excel at what they are good at and what they can achieve. It's a simple approach to a simple idea in order to create the best outcome.

James Wan truly understands how the Fast & Furious series works, which is made clear by the fact that everything I love about the series is still present in this film. He pays respect to the visual style, overall feel and tone that Justin Lin set up during his time working on the last four installments. It feels just enough like a F&F movie, but there's enough of Wan's visually appealing flavor and energy there to make it special, I'd say this is one the better directed Fast & Furious films (second to only Fast Five). I would say the finale tops Fast Five's finale. It feels like something taken out of a superhero movie (which the series has now become, actually). Wan most certainly can deliver on the visually stunning set pieces and exhilarating action sequences and he understands the relationships between characters and ultimately what the Fast & Furious series is about.

Furious 7 is just as earnest and emotional as it is absurd and illogical. Touching on family themes and putting characters we care about in explosive action sequences, it becomes another worthy installment in this mighty series. And of course, the Paul Walker tribute at the end was respectfully and beautifully done. He's definitely going to be missed.

INSURGENT movie review

"What's in the booooooxxxxx?!!"

The Divergent Series: Insurgent is the second film of the Divergent series, as the title subtly put it. We follow Tris (Shailene Woodley) and Four (Theo James) after the attack on her home district and as their war on President (?) Jeannie (Kate Winslet).

I liked Divergent. I actually did. It's a bit boring and slow paced, but I thought the world building and the establishing of characters really worked. I tried to get past the built in problems of every YA novel adaptation just copying The Hunger Games (I didn't) and just have a good time with it. I don't feel motivated to watch the first film again but I thought it was a pretty entertaining watch, but unfortunately to say, this movie made me uninterested with the entire series.

Shailene Woodley still stands strong with her portrayal of Tris. She's definitely the bright spot of this movie. She's a great actress, and you can really see that she's trying as hard as she can to make this character work, and for the most part, she does. I found the character work with Tris here to be functional. That's the only word to describe it. Functional. Her character arc in the film is generic for a dystopian-future, young adult heroine. She actually turns into the B-level Katniss Everdeen here. However, her character does choppily get some development, and it was the only thing in the movie I was even remotely interested in.

Other than Woodley, the acting in the movie is just terrible. I'm not saying the movie has terrible actors (although, it does have some of those). I'm saying this movie only consists of actors who are bad or who don't give a damn. Miles Teller and Kate Winslet fall into the latter. Teller looks bored (he's even admit it), and it clearly shows. His character isn't interesting, and he delivered a half-assed performance. Winslet is no different, as she recites lines while walking or standing straight. She gave such a stiff performance, and that's not something you want out of the main antagonist of the film. Other wasted potential in the film include: Octavia Spencer, Ray Stevenson, Ansel Elgort, and Naomi Watts. Oh, and (surprise, surprise) Jai Courtney gives a wooden performance.

While the first film was an prolonged training montage, this film really has a lot going on, but the stakes aren't felt at all. I mentioned earlier that these types of films can't have a stiff villain, because I imagine this film was aiming to be the "stakes are high and tensions are rising between districts, etc. etc." kind of film, but you can't have that without the portrayal of a menacing and ruthless antagonist. Instead, you'll just have an unengaging and boring narrative. 

The film is brought down by a plethora of uninteresting characters and story arcs. Now, I stated that I thought that Divergent did a good job at setting up the world and characters, so naturally, I was looking forward to seeing those characters progress in the sequel. However, the film didn't build off the foundation layed by the first film. They don't really take time to flesh anything out in this sequel. The film gives shallow backstories for characters that could work well as concepts, but they don't leave any room for these things to develop. Instead, there's pretty much two hours of convoluted plot points that don't really come together organically. 

Even with the well-done action scenes and worldbuilding, Insurgent is too convoluted and shallow to function as a second installment of a series. All of the good Shailene Woodley has done for this film is drowned out by the amount of terrible acting and characters. Fans of the book will probably be entertained by this, but others are recommended to just watch The Hunger Games or The Maze Runner, two other series that this series is practically going out of its way to copy.