Spectral (2016) Movie Review

Hi all, last nights movie was a Netflix exclusive called Spectral.  This is a movie set an undefined amount of time into the future in what is left of a war-torn European city.  The only clue was it is sometime after world war 3.  An elite special ops team is dealing with a new enemy - one that can't be seen by the naked eye.  If you like war films, thriller films, supernatural films or edge of your seat films you will like this movie.

Let's dive in with the story.  Overall the premise of the movie is quite interesting.  We go most of the movie not knowing what this new enemy is and trying to find a way to see it and kill it.  Soldiers and civilians are dying left and right and we know nothing about this new enemy.  The elite special ops team joins up with an engineer to develop how to see and kill this new enemy.  For the most part the story flows relatively smoothly and makes pretty good sense.  There were a few times that things got extremely technical and it seemed they played pretty loose with the interpretations.  One was talking about a state of matter called the Bose-Einstein condensate.  I did some research on this and while they did a good job explaining what it really is, and they had reasoning for what the did with it, it really seemed to be a stretch based upon the articles I read.  Next was near the end the engineer is making advanced weaponry in a safe house made from random parts found.  He ends up making enough for roughly 20 soldiers out of junk found in the safe house and random military cases.  This was probably the most far fetched part of the movie in my mind.  Story ends up with 1/2 a star due to these few issues.




Directing is next.  With a Netflix exclusive film and a director I have never heard of I was not sure what to expect.  Overall I thought he did a pretty good job.  There were some fantastic scenes that utilized slow motion and slow audio to create hyper-realistic situations.  The sets were fantastic, the costumes were really cool and the war action seemed on par with major motion picture war films.  The vehicles and weapons were futuristic, but not unbelievable and they had a logical explanation for pretty much everything in the film.  The only tick against directing that I came up with was as we neared the end of the film the enemy that is not able to be seen by the naked eye is visible in quite a few scenes where I don't feel they should have been so visible.  This leads me to give 1/2 a star for directing as well.

Next up is casting and acting.  On the casting side of it there really weren't any big names in the film.  The biggest name I think most people would recognize is Bruce Greenwood.  Quite a few movies are made better by having recognizable people in them, but in this case I would say it didn't really hurt the final product at all.  Acting was quite good.  I think we have to give some credit back to the last category of directing, but the whole acting cast did a very solid job.  War scenes were realistic, reactions to different stimuli seemed authentic, interactions felt real, fatigue seemed genuine and it all results in an enjoyable movie.  Casting and acting gets a star.




Editing is next, and I wasn't sure whether to blame the tick against directing for the visibility of the invisible enemy against it or here under editing.  I chose directing because that seems like it was a choice of flow to have them visible by the director.  I do think it makes sense what he chose to do in order for the movie to be more understandable, but it violated the rule of the enemy being invisible to the human eye.  Anyway, back to editing.  The use of slow motion, the fantastic sets and the visuals and movements of the invisible enemy were all fantastic. I was very surprised for a Netflix exclusive with a director I am not familiar with.  Editing gets a star.




Last up we have enjoyability.  Like normal you can infer from my review thus far that this move is really fun to watch.  If you go in without the critics eye the movie flows very well and is very enjoyable.  I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes war films, scy-fi films, supernatural films, action, suspense...and so on.  It really should be a likeable film by most viewers.  Enjoyability gets a star as well.




Here we are at the end of another review.  Netflix's Spectral receives a 4 star review from me, and if you are a Netflix member you should check it out!  Ciao for now and see you for the next review!

Jungle Book (2016) Movie Review

This afternoon's movie was Disney's new real action remake of the Jungle Book.  Such a beloved classic, we were unsure what to expect as we went in.  Quite a few cartoons or animated films have been redone in real action lately and some are quite good so we were going in with high hopes.

A review on my rating system; each star has a unique category to fill.  Story and writing is the first star, directing the second, casting and acting the third, editing the fourth and pure enjoyability the fifth and final star available.  Keep in mind these can be half stars in each category.


So lets get the ball rolling with story and writing.  While this is based upon a book and this has been put into film version quite a few times in the past, there is room for new interpretation with each iteration.  This time around being real action had limitations and advantages I feel.  Overall the story line was fairly true to the original animated film, but there were a lot of small differences along the way.  Most of the characters Mowgli visits in previous versions were included in this film.  There were a few things I didn't like fully but story gets a star.

Directing this time is Jon Favreau, whom most of you should know him from Marvel's Iron Man and Avengers series.  Fun fact, he is also lined up for a real action Lion King, and a sequel to this film.  I think Jon's experience thus far really played in good with the Jungle Book, but I was surprised to see him as the director.  Pleasantly surprised.  Jon did a great job and thus we have another full star.

Casting and Acting; this is one of those times I look to see if I could imagine any other person playing a certain role.  If the answer is 'no' then we get a full star almost by default.  In this case while a majority of the casting was done very well I did have a few I was not in love with.  Bill Murray as Baloo was damn near perfect, but how can you watch the Jungle Book and not think of John Goodman?  I was not able to say Christopher Walken as King Louie was the only choice.  Did he do well?  Yes, he did just fine.  Scarlett Johansson as Kaa was a real surprise.  Kaa was only in one scene, despite more than that being filmed.  Perhaps if she would have been in more scenes we would have been able to get more used to a female Kaa, but this stray from the original was too much for me to accept without mentioning.

Continuing with casting and acting I was pleasantly surprised with how easy it was to pick out the names of most of the actors quite quickly.  I will leave the last few names out to see if you can pick them up as well.  I was also extremely happy with the real acting mixing with the CGI placement.  I did not notice any glaring errors.  Casting and acting gets half a star.


Editing and post production comes up next, and in a film like this it can easily make the entire movie unwatchable.  In Jungle Book's case the film version of the animals was surreal.  The only way you can really tell the animals are not real and really acting in the film is to watch the mouths.  It looks odd because of course animals don't talk.  That being said it was not bad at all, they did a fantastic job even with the mouths.  I can not think of a movie off the top of my head that the animal CGI was this fantastic.  Oh yes, there are lots of movies with great robot and alien CGI but I'm talking jungle animals here.  Editing and post production gets another full star.  Fun fact, the budget for this film was 175 MILLION dollars and you can see where it went.  A big name cast and fantastic editing.  The film recouped over 100 million on opening weekend alone.



Last but not least is enjoyability.  As you can probably guess this film is pretty fun to watch.  The CGI, the acting and casting, the directing and the story all come together very nicely.  My quarrel with this last category is the little differences thrown in from the original.  Some of them were enjoyable, but some of them really did not hit me.  Also, just personal preference, I did not like Christopher Walken in this role.  Enjoyability gets half a star, and this was the hardest of the 5 categories to rate.


Overall is this movie worth it?  YES!  I do like the trend of real motion films that is coming out lately, and this is a very good addition to that category.  You defiantly should watch this film.  The Jungle Book (2016) comes in at a very solid 4 star rating.

Independece Day: Resurgence (2016) Movie Review

Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)

Picking up 20 years after the original, the same time span as in real life, is this sequel to 1996's Independence day .  Quite a few names appear again this time around.  We have Goldblum, Pullman, Hirsch, Spiner, and Fox to name a few.  A few new names join including Liam Hemsworth.  The sequel follows the same premise, aliens come to attack our planet and extinct our species.  The special effects in this movie are amazing.  The ships are great, the aliens look awesome (and there are different "types" in the same race which was pretty cool) and the movement looks fluid.  This is about the end of the "good" in this film.  More with spoilers below the cut.

Her (2013) Movie Review

What an awfully depressing movie.  Unfortunately, I would not be surprised if this is what our future holds.  Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams and Scarlett Johansson highlight the fairly good cast of this under performing flick.  Chris Pratt and Olivia Wilde pop in for small parts.  Acting is decent across the board.

Before the spoilers below the break here is a synopsis if you would like to watch the film without knowing what happens.  Joaquin's character is depressed and decides to buy an AI operating system to keep him company.  The two fall in love with each other and a relationship develops throughout the movie.  There are some cute parts, some funny parts and some sad parts.  These parts were not strong enough to bring the entire movie up however.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)

What a horrible way to ruin one of the most entertaining franchise movies of the last 10 years.  The major wrong turn in my opinion was new director Rob Marshall.  How can you continue upon the perfection that Gore Verbinski successfully delivered three times?  Well, this was not the way.

Depp, Rush and McNally return...however none return as we know them.  The beloved music is changed, oh how that shivered me timbers.  The three act different, talk different and look different.  Oar and oar again weird things were occurring the likes of which I never saw, and then not explained.  This did not happen in the first 3.  Oh I grant you, weird things were occurring, but they be explained me mates!  Ok, so my pirate really sucks.

If you liked the first three you do need to check this one out, but be rest assured this one won't be joining the ranks on the DVD shelf whar the other three be restin.  Arr!

Despicable Me (2010)

2010's Despicable Me is an animated movie full of funny little yellow creatures.  Despicable Me jumps on the 3-D train that has been overloaded the past few years.  Big names such as Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Kristen Wiig and Will Arnett have Despicable Me hosting some very familiar voices.

Bridesmaids (2011)

After being repeatedly bombarded with ads and trailers and posters for Bridesmaids, I decided to get it from Redbox tonight.  Bridesmaids is hyped up to be the power chick flick of quite some time so I had my hopes up.  Bridesmaids had a pretty good cast including Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Ellie Kemper and a slew of others.  Bridesmaids has a huge cast and all have their part.

Whip It (2009)

2009's Whip It was a delightful surprise; or a more apt description would be a surprising slap to the face.  Whip it stars Ellen Page as the rookie derby skater.  Page skates alongside Drew Barrymore, Kristen Wiig, Eve and Juliette Lewis in this powerful film.

Land of the Lost (2009)

Land of the Lost stars Will Ferrell, Anna Friel and Danny McBride.  This movie had so much potential that was wasted it was incredible.  For as much good stuff as there was in this film, the outcome was not even close to what it should have been.  Lets dive in and get a bit more in depth.

What was good about it you might wonder after an intro like that.  Well, most of the movie was actually good.  I'll go down the list here.  The credits and music were really cool.  The scenery stuck out as one of my favorite features, a comment I don't think I have made yet on this blog.  The special features were pretty amazing.  The costumes (for the most part) were killer.  The most amazing part is the concept.

What was bad then you might ask.  Well, the script.  Acting was not bad, in fact all three lead characters acted quite well.  I was very impressed by Danny McBride in fact.  As it boils down and I think about it more, I would blame all the horrible stuff in the entire film on the script.

This film had some of the coolest conceptual ideas, along with some killer CGI.  The dinosaurs looked extremely realistic.  The "earthly" props that were in the land of the lost were incredible.  Not only did they look cool, but they picked perfect things to include.  One of my favorite parts is the three main characters base everything they are experiencing off of "earth" experiences, and everything in this parallel world is different.  They keep thinking they know something only to find it is different here.

The concept of the film is Ferrell's character found a way to harness energy that has never been harnessed, and it allows him to travel sideways in time.  Yep, I said that right, sideways in time.  The three main characters go out on a field test and end up in a parallel universe.  This universe is incredible!

I felt as if Land of the Lost was a prelude of what Ferrell had yet to come in "The Other Guys".  What I mean is "The Other Guys" is one of my favorite comedy films of all time.  It has to be one of the most humor packed films ever.  Land of the Lost felt as if it were trying to be along those same lines, but failed miserably.  Oh yeah, Land of the Lost did have some hilarious parts and one liners to it, but nothing like how it should have been.

Land of the Lost could have went two ways to be a better film; first is the packed humor route like "The Other Guys".  The second route would have been to take it full serious.  If Land of the Lost could have went serious on us and dropped most of the humor aspect it could have been among titles such as Jurassic Park, King Kong, Back to the Future and films such as those.

Instead Ferrell, Friel and McBride acted the hell out of a crappy script on a killer movie that was thrown their way.  For the effort, and for the rest of the film that was amazing, I am giving Land of the Lost a 3 star review.  Check it out and let me know if you agree.  Ciao for now and see you for the next review!

The Adjustment Bureau (2011)

DW and I decided we wanted to watch a new movie with some good hype behind it instead of the so so stuff we have been watching on view instant as of late.  We decided to pick up The Adjustment Bureau from a Redbox and see if we could have any luck.  The concept of the movie is absolutely astounding: What if you are not in COMPLETE control of your own future?  If you wonder off track a bit you will be pushed back on with out even knowing it.

The Vanishing (1993)

Well it is another familiar story tonight in that we are out of new movies on the instant queue.  Tonight we decided to watch The Vanishing, a remake of the 1988 Netherlands film of the same title.  The Vanishing stars Kiefer Sutherland, Jeff Bridges, Sandra Bullock and Nancy Travis.

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel (2009)

Having heard good things about this sequel to the original (well, a remade original that is) we decided to give it a chance.  The chipmunks are back and this time they have competition in the chipettes.  Jason Lee returns and Zachary Levi joins the cast.

Wrecked (2010)

Wrecked has an almost solo cast staring Adrien Brody.  Wrecked has the feel of a few of the recent films I have reviewed staring Brody such as The Experiment and The Jacket.  Well, I can't find my review for The Jacket, perhaps I didn't do one?  Anywho this is yet another film to add to the list of off beat films Brody has done.

Limitless (2011)

Limitless stars Bradley Cooper, Robert DeNiro and Abbie Cornish.  Limitless centers around Bradley's character who is an underperforming writer who finds a drug that unlocks full usage of the brain.  That could come in handy right now because I'm having trouble creating this blog post!

Saw: The Final Chapter (2010)

Saw: The Final Chapter did to some extent what the name implies; gave us some closure.  Did it do entirely?  No.  The ending was left open, much to NO surprise.  There was some closure however that actually was quite good.  In what I would call the best movie of the series, Saw: The Final Chapter solidly "closes" out the franchise.

The Women (2008)

2008's The Women boasts an entirely female cast led by Meg Ryan.  Ryan is joined by a slew of big names such as Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, Annette Benning, Jada Pinkett Smith, Candice Bergen, Cloris Leachman and Bette Midler.  The Women is a remake of the 1939 film by the same title.

Buried (2010)

Buried takes the top spot on my list of what has to be the most basic movies to budget and film ever.  Buried replaces the previous holder Phone Booth with Colin Farrell.  Buried is a film about a man who wakes up to find himself buried alive and his 90 minute real time struggle to get out.

Natural Born Killers (1994)

Natural Born Killers is so screwed up I had to watch it twice before I could figure out how to do a review.  Even after doing so it is still tough to figure out what I thought of this film, or how to rate it.  Killers stars Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Robert Downey Jr. and Tommy Lee Jones.  The eclecticness of the entire cast matches the eclecticness of the film perfectly.

Alpha and Omega (2010)

2010's Alpha and Omega is one of the few animated films from Lionsgate productions.  In my opinion, if every animated film they put out is done with the quality of this one, they need to stay even more sparse in this category then they have been.   Alpha and Omega stars Justin Long, Hayden Panittiere, Dennis Hopper and Danny Glover.

Crazy Heart (2009)

Featured in the 82nd Academy Awards, 2009's Crazy Heart was the next film in our queue.  Jeff Bridges stars along with Maggie Gyllenhaal, Robert Duvall and Colin Farrell.  Bridges plays a washed up country singer with more problems than you can count, and a poor attitude to go with them.