Movie Reviews: The Last Six

Sorry I haven't been posting my reviews for the last handful of movies. I've been pretty busy, and haven't had the time to waste here on the blog.

Here's some mini reviews of the movies I've recently seen.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - Jack Sparrow is a great character, but even he cannot do it alone. The problem with the second and third Pirates movies wasn't with the characters, but with the convoluted script. Two and three had the same characters, but got too ambitious with the story. While Elizabeth Swan and Will Turner were generic and not all that interesting, it did give Jack someone to play off of. In On Stranger Tides, Jack Sparrow has to play the comic relief and the hero. Johnny Depp is an excellent actor, but its to much to ask of one character. And again, too ambitious and convoluted.  ** 1/2

Water For Elephants - I'm sure the book was fine, but the movie was mediocre. It's hard for film to show the passage of time like a book can, and I think that's what's wrong with the movie. One second Jacob is a stowaway and the next second he has the fate of the circus riding on his shoulders. Everything felt rushed, and the relationships were forced together. Now, if the acting talent was a bit better, it could have covered up some of this. But Robert Pattinson is not up to the task to do anything other than look sleepy, and  Reese Witherspoon does nothing special here. But Christoph Waltz was amazing as the abusive leader of the circus, August. Quentin Tarantino deserves a lot of credit for introducing him to American audiences in Inglorious Basterds. **

Priest - A pretty unoriginal dystopian sci-fi movie. Think Judge Dredd meets Underworld. The Catholic church creates a group of super soldiers, Priests, to subdue the vampire menace taking over the world. After defeating the vamps, the Priests are discarded to monotonous day jobs while the Church rules 1984 style. Years later, the daughter of the leader of the Priests is taken by a new kind of vampire, a human turned vamp. The Priest takes action against the wishes of the Church, who think it is all a hoax. It has a few actors I like (Paul Bettany, Karl Urban) and one I absolutely hate (Cam Gigandet). But none of them have anything to do, because the director is a special effects guy. When has that ever worked? *

X-Men: First Class - After destroying the numeral series with X-Men 3: The Last Stand, the origin story of Professor X's school for the gifted is told. Bryan Singer is back as a producer, and I could see his fingerprints all over this movie. Feels much more like the first two films. James McAvoy is fantastic as a walking Professor X, with a full head of hair. When he fits the role, McAvoy is brilliant. Michael Fassbender steals the movie though. His Magneto is so conflicted, and you can see how he evolves into the leader of the Brotherhood in the original movies. Fassbender makes him so sympathetic that you want to see him win. However, the supporting characters are pretty forgettable, and the villain played by Kevin Bacon is nothing special either. But nobody is so terrible that they distract from the two leads. *****

The Hangover Part II - Take the same cast and the same story and set it in Bangkok. Some good one-liners, but pretty disappointing overall. **1/2

Super 8 - I really like JJ Abrams, so my expectations were extremely high. Super 8 delivered, but not to my unfair expectations. The problem was that this movie should have been made thirty years ago. Making it now just feels like a remake of an old classic. There are winks and homages galore. But not a lot of originality. The casting for the kids was great, and Kyle Chandler was a solid choice. There's not as much effects work as I thought there would be, but the train accident is huge and goes on forever. I was hoping for the best movie of the year, but instead got a solid pick for the top ten or fifteen. **** 1/2

Midnight In Paris - I should have known better. I've never been a Woody Allen fan. I like a few of his movies, but for the most part, I hate him. If you like him, enjoy it. If you don't, skip it. This won't convert any non-believers. **

Again, sorry for the absence. Enjoy your summer movie watching, and I'll try to post my reviews a little quicker.

May the Force be with you,
CHUD