World War Z Review

Written by:  Jon Guzik

With a movie like “World War Z”, it’s much easier to just give a breakdown of things that just didn’t work  or, well, sucked.

PG-13—The fact that this is a zombie movie, and NOT rated R is baffling to me.  In a time where zombie themed media is taking the world by storm I can see them wanting to attract a broader audience, but this movie just made it ridiculous.  There was very, VERY little blood.  And some of the blood we do see, is digitally turned black so as to make it seem like it’s not blood.  So are we just supposed to assume that Brad Pitt was changing his oil in the midst of a zombie war zone?  Shit, the Walking Dead on AMC has more graphic content and it’s not even on HBO or Showtime!

Brad Pitt—Usually this would mean a good thing for a movie, having Brad Pitt headlining a Zombie pic---what could go wrong?  Well to answer, a lot.  The biggest problem is that fact that Brad Pitt’s part could have literally been played by 95% of other actors his age.  He brings absolutely nothing to the movie (except a producing credit and his name splattered all over movies and advertisements).  This is all without even mentioning the fact the Pitt must have put his invincibility cheat on, because he gets out of the most insane circumstances almost unscathed, including but not limited to traveling across the globe during a virus breakout taking over the world, and surviving a plane crash.  Really removes any tension when our "hero" can't really die (or even bleed red!).

Horrible CGI Zombies—I hate to bring up the comparison again, but it’s almost unavoidable:  but why does a TV show like Walking Dead have better looking zombies than a film like this costing $200 million+???  These CGI zombies look God awful, and close up ones with full makeup look no better.  Point being, if you’re not afraid or at least un-easy towards the zombies, then you don’t feel suspense as people run from them in the movie.

 

Real convincing...

 

RESHOOTS—For those of you who don’t read movie news 24/7 like myself, you might not know the fact that this movie once cost $125 million to make, only to go eventually over $200 million after the had to reshoot a large portion of the latter half of the film after changing the ending.  Usually when movies do this, it’s not at all a good sign, and with this movie a lot of people gave it the benefit of the doubt.  But no amount of money can fix a bad movie, or an ending that works for that bad movie.  Maybe if they weren’t so occupied blacking out blood for the kids out there, they could have focused better on a cohesive story.

Well that’s all that really needs to be said.  For the very few people who read this, half of the reason I would hope you do is to  be able to avoid possible disappointments in movies your excited for, therefore saving you money.  Do that here, please.  At the very least, wait until an unrated cut for BluRay comes out (if there even will be one).  But if you’re into a bloody good time of a zombie movie, comparable to AMC’s The Walking Dead, or other zombie flicks like 28 Days Later or Zombieland, then look elsewhere.

Grade: D

 

P.S.--I'm not so sure Earth would run this efficiently in a world-wide panic.  The movie "Contagion" played this much better.

Man of Steel Review

 Written by:  Jon Guzik

 

 

“One of the saddest things in life…is wasted talent.” This quote from the classic movie “A Bronx Tale” was going through my mind the entire time I was watching “Man of Steel”. Directed by Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen), written by David S. Goyer and produced by Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight Trilogy), the anticipation for this film was at such a high level, especially when you factor in that this is supposed to lead eventually to a Justice League movie. Even the trailers that have come out over the past several months just had a “shut up and take my money” quality to them, making it look like the Batman Begins for Superman, which is not at all a bad thing. But watching the film, it’s hard to get invested in Clark Kent’s/Kal-El’s (Henry Cavil) story like you did with Bruce Wayne.

This is not to say MOS doesn’t have its moments, because it does. There are flashes of a great movie in there somewhere, but the execution was flawed to say the least. The film starts with the birth of little Superman on the planet Krypton, and his father Jor-El (Russell Crowe) and mother Lara Lor-Van (Ayelet Zurer) and must save him from the evil General Zod (Michael Shannon). They put baby of steel in a spaceship for Earth. This is where the movie starts having problems. Instead of guiding us through his childhood with his adoptive parents Jonathan and Martha Kent (Kevin Costner and Diane Lane) while learning how to adapt to his powers and live amongst humans, it cuts back and forth between the present and past, making the movie feel awkward and unbalanced. It definitely would have benefited from a more linear narrative.

For a movie that is 2+ hours long, you almost wish it would slow down to spend more time with character interaction and development.Lois Lane (Amy Adams), while very good in the role, is pretty wasted here, and her relationship with Clark really comes out of nowhere, and snowballs fast. And General Zod as a villain is absolutely unengaging. I almost don't remember any of his motivations or cared why he was a bad guy. For most comic book movies, it usually rests on the villain and the challenge they give our hero on whether or not the movie will be good, and in this case boring villain equals boring movie.Even the amount of time it takes for him to put on the cape and suit, seems rushed and uneventful.Some saving graces for the film are Hans Zimmer’s powerful score, and the special effects are top notch.But when we care little to not at all about the characters, then these are wasted.

Stop. Just stop.

 

 

Other distracting elements in the film, such as the product placement, are really annoying aspects of the film. Now I know most summer blockbusters have product placement, this one seems overboard. You’ll start thinking to yourself during big action scenes: “Why does Superman keep fighting in and around IHOP?"

“Man of Steel” went from my most anticipated film of 2013, to one of the biggest disappointments of the 2013. Don’t get me wrong, the film isn’t all a swing and a miss. Crowe, Cavil, and Adams all do great with the roles, but not so much for anyone else. And the special effects and score like I said really carry the film, and I would wonder how much worse the movie would be without the standouts of all these elements. Maybe I’m being a little harsh on it, but at the end of the day, with the amount of talent involved in the making of the movie (especially Nolan), the execution just comes up short. I really hope however the film does well box-office wise just so we can get to see our “Justice League” movie go head-to-head with The Avengers. If the do go forward, here’s hoping that they learn from Marvel (and Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy), and make it more about the characters, and not smashing up 7-11’s and IHOPS.

Grade: C-



P.S.--No after credits scene?! Way to get us excited about future installments and movies leading up to Justice league...

This is the End Review

Written by:  Jon Guzik

 

So if you put the likes of Seth Rogan, Jonah Hill, James Franco, Jay Baruchel, Danny Mcbride, and Craig Robertson in the same movie, playing themselves--is it funny?  Let me put it this way, I had a big smile on my face from the opening scene through the credits, with big laughs sprinkled throughout.  “This is the End” is one of the more enjoyable comedies to come out in some time.  The concept is borderline genius, having a host of comedic and other celebs at James Franco’s house for a party, when all the sudden, the apocalypse comes out of nowhere and spoils the party.

What’s so great about this movie is that it has a great self-awareness about itself.  After the apocalypse claims the lives of mostly everyone except the core group (most of the deaths being funny themselves), it’s up to them to figure out what’s going on,  and to just survive in James Franco’s boarded up house.  While they are doing this, they have plenty of time conversing about spliting up the food, including the delicious Milky Way that everyone wants, to the movies they’ve all been in, including which ones of those deserve sequels (Pineapple Express 2 anyone?).  Every person is just absolutely funny here, with some of the standouts being Danny Mcbride channeling his best Kenny Powers into his own persona--but even worse.  One of the funniest scenes in the entire movie is an exchange between him and James Franco after Danny “borrowed” a porno mag from him. Seth Rogan is basically playing the same guy he has in all his other movies here (which they all make fun of him for by the way) and he’s just as funny as ever. Even Michael Cera playing a coked out, Rihanna-ass-slapping party goer, is another standout.

 

 

I don’t think this movie would have been as funny with the same actors, but not playing themselves.  Being able to reference movies they’ve all been in, including some re-enactments and reunions between most of the cast (the Superbad gang is all together in one scene too!).  I won’t spoil too many of the more funny cameos you might see, because that’s part of the joy of watching this, just seeing who’s going to pop up next.

Seth Rogan and his buddy in crime Evan Goldberg, who are responsible for such films as Superbad and Pineapple Express, have really hit this one out of the park with their first directing gig.  If you have seen any of the films in the past 10 years with any of these actors, then you will absolutely laugh your ass off throughout.  Hell, even if you haven’t, you still should laugh just at the back-and-forths some of these guys have.  “This is the End” is the funniest movie of the year, and in the running for funniest in the past several years.  So do yourself a favor and go watch it, before Michael Cera blows coke in your face.

Grade: A

 

 

P.S.--Let's hope this is the last apocalyptic movie with anatomically correct demons.  Just saying.