Movies : Pacific Rim

Movies : Pacific Rim

INTRODUCTION

Finally, a opportunity whereby my review will be of maximum use to readers! I am finally able to see a movie on the release date itself.. or actually just right after its release date. Well those are just semantics! So, like i said before in the previous review, I finally got down to seeing Pacific Rim and I won't lie, I saw it only because WarZ was not yet out. But thanks to this opportunity, I will be able to share with you the review before you go see it for youself and hopefully, you would agree with my review and make the appropriate choice of whether you should spend your 212 mins in this movie!

For those still unaware despite the advertisements all over the trains, this is the show

Whoa, thats a big poster.. well probably because this is a BIG show! it has a budget of $180,000,000... thats alot of zeroes!

So on the left you have the robot or in this movie the Jaeger and on the right its GODZILLA's Brother-in-law! Yes thats right! In this movie, you not only get to see "Transformers that do not transform" but also Godzilla's pen pals from another universe!

Anyway lets dive into the review


Storyline 4/5

The storyline has an advantage over the recent movies that were released just this and the previous months. This advantage is that this movie is not a sequel. Hence it does have the novelty factor that allows it to stay interesting longer merely just because it is an introduction to a new world. It introduces the new background as well as all the jaegers and kaiju which is a good thing in keeping the audience intrigued.

This movie also does well in not restricting itself to the usual good guy not dying rules and there is a fare bit of killing off of people which makes the story line more believable and less predictable. It also has clearly two different story arcs that helps split the 212 mins movie and prevents monotomy.

There are however some storyline inconsistencies with reality but I feel that we should not be too critical on this as it is clearly a work of fiction in a different world which gives room for alternate natural laws of the world.

Characters 4/5

There are quite a number of important HUMAN characters in this movie, lets make it clear first, this is not like transformer whereby the emphasis is on the robot itself. Its more like those plane pilot shows where the emphasis is on the pilot instead.

I would say that there is 2 main characters and nearly 5 or 6 sub characters with quite a good character fleshed out. They are clearly distinct from each other and do have significant screen time. This is of course because of the two different lines that the story is trying to tell.

But of course this movie still has other key elements, which are obviously the robots/jaeger itself. Sadly, this show is meant to represent the last stand of the humans which means we wont be seeing lots of robots vs lots of monsters. None the less, all robots are clearly distinct as well as their pilots and its good that the monsters too are quite distinct in the way they do battle. So you wont always be seeing the same types of fights.

Still, its not full marks due to the lack of exploiting the potential of the distinct robots and their entertainment value in battle. You will get what i mean if you see it.

Cinematography 3.5/5

Epic battle is epic. These battles are all large scale and very dramatic with all our cities being nothing more then battle locations for these giant robots. Many many overhead shots as well as action shots that try to convey the impact of every punch and kick in the movie.

What it lacks however is a bit of perspective shots and also it is occasionally pretty hard to see due to the dark setting of the movie and hence you might not enjoy the movie as much as you could have.

There is also quite a bit of slow motions, and then suddenly quick movements that is a bit unsettling during the movie. When the fights move underwater also, the movements tend to be slower which is realistic, but not as action packed as our usual movies would be.


Music 4/5

Music is very relevant in this movie. The score even has chinese undertones especially for the scenes involving Hong Kong. Hence it is a pretty significant effect on the audience and makes the movie that much more immersive.

Also, the sound effects are good and impactful that makes people all cringe and feel the pain that the robots or monsters feel.

Spectacle 4/5

Overall, for an action movie, this movie has alot going for it. A strong and interesting story, many angles and stories to tell justifying the long movie timing. Great epic shots with good introductions to most of the monsters and the robots. Lots of death and destruction even of seemingly important  characters.

There are spaces for improvements in all these areas, but by and large, the epic scale of action and fighting coupled with a coherent storyline put this movie well above the average grade of an action movie in this few months.


Storyline : 4 (It is entertaining and different angle means it fills up the time well)
Character : 4 (Many people to introduce and given what else the movie needs to introduce, it does a well above average job)
Cinematography : 3.5 (Bit dark at times but the actions are made better due to the shots)
Music : 4 (Good music that supports the atmosphere of the movie)
Spectacle : 4 (Does well in comparison with the action movies in these few months, but is not really a trend setter that has set itself clearly apart)

Overall : 3.9 (As with many action movies, it is easy to cater to most of the audience especially when coupled with a new world, coherent storyline and long movie time filled with action. Hence, I would say that this movie will probably entertain anyone who is looking for a cost effective movie for its pure entertainment value. People who would regret seeing this movie would be few, but it just stops short of a truly MUST see movie.)

Thought the movie sucked? Or maybe the storyline was too inconsistent with reality for you? Well feel free to share your views :) Till next time!

Movies : Despicable Me 2

Movies : Despicable Me 2

INTRODUCTION

Somehow, when movies come out they seem to like to target exactly the same audience and fight for viewership. This is the case of Despicable Me 2's release alongside Monsters University. However, in the fight for advertisement place, Despicable Me 2 was the clear winner with more people having knowledge of this show as compared to Monsters University. In fact, chances are that many of you would have seen this movie way before this review... which is a sad thing, but nonetheless, for those few who are still out there contemplating whether they should see this show, read more to decide and find out.

So for those few who are still unaware, heres the poster for the movie!

One of the many minions

Heres another

The boss Grue and his minions

Here goes the review

Storyline 3/5

The movie's main story plot is supposed to be emphasizing on how a villain can provide much assistance to the police because of their knowledge of how a villain thinks. Only problem is, this villain happens to be a budding father of 3 girls as well as the owner of a team of evil (READ as CUTE) minions that assist him in doing his bidding and all his manual labour.

The storyline for a cartoon type of movie is pretty much what you would expect. There is a whole overarching plot with very minimal twists and turns probably to cater to its supposed younger audience. Nonetheless, it is a good enough plot to provide the substance to actually focus on its main draw, which is its characters.

Character 4/5

This is probably their principle focus of the entire movie. In fact, from the posters seen above, some might even mistake this movie to actually be focusing on the minions itself. Alas the core character in this movie remains to be the human (or rather ex-villain Grue which is the hunch backed pointy noise person in the 2nd poster or if you are lazy to refer.. this guy here)

Look at his pointy nose!

He would be the main focus, and the secondary focus actually falls onto his supporting cast... WHICH is still not the minions, but rather his 3 "daughters"

The 3rd most screen time type of characters would then finally be the minions right at the bottom.

With so many characters to focus on, this movie creates a problem of too little screen time with any one of them and hence although they are entertaining, they don't really have much to remember about themselves. You could probably only describe all of them in 2 sentence and struggle to come out with any more descriptions. 

Still, this is probably a good move to attract the younger and cute loving crowd which actually was the draw of the movie for many people.

Cinematography 3.5/5

Cinematography is normal, at best it would be slightly above average due to some shots focus on providing comic relief via good perspectives, and also the occasional unique perspective shots such as a first person view. Its not action movie impressive though and there are little wow shots. 

All in all, the shots are trying to be funny, rather then to impress and those far off shots taken are just too colorful to look epic.

Music 3.5/5

Music as with many cartoon movies is above average, probably worth listening during the movie and does add some immersion value but after that, its pretty forgettable.

There are some fun moments when the minions start to do some singing, but its at the end of the show and just seems to be for the purpose of generating laughs. Its funny and cute, but thats all it is.

Spectacle 3.5/5

This is the place where its harder to give a score. I am facing this problem because many people seem to enjoy it, but it really was not impressive in the action front, neither was the storyline good. The only aspect that was going for the movie was actually the minions, which like i said, was the main draw, but actually had not very significant screen time.

I would even go so far as to say that perhaps this show would have been more fun had it focussed entirely on the minions only. This probably would be the direction this movie would take, to flesh out the minion's story and lifestyle more instead of Grue and the kids. Still, the movie was almost able to be entertaining all the way to the end for me and I guess that would be good justification to see this show, but only if you 1. are a fan, 2. have a lot of spare time, 3. Have kids who wanna see the show, 4. Have excessive money!, 5, Have a girlfriend who wants to see the show, that sort of thing.


Storyline : 3 (Generic animation kind of storyline, pretty one sided and simple)
Character : 4 (Many characters, some of which are particularly lovable)
Cinematography : 3.5 (There are attempts, but nothing to impressive)
Music : 3.5 (Just above average, like above, there are attempts but its more for fun then for music)
Spectacle : 3.5 (Provides entertainment value but does not excel in anything else besides cute factor)

Overall : 3.5 (Overall, a 3.5 score shows that fans will be able to enjoy the movie, casual movie goers probably won't regret seeing the movie, but they would probably not regret NOT seeing the movie either. Thankfully it appeals to some ladies and children which will most definitely help it up in the box office. The tons of free advertisement out in the net and on you tube also helps.)

So heres my very late review of Despicable Me 2, thought I would have had a chance to see War Z this week but was busy with something else, would also probably watch Pacific Rim so stay tuned for a review!

To end, heres a music clip from youtube!

Movies : Monsters University

Movies : Monsters University

INTRODUCTION

In this time and age, whenever you see a movie like Despicable Me 2, or shows like Madagascar 3 or maybe even shows where there are clearly trilogies such as Twilight, Star wars, you would immediately feel the affinity and the need to see the show especially if you have seen the previous movie.

For those who do not know,

See this poster, guess which year it is, the answer will be posted all the way below.

But here is the relevant poster for this year!

And just to make things clear, this is the movie that we are reviewing today! And note that the first two characters at the front.. are the exact same characters on the top poster!

Storyline 3.5/5

The storyline starts out pretty strong, introducing the audience to the wonderful world of Monsters, their need to scare people and what gave the main character his motive in life. And they did it with the smaller version of the green eyed fella which was totally cute and a good start.

Then it moves on to introducing the university and their first day, and also the other characters and then the gist of this movie, the problems that they face in becoming SCARERS which is like what every other monster wants to be.

The score is pretty above average, because it is a pretty direct storyline although the ending might not be as happy as you would think. Nonetheless for the duration of the movie, the storyline is not draggy and it is pretty entertaining all the way through because of the many parallels it draws with the usual American University life.

Character 3.5/5

The movie does have quite a few additional characters besides the first 2 although it does get somewhat massive then the other groups of monsters come into play. However there is a bit too little done to try to differentiate our monsters from the other groups. I would say that they are distinct enough during the introduction, but after that they really could have made it a bit more fun.

The closer characters to the 2 main characters are fleshed out slightly more, but they could still be even more distinct with some fun twists or side stories. 

Here are all the chums

Cinematography 3.5/5

There are very nice top down shots of the monster world and this movie does a fun job of making good funny shots. There was also a short since of the real human world in the duration of the show which makes it pretty fun and is a good distraction from the monotony of the show.

Still it could have a bit more perspective shots that i believe a few other animations have done to improve the entertainment factor.

Music 3.5/5

Music is there, but not entirely memorable. None the less it does positively add to the movie itself which gives it slightly better then average points.

Spectacle 4/5

For this movie, I would like to add comedy to the genre because this movie is really good fun. It is also able to keep the interest up although not in the usual action movie sense. It is kind of like the first Harry potter movie in the monster world whereby the life of the new student is introduced and how the student comes to gain acceptance. There is also a bit of storyline weaving towards the end of the movie whereby the end of Monster University is weaved into the beginning of Monster INC which would entertain those people who saw the first movie!

Storyline : 3.5 (Pretty clear cut storyline with a clear aim at the end, but has some fun twists)

Characters : 3.5 (Many cute and fun characters, but could use a bit more fleshing out)

Cinematography : 3.5 (Above average shots with a unique real world section, can be improved)

Music : 3.5 (The standard music expected from a PIXAR animation)

Spectacle 4 (Has good entertainment value due to its comedic value)

Overall : 3.6 (It is good that this movie does not require you to be invested in Monster INC first and it also tries to reintroduce the monster world to the audience. However since this movie focuses on the university life and how a student gains acceptance, there is some similarity to many of the other movies which does not make it entirely distinct from the other shows besides the world it is in as the issues faced are similar. None the less, it is a worthwhile movie to bring the kids to for a weekday ticket as they would probably have quite a bit of family fun there.)

This movie also has to content with Despicable Me 2 for the intended audience which might cause people to compare and maybe like the movie more or less. 

Finally, to answer the question asked in the beginning, Monster INC was shown in the year 2001 which is like 12 years ago. What this means is that after seeing this movie, your family could perhaps be entertained by a rescreening (or fresh screening for kids who did not see the movie) of Monster INC. 

Please leave any comments if you have them, and i am planning to see WarZ and Despicable Me 2 in the near future. Cheers!