Movies: Dr Strange

Movies: Dr Strange

Introduction
Yet another Marvel movie released from the vast story bank from the minds of Marvel. This time however, its not a sequel, but the introduction of a new character not yet seen in the previous movie. Dr Strange! Yes! Not Mr, not Miss, not Master, not Prof, but Dr. Most of the time, the doctors you hear about in the movies tend to be evil, like Dr Doom or Dr Frankenstein. But finally, you have a literal medical doctor and not the scientist (or mad scientist) kind of doctor in a movie. This plays importantly into the background introduction portion of the movie and what happened to the main character before introducing us into the world of multiverses and magic.

If you seen the trailers, you will have notice that this movie bears a bit of similarity to inception which was considered a pretty good movie. So how did Marvel perform for their version of inception? Lets break it down and find out...

Doesn't look very doctorly...

Storyline 4/5

Storyline was pretty strong in this movie. The movie took its time of introducing us to the main star alongside his background and character. Of course, as Marvel stories always go similar to other marvel origin stories, something happens and main character wants to do something about it. So somehow or other this character gets his power and faces his first big opponent and of course wins. (this is not a spoiler.. its expected okay!)

Nonetheless, the pace of the movie is fantastic and interspersed with not TOO much talking at one go. Therefore, it doesn't end up lulling u to sleep at any point of them and the things that are happening are distinct and interesting enough to not feel boring. There are also drops of good humor over the movie that makes the whole experience a enjoyable and good paced affair. There are many things that are introduced to the audience and it requires some listening and understanding, but does not become too confusing.

All in all, storyline is nothing ground breaking, but all it in all, it is told very well.

Characters 4.5/5

Character development of the main star, is fantastic. Other characters have a pretty good fleshed out background and do act in accordance to their personality. All the characters have their own believable principles and that adds a lot to helping the audience understand and reason out why things happen in this movie. The audience will be able to feel and understand better, why things are happening for the main characters (villain included) and this does add to the immersiveness of the movie.

Cinematography 4.5/5

This is clearly the draw of the movie. Not only does this movie provide exciting action scenes, there are epic airborne shots to show the hugeness of some of the characters in the marvel universe (no spoilers so you have to see it to find out) and also alot of world bending. Quite a lot of movies make the mistake of having too much action but lack of light or good focus on what is going on. This movie doesn't have that. Everything is positioned nicely and it is easy to follow what is going on.

The only little grouse i have that explains the .5 gap is that... it had a very good potential to go all out exciting action movie similar to avengers with a large scale battle but overall, there was big monster fight with tiny human kind of scenes, but no epic many on many fight scenes.

Music 4.5/5

Music and effects is quite strong in this movie and is a definitely an enhancement to the over all feel of the movie. Somewhat inceptionish also....which is a good thing.

Spectacle 5/5

There are already so many marvel movies and so many DC movies that are more or less playing around in the super powered action genre. To make your movie stand out and not be a cliched hero meets enemy and this and that happens till the heroes win, is not something easy to do. Of course if you took the comedic perception such as deadpool, you will have an easier time to stand out.

Dr Strange manages to do this also. It will still be an origin story, but the pace of the storyline and the style and direction of the movie is where it still manages to stand out. It uses the multiverse and worlds bending onto each other, mirror worlds to show that Marvel's magic scene can still be different enough from the current offerings and what we are used to. Hence, with the good paced story introducing us to the magical world and its practices, as well as the different fighting style and methods applied by people in this magical world, this movie is still able to stand out and shine.

Overall

Storyline: 4 (good paced storyline, but of course in the end it is a super hero origin and meeting his first villain story, just told slightly differently)
Character: 4.5 (character development for the main and important characters are strong, with good amount of time for most of them.)
Cinematography: 4.5 (Good fight scenes, good epic shots, good graphics and strong CGI)
Music: 4.5 (good music that enhances the movie experience)
Spectacle: 5 (as a movie set in the marvel universe, it is still told in a very good and distinct way and fights and cinematics are done very well)

Overall: 4.5 (a very clear score that states that if you are a marvel fan, you will not regret seeing this movie. If you are an action fan, you will still like this movie. The only person who does not like this movie will be a person who does not like action and the marvel franchise. Go ahead and see this movie, weekday or weeknights, it will be worth it. Also, apparently the movie was specifically made to fit the IMAX 3D screen. Hence, if you dun mind the extra cost, go ahead and watch it. For me the normal screen is still enjoyable enough)

Movies: Seoul Station

Movies: Seoul Station

Korea is starting to look like a very dangerous place with zombies coming out in Busan and now they have infected Seoul too. But this time, they have infected the animation world instead of the real world but because the train is no longer the main scene of the movie, you will get to see how the zombie apocalypse will work in a city setting... something that even "The Walking Dead" did not have much opportunity to dive into. (The Walking Dead story focuses not so much on the start of the zombie apocalypse and how it spread, but rather on the immediate aftermath and life after).

As you can see, its not real life film, but don't worry, Zombies are plenty

So how does this other angle into the world of korean zombies do overall? Lets break it down!

Storyline 4/5

The storyline in this movie is.... surprisingly interesting. It has a very good amount of twists and turns throughout the movie and being an anime, it is alright for characters to die... and in this movie.. dying is aplenty!

It also seems to be trying to tell another story about the real world by highlighting real world issues such as the homeless, the poor and those who are living more unfortunate lives even after contributing much in the past. Like many zombie movies, it shows the horror and what people do when driven to the brink and everyone starts becoming self serving. It also shows the result of what happens if you are "too noble" in the real world which may very well reflect the world today.

The only issue is that it did take slightly too long to get into the exciting portions of the movie from the beginning, but once it starts, the storyline remains exciting till the end.

Character 4/5

Characters are really interesting... all the time you will be suspecting whether this character would be the sacrificing type, or the self serving type and they are all unique and have their own backgrounds that explains why they choose to things they way they did.

Overall the characters are quite believable, although the world is slightly strangely empty and a bit too void of zombies.

Cinematography 3/5

Cinematography had its good and bad points.

Good, in that this movie action puts in SOME first person sights BUT sadly, it hardly uses this during the action or exciting scenes but rather to sort of try to help u immerse into the view you would see if u were really there... its quite a waste but in this case, this movie didn't end up becoming a jump scare kind of movie which may be the overall aim of the producer.

The bad point is the anime drawing and method is somewhat bit distracting as characters are clearly animation and not entirely human like at times. In a time whereby animation aims to be life like, this is a slight step backward.

Also, action scenes are just slightly underwhelming and never actually reaches the level of excitement of Train to Busan.

Music 4/5

Music is pretty good in this movie and it really helps to immerse and set the scene of the movie. They didn't try to do anything particularly special with the movie though hence keeping the score at 4.

Spectacle 3/5

In this movie's case, its unfortunate that it came after Train to Busan as it is clearly a more lower budget version of the movie. On the other hand, had there not been the Train to Busan, most likely there will not be as much as a hype to see this movie in the first place.

Like the Train to Busan, this movie does not JUST focus on the zombie survival method but rather more on the human / inhuman aspects of what would happen in a zombie apocalypse and its trying to tell us just a little bit more then how to survive. Hence the storyline aspect feels a bit more fleshed out and interesting.

Like what was said previously in the Cinematography section though, its action scenes does pale in comparison and it just does not have the same impact as the Train to Busan which is unfortunate given that you could actually do a lot in an animation. Guess CGI may actually be less resource intensive then animation or there is really a clear difference in budget.

Overall

Storyline: 4 (Surprisingly interesting and has good twists, but just took a bit longer to get exciting) 
Character: 4 (Good mix of characters with believable backgrounds)
Cinematography: 3 (Movie did attempt to make good shots, but it just did not go all the way and stand out above the crowd)
Music: 4 (Music is quite strong and added to the overall experience)
Spectacle: 3 (Its no Train to Busan and the score suffered if you would compare. Nonetheless, the storyline is still good enough as an alternative zombie story in korea)

Overall: 3.6 (It's a fair enough score... obviously with the weaker budget and lack of big names there are some hits to the overall quality of the movie. Nonetheless the storyline is still good enough to entertain someone who has seen the Train to Busan and is interested in how the other cities may have been like in the same situation. If you didn't really see it, or are not the animation loving type though, you can really go ahead and give this a miss as it does not really add anything to the world. It's also not a very strong action movie so don't go into this movie expecting human VS zombie type of action. If you are picking between this movie and Train to Busan however, go for Busan. This movie is only 1 and half hour long so try not to over expect...)

Movies: Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV

Movies: Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV

Introduction:

Final fantasy, a game that has underwent many ups and downs. For those who do not know, Final Fantasy is a game series that started in 1987 and is now in its 15 instalment. Used to be the cream of the crop in the RPG genre and it did tell a good story. Then it got a bit ambitious and started doing MMORPG and stuff and i personally didn't get into all the MMORPG from the FF series. That being said, it has gone a long way from the pixels in the first generation, to now when game cinematic are like movie cinematic and even seem life like.

Final fantasy games storylines are generally not connected across the series and they are not set out to be alternate timelines or follow a sequence in time or anything like that. This movie is meant to be a tie in or prequel to set the stage of an upcoming game Final Fantasy 15 and all this will take place in a new universe or world with its own history. So how did this movie start up and introduce us to the world of Final Fantasy 15? Read on to find out!

A poster that shows people.. just people.. who are all these people??

Storyline 3/5

Storyline is pretty ok, movie starts off introducing the world pretty well and very quickly puts you into the first battle ground whereby you are quickly able to grasp the relationship between the two main factions in the movie. The movie also quickly sets the stage and introduces both the important character in this movie and the important character in the upcoming game but for the rest of the movie, it is pushed along by the cliched damsel in distress and how the main star of the movie (which you will not see in the game), interacts, protects and saves her.

Movie is fortunately not completely linear and has a few twists and turns to make it not completely bland and predictable.

The issue I have with this movie is that the things the characters do in this movie are generally not very logical and do not make sense. You will blink your eyes as the good and bad guys explain why they did this and that and will remain unconvinced and confused at their rationale for their action. Towards the center of the movie, the storytelling draws to a crawl and it kinda gets a bit too draggy and slow (i,e, you may fall asleep)

Well... would the rest of the movie help raise the overall score? Lets take a look...

Character 2.5/5

Well, if you are looking for a boost in the score... it can't be found here. Nope. There are quite a few different characters in the movie, but they are not very distinct due to short screen time and ordinary stereotypical characteristics.

You will not really feel for any of the characters including the main casts and the damsel in distress is just very dumb, proclaiming to want to do this and that, but never actually playing any essential role except being the female presence.

The rest of the kingsglaive (the knights in this movie) are mostly ordinary and a lot of them will hardly leave any impression on you. Most will die, and you won't care.


Cinematography 3.5/5

Here is the slight boost this movie needs but unfortunately, the boost is as slight as they get. It is action packed indeed and your fights get from small to big with plenty of destruction. You will see good visual effects when people teleport, time slows down, weapons and magic flying all around the place.

However, it gets messy sometimes and with so much teleporting here and there, it becomes hard to follow. You start getting the main hero and villain jumping here and there and this is supposed to look epic and cool but due to the lighting and camera angle, you will NOT be able to appreciate what exactly is happening in the entire battle unless you REALLY make the effort. (risk getting a headache also).

That being said, most of the action scenes does seem exciting and epic in the movie as long as your eyes are able to follow the motion.

Music 3/5

Music is fine and you can actually hear some track from the previous games but it was not able to further improve the immersion of the audience when it is so difficult to follow and appreciate what is going on.

Spectacle 3/5

Sadly, this movie had a very strong source material of which it could do much much better in. The action scenes were epic, but they were not easy to follow. The storyline had twists, but was overall very cliche and unbelievable. Characters were many, but none were appealing enough for anyone to identify with and backgrounds were more or less left to the imagination and inference.

Sure it is good to create a movie that stimulates the mind, but the overall story became so convoluted and unbelievable that requires too much effort from the audience to try to appreciate and enjoy what was going on. On the bright side, you do not need to have played the games as there is little continuity in the first place and honestly, you will not appreciate this movie any better even if you played all the games.

For those who have played the previous games, this movie will show some (but VERY little) familiar titbits from the games that could excite the fans, But it also had TONs of lost potential.

Overall

Storyline: 3 (Cliche and was not very sensible all the way to the end)
Character: 2.5 (Honestly, i can hardly remember any names from the movie....)
Cinematography: 3.5 (Their main focus and there is good amount of time in action scenes. BUT alot of these scenes were hard to follow and that made the movie less immersive)
Music: 3 (Ok music, but did not manage to boost anything to the audience)
Spectacle: 3 (Sadly, did not stand out in action, nor in storyline. Just felt very ordinary, like an action show, but not a Final Fantasy Action show.)

Overall: 3/5 (Really average score, for an average movie. Nothing you will feel bad to miss especially if you have no plans to play the game also. It is just another action flick with more extravagant action sequences (as it is an animation), and an ordinary story that you can just take 5 - 10 minutes to read the sypnosis and that should be good enough.)

Movies: Independence Day Resurgence

Movies: Independence Day Resurgence

They are back again. The aliens that attacked us in 1996 are back to try again. This would be 20 years both in real life and according to the movie time line. So the movie has evolved from this

1996 Independence Day

to this

2016 Independence Day

Do you see any difference? Is there any difference for this movie from the one in 1996 to now? Read on and find out more. And No. This has completely nothing to do with Brexit. That's a difference kind of independence day.

Storyline 2/5

Let me explain the low score. Basically, the whole storyline and direction of this movie is almost similar to the previous movie in 1996. Yes the cast are changed, but everything that happens in the movie is very very similar to the proceedings of the previous movie with more or less just a different face.

Many things that happen in this movie does not make any logical sense in the first place either. I won't give spoilers in the movie but basically we could just say the main alien villain in this movie makes the stupidest decisions among the many other choices of things that they could do for world domination.

As expected (i don't think this will be a spoiler), the humans will win in the end but its not because of human ingenuity or innovation. It's just purely because the alien boss, for reasons unknown, does the stupidest thing that leads to their loss.

You will just feel that this is a movie rehash especially if you seen the previous one but even if you didn't, you will also feel that in the logical line of things, the storyline is forced and does not really entertain.

There are also a lot of time wasting redundant scenes of random other people that honestly, even if removed, will have little effect on the movie overall. At least 2 bunch of scenes that probably overall took up 20 minutes of screen time that could very well be used elsewhere.

Flow of the movie was also very unimpressive and uninteresting and really, given the boringness of some of the characters, honestly you could fall asleep. On the bright side, since the characters are not really adding any value to the movie, you could wake up and still follow the movie and not feel that you missed out anything because honestly, you didn't.

Character 2/5

Character development is horrible. Honestly, you will go through the entire movie, nearly hating everyone for how shallow they all are. There are so many characters that they want to utilise, both main and side characters, but all of the side characters have so little screen time and significance. 

The main characters are the typical "I hate you you hate me" at the beginning and then things happen and "I am now best buds with you" with the event that brings about this big change of heart being the most cliche thing you see in most movies.

All character relationships are not convincing and you will generally not bother or feel for the very forgettable characters in this movie.

Cinematography 3/5

This is probably the only thing that is going on for the movie. Destruction is epic and once the action gets on the way it is quite nice to see. But, it is nothing that would put this movie above the rest of the other movies that have been shown in the last few months. Add to that the overall lack of action scenes in general and it is that bit less entertaining.

It is supposed to be a very large spaceship, but this space ship is hardly utilised in any manner that would further boost the entertainment value of the movie which is a total waste. It is a war against the entire world, but no one else really participates.

Music 3/5

Music is fine, I will give that to them. There is a bit of nostalgia as some of the score is identical to the first one. But overall, it did not harm the experience but did not really add too much value to the movie either.

Spectacle 2/5

I would say especially for those who have seen the first movie, this movie will score very low both for storyline and action categories. Nothing it did this movie is really new, there is little development and you could very well go on to the third instalment (if they wanted) and this movie can just be totally ignored. Even if you have not seen this movie (since its 20 years ago), at most this movie can only be given a 3 instead as the storyline really lacks the coherence to draw u into the movie, the characters are forgettable and more or less expendable.

Overall

Storyline: 2 (Not a realistic or engaging storyline, follows the previous much too closely)

Character: 2 (Characters are hardly interesting and very forgettable)

Cinematography: 3 (When there is action, it is nonetheless quite nice to see. Pity the action scenes are too little in the first place)

Music: 3 (It's there, didnt hinder the entertainment value and added some value)

Spectacle: 2 (Didn't fare well for the storyline segment, action was fine, but in a period where every other movie has fantastic and more action scenes, this movie did not manage to stand out)

Overall: 2.4 (Quite an accurate description of the movie. In the end, it is really a forgettable movie, especially if you seen the first one cause its more or less identical. You can honestly just skip this movie and go on and wait to see if they make a third one. If you still want to see it though, just be prepared for the very ordinary story line and also be prepared to accept some not so logical parts of the movie. There are a lot of filler scenes in this movie that did not really add anything of interest to the movie.)

Movies: Batman v Superman

Movies: Batman v Superman

We have seen batman, we have seen superman, but never had we seen these two on the big screen at the same time. and what's more, this time they dont seem to be friends!

In this first DC reply to Marvel's avengers series, we finally get to see more then one major superhero in a single movie and similar to the next big marvel movie coming out very soon, these two guys are gonna have a moment sizing and beating each other up!

Note that unlike the more recent marvel movies, actors for superman and batman tend to very QUITE wildly.  You can actually see all the other batman movies and still get a different vibe from them because they are all really quite different. This is the same case for superman and I personnally never actually seen this superman (I believe he did act in another previous superman movie)

Nonetheless, this movie is dark, both in terms of lighting and in the storyline itself. DC movies seem to be trying to protray itself in a entirely different light from the Marvel movies and there is little comedy to be found here. So how did this movie perform when you break it down? Lets take a deeper look.

Which side are you on?

Storyline 4/5

The storyline is strong and it makes quite a fair bit of sense on how these two end up fighting in the first place. There are some slow moments during the movie as they try to expand on the universe but the moments are not too excessive before it gets back into something interesting.

Like i said previously, this movie is entirely dark and there is also quite a bit of thinking required. Especially for people who have not read the comics, you will either end up quite confused throughout the movie because they will throw a lot of confusing DC universe plot items at you or end up realising how big the DC universe is and that may pique your interest and make you go learn more about the universe from the net. That means that if you want to enjoy the storyline, you are gonna need to read up a bit to prepare yourself OR be prepared to keep a very open mind to try to interpret what is happening on screen the moment you see it.

That being said, if you just want to follow along the line of the main story and are not too concerned about what those flashbacks and videos mean, then the storyline is still sufficient to entertain you and will keep you interested in what is happening as there are enough immediate plots that are happening during the movie and it can keep things engaging enough. In fact, in this movie there are at least 3 intertwined main storylines so it is difficult to get bored of what is happening.

Character 3.5/5

You have 2 very important characters and 1 quite important character to develop in a movie lasting 151 minutes. Honestly, the character development for why these two guys are fighting is done reasonably well, but this movie only touches very slightly on the backgrounds of these two guys. That means that if you do not even see any of their movies before this, you will not be able to appreciate why batman or superman does things in this manner or that and may find it hard to believe why these characters end up reacting to the happenings in the storyline in a certain way.

There are not really any other major good guys with much relevance in this movie and the villain is quite well portrayed to be cranky. Overall the characters fit their roles but there is just a bit of difficulty of being fully immersed when you do not know the background of the two main characters

Cinematography 4/5

Cinematography is fantastic for this movie. The shots convey the vast size of the characters and buildings and there are a lot of good perspective shots that add immersion to the movie. The fights are done very impactfully and you can practically feel the pain when your chosen hero gets hit.

The story is told in a very artistic manner and the movie makes uses of flashbacks and videos to expand on the universe which keeps the movie interesting, There is just one small problem with it being too dark (literally) due to the lighting, rain and night conditions.

Music 4.5/5

Music in this game is very very spectacular. The score greatly adds to the feel of the movie and the action scenes are made that much more exciting.

Spectacle 4.5/5

This movie does very well in the action and storyline category and it has one of the best fighting scenes for a super hero movie (its not kungfu though). With the main 3 storylines telling you what happens with respect to Superman, batman and the only woman DC heroine for now, you will not get bored of what is happening and everything flows relatively well. Action is really quite fantastic once you get past the dark tone of the movie. All 3 heroes use their most well known specialities and weapons during the movie which is quite entertaining as you see the difference in their fight style. Pitting the two biggest heroes in the DC universe against each other adds a lot of entertainment value to this and is a very much welcome from the do-only-good previous batman/super man movies.

Overall
Storyline: 4 (There is 3 frontline storyline as well as the overarching DC universe storyline protrayed here. Good flow, but at times slightly confusing without background)
Character: 3.5 (Movie seems to expect the audience to have fair amount of background knowledge already, does have further character development in this movie but harder to immerse if background not already known)
Cinematography: 4 (This is probably the main thrust and attraction factor of the movie. A lot of effort is put into the fight scenes and it is done well and impactfully... if only it wasn't so dark till you cannot see maybe about 5-10% of what happened if you did not focus enough)
Music: 4.5 (Very strong musical score. Adds tremendously to the movie immersion)
Spectacle: 4.5 (Storyline is good, action scenes are great except just for slight gripes here and there. But the very fact that you fit 2 most well known movies together, and put them together to beat each other out, its definitely a draw for the fans, and for the non-fans, the action scenes even for a long movie will be strong enough to keep you entertained.)

Overall: 4.1 (Fair enough score, its definitely not a PERFECT movie, but the things that it sets out to do, it does well above average. Very smart way to draw in the crowds and at least get them the very first step into the DC movie, showing them the difference between them and Marvel. For more enjoyment in the movie however, you may want to just do a quick search about the DC universe so that some of the flash backs and scenes in the movie makes more sense. Don't wiki the movie itself though or you may get spoilt. Even after the movie, you can also go read up more and it will show you how big the DC universe is and hopefully attract you back for the next few DC movies on the pipeline)

So how did you find the movie? Did you manage to guess who was to win the fight? Do you agree with the ratings? Do let me know and see ya at the next movie (most likely going to be another movie where superheroes are pitted against superheroes)

Movies: Zootopia

Movies: Zootopia

Introduction

What do you get when you combine Zoo with utopia? What would a world where there are no humans and we are all some type of animal be like? Would be good to be a nice fearsome lion right? Or maybe a cool tiger? Or even a cute panda? But what if you got the short end of the stick? This movie tells you exactly how it would be like to be on the short end of the stick i.e. a bunny living in a world where everything else is bigger. stronger and more complex! Fortunately, there are still tinier animals like hamsters but where would they live in this Zootopia? The movie follows the dreams of this tiny bunny as she aims to be in a job that does not seem to be suited for her which is a police bunny. So how well did this movie frame this zootopian world? Read on to find out

SOOO MANY ANIMALS!~! which would u be?

Storyline 4.5/5

Storyline is the main focus of this movie and it does a rather charming job. From the beginning you are introduced to the bunny with her lofty ideals and how it does not match with the real world. Especially if you are able to identify with her on a personnel level (cause it does mirror what happens everyday i.e. discrimination) you will be able to enjoy the movie even more.

The storyline is really direct in that the bunny is just trying to prove herself, but the journey there is fraught with a good amount of twists and turns carefully put together and remains still very much believable. This results in a movie that does not bore you as new facts and information are presented. This is something that you don't always see in a disney movie. The movie remains funny and never too stressful throughout which is good for the kids (there are kids movie where the younger kids ended up crying... thats not what you usually want)

The movie also does  a fantastic job introducing you to the zootopian world and fleshes it out in a way that will entertain and thrill its viewers. It manages to incorporate quite a good mix of animals in the movie and provides a snippet on how they will live their lives throughout the movie. 

Character 4/5

The interaction between the cast of the movie is extremely well done and it challenges a few stereotypes as well as enforces and links some other stereotypes in a very creative and fun way. You will have fat cheetahs, predators being preyed on and on the other hand you will also have the slowest of creatures working in the DMV which is what real life is like!

Only small qualm is that this movie is fully focused on its two main characters and the rest are all really just supporting roles. They could very much be expanded upon for more entertainment value but nonetheless you will definitely be able to empathize with what the main characters go thru.

Cinematography 4/5

There are good shots throughout the movie to introduce you to the daily happenings in zootopia and the flow of the movie is quite consistent never ending up feeling draggy. Good amounts of flashback scenes to tell the story more convincingly. Of course this movie is not a action movie so there is little emphasis there but for a animated family movie, it does do a good enough job for all members of the family to enjoy

Music 4/5

As expected from disney movies, it has good music. However it is different from the fairytale type of movie and you will not hear the main characters do any singing. Its not THAT type of disney movie. There is a good piece from Gazelle (Shakira) that brightens up the entire mood of the movie! Thats the impact that good music in good places have on the experience.

Spectacle 4/5

For a movie that focuses on the family experience and the storyline, this movie does really really well! It has a lot of cute animals and bright colors that appeal very strongly to the younger crowds and the storyline is not excessively simple till it is boring to the adults. In fact it is stronger then some of the more serious movies out there. Overall, it does well in this aspect and given it is introducing a new world (which makes it even easier to retain interest of the audience) it really sets the mind thinking how different a world would be if it humans were replaced with animals inclusive of the vast differences between all of them. Did not get higher points then this because it did not really do anything that would put it in a class of its own although all its main aims to entertain the family are very much well met.

Overall

Storyline: 4.5 (very interest storyline complete with a good amount of twists and turns to entertain even the adults)

Character: 4 (quite a lot of colorful characters in this movie, however, most of the emphasis is on the main characters only and leaves just that little room for improvement)

Cinematography: 4 (not an action film so nothing too earthshattering, however, it does have good epic shots that help show you what zootopia is like and it adds to the experience)

Music: 4 (As per disney movie fashion, good music, but its not a full on music experience just yet...)

Spectacle: 4 (Meets the requirements of appealing to all members of the family unit due to its strong storyline as well as entertaining and colorful characters)

Overall: 4.1 (A very safe and enjoyable movie experience for the entire family unit. Adults seeing it will not be bored either due to its good storyline while the kids can enjoy the fun animals and their interactions. It's no action show however and for pure adults or couples, as long as you are looking for a good, light hearted storyline it will be entertaining to you. As it is introducing a alternate world, it is even more easy to get into as you get to see how this new world functions. Even draws some parallels to the real world for those who like to look deeper into things. Overall, fun for the whole family and to the occasional couple who wants to find something to pass time with.)

Movies: The 5th Wave

Movies: The 5th Wave

Introduction

Don't fret don't fret, if you think you missed the 1st to 4th wave! This movie starts clearly at the 5th wave! In fact, the movie will go on and tell you all about the first, second, third and fourth wave and what is the state the world is currently.

In a market where there are tons of alien movies, end of world movies and zombie movies, is this movie able to stand out from the rest? Well, one plus point is that this movie combines the alien and end of world segment but of course no zombies in this movie.... yet.

Here's the poster!

Its pretty accurate that this movie focuses on these two

So how did this movie perform if we break it up? Let's take a look and see

Storyline 4/5

This movie has a lot of things going for them. It is a new fresh story and a fresh world, which means it is easier to keep the audience intrigued as it fleshes out the current world. It also can spend a bit of time telling about how did the world end up the way it did which will entertain fans of end of the world type of movies.

It also did a good job in having two different main story lines which means that the minds of the audience are kept absorbed by two things that are happening together to tell the entire story. The story flow overall is pretty good and entertaining as it introduces people and the world and there are not too many slow moments that will cause the audience to be bored.

That being said, the storyline also has a bit of a twist towards the end of the movie that makes it that more entertaining with that little bit of surprise and keeps everything quite exciting till the end.

Character 3.5/5

Character development is pretty alright as many of the people are new and need a bit of time to be introduced for the audience to feel any kind of attachment. Time is not on the side of this movie however due to the amount of storyline it has to go through and although you would see the story of about 4 or 5 characters fleshed out pretty well, the rest would be just another person in the group kind of person.

Cinematography 4/5

Cinematography is pretty good in this movie with epic shots of disasters and when it gets to the action part, you would see that quite  a bit of effort is put into the action scenes. The movie however is a storyline focused movie and not so much an action type of movie so there is still a lot of improvement potential.

Nonetheless, it uses the best cinematography form most of the time but does not capitalize and use it more to further immerse the audience.

Music 3/5

Did not really notice the music in this movie as nothing really stood out and no music was used distinctly to push some kind of emotion or feeling to the audience. At least nothing that I noted.

Spectacle 4/5

There are a lot of end of world movies. There are also alot of alien movies. This movie uses aliens to showcase their version of the end of the world which makes the story that bit more distinct and quite entertaining to the fresh audience. It does not excel in action or cinematography and although it does put in effort in the storyline it does not stand uniquely at the top amongst the other movies out there. But put all together, this movie does provide something slightly more different and it translate to a bit of a more enjoyable experience.

First movies of trilogy tend to always do well as it has a great unique source material but as we go into the second and third movie (that may or may not happen), we will see if this movie is able to keep up the interest and the immersion.


Overall

Storyline: 4 (Fresh story line, two interlinked focal point that keeps things interesting)
Character: 3.5 (Main characters have a fair bit of screen time and development but the rest are all pretty forgettable)
Cinematography: 4 (Good choices of shots to bring about epicness and action but really could have more opportunity)
Music: 3 (Music is ordinary, a bit too ordinary and did not feel its particular impact)
Spectacle: 4 (Unique joining of two main type of stories but it did not really pull far out from the offerings you would have seen before)

Overall: 3.7 (Overall, its a good attempt to draw in two types of movies which is the end of world and alien typed movies, and it is done with good shots and a good storytelling method. However the main aim of the movie which is to story tell, uses story line that is not TOO far off what has been shown on the big screen. Did have that bit of a twist in the storyline to keep things fun and entertaining and indeed it is good while it lasted. With a long movie time this is worth the time if you do have time to spare. Not a must see at this point of time and you could wait for the next movie to come out first if there ever will be, but you won't really regret seeing this movie too)

Movies: Goosebumps

Movies: Goosebumps

Introduction

Goosebumps books, if that name doesn't ring a bell to you then you are probably from an earlier generation compared to me which is the 1980s generation. It is actually a bunch of stories written by R.L Stine starting in the 1992s onwards. There are actually nearly 150 books written from this author up to date and this is some impressive stuff. However, I will put it out there clearly that i have not read even ONE of his books, although i do vaguely remember seeing some of his books before on the shelves. Yep.. sorry that i prefer to see everything in film and seldom like to read.... that goes the same for stories like LOTR, Hunger Games, Divergent, Maze Runner etc. In fact some of this movies I actually have the book but currently I have not even managed to go past the first book of Maze runner even though I seen the movie already.

Here are some of the cover of the books to share. Apparently some are already out of print but who knows what the movie can do for this book series

But anyway, back to this movie, and the first thing of interest in this movie is....... JACK BLACK?!?!?! Yep, with Jack Black, this will.. i mean can't be a serious movie. And you will see this very clearly in the movie. Jack Black cannot, and i repeat again, CANNOT be a fierce guy. His face just can't pass it off anymore. But lets go down to the movie content now!

Make no mistake, Jack Black is in this movie that is suppose to give you goosebumps

Storyline 3.5/5

Rest assured that this is a completely new storyline and not something that was written in a book (or perhaps there is a title for this special episode of goosebumps) and in this movie, you will see many many goosebumps characters which should thrill the fans of the books itself. The storyline itself does not take itself TOO seriously (again because Jack Black is here) and you will feel that this is a pretty light hearted movie in general.

Thanks to there being many goosebump characters, as a whole you will still have things to look forward to during the entire movie and it stays fresh enough, and there is a twist at some part of the movie to at least make a that little bit more entertaining then just a generic movie.

Hence a 3.5 score is what this movie deserves, nothing higher as it still follows a general movie plot, but at least it did make a tiny little twist and was somewhat entertaining while it lasted.

Character 3.5/5

There are a a lot of characters, humans and especially monsters alike. Unfortunately, much of the monster's background are not utilized to the fullest and basically in the end, all the monsters are about identical and just different forms of the bad guy.

The other human characters are fun and distinct in their own way and there is some effort of character development during the movie. But honestly, nothing totally strikes me as something on top of its class and it is just leaning completely on the huge selection of goosebump monsters to intrigue the crowd which is a waste when there is so little emphasis or effort to distinct or introduce them better.

Cinematography 3/5

Cinematography is average, nothing too epic or exciting and just some nice sunrise shots but that is about it. Not an action show of course but the lack of any good cinematography does make the movie a bit more boring.

Music 3/5

Identical to Cinematography, the music is there, but nothing of particularly unique impact to the audience experience but it does not distract from the experience either.

Spectacle 3/5

Well, I will try to look from the angle of it being a comedic movie with a unique storyline. For the comedy aspect it is passable and nothing that would cause you to laugh till your hips hurt. For the storyline, if you like goosebumps then you may OR may not have an advantage because you will be happy to see your goosebump characters, but there is really nothing that the movie does to make the presence of the monsters more felt by the audience. If you do not even read this movie, then basically you will just understand all the various monsters to just be one or the other form of a monster and it stops there. Being unable to stand out and stand tall from the other movies does cause the audience to just feel that this is one other generic movie. 

Overall

Story: 3.5 (An ok story with a twist mid way to keep things interesting, but its nothing top class)

Character: 3.5 (Many characters and monsters, characters are fairly fun, monsters are quite many, but really, a lot of wasted potential and this movie could have done much better)

Cinematography: 3 (Ordinary movie shots, nothing too amazing)

Music: 3 (Ordinary music score, nothing too amazing, but didn't detract from the experience)

Spectacle: 3 (Was not able to stand out in terms of comedic value, neither was it able to stand out in storyline DESPITE having so many monsters to work with. Its really unfortunate)

Overall: 3.2 (As can be seen from the score and it blends in well with my overall feel of the movie, its an okay movie if you are looking for something to do and to spend time of. If you have read the books and just want to see your favorite monsters in the flesh, this is where you finally have a chance. But that being said, if you are not a fan, treat this as your usual thriller and don't over expect and you should be able to somewhat enjoy the movie itself, but don't fret if you miss this movie as you did not miss anything too much in reality.)

Let me know if you enjoyed this movie yourself or whether reading the books had a positive effect to your enjoyment of the movie!

Movies: The Spongebob Movie: Sponge out of Water

Movies: The Spongebob Movie: Sponge out of Water

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....... who lives in a pineapple under the sea?!?!?!?! Absorbent and porous and yellow is he............ If you do not get what I am saying here... then you do not know the infamous Spongebob and his annoying laughter! And you are probably from a different generation then me... But what generation does Spongebob actually appeal to? That is the big question that you got to ask to see if you can enjoy this movie. So who is spongebob? A bathing sponge?? You ain't all that wrong. Here he is in all his yellow glory!!

Wow! he is hunky!!

Actually no. This is the real spongebob. If you seen this before, then most likely you have seen and grown with the spongebob cartoons that sadly, have not had much new episodes in the past few days. However, spongebob and its cartoons are known for its overall silliness humor as well as the occasional dark and gory kind of humor.. Yes it is that strange....

Look at him and his pinky friend!!

So what does this spongebob have to do with the hunky one above? How did they even match all these together?? Is all that even worth seeing? Read on to find out more.

Storyline 3/5

The storyline is actually something quite similar to what you have from a traditional 20 mins spongebob episode, only about 5 times longer. They writers are smart to create two distinct portions of the movie, one being the cartoon world and the other being the real world, and linking them seamlessly to keep the audience interesting.

However, that is all there is to the show and it is a simple storyline in its entirety. One problem however, is that it is not entirely clear at what is happening at all times and they do use words such as apocalypse and other difficult words. This, is not your usual kids show and if your english is not that great, you will miss out what is happening.

The entire link at what exactly is happening throughout the show is also not very clear cut especially for children to understand. Personally I was confused about what was happening at times but maybe kids these days are smarter and more able to understand.

Character 3.5/5

The main characters as well as the villain/s in the movie are well represented as well as their distinct personalities that you will get from the cartoon shows. The problem here however is that the writers expect that their audience would have already seen the movie and hence they will know why the characters do the things they do but it would get pretty heavy for a new viewer with questions such as why is a squirrel living in the water and other big questions.

Cinematography 3.5/5

The movie is done in a relatively creative way as its cartoon and real life mix keeps things interesting and fresh even after 40 minutes into the show. It's not an action show however but it does try to make things exaggerated and exciting at whatever action parts there are.

Music 3.5/5

Ahhhh, music... spongebob's favorite hobby... ok its probably not his favorite hobby but it is not the first time he sings also. The movie makes use of music at a certain juncture of the movie as a throwback to what was done in his previous cartoons. It made the movie fun although the singing is horrible as usual (that's the way the character sings anyway.) Overall, it added some fun value to the movie.

Spectacle 2.5/5 (3 for spongebob fans)

I would say that this is where the movie takes the biggest hit. Let me now justify the 2.5 score to you. First of all, this movie expects u to have quite a lot of background information on Spongebob and his friends to really enjoy everything. Without it, you will miss out on a lot of the jokes and not be entertained by what is happening. Spongebob cartoons also take pride in going out of the box and being unbelievable at times. However, this movie takes it to really the next level and it might have gone too far away from its cartoon to the extent that even I, a fan of the movie, was confused at what was happening. Action wise it is normal, nothing too exciting and storyline is simply just ok, passable and merely just sufficient for a entertaining movie. Comedy wise, it is also mostly only funny for those who are aware of the spongebob story and if you are a person completely new, it won't be as entertaining for you. In light of all these, I could only afford a passable score for non-spongebob fans and perhaps a 3 for spongebob fans because even as a fan, you won't be able to catch everything.

Overall

Storyline: 3 (It is kept somewhat interesting with the two different worlds and a out of the world story, but it is not particularly easy to follow)
Characters: 3.5 (A lot of characters from the spongebob cartoons appear, but only those fans can appreciate most of them and the non-fans will be confused)
Cinematography: 3.5 (Things are exaggerated, you will see many strange colors and it is creative, but not all of these things that are done added to the enjoyment of the movie)
Music: 3.5 (Music is fun, singing and stuff is bad, but that's spongebob for ya)
Spectacle: 2.5 (The deciding factor, there is entertainment factor but only the most informed of fans can fully enjoy. For the storyline, action and comedy aspects however, it's only just passable)

Overall: 3.2 (A pretty realistic score if you ask me. If you are an extreme fan, you should be able to like it. A normal fan however, you might not be able to follow everything but at least u get to see your favorite characters. Non-fans however, you gonna need to keep an open mind. In fact a very very very open mind and just accept everything the way it is. If not, nothing will make sense and the whole movie will just be.... nonsense. If you really feel the need to see the movie, then perhaps you should take a look at some of the cartoons first so that you can better appreciate the movie. If not, don't worry if you give this movie a skip because you ain't really missing too much. For those with kids, the above advice also applies. Young kids may only enjoy the color and cute characters but like the cartoons, spongebob content and jokes was always the more adult kind (not sexually, just more complex).

Movies: Dragon Blade

Movies: Dragon Blade

This Chinese New Year, this movie had the unfortunate situation of coming up together with Fifty Shades of Grey, a highly anticipated sex movie! After all, sex sells doesn't it? But does action sell too?? Apparently, not as much because the theatre where i saw this movie was only about half full. However, if you already had your fill of "Fifty Shades of Grey" and am looking for a movie to keep you entertained, could this movie be the one for you??

Look at the poster first and maybe it will help you decide!

Now look closely. we all know who the person in the middle is but look right above him!! OH its a bunch of English people!!! I would say that this might be the attractive point of this movie in that you get to see English people fight with Chinese people. But what kind of story do we actually have? Lets read on to find out more.. But something to help you manage your expectation, this movie has nothing to do with a dragon blade. There's no dragon, theres quite a lot of blades.

Storyline 3.5/5

This movie has a pretty interesting storyline. It starts off saying it is inspired by historical events. This term is very vague and for this case, basically could mean something like 10% related to historical events. Maybe just that the main character has exactly the same name. That probably what they mean when they say inspired by historical events so don't be looking for a history lesson here. Nonetheless, storyline wise however, this movie has a pretty flowing storyline and it flows quite well especially for an action show. The only big issue of this movie is the START and the END where they introduce and end the movie. If you see this movie, you will understand what I mean but in short, if you want to make a movie about a period, there is absolutely NO NEED to use the present day time as a filler or introduction to the movie with completely no links and relevance using an actor and actress that totally has nothing to do with the main content of the movie itself. It is so absurd that you should just treat it like a joke or a non existent part of the movie.

The movie does a good job of introducing the background of what is happening and does it with appropriate amount of action in the middle which is what Jackie does best. As the movie flows on, it injects more and more storyline elements explaining what and why is everything and this keeps the audience interested in the movie and thus allow the movie to not seem too draggy or boring.

Character 4/5

This movie involves quite a lot of characters and also the introduction of different tribes. All the characters/tribe are pretty unique in characteristics, language, dress sense and even fighting style and in some way it becomes very entertaining to see all the differences in culture all these people have.

With regards to the main characters, the movie does focus on the backgrounds of the two main characters and the bad guy through various flashbacks that are short, but sufficient. Most of the stuff that happens is rather believable which serves to keep the audience immersed in the movie.

Just like most fighting movies, there will be a lot of death in this movie and this movie does the deaths relatively well with all the dying people having a nice short  death sequence before they drop dead and die. The bad guy in the movie is also done very well and as you see the movie go on you will start to root more and more for the good guys and start to detest the bad guy. One flaw is however towards the end the bad guy gets conflicted for some reason which is somewhat not in character and not that believable.

Cinematography 4/5

This movie's cinematography focus on two things, 1 to 1 fighting as well as large scale epic battles. In fact, it can be said that the main fight scenes are reminiscent of "The Hobbit 5 Armies". It is almost like a chinese version of LOTR. Unlike the LOTR series however, the movie stays constrained to 2 hours and due to the need for some storyline, there are some room for improvements. Nonetheless the battle scenes are fun while they last and due to the variety in character, you will not end up in a state where your mind just says "blah blah blah, another fight scene, blahblahblah yet another fight scene".

They could have utilized more perspective shots that are fun to have in an action film to increase the entertainment value.

Music 3.5/5

Music is commonly quite a obvious part in chinese movies and this movie does it too. There is one part of singing in this movie to evoke some emotional attachment to what the people are feeling but this is still not a musical.

I still can't really appreciate Jackie Chan singing though.

Spectacle 4/5

In the genre of both action and storyline, this movie does fine, just not too spectacular with a bit of hiccups here and there However, it stays entertaining, unique, fresh and fun all the way from the beginning to the end which is what every action movie should at least have to attract the general public. It also has a relatively unique storyline as compared to the traditional chinese fighting movies although there is not too much kungfu in this. At least its not a all chinese affair in the end

Overall

Storyline: 3.5 (Interesting take on "historical" events, told in a attention grabbing way at least for the duration of the movie EXCEPT start and end)
Character: 4 (Quite a nice variety with good differences amongst all. Celebrating the differences makes it more entertaining)
Cinematography: 4 (Good 1 to 1 fight scenes with quite a bit of epic battles on the list)
Music: 3.5 (Uses music to push the emotional part across)
Spectacle: 4 (Storyline and action are done well and overall movie is kept exciting and flowing)

Overall: 3.8 (A very safe score, indicating that if you really have nothing you want to do in particular and like to see some actions plus big army fighting, this is the show u can see. It's not a must see however with a lower then 4 score but you would most likely be able to enjoy the movie nonetheless for its action scenes. Remember though, don't be affected by the start and the end of the movie. Just treat it as not being there at all.)

Let me know if you have any comments!