Chappie
In the future, robots are the police and a guy decides to turn one “human.”
I didn’t like any of the characters, I felt no sympathy for Chappie, and the ending was ridiculous. Hugh Jackman as a villain didn’t work for me. I don’t have much else to say that isn’t spoilers aside from the fact that I did not like this movie.
Belle
A mix-raced girl is raised in a wealthy family but faces trouble when the fate of a slave ship makes headlines. Based on a true story.
The characters made reasonable choices, the story played out well, and the costumes and music were good. I wouldn’t watch it again and I think it lacked something, but it was a decent period movie.
Ivanhoe
A guy comes back from Richard the Lionheart’s crusade and does some stuff. Honestly, the plot is so weak.
It looked like the 1938 Robin Hood movie but failed to provide any of the charm and fun. Ivanhoe got sidelined in favor of a lame subplot and people spouting love after knowing each other for a couple days. (That’s what we in the book biz call “insta-love.”) The plot didn’t know what it wanted to be and threw random conflict around only to end it cheaply.
The highlight was seeing a young David Robb (Doctor Clarkson for you Downton Abbey fans) as Robin Hood and his perfect one-worder.
It could’ve been cool but the plot and character development went completely pear-shaped.
Shazam!
A boy gets the powers of a superhero.
So much better than Aquaman. Zachary Levi is wildly charismatic and the perfect choice for this movie. It knew how to play the story for optimal laughs and managed to land most of the jokes. Sure, the ending could not have been more convenient and cheesy, but I had a good time.
John Wick: Chapter 3 Parabellum
Everyone wants John dead, so he turns the tables on them.
I haven’t seen the first two (I did get a brief recap from my family) but I can see why these movies are popular. There’s something inherently satisfying about a guy beating up all the baddies. Even though there’s about a page of dialogue and a handful of kill-free scenes, I liked what I saw of the world-building with its layers of crime lords, neutral grounds, and codes. That one gun fight lasted too long, in my opinion, but all the other action scenes were wonderfully engaging.
Most gruesome death goes to the guy who got the dagger in an eye.*shudders*
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
Someone wants to hunt night furies to extinction, so Berk has to hightail it in hopes of finding the dragon’s “Promised Land.”
This movie looked great. The sand, water, and leather animations were especially incredible. In the opening shot, until a guy walks by, you’d have thought it was live-action. The plot, on the other hand, shares several traits with Swiss cheese.
It seemed like since they forgot to develop the side characters in the previous movies they decided to give them all a little boost, not caring it now left them half-baked. I liked what they did with the boy twin but it went nowhere.
A flaming sword looks cool, except it’d make Hiccup blind to everything outside its light, making him an ineffective fighter. And Astrid wielding a giant ax with her stick arms? Lol! No.
I couldn’t help but notice how most of the women somehow put down the men. Whether it’s Astrid calming the crowd when Hiccup’s speaking, his mom condescendingly complimenting the arrogant dude, or the light fury thinking Toothless is an idiot. And at the end, SPOILERS their daughter is helping with the sails and keeping her eyes open, while the son is being held and closing his eyes in terror. My sister pointed out that the girl looked older and okay, that adds some credibility to their choice. I don’t know if this goes against the book, but why not make the boy older? Or have them both close their eyes? Why do the women have to be braver than the men? END SPOILERS
I know Hiccup’s supposedly the leader, but why is anyone following him? He’s a wimp with not much experience and this whole village goes along with leaving their home? Why didn’t anyone suggest, “Hey, we have the high ground. Why not let this hunter guy come here and just try to beat us? After the battle’s over, then we can hit the skies.” I know this is a kid’s movie and I’m no longer the target audience, but behavior like this endorses running from your problems instead of facing them on your own turf. It bothered me that there’s no seasoned adult to give Hiccup sound advice.
The villain didn’t stand out from the previous villains and reminded me of the French critic from Ratatouille, which was amusing.
I could’ve done without the message at the end of “Dragons are real; they’re just waiting for us humans to stop fighting and be worthy of them.” That’s the best they could do?
Have you seen any great movies lately?