PCP in Theaters - Sicario

Sicario - 2015, rated R.  My rating: 10 out of 10. 

It has been awhile since I've walked out of a movie just in awe of the film overall. Sure, there have been action movies this summer that I enjoyed (but never got around to reviewing) and I'm sure that I'm going to love the upcoming Star Wars flick, but walking out of Sicario I felt something I hadn't felt in awhile: the feeling of just being blown away by a powerful film.

Sicario is a story set in the ongoing pointless War on Drugs being waged by the U.S. Government. It focuses on badass FBI agent Emily Blunt, who is brought on to a task force led by the charismatic Josh Brolin that features the mysterious Benicio Del Toro, the titular sicario (hitman) that is waging a very dark war on the cartels in Mexico. I do not want to get too much into the plot so as not to give things away, but it is an incredible journey filled with tension that kept me on the edge of my seat.

The film features great acting performances from the core trio, and also some pretty beautiful filmmaking. There's extensive long aerial shots of the desert along the border between Juarez in Mexico and El Paso in Texas, shots that are haunting in their beauty. There's also a lot of gruesome scenes in Juarez, driving home to American audiences the cost of the war on drugs of the people in Mexico, costs that most of us either ignore or are ignorant of, such as the massive spike in the murder rate within Juarez as the cartels vie for control of the drug trade. Overall, the film is bleak, nihilistic, and unsettling to the extreme, but that is why it is so highly effective. It really gets under your skin and makes you think, and the incredible performances by all of the actors involve really make the film work in profound ways.

Bottom line, I cannot recommend this film enough. If it is still in theaters by you, make sure you go see it. If not, see it when it comes to DVD or Netflix, because it is easily the best film I've seen in a long while.

PCP - Mark your calendars now

Updated 10/29 with the Marvel announcement of their slate yesterday. Picture has been updated.

There are a lot of superhero movies coming out in the next few years, thanks to all the different studios that own various different properties. This handy infographic from the folks at comicsalliance.com can help you to plan your calendars now, in case you need to take time off to be there for these on opening day. Some of these I'm very excited for, some not so much, but I know I'll wind up seeing all of them anyways. I'm most pumped for Avengers: Age of Ultron and for Captain America 3. What are you most looking forward to? Let me know in the comments!

PCP in Theaters - Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

I've been so swamped lately, as you've probably heard me lament a few times on the blog now, that I haven't been able to write a review of a movie I saw in theaters in July, until now. It might still be in theaters, at the cheap ones, by the time this goes up, but otherwise it'll probably be out on home video soon.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - 2014, rated PG-13. My rating: 9 out of 10.

The sequel to the prequel that doubled as a reboot of a classic franchise hit theaters earlier this summer, an event that would probably be considered unbelievable to the stars of the original Charlton Heston classic, but obviously Hollywood works way differently these days than it did 45 years ago. The reboot/prequel Rise of the Planet of the Apes was actually a pretty good sleeper hit 3 years ago, but it was dwarfed at the box office by that summer's biggest hits, finishing in 11th that year in total box office behind Harry Potter 8, Transformers 3, Twilight 4, Hangover 2, Pirates 4, Fast & Furious 5, Mission Impossible 4, Cars 2, Sherlock Holmes 2, & Thor 1, and finishing a mere 100 grand ahead of Captain America 1.  <side note - wow, that was a lot of sequels that summer> So, if you missed Rise 3 years ago, you weren't alone, but it is still a good film that I encourage you to check out. (I gave it an 8/10).

Fortunately, even if you never saw Rise, you can still check out Dawn without being too lost. It's set a few years after a plague released at the end of the previous film has wiped out a majority of humanity, and the group of Apes living in the mountains outside of San Francisco has grown tremendously. Meanwhile, there is a small band of humans living in San Fran, and everything is quiet until the two groups encounter each other. Problems ensue, obviously.

I don't want to say too much more without spoiling the plot, but the film is quite fun and filled with some great action scenes. It also has some incredible motion-capture work and some of the best CGI I've seen in a film. The various primates are so well rendered, they come across as completely believable on the screen. No lame rubber masks like the prior films in the series, here the technology is seamless and gorgeous. The film is also pretty touching and has a lot of heart. Overall, the film is very enjoyable, and I am already looking forward to the next one in the series. Already, the reboot series has already surpassed the original series in terms of quality of storytelling. If they keep it up, they can keep making Apes films as long as they want.

PCP in Theaters - Guardians of the Galaxy

It's been more than a month since Guardians of the Galaxy hit theaters, and it has been even longer since I saw the film, but I'm finally getting around to writing my review. Better late than never right? Besides, it was still the #1 film at the box office on Labor Day weekend, so obviously a lot of people are still watching it. Probably because the film is frakking awesome!

Guardians of the Galaxy - 2014, rated PG-13. My rating: 10 out of 10.

Look, I know I'm a bit of a nerd and a Marvel movies fanboy. So, take this review with a slight grain of salt. That being said, the characters in GotG are ones that I was not familiar with before seeing this film. I have never read any of the issues of the comic, and couldn't tell you anything about any of these characters before seeing the film. When I first heard that Marvel was going to make this film, I couldn't believe it. With such a deep roster of characters in the Marvel universe, this was the film they were going to make? Would Marvel have its first flop on its hands since it started making its own movies? I was concerned.

I shouldn't have been worried. The film is a ton of fun, despite having to do some major plot expansion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Marvel is using this film to greatly expand the universe inhabited by their Avengers, and a lot of items introduced in this film were done to make it so people understand when they show up in future Avengers installments, especially the powerful Infinity Stones and the character of Thanos. For the completely comic book ignorant, like my wife, she got confused at times as to who characters were and what were their motivations. For example, she has no clue the difference between a Skrull and a Kree, and doesn't know Nova Squadron from Thanos. So, her perspective on the film was different from mine, and she didn't enjoy the film as much as I did.

As I've said, I had a lot of fun with this film. The film has plenty of humorous moments, it is very obvious that this film is not taking itself seriously at all. Which, in the case of these characters, really works. In addition to many laugh out loud moments, the film also has a ton of heart. You wouldn't believe that a barely talking tree-creature could be the heart of a movie, but Groot pulls it off.

While the film gets slightly bogged down a couple of times from too much information and new characters being dumped on the audience, its hyperkinetic energy quickly brings the film back up to speed. The action sequences are pretty awesome and the CGI really makes this expanded universe believable. As a comic book film in the MCU, it is just as good if not better than anything that has come before. As a science fiction film, it is the most fun I had in space since seeing Serenity many years ago. It's not every day that a great space adventure comes along, and GotG really delivers as a space epic.

Bottom line: if you haven't seen Guardians yet, I can't encourage you enough. It easily was the best movie of the summer. I can't wait til its sequel in a few years!

PCP in Theaters - X-Men: Days of Future Past

It has been an insanely busy last few weeks at work for me, and busy on the weekends as well, so it was nice to finally have a chance to get to the movie theater again for a new flick on the big screen. Although it came out a month ago, we finally got a chance to see X-Men: Days of Future Past in theaters this past week. And fortunately, unlike the Amazing Spider-Man 2, this summer's second (third if you count April's Captain America 2) major comic book franchise film did not disappoint.

X-Men: Days of Future Past.  2014, rated PG-13. My rating: 9 out of 10.

X-Men: Days of Future Past (hereafter referred to as XM:DFP) has a very challenging act to pull off. The film has to combine the characters from six previous X-Men films, and also find a way to paper over the continuity errors and other problems with the preceding films, which is especially difficult because originally the timeline of X-Men: First Class was not designed to match up perfectly with the original films (as noticed most readily by Emma Frost being younger in the 1970s in X-Men Origins: Wolverine than she was in the 1960s in X-Men: First Class). It also has to do justice to one of the most popular story-lines from the comic books, when the franchise already botched a different popular story-line (the Dark Phoenix) in X-Men 3. So, going in to this film, I was hopeful that it would be able to pull this off, but I was worried that the deck was stacked too much against the movie for it to be a success.

I was very glad to be completely and utterly wrong. The movie wound up being a ton of fun and was very entertaining. The film starts out in a bleak dystopian future, where mutant-killing robots known as Sentinels have slaughtered millions, not only mutants but humans that were carriers of the mutant genes and due to have mutant children or grandchildren. There is a great action sequence following characters we have never seen on film before, including Blink and Bishop, and some we have in Ice-man, Colossus, and Kitty Pride, as they fight to survive against the Sentinels. Their group links up with Wolverine, Professor X, Magneto, and Storm, and come up with a way to send Wolverine's consciousness back to his body in the past, to prevent the Sentinel program from ever getting off the ground, thus preventing this dark future from ever coming to pass. From there, the film switches focus to the 1970s, where Wolverine has to bring together the younger versions of Magneto and Professor X to stop Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) from killing the creator of the Sentinels, Bolivar Trask (Game of Thrones' Peter Dinklage), because his death actually causes his robots to be put into production.

The film is very heavy on action, but it also has quite a few funny moments as well, and many shout-outs to the other films within the series or events that readers of the comics will understand but might be missed by those that have only seen the films. The film makes no allowances for new viewers, as it expects you to have seen the prior films and know who is every character on the screen. So, if you haven't seen at least X-Men 1-3 and First Class, you might be a little bit lost. The best action sequences are Magneto's escape from prison in the past (filled with some very funny moments thanks to Quicksilver), the battles with the Sentinels in the future, and Magneto's battle with the Sentinels in the past. The movie clearly spent a large portion of its $200 million budget on special effects, and they look fantastic. And while the film is not quite perfectly able to iron out the myriad continuity issues from having to fix the narrative errors of the previous six films, they do a good enough job to make the film work here.

Overall, XM: DFP was a very enjoyable movie, and easily the best in the series since X-Men 2. We got to see many familiar faces from the prior films, as well as some awesome new mutants too. The film also ends with a scene after the credits that makes fans of the comics very excited, and sets up the next film in the series, X-Men: Apocalypse coming in 2016. I can't wait!

PCP in Theaters - The Amazing Spider-Man 2

As I said in my Summer Movie preview post, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was a movie that I wanted to see in theaters, but I had some concerns about there being too many villains but that I'd see the film anyways. So I did see the film, and I both liked it and disliked it at the same time, if that is possible.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2. 2014, rated PG-13. My rating: 7.5 out of 10.

I'll start with what I liked about this one, and then move on to my problems with the film. Visually, the film was gorgeous, especially the scenes of Spider-Man in flight. Those were always a lot of fun when they were happening on screen. Also great were the many fight sequences. Whether he was fighting the Green Goblin or Electro, the fight sequences were very well done and worth the price of admission.

Andrew Garfield was also great as Spider-Man/Peter Parker. The funny quips and sarcasm from the character brought many laughs to the film, which were needed. I think Garfield is better as Parker than Tobey Maguire was in the prior Spider-Man trilogy. Garfield also has great chemistry with his real-life girlfriend Emma Stone, playing the character of Gwen Stacy. Their scenes together had much better chemistry than any between Maguire and Kirsten Dunst in the first trilogy.

The downside of this film was that it was seriously disjointed. It felt like too many movies all shunted into one, and the film didn't know what type of movie it wanted to be. And, as I feared, there was a little bit of too many villains all for one film. They don't do enough to establish the villains, with each given about half of the time that it would take for them to properly tell each one's story. It would've been better to have these films separated out into separate ones, one film with Electro and a separate one with the Green Goblin. Since they combined too much into one film, it left the plot feeling convoluted, and often filled with too many contrivances and gimmicks that just harmed my enjoyment of the film. With the next film in the series looking like it's going to have even more villains (the ending of this one sets up the Sinister Six), I worry that this series will become even more flash and less substance than it has already become. Time will tell, I guess.

Overall, I give this film a B, basically. It is entertaining and fun, but if you're a stickler for a coherent plot, this probably isn't the film for you. For a more detailed breakdown of some of the many plot holes in this film, check out this link, they do a very thorough take-down of all the plot holes and contrivances that the film is stuffed with. Warning though, before you follow that link, there are obviously a ton of spoilers in there.



Speaking of SPOILERS - SPOILER WARNING It is a shame we won't be seeing Emma Stone in the next film in this series, because of her great chemistry with Andrew Garfield. Gwen's death was not surprising to those that know their comics, since her character was killed by the Green Goblin, and this film had both Gwen and the Green Goblin so I figured it was coming. The film did a great job with the way that they handled it though. It was a nice touch that she was wearing the same outfit as the one she was wearing when she was killed on the page over 40 years ago.

PCP in Theaters - Summer Movie Preview 2014

So, the summer movie season is upon us, and with it comes two things: the end of my grad school hiatus and the resumption of my regular posting to the blog, and my 2nd annual Summer Movie Preview! Although, summer movie season seems to start earlier and earlier every year. We already had Captain America: The Winter Soldier back on April 4th, and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 a week and a half ago, but those are both considered to be "summer blockbusters" in terms of their content.

Just like last year, I'm going to go through the entire lineup of films from May through August, and break them down into one of three categories: those I want to see in theaters, i.e. the blockbusters that I'm most excited for; those that can wait until Blu-ray (which isn't that much of a loss for me, since I have a hi-def projector so my house is practically a theater anyway); and those I'll only see if I find a way to start getting paid to see movies. I have managed thus far to not see any of the movies from that last category from last year's list as of this writing.

Also, a quick formatting note: all films' release dates listed are approximate and subject to change based on the whims of the movie studios, and I am also just listing the Friday of the week that they come out, in some cases the films might actually be released on Wednesday or Thursday of that week.

Disagree with where I put something? Let me know in the comments!

In theaters movies: (so many blockbusters, so little time. I just hope all of these are good and not a waste of money!)

• The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (May 2) - Although I'm starting to worry a little bit that the film is going to have too many villains, it's a comic book movie so I'm pretty much guaranteed to see this film. Early buzz (as of me writing this on April 21) suggests that the film might not be worth seeing in theaters after all, but I'm sure I'll still see this eventually.
• Godzilla (May 16) - It looks like we're finally going to get a Godzilla film worthy of the name, unlike the last time they tried to make one for American audiences. My wife doesn't particularly want to see this though, but maybe I'll be able to talk her into it.
• X-Men: Days of Future Past (May 23) - The latest installment in the X-Men franchise looks pretty bad-ass, and I'm looking forward to their take on one of my favorite comic book stories. Plus, it has Peter Dinklage in it (Tyrion Lannister on Game of Thrones) so that alone makes it worth watching.
• Maleficent (May 30) - I like Angelina Jolie on screen, she's one of my favorite stars, so I know I'll be seeing this dark fairy tale related to Sleeping Beauty. Plus, my wife is really excited for this one, so we'll be seeing it for sure.
• Edge of Tomorrow (June 6) - I enjoyed Tom Cruise's last sci-fi outing, Oblivion, and this one looks like it'll be a very interesting trip as well. I like sci-fi that makes you think, and this film, based on its trailer, looks like it will be a twisty and unpredictable journey.
• Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (July 11) - I liked Rise of the Planet of the Apes quite a bit, so I'm looking forward to the sequel set a decade after the virus released at the end of the prior film has decimated the human population.
• Jupiter Ascending (July 18) - I'll give pretty much any film from the Wachowskis a shot, and this one looks pretty epic visually. I just hope it's entertaining, like their best film The Matrix, and not just all style and no substance like their worst, Speed Racer.
• Guardians of the Galaxy (August 1) - If this one is a hit, it will prove that Marvel is minting money, since this is a property that most people aren't familiar with, yet somehow it all ties into their ever expanding Avengers universe. The first trailer was witty and made the film look like a lot of fun, so a super-hero movie that doesn't take itself seriously will probably be a success.

After the jump the post continues with what I'll watch from the comfort of my couch, and what I'll try to avoid ever seeing. --->

PCP in Theaters - Captain America: The Winter Soldier

As a comic book fan, I'll see pretty much any superhero film, no matter how good or bad. Fortunately, when the films wind up actually being good, it's a nice bonus for me because at least I didn't waste two hours of my life by seeing the film.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier - 2014, rated PG-13. My rating: 9 out of 10.

Marvel Studios has done a great job of building up the characters in their film universe tied to The Avengers. CA:TWS is Cap's (Chris Evans) first film since the events of The Avengers, and it is a far better film than his first one, since we now know the character a lot better than we did a few films ago.

Here he's back, working for S.H.I.E.L.D. alongside Scarlett Johannson's Black Widow and Samuel L Jackson's Nick Fury, in a story that if you strip away the superheroes and special effects, is really almost a cold war spy thriller. Something sinister is going on within the halls of S.H.I.E.L.D. (man that is annoying to type out all the periods), something that will have far reaching consequences for both the cinematic Marvel universe, as well as it's TV expansion Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.  Externally to the agency, Cap also has to deal with the mysterious Winter Soldier, a bad-ass that can go toe to toe with Cap in a fight. I'd say more, but I don't want to spoil the plot on the off chance that you haven't read the spoilers on the internet already, and instead encourage you to go see this film in theaters. It was easily better than Iron Man 3 or Thor 2, (which I've seen but won't be posting the reviews for until this summer), and is the best film in this universe since The Avengers itself.

I will say that aside from the great thriller plot, and the awesome and fun action sequences, including a memorable one in an elevator, I also enjoyed the little shout-outs and moments of humor. Black Widow had some very funny moments in the film, especially her running efforts to find Cap a date. There was also a Stephen Strange mention, and an awesome shout-out to Samuel L Jackson's Jules from Pulp Fiction late in the film. The film also has not one but two post-credits sequences, one setting up the events of The Avengers 2, and the other for Captain America 3. Given the success that Marvel has had with the characters in this universe, I'm looking forward to this August's Guardians of the Galaxy, just to see how that all fits in with the story they have planned. But while you're waiting for Guardians, go see Captain America: The Winter Soldier, if you haven't already. It's definitely one of Marvel's best films to date.

PCP in Theaters - Divergent

My wife and I went to the movies for her birthday, and since nothing particularly interesting was out yet (we saw this the week before Captain America: The Winter Soldier hit theaters), we went to see yet another film based on a young adult book series. At least this film, unlike the recent Vampire Academy, was actually not too bad. Actually, looking back at my last four in-theaters reviews (this, Vampire Academy, Catching Fire, and The Hobbit part 2), I've gone to four straight young adult fiction adaptations in theaters. I guess I'm still a kid at heart.

Divergent - 2014, rated PG-13. My rating: 8 out of 10.

Apparently young adult fiction these days falls into one of two categories: it's about the supernatural such as vampires, werewolves, or witches (Twilight, Harry Potter), or it is set in a post apocalyptic future (Divergent, Hunger Games). If you write a successful book in one of these two genres, it's pretty much guaranteed to be turned into a film (although whether or not that film will be successful is another story).

Fortunately for this film, and the audiences that watch it, it is one of the better entries in the pantheon of young adult novel adaptations to hit theaters recently. I haven't read the book series the film is based on, so I cannot comment on how close or divergent the film is from the novel. What I can tell you is that the film does a decent job of explaining the new world the series takes place in, and it helps that the actors in this movie are some pretty talented ones, including Kate Winslet and Ashley Judd.

Shailene Woodley stars as Tris, the heroine of our story. Set in a post-apocalyptic Chicago, society is split into five distinct castes based on the personal attributes that you most identify with at a very advanced personality test. Upon taking the test, Tris learns that she does not have one clear-cut attribute, but is instead divergent, having multiple attributes. Apparently this is not a good thing and she has to keep this fact a secret, lest she be targeted for death. She decides to join the military caste, Dauntless, and the film shows her training to be a soldier in this society.

I don't want to go into too much more plot detail, in part because it's kind of hard to explain without watching the film or reading the books, and in part because I don't want to give away any spoilers. What I can tell you is that I did enjoy exploring this unique society, and I am looking forward to visiting it again in its inevitable sequel, thanks to the film's box office success. I really only have one quibble with the film, which I don't know if this will be addressed in a future film in the series or if it was covered in the books that I have not read. My quibble is they never explain how the apocalypse in question came to pass, or what kind of apocalypse it was. Also, the film is set in Chicago, and there are some parts of that setting that are unbelievable to me as a resident of the Chicagoland area. In one establishing shot, they show the majority of the skyline is still intact, but all of the outer sprawl is completely gone, turned into a grassland. I know just how dense that sprawl around Chicago is, and how many tall buildings the suburbs also hold. I just don't understand what kind of apocalypse lays waste to the entirety of suburbia but leaves the skyline intact. If you know the answer to this riddle, feel free to tell me in the comments.

Other than that minor complaint, over all I enjoyed the film, and can't wait until the next one in the series, Insurgent. Fortunately, I won't have to wait long, as that one is scheduled for next March. I guess I know what my wife and I will be seeing on her birthday next year!

All right, that's all for today, thanks for stopping by! Check back soon, I'm hopefully going to see Captain America: the Winter Soldier this weekend, so I'll try to get a review up for that soon!

PCP in Theaters - Vampire Academy

As I said back on my "I'm going on hiatus again" post, I knew I'd be seeing a couple movies in theaters before the blog returns full-time in the summer. Well, I saw Vampire Academy in theaters, all the way back on Valentine's Day, but I've been so busy that I wasn't able to write my review in detail until recently. At this point, you probably can't find this film in theaters anyway except maybe at the dollar theaters, because it didn't do too well at the box office anyway. But, it'll be on DVD soon, so if you really want to watch this movie, you'll be able to do so from the comfort of your own couch.

Vampire Academy - 2014, rated PG-13. My rating: 5.5 out of 10.

Marketing pro tip: don't mention the phrase "they suck" in the context of your film's advertising, as it makes it way too easy to mock the film itself if it isn't that good of a film.

I hadn't read the teen book series that the film was based on, and based on this film I don't have any intent to go and do so either. Like many films lately, VA was an attempt to find the next Twilight or Hunger Games franchise, but unfortunately for every hit at the box office, there's a flop or two as well, like this or Beautiful Creatures or the Mortal Instruments. All I knew about this film going in was that it was from the writer of the teen classic Heathers and the director of Mean Girls, so I figured that a film set in a high school couldn't be that terrible with that pedigree.

Unfortunately, I was wrong. The film wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great either. Working in its favor was the fact that it created a new variety of vampire mythology, compared to traditional vampire films (and hey, no sparkling either, a joke pointed out by the film itself in one of its funnier moments). Zoey Deutch stars as Rose, a half-human, half vampire known as a Dhampir. Dhampirs are the bodyguards of the good vampires, the Moroi, who have witchcraft like super powers but are not great at fighting. Rose specifically protects her best friend, Lissa, a princess of the Moroi nobility, from those that want to harm her, including the "bad" vampires, the Strigoi. Also working in the film's favor, in addition to the new mythology, are some of the scenes set at the school, especially in the cafeteria. Those parts of the film were some of the better scenes, which is likely due to the writing from Daniel Waters.

Too bad they couldn't stay at the school cafeteria all of the time since those, scenes were some of the best, but the film couldn't decide if it wanted to be a teen high school movie or an action/horror movie, so it felt uneven and schizophrenic. The CGI was also pretty weak looking, but the film did have a microscopic budget so that makes sense. Also, because of the unique mythology of the vampire hierarchy in this series, the film had to rely on way too much voice-over from Rose to explain what is going on to the audience, which hurts the film significantly. And, the film telegraphs it's bad guy in an extremely obvious way, so you can see the "twist" coming a mile away.

Overall, the movie ended on a nice sequel hook with a nasty looking army of Strigoi not far from the school, but based on how this bombed at the box office, we'll never get to see that attack happen on screen. If you want to find out what happens, I guess you'll have to read the books, but I don't plan to do that myself. If you do read them, let me know if they're worth the time.

Alright, that's all for today, thanks for stopping by!

PCP in Theaters - The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

I said back in my review of the first Hunger Games film that I hadn't yet read the books before seeing the film, a rarity for me. Since the first movie did so well that sequels were inevitable, I went out and read all of the books before seeing Catching Fire, the 2nd film (and book) in the series.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire - 2013, rated PG-13. My rating: 8.5 out of 10.

The second film in the series picks up a few months after the events of the first. Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence, who seriously never takes a day off because she's in like every movie these days) & Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), the winners of the previous year's Hunger Games, find that their defiance of the Capitol in the previous year's games has resulted in rebellions and riots forming and spreading throughout the twelve subjugated districts. When their victory tour, forced upon them for having won, fails to suppress but instead foments additional riots, the President of the Capitol is extremely displeased. He changes the rules for the next year's Hunger Games, forcing the duo back into the gladiatorial arena against their will, in a Hunger Games comprised solely of previous winners. In other words, all 24 people competing in the games have won the grisly fight to the death, so there are no newbies that have no clue what they are doing when the fighting begins.

The first two-thirds of the film focuses on the emerging rebellion, the Capitol's brutality contrasted with its wasteful decadence and shallowness, and Katniss' growing discomfort with herself becoming the symbol of a rebellion. The final third brings us back into the arena, but it shows far less of the combat than the previous film, for reasons that I am not going to spoil here. The film ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, which makes sense as it is the middle book of a trilogy (but in this case the films are going to be a foursome, as the final book Mockingjay is being split into two parts). But overall, if you liked the first film in the series, you'll enjoy this one more. Having gotten the character introductions primarily out of the way in the first film, the second film flows a lot better and doesn't drag as much as the first film did in places. I'm looking forward to parts 3 and 4, when they come out in November of 2014 and 2015.

PCP in Theaters - The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

As I mentioned in my review last year for part 1 of The Hobbit, I am a huge J.R.R. Tolkien fan, so seeing The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug in theaters for me was a given. I finally had a chance to catch it recently and here are my thoughts on the film.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – 2013, rated PG-13. My rating: 9 out of 10.

Once again, Peter Jackson knocks it out of the park with his creation of Middle-Earth. Just like the previous films in the series, the production design is excellent, with amazing attention to detail on all of the various towns and buildings created for the film. He really brings to life all of the places from the novel, with breathtaking results.

The film itself continues the journey of hobbit Bilbo Baggins and a company of 12 dwarves to attempt to reclaim the dwarves’ home from the dragon, Smaug, that has taken it over. We finally see Smaug in this film, voiced by the great Benedict Cumberbatch. His voice brings a malevolent but regal power to the dragon, who is also beautifully rendered by the CGI animators for the film. Hearing him talk as the dragon reminded me a lot of his performance as Khan in Star TrekInto Darkness from earlier in the year.

Just like the first Hobbit, it is hard to rate a film that is inherently incomplete. This middle bridge of the trilogy does a great job of getting the characters where they need to be, the Lonely Mountain, but it ends on a cliffhanger because the book it is based on is not yet finished. This one was better than the first one though, with less expository dialogue and far more action than the first film contained. Most memorably, the river barrel escape sequence combined great action and thrills with some very funny moments as well. This film also contained a lot of departures from the book though, including a character made up by Peter Jackson and not Tolkien, Tauriel, played by Lost's Evangeline Lilly.  I for one do not mind the changes that Jackson has made, however, as I find they add more depth to the book than Tolkien had originally written. The changes better flesh out the world and make it feel more complete. I also like the fact that the film shows us more in detail the trials Gandalf faces that were only hinted at in the book but never shown.

Overall, part 2 of the Hobbit was an improvement over the first film, and I really hate the fact that I have to wait until the end of 2014 for the conclusion of this gorgeous trilogy. I know that I’ll be there in theaters when it comes out, however, as I am looking forward to the conclusion. The film ends on a great place for the final act to begin, one that seems like it is going to be chock full of action throughout. I can’t wait!

PCP in Theaters - Ender's Game

My wife and I are good friends with another couple, Ryan and Amber, and they reached out to us about going to see Ender's Game in theaters. They are both big sci-fi and fantasy fans (and Ryan has a similar but geekier blog called Skillpoint Station which I encourage you to check out) and had bonded over their enjoyment of the book. Meanwhile, my wife and I hadn't read the book, but we were always up for a fun night out, so we agreed. I read the book rapidly in the week before we saw the film, so I could judge the film while having the book fresh in my mind. I wonder if that made it better or worse?

Ender's Game - 2013, rated PG-13. My rating: 7 out of 10.

Ender's Game is set in the future, on an Earth different from ours. Humanity has defeated an alien invasion, and are working towards preparing for round two of the war versus the alien invaders, the bug-like Formics. Humanity has started a program of testing of their children to find those that have tactical & strategic genius, and then shipping them off to a special school called Battle School to hone their combat abilities. Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield) is our protagonist, a super-genius that the leaders of the school Col. Graff (Harrison Ford) and Major Anderson (Viola Davis) believe may hold the key to humanity's survival versus the Formics, a species that vastly outnumbers humanity.

Ender's studies in the school consist of tactical games in the zero-g battle room, which was pretty nifty to see on the big screen. He learns to deal with frustration, learns even more brilliant tactics, makes friends with most of his peers, and learns to lead on the battlefield. Before long he is graduated to the Command School, where he now commands fleets of ships in a virtual reality simulation against the Formics. As he faces ever more insurmountable odds, he has to find more ways to win, lest he flunk out and fail his teachers. In terms of the plot, I'm going to stop there until later in this post in the spoilers section, so as not to give anything away now.

Having the book fresh in my mind, I was slightly disappointed in the film, but I also had low expectations. I knew that there was no way the film would be able to show all of the battles that the book contained, without being significantly longer than its two hour running time. In the book, Ender went through some 50 odd battles, but in the film he has only a handful, which really doesn't give the audience the chance to see just how outside the box his ideas were and how much more advanced than his peers he really was. I think if the film was maybe about 20 minutes longer and had a few more battles then it would've been better. Also, I didn't like that the film (or the book for that matter) didn't really comment on the idea of training children for war or have anything to say about just how awful of a thing that is.

Visually, the film was pretty well done, with great visual effects including the zero-g combat of Battle School, and the immersive virtual reality of the massive battles of Command School. The effects were better than I expected them to be, with the film only having a budget of $110 million. Overall though, the film is a lot of flash and not a lot of substance, and I thought it was good but disappointing. I think I would've liked it better had I not read the book. Of the four of us that saw the movie that day, my wife was the only one that hadn't read the book and she liked the film the best. So, when this film comes out on blu-ray, rent it from your local library or Redbox now that Blockbuster is toast, or stream it. It's still worth seeing, but you don't need to rush out and see it while it's still in theaters.

Ok if you don't want spoilers, stop here. After the jump I'm going to be talking about changes from the book to the film and discussing some of my beefs with the plot of the film in greater details. So again, from here on out, SPOILERS AHEAD after the jump! --->

PCP in Theaters - The Wolverine

You can tell I've been busy when I saw a movie in theaters awhile ago and it took until now to get the review up onto the blog.  Normally I try and get reviews done for in-theater films up within a couple days of watching the movie, but after I saw The Wolverine on August 2, I was then on vacation for the next week, so I am just now getting around to writing my review of the film.  Sorry for the delay, but at least this is going up while you can still catch the film in theaters!

The Wolverine – 2013, rated PG-13.  My rating:  8.5 out of 10.

The Wolverine picks up some time after the events of X-Men: The Last Stand (thankfully ignoring X-Men Origins: Wolverine), with Wolverine/Logan (Hugh Jackman) weary, scruffy, and still dealing with lingering trauma for having had to kill Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) in that previous film. An old, dying friend of Logan’s from Japan is wanting to see him before he dies, so the film shifts to Japan after the first couple minutes and remains there for the duration of the film. This gives Wolverine the chance to fight against those ever present enemies in Japanese films: Yakuza thugs & stealthy ninjas. However, something has happened to Wolverine’s healing factor, and he doesn't bounce back from injuries as rapidly as he had in the past, slowing him down and making him more vulnerable.

The plot is far more simple than previous films in the X-Men franchise, with significantly fewer mutants in the film than normal – you can count the number of mutants in this one on one hand. This actually helps out the film a lot, because it allows the focus to remain on Logan without having to do too many standalone scenes for any other characters that show up. And while some comics purists might be rather upset with how they changed the portrayal of the Silver Samurai, among other changes to the comics characters, it didn't bother me that much at all. Really, I was just watching this movie to see Wolverine mix it up with Yakuza and ninjas, and the film did not disappoint here on my end.

The action and fight sequences were outstanding, especially the one on top of a bullet train. Normally fights on top of a train are clichéd, but by doing it atop a super high speed bullet train, and actually paying attention to most of the laws of physics, the sequence was probably the best part of the film. Too bad the weak ending doesn't live up to this great example of awesome from the middle of the film.

Overall though, the film was fun, if you've enjoyed Hugh Jackman’s take on Wolverine through all of the X-Men films so far, you’ll enjoy this one. Make sure you stay after the credits too for a scene that sets up the next X-movie, X-Men: Days of Future Past quite well, especially if you know what the name Trask Industries means. That scene alone was worth the price of admission to this movie for me.

PCP on TV (& in Theaters!) - Sharknado

Some movies are so bad they're good. Movies like this make me wish Mystery Science Theater 3000 was still in production. Sharknado is one of those movies. And remarkably, after airing repeatedly on SyFy in recent weeks, Regal Cinemas is airing midnight showings this week only on August 2nd, so if you missed it on TV, catch it in theaters and laugh along with the crowd at what has to be one of the most ridiculous films ever made.

Sharknado - 2013, rated TV-14.  My rating: 1 out of 10 as a film, 8 out of 10 as a laughable experience.

A massive hurricane is driving towards the California coast, and a huge swarm of sharks is being pushed ahead of the storm. The hurricane causes severe flooding all throughout L.A., and the flood contains lots of sharks. Those cheesy CGI sharks (combined with shots of real sharks in deep water which is clearly ocean footage) go on a rampage, killing scores of L.A. residents in a bloody mess of dismemberment and destruction. The film concludes with the hurricane forming three water spouts, aka tornadoes, which suck up sharks from the water, turning into the super deadly sharknado of the film's title.

A film with as ridiculous a concept as Sharknado cannot be judged fairly on a normal scale, compared to other films. The CGI is cheesy, the acting is awful (although I wasn't expecting much from Tara Reid or Ian Ziering), for a hurricane it stops raining rather frequently, and the plot has holes so wide you could run a sharknado or two through them. So that is why it is an awful film from a film making standpoint.

From a fun experience standpoint though, Sharknado excels. This is the type of film you watch with a bunch of your friends, cold sudsy beverage in hand, and laughing all the way. Sharknado is tailor-made for a MST3K style bashing from the peanut gallery. Thanks to all the reasons why Sharknado sucks as a film, it is that rare piece of entertainment that falls into the category of "so bad it's good."  That label was made for this movie. It is easily one of the lamest, worst movies I've ever seen, yet at the same time it was also a ton of fun.

Overall, I wouldn't necessarily recommend seeing Sharknado in theaters later this week, unless you get a group of your friends to go with you. You're probably much better waiting for SyFy to rerun it for the umpteenth time and instead watching it then with friends for free. Plus, you can't watch it with a beer in hand in most theaters. But it is a film that everyone should see once, just because of how completely ridiculously awful it is, it is something you have to see to believe. Plus, that way you're prepared for the sequel coming next year too!

PCP in Theaters - Pacific Rim

Back at the start of the summer, I had highlighted Pacific Rim on my summer movie preview as one I really wanted to see in theaters. I got that chance last week. Despite mixed reviews and a disappointing opening weekend box office, I did not come away disappointed with the film itself.

Today we are facing the monsters at our door. Today we are cancelling the apocalypse! - Stacker Pentecost.

Pacific Rim - 2013, rated PG-13.  My rating: 8 out of 10.

Pacific Rim is an alien invasion story set not too far into the future. A rift between our dimension and another dimension has opened at the bottom of the ocean. A giant monster, called a Kaiju, has come through that rift, and lays waste to San Francisco. It takes our conventional military six days to take down the monster. Then more monsters come through the portal, laying waste to other cities along the Pacific Ocean. So the governments of the world build giant robots, called Jaegers, to fight the continuing appearances of the Kaiju.

The war between the forces of humanity and the endless onslaught of Kaiju has been going on for years when the film starts, and the war is not going too well for us. The last few Jaegers, under the command of Stacker Pentecost, have a plan to stop the Kaiju once and for all. If they're not already too late...

Continue with the review after the jump -->

PCP in Theaters - Man of Steel

You know you're busy when you see a movie back on June 14th and finally get around to writing your review of it 3 weeks later. Sorry for the delay on this in theaters review, I usually try to be more timely on these so they go up while the film is still in theaters. But anyways, on to my review of the Superman reboot Man of Steel.

Man of Steel - 2013, rated PG-13.  My rating:  8 out of 10.

Here is my 10 word review of Man of Steel:  Better than Superman Returns, not as good as I hoped.

Okay, that's not exactly a helpful review.  It's pretty hard for the film to not be better than Superman Returns, due to how disappointing that film was. That was the Phantom Menace of the Superman series, where you've been waiting decades for a new film and while it is technically proficient, it just falls flat.  Meanwhile, Man of Steel is a reboot launched in a darker, grittier universe than Superman had previously inhabited, and one hopes a universe that also contains the rest of the Justice League.

There was a lot to like in this film.  I liked the way they told the origin story, by using the narrative structure of mixing in the flashbacks as the film goes on, rather than telling the story in a linear fashion. Had they gone linear, the first 45 minutes of the film would've been rather dull, and most of it was stuff that is already ingrained into most viewers' brains from decades of Superman being a part of the pop culture landscape. I'm glad the film didn't spend too much time dwelling on all of that all over again. Also, I'm glad for the presence of Producer Christopher Nolan.  He must've pulled director Zack Snyder aside and said "stay away from that slo-mo crap you always do." I was expecting the film to be dragged out with massive quantities of slo-mo, like Snyder's 300, Watchmen, & Sucker Punch, but I don't recall slo-mo being used once in this film.

The action sequences were flashy and entertaining, and the CGI was well done albeit used a bit too much, and in some cases the fight sequences got repetitive after awhile. There's only so much back and forth super-punching you can see the hero and villains do before it gets boring. The acting performances were pretty good though, especially Michael Shannon's General Zod. I look forward to seeing more of him as an actor in the future, he does a pretty good villain.

There were a few dislikes as well.  Instead of doing slo-mo, the film uses shaky-cam throughout (that or the projector in the theater was busted and gave the picture a massive wobble) and it gave me a massive headache because it was shaking just so much. I was just glad I didn't see it in 3D.  Also, there were a handful of plot holes that annoyed the heck out of me.

Overall I enjoyed the film, but not as much as The Dark Knight or the Avengers. I still recommend it to all to watch, but I hope the next one in the series is better. Disclaimer - I don't really read DC comics, I've always been more of a Marvel guy, so things in this film that conflict with the comic's canon does not bother me at all.

PCP in Theaters - Star Trek Into Darkness

I finally got a chance to catch a film in theaters for the first time since last December's The Hobbit. Although I haven't yet seen Iron Man 3, I wanted to see the movie that I was most looking forward to for this summer, Star Trek Into Darkness. Fortunately, I was not disappointed in the film at all.

Star Trek Into Darkness - 2013, rated PG-13.  My rating: 9 out of 10.

I've always been more of a Star Trek fan than a Star Wars fan, but I was never really a fan of the original series growing up, as I grew up on Star Trek TNG and DS9. I'd seen some of the episodes of the show, but not the entire runs of the series like I had with the latter two franchises. But when JJ Abrams rebooted the original series in 2009, I fell in love with this new Star Trek universe. By having the universe be an alternate reality from the Trek-verse I grew up on, it allows for new adventures and new possibilities without damaging the canon of the universe too greatly. While there are some fanboys that will never forgive JJ for this, I personally thought it was a great idea and a brilliant way to inject new life into a franchise that had somewhat run its course.

Star Trek Into Darkness picks up 6 months after the previous film, meaning it still technically takes place in a time prior to the events of the original series, as the Enterprise has still not yet begun it's 5 year mission of deep space exploration. The film jumps right into the action, with a tense sequence set on a planet with an erupting volcano, and the crew of the Enterprise having to save a stone-age civilization from the eruption. Unfortunately, they violate the Prime Directive in the process (don't interfere with pre-warp travel species), causing Kirk to get busted back down to first officer and Admiral Pike retakes command of the Enterprise back on Earth.

While there, a bomb goes off in London at a Starfleet Office, followed up by an attack on Star Fleet HQ in San Francisco, terrorist acts perpetrated by a rogue Starfleet officer named John Harrison, played excellently by Benedict Cumberbatch. Kirk & the Enterprise are tasked by Starfleet's Admiral Marcus (Peter Weller) to track down Harrison and take him out. But things are not everything that they seem, and along the way the Enterprise will face its toughest challenges ever.  I'd say more about the plot here but I don't want to get into spoilers now. At the bottom of the post I will discuss the plot in more detail, but for those that haven't seen the film yet I do not want to give anything away.

Overall though the film is a ton of fun. The reboot cast is all excellent, and each has their moment to shine, whether it's Sulu briefly taking the captain's chair and issuing a great threat against Harrison, McCoy's sarcastic quips, Uhura's badassery, Scotty's funny antics, or Chekov's heroic actions in engineering. But the core focus is as always on Spock & Kirk and their relationship, which is deepened here greatly. Chris Pine & Zachary Quinto play off each other very well, and as long as the two of them continue to star as the leads in this series, I will always be there in theaters to watch them. The action in this film is relatively non-stop as well, with a ton of great action setpieces. The quiet moments are great too, developing the relationships between the crew, and allowing Cumberbatch to use his baritone voice to great menacing effect.

Bottom line, I strongly recommend this film to all, it is a perfect summer movie - big spectacle but a big heart as well. Go forth and have fun!

After the jump --> my thoughts on the film with spoilers on the plot, so stop reading here if you don't want to know the plot twists.

PCP in Theaters - Summer Movie Preview

Alright, my blog is finally back from hiatus, so thank you for your patience.  To reward you for coming back, here's a great long post to kick off my summer blogging season.

With the release of Iron Man 3 two weeks ago, it's official, summer movie season is here. So, in the spirit of my fall TV preview posts, I bring you my first ever summer movie preview. I'm going to break the films down into one of three categories:  those I want to see in theaters - i.e. the blockbusters that I am most excited for; those that can wait until home video; and those I'll pass on altogether. Unfortunately I don't have the time or the money to see all of the ones in theaters that I want to see, but whenever I do see one of them I'll be posting a review ASAP.

Disagree with where I put something? Let me know in the comments!

Formatting note:  All dates listed are the Friday of the week they are released, according to the upcoming releases tracker on IMDB.com. I'm sure many of these will be moved around to Wednesday or Thursday releases, but for simplicity's sake I'm just putting the Friday date.

In Theaters movies: (So many blockbusters, so little time. I just hope all of these are good and not a waste of time and money.)

• Iron Man 3 (May 3) - RDJ is the man, best hero in the Marvel film stable at the moment. Can't wait for this one, it has to be better than Iron Man 2.
• Star Trek Into Darkness (May 17) - The Star Trek reboot is my favorite version of Trek. I can't wait to see what JJ Abrams does with the sequel.
• Fast & Furious 6 (May 24) - The 5th film in the series was the best since the first, so I can't wait to see where they go with #6. As a car nut this series is like manna from heaven for me.
• After Earth (June 7) - Will & Jaden Smith's sci-fi action flick looks like it could be really good. Plus, Will Smith is the king of summer action movies, so count me in. On the other hand, this film might be dropped down to the watch at home category, considering it is directed by M. Night Shyamalan, who hasn't had a good film in more than a decade.
• Man of Steel (June 14) - A Superman reboot produced by the Dark Knight's Christopher Nolan? Yes please. If this movie is any good, we might get a Justice League film before long.
• World War Z (June 21) - The film looks promising, even if zombies are supposed to be slow. Even in the source book (a great read) this is based on, they're slow. Why did they have to speed them up?
• Pacific Rim (July 12) - Skyscraper sized giant robots fighting giant monsters? Directed by Guillermo del Toro? Oh yeah, this is going to be a lot of fun. Even if it's bad, it'll still be awesome.
• The Wolverine (July 26) - Hugh Jackman once again dons the claws in a standalone film outside of the X-Men franchise. Should be pretty good.
• Elysium (August 9) - Starring Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, and Sharlto Copley, this sci-fi story from District 9 writer/directer Neill Blomkamp looks like it has a ton of potential. District 9 took me by surprise when it came out for being unexpectedly awesome. Let's hope lightning strikes twice!

After the jump - see what movies didn't make the must-see list!

PCP in Theaters - The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

So I finally got the chance to catch a film in theaters again lately, having not gone to the cinema in about two months.  And for a nerd like myself, there was really nothing else to see other than the Hobbit (part 1).  I didn't spend the extra money to see it in the fancy 48 frames per second as the showtimes in that frame rate didn't fit my schedule of when I could see the film, but from what I heard from friends who saw it in both frame rates, it was better in 24 fps.  Anyways, on with the review!

The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey - 2012, rated PG-13.  My rating:  9 out of 10.

As a disclaimer, I am a huge J.R.R. Tolkien fan, having read all of his works, not just the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings.  I'm not a superfan like some people that I know that learned to actually speak Elvish, but I try and reread the Hobbit and LOTR every couple of years.  The LOTR films are some of my favorite films of all time, and I own them on DVD (both theatrical and extended editions) and Blu-Ray (theatrical versions only), so I had been following this one throughout production since they had announced that they were making it.

Just like with LOTR, Peter Jackson did an incredible job bringing Middle Earth to life.  He even expands greatly on the LOTR sets of Hobbiton and Rivendell, showing us far more of those locales than was touched on in the previous films.  From a production standpoint, in terms of sets, scenery, film score, and cinematography, this film fits right in with the previous series.  It does however have a much lighter tone, with more humor than was found in LOTR, which makes sense given that the quest isn't as serious as one to save all of the world.

Some fans of the book are upset that the novel is being expanded out into three whole movies.  I was one of those people at first, but having now seen what Peter Jackson did with the source material, I am actually glad that he made the book into a trilogy.  He is sparing no detail from the novel (unlike LOTR which did see several major cuts and was still 10 hours long) plus he is also incorporating details from the appendices in the back of LOTR, filling in a lot of the backstory of Middle Earth that is only indirectly hinted at in the novel.  Despite making the film super long, it actually works great on screen.  I loved seeing things that weren't in the book, such as how the forest came to be corrupted into Mirkwood, and how Smaug actually first conquered the dwarves' mountain in the first place, as well as what happened to the dwarves while they were exiled from their home.

All of the acting in the film is excellent, and I love Martin Freeman as Bilbo, he is outstanding in the role.  He makes me want to go catch the BBC TV show Sherlock, where he plays Watson, and I've heard great things about that show.  Richard Armitage as the Dwarf leader Thorin was also an excellent choice.  Plus all of the favorites from the LOTR series are back, including the awesome Ian McKellan as Gandalf, as well as Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, and Christopher Lee.

It is hard to give a fair rating to a film that is inherently incomplete, as it is only part one of an overall whole.  Peter Jackson is off to a great start though for the Hobbit, and I can't wait for parts two and three.

Alright, that's all for today, thanks for dropping by CRAPOLA!