Marval Movie

Kong: Skull Island was made in the same way Guillermo Del Toro's Pacific Rim was. As a love letter to they're influences and bringing enthusiasm and justice to the genre that the filmmakers loved when they were children and wanted to make the best movie they could. This works because they clearly know what it is and builds itself around that and never divulges from it. It knows that it's tongue is very firmly placed in it's cheek.

Our opening scene is a beach in 1944 where two pilots crash land. One is an American, the other Japanese, they waist no time in trying to kill each-other. Their fight becomes a chase that ends on a cliff top where they meet a giant creature that makes them and their conflict seem so puny by comparison. Then a news montage takes us to 1973, America has lost the Vietnam war and two people are seeking funding for a expedition to Skull Island.

Usually in these movies the monsters are the stars and the thing that everyone wants to see. That's still true here only they've put effort into the human characters, they have fun personalities and quips that make you like them. They're not deep, extremely troubled and complex Shakespearean characters, far from it, but they are engaging. First up is John Goodman as Randa, the one that gets the whole operation going, Tom Hiddleston is James Conrad (a play on Joseph Conrad perhaps?) a tracker that is brought in to survive the wilderness of the island. Samuel L. Jackson is a war vet from Vietnam that is carrying a grudge that America "abandoned" the war. Brei Larson is a photojournalist who's more than up for a dangerous, interesting trek, once again adding plenty of fun and personality to the mix. There are other soldiers and characters but to name them and describe them all would take-up too much space, but they're all memorable and have fun, quippy moments.

When the characters get to Skull Island in helicopters no time is wasted in dropping bombs to get the layout of the land. This quickly gets the attention of the king, Kong. This is the Kong that fights Godzilla, not the original that was the size of a house, this one's the size a skyscraper. He quickly makes quick work of the helicopters so now it's a case of survival for the people to make it out of the island alive.

Of course it is not just Kong on the island. It is inhabited with very large, very dangerous creatures. I won't spoil it buy adding descriptions of any of them, but they are quite imaginative and wildly designed.

If this movie has anything to thank beyond the original King Kong movie or the Kaiju genre it is Apocalypse Now. The filmmakers clearly drew inspiration for much of the tone and imagery used in it. Being that it's the same time-period helps, so it's not out-of-place or influence for the sake of it.

Like Apocalypse Now this comes with a very pleasing color pallet. Rich primary colors like reds, blues, greens and yellow's saturate the screen with shading of true blacks that add contrast and add that threatening tone to the whole thing. Another of the similar creative choices is the use of rock music of the time. Adding a fun vibe to the movie.

Adding once again to the Apocalypse Now channeling is John C. Riley as the solider from the opening. He is like Dennis Hopper's photographer character who has become very deranged with his time spent in the jungle among the natives. He's spent years on the island so he knows how it works so he provides helpful information to both the characters and the audience and more than a few rather funny moments.

What makes giant monsters fighting truly engaging is conveying the scale of these massive creatures going at it. All the truly big creatures move a little slower than a human would, adding gravity to what they do, also all their actions are big actions, a punch, footstep and splash is a seismic event from our perspective. Then it all has to be conveyed in big, biblical painting-like images, which these are. This movie does it's monsters justice. 

If I would have had this movie as a kid it would have been played constantly. Seeing it as an adult, it takes me back to that state of being giddy in my chair and owe for creatures unlike any that have ever existed. This movie is not the reinvention, but the perfection of the genre.

Rating: 4 stars out of 4

Lara Croft is really about the action set pieces. It has about six that where clearly in-mind when they were developing it and the rest was focused on connecting them together. So this movie's quality should be determined by how much you care about the characters in the scenarios, how well do the connections from one to the other work and how engaging are said action set-pieces.

From what has been established in the other games and how she has been represented through advertisement Lara Croft is a cunning woman that is pretty much the female Indiana Jones in terms of her being a action star archaeologist that finds herself in constantly escalating situations of peril. Her personality though? Well she's cool, that's pretty much it to be honest. That's how she has been able to be sold in so many ways and be put into so many different scenarios over the years, her character is simple and you don't need a deep complex character when you are controlling them in a video game cause you can project what you want onto them. But now that there's a movie we need to deal with it. Alicia Vikander is one of the great young stars we have right now so she would seem like the right choice. She went through months of pelatihan to get into shape for the role and it shows a few times when she gets to expose her abs, but she also runs and climbs and generally traverses like a natural. I feel she's a little too skinny to convincingly beat up these muscle bound dudes she goes up against but meh. But for the point of her personality she is more smiley and peppy than other interpretations, she cracks a few jokes and is more down-to-earth. She is also clearly very intelligent and driven, along the way she must present herself as heartfelt, bad-ass and vulnerable which Vikander is able to clearly convey with a few delicate expressions of the eyes.

The movie is filled with action sequences which range from chases to puzzles with deadlines to gunfight's to fisticuffs. The goal of the movie and the scenes are to deliver a visceral experience so the camera shakes and the sound of fists hitting heads and bodies slamming is clear and feels hard. There are many shots where Lara is on the move (something she often is in the movie) and the camera is either behind or in-front of her, like the camera operator is along for the run. It creates a sense of engagement by making us feel the momentum of the running and the turbulent nature of traversing the area.

For reasons Walton Goggins plays Mathias Mogel, the villain of the movie. He has been on the island for seven years, unable to go home until he gets the treasure he's been sent to retrieve. He has gone quietly mad, nothing too over-the-top but his eyes never blink and are very open, his voice wavers and there's never any hesitation when he kills. It isn't a great villain or a reinvention of the role but it does come with a little more control that we don't usually get.

At the ending of the movie they force in a twist which isn't even that clever and which is also a clear ploy to turn this into a franchise. The days of having standalone movies are not done but the days of having a standalone blockbuster do seem to be dead and buried, at least for now. Is is so bad to go to the theatre, buy your ticket, take your seat, be entertained for ninety minutes to two hours and leave satisfied, not knowing that you will have to be back over a year later to see the story continue? Sequels have gotten better over the years but just because they are no longer the stake in the heart for the movie doesn't mean that they are now a necessity. Well, at least the movie still works well enough on it's own.

We seem to be getting a few movies that attempt to or at least put on the facade that they are witty plot twisters when they simply aren't. There's nothing wrong with a simple, clear story telling that does it's job well. That was one of the reason why Kong: Skull Island got so much praise from me. One a technical, performance and adaptation level this movie is quite capable, go knowing that this is based on a video game so it is about making you feel like you've gone on a ride and you'll leave having felt it.

Rating: 3 stars out of 4

There are the genuinely good movies, there are also the bad movies. Then there are the movies that are not high art but put all their effort and conviction into the stupid concept and make something bold and weird, then there are the "so bad their good" movies that are such a colossal failures they become entertaining again. This movie is more of the bold and weird one, though the needle does waver between the two. It's big, it's loud and has no shame in itself and really does try and be as good as it can be without trying to make itself seem deep or complex. That's pretty nice to have once in a while.

So this is our setup. We start in space where a satellite is crashing, all the crew is dead except one, the survivor must gather special research formulas, also on-board is a test subject that was a rat but has become something else. The survivor gets out but the pod still breaks up and the formulas fall to Earth.

We now in a Gorilla wildlife reserve that houses an albino named George and his keeper is Davis. Said formulas from space crash and come into contact with George, a wolf, and a crocodile. It then warps them and makes them grow to extreme size.

As has been proven many times before and is still evidence here Dwane Johnson is a man with charisma. This movie would be so much less without him. He brings Davis Okoye to life with conviction and confidence in what he does. When he comes face to face with these large animals and knows to keep clam you believe it. He utilizes his physicality and voice to become a smooth, cool hero. But he's not a boring, serious jagoan either, he smiles and has banter.

The people behind this evil organization are Claire Wyden (Malin Åkerman) and Brett Wyden (Jake Lacy). They are the worst part of the movie. Their scenes are comprised of heavily expression dialogue and cliche villain lines. Claire is the serious one with a plan and ios decisive, while she is contrasted by her numbskull of a brother that needs everything explained to him, so she can really explain things to us. They are evil for evil's sake and bring nothing interesting to the movie. However, on a personal observation, I got an Eric Trump vibe from Jake Lacy's performance, no idea whether it was intentional or not. They need these giant animals to come to them because the formula is in their blood, so they activate a signal ontop of their skyscraper that attracts them. Thus begins their rampage, through the trees, the quarries and eventually a city.

Eventually, Jefferey Dean Morgan swander's in as Harvey Russell, an agent from an agency that he chooses not to name, possibly because it's new and super secret or another reason. He has a Texas twang to his voice and is dressed with a belt buckle with a cow on it and a pistol with a pearl handle, already you know that this is a cowboy in a government job. This is a case of you being able to tell when an actor is having immense fun in the role they're in. He probably is the one that made me laugh the most. 

There are some truly bizarre sights in the movie and you know they cost a lot of money and many hours to bring to life through the process of C.G.I. Texturing has become second nature in talking about it now, we can see all the wrinkles in the face and every hair, this time I noticed little specs of dirt in the fur too. What is the important element to focus on now is how it's used. In the early scenes, you will be much more convinced of the gorillas being there when the other animals start getting bigger and bigger, less so. But they are meant to seem artificial because this movie is entirely artificial. What they do get right is inserting character into the creatures, most of it goes to George but the others are distinct enough as well.

This does not reach the heights of Pacific Rim, Kong: Skull Island or Big Trouble in Little China which had truly bonkers concepts but brought them to life with genuine skill and conviction. As a big, dumb blockbuster it has more going for it than others. 

Rating: 3 stars out of 4

Well, this is an interesting franchise that's been started. Godzilla from 2014 was a very bad movie, however Kong: Skull Island was a cinematic highlight for me, so now we have the sequel to Godzilla that will lead to the two iconic monsters clashing. It does away with Gareth Edwards and brings in Michael Dougherty, how does all this fair?

Our entrance into this movie is a young girl named Maddison (Millie Bobby Brown), whose mother Emma (Vera Farmiga) is a scientist that is studying an enormous larva, suddenly renegade soldiers burst into their facility to awaken or steal the larva, it hatches and Maddison and Emma are taken. Cutting then to Maddison's father Mark Russell (Kyle Chandler) who's also a scientist (that's convenient!) is brought in by Monarch, the high-tech organization that specializes in dealing with these giant monsters or kaiju.

Of course, it isn't long before the main player shows up, Godzilla himself. When you are dealing with one of the most iconic pop culture figures, a cultural landmark and who is essentially a force of nature within your movie you'd better do them justice. He isn't redesigned from the 2014 version though he has apparently grown a few extra feet making him a nice even four hundred feet high. He has a simple silhouette that makes him instantly distinguishable and when we get close we can see loads of little details that I'm sure the C.G.I. team worked very hard on. He is mostly filmed from low angles and moves very slow adding gravity to him. This is an honorable and appropriate presentation of him.

Along with Godzilla, we are also treated with a few other classic monsters from the lore. We have Mothra who is (as the name would imply) a large moth-like creature who's always been humanity's defender, Rodan a giant pterodactyl essentially, and finally, there is Ghidorah Godzillas most popular and staple arch-nemesis, a dragon with three heads and able to breathe lightning.

The focus of this movie is in the right place. We are here for the monsters, they are what are on the poster and who the movie is named after. Really we need the humans to inject some, well humanity and to string along the fights and their actions, maybe even give the good ones a helping hand or a point in the right direction. focus on the monsters, with humans along for the ride.

There are some choices that are made, which I always fail to understand that for you to take a movies subject matter seriously, you need to have predominantly dark colors with a bleaker image throughout. I do understand that an element of Kaiju movies are about dealing with a natural disaster but even then you have a giant lizard that shoots out fire, it is only so serious you can take that before the filmmakers look like the silly one for trying to convince us this is serious. This movie much more earnestly embraces it's fantastical and overblown concept and gives us vivid colors for each of the main kaiju, Godzilla is blue, Ghidora is yellow and Rhodan is red. This works to make the image onscreen vibrant but also when the monsters clash so do the colors and so you can much more easily register who is who.

Again in the last movie they adopted a documentary feel to the camera work, this isn't a found footage movie so why they decided to frame these two giant monsters biting and clawing each other in such a low-grade way still strikes me as a poor choice. This movie goes in the opposite direction again, deciding to be very Hollywood with their depictions, they frame the monsters with epic majesty. Low angles and well-composed.

If you are to see this movie see it on the big screen. Every movie should be seen on the big screen, there isn't a movie that benefits from a smaller screen less sharp and reduced sound, but this is a special case. This movie is about big images and sounds, in order for you to absorb the scale of these mighty creatures and hear all the music and sound effects the movie theater is the place to see it. I would hope that's where you are seeing most of your movies but if not then do and if you plan to see this one, make sure it's on the biggest screen you can find.

Another nice touch is that they use the classic monster theme's from the original series of movies. Now if you watched the movie and were unfamiliar with the classic series then it wouldn't mean anything to you,  that's ok. But fans always like to be rewarded and recognized in some way and this is a way of doing it. Plus they are just good, distinctive tracks so why not utilize them?

This is not a deep movie. I can't really tell you what this is about below its surface. Plus there are plot elements that either don't make any sense or are just left dangling in the wind by the time the movies over. But it is entertaining and it took every bad creative decision from the previous movie, turned left and now we have a much more enjoyable, easier to see movie.

So what we have is a movie that's the third part of this cinematic franchise and doesn't require you to see the previous two, these movies are generous with not being heavily continuity focused. It is a great improvement over Godzilla though it lacks the panache and memorabilia of Kong. Though in terms of paying respect and doing justice to these monsters it does indeed do its job. you won't need to see the previous two movies in this franchise, nor any other Kaiju movie and it could indeed turn you into a fan.

Rating: 3 stars out of 4

We are ten years into these MARVEL movies, in them, we have been to so many nations, outer space and loads of variations of magical/science fiction cities. In order to stave off repetition and boredom, they need to diversify and add something new and have each main character have their own dynamic so each is distinct and remains interesting. With Captain Marvel, it gives us something that really shouldn't have taken over ten years to reach, a movie with a woman as the lead and a unique aesthetic in setting it in the nineties.

Being that this is the first movie to be released post-Stan Lee's passing they open this movie paying homage to the prolific creator, with his image and quotes sprawled across the opening sequence. Usually, this opening segment is filled with images of the characters from the comics or the movies along with bits of the script, now it tips its hat to the man that made most of it possible. As is traditional he also makes his brief cameo within the movie itself.

We open the movie on a distant world where an alien space soldier named Vers wakes from her dream. This is an alien planet but the inhabitants look human, at least most of them, her commander Yon-Rogg (Jude Law) looks very human except for his eyes. They assemble their team and go off to combat the latest Skrull threat. Skrull's are green-skinned aliens, in their original form, they are shapechangers, which leads to much tension and generally being careful who your really talking to. They land on a planet to combat them and while the shooting of blasters is going on the Skrull have purple blasts while the Kree are green so you can tell which blast is coming from which team and their direction. While these segments are playing out it feels and looks like a none too impressive episode or even one of the dull movies of Star Trek.

During this skirmish, Vers is captured and the Skrulls are probing her mind for essential information. She breaks free with the help of her enhanced strength and plasmablasts she can shoot out of her fists. She then crashes lands on, where else, the planet Earth. But not in the present but in the nineties. Following close behind her are some Skrull's which will cause a bother and so the real adventure begins.

For her powers, she comes with the regular assortment of heightened superhuman abilities, very strong, tougher skin, heightened reflexes. But primarily she is able to shoot plasma beams from her hands when making a fist. The energy themselves look like flames that have been converted into water that flow in anti-gravity. It's a distinctive, ethereal and recognizable look for the power.

MARVEL has enjoyed much success with a very wide range of characters, but this is the first one to be helmed by a woman. This is a big deal and the marketing departments have been trumpeting it well but within the movie they do the best thing they can, they don't make a big deal out of it. Yeah, there's no obvious patriarchy that keeps this girl down, none of the other women are making direct statements about "Girl Power" these are just heroes, villains and even just people doing what they do. Yes, she does encounter some sexism within the movie but it's nothing that wouldn't really feel out of place in a movie set today. People like a character for being a character first and their gender second.

Being that it is set nearly twenty years in the past and something strange is happening a familiar face turns up. Nick Fury played as he always has been, by screen legend Samuel L. Jackson, but looking more like he did when Pulp Fiction came out that he does currently. MARVEL and Disney seem to have been practicing and slowly perfecting the technology to digitally make their actors look younger, it seems like this was the pinnacle that they were building towards the whole time. An entire movie where they take a man in his seventies and turn the clock back to him being around forty-five. He still sounds almost exactly as he did back then and still moves very spry for a man of his age so there is nothing to subtract from the performance. I know that this isn't what Samuel L. Jackson looks like now and if I didn't know that I would have been fooled. Apparently, you can regain your youth, through the help of hundreds of hours of digital manipulation and a few hundred million dollars.

Brie Larson has proven herself as a great talent in movies like Room and Kong: Skull Island where she actually doesn't need to speak much because she is able to communicate so beautifully clearly through her face. Her she does her best work by not speaking and the playful banter between her and Jackson, but there are moments where she has to dramatically shout science fiction gobbly-gook and it falls flat. This is a shaky performance, as a whole, it is solid enough but this is clearly either an actor being taken out of their comfort zone or unclear directing.

One of the main elements of this movie is memories. Captain Marvel's past is unclear to her and she must delve into her memories and piece it together. There is a segment where they have fun with putting a character in the middle of one of her old memories while outer forces play it back and forth.

So now we know who was teased at the end of Avengers: Infinity War and are now ready to go into Endgame. We have a movie that it true the established formula that MARVEL has tried and tested for ten years and give us a unique visual style and character. It is not an outstanding achievement but as an action movie with superhero antics going on this one is plenty of fun.

Rating: 3 stars out of 4