Tag: Life

News

‘Annihilation’ Looks Incredible

Wannabe Movie Critic

This is the female Ghostbusters movie we all wanted.

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Writer and director to the epic sci-fi masterpiece Ex-Machina looks to be following it up with another stroke of genius with Annihilation. This movie and this trailer is shrouded in mystery and it looks like a really great new science fiction movie, something we need right now. Everything we have seen so far regarding this movie has been incredible, and for lovers of science fiction movies, this could quite possibly be their most anticipated movie of 2018.

Natalie Portman stars as a biologist who is headed into the unknown, or as it’s referred to as “the shimmer,” she’s in search of something that has come in contact with her husband (Oscar Issac), and wants some answers. She leads a team of other badass women, Tessa Thompson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez and others, into this place, where it seems the laws of nature no longer apply. Animals are cross breeding, strange plants are growing and some cool ass monsters are lurking in the darkness. Things are going to go up shit creek for these ladies, and it seems like they all won’t make it out alive. The visuals are simply stunning, but that should come to no surprise, seeing this is coming from the guy who made Ex-Machina. Portman is going all sorts of Ripley in this trailer, and she’s really pulling it off, she’s unloading her gun on god knows what, a bunch of times throughout the trailer. I’m just so intrigued by all of this, the landscapes, the creatures, what a place like this is doing on Earth, and I’m sure we will get all these answers in the movie. Trailers should leave you with wanting more, and this one certainly did it’s job. We have a real winner on our hands here I think!

Check ya later.

Reviews

Throwback Review – ‘Good Will Hunting’

Wannabe Movie Critic

I don’t care if Helen of Troy walks in the room, that’s game 6!


 

Good Will Hunting literally changed my life. The year was 2007, and I was sitting in my dorm room deciding what movie to watch, I didn’t really come to realize my love of movies until later in my life. I stumbled upon Good Will Hunting, but honestly I didn’t know much about it, I knew what it was from the infamous Oscar speech by Ben and Matt, and knew it had one of if not the best Robin Williams performance ever. So as I sat on my bed, and stared at my laptop screen for 126 minutes, I thought to myself how did I go the last 10 years of my life without watching this movie? I just remember sitting their starring down, watching Matt Damon’s; Will Hunting drives off into the distance, as he “had to see about a girl.” I sat there kind of stunned, I really hadn’t ever had that feeling after watching a movie before, I went on to watch Good Will Hunting countless times that semester and I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve watched it since, so many times in fact that I’ve almost perfected my Boston accent.

Will Hunting (Matt Damon), bad boy turned math prodigy, goes around M.I.T solving advanced math equations that only a hand few of people can solve, with pure ease. It’s more than just that though, this has a really special, raw, and unique love story, about learning that it’s okay to let people into your life, and that not all people are the same. Will’s love interest Skylar (Minnie Driver) was excellent as the down to earth brainiac, who just wanted to be loved as much as she wanted to give it. She also has one of the best pick up lines ever dropped on her in this, “well why don’t we just sit around and eat a bunch of caramels.” So many incredible lines and scenes that it’s hard for me to pinpoint my favorite one. This whole movie is just so beautifully written, and smart and has some serious real life issues going on in it. But that shouldn’t surprise anyone seeing how it won an Oscar for the writing, an underrated and unappreciated trait of great movies.

All around phenomenal performances across the board here, from the Affleck brothers, Cole Hauser, Stellan Skarsgard and clearly Robin Williams but we will touch on him later. Let’s start with the four misfits, Ben as everyone knows helped write the movie alongside Matt, and he’s come a long way since being in this movie. He’s had one of the more up and down careers in Hollywood from a bright beginning to a troubling middle act, to what he has become now. One of the best working directors today and he’s the Batman. When you think back to Ben in this, I think one scene comes to mind, when he tells his best friend Will that he’s simply to good for the life he’s living and if I’m not mistaken he says it in a more harsh way, “you’re sitting on a winning lottery ticket, but you’re too much of a pussy to cash it in.” This was a powerful ass scene, because it was Chucky who had to tell Will to get his act together and pursue a better life for himself, and that he wishes that Will would just leave one day, and not even say goodbye. The movie does a great job calling back to that scene at the end of the movie when that exact thing happens, when like every morning, Chucky heads to Will’s front door, to find it empty and he doesn’t breakdown or look sad, but rather has a smile on his face and it’s just a really touching moment. Morgan (Casey Affleck) provides the comedic relief in the film, and most of his stuff was actually improvised and that just makes it even more glorious. From him backing out of fighting because “they got snacks now,” too using Chuckie’s baseball glove for clean up. I wish the Affleck brothers would be in more movies together, especially now a days, let’s get Casey in the DCEU. Cole Hauser, who plays the classic blue-collar Bostonian with a little bit of a drinking problem to a tee. Rounding out the misfits is Damon, who shines in the lead role and is involved in the most powerful scenes in the movie. Still my all time favorite Matt Damon performance. Skarsgard as the brilliant mathematician is just an underrated actor and is always fantastic in whatever role he is playing. Just remember a difficult theory can be like the symphony, very erotic, I guess so?

Now for the main event, Mr. Robin Williams himself! First off, I’m just going to leave his clip here and watch it and remember how brilliant this man was in Good Will Hunting. The therapy session scenes are some of my favorite in all of film; Damon and Williams’s feed off one another so well, and have amazing chemistry. Who knew such powerful acting and such pure raw emotion could come from two men sitting in a room together, it’s just incredible. This was an Oscar winning performance by Robin and rightfully so, they wrote the part for the man himself. His role almost felt real, like Robin had once lived this exact life and he was just reimagining everything from his past, that’s how authentic his role felt to me. He’s had so many memorable roles in his life, but for me this will always be the one I remember most. He might be remembered for he’s comedic genius but he knew how to do drama with the best of them, and the world just simply lost this man way too soon.

Music also plays a big part, Elliot Smith does the soundtrack and it’s simply outstanding. Some haunting music is in this movie and the tone of his work blends perfectly with the sad and ominous scenes throughout the movie. Along with the directing by Gus Van Sant, who crafted such powerful and career stealing scenes, he was able to capture the words on the page and transform them into some of the best things these incredible actors have been apart of.

When it’s all said and done it’s perfect I find zero flaws in Good Will Hunting, certainly none that I can think of. For the amount of times I’ve watched it, I can never point out any flaws or have anything to nitpick about. It always puts me in a better mood when it comes on TV or I decide to watch it on Netflix, something about it just makes any bad day turn around. Not too many movies can do that for people and this is one of them. I’ll never forget that first night I watched this, and how happy I was that I stumbled across it, and it’s just never gotten old, and never will.

Check ya later,

Nate’s Movie Tour Reviews – Good Will Hunting = 100/100

 

Reviews

Recap: Movies of March!

Wannabe Movie Critic

So March is officially the start of summer blockbuster season

March was some month huh? Seriously though, 5 top notch movies were released and that’s kind of uncharted territory for such an early month of a new year. Things are changing in terms of the landscape of how movies are being distributed, with so many franchises, sequels, reboots and comic book movies, it’s hard for them to all be released in the April to August timeframe. Not saying that’s a bad thing, I enjoyed this past month of movie going, and I think we are in for a little bit a snooze-fest in April. The Fate of The Furious looks okay, but that’s honestly the one major release scheduled for April, so the theatre might go a little ligher on my wallet this next month. So in order here are the movies of March, from least favourite to favourite!

5.) Life

Alien meets Gravity! I’ve always been a fan of space movies, so I was excited when I heard Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Reynolds were going to be trapped on the International Space Station with an unknown alien life form. This movie was overly enjoyable until the ending which I found to be a major let down. Full of same old cliches that come with a movie like this, I was waiting for a curveball in this movie, but it never happened. Life ultimately failed to take any real chances to maybe try and reinvent this genre, and that was its downfall. I still had a good time with it, as it had a few scary and tense moments.

My Grade – 70/100

4.) Kong: Skull Island 

Is that a monkey? Vietnam was a crazy time, now throw is a 100 foot ape into the mix, and now it’s a party! This movie kind of had it all, and I’ve actually come to like this movie the more I think about it. Maybe it was because I was like super hungry during it (I forgot to get popcorn!) and that just made me hangry and I took it out on poor Kong, but now when I think back on it, I actually really liked this movie! Kong was awesome, and that’s all you need in a movie called Kong: Skull Island. It’s by far the best Kong we’ve got on the big screen, and I’m excited to see where they take this character, and I’m awaiting the epic throw down between Godzilla and Kong. The only fault in the movie was that there were far too many human characters. Like too many to count, and at times that really took me out of the movie. But again whenever Kong was on screen I was hooked, and he was doing really cool shit, like punching stuff, punching more stuff and punching even more stuff. You get my point, I’ve renamed it, Kong: Skull Punch Island! John C. Reilly was a hero in this movie, and stole the show!

My Grade – 73/100

3.) Beauty & The Beast 

One thing I took away from this, 3D movies suck! You have to keep your head so straight and cannot move it or you will lose focus and the screen will go blurry. That happened a lot watching Beauty & The Beast! Any who, the movie itself was fun, I had a blast going back in time almost to my childhood while I watched this. It had everything you could have wanted in a live adaptation of this beloved fairy tale. Emma Watson and Luke Evans were so incredible as Belle and Gaston, and I couldn’t believe how good they were at singing. Some of the songs felt a little monotoned but that was not a big deal at all. This movie did its job, it got me excited for future live adaptations of Disney properties, and I think that if this is the bar that is set for their future films, the future is extremely bright. Josh Gad as LeFou was the standout in this, the moment I saw that casting I knew he would be, so kudos to him!

My Grade – 82/100

2.) Power Rangers 

Been waiting an awful long time for a motion picture Power Rangers movie, because I simply refuse to acknowledge the 90’s ones because they were just horrible. It’s been about a week now since I watched Power Rangers, and one thing that I took away was these kids actually did have attitude, and that they were kind of assholes? Well at least Trini, Jason and Kimberly, it was kind of weird, Jason is just a douche and I guess he is the most suitable leader of the bunch? Besides that, I really enjoyed this movie guys, I had a blast watching it, and again it was kind of everything I thought it would be. Perfect blend of new and old, and they did a bang up job casting the new rangers. Usually known to be super cheesy and campy, this time around we find ourselves dealing with a little darker tone, and touching on some serious issues teenagers are dealing with in today’s society. To best honest, my least favourite part of the movie was when they are in their Zords. I don’t know, it just didn’t really do it for me, and I wish we could have just got them being Power Rangers a little bit longer. Could have used another 5-7 minutes of them just kicking butt in their suits, instead of being in their Zords not doing a whole lot. Small problem, but I’m certainly excited to see where this franchise goes from here. Green Ranger time baby!

My Grade – 73/100

1.) Logan 

The movie that was so nice, I saw it twice, in three days…..Some days I just stare off into space and think about this movie. Logan was just such a special movie for myself, and I know for many others. It was the perfect send off for Hugh Jackman, he gave us 17 years of being this character. That’s such a long time, it’s actually lunacy to think about it. He never complained, never quit on us and kept coming back to try and make a better movie for us fans. It’s super sad to see him go, but hopefully FOX will take some time to decide what the best approach is when it comes to recasting Wolverine. I can’t say enough good things about Logan, it had the perfect blend of great story telling, brutal violence and all around great performances. I will miss Hugh Jackman as the Wolverine, but all good things must come to an end, and there was no better way for him to go out. Logan entered my top 3 all time comic book movies, and I’m looking forward to watching it for years to come.

My Grade -97/100

So there you have it, my favourite 5 films of March! It was the best all around movie month in a long time, and I think I’m going to do this at the end of every month from here on out! Did I miss anything? What were your favourite movies of this past month? Let me know!

Reviews

‘Life’ Movie Review 

Wannabe Movie Critic

Nobody and I mean nobody drops better angry F-Bombs than Ryan Reynolds

(Sony Pictures)

In space no one can hear you scream, and in Life there was a boatload of screaming to be had. Space movies always remind me of one thing; space is scary as hell! Especially when you are trapped on the International Space Station with a newly discovered alien life form.

So aboard the International Space Station is a multinational six-member crew that is comprised of some of the brightest minds on Earth. They intercept an incoming space probe that is returning from a successful trip from Mars. They collect a soil sample, where the crew is tasked to study it, which could ultimately end up being the first evidence of life outside of Earth. The crew quickly discover that not only is this the first sign of life, but that it is “all muscle, all brain and all eye,” which sounds scary as shit if you ask me. After the organism evolves, it is given a name, Calvin, after a school in America. Calvin quickly becomes more evolved and smarter as the day’s pass, and the crew slowly begins to realize, that they might have bitten off more than they can chew. As they find themselves in a fight for their lives, they must work together to stop Calvin from reaching Earth. As they’re picked off one by one, Calvin not only evolves, it gets smarter and smarter, and the crew realizes that maybe they should have left this creature back on Mars, where it belongs.

The crew itself is comprised of an American senior medical officer, David Jordan (Jake Gyllenhaal), who has been in space for the longest period of time in human history, with just over 430 days served in space. David mostly keeps to himself, remaining quite, but when push comes to shove we find him becoming a little more of a badass. Dr. Miranda North (Rebecca Ferguson), she serves as the British Quarantine Officer, and the captain of this mission. She is in charge of the “firewall protocols” which serve as the safety plans in case anything goes wrong onboard the space station. She knows more information than the crew does, and keeps a few secrets from them as well. Rory Adams (Ryan Reynolds) the American pilot of the space station is the crews class clown, and leader of the group. Ryan Reynolds was probably the standout of the movie for me, providing us with the best scene of the movie that’s for sure. As usual, he’s a wise cracking, know-it-all something we have become accustom too in his movies. Not saying that’s a bad thing, I actually really liked his performance in Life, it was nice to see him branch out a little bit. The Japanese systems engineer Sho Murakami (Hiroyuki Sanada), the strong but silent type. Who just wants to get home so he can see his newly born daughter. The Russian commander of the mission, Katerina Golovkina (Olga Dihovichnaya) willing to step up and take charge when need be, a strong woman who’s not afraid of a little perseverance. Finally we have the crew’s biologist, a British man Hugh Derry (Ariyon Bakare) who is the most excited about the specimen on board and wants nothing more than to study it and make the human population proud. Remember this is a movie that takes place in space with a alien, these people are going to be disposable, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t start to care for them, and root for them to win. People are going to die in a movie like this, it’s just the nature of films like this. Life borrows a lot of elements from the original Alien movie, the movie that redefined the genre of science-fiction. I’m a huge Gyllenhaal fan, and I thought that he didn’t really have a whole lot to do in this, I felt that he was very underused in the first 2/3 of Life which was kind of a let down. He’s a great actor and I wish the director would have given him more to do. It felt like they just didn’t know what to do with his character at times, and being the lead of the movie it felt out of place at times. Speaking of the director, it’s Daniel Espinosa (Safe House) and he was almost the star of the movie. This is on the edge of your seat kind of suspense, with great tense moments, along with some really scary situations. Daniel did a fantastic job bringing all this together and create one hell of a landscape for the movie.  This movie has some really intense moments where I was even almost looking away (I’m a baby) but when a movie can do that, it’s doing its job. Taking place only on the space station, Daniel does a great job shooting the movie  very confined and tight, which makes for an even more enjoyable movie watching experience.

Life is a slow-burn, which means it takes awhile to get going and it takes its time for things to come together, but in the end it usually pays off. My biggest gripe for the movie was I wasn’t a fan of the ending. As the movie was winding down, I knew it only had a few outcomes to showcase, and I just wasn’t a fan of how things wrapped up, and it was an ending that didn’t really answer all the questions. Leaving the audience with a lot of “what ifs” and seeing how I don’t think Life will be getting a sequel that can be very frustrating for the movie goer. I’m not saying I knew from the beginning how the movie was going to end, but you could see all the twists of the movie happening before they actually did. Nothing ever really shocked me in Life, so I just wish they maybe threw one more curve ball at us, or maybe just didn’t follow the exact cookie cutter formula that most of these space movies follow. That doesn’t mean this is a bad movie by any means, or that I liked it less, it just means that you know what’s going to happen next before it actually happens in the movie. You spend two hours investing your time into the movie and sometimes you just want to be rewarded at the end of it, and not left scratching your head about possible outcomes or what kind of message the filmmaker is trying to get across.

Life is not a game changer by any means for the genre, but it does some things really well. This a good science-fiction horror/thriller, that people should go out and see. If you’re a fan of these kinds of flicks, then you won’t be disappointed in the outcome. Like I said it has some good performances, enough scares, and tense moments to have you on the edge of your seat in certain moments, and I thought Calvin was a pretty cool alien. It was different to see something that wasn’t so terrifying looking, as say some other monster movies, but it didn’t need to look scary, to show the audience just how much damage it could possibly inflict on the human population. I just know if they keep making movies like this I will never find myself going on a space vacation in the year 2050.

Check ya later

Nate’s Movie Tour Reviews – Life = 70/100