Oh, the joys of a quality summer blockbuster! Director Guillermo del Toro is one of my favorites and I’ve been waiting for Pacific Rim for quite some time. It met my expectations.

In the not too distant future, a dimensional rift opens at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. Massive monsters emerge from this rift, demolishing everything in it’s reach. After 4 of these beasts emerge to rampage and kill within a few years time span, the citizens of Earth ban together to create the “Jaeger” project to defend the planet . These giant, man piloted robots prove to be far my effective than military strikes. So much so, that the robots and their pilots become superstars on the world stage. Things look good for humanity as each “Kaiju” that appears is crushed by our Jaeger’s. But then things take a turn for the worse. The Kaiju become bigger and more advanced and appear more frequently. Jaegers start losing their fights.

Raleigh is a pilot of one of the Jaeger’s, “Gipsy Danger”, along with his brother (it takes 2 human pilots to manage a Jaeger). They are on the front lines when the tide turns, Raleigh watches and experiences his brother die right in front of him during battle. Raleigh leaves the program for many years until his old boss comes knocking. The Kaiju are winning and Raleigh is needed for one last desperate push to end the war for all: the rift must be closed.

The movie is set up very quickly and smartly from the very start of the movie. We are quickly brought up to speed with what’s going on, the technology behind the Jaeger’s and what’s at stake here. The rest is the trip to save the world. Putting the teams together, coming up with a plan to close the rift and then going on the last mission. Of course the Kaiju have other plans and some of the best action scenes unfold in front of your dazzling eyes. The scale and visceral impact is just staggering. The SFX are world class, top of the line, Oscar worthy caliber. Everything looks amazing. The designs of the Jaeger’s and Kaiju are so cool. The animation is shockingly good. It looks and sounds so real that this insanity is totally believable.

It’s a very straight forward and concise story that’s got goofy characters, military machismo and buck wild action pieces. Some people say it’s stupid and too simple, but I don’t agree. I like the vibe that the movie establishes and keeps. It’s a lot like watching a quality anime, just enough believability and spirit to keep it fun but cuts a lot of unnecessary and insulting garbage that bogs down many other movies in this genre (looking at you Transformers). It all hums along and works with the added lore that is discovered as it progresses.

I had so much fun watching Pacific Rim. It’s a love letter to Guillermo del Toro’s youth, the monster and science fiction movies that shaped his creative eye and made him want to become a film maker. Godzilla, just about every mech based anime and manga get a nod to the inspiration of Pacific Rim. Using those past works as a frame, del Toro has gleefully made his own sand box filled with gigantic toys and invites you to come play with him. It totally sucked me in and I was smiling and laughing along watching the pilots pump their legs and gyrate around, their Jaegers matching every move to crush evil into chum. If I was 10 I’d say this is the best thing I’ve ever watched in my entire life.

Cloud Atlas is a tough movie to sell in a trailer. Marketing struggled to explain it as this movie kinda floundered in theatres.

Essentially, it’s the story of the human spirit spread across multiple life times. Reincarnation is in full effect here as we see people meet up life time after lifetime. They don’t necessarily remember each other and they aren’t the exact same people. Our energy never completely leaves Earth, it comes back and is often tied to the same energy that it traveled with a lifetime before (for better or worse).

It’s tough to really explain Cloud Atlas fully as it is complicated. The timelines jump back in forth between many people that live through 7 lives so it can be a challenge to keep track of everything and everyone. Each time and place is labeled at the start of the journey, but it’s never displayed again. The times are very different so it’s easy to visually keep everything separate, but there is a lot to take in. They stories are carefully thought out and cut, it’s up to you to keep up which I think could lose a lot of people. It is a long movie.

I found it to be an uplifting journey though. There’s a lot of human struggle, love, life, death, fear, injustice and evil. You see people do terrible things for various reasons (through various rationalization to he time) but one big focal point is the eternal struggle of good versus evil. Slavery, social strife, the powerful and greedy dominating the landscape. But it can be changed, it can take just one person to decide enough is enough and stand up to turn the ship the other way.

It’s a visually striking movie, as the Wachowski’s are known for. The future New Seoul in 2144 (I think that’s when it was, I may be wrong) especially stands out. It’s a heady movie that’s not for everyone, but I think it’s worth checking out. It probably works better at home where you can feel most comfortable and digest it in chunks if need be. It’s a movie you can watch multiple times and get more out of it every time, picking up all the threads and tying them together easier and faster as it goes along.

I wasn’t too sure of what I was going to see out of Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers. With a title like that, one can expect young debauchery in the flat, sun baked lands of Florida. While there’s an abundance of debauchery, it’s a bizarre and rough coming of age story for the four female friends who anchor the movie.

The big deal over this movie was initially in it’s casting. Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens are Disney kids and these roles are far from the lands of the Mouse Club. There’s drugs, sex, violence and plenty of cussing. The girls are in bikinis for basically the entire movie and the movie isn’t afraid or shy of showing off bare flesh. It’s a really weird movie and it took me some time afterward to really understand what I had watched.

Spring Breakers is shot almost in a documentary style. A lot of hand held camera work, close ups and neon lighting (hello, Florida). It feels like you are a fly on the wall, watching these girls coming face to face with the darker side that lurks in life. The editing pushes this as dialog is often repeated, time is pulled and pushed around mimicking the intoxication of the characters.

The initial push for the girls to go to spring break in Florida is to get the hell out of town. Break the monotony and boredom of their school lives, go on an adventure, meet new people, see new places and experience real life. To explore and see what’s out there. In their desperation to scrape up enough money to get to Florida, Candy, Brit and Cotty rob a local restaurant. This is the first push into the darkside, which shocks Faith but she goes a long with it to be with her friends. After all, adventure awaits!

Once in Florida, the party never stops. Everything is going according to plan, until they get into trouble. This shakes Faith and then when they meet Alien (James Franco) she gets completely spooked. This starts the division of the friends. Lines are crossed and the soul checking begins. While these girls started as very close friends, traveling as a pack, they are individuals who by the end clearly see the world and its “opportunities” differently.

James Franco is really great in this, Alien is such a character and Franco really enjoys playing what can only be described as a dirt bag. He was easily my favorite part of the movie. I thought I’d like this movie more, but I found it to be surprisingly boring. There’s a lot slow motion filming that just makes everything drag on more than it needs to. It never feels like much is going on or being side, it’s like a haze of distant temptation hanging in front of you the whole time (which is probably the point). Plus, the final scene was too unbelievable to enjoy. More meandering than I’d like to see in any medium, Spring Breakers left me feeling a bit cold at the end.

Every so often I stumble upon a really great movie I’ve never heard of before. I added Cell 211 to my Netflix queue some time ago after seeing the trailer. Working my way through the list, Cell 211 finally graced my DVD player.

Juan Oliver is a young man who just got a job as a prison security guard. Looking to make a great first impression for his new bosses, he goes to work a day early to learn the lay of the land. Turns out he picked a really bad day to that has he gets trapped in the prison when a mutinous riot breaks out. To save his skin and insure that he sees his pregnant wife again, Juan manages to trick the inmates into thinking he’s been incarcertated for 19 years as a convicted murderer.

Cell 211 is one of the best foreign movies (Spanish to be precise) I’ve seen in quite some time. The concept is great and the movie manages to stay grounded and believable for the most part (more on this later). It’s really carried by the two man actors Alberto Ammann (Oliver) and Luis Tosar (Malamadre, the leader of the prison riot) who are both fantastic. They have great on screen chemistry, their conversations are always great. It’s a weird game of cat and mouse as Malamadre doesn’t really know about everything he’s dealing with. It’s a really well made and paced movie. It looks great, the pacing is terrific, and the story has many interesting and unexpected turns to keep everything sharp and entertaining.

It’s not a prison break movie, it’s more of a political bend kind of picture. There are ETA prisoners (Basque terrorists) being held in the facility who are basically a political time bomb. Their lives are worth a lot more than any of the other prisoners, so these guys basically have political hostages to use as leverage (or a quick death if anything happens to them). With lives across borders also at stake, Oliver has to work even more carefully to keep the peace and get out alive.

It’s not a perfect movie though. While Malamadre is a terrific character, he’s presented a little too softly. He’s the leader of the prison block, but you never really see why. Sure he threatens people left and right, but everyone around him jumps to his every whim. This is slightly countered by some of his lieutenants pulling string behind his back, but Malamadre is way too trusting for the kind of person and position he’s in. He becomes fast friends with Oliver who was never seen or heard of by these guys until the riot starts. Oliver makes many bold moves for a new guy with “one murder” as a wrap sheet. Most of the guys in these block are complete nutters who wouldn’t be intimidated by that in the least. Malamadre does threaten Oliver once, but the guy pretty much gets to be suspicious as much as he pleases.

That said, I really liked Cell 211. A great, thrilling movie that I highly recommend. The only thing that would hold someone back from watching this is hating to read English subtitles. Aside from that, go all in.

There is nothing quite like a great, wild comedy. It’s a tough genre to make really well but in recent years the Judd Apatow crew has been able to turn in some really memorable stuff. This Is The Endis the wildest and craziest movie in recent memory.

From the central minds of Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg, This Is The End is the story of the end of the world, as seen in Los Angeles. To be more precise, James Franco’s house during a party. It’s the true end of days and watching this go down with more celebrity cameos and comedy guys of my generation than you can almost count made this movie seem a bit more special to me. It’s a crazy cast with all funny guys playing themselves, turned up a notch. Just seeing the likes of Danny McBride mock Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson, Seth Rogan and Jay Baruchel as each other is a scream. There’s a certain amount of real world weight that really works here, it kind of feels like you’re watching a documentary.

While the movie cranks up the crazyiness at every turn (a ton of horrible deaths, absurd and backstabbing behavior, hell spawn walking the Earth and demonic possession!), Jay Baruchel keeps things grounded compared to everyone else. While Seth Rogan holds down the good vibes too, Jay is more unknown and that let’s him stick more to the honest straight man. Now everyone isn’t perfect, which the movie explores, but it’s Jay the sees the movie through starting with his LA visit to hang out with Seth.

Describing any of the funny parts would really ruin the movie as most of it needs to be seen to be believed. That said, the cameos are some of the best parts. Michael Cera steals every scene he’s in, Emma Watson is a real treat to see in a movie like this and there’s a few people they kept a secret that leads to great gags. It’s a movie that deserves and revels it’s R rating so be aware that there is horror violence, adult (haha) situations and a boat load of cursing. It also helps to know the actors, you’ll understand the characterizations and absurdities right away which I think makes the movie work so well.

I had a great time watching This Is The End, made better watching with a big crowd. I’m pretty amazed that they wrote such a movie and got major funding for it. There is some really fantastic special effects that really helps sell the end of the world to the audience. Congrats to the cast and crew for making such a great movie.

I don’t have much to say about Argo. It’s so good that it stands fine on it’s own. The Hollywood-ized telling of the 1980 secret joint CIA and Canadian rescue mission of six American fugitives in Iran. Six US diplomats manage to get out of the US Embassy during a riot (the others were taken hostage for over a year) and take cover with the Canadians. With time running out, a wild plan about a fake movie (Argo) being filmed in Iran is hatched. Send one “Canadian” guy in with the front of scouting for a sci-fi movie and return with his “Canadian” crew. It’s a crazy, brilliant idea.

Argo is an award winner for a reason. It’s a top notch, super engaging movie. Every bit of it is great, casting to production, top to bottom. Really well shot, excellently paced, just a terrific movie. Highly recommended.

I’m really not the best person to judge anything Star Trek because I’m pretty apathetic to the whole franchise. Then again that might be of some help.

I enjoyed the 2009 reboot. Fun little sci-fi picture. Looked good (ode to the lens flare), great cast, good story and acting with enough nods to the franchise past to keep everyone smiling. Now the sequel comes along and I find it to have all of the same qualities. Into Darkness has a much better villain with Mr. Benedict Cumberbatch devouring each scene he is in. Since it’s a sequel everything is kicked up a notch. More at stake, grander action set pieces. It all works well, I really like the set design in particular and the SFX are top notch.

A lot of hate from the Trek purist comes from an apparent “that’s not homage, that’s a rip off” on the writers part. I know very little about Star Trek lore so I’m left out in the dark in this regard (which probably helps me like the movie more). But, I gotta say there seemed to be a lot more impersonations in this one. The first movie, the actors played their characters with a certain understanding of what was done before them, but also made it their own. Here, things got out of hand (I’m looking at you Karl Urban). There is a lot of lazy writing going on in this flick actually. The good guys get a lot of convenient ways out of trouble. Things just seem to fall just right into place in almost every single encounter. There’s some goofy editing too. For example, someone says “we have 3 minutes to do this or we’re dead!” and a lot more than 3 minutes go by. Later, a ship is careening into Earth and if they don’t get control quickly, they’ll be burned alive by the Earth’s atmosphere. They get power back and hit the breaks about 200 feet above the clouds. Yeah, sorry, you didn’t make it. How did that get through the common sense department? On a more goofy note, we get a glimpse of the always enjoyable Alice Eve in her underwear and it looks exactly like what’s sold today. We figure out space travel but no advancements in undergarment tech in the next 300 years (at least they are consistent, Uhura was rocking underwire in the last movie)?

Good start to Summer 2013 movies.

Tom Cruise and sci-fi mix really well. Check out TC’s resume and you will probably agree. I went into Oblivion pretty much on faith that Cruise picks neat sci fi movies to be in. The idea is cool, it looked neat, so why not go for it.

Around 2077 aliens come a knocking and give humanity quite the beating. Our moon in destroyed which puts the Earth’s environment into chaos; earthquakes and tsunamis ravage the land. Then they land for a more hands invasion. Humanity manages to fight back, using what seems to be every nuke we have to win. But the Earth is devastated, it’s inhospitable for man, so those that make it through alive settle on Titan, one of the moons that circle Saturn. Jack and Victoria are stationed on Earth, taking care of the drones that protect the huge machines that sit in the ocean to generate power for humanity on Titan. In time, the Earth will heal and man will be able to come home.

Jack and Victoria have been stationed on Earth for a number of years in contact with Mission control, who help monitor and protect the assets on Earth. They are a few days away from being retired from their shift. Jack (Tom Cruise) is a technician, he can fix the drones that zoom about, so he gets to leave the platform in a cool flying craft that he and Victoria live in and operate out of (Victoria never leaves). When a human craft from decades ago crashes nearby, everything Jack and Victoria know is thrown into question.

Oblivion is a well made movie. Super high production; the future tech looks cool and real, there’s been a lot of thought and care put into this dystopian world. Acting is solid, music is great, the whole package. It’s a cool story too! It’s just that it’s been done before. This is just a more expensive Moon which came out a few years ago (my review). That’s the biggest downfall for me. I’ve seen this movie before, just with less action. While it’s not the exact same movie as there are a number of significant differences, but it’s easy to predict where Oblivion is going even if you haven’t seen Moon (and you should). It follows sci-fi tropes practically paint-by- number.

It’s actually a better movie if you haven’t seen Moon. I say rent it since it really is a good movie, I was just let down since it didn’t do anything new.

I’m a big fan of Danny Boyle, I think he’s one of the best directors working today. He spans a wide variety of genres, takes an interesting spin on what’s been done before and has a really creative eye with a camera. Trance fits the psychological thriller mold which is one of my favorites, so I was onboard when I found out about this flick. It let me down though and I’m not sure why.

Simon is an art auctioneer who makes the daring move to steal a multi-million dollar painting. He’s set up the heist with 4 other people and when he takes a bump to the head, he wakes up with them breathing down his neck because the painting is gone. Simon was going for the double cross but can’t remember what he did with the painting. With the help of a hypnotherapist, they try to get Simon to remember.

I really like the idea! It’s cool, offers a lot of possibilities and there is some real crazy stuff in this flick. The cast is great (I really like James McAvoy and Rosario Dawson), solid acting all around, some wild production a cool twist or two…everything I like. But it never really clicked with me. I’m at a loss as to why too. It’s well paced and I was never bored. It feels a little hollow to me, maybe I was expecting more? I’m really at a loss for words, so I’ll just say it’s worth a rental. This one snuck in and out of theatres, not many people saw it and I think more people should. It’s fun to talk about and it’s a unique movie which is always welcome.

2012 was a really busy year for Joseph Gordon Levitt! Four big movies in a row,Premium Rush being the starring action movie for him. Levitt plays Wilee, a bike messenger in Manhattan. He loves his job (he’s not the office type) and on an ordinary day until he picks up a delivery that puts a bullseye on his back from a crooked cop. The chase through the city streets is on!

It’s a cat and mouse movie with a twist that I don’t think I’ve ever seen before. JGL is great as usual, the setting is great, the chase scenes (which almost the entire movie is) are super exciting. It’s got a good set up that’s told well through a few flashbacks as the chase unfolds and it’s really well directed. Good use of POV shots, clear and smooth camera work, excellent editing. I tip my hat for the lack of shaky cam and ADD editing. I really don’t have any complaints, it’s a fun movie!

I wasn’t expecting much thinking it looked too goofy from the trailer, but I was wrong. A pleasent surprise for me, I give it a heartly recommendation.

Two romantic comedies in a row, I may beed to shuffle my Netflix queue up a bit. I put Celeste and Jesse Forever on my list because Rashida Jones is in it. I’ve liked her since her time on The Office, followed her to Parks and Rec and hearing that she co-wrote the movie made me curious to see what she devoted another part of her life too.

The writing is really, really strong. I really liked the set up, a slightly different angle to approach the relationship genre. Celeste (Rashida Jones) and Jesse (Andy Samberg) are a married couple who are seperating. But they get along like best friends which as one of their friends at dinner bluntly puts it, “is really weird.” They’ve agreed that their marriage isn’t working, but they want to remain friends and this odd holding pattern is stretching into months. The confrontation at dinner is the catalyst for the couple to move on while remaining friends. When Jesse’s life gets a sudden jump start, it sends Celeste into a sudden tail spin.

The acting and dialog really stand out well to me. It always felt like a honest story with realistic characters and situations. Dialog sounds and flows naturally through the good times and the bad. While there is some parts that feel overly convienant, it’s nothing that felt out of place or too out there to believe. Stat to finish it’s a great story that I put over Friends With Benefits in all regards. ‘Forever’ is a less cheeky take on relationships than ‘Benefits’ is, less of a rom com if that makes sense to you. I recommend it.

I’ve been on a bit of a Mila Kunis movie run lately with Ted, Oz and this little diddy. The title, Friends With Benefits says it all. Jamie (Mila Kunis) and Dylan (Justin Timberlake) are twenty something professionals who have better careers than relationships. The two meet through work, Jamie is a recruiter and gets Dylan to come cross country for a job in NYC. The quickly become friends and after lamenting about their love lives and how sex throws useless complications in, they decide to hook up with no strings attached.

There is a scene near the beginning where the two are watching a fictional Hollywood rom com and Dylan bitches about all the cliches. So of course, this rom com can’t avoid many of those cliches in its run. It’s a pretty predictable movie right down to the timing. The friendship turns into something else, they have a lot of fun together and the personal baggage each brings eventually pushes them apart. Cue regret, a dance number and a happy ending. Now there is some funny stuff in there, as I said before I love Mila Kunis and she does her part well and Justin Timberlake is…Justin Timberlake. He’s not a bad actor, he’s just JT all the time.

While Friends with Benefits does nothing new, it’s a good rom com.