2056 - Total Recall (original)

That's better!  Despite it's datedness, this film still stands up - the sci-fi isn't as corny as you'd expect it to be because it's got such a distinct style.  There's something mildly trashy about it with three-breasted hookers and hooker dwarves with machine guns and a young mutant Dean Norris.  But the thing that makes this miles ahead better is that the story is simple - the poor people are being screwed over by the rich - smothered by the lack of air that the rich are keeping, and can easily provide for them.  In this film it makes sense why Quaid was kept alive - I'm not entirely sure that it was in the remake.  The reason this also works is because we see physical evidence of what Arnold is fighting for - to let people breath and live - we keep cutting back to them to get a sense of the importance of his mission.  It means something for us and therefore we root for him... this film is fun and entertaining.  Both versions are on Netflix if you want to do a comparison - though I strongly suggest just spending time with this one - the remake is mostly's meh - though I quite liked how they better integrated Kate Beckinsale's character - a small victory in that non-film....

2055 - Total Recall (remake)

Meh.  Why the hell remake this film?  (then again, why the hell did I watch it?  and what was I expecting?).  The original was one of my favorite films from childhood - I remember rewatching it over and over.  This just feels so disposable.  Though now I'm going to rewatch the original.... maybe it doesn't hold up as well as I remembered.  This one however just feels kind of empty and pointless.  Meh.

2050 - Wreck It Ralph

I loved the premise of this when I first saw the trailer, but I have to say that I totally under-estimated this film.  I realize that John Lasseter has his hands in it, so it should be no surprise, really.  The story here is super fun, super tight, and ridiculously smart.  The story turns are very sophisticated and keep me curious where everything was going.  I enjoyed this as much as my son, and maybe even a little bit more.  This one is an easily recommended, especially if you’ve got a kid who enjoys his video games.

2047 - Guardians of the Galaxy

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is getting to the point, for me, where it’s akin to the work done in the heyday of Pixar.  And given that Disney owns both them and now Star Wars, anyone who owns stocks in the Mouse are certainly going to be happy in the upcoming years.

Like most people I didn’t know ANYTHING about Guardians of the Galaxy going into this.  And I came out wondering if this was my favourite of the Marvel side-franchises.  It is so goddamn good.  It’s the most fun I’ve had in a Marvel film, including Avengers.  It starts off with a huge gut-punch - which hit me especially hard because of personal reasons - and then it involved into something that was sweet and funny and grand.  Chris Pine is an all-star, and Bradley Cooper makes Rocket more than just a wise-talking side-kick.  

My only complaint, and this is more a big-world question than anything else.  The villain’s lair/world(?) just feels so small and empty.  He wants to destroy things, a planet, but I never really got a strong sense of why - outside of the fact that it was evil and he’s evil.  If I have a complaint with this film it’s that the villain was a pretty weak cardboard cut-out - zero personality besides ‘bad’.  So that was the weak part of the film for me - that said the rest of the ensemble is so delightfully entertaining that it doesn’t hurt the overall movie like it should.  

Keep up the good work, Marvel.  The way you weave all your properties together is such a clever way of insuring viewership - but it’s also rewarding for the audience.  Keep up the quality and I’ll keep showing up.  

2044 - Oldboy

It’s always dangerous territory to remake a much celebrated film - especially one that has such a twist ending as Oldboy - and then to do nothing new with the twist… it’s a bizarre choice given that the only real audience for this film is fans of Spike Lee and people who have seen the original - and that is likely the same audience, I imagine.  So I guess my first question is - what the hell was the point of this?  Stylistically this film doesn’t even touch the original - there’s nothing super special or unique happening here outside of Lee’s own version of the “hammer fight” sequence.  It might have looked a bit flasher, but the original still takes the cake by a long shot, as does the entire film.  Who knows, maybe if I’d seen this without the original I’d have a different opinion - but it’s just a bit too much of a rehash.  Shame.

2041 - Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Andy Serkis - you are easily one of the most underrated actors of your generation.  I re-watched bits and pieces of the first instalment of this re-boot to head into this and I have to say that this is shaping up to be one of my favourite franchises.  I think these two films blow the water out of the original series.  Not just because of the effects, although to be fair it’s the technology that allows for the emotional layer that makes it truly special.  

What’s really lovely about this second chapter is that we care about both sides of the camp. It’s not humans or apes - both parties are good and bad.  It’s real and honest in that sense.  We’re conflicted and have no idea how it’s going to go.  

I don’t want to say much more, because it’s best just to experience this all for yourself.  This is the best blockbuster I’ve seen this summer, and I can’t wait to see it again.  If you have absolutely any interest in this film do yourself a favour and see it on the big screen.

2038 - The Green Hornet

I remember when this came out and I think it was crapped on to a fair degree.  I started watching this in the background but found myself pretty drawn in my how much fun it was.  Seth Rogen isn’t doing anything out of the blue for him, but through this kind of character it’s a unique spin on it.  I love Kato - I knew nothing going into this about the Green Hornet, so I don’t know how awesome he was in previous incarnations, but him here is a lot of fun.

Christoph Waltz is ridiculously funny here, he plays a properly menacing villain who has a funny gimmick going on that sustains the film really well.  Cameron Diaz feels like the odd-man out here, and I’m not sure why - it’s the only piece that feels a bit off for me.  The action and set pieces are pretty great, and there’s a solid story at work here amidst the chaos.  I liked it, in fact, I’d show up for a sequel, though that seems unlikely given Seth Rogen’s feelings about how it all went down.  

2034 - Edge of Tomorrow

From the guy who made Swingers… Sorry, I can’t help but say that in my head whenever I see a Doug Liman film.  I have to say that I don’t really have a strong love or hate for Tom Cruise.  With few exceptions (Magnolia, etc…) I find that Tom Cruise is pretty much Tom Cruise in most things - not a bad thing, but nothing to get super excited about.  This is one of his most fun roles to date - a serious action movie that doesn’t take itself super seriously.  It’s Groundhog Day as an action sci-fi film.  I love that we get a combination of seeing him stumble through the ‘repeat’, but then also seeing sequences where he’s clearly done this several times, and watching Emily Blunt be the ‘fresh eyes’ each time is ALWAYS enjoyable.  She’s a powerhouse and a fantastic edition to the action lady group.  You can have your Angelina Jolie’s (for the record, I like Jolie) - but give me Emily Blunt any day and I’m a happy man.  I also quite enjoyed Bill Paxton here, and I’m often so-so about him.  

If you’re up for a smart and fun action flick, this one doesn’t disappoint at all.  Well worth seeing, especially in the theatre.

2032 - 22 Jump Street

This could very well be one of the most self-referential and meta films of all time with how aware it is of the conventions of this type of film, but also with it being a sequel.  It borderlines between being very funny and sharp to being a bit too-much at times, when really we want to get a little more invested into the story and characters.  If I have a complaint about this film it’s that it spends more time trying to be clever than it does just being a fun flick - which is not to say it’s not a fun flick.  Lots of laugh out loud moments.  Jonah and Channing are charismatic as hell and a really awesome team together.  The film ends with a suggestion of this franchise going on forever and I think I could be lured back to a third adventure for sure.  I didn’t realize that it was the same filmmakers that did Lego Movie (which I rewatched AGAIN with my son this afternoon).  It’s got a similar energy and tone, which is interesting.  

Bottom line - if you liked the first one, this one will not disappoint at all.  

2024 - Tower Heist

I don't have a heck of a lot to say about this film - it boasts a hell of a cast, sadly they've very under-used in a film that promises a lot of fun and it just kind of.... bland.  As far as heist films go this is pretty underwhelming - even the heist itself is kind of boring - and the scale we'd expect to see on a television show these days, hardly worthy of a big blockbuster action comedy.  I don't mean to crap on this film, I didn't hate it by any means - I was just hoping for something a little more entertaining.  Alas.

2016 - X-Men: Days of Future Past

What I think is really unique about the X-Men series is how they've opened up the world, and technically done a reboot, but all the while still being able to use it with what they've done before.  This film is the ultimate bridging of everything we've seen in X-Men up to this point and it starts to put other pieces together.  Having Striker be part of the mix was great fun, as was seeing pretty much everyone from this world together in one film.  The story was strong - it was a little heavy on over-the-top action towards the end - but it also featured one of the best sequences of the entire series with Quicksilver set to Jim Croce's Time in a Bottle.  I won't ruin it for you - it's fantastic.  The film is full of fun references, including one to JFK being a mutant himself - which got a laugh (in a bad way) from the packed audience I was in.
What I most love about this instalment is that it used a classic X-Men story to find a clever way of fixing the sins made by X3 and anything else they want to tidy up.  They're now able to move forward pretty much however they want - which is really quite refreshing.  Could be the best film of the series, actually.  I dug it a lot.

2013 - Godzilla

I have to admit that I'm not super familiar with the history of Godzilla in cinema outside of the pop culture stuff that most people know.  I have to say that I found this to be pretty darn entertaining.  What I think was really amazing about the direction of this film was how well the POV of various people was used super effectively during our set piece to ground us in something and show us what this really means to be people outside of it rather than just being destruction for the sake of it.  Having Godzilla pitted against other monsters and being more of a heroic role was a much more solid choice than having him be our villain.  As you can imagine this film has it's fair share of hokiness, as some of Cranton's over the top pleading can attest - but on the whole it's entertaining, and while teasing a fair share of them, doesn't fall into the cliche these films often live in.  I loved the subtle way Godzilla was shown, especially through fighting - keeping us in other characters POV was really important for those sequences as well. Over-all - really well done and entertaining!

2010 - I Declare War

I’ve wanted an excuse to check out this film for a while, and it’s in the wheelhouse of something I’m noodling with so I gave it a look see.  Let me start by getting the worst out of the way - the entire cast is made up of children and so there’s a range of performances here from really quite good to pretty one-note.  That said, given the type of film it is there’s a lot of forgiveness.  What starts off as a friendly game of capture the flag turns into something much more grown up in this really clever blend of coming-of-age story mashed up with a war film.  Right down to the sticks transforming into guns in the children’s minds there’s a lot of cleverness going on here.  It’s a surreal look at childhood imagination, and it goes the route of treating children as children and not making anything overly cute, but being honest about what kids are really like warts and all.  For me the only real flaws are a few iffy performances from the kids, the material might get a bit heavy handed at times - but it’s fitting for the kind of film it is, and while I’m sure it’ll bother others I was fine with it.  This film is available on iTunes and hopefully Netflix soon - it deserves some more eyeballs!

2009 - Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

I love this film, and welcome any chance to revisit it.  It's funny, a conversation about this film has come up a few times over the last week or so so I really wanted to check it out.  Also, anything Kaufman related is worth spending time in.  I love any kind of film that has an element of mystery to it with an unreliable narrator, and this is one of the tops.  For those who don't know it's a bio pic about Chuck Barris who was a television game show producer who wrote an autobiography about having been an assassin for the CIA - in reality no one knows if it's true or not, and this film is an adaptation of that book.  It's so fucking good.  Sam Rockwell is one of my favorite actors, and he's surrounded by pure talent in this film.  If you haven't ever seen this it's a shame and should be rectified.  I love it so hard.

Richard Stark's Parker - Vol 4: Slayground

I have to say that this is two in a row in terms of Cooke's adaptations of Parker that failed to impress me.  It's a bit saddening given that it was because of Cooke that I really took notice of the character and world.  In this edition especially the book is far superior to the graphic novel.  The novel was taught with fantastic suspense, where this one just feels like we're waiting around to see how well he get out of this scrape.  It's underwhelming, sadly.  If anyone out there reads this and loves it - please do me a favor and suss out the source material - likely available at a public library near you!

Richard Stark's Parker: Vol 3 - The Score

This might be the first time where I found the graphic novel version didn’t quite live up to my memory of the original novel - though it’s been awhile since I read it.  That said, it’s still a ton of fun.  This just felt like more of a coles note of a larger story.  It could be that I knew what was going to happen, but I found this lacked any real tension.  As always the artwork is goddamn beautiful and the writing is on par with the source material, but if you want the full breadth of this really fun story then you’re going to have to go back to the source.  I also just picked up the next graphic novel Slayground, and it’s…. thin… which worries me a bit since that’s such a great story.

I don’t meant to slag this book, I think if you’re just reading Parker in this medium then it’s just fine - but I’m a bit of a Parker nerd, so I found it just mildly disappointing.

2001 - The Amazing Spider Man 2

You can likely tell from my photo selections the aspect of the film that I'm most into.  In my defence though, the chemistry between Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield is solid and unique.  I'm a big fan of Emma Stone and she brought a LOT to this series.  In fact, that's the story line that absolutely worked pitch-perfect through-out this and the previous film.  Without going into spoiler details, it's a beautifully worked out love story.
I liked how this instalment dug deeper into storylines and the past.  Electro is a pretty lame villain, and Rhino (I assume this is the third film) looks to be equally lame.  Given how strong the Gwen Stacey and Peter Parker stuff is, it almost feels as if someone else is writing the scenes involved any of the villains talking - their dialogue is so on-the-nose and cliched and.... often terrible.  It doesn't ruin the film, but it pulls you out in key moments and I did have the odd eye roll.  I like the surprise of Green Goblin at the end, but he's such a big thing that it felt short changed - those we haven't seen the last of him at all, so there's that.
I think I liked this better than the first for a few reasons, and as such it's absolutely worth trying to catch while it's still in the cinema.  Enjoy!

2000 - The Amazing Spiderman

Late to the game with this one, and hoping to check out the new one tomorrow evening.  I was pretty damn impressed here.  I like the redo on the origin story.  I never truly loved Tobey Maguire in the part, and I love what they do with Andrew Garfield here - he's charismatic and nerdy in an honest way.  His chemistry with Emma Stone is pretty goddamn great as well - their first kiss scene is the kind that could go down in the history of cinema as part of the great first kisses.  The Lizard isn't a great villain, but I like the idea of using a small villain to help build set up the world for us to play in, and set the stage for things to come.  Over-all a smart fun action flick - looking forward to seeing how the world builds into the second one.

1984 - Django Unchained

Despite it’s terrible subject matter this film is still just a shitload of fun.  I’m not a big fan of violence, but when it’s done in the cartoon style that Tarantino does it, I dig it enough.  This is my first re-watch of it and I have to say that I still might stand by my previous statement that this might be my favourite Tarantino film, or at least the one I find most complete and captivating.  At least the most since Pulp Fiction.  I find he has fewer indulgences here that he can’t rely on pop culture and it works for the best.  It’s a beautiful looking, acted, and written film.  Performances out the whazoo and a lot of stuff that’s just a shit load of fun.

1983 - Olympus Has Fallen

Wanted to watch something mindless in the back ground as I got some work done, and this fit the bill quite nicely.  It wasn’t exactly commanding my full attention - but there seemed to be a whole lot of flash and not a whole lot of substance in terms of the who, what, why, etc… Although is that really what this kind of film is about?  The action sequences move along nicely - but it’s all just set pieces for the sake of it - lots of big explosions with little meaning - so all well and good if you’re into that sort of thing.  Bring me a character story amidst an action film.  This was good old fashioned cowboys and indians.  Didn’t love, nor hate it.