After Earth (2013)

Plot:

Set in the distant future after the human race has left the earth because it has become uninhabitable, Cypher Raige (Will Smith) is a military commander who has proved to be a successful leader on too many times to count. His son Kitai (Jaden Smith) aspires to live up to his father's standards.

The movie starts with Kitai trying to complete has ranger training before has father returns from a mission to let him know he has become a ranger. His teacher decides he is not ready to become one and Kitai is devastated. Cypher returns home and tells his wife that he has one more mission and then he is planning to retire. At his mother's suggestion, Cypher offers Kitai to come along even though he is not a ranger yet. As they embark out, their ship encounters interference and crash lands on earth, a planet described as everything evolved to kill humans on site. Kitai wakes up in the wreckage to find the crew all dead and his father injured. Cypher tells his son that the ship has two beacons to use to call for help. There is one in the front of the ship, the other in the back. Cypher tells Kitai, the beacon in the front of the ship is damaged and is unusable so it is up to Kitai to embark on the dangerous earth to retrieve the other beacon and send a signal for help to come to their rescue. In the meantime, Cypher will stay in the front of the ship and offer counsel to his son to help him get through this mission across the planet while mending his legs with the emergency med kit on the ship.

My Thoughts:

I'll say this to begin with that when I see a Will Smith action movie, I want to see Will Smith do something epic. I learned that since Jaden was in it, this was not going to happen. However, this expectation is one I couldn't push out of my mind. Don't get me wrong, Jaden is great in what he does with his part, but I still was missing Will the whole time.

On top of it was the characters themselves. Look I get it, Will Smith is playing a military commando who is used to doing things by the book. I guess I really don't like the idea of the character. Its not how I picture Will Smith playing someone so emotionless and with little compassion. It was sad.

Then there was Jaden's character. With the previous roles Jaden has played, he could have played this character being stronger than it was delivered. It was devastating. I saw no development of him becoming stronger while fending on his own on the planet. He was just scared the whole time. I will say that the parts where he was shown taking his father's guidance to heart was touching, but again, I felt the character development could have been better than it was.

Also, the earth evolution seemed too ridiculous at times with massive eagles and random creatures that look like unrealistic CGI. I guess this all got explained to me at the end when at the credits it said, "Directed By M. Night Shyamalan." His movies are usually hit and miss with me. I wish I could have liked this movie because it was a Will Smith, but that didn't save it for me.

Rating:

1 Popcorn

Yes, I didn't like it. If you go in with really low expectations, then you might like it, but even then I don't think even that can redeem it. If you want to see it, I suggest on waiting till it hits the cheap theaters or redbox.

Monsters University (2013)

Plot:

Mike, a monster in grade school has dreams of becoming a full blown scare monster and work for Monsters Inc. Unfortunately, all his friends and family tell him he is not scary at all. This does not deter him. He enrolls in Monsters University and majors in the school of scaring. During his first class, he is introduced to James Sullivan, another student who comes from a family of longtime scare monsters. The class as well as the fraternities are mesmerized with Sullivan and this only encourages Mike to outperform Sullivan. At the end of the semester exams, Sullivan and Mike get into a scare off with each other due to their rivalry and while doing so accidentally knock over Dean Hardscrabble's prized scream extractor. The Dean in retaliation kicks both Mike and Sullivan out of the program and are forced to major in extractor building. Sullivan blames Mike for getting him booted out and spends the rest of the semester glaring him down.

The next semester, Sullivan and Mike are still in the extracting program and Mike is thinking of any way to get back in the scare program and finds a flyer in his room for the annual scare games competition that puts fraternities and sororities against each other. Mike volunteers himself and the least popular fraternity to participate in the competition. Dean Hardscrabble doubts he could even win and bets Mike if he wins the competition, she would let the whole fraternity of monster rejects back in the scare program, however if Mike loses, he would leave Monsters University forever. Mike agrees and the only thing keeping him back is the fraternity is short one member to be allowed to participate. Mike in desperation looks for anybody to join the fraternity and Sullivan volunteers. The remainder of the film is centered on Mike and Sully doing all they can to get back into the scare program.

My Thoughts:

It's this movie that really made me decide to start reviewing movies when a review on the radio said that this movie lacked the human quality of Monster's Inc. in reference to the absence of of Boo from the film. But I get it. This is a prequel, Boo wouldn't be alive yet. I feel there is something in this movie for everyone with references that pokes fun at college organizations, fraternity initiations, and rivalry's that are born throughout the franchise. It also does a fantastic job explaining the tie in to how Mike and Sully eventually make it to working at Monsters Inc. and becoming best friends. The ultimate theme of the film is to never give up your dreams with the focus of that being around Mike's character. Throughout the whole film he is told to not even try and that only pushes him to work harder than the rest of his classmates. This movie has something for everyone and I feel plays true to the first film and is a perfect movie to continue the monsters franchise.

Rating:

4 Popcorns

I loved this movie. The flaw I saw from it is there were parts that felt like the film starts slowing down from the natural pace you'd expect from a Pixar film. It was around these points I found myself thinking, okay, let's move on now. Apart from that, the film does keep your attention and you find a reason to enjoy seeing these characters on the screen once again.

World War Z (2013)

Plot:

In a world where the dead starts rising from their grave and martial law is declared, Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) and his family are found facing a challenge of survival. Gerry starts his average day cooking pancakes and taking his kids to school when the whole city goes berserk and they are forced to flee and fend for themselves as a wall of super fast zombies are trying to bite people. Gerry eventually escapes the mainland with his family through the help of the government and is relocated on an air carrier hundreds of miles from the mainland. Unknown to Gerry, the government only helped him and his family in exchange for his services to help them figure out a cure to the zombie apocalypse. Gerry tries to tell them that he is retired from special ops and works for the United Nations now, however the government representatives threaten to kick him and his family back off the boat and on the mainland if he didn't help. Finding no choice, Gerry enlists his services and departs for places such as Korea, Israel, and Europe to find a possible cure with a scientist.

My Thoughts:

For a summer blockbuster, it delivered in entertainment value. The action sequences are stunning and it was scary to see how fast they had the Zombies move in this film as well as how normal they looked to humans apart from the super speed. Pitt's performance was believable as well as the other cast members. You could feel the sense of urgency that the characters all had when trying to escape the zombie outbreak. My only drawbacks to this film is you can see the scary parts coming and at the end during the climax of the movie, there is a part that makes the entire audience laugh and takes away from the believable reality of the movie. I remember the whole theater laughing at that part because of how ridiculous it sounded.

Rating:

3 Popcorns

I liked the film it was enjoyable, though I wish I could have been enthralled in the story from start finish as I mentioned with climax at the end. But it is still a summer movie worth seeing in the theaters because of the action sequences and the storytelling for the most of it.

Man of Steel (2013)

Plot:

Jor-El and Faora-El of Krypton go against the Kryptonian way of life for the first time in centuries by having a natural birth in their home, rather than a scientifically engineered infant. When Jor-El's colleague, General Zod finds out, he treat's the news as blasphemy. To add to Jor-Els treacherous behavior, he ventures to the reproduction chamber and steals a stone that has all the genetic codes for the rest of Krypton's new generations and without this, Krypton cannot reproduce engineered babies.

While all this is happening, Jor-El is attempting to convince the Krypton counsel that Krypton is dying and will soon be destroyed. They refuse to believe him and so in an effort to preserve his newborn son, Jor-El builds a rocket ship and blasts him off into space. Zod comes to Jor-El's home after the rocket is launched and in rage of the genetic codes and baby being out of his grasp kills Jor-El. The authorities come and arrest Zod for insubordination and sentence him for a lifetime in the phantom zone. Zod and his colleagues are transported into a vessel that goes into cyro-sleep mode. At that moment Krypton explodes.

30 odd years into the future, Kal El also known as Clark Kent is trying to find out where he comes from after hiding his true identity all his life and the superpowers he posses. He goes to the arctic and finds a Kryptonian ship that is encapsulated in the ice. While investigating the ship, a news reporter named Louis Lane follows him in and gets attacked from a robot guarding the ship. Clark saves Louis and afterwards finds out where he comes from. Louis led out of the cave is left wondering who this man is decides to investigate where this guy comes from for a story in the paper.

Clark finally comes home and let's Martha Kent, his earth mom know he found out where he came from. At this moment, the TV dawns a message from the escapee General Zod that Kal El must turn himself in to save the planet and come out of hiding. It is at this point that Clark must decide if he should reveal his existence, or let the earth face total brutality from General Zod.

My thoughts:

This made a great reboot to the Superman franchise. I am a fan of the Christopher Reeves' Superman series, but this gives a refreshing point of view to the series. It has the Christopher Nolan Dark Knight feel to it, being somewhat darker with no real humor visible in the film. A main point of the plot is with Clark's earth father not wanting Clark to reveal his true self to the public that brings a most refreshing spin on the franchise.

The part that does seem edgy to me is the ending to this film. Though I understand why Superman did what he did at the end because he was left with no choice, it seemed very  un-superman. The other issue I was worried about going into this film is Henry Cavill as Superman. The reason is he's a Brit playing an American Icon. However, after seeing his performance and what he's done with the role, I'm convinced that the Australian and British actors are superb in any Americonic role. Apart from that, Lois Lane, Clark Kent, and Jor El are all well cast and I can't wait to see what they can do with a sequel. I am hoping for a sequel with the less known villains of Superman being used, but we'll see. Darkside is by far my favorite Superman villain and that would get me way excited for a sequel. I hope it does well at the box office so that we'll have the opportunity to see the golden age of Superman resurface and a possible Justice League movie in the future. Just hopefully Warner Brothers doesn't botch it up.

Rating: 

3 Popcorns

It was good. Some parts were a little slow starting but all in all, an enjoyable film.