Review: The Expendables 3 and Semi Ode to Action Heroes!

I grew up watching 80's and 90's action movies. Arnie was king to me. I also loved Stallone, Van Damme and Seagal. They made cool action films, with the blockbusters mostly coming from Arnie and Stallone. It's difficult to explain the sense of joy I had as a kid watching their films. It was part of my culture then, and it still is, to some degree. I don't care a huge lot for the direct-to-video films they do now (mainly Van Damme and Seagal there), but, I love the idea of the Expendables. 

Notice I said the idea of it? Well, it is a great concept. Let's bring back the heroes of that time and throw them all together in a movie with some old school action. Sounds great! The first Expendables film is the best to me. It had the perfect mix of nostalgia and hard hitting action. The next 2, which includes this recent one, are still good. You were expecting me to trash it? Because I said I like the idea? Well, no, I can't trash them. Why?

Well, here is why - I don't look at these films with the expectations of the modern day action films. I want to watch these films purely because they have the stars that I grew up loving. Sure, they're old as hell, and the banter between them can fall flat, but man, it just fills me with joy to see them all together, kicking it old school! These guys aren't Expendable to me. They're my first big screen loves. They're the pioneers of action. 

Now, The Expendables 3 is fun. It's probably on par with number 2, although my memory of that is currently a bit vague (I couldn't get around to a rewatch beforehand). We've got another awesome cast, with some newbies thrown in. The newbies, are well, they're ok.  More importantly, we've got Stallone, Statham, Crews, Couture, Lundgren, Li and Schwarzenegger from the previous films, with the great additions of Banderas, Snipes, Grammer, Ford and Gibson to the 'Expendable' side of things. What a freaking cast man! 

The action scenes are well staged if a bit obvious in the dodgy cg department. The editing is also a bit choppy, but I suspect that is done to keep it at a PG level this time round. It doesn't detract from the fun too much. But, you can't help but wonder what it would have been like to see bodies actually being blown apart....oh well, it is a minor gripe. The essence of the films still remain - old school fun. There are some great references to actual life stuff for some of these actors. If you know what's been going on with some of them, then you'll get it. I thought Gibson as the villain was pretty cool. I miss seeing him onscreen.

Don't go in expecting greatness here. But, I hope you have a good time with it, like I did. Bravo to Stallone for continuing to indulge the fans.

Rating:

3 out of 5.

Review: Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Saw this film over a week ago, but haven't had time to sit and write up my thoughts for you all. Finally, Saturday morning, and I have some time. 

Ok, well, one thing for sure is, this film has stuck with me. I definitely feel an urge to watch it again - even if just to take my partner along to see it. To me, it's probably not Marvel's best, but it is certainly one of their top entries.

Chris Pratt, in beef cake mode, plays our Guardians leader Peter Quill. He's like a bounty hunter/treasure hunter/space adventurer figure, and the object he's after is what leads to him joining the others. Chases and mayhem ensues, with plenty of laughter and exciting sci fi action set pieces. I don't want to give you too much of a plot synopsis, as you can get that elsewhere, like IMDB. I didn't really know what the story was all about going into it - only what the trailers showed.

The trailer had me hooked from the get go. It was just so cool and funny. And, the music, woah! When a movie blends music into the action and story so well, you have to see it. The film itself lives up to the hype though. The soundtrack is very cool, and fits so well. I want the soundtrack - in fact, I'm streaming it as I write this up.

To me, it had a Star Wars kind of vibe about it. Peter Quill is kind of like a Han Solo for me, whilst Groot had me thinking about Chewbacca. I feel Groot, in particular, will become the modern day, almost speechless sidekick we all grow to love more and more - just like Chewie. And, like Star Wars, this is all set in a universe where alien and humanlike live together. Space ships and anything space agey is all part of a normal day. 

The scripting is very witty, with some great twists on sayings we all know. The story itself is pretty cool, and the villain, I think, was quite menacing. Played by Lee Pace, I think he was quite intimidating and looked great. The special effects are excellent - which is to be expected from something big budget these days.

The Guardians are played by Chris Pratt (Peter Quill), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Dave Bautista (Drax), Bradley Cooper's voice (Rocket - a raccoon) and Vin Diesel's voice (Groot - a tree). Yes, that's right, a raccoon and a tree. It all just works so well though. All the character's are pretty well fleshed out as well. It could be difficult to pick a fave at this stage, although Groot gets the heart warmer award for sure. Zoe Saldana has undergone two coloured characters now (blue and now green), so I'm wondering what colour is next for her.

Well, this film is definitely worth a look, and I may try to get a second look at the cinema. It's very entertaining, and pure sci fi world fun. You'll know who Star Lord is by the time it ends.

I am Groot! 

Rating:

4 out of 5.

TMTW July 2014 Review

A common format, it seems, amongst other bloggers of film and tv, is to recap at the end of each month. I caught onto this through seeing posts by fellow twitter peeps, and thought I would give it a go myself. So, here is my first monthly recap of film and tv.

This month I watched 23 films, which includes 4 rewatches. TV wise, I probably didn't track like I should have, but I will try to list those I continued, finished and started. 

Of the 23, my recommendations would be anything I rate 3 or more out of 5. For me, 3 stars is a good film, worth watching once. These can be for various reasons, which I won't go into here, as that is probably a separate blog entry. I will list below the films based on star ratings. I will do an alphabetical order within these ratings. 

Films

5 star films

None this month.

4.5 star films

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (review here)

4 star films

Ferris Bueller's Day Off (rewatch)

The Lego Movie

Locke

Mission Impossible (rewatch)

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (rewatch)

Tracks

3.5 star films

Bad Words

Blue Ruin

Cocaine Cowboys Reloaded (Documentary)

Lethal Weapon 3 (rewatch)

Only Lovers Left Alive

Thanks for Sharing

The Wedlock

3 star films

Cold in July

Grudge Match

Insidious Chapter 2

Joe

Red 2

Sabotage

Under the Skin (review here)

I usually write a short review for most films, with major blog entries for some. My short reviews can be found here on letterboxd.com

TV

I watch a lot of different shows, so remembering what I was watching in July is a bit tricky. The obvious ones are True Blood and 24. I started The Strain, The Americans (S1) and Rectify (S1). Recitfy is definitely the pick of the new shows for me this month. Smashed the first season in a few days, whereas The Americans I'm plodding my way through. The Strain is interesting, with excellent details to the horror effects and an interesting mythology. It may be a tad cheesy though. We'll see how the rest of S1 goes. Continued on with True Blood S7, which has been a complete change of pace from previous seasons. It will be damn interesting to see how this all ends in August. 24 finished it's Live Another Day season, which was ok in the end. Not a fantastic season like it's regular 24 ep presentations, but solid entertainment. I hope they bring it back...again.

Seasons I finished were The Bridge (S1) and Penny Dreadful (S1). Both were good, especially towards the latter halves of the seasons. I'll revisit next seasons for both those. And, finally, a show I am currently in is S2 of The Following. S1 was great, but this season has been just ok. It's almost redeveloping itself, so things are still ramping up. I'm up to ep 8.

Thanks for reading. Share your thoughts and/or recommendations below.  

Review: Lucy (2014)

Strange, surreal, yet, in some ways, remarkable. Scarlett Johansson is 3 for 3 for odd roles, but all interesting.

Scarlett plays Lucy, a sort of lost soul perhaps, or just good time gal that lives and studies in Taiwan. Her recent boyfriend gets her entangled with some not so good guys. They're after what she has been conned into delivering to them. Events take place, and that leads to some interesting ramifications.

The film started out a bit so so for me, but, once it got going I was entranced. It kind of takes the ideas behind Limitless (2011) and amps it up substanitally.

I really enjoyed the exploration of using our brain more than what we can, and where that could take us. It's all theory, but, this presentation of that theory is bizarre and exciting.

I suppose, if you look hard enough, this film plays either as a cousin to Her and Under The Skin, or forms part of a trilogy. I would've liked to seen a little more though, as the film runs at a meagre 89 mins.

Rating:

3.5 out of 5.