Kick-Ass 2 The Movie

Ah, yes. Yet another gold delivery. There was really no doubt that this would turn out great, after the awesomeness of the first movie. That's actually what got me into indie comics in the first place, although it did lose a bit of credibility after I went to read the comic. The ending of the comic was just sooo much better.

The movie opens pretty much like the comic, Dave just monologuing to himself, describing some of his adventures as Kick-Ass, informing the audience about how new heroes have been popping up, blah, blah, blah. Something a little interesting they did though was certain details from the Hit-Girl side-story, where she trained Kick-Ass for a bit. Unfortunately though they didn't manage to get the full story in with her solo adventure, but that definitely would've been a bit much.

The story's actually pretty faithful to the comics, and actually does a better job at it than the first one. Of course certain things had to be cut out, because there was no way it was gonna make it into theaters, (Not even sure how they allowed some of it in the comics.) but there were also some things that had to be added, not only due to the changes in the first movie, but also add to the comedy. Speaking of which, the comedy's pretty excessive, but it's welcome due to some of the tragedies that occur. Overall, I didn't nerd rage too much and annoy my friends. I also really loved all the ads for Mark Millar's other works. (Go read Superior!!!)

If you like the comics, or at least the first movie, you're definitely gonna enjoy this one. If you haven't seen any of, but like super heroes, why not give it a try? That is, unless you're sensitive to gore, profanity, violence, and nudity, theeen you might wanna turn away. I hear Planes is pretty good! Tch, forget that. Just go watch Pacific Rim again!

Pacific Rim

Giant robots! There you go. Review over. Honestly, what more is there to say really? Any science fiction love should appreciate the movie just for that. Admittedly though, I was very reluctant to go see this movie at first. It just looked like it was ripping off some of my favorite anime's and putting an American twist on it. Funny enough, it literally took Hideo Kojima's approval for me to finally decide to go see it.

  The movie starts off pretty quickly, going into detail about how the whole conflict with the monsters got started. Honestly, I just thought it was another preview for another movie. It all goes by pretty quick too, but not so much that you miss the gist of it. Monsters randomly appear out of the ocean one day, Godzilla style and start attacking our cities. The UN funds a project to build giant robots in order to fight against said monsters, but things don't go so well in the beginning, because it turns out the mechs are too much for one person to pilot. That's why they need pilots in the cockpit, unlike what we see in anime's like Gundam and Robotech.

  The visuals in this movie are beyond amazing. I remember seeing Transformers for the first time, and thinking "This is CG at its peak. There's no way things can ever get better." Boy was I wrong. As someone who's studied computer animation, I couldn't help but try to figure out how some of these affects were done. Designing and moving the mechs, sure. You've got a ton of teamsaround who specialize in this stuff, but most of the fights take place in the water. Ask just about any computer animator. CG water is work!  But somehow they had everything down pact. When these monsters rise up from the water, and the mechs are dropped in there and run through it, the water just reacts so well, giving you just a clear idea these things are HUGE!

  The fights are really good as well. Most reviews complain that there's not a good enough balance between the fights and downtime for the story, but these fights are pretty long. You'd think it'd a simple jump in, punch, and there fight's over, but there's a lot that goes into these fights. Things get smashed, arms are ripped off, and bodies go flying. Even after all that, there's still more to come, just cause.

  The story's pretty darn dramatic too, which really isn't something to expect from a summer blockbuster. Seriously. Nothing goes well for the humans, straight from the start.There is still some good humor though, some perfect delivery here and there, while other times a bit forced, but it all blends really well in the end. I've never actually seen any movies with any of these actors before, except for Idris Elba in Thor and Ron Perlman in Blade II, but I found every performance to be great. Often  there's that one actor I'm just anxious to see die, just because their performance is so dull, but everyone did really well.

 Guillermo del Toro is just a genious, and clearly loves the material he's working with. People need to start taking hints from this guy! This is how you make a sci-fi movie. Not only that, but an original one! How many movies do we get nowadays that's not just a remake, adaption, or a sequel? How many of them actually turn out to be good!? Yeah, not that many. We need more! Preferebly some with more giant robots? Well whatever we get, good luck trying to make better than this.

Oh yeah.There's a tie-in videogame, buuuut,  it's not so good.

Wreck It Ralph Review

Amazing. Simply amazing. I don't even know where to start. I, like many, was pretty skeptical when I heard some of my favorite videogame character was gonna appear in a Disney movie. I haven't seen too many of their stuff recently, but rarely do I hear too much good coming out of Disney. I dare anyone to say something negative about this one though. There's just so much win!

Okay, so of course we all know the basic story. Ralph's a "bad guy", but would really like some more appreciation. He goes out of his way to get it, but things go wrong, and he's gotta go on some adventure to earn his respect, making some friends along the way. Yeah, the story's really nothing original, but what is these days? When is a movie ever gonna pull off a big M Night twist these days? Just put that aside, and lets enjoy  everything else that's going on.

It's REALLY clear that Disney was target the gamer crowd. Old and young. There was literally something there for gamers of all ages.  From the old days of Kubert, to today's Call of Duty crowd. Speaking of COD, there's another original game in there, which basically combines it with Halo and Gears of War. Seriously, the gaming references were just over the top. They even had the Konami code. The cameos were really fun. Sonic, Chun-Li, Ryu, Kano. There was even a nice indirect one from Metal Gear Solid. The only thing I'm dissappointed in was that there was no Megaman.... Come on Capcom! There nothing but a mere sound bite of MMX's buster charging up, but that's it. Do you really hate the guy that bad guys?

Agh. Anyways. So the comedy was really good. Great really. All the ones with, and without the gaming references. Just perfect. Something that just makes me so mad though, is there was a scene that made me nearly cry. How dare they!? There is a scene in there that I actually found sadder than when Ash got turned to stone in the first Pokemon movie. I was overly hyped throughout the entire thing, until that came on. Just why!? I'm sure anyone who finally sees it will know exactly what I'm talking about. Just make sure to bring tissue.

So yeah, that's about it. This is literally the best movie I've seen in a long time. Possibly the best, ever. I joked with my friend, saying I wasn't gonna care at all for it, other than the Sonic The Hedgehog cameos, but  turns out, I was in for a surprise. Kudos to to whoever came up with this crazy idea. 

The Avengers Movie Review

So the other day, a buddy texts me, asking if I wanted to go with him him to see the Avengers. Now, I'm not really much of movie buff anymore anymore, actually having not even gone since like what? 08, 09? I dunno, it's just not my thing anymore, specially considering some of the terrible things that have making it on screen, specially when it comes to adaptions, *ahem* Green Lantern *cough* but I reluctantly said alright, and everything was set. Boy do I regret not planning to go sooner.

No, tickets weren't sold out or anything. It was just that damn good. Honestly, it was not at all what I suspected. Yeah, I saw all the lead up movies on DVD, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, and Captain America, Thor probably being my personal favorite, and I enjoyed them all, but I never really regretted not going out to see a theatrical release, but this. This was sweet. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it, not even noticing the two and a half hour clock in time.

The thing didn't even betray it's comic book counter part at all, except of course, the replacement of Giant Man and Wasp, with Hawkeye and Black Widow, but it was fine, although Hawkeye could've really used a whole lot more screen time. I'm not really of him in the comics, Ultimate or 616, but they could've really portrayed the reasons as to why I felt that way, but oh well. The reasoning behind that loss did benefit the story. Oh yeah, about that story...

Well, I don't want to spoil a thing, but basically it all just starts up where Thor left off, Loki being up to his old tricks, which of course, how can you have an Avengers Mythos start off any other way? Ultron, or Aliens? Nah. It's gotta be Loki. Cap is trying to adjust to the grand new reality he's found himself in, while Stark is just being Stark. Thor doesn't come in til later, looking for his brother, while Hawkeye and Widow are just doing their jobs. If you saw Thor and Iron Man 2, there's nothing new there, and Fury was Sam Jackson. Nuff Said.

What, and who is new however was the new Bruce Banner, Mark Ruffalo . I wasn't really too sure how to take in the new guy really. He was nothing at all like the past two, being more soft-spoken, and confident, thought it worked, considering how at that point, he really would've been in more control of his counterpart, who admittedly, I was rather too excited to see. Took a while for him to finally change, the first time not under the prettiest conditions.

The action was truly on point. Every time Cap swung his shield, I felt it. Thors struck his hammer, boom. You get the idea. The Effects were amazing, rivaling that of Transformers. (Yes, they at least deserve that kind of credit.) Sometimes I literally had to remind myself that "no Iron Man's not really flying through the city like that, it's just CGI". The comedy was perfect. Very subtle, and never forced. Stark makes a funny, you laugh, and it's back to the action.

A little quip I did have with the thing though was the constant bickering, though that's kind inevitable when you put so many powerful men in one room. It was actually a pretty nice set up one time to show off Cap's leadership capabilities, which I loved most about his portrayal. I was also very worried about the lack of the Stan Lee cameo around the first act. Trust me, when you see it, you'd have completely forgotten about it.

Overall, this was an awesome movie. Nothing intense and graphic. No yucky stuff going on on top of someones car, or in a broom closet or something. Just straight fun. Bring your friends, bring your family, anyone. At the end of the day, it will be a great experience.