Ed's Review Dot Com

Asylum, The, BondIt, Syfy,

Ian Ziering, Tara Reid, David Hasselhoff, Ryan Newman, Gary Busey, Tommy Davidson, Imani Hakim, Cody Linley, Masiela Lusha, Cheryl Tiegs, Cynthia Bailey, Gena Lee Nolin

After Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No ripped up the East Coast with savage wrath, it has been quiet for 5 years. But suddenly “nadoes” are popping up all over the place. There are numerous kinds of storms, sandnadoes, oilnadoes, and more, that are difficult to deal with, but the worst is the nuclear nado that is not able to be stopped with the normal tools, so the world again calls on Flynn to work with his family to quell the giant storm. The whole gang is back in this fourth installment.

Ok, perhaps SyFy doesn’t have a LOT going on, but this Sharknado thing is starting to get old. But, hey, it’s still fun to drag out all the big stars like Ian Ziering, Tara Reid, David Hasselhoff, Gary Busey, and so on, and spend a couple wasted hours watching TV. The story is getting really thin, though, although there are some pretty decent one liners, mostly taking shots at the silliness of itself. The truth is that these folks all realize they are in a campy movie, and the run with it. We feel a little like we’re in on the joke, and as a viewer, you can feel free to take some crack shots too. Everybody realizes this is not Shakespeare, so just enjoy it. I can’t blame you for passing this up, as it is amazingly stupid, but on the other hand, you shouldn’t feel bad if you want to be in on the party, as it’s harmless fun.

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Paramount Pictures, Alibaba Pictures Group, Bad Robot,

Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Idris Elba

In the beginning of the 5 year mission to go where no man has gone before, Kirk (Chris Pine) takes the crew into an uncharted nebula on a rescue mission that goes very bad and strands the Enterprise and the crew out of communications range from the Federation on a planet with a really bad guy Krall (Idris Elba) who has plans to put an end of the Federation due to an old grudge. Kirk and the crew plus a few new found friends have to find a way to defeat Krall and find a way back home.

This is epic Star Trek. It is hard to believe that it has been 50 years since Star Trek first lit up our TV screens. This is a nod back to the original, perhaps as a nod to the 50th anniversary. The cast who play the younger version of the original crew do an excellent job, and this is a really good story with lots of excitement and action, along with the close relationship of the crew and a splash of real humor thrown in for good measure. I really enjoy this cast, and the addition of a brand new character, Jaylah, played by Sofia Boutella is a great addition to the cast. I saw this film in IMAX 3D and really enjoyed being in the middle of the action. This is not a perfect movie. There’s a new director this time out, and some of the choices are not perfect, but the affection for the characters, and the excellent script makes up for it. Are there some plot holes? Certainly. When has Star Trek NOT had plot holes? The style is an allegory tale, almost a science-fiction fairy tale, that does require some suspension of reality once in a while. That’s not a problem for me. I appreciate that mankind in the future will still be based in morals and values and trying to do right by one another. All in all, I really enjoyed another venture into the Star Trek universe, and found the experience very delightful. Great film!

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Lionsgate, Red Wagon Entertainment, Summit Entertainment,

Maggie Q, Octavia Spencer, Shailene Woodley, Zoë Kravitz, Ansel Elgort, Bill Skarsgård, Jeff Daniels, Naomi Watts, Miles Teller, Ray Stevenson, Theo James

After the devastating events of the previous film, the four escape outside the wall to discover what’s out there. Tris and her three friends find a world outside that may hold the answers to how she came to be Divergent in the first place, but naturally trouble looms from all sides, and they have to make some hard choices as to where to put their allegiance in the future. This is the final film in the Divergent series, oops, surprise! This is part one of the last film in the series. The last one, word has it is coming out as a TV movie without a theatrical release.

I wasn’t impressed very much by this film. Hopefully the last one, if it does eventually come out, will be a little bit better. I guess the dump at the box office has destined this to be finshed as a TV movie. I guess my disappointment in this one was shared by the rest of the world. Perhaps there have been so many similar series and all the hype has jaded us a bit, or perhaps there’s just too much special effects and too little story. This was step by step predictable from the start to the end. There’s no real tension as it’s easy to tell what’s going to happen each step of the way, and very little suspense. The characters in this story is not nearly as likeable, and not as easy to care much about. I don’t know if it’s a weakness in the story, the screen play, the actors, or what. Perhaps, as I suggested earlier, it just was too much pizazz and not enough story, I don’t know. But in any case, this is by far the weakest of the films so far, and each one has dropped a star as we through them. I had higher hopes for this film, as I haven’t had the time to read the books, but I was kind of let down by this one. Glad I waited for the DVD instead of paying top dollar to see it in the theater. There’s lots of better films out there. This is probably okay to skip unless you’re really a big fan. Sorry.

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Stereo D, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation,

Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Liam Hemsworth, Jessie Usher, Maika Monroe, Sela Ward, Judd Hirsch, Angelababy, Joey King, Vivica A. Fox, Brent Spiner, Charlotte Gainsbourg, William Fichtner, Deobia Oparei, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Patrick St. Esprit

Twenty years have passed since the original battle for freedom from the aliens was fought. There is a new lady president (to show it’s fiction) and the original President Whitmore is much the worse for wear, but his daughter has grown and is now an emissary to the white house. Captain Hiller is long gone, but his son, Dylan (Jesse T Usher) is a crack pilot and ready to step in to his fathers shoes to fight off the aliens once again who have come back, this time more than double the size of the last time. This time Earth has no chance, but they are going to give it their best shot. They have been improving over the last 20 years, but have they done enough?

This is a big budget blockbuster summer film that falls a little short. There is no way to match the scope of the first one, which caught us all by surprise. They did a really good job of bringing back the major characters and it’s easy to age them 20 years, since the original was released in 1996, 20 years ago! The story is done very well, and the characters are good. Furthermore, the special effects are extremely well done. The battle scenes are awesome, and I was totally entertained throughout the entire film. It’s a very well done movie, and very worthwhile to watch. So why the bad press, and the less than stellar box office? Well, there is no choice but to compare this to the experience 20 years ago of the original, and that’s a no win situation. If you were to watch these back to back now, it would become very clear how well done the new one is, and how the old one is 20 years old, but this is not a remake, it’s a sequel. A long after 20 years in the making sequel. I think they did an excellent job as well, and if this was a brand new story, It’s probably five stars, but you can’t help but compare the feeling you had coming out of the first one, completely exhausted and blown away, and the way you come out of this one thinking, “It’s not as good as the first one”. I probably is better, but can never be seen that way. It’s just a fact of human nature that the awe and wonder of the first one can’t be recreated. But I am glad to know what happened to this alien bunch and can’t help hoping they get what’s coming to them. Just don’t let the naysayers get to you, and go see it while you can.

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Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Marvel Entertainment, TSG Entertainment,

James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Oscar Isaac, Nicholas Hoult, Rose Byrne, Tye Sheridan, Sophie Turner, Olivia Munn, Lucas Till

Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac) is the most powerful mutant in history, but he has been buried away for centuries, trapped under a pyramid. But when he’s unleashed, he has the power to draw skills and power from other mutants and add them to his own. He chooses four powerful mutants as his minions, including Magneto (Michael Fassbender) who is heartbroken at the loss of his family and extremely broken and discouraged. Meanwhile Professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) has kept his school for mutants open and has a bunch of new recruits who are mutants that are discouraged and feel different who want to learn to control their powers. But with Apocalypse’s return, and his plan to destroy the Earth and start over with a new kingdom with him as supreme ruler, Xavier will have to count on the new recruits and Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) to lead them into battle against the end of the world.

When I went to the theater over the Memorial Day weekend, I had to choose between X-Men:Apocalypse and Marvel’s Civil War. Despite the fact that the young man who sold me the tickets insisted that X-Men was a better story, I had my doubts. I still haven’t had a chance to see the Civil War movie yet, so I can’t comment on whether he is right or not, but I have to first give two caveats. One, I am not a big comic book fan in particular and usually feel pretty ho-hum about the whole genre. Two, I am especially bland when it comes to the X-Men in general. I’ve never been a huge X-Men fan anyway. But I must admit, this was a pretty good story. I found it interesting to learn about the new characters, and there was a lot of humor, especially with those who haven’t learned to control their power yet. Apocalypse was a bad guy, but not the baddest I have seen, by any means, and he went down fairly easy, when you come to think of it. But the back story of Magneto was very well portrayed, and you can really understand his pain as it was well played. The action was great, the 3-D effects are fantastic, and the whole things rolls along smoothly. At over 2 1/2 hours, it’s a fairly long film, but I was sad when it ended, as it was very entertaining. Certainly if you like the comic book genre, this is an excellent film, and even if you don’t, like me, it’s still a good movie in its own right. I recommend this action adventure fantasy film as one of the better ones I’ve seen. I enjoyed it.

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