Ed's Review Dot Com

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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Kennedy Miller Productions, Village Roadshow Pictures, Village Roadshow,

Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Riley Keough, Zoë Kravitz, Abbey Lee, Courtney Eaton

The Road Warrior, Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy) is back in this 4th movie in the series and the burned out world is still full of rival motorcycle gangs eager to get one step ahead of each other, very willing to kill and steal to get ahead. This time Max runs in to a group of refugees lead by female warrior Furiosa (Charlize Theron) and he joins up with them to help them and to help Furiosa outwit a tyrannical leader and lead the group.

I must start out by saying I was not a fan of Mad Max in the first place. I am not sure why I didn’t really care for the stories, but the had no appeal for me. Rival motor bikers fighting each other for ruin of the world domination left me bored, and I really didn’t care for the ones I have seen very much. I did see the original and one or both of the sequels but was not impressed with either one of them. However, I do have to admit that this film is far better than any of the original series, probably because of the newer technology and CGI that can make this movie a bit more interesting. It also has Charlize Theron who is one hell of a good actress. She is a great asset to this movie and it would be bleak without her efforts. Still, I was not blown away by it and found myself bored much of the time. Perhaps if I had seen this on the big screen with excellent sound and all I might have rated it a lot higher and enjoyed it a lot more. But as it is, I watched this on DVD on a small screen and I found myself back in the “not caring” mode pretty quickly. I got through the film, and it does have it’s moments. But all in all, I just didn’t really care for it. Some fans are screaming Oscar for this film, and I suppose they have a case for how well it was put together, and not every film is everyone’s cup of tea, and this one is just not mine. There are many other better action adventure flicks around than to waste more time on Max. Take away the desert and set it on the ocean and you have Waterworld II, except you don’t get Dennis Hopper. I feel it misses the mark, not on technical effects, but on story.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

New Line Cinema, Legendary Pictures, Original Film,

Nicholas Hoult, Eleanor Tomlinson, Stanley Tucci, Ian McShane, Bill Nighy, Ewan McGregor, Eddie Marsan, Ewen Bremner, Christopher Fairbank, Warwick Davis

Jack (Nicholas Hoult) is just a farm boy, struggling to make ends meet, when he accidentally waters the magic beans which grows a giant beanstalk into the clouds opening the pathway to the land of giants, and restarting the ancient war between the kingdom of the giants and mankind. Jack becomes a warrior, fighting for the king and for the love of the princess while not only fighting the giants, but betrayal in the kingdom as well.

This epic film is a extravaganza of action, suspense, and great battles. The effects are spectacular as well, and the CGI is on steroids! Jack is a worthy hero, and has all the tricks and misdirects of Aladdin as he tries to outwit the giants. There’s all the parts of an epic battle film and it’s an interesting retelling of the Jack and the Beanstalk tale. It doesn’t break a lot of new ground, but it’s a really good fantasy adventure story that makes a great Saturday matinee film. Interesting enough for the older kids, (maybe a little too intense for little kids, the PG-13 is probably appropriate), but a complete fantasy for the grown-ups, it’s one of those films that the family can enjoy together. I really didn’t expect a lot from this film, but I was really impressed with how well it captured and held my attention. I rather enjoyed the adventure, and I can recommend this film as a good escape flick.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Artina Films

Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Nicholas Hoult, Mathew Goode

This is a dark disturbing movie, but I figured to watch because of the Oscar nominations for Colin Firth and Julianne Moore.   This is a typical “indie” film, dark and slow to develop.  A professor, nearly destroyed by the sudden loss of the “love of his life” can’t decide whether to live or die.  The girl who always loved him and was his best friend, would be lover, but he’s just so damn gay!   So she’s not much help.

I can see where this is a classic 1 star – 5 star movie.   Those who love slow character development stories which require lots of thought and emotion to “get it” will love it, and those who like a bit more action will hate it.   I suspect very few will be in between.

Well, I’m in between.  I gave it 3 stars because it was painfully slow and hard to get into, and it was very difficult to watch at times, but when you do invest the time to watch it, in the end you have a lot to think about.

The performances were good.  The characters ended up well developed, and the irony is a bit over the top, but unexpected.  Meanwhile, there was well enough meat in the story to sink your teeth in to if you take the time and energy to follow it.  It’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but for the Oscar worthy performances, if you have the time and patience to invest in a well told story of misfits, this will be well worth your while.  But if you hate these kinds of movies, you’ve been warned!

What is it with all the dark movies coming out this month.  If I don’t find something light, I may end up depressed myself!  🙂