Battleship

How do you turn a classic Hasbro game and turn it into a movie? Just add aliens! Aliens have responded to a beacon that we sent out and landed in the Pacific Ocean just off the coast of Hawaii. The US Navy is preforming war games in the area but cannot get to the crafts due to a force field generated by one of the alien ships. However, there are a few ships inside the force field and now the real life game of Battleship has begun.

Taylor Kitsch as Lieutenant Alex Hopper, a US Navy Tactical Action Officer assigned to the USS John Paul Jones
Liam Neeson as Admiral Shane, Commander of the United States Pacific Fleet
Alexander Skarsgård as Commander Stone Hopper, Hopper's older brother, Commanding Officer of the USS Sampson
Rihanna as Gunner's Mate Second Class (GM2) Cora Raikes on the USS John Paul Jones.
Brooklyn Decker as Samantha Shane

Who will like this:

Transformers meets G.I. Joe meets board game. If you've ever played the game, you will appreciate how they tied in some of the key aspects of Battleship into the movie. It really has a Transformers look to it, but not as fast paced. Real US Navy soldiers will appreciate the accuracy of their movie counterparts.

Phantom Thoughts:

I wasn't expecting much from this one, and that's exactly what I got. Before I go on to tear this movie apart, let me say that it wasn't a horrible waste of my time. I did like that the ammo used by the aliens were shaped like the pegs in the original board game. And I liked the use of the real servicemen and women who serve being used in the movie. But I'd like to strangle the guy who came up with the "robots in motion" effect that is being used everywhere now a days. Millions of little pieces that are fluttering all over the screen to make it look less like a solid and more like mercury on silk sheets has been making my head spin.

At one point, I thought I was watching Spiderman on the Titanic. Without giving too much away, at one point, one ship is sinking (Really? Did you really want me to put a spoiler tag on THAT one?)  And we cut to a shot of two of the main characters crawling up to the back of the ship, which is now almost straight up in the air. So they were able to scale this slippery, smooth metal ship on a 90 degree angle? OK...let's say that was possible...next they did the Jack and Rose jump off the bow before it blows up. Look, I understand that in a movie where aliens are coming down to fight the Navy, you HAVE to suspend belief somewhat, but could we stay inside the laws of physics at least?

Speaking of the aliens, they must've wasted too much brain power on making the spacecraft look like Optimus Prime. Because when it came to what these creatures from another world, light years away from us should look like...the film makers said "Ahhhh we'll make 'em look like Scottish blokes with lizard eyes and spines for beards and...oh yeah...give 'em 4 thumbs on each hand. OK...that'll do. When's lunch?"

The plot was extremely predictable and there were too many moments where I was mumbling to myself "Seriously?" Which is not what I should be doing going into a sci-fi movie where I have already given you more than the benefit of doubt.
SPOILER: I did get a kick outta the old war vets helping the new guys drive the old battleship museum after all the new destroyers were...well...destroyed. It was hacky and ridiculous, but it did make me smile.

Here's another suggestion:
STAY TO THE END OF THE CREDITS!
Another blog will be dedicated to why I do this at every movie, but suffice it to say I was the only one left in the theater at the end of the credits, and I was the only one who saw the last 3 minutes of movie they put back there. And it was one of the few scenes in the entire movie that gave me a chuckle.

Until next time, see you in the center seat!

5 year Engagement

One year after meeting on New Year's Eve, Tom proposes to Violet and she accepts. As they start to plan for the wedding, they are met with several obstacles that cause them to keep pushing back the date of the wedding. Tom is a Sous Chef at a high end restaurant in San Fransisco, and Violet is a psychology PhD graduate. When she gets accepted into the University of Michigan's post-doctorate in psychology program which lasts two years, Tom agrees to move with her and delay their wedding until then. As more and more things get in their way, the relationship gets strained and it is unclear if they will ever be able to salvage it before they have a chance to get married.

Jason Segel as Tom Solomon
Emily Blunt as Violet Barnes
Chris Pratt as Alex Eilhauer
Alison Brie as Suzie Barnes
Kevin Hart as Doug
Chris Parnell as Bill

Who will like this:

This is definitely what can be described as a "chick flick" aimed at women who have had bad relationships who dream of it working out in the end. People who liked "Our idiot Brother" or "Friends with Benefits" MAY also like this movie.

Phantom Thoughts:

I cannot express enough how much I disliked this one. I thought I may be able to relate a bit being a chef myself, and having had relationships go wrong, but this just dragged on with very few good scenes in it. It was meant to be a comedy, but I didn't find any of the situations that were meant to be funny amusing at all.
I like Jason Segel, Kevin Hart and SNL alum Chris Parnell, but I felt they were just going through the motions or underused. Could my vision of this be skewed by the fact that I saw this at an AMC Cine Dine theater that not only never brought us our food order and then sent 3 different people to ask if "everything was alright", but also almost killed the person I went with by having her drink a piece of glass in her Mango Margarita? Well, maybe. But I really did try to view the movie for what it was worth. And after having our tickets refunded, I can say that it wasn't even worth viewing for free. SPOILER: But is it a spoiler if it's in the title, really? These two characters are thrown so far apart, that there seems no logical way they could or SHOULD ever get back together, but after 5 years, love conquers all and they do get married in what could be the quickest wedding ever put together. I sat there with my "Yeah, right" face on during this last part of the movie. Although I described this as a "chick flick", I have to admit that the "chick" I saw it with didn't even like it. To be fair, she could have been suffering internal bleeding from glass shredding her esophagus. Who's to say?

Until next time, see you in the center seat.

Avengers

Some of the best Superheroes on the planet are brought together to fight a threat to the world as we know it in this Mega Marvel Movie.

Loki, brother of the demi-god Thor, has made his way to Earth to obtain a lost relic from his Father's trophy room known as the Tesseract. This relic is a source of unbelievable power and with it, he intends to use that power to open a gateway to another universe and lead an alien race, the Chitauri, to take over the world.

Nick Fury, director of the espionage agency S.H.E.I.L.D., decides to gather these known "Superheroes" to combat this threat to the Earth in the "Avenger Initiative" as opposed to the other alternative of an anonymous council who want to go ahead with something called "Phase Two". Fury, along with his agents Hawkeye and Black Widow, set out to recruit Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and Dr. Bruce Banner/The Hulk.

Getting them to work as a team is difficult, as they spend time arguing and fighting each other at first. But when they are all finally on the same page and fighting together, they turn their attention to the real threat in a battle to save the world.

The film is written and directed by Joss Whedon and features an ensemble cast that includes Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Clark Gregg, Cobie Smulders, Stellan Skarsgård and Samuel L. Jackson.

Who will like this movie:

If you've been playing along and have been a fan of the Marvel Movies leading up to this one, than this movie is geared right to you. If you've never seen any of the previous ones, I still think an action adventure/fantasy fan could get into it. However, I strongly recommend that you at least watch Thor and Captain America before seeing this one as there are carry overs from those movies into this one that will make it easier to follow.

Phantom Thoughts

If you've been following my blog, you may already know that I went to the Marvel Marathon and saw 6 Marvel movies including this one for a total of 15 hours all at once. One might think (the thought certainly entered MY mind) that you could get burned out watching the same genre of movies for such a long period of time. This did not happen as the new Avengers movie was all it was hyped up to be and more! I loved it!

There are pitfalls in making an ensemble movie such as this with so many stars and main characters in it. The most prominent one being to center the story around one of the characters and have everyone else play a role in that story. With the villain being Thor's brother Loki, this would have been an easy road to go down. However, the balance of story between all of them was really well done and no one outshines anyone else. The different storylines of all the Avengers were so well integrated into the main story of the movie that it also never got confusing to follow, which is another problem movies like this can face.

If there was any criticism I could make, it would be that they did use a well worn idea of a group of different personalities having to work together to achieve a specific goal. These personalities clash and fight each other until there is that one event that unites them in their quest and makes them work together as a team. This criticism is so minor and overshadowed by how well everything else worked that it barely stands to even reference.

The Avengers had action, had a good story, it was amusing and even funny at times, and kept my interest throughout the almost 2 and a half hours so much, I didn't even notice the length. And after watching 5 full length movies right before this one, THAT'S saying something. There has been a lot of buzz about how they finally got the Hulk right in this movie, and I would agree, even though I did enjoy the Edward Norton version for the many nods to the comic and TV show that were laced throughout that rendition. The Hulk steals a lot of scenes during the final battle in the film.

Speaking of the end of the movie, I encourage you all to stay to the end of the credits. The VERY end of the credits! There is a scene about two minutes into the credits that sets up the inevitable sequel that has been prominent in every Marvel movie thus far. However there is another little scene at the very end that I think, is the most awesome ending to this movie that they could have written. It is so perfect in it's simplicity. I loved it.

Until next time, I'll see you in the center seat.

Marvel Movie Marathon

15 hours of movies. All at once. Who would be crazy enough to endure such an undertaking in movie viewing? Well...I was for one. But I wasn't alone. At the AMC I was at, there were two full theaters of die hard movie goers who stayed to watch all six movies. From 11:30am Thursday to 2:40am Friday we sat through Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America and finally the new Avengers. Over 40 theaters across the America had the marathon playing mostly to sold out audiences.

This was an event. An event unlike anything I have ever seen before. At the beginning of the day, it was just like going to see any other movie. You go in, pick your seat and get settled in. No one really pays attention too much to the people around you and your main goal is giving yourself enough space and having a good view of the screen. But that was where the similarities end. Because after a while, you become aware of the people around you. You get engaged in conversations. You get more comfortable with the group you're in. It starts to feel less like a movie and more like watching something with a group of your friends. Every once in a while, someone yells out something funny and you laugh, as a group, instead of being upset about the disturbance in your viewing experience. By the end, we all had that feeling of going through something together. Even the people you didn't talk to during that time, you could give that look to, and they understand. 

I have to say also, that AMC, at least the one I was at, did a great job in organizing such a massive event. There were breaks between movies, giving time to use the restrooms and get more eats (The free refills of large soda and popcorn came in REAL handy for this day). They had raffle give-aways during the breaks as well, along with trivia questions about the Marvel movies. Staff was dressed as Superheroes (special thanks to Megan for dressing up as Black Widow) along with some of the movie patrons. No...I did not dress up for this one. Maybe next time.

You may think that after so many movies of the same theme, that you would get burned out on the subject. I thought that same thing. But it wasn't the case. I don't know if it was just movies themselves or being involved in the whole day. But it was a great time that I would do again in a heartbeat. Big thanks to Marvel and AMC Theaters for putting this together, but an even bigger thanks to all the people who enjoyed this with me. The camaraderie  we shared will last with me for a long, long time. Thank you.

Until next time, I'll see you in the center seat. 

Cabin in the Woods

The story takes place in a cabin in the woods, as you may have already guessed just by reading the title. But there's much more to this cabin than what it looks like. If you are going by the commercials, you would have been misled on the plot of the movie. This is not a spoiler because the film actually starts out with this anonymous company that has pretty much led these 5 college students to this location. The cabin and the surrounding area has been set up with an array of electronically controlled devices that will basically allow the company to create it's own horror movie with the unsuspecting youngsters as the "stars". From the control room, their movements and reactions are being manipulated. The reasons for this is not revealed until the end, and the actual twist is revealed.

Directed and co-written by Drew Goddard and co-written and produced by Joss Whedon. (Buffy the Vampire Slyer and Angel) It stars Kristen Connolly, Fran Kranz, Chris Hemsworth, Jesse Williams, Anna Hutchison, Bradley Whitford, and Richard Jenkins.

Who will like this movie

Certain aspects of the original Scream movie and Drag Me to Hell came up through this movie. I think it would be good for those who like horror movies, but are not really so much into gore. It is funny at times and not too many of the "startle scares" that have become a staple of horror movies today. Enough elements to be considered a date movie.

Phantom Thoughts

As I was watching this movie, I was in. I got it. I liked the premise of what they were trying to accomplish. Here's this company, the American one of many throughout the world, that has rigged a remote area to become it's own horror movie. These kids are brought in and a series of things happen to lead them to the basement. Down there are a plethora of miscellaneous items all just sitting there to be discovered. However each item represents a different way to die. (I love the fact that the people watching from the control room have a pool going on which item is picked, releasing a different horror). Redneck zombies happen to be the one that wins out (don't worry...not that much of a spoiler) and the fun begins.

To be honest, I figured that this company was just dealing in some kind of fear simulation and that at some point, something would "go wrong" and the bad nasties that were unleashed really do kill the kids instead of just scaring them. But I was wrong. The company is actually TRYING to kill these kids off one by one and the mystery continues as to why until the end of the film. Coming from the guys who created Buffy and Angel (there is an Angel alum who plays a good part in the movie) it had a lot of little jokes at itself and horror movies in general that I liked. It had that feel of those shows as well. They make reference to the standard "boob shot" in every horror movie, which is provided in this one by Anna Hutchison.
SPOILER: One of the great sci-fi actresses makes a cameo at the end as the director of the company: Sigorney Weaver.

But here's my problem with it...they have this very unique and interesting idea, right? But there has to be a reason WHY this company would be doing that. That's where it seemed like they just said "Well...let's just do...uhmmm...THIS". I won't spoil it for you who will want to see it, but I was very much unimpressed.
SPOILER: There is a great blood bath scene with every single kind of horror movie monster you can think of and good, but not great effects that go with it. See if you can spot all the different references to other movies that were thrown in.

Little known fact: This movie was filmed and finished in 2009. But with the bankrupcy issuses of MGM at the time, the movie was delayed and eventually sold to Lionsgate, who released it April 13th 2012.

This was a simulated Wrong Turn movie that took a very wrong turn at the end. Until next time, see you in the center seat!