review

Resident Evil: Retribution Impressions

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I was hesitant in writing a complete review for Resident Evil: Retribution as I had not seen any of the other movies in the series.  It was completely unexpected that I watched it on its opening day.  I would have chosen Finding Nemo instead, but the person I went to the theater with was a huge Resident Evil fan.  I will just go over my impressions of the film.
Along with never watching the movies, I have not taken the time to do a full play through of any of the games.  One day I will play through Resident Evil 4 which I hear is brilliant.  I have a small understanding of RE lore and was concerned that the plot for Retribution would have been convoluted.  Oddly enough, almost the first five minutes of the film are spent recapping all of the major events in the previous movies.  I had never seen a movie do this before.  It was useful, but it did not feel like all of the background information was needed.  The plot was very easy to follow and was just showing an execution of an escape plan.
The length of the film is what bothered me the most.  I think I have just gotten used to long movies but 96 minutes felt short, especially when you take into account the giant cliffhanger ending.  It felt like they accidentally a second half (Yes, accidentally a second half).  A lot of scenes were done in slow motion.  It really makes me wonder how much actual content they had.
In the end there were some satisfying kills, but there really was not anything special about it.  Wesker did not look like a real person.  The dubstep that was played at the end bothered me; at least it had the wobble bass.  I find it hard to recommend to a person who is not familiar with the other movies.  Now I have to watch the next one just to see what happens.

On a semi-related note, the theater was completely empty by the time the movie finished.  Not a single employee in sight.  It was creepy.  It felt like a zombie apocalypse was about to happen.

Battleship Film Review

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When suddenly, aliens. Then bursts of fiery explosions. BOOM. Insert a bad joke here, and repeat more explosions.

There is nothing more to be had with Battleship. It is all flash, no substance. The plot is absurd. If there is anything that comes to my mind when I think of the board game Battleship, it is anything but aliens. Uninspired acting prevents this film from conveying any sense of 

urgency that the world is about to be destroyed. At times I had trouble determining if it was trying to be a comedy or an action movie. Battleship tries to develop the protagonist, but even at the end of the movie he comes across as shallow.

Glancing over the absurd plot, the next evident problem is the pacing. Once the aliens begin to invade Earth, the action begins. Normally a movie of this nature will have some smaller fights in the beginning leading to the grand finale, but here the movie is just one giant battle. It is a spectacle to watch and the effects are well done. Maybe it is the inconsistency in the soundtrack with the use of modern pop songs and an original score being used together, but it did not feel as exciting as it could have been. Not that this film had much potential anyways.

Battleship would have been much better if it was not a movie based off of the classic board game and did not look so similar to Transformers. If the producers were going to use anything else but other ships as the enemy they should have went with something crazier such as apocalyptic whales. Nuke the whales, because you have to nuke something.

Airplane! Film Review

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Have you ever been so bored that you wanted to kill yourself?  I guarantee you will not feel this way when watching Airplane!.  It is essentially like watching a live-action cartoon with the way background characters behave and the physics of the plane itself.  Plenty of well timed over-exaggerations are to be found here.  This film has no problem making fun of itself.  Combine the humor with the outrageous plot of war veteran Ted Striker having to land a plane due to a mysterious outbreak of food poisoning and you have a complete package of comedic gold.  Surely, I can’t be serious, but I am.  This film literally has everything, jokes, innuendos, romance, war flashbacks and even Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.  His appearance should be a solid reason alone to see this film.  Over thirty years later, Airplane! is funny and is an excellent example of just how much movies with a PG rating could get away with back then.

The Dark Knight Rises Movie Review

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It’s not the ending it deserved, but it’s the ending it needs right now.


That previous statement is invalid when discussing the Dark Knight Rises.  Christopher Nolan has outdone himself yet again.  Amazingly, TDKR surpassed all expectations I had for the film.  Very few movies deserve to be as long as TDKR.  Clocking in at two hours and forty-five minutes, you will witness stunning IMAX shots accompanied with a soundtrack that would make any scenario feel epic.  Anne Hathaway did an amazing job portraying Catwoman.  It is not perfect.  There is one loophole I noticed while viewing it a second time.  For the sake of avoiding spoilers, I will not go into detail about it.  

The Dark Knight Rises is a worthy conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy.  It may just be the greatest superhero trilogy in existence.