TIGAER-DESIGN.COM_.v5 – Digital Art by Christian Hecker

For me it took a while before Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz made it for me. When I saw them I found them good and funny. But that was it. After seeing them a couple of times I can honestly say that these films are more than just good. It’s also the technical aspects that really make them stand out. May it be the writing, characters and especially the pacing. So I was excited to see how many of these elements they managed to bring into the third installment of the so called ‘Blood And Ice-Cream Trilogy’.

The movie is about Gary King (Simon Pegg). A guy kind of stuck in the early 1990s. When he and his buddies finished school they decided to go on a drinking marathon. 12 pubs in one night. The last bar being the World’s End. When they first tried the run they couldn’t make it to the last one. And that’s a fact that bothered Gary for the next 20 years. Until he decided to ‘bring the band back together’ and go for another try. Of course a lot of things happened in these 20 years and his friends moved on with their lives. With a lot of shady talking and a couple of lies he manages to bring the group back together. So Gary, Andy (Nick Frost), Steven (Paddy Considine), Oliver (Martin Freeman) and Eddie (Peter Page) and finish what they started 20 years ago. While Gary is still stuck in the past, his friends moved on and that, of course, leads to certain conflicts. But Gary, being a really charming sleazebag, manages to keep the group together and on track. Soon enough they’re in their first bar and start to drink. A couple of brief moments come in where they start conversation about what they are doing now. They haven’t seen each other in years and they try to catch up. After visiting bar number three it all starts to fall apart a bit. The group is getting more and more drunk and they notice the people around them don’t behave like usual people would. Then Gary has to visit the toilet and an epic brawl breaks out. From then on it’s plain crazy and I don’t want to spoil too much. Lets just say a lot of robots and no stop until they reached the World’s End!

The movie is pretty much done by the same people who did Shaun Of The Dead & Hot Fuzz. And the style, characters and tone tell you right from the beginning. From a technical standpoint you can immediately recognize Edgar Wright’s directing signature. I never disected the other movies and always saw them as what they were trying to be and how these are as a whole. Shaun and Fuzz had moments that dragged a bit, and so does End. But Shaun and Fuzz had also a lot of laugh out loud moments as well as End has. So all of these 3 movies have an overall well balanced feel to them.

The acting I enjoyed a lot. Especially Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. Taking a look back at the characters they played in the other two movies, they again play totally different characters in this one. And they do it in a belivable way. Gary (Pegg) being the kind of man-child who is not able to get over the past and Andy (Frost) who managed to move on and being successful in his job. We also learn stuff about their relationship in the past and how Gary managed to disappoint Andy. Which lead to them splitting up and go their own ways. Then there is also a dynamic between Gary and Steven (Paddy Considine) when their old love Sam Chamberlain (Rosamund Pike) shows up. While Gary kind of had a thing for her, it was Steven who actually really loved her. A lot of small character story bits that give this movie a familiar tone. If you ever went to a reunion with old classmates you know what I’m talking about. You start to dig in the past and stories come up and want to be told. That’s what they did here in the movie from time to time.

Appart from the serious elements the movie, of course, has a ton of moments for a good laugh. So the humour of the other two films was definitely in there and worked very well. Some jokes I can even imagine not working if it weren’t the guys from the other movies. That’s when the pacing and timing are very important and again it’s right there with the other two movies. One scene where Sam (Pike) lies on the ground, waiting for Gary to help her back up. And when sleazebag Gary reaches out he’s actually pointing at a pack of cigarettes behind her. That one could have easily fell flat if it wasn’t played as straight as it was. A perfect example where cutting, pacing and acting were just pitch perfect. Which made the joke work and me laugh!

One more thing this movies did right was the camera work and cutting. There are a lot of hectic scenes in this film as well as a couple of brawls. But instead of going the Hollywood route, with a cut every splitsecond and a shakycam that makes you literally sick, they managed to deliver pictures you were able to follow. There was still movement and motion in how they used the camera in the fight sequences. But never to a point where you could not tell anymore what was going on between the characters.

When I came out of the theater I had the impression it wasn’t as good as the other two (Shaun Of The Dead & Hot Fuzz) movies. But for some reason it didn’t took long and I came to the conclusion that it’s not better nor worse than the other two movies. Of course you normally compare these movies and what you always do is to try to find out if the movie was better or worse then the other ones. For me it was just as good as the other two. I guess I would have to see it again to really build myself a more precise opinion. But still, it’s a great movie and definitely worth a watch!

7.8/10

The World’s End on IMDb

When District 9 came out I loved it. I thought to myself that this director will surely go somewhere. Neill Blomkamp surely took himself some good time for the next movie. The title ‘Elysium’ early on found its way to the internet. As well as the fact that it’s a scifi movie tackling the same issues District 9 wanted to show. Scifi with a strong message.

In Elysium we follow Max (Matt Damon). He grew up as an orphan and slipped into a not so goodie way of life. Stealing and shady businesses followed him everywhere. And honestly the world he lives in doesn’t leave him much choice. Now grown up he’s on parole and working in an arms factory that builds defence systems for Elysium. One day he has a horrible accident that pretty much renders him useless for the factory and leaves him 5 days to live. The only chance for him to survive is to get to Elysium. Elysium is a completely different world. Only the privileged and rich get there and it’s pretty much paradise compared to a completely overpopulated Earth. On Elysium is medical equipment that can help him to recover from the radiation dose that slowly kills him. So Max meets up with a couple of old contacts. These contacts are an underground operation that tries to hit Elysium wherever they can. They have a plan and Max is like a present at the right time. Because he’s the key to execute that plan. Max agrees because he doesn’t have much of a choice. The plan is to kidnap someone from Elysium. And Max knows the right person. The boss of the defence factory he was working in. From then on things happen and the resulting chain of events leads Max to Elysium. But can he make it in time?

The plot is very ambitious but at the same time very simple. Matt Damon carries the movie very well. I had my doubts seeing pictures of him in that exo-skeleton suite and that little screen nailed to the back of his head. It looked goofy. So I was surprised that it did not take me out of the movie when I watched it. It’s easy to accept and suspend disbelief for that part. It did not hinder Damon to put on some solid acting. Jodie Foster, who plays some sort of minister of defence for Elysium, I guess did what the script told her to do. But nothing more. I wished she had more of a story arc to her but she was just there to be evil. A missed opportunity. I mean… she doesn’t have to turn good all of a sudden but there could have been done more with her character. Then we have Alice Braga, who plays a childhood friend and love interest for Max. She does a great and believable job with her character. She plays Frey, someone Max knows from growing up in the orphanage. They became friends but lost track of each other as life took its course. Frey became a nurse. And while Max seemed to have always wanted the best for her, he seemed to have failed all too often. Last but not least we have Kruger. Now doesn’t that name scream ‘bad guy’? Sure enough Kruger is the lead bad guy. He’s hired by Jodie Foster’s character and a sleeper agent mercenary kind of thing. Whenever there are difficulties in need to be handled on Earth, he’s the go to guy. Kruger is played by Sharlto Copley. His last big parts were the lead in District 9 and playing Murdock in the A-Team movie. But here in Elysium he is playing such a completely different kind of guy. He’s a serious sadistic psychopath and we get that vibe early on. Most of the time he looks like living straight out of a trash can, completely worn out and done. But he’s a threat better taken serious. Sharlto Copley is the biggest surprise in this movie. I haven’t seen such a badass villain in a long time. And he’s damn believable in that role. I really enjoyed that Kruger character.

Another character in the movie is the look. And that look works great. The effort put into the worldbuilding for this film surely paid off. What we see from Earth is depressing. It’s basically a desert flooded with shanty towns and screaming from overpopulation. That’s where the movie visually connects to District 9. The factory max works in has a nice design and screams ‘dangerous environment to work in and we don’t care about our workers’. What we see from Elysium is just plain beautiful. It truly does look like Paradise compared to Earth. I don’t know exactly how much Syd Mead was involved in the Concept stage of the production, but I saw his influence numerous times. The whole look and visual feel of the movie felt fluid. Nothing felt out of place. It’s also remarkable how good the VFX in general looked. I mean the aerial shots of Elysium looked pretty much photorealistic. And to get something like that right is quite a task! In one word: Believable.

There are a couple of weak spots in the movie though. The first one is when Max becomes radiated. The argument would be: “hey, why don’t they send a robot into the chamber?”. And yes, why don’t they? This felt like a little forced plot device to move forward and give Max a true reason to get to Elysium. It’s there to show that Elysium people are plain evil. And that’s a strange message to begin with. The movie pretty much conveys that all rich people are bad and have to be dealt with. There seems to be no one on Elysium who cares about Earth anymore. And I find that a little drastic. Especially since our heroes in the movie are pretty much terrorists. There are one or two scenes where people under the command of Jodie Foster seem to have doubts about her orders. I would have loved to see more of the inner conflicts of Elysium itself. But there’s nothing about that in the movie except two or three smaller scenes. Because seriously… I doubt everyone on Elysium really is a bad person. Then we have the whole story with Frey where at one point Max is leading the bad guys directly to her. Another thing is the ‘over the head’ message the movie wants to deliver. The parting of rich and poor and how it could end. It feels very forced and the movie ending is a little bit too schmaltzy. The thing that almost took me out of the movie was the permanent shakycam. Even in moments where it was completely unnecessary. This movie has so many really good camera moments and used the camera well. But it all is brought down by the constant use of shakycam in scenes where it was completely unnecessary. It almost gave me a headache.

As a whole this movie is worth seeing. The performances are good and the visuals stunning and beautiful. If you are a Scifi artist like me, this movie will give you tons of inspiration!

A solid 7.7/10 for me.

Elysium on IMDb

The reason why I wanted to see this film was simple. In this sea of remakes, prequels, sequels and ‘based of’ movies, I wanted to give this one my money simply to show respect and be thankful… because this movie is based on an original story. And nowadays such big movies are always played safe by the big studios. It’s sad that such projects don’t happen more often. But maybe, if this movies does good enough at the box office, we will have more original ideas in the future. *Fingers crossed* Now how was the actual movie?

The story is fairly simple. Earth gets attacked by giant monsters. But not from space! No! They are coming from the bottom of the ocean. Through a mysterious portal with unknown origins. When the first monsters ruin complete citFies all over the Earth, it’s time for resistance! Governments of the Earth unite and start a program to build giant robot machines, so called Jaegers, to fight these huge gigantic monsters. But the monsters seem to learn and adjust to Earth’s defence tactics. Soon enough the monsters become larger and much more dangerous. Things look grim and plans to solve the mystery and attacks are rare. But still! There is one plan that might work! So the battle begins.

We follow a young Jaeger pilot who has lost his brother when they were both fighting one of these giant monsters. The Jaeger robots need two pilots to fully expand their abilities. Both pilots must be synched up through some sort of brainlink. Naturally brothers are perfect pilots for these robots. Something goes wrong though and our hero loses his brother and decides to quit the job. Sure enough he gets reactivated for the last chance of getting rid of that portal. So he comes back and learns that the Jaeger program will soon be stopped. So the team decides to go for that one plan that might help to end this war.

The plot is more than simple and the characters almost a cliché with and no depth to them. But still, I came to the conclusion that I found it all very refreshing. I cannot exactly tell why it worked in this movie and doesn’t in others. Maybe the answer is simple… maybe it’s just because everything felt as if it’s just right for this story and what this movie wants to be. It’s by far not a movie that will win any prizes for intelligence. The heroes are the robots and the monsters. Even though it might be a little unfair. Since the movie gives us a lot of character (even though they feel a little flat) moments as well. It’s surely no desaster porn crapfest like so many other movies of its kind.

Pacific Rim takes its time when needed. That goes for the character moments as well as the fight scenes. It succeeds more in the fight scenes though. For a long time I was finally able to see again what was actually going on in the fights. So many movies today are just quick cut, shaky cam clusterf*ck diashows. You can barely see who is beating who and who is hurt where. Pacific Rim made it right! For the first time in a long while I was actually captured by these fight sequences. Yes they were loud, shiny and bombastic like the other stuff you usually get to see. But here we can actually see the movements and the consequences of a big hit. You were able to see the weight of the robots when they started to swing a huge punch at one of the monsters. They nailed the physics extremely well. Stuff like that is not easy to get done well. And that massive attention to detail really helped to make the fight scenes as capturing as they were. I enjoyed them a lot and they never actually felt too long.

This movie is very much over the top. And there are things that come with that fact. For one thing it’s that sometimes the dialogue gets a little repetitive. Especially when it’s time for another one of these motivational speeches. Overall the dialogue is very comic’ish and almost a little too filled with lofty words. That’s certainly not everyone’s taste for sure. Some might even say it’s dumb. But again you have to keep in mind what kind of movie this is. They decided to go down that route from minute one of the movie. You can already tell in the first 2 minutes what kind of movie you are going to see. Just the way the voice over delivers the lines for the background story is enough to say, “Hey, this movie wants to have fun! Stay with us and enjoy the ride!”.

The acting in the movie was appropriate. Nothing special to mention. They all seemed to have fun and enjoyed the production. I just wished Idris Elba would get a nice and good movie for himself soon. He’s always leaving an impression, even if he’s just a supporting cast.

From a technical perspective this movie was top notch. The production design, camera work, color palette and VFX work… everything pretty much the best you can get nowadays. Only one thing that I noticed. There wasn’t a single battle at daytime. I wished there would have been at least one. But if you think about, of course they were at night. It’s the best way to hide not so perfect model or texturing details. =D On the flipside that helped to make the battles be readable, because the VFX crew had the chance to keep the camera on the scene, without all these rapid fire quick cuts we all know from movies like Transformers.

Overall it’s a “turn your brain off and have fun” movie. Comparisons to Transformers are not fair though, since the ‘brain off’ factor seems to work with Pacific Rim. Something I just couldn’t do with the Transformers movies.

7.5/10

Pacific Rim on IMDb

This time I really had a problem. Normally I tend to write only about movies that spawn a certain reaction in me. May it be positive or negative. But this time it took me more than two days before I sat down to write a review. Because, in all honesty, this movie left me with nothing. But why is that?

Well, do I have to explain the story behind this movie? I don’t think so. It’s pretty much the same origin story we all already know from Superman. We follow him when he discovers that he’s different. We see how he learns about his powers. We see him struggle with his powers. We see him struggle with the question what kind of man he wants to be. Something that ‘Superman Returns’ did different in 2006. There were glimpses of Superman’s origins and that was enough for me.

I enjoyed the first half of Man Of Steel. But when the first hour of the film is done there come so many stupid things into play that it feels very off. Yes they did the origin story over again and tried to go different ways to present it to the audience. We get a very extended look at Krypton. Surely a Krypton that doesn’t look like I would imagine it. It took me a while to get used to it. It’s a little weird. But if I would have to say what I expected Krypton to look like I would say that Vulcan (from the 2009 Star Trek) was kind of what I expected. On the other hand I expected Vulcan to look like the Krypton we got in Man Of Steel. So yeah, Krypton has the feel of a Volcano/Lava Planet. Which felt a little off. Surely 30 minutes are on Krypton before we get to Earth. And there we get an already grown up Clark Kent, trying to find his way and doing jobs like everyone else. Flashback bring us to places in his childhood. Situations that will define who he becomes. And all that is nicely done. But, yet again, we already kind of know this stuff. The movie starts to go its own route when General Zod arrives on Earth.

As soon as our bad guy General Zod arrives, the movie goes down hill. And by that I don’t mean the acting or technical aspect. It’s the story and how it treats its characters. The movie kind of starts to be an alien invasion movie. Strangely enough there is only an Air Force Colonel and a General who know about it and do something against it. Not a single time we hear or see the US President or a voice from Washington. It’s Superman, Colonel, General and Reporter VS Aliens. Yes Reporter! Because Lois Lane is everywhere! She must have a teleporting device since every normal military operation would not allow her to be where the action is. But she’s always there. It’s a miracle! And stupid.

And now for the ending of the movie. Where I sat in my fluffy theater seat and thought to myself “really?!?!”. Of course you have tons of battles in this movie. First Smallville, then New Yo… erm Metropolis and then THE WORLD! Oh well, I guess THE WORLD comes in the sequel. But yeah, Superman fights some epic battles, wrecks half of his hometown and at the end of the film half of Metropolis. From what we get to see in the film the damage that happens in the city must have been 20 times worse than what happened on 911. I mean half of Metropolis is a wasteland! The Superman I grew up with would have tried to avoid that. No, the Superman of today needs to punch his opponent through 10 skyscrapers, without wasting one thought about the thousands of people IN THE F***ING BUILDING. Wow. Are we so desperate that we betray what the main character actually stands for, just to CG in as much destruction as possible? Is that really necessary? Superman’s first thought should have been “Hey, to fight Zod IN THE CITY might actually not be the first best choice! I have to get him away from the population!”. Not in this movie. It’s ridiculous.

It’s save to say that this movie will make back its budget and spawn a sequel. No doubt about that. Even if the movie itself is stupid and even boring at points. They still don’t understand that loud kaboom every ten minutes is no entertainment. After a certain point you had your dose of explosions and the audience grows numb. The last 40 minutes of that film is a huge CG Kaboom clusterf*ck. It’s tooooo much. What happened to the screenwriters today? Don’t they know how a build up and pay off works? No, they have to bombard the audience with all possible things, right from minute one. It’s a shame and so many wasted opportunities. They could have done something amazing with this film. They failed.

Who do I blame? The writers and producers. And maybe the Studio. Who knows how much interference was going on there. Zack Snyder does what he does best. His visual directing style worked perfect for the movie. Even though, once again, there was far too much shaky cam going on. But overall it’s a very beautiful film to look at. The acting was fine. Not outstanding though. Henry Cavill does a nice job with the material he got. I think a worthy Superman. Michael Shannon does a great Zod as well. Very over the top. All the others… standard I guess.

They wanted to approach the material as realistic as possible. Much like the Christopher Nolan Batman movies. And the same time they go so damn over the top that you sit there shaking your head and ask yourself ‘why’? It just didn’t work.

7.3/10

Man Of Steel on IMDb

Everytime seeing the trailer for this one I thought that it’s surely a good looking film and at least entertaining. But it didn’t capture me and made me think that I would definitely have to see this. It’s been out in theaters for a while now and probably in its closing weeks. Just for fun I decided to go see a movie and since nothing else really interested me I picked this one. And I think I’m not the only one who had the mindset of “Sure, looks good… but meh, I’ll wait for the bluray.” I’m certainly glad I decided to go see it on the big screen. Now the movie gets often labeled as a ‘Live-action Wall-E’. Understandable. But only if you haven’t seen the whole movie and know the full story.

We enter this world where the human race got heavily decimated by an alien attack on Earth. In that battle the moon got torn apart and the aftermath left Earth in ruins. The humans won but Earth is pretty much a wasteland. Jack (Tom Cruise) and Victoria (Andrea Riseborough) are a team that is stationed on Earth to maintain drones. These drones protect gigantic towers that convert water into… I don’t know… atmosphere maybe. Which is then brought to a moon near Titan where the rest of mankind is trying to survive. The only contact Jack and Victoria (who are also a couple) have is a giant station that orbits Earth. Both of them are two weeks away from having done their duty and their chance to get back to a normal life. When suddenly drones disappear and go down, Jack tries to find them, which starts a chain of events that will eventually lead him to a truth he always kind of suspected or had a feeling of. Something is wrong with all this.

I could write much more about the movie’s plot but that would lead me into spoiler territory. Let’s just say that there are a couple of twists that manage to give the plot quite a turn. And that’s exactly what the movie does right. Most movies tend to have a straight line that leads the viewer through the movie. Other movies have plot-twist overload and manage to completely confuse the audience. Not this one! It does have its twists but these are placed and written good enough to keep the viewer on track. And it does that nicely until the end credits play. That is something I cannot stress enough. We are talking about a movie that has more than 2 hours runtime. The movie is so cleverly written in its timing that it presents you answers at always the right time. And no, it’s not one of these movies that leaves questions open. At least when it comes to the main plotlines. Everything you have to know is answered when the film is done. Which makes the movie a really satisfying experience. It’s no sequel bait.

There are a couple of things that bugged me. Mainly about how the Earth’s environment looks. I understand that a war and a devastated moon would leave Earth quite stressed out. But they talk about how the war ended 60 years ago while the story plays 2077. There is a certain point in the movie where they could have placed the happenings in the movie a couple of thousand years in the future. Which would have added a completely new layer to it all. Especially in engaging the viewer to think about what all happened in the meantime. It would also have worked better (at least a little bit) in explaining what happened to Earth’s environment. But they stuck with the easy explanation of 60 years. That’s probably the only part that really bugged me.

The acting was solid and all characters believable. You may think about Tom Cruise’s private life what you want… but this guy can act. In that field he’s certainly one of the best we have. And he’s in top shape for this movie. Some of the VFX shots can only be described as beautiful. No shaky cam and no quick cuts. The movie knows its strengths and plays its cards well. Every scene has exactly the right amount of screen time it deserves. Like I said earlier… just great timing.

The feel, look, design, sound and music works well too. Both the music and sound strongly remembered me of Mass Effect. Same goes for the polished look of everything. So if they ever want to do a Mass Effect movie they should watch this one. The director Joseph Kosinski did only one other movie (Tron: Legacy) and pulled off quite some work with Oblivion. Especially since the story and plot was written by Kosinski and Arvid Nelson. Makes you wonder what he can do in his future. Definitely someone to keep on the radar.

If you are a Scifi fan you will probably notice a lot of elements Oblivion borrowed from other stuff. May it be movies, games or books. I’m a Scifi fan and enjoy movies with a great atmosphere. If you like movies that take you by the hand and make you explore a mystery along with the main characters in the movie. Then this one is perfect for you. It certainly has it’s flaws but all of them forgivable.

7.8/10

Oblivion on IMDb

KHAAAAAAAAAANNNNNN!!!!!!! And I thought to myself… “dear lord… you people really did go there”. 1990 I watched my first Star Trek movie. On a rented VCR I watched it with my father and a friend of his. One of the rare memories I have with my father. That certain movie was ‘Star Trek: The Wrath Of Khan’. I honestly didn’t understand much of what was going on. The only Trek I knew at that point was TNG with Picard. But still, even without knowing anything, that movie stood in my memory. I watched it several times in the past years and the film grew to be one of my all-time favourites. It IS the best of all the movies they did (and probably will ever be). Oh and by the way… SPOILERS! Sorry. =)

The movie starts and we see Kirk (Chris Pine) & gang on a mission, observating a planet and its inhabitants. A primitive race that stands on the verge of extinction because of a volcano that is close to break out. Kirk of course wants to save these creatures and therefore breaking prime directive of never interfering with the internal developments of alien civilizations. While doing so the movie develops the first conflict between the ideology of Spock (Zachary Quinto) and Kirk. The next conflict we have is between Uhura (Zoe Saldana) and Spock because he risked his life without seemingly thinking about her opinion and emotions. Kirk gets punished by Starfleet Command because of his reckless behaviour/decisions and loses the Enterprise. In the meantime a weird guy named John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch) manages it to blow up a secret facility of the Starfleet. Stuff blows up, things happen, people die, new conflicts arise and Kirk gets back command of the Enterprise to hunt down Harrison. There is only a problem. And that is that Harrison is on the Klingon homeworld Kronos. So the Enterprise has to go on a covert mission to track him down. Once there we get to see how powerful Harrison really is. And on a sidenote we get a look at the Klingons. A kinda strange and somehow disappointing look. Kirk manages to capture Harrison and together they unveil what’s behind it all. In the meantime we learn that Harrison is Khan. And all the story twists the movie had, I saw coming miles before they hit.

I was really excited for this new movie. Watched the trailers which looked pretty awesome. But first and foremost I wanted to see Benedict Cumberbatch as the villain. I kind of had no doubt that he would reprise the role of Khan. And if he didn’t, he would probably be one of Khan’s soldiers. Ultimately it turns out that he indeed is Khan in the new movie as well. So it really had no impact for me when they revealed it in the movie. Honestly I would almost liked it better if Harrison would have been one of Khan’s soldiers. It would have kept some sort of mystique to the character of Khan. Cumberbatch however tries the best he can to play his part. And he does good. You could see in his performance that his character is indeed powerful and mysterious. You could never tell what he was really up to. Of course it’s obvious that he is up to no good. But still, it’s not the original universe. Maybe he’s a little different in this movie. I was hoping for that. But no, he’s plain evil and only following his own plan. Which is fine due to the performance of Cumberbatch. It’s still certainly not on par with the grand performance of Ricardo Montalban in the 1982 film. This new movie didn’t allow it to explore the character more deeply. Unfortunately.

The action is great. Even though it’s a little like all the other high budget movies I’ve seen lately. One action setpiece after another. It’s a little too much after a while and I left the theater pretty floored and exhausted. I would have preferred to leave one out and give character developments more space. But no. The studios seem to go for the kaboom nowadays. Unfortunately. Because the dynamics between our protagonists are great and a lot of fun. Bones (Karl Urban) still is a scene stealer like in the first movie. Simon Pegg got more space in the movie and pulls off a really good Scotty. Sulu (John Cho) and Chekov (Anton Yelchin) have their moments as well. Like in the first movie there overall is a really good balance between all the characters and their given room within the story. I really enjoyed that! And all of them deserve it.

LENSFLARES! Well, I dig lensflares. I use them for my own work to add that little bit extra optic flair. In the first J.J. Abrams Star Trek we pretty much had a lensflare overkill. It didn’t hurt much since it kinda fits the Scifi tone and look of it all. Abrams continued to use these flares in Super 8. Especially in situations where it did not make a tiny bit of sense. He understood the criticism after that movie and toned it down for Into Darkness. At least in the first half of the film. I noticed a huge jump in lensflare appearences the closer we got to the end. Overall the movie is just a beauty to look at. The VFX are astounding and now we really reached a point where you can do pretty much anything photorealistic with CGI. Especially the last big CGI scene in the film is an eyecatcher. All the destruction and detail that came with it is a great show.

So yeah, my overall impression is that it is a good movie. Other than Iron Man 3 recently, this movie does not leave a weird feeling in my stomach. But. Yes… the famous but! There are also a lot of parts that do not go so well. Especially when they are referencing things from the original 1982 movie. Things that actually have absolutely no right to be there in this new one. The line I mention right at the beginning of my review is in the movie. Yup! Only thing that is different though is that Spock is the one screaming it. They just reversed the parts and Kirk is the one dying. Only that he is not really dead which I (again) saw coming miles before it hit. And while Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto really try their best to give that death scene the weight it deserves, it never had a chance. In today’s popculture that famous scream became a parody. Especially on the internet. Which leads to the question why the hell they left it in there?! That certain element does only work in the 1982 movie. Also the fact that Harrison had to be Khan. Why? Like I said, Khan is a very interesting character that deserves a lot of room to be explored, which is not given in this movie. So the movie would have worked a lot better if Harrison would have been one of Khan’s soldiers instead of Khan himself. And another thing. At the end we hear that a year has passed since the happenings and that everything is back to normal again. I ask myself one thing. What about the Klingons? I mean… you landed on their planet and slaughtered a bunch of people there. The Klingons I grew up with would have gathered their fleet within a week and prepared for open war in no time! But well, at least the look of their planet had a nice industrial feel.

Like I said. I think it’s a good movie with a solid story that makes sense. Only certain elements sprinkled in there feel odd and out of place or just don’t belong there. They rebooted the universe to go new ways. So why adding references to the old movies while its your job to create a movie that creates references on its own!

Still a good movie. =)

7.4/10

Star Trek: Into Darkness on IMDb

I really liked the first one. The down to earth tone and feel of it. Robert Downey Jr. is Tony Stark. I couldn’t imagine someone else in that role. The second movie generated the same feeling I had for Iron Man 1. But what you immediately saw was that they amped it all up a notch. More action. More Humour. More everything. Part 2 was entertaining but not quite where the first part was.

Iron Man 3 starts after the events of The Avengers. Tony sits at home and tries to deal with his inner conflicts. That conflict basically is some sort of post traumatic stress syndrome. When Tony worked with the Avengers he understood that there are other heroes out there. He alone cannot save the world. In the end he is just a human with all human weaknesses. The only thing that makes him special is his armor. But he can’t have it with him all the time. And that’s kind of the plot of the movie. It shows us how vulnerable Tony is. When suddenly a terrorist organization is doing bombings and killing tons of innocent people. A man with the name of ‘The Mandarin’ is responsible and threatening the United States. Just for fun I guess since I cannot remember him saying something about what exactly his motivations are. Except the usual empirialism the USA represent. At the same time we have another new face entering the Ring. Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) is a scientist who’s trying to get Stark Industries to join his cause to find the ultimate cure for everything that could happen to a human beeing. Pepper Potts, in the name of Stark Industries, refuses the offer since, what Killian is looking for, could easily be used as a weapon. Killian is not amused. In the meantime Tony reacts to Mandarin’s threats, which leads to the complete destruction of Tony’s home. Now it’s personal and Tony wants to take Mandarin out.

The movie has a few twists which, at least for me, weren’t too surprising. The overall story felt a little flat and did not have the depth of the first two. There is a lot going on in this movie. A lot of location jumping which was a little exhausting. The action scenes were loaded with kaboom and eye candy. For some reason, after 3/4 of the movie, I didn’t care anymore. It was just even more CGKaboom. Especially the final battle at the end, when suddenly 30 or 40 different AI controlled Iron Man suits appear. This was just too much for me. Then at the end end we have the fistfight between Tony and the villain. That should have been the finale. That was done great and engaging. Thet 10 minutes of kaboom before that were just there becauuseeee… because. If I would have to use only two words to describe this movie then it would be “too loud!”. For no reason. The first one worked great without the massive action stuff.

What saves the movie are the actors. They all seemed to have had a fun experience with this film. The chemistry between Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow is still there and working. The additional cast did a nice job too. Ben Kingsley and especially Guy Pearce are worth to be mentioned as well. They also got the humour right again. There were a couple of well placed and timed ‘laugh out loud’ moments. It’s also worth to mention that Tony, for the most parts of the movie, is not in his armor. Which really made it a better movie. Due to the destruction of his home and laboratory, Tony gets put in situations where he has to be inventive (A-Team style) to find a way out. That are really nice moments that bring us a little closer to the character and show the difficulties he has to deal with.

There are lots of good parts in this movie. But also a couple that really bugged me and just felt like “meh”. I guess ultimately I wouldn’t say the movie is worse or better than any of the other two. It’s ‘just there’ with the other two movies.

The VFX work is pretty much great here. Everything looked seamless and the integration of the CG into the live action footage (and vice versa) looked pretty much flawless. The camera work is nothing special though. From that alone it’s not a movie you need to see on the big screen. Bluray would be enough. The 3d was amaaaaaazing… but no, I saw it in 2d and that was more than enough.

Overall it’s a fun movie that doesn’t expect too much off its audience. I personally just think they tried a little too hard after Iron Man 2 and The Avengers. However… it is entertaining!

Iron Man 3 on IMDb

This is probably the first of Lars Von Trier’s movies I’ve seen. I wanted to risk a look at Dogville but never really mustered up the interest. I surely know that his movies are a little special and you immediately get this vibe in Melancholia as well.

After an almost mesmerizing opening, with some really captivating shots, the actual story starts with a wedding. We follow Justine (Kirsten Dunst) through the evening. Along with all of the tirades and shenanigans that can happen when there is a big family meeting. It doesn’t take long and we recognize that Justine isn’t exactly the most happy person on the planet. Lets just say that Justine and me wouldn’t get along. There these moments when she’s truly adorable and one minute later it seems as if she gave up on everything. I constantly asked myself what the hell is wrong with her? We also learn that the opening scenes seem to be from a dream Justine had. But that doesn’t explain her character’s decisions and actions.However, I feel sorry for the groom. Especially during that one scene when she leaves him alone in a room to go for a walk and make love to a stranger outside. Sure enough the groom is leaving her a few scenes later. My only thought… “Good for him!”. I’m kind of like Udo Kier’s character in this movie. Constantly with a question mark hovering over my head.

Then we follow Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg), the sister of Justine. Now they know a Planet called Melancholia is marching into our solarsystem. Obviously the movie doesn’t care about physics. Well, I admit I’m no expert, but wouldn’t the gravity/mass of Melancholia mix up some of the sensitive things that keep our solarsystem the way it is? Resulting in certain cataclysmic effects regarding Earth way before Melancholia actually hits or comes close? Yeah yeah, I guess Melancholia is more a metaphor instead of a real planet I guess. But anyway. In the meanwhile Justine fell into a strong depression and Claire is trying to help and stay close to her. Finally a woman that makes sense in this movie. In the meantime Melancholia comes closer to Earth. Claire doubts that Earth will survive the passing of Melancholia. While her husband John (Kiefer Suchterland) is trying to assure her that everything will be fine, she still finds no reason to believe him. Soon enough both find out that nothing good is about to happen.

Whether you like Justine or you don’t but Kirsten Dunst delivers a good performance. Even if I ask myself why that character is actually in the movie. The character I can more relate to is Claire. And that’s actually all I can say about the characters. Overall very good performances from everyone.

When it comes to the technical execution I really have some issues. Instead of constructing well composed shots it’s shaky cam most of the time. The movie shows in the beginning that it’s very well able to create some nice shots. So I’m not sure what the movie wants to tell us here. Maybe the camera work is so restless because it wants to build a connection to emotions ofthe characters. Aside of that I can add that the VFX work is ok but not overwhelming. But VFX are not what drives the movie… so it’s fine the way it is.

The final verdict is that the movie left me with a question mark. I’m not able to figure out the motive of the movie. Only the scenario is interesting to watch. But that scenario could have worked without the wedding part. So what is it trying to tell us? Maybe I’ll figure it out later… but right now I’m unable to.

7.2/10

Melancholia on IMDb

I tried to avoid any reviews for this one to go into it with no expectations and an open mind. I’m also not the biggest Tarantino fan and cannot really understand the hype around his persona. I guess he’s just a little too extroverted for my taste. When it comes to his movie work then I always appreciated what he tried to accomplish with his work. They all have a certain tone and feel that is special for Tarantino’s directing style and his directorial decisions. But overall his films don’t give me too much.

The first Tarantino movie that really surprised me was his ‘Inglourious Basterds’. I really liked this one. That could be mainly because of the appearance of so many german actors in it. Which was a genious move by Tarantino I would say. Aside of that it was just so beautifully shot! And now comes ‘Django Unchained’ and I was interested to see if the magic of the Basterds movie carried over a bit.

The story is actually fairly simple. Here we have our main character Django (Jamie Foxx) during the 1850s. At first he’s a slave but gets freed by a bounty hunter who needs him to confirm three targets he’s looking for. The bounty hunter, a german by the name of Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), now feels responsible for Django and both become friends. Schultz early on discoveres that Django is a very great help with all the bounty hunting business and decides to build a partnership with him. He soon learns that Django has a wife and both decide to find and free her too. On their way they get done some bounty hunting jobs and when the winter ends they start their journey to find the girl. Soon enough they got their first lead that gets them to a plantation and its owner Calvin J. Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). Django and Schultz make up a plan to get to Candie and make him invite them to their plantage, where they indeed find Django’s wife. When Candie discoveres, with help of his ‘to the death’ loyal house slave (Samuel L. Jackson), the true intentions of Django and Schultz he goes a little mad and heads start to roll fast.

My last three moviegoing experiences were ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, ‘The Hobbit’ and now ‘Django’. All three of them with an overall running time of 165 minutes. Very long movies. Comparing all three I have to say that Django felt the shortest. The longest sitting was ‘The Hobbit’ for me. Django on the other hand delivers enough suspense to keep you interested. Action scenes were well paced, sprinkled nicely and well balanced into the different parts of the film. It had one or two lenghty moments but nothing that took me out of the movie much. On the other hand it’s a Tarantino movie. You got to expect lots of dialogue scenes.

Since the movie isn’t a big action spectacle and keeps a low profile, I have to talk about the acting in this one. Here the movie plays out its strenghts so damn well. Much like the ‘Basterds’ movie the dialogue scenes here are loaded with suspense. You never know what happens next or where it’s going. The main 4 people in this film are Django, Schultz, Candie and Candie’s house slave Stephen. Django’s part, to me, felt very very flat. And that is no critique. It is a very simple character and Jamie Foxx nails it nicely with mainly facial expressions that say more than words. Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio and Samuel L. Jackson are the best here though. While Waltz plays the german dentist Dr. King Schultz in a way that makes the audience easily build a connection to him, DiCaprio plays an awesome slimey bad guy. Samuel L. Jackson took his character and plays it in a way that more than once left you thinking if he’s a good or bad guy. Jackson also plays a role that makes him really shine as an actor again. Something where he isn’t the ‘I can do everything and save the day’ type of guy. Actually a very vulnerable character in this movie.

Unlike the other two 160min movies I mentioned, ‘Django Unchained’ was not in 3d. It was also filmed traditionally with a film print. No digital cameras. And while I have nothing against digital camera work and (for the most part) nothing against 3d, I just have to say that it was such a pleasant experience to watch this movie! It was beautifully shot and I didn’t see any quality issues whatsoever. And the most important fact is that I was never taken out of the movie because of some stupidly executed post converted fake 3d effect. Despite the overwhelmingly positive critics and fan response I don’t think the 3d hype will stop. Instead I’ll see even more unnecessary stuff come out. Like 48 frames per second. I say USELESS!

The movie also generated a lot of buzz caught a lot of flak because of all the blatant racism going on in it. And there I have to ask why? While the movie is indeed very much fictional, I bet my right arm that the racism, portayed in this movie, is pretty much accurate for the 1850s. Yes the ‘N’ word is used in every sentence possible but nowhere in the movie does it say that it’s good to use this word. On the contrary! Every single time we see something cruel happen to one of the slaves we also see the reaction of the german Dr. King Schultz character. He’s through and through disgusted by how the black people are treated. And that’s the statement right there. Why is no one talking about that? I mean… think about how it must have been for a civilized person to see how brutal one human being can be to another, without any justifiable reason. And this brutality was just reality in that time. Much like the Nazi’s burning the jews in their concentration camps. Every now and then it’s necessary to remember people how it was not so long ago.

Did I mention that the movie is also very violent? No? Well then consider it mentioned now. The use of fake blood in this movie could surely easily fill a bathtub or two. And while this as well generated a lot of controversy I have to counter with the argument that this is a movie. A movie with fictional characters and a fictional story. People who are not able to separate reality from a movie have a problem to begin with. It’s also the responsiblity of the parents to not let their kids see such movies. Especially Tarantino films. I personally liked the violence in this movie. Its purpose to make certain scenes hard to watch just works and is intended. And certain scenes will definitely make you cringe a bit. I really liked this. It’s a bold and necessary move to stay true to the story that’s told in this movie.

To counter that hard reality and brutality of the 1850s, we have some very delicious kind of humour in this movie. The timing and execution of these, sometimes a little over the top, scenes is just perfect. Even the partly ‘over the topness’ doesn’t hurt the movie at all. First of all you are constantly reminded that this is a Tarantino movie. You got to expect the unexpected. And Tarantino delivers exactly that. And sometimes you really have to laugh out loud at what he’s delivering. I don’t know how this guy is doing it, but it works perfectly. Django Unchained might be the most funny movie Tarantino did so far. And the actors do a very great job at delivering that humour. Especially Christoph Waltz is just perfect in acting out the most usual lines of text in a way that makes them sound and look funny.

To round this up with technical things then I have to repeat what I said earlier. The movie is very pleasant to watch. And all that without 3d, digital camera work or 48 frames per second. This movie finally felt like a movie again. I kinda missed that. Tarantino movies are famous for their soundtracks and Django does have some interesting music choices as well. Some of them hit you in the face a bit. At least me. They, however, never felt too much out of place. The camera work and editing is an homage to the old spaghetti western movies. That style is all over the movie, works nicely and generates the right feel for the film.

Yes this movie managed to carry over what I liked in the ‘Inglourious Basterds’ movie. Enough babble… go treat yourself with one of the best movies out there. It’s worth the cash!

My final words are: DiCaprio should have been nominated for the Oscar!

8.3/10

Django Unchained on IMDb

This movie has a long history. It ended when Peter Jackson decided to take the directors seat by himself again. Originally Guillermo Del Toro was a name attached to that seat. And I’m fairly sure he would have done some great things. Ultimately I think the production problems drove him off and Jackson decided to do it. Del Toro nonetheless helped with the writing and I think, in some parts, you can clearly see that. This review is written from the ‘did not read the original book’, perspective. I usually have no problems when it comes to movies from books. I can understand that some book parts do not translate well on screen. So it’s natural and often necessary to compromise.

On a technical note this movie generated a lot of buzz because of a new 48 frames per second projection. Naturally a movie has 24 frames per second. That is basically all information our eye needs to enjoy a movie. 48 frames per second make movements look much more crisp instead of motion blurred. Which gives, especially fast cutted action scenes, a much clearer picture. The downside is that a lot of other parts of the film look very very amateur handycam like. But more about that later. How was the actual movie you might ask? Well. Let’s see.

It starts out in the Shire. Bilbo Baggins lives a good life and doesn’t want that to change. One day a weird old man appears and recruits Bilbo for an adventure. That old man is Gandalf The Grey. Together with the dwarf Thorin Oakenshield, Gandalf wants to take back their city. They lost it due an attack by the dragon ‘Smaug’. Who is still holding the city captured, which happened a long time ago. The dwarven civilization basically lost its home. Thorin wants to reclaim the city as well as the gold and riches burried under the mountain! Not without help. Beside Gandalf there are eleven other dwarven friends who want to go with them. Loyal to the core and willing to fight everything that is crossing their path. And then there is Bilbo. He is not exactly happy when the company of dwarfs marches into his home. Gandalf has a plan though. He wants to have Bilbo with them. As if he knows that Bilbo will play a part on that journey that no one else would be able to play.

After some hesitation Bilbo decides to go with them. That’s something I can relate to. I’m a little like Bilbo when it comes to these things. I’m not the adventure guy too… but I know that it’ll be fun when you look back and you will also have some stories to share when it’s over. I guess that’s what Bilbo drove when he decided to join the adventure. From that point on it’s Bilbo who kind of works as the point of view for the audience.

From then on we follow the group to their first adventures. The dwarfs have their doubts about the role Bilbo could possibly play. He got no experience with anything… except being a hobbit and liking good food. Bilbo, however, will get his chances to prove himself to the group. Eventually he’ll gain their respect and becomes a valuable asset.

Instead of preaching down the whole film, which would be like writing a short story, I want to go to a few things I really liked and don’t liked, about the film. It could involve spoilers!

What I liked are the little homages to the characters of the first trilogy. Not necessarily the scenes that involved Frodo and old Bilbo. It was more the use of specific images we know from ‘The Fellowship’ movie. The behaviour of Bilbo in the beginning, when he tried to get rid of Gandalf. Martin Freeman almost to the splitsecond re-enacts the reaction of Bilbo in ‘Fellowship’, when unwanted visitors knocked on his door. There were a couple of scenes like that. Again in Bilbo’s home, when Gandalf hits the light with his head, for example. That’s a little fanservice to the true fans of the first trilogy.

Then there is that one scene in the mountains. Again there were a couple of scenes/camera angles that reminded me of the ‘Fellowship’ movie. For some reason we have some giant mountain/rock people having a fight. Our band of heroes is trying to move along a cliff when they see that they are part of a giant moving rock. For some reason this rock is having an argument with another giant rock and you have this amazing fight sequence going on. Our heroes, of course, try to get out of there alive. All that while these giant things fight each other, causing immense tremors and falling pieces of rocks. This scene was a lot of fun to watch. I would love to know why these giants were fighting. I guess we’ll never know.

Another thing I enjoyed was Radagast. He belongs to Gandalf’s people and has quite a knowledge when it comes to magic and especially nature. Even if his whole short plotline feels a litte ‘thrown in’… I enjoyed it. It gave a different perspective on things.

One of the highlights, again, was Gollum. From a technical point of view, with all the technical progress since the first trilogy, he now looks even better. The integration into the live action footage looked pretty much seamless and his interaction with Bilbo flawless. Andy Serkis (who plays Gollum as reference in the live action footage) brings out the best again. The animation of Gollum’s face, when he’s arguing with himself, is just great to watch. He makes Martin Freeman look pale in these scenes. And don’t get me wrong, I think Martin Freeman does a great job playing Bilbo.

The movie to me felt very much like a rollercoaster ride. You have these action sequences that work pretty much great all together. Then you have some quiet scenes that, I feel, could have been reduced a little bit. One scene for example is when the dwarfs begin to sing their song in Bilbo’s house. While I understand that it’s trying to set a mood and tone for that group of people, I also think that this wouldn’t have been necessary. You can see that this company of dwarfs is a tight pack of wolves when they’re having their meal. No need for that song in my eyes.

Back to that scene between Gollum and Bilbo. I heard that it’s accurate to the book and that can’t be a wrong thing, right? Well, it felt a little long for my taste. To see Gollum in action was great but somehow I felt that whole segment was a little stretched out. Sometimes it’s better to cut down certain things.

At the same time, when Gollum and Bilbo have their standoff, we follow Gandalf and the other guys on their escape from Goblin city. This whole escape sequence also felt a little too long. Don’t get me wrong, that chase/escape scene was entertaining and they had some cool ideas with it. Maybe it was because of the 48 frames per second. I literally felt exhausted when this scene was over. I think all the speed and extra detail (that otherwise would get lost in the motion blur of the usual 24 frames per second) was a little too much.

Let’s talk about that 48 frames per second issue. I have a mixed opinion about it. On one hand the extra visible detail, in some scenes, really worked nice. Other moments did not look so well. The biggest problem is that it immediately makes you see that the environment is fake. Everything feels unnatural. You immediately know where a matte painting or cg was used. Due to that we lose a lot of magic that the original movies had. Which brings me to the conclusion that the 48fps would be great for animated movies – since it makes the 3d effect work more crisp. Movies that mix live action and cg… no, I don’t think that works well.

It’s a little funny. The 48 frames per second make the movie having almost a video game aesthetic. On the same note the 48 frames reduce the motion blur to make the picture sharper. While video games nowadays implement an extra motion blur effect, to make the game more feel like a movie and therefor more cinematic. Do movies now want to look like video games while video games want to look like movies for the longest time? Strange development. Which brings me to the visual effects.

And for the visual effects there is not much to say. The 48 frames per second spoiled the experience a bit. The whole film looks very fake. Even scenes with real backgrounds looked fake. Which is a shame. If the movie would have been projected on a usual 2d/24 frames setup… I think it would look just beautiful. A lot of beautiful matte painting work as well as superbly detailed 3d characters.

While they did cut out elements from the first three movies, that made fans go wild, it makes the impression that they’re almost desperate to get everything they possibly can, into the new movies. Understandable when you think about the fact that the first trilogie had three massive books on their backs. The new trilogy has only one book to go from.

But enough disection for now. Would I recommend the film? Yes I would. It’s one of the better productions these days. Even if it doesn’t have as much heart as any of the first trilogy’s movies, it still works. It also manages to bring over the charme of Middle-Earth very well. I would also suggest to skip the 48 frames per second as well as the 3d. If you can catch a normal 2d screening, it’s probably the best way to enjoy this film.

A solid 7.7 from me. (Rating for the 48fps/3d version)

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey on IMDb