Oblivion

I've just seen Oblivion. Wow. What an amazing movie. This is not a shoot 'em sci-if adventure, but rather a mystery wrapped in an enigma. There are many levels to this movie, I would love to see it again to see what I missed the first time. The story is compelling, as are the characters. The design aesthetic is fantastic. All clean lines, great tech, beautiful to look at. The visual effects were top-notch, no flaws from live action to CG work that I could see. I did have a few small quibbles with few plot points, but they are minor and in no way detracted from the experience.
THIS MOVIEDOOD RATES IT: Awesome!

A Good Day to Die Hard

I remember how cool the first Die Hard was: the bad guy really did count to four and then did what he said. No fuss, and well there was a mess...poor Mr. Takagi. Fast forward through four sequels to Die Hard 5. A short, action filled romp in Russia. The storyline was a bit thin. Had the writers bothered to flesh it out a bit, I think this movie would have been almost as good as the original. As it stands, it is good and entertaining. However, the original still dominates with its boldness, clever humor, and badass bad guy, none of which seems fully realized here. It was an average action movie with the Die Hard name tacked on and a few plot points to tie it into the series. Had the creative team spent just a bit more time on it, they could have had a real winner here. Why am I going to rate this higher than I should? Because I loved all the action this movie had to offer, even if by Die Hard standards it is far from awesome, it still is an entertaining movie and I enjoyed it.
THIS MOVIEDOOD RATES IT: Sweet!

Rise of the Guardians

Rise of the Guardians features an interesting twist on beloved characters from our childhood: Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Sandman, the Tooth Fairy, and Jack Frost. They are guardians of the children of the world fighting to stop the vile Boogeyman. It's a great concept and well executed. The story sucks you in right away and there are fantastic little moments throughout the movie that really make it enjoyable. The character designs are top-notch. The subtle textures of frost on Jack's Frost's hoodie, the Naughty and Nice tattoos on Santa's arms really enrich each character. While he doesn't say much (anything really) I think the Sandman is my favorite character. Kids will love seeing these characters in a new light. As a designer, one of my favorite parts was the end credits with the cool icons for each character that reinforces the mythology of this universe.
THIS MOVIEDOOD RATES IT: Awesome!

Wanna Watch: Oblivion

Why? Not for Tom Cruise, that's for sure. But it is a scifi movie that looks to have an interesting story, co-stars Morgan Freeman and has fantastic looking poster and aesthetics.

Will it live up to the hype? I'll find out soon enough...stay tuned moviedoods!

The Last Stand

When my friend and I saw the preview for The Last Stand, we all said we needed to see it. I mean Arnold doing an action movie at his age? Gonna be good or gonna suck (and be funny). This movie is not extraordinary. It's not great. There are plot holes you could drive a Terminator tank through. But you know what? The movie was fun. It made fun of the aging action actor. It had a decent enough plot. It had gunfire and explosions! It had a cool little town set. It had some crappy green screen/CG work. But that's okay. I forgave most of it due to the fact that I enjoyed the movie. Would I see it again? No. Would I buy it on DVD? No. But maybe it's just me.
THIS MOVIEDOOD RATES IT: Meh.

Skyfall

I'll be the first to admit it: I'm not a James Bond fan. On occasion, my friends have persuaded me to see a movie or two, but I missed most of the older Bond films. I did see Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. Both were good, but Solace left me in confusion and not really wanting to see another Bond film. But the preview for Skyfall looked really good and my buddy and I had some free time on a trip, so I went to see it. Loved how we were dropped right into the middle of the action right away. Nice tension and action got me excited to see where the movie went next. The opening title sequence was beautiful, but like all Bond openers that I've seen, looks like it was a drug induced hallucination. Don't get me wrong, the imagery was beautiful as was the song by Adele. But it just makes me think of drugs for some reason. The dialog was sharp and had just the right amount of wit. The photography and locations, especially Shanghai and Scotland were gorgeous.

The best part for me, visually speaking was that the effects were seamless. Not once did I feel as if something was greenscreened or shot on a soundstage. Oh I know parts were, but you couldn't tell. So a big kudos to the visual effects artists on this one! Bond's gadgets were well designed, simply elegant in their form and function. For the most part, the plot did move along at a fair pace. The villain is a hardcore bad guy, twisted and one step ahead most of the movie. I really enjoyed the "back to basics" feel to the movie and I'm hopeful that Skyfall will be starting a good trend in Bond movies for the foreseeable future. 

THIS MOVIEDOOD RATES IT: AWESOME!

42

Chadwick Boseman plays Jackie Robinson in 42 with a great balance of dignity, power, and vulnerability. Wow, I didn't recognize Harrison Ford at first as Branch Rickey! Probably one of his best performances ever. The storyline flowed pretty evenly throughout, except near the end some quick cuts and  sequences played out of order seemed a strange choice. Looked like they were trying to cram too much into the ending. However, this did not lessen the emotional impact of the story in any way. The CG stadiums for the most part were nice to look at, but a bit too obvious that they were shot green screen. Despite my few nitpicks, 42 is a fantastic movie and is not to be missed!
MOVIEDOOD RATES IT: AWESOME!

G.I. Joe: Retaliation

I admit it, I had my hopes up for G.I. Joe: Retaliation when I saw the previews. But then there was the almost-year delay to convert it to 3D. Seriously? Did they do it because they knew this movie would suck? I will admit this movie is better than the first, but that's really not saying much. The basic plot is ok and could have worked had it not been marred by horrible dialog. I could stand the cheesy jokes, but some of the dialog was just plain stupid. The HISS tanks were cool, but where the hell are all the cool Joe vehicles from when I was a kid? They did finally get Cobra Commander to look right, and Firefly's outfit was done some justice. But it's a real shame that the rest of the cast was unrecognizable as being from G.I. Joe. They had some potential when the Joes met up with General Colton, but they wasted it on a bunch of old guys in the back that had no relation to G.I. Joe. General Coton, who the hell is that? Where is General Hawk? C'mon Hollywood, you can do this right so easily! And what the hell was up with the odd cut from the scene where Lady Jaye and the senator were crossing the street to being inside the SUV? I felt like I missed a minute of the movie. Speaking of Lady Jaye (Adrianne Palicki), she and her sexy outfits were the only saving grace to this movie besides the credits roll. Bottom line for action movie lovers: see something else. If you were a fan of the G.I. Joe franchise, see it, but don't expect it to be the G.I. Joe you remember and loved when you were a kid.
MOVIEDOOD RATES IT: BAH.