The Dark Knight Rises review.

The Dark Knight Rises is the much anticipated conclusion to Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. I enjoyed the first two considerably, and I enjoyed this one too. Like its predecessors, The Dark Knight Rises is a thoughtful take on the superhero genre. My thoughts on this film are varied and complicated, so I may need more space than usual.

The movie started out interesting enough, with an introduction to our main antagonist, Bane. The critics aren't kidding-he sounds exactly like Sean Connery as Darth Vader. The film crew put a microphone in his mask, giving his voice more of an echo to it. As the movie progresses, Bane's voice becomes considerably more threatening. Anyways, after this intro bit, the film continues to introduce the setting with discussions of Harvey Dent. Now, I would prefer to avoid spoilers if possible, so I won't be following plot points quite as closely from here on out. From the point that we are reunited with Bruce Wayne to about halfway through, the film starts to move very slowly. I think part of why this bothered me so much is that I approached this part of the movie wrong. The first half discusses the relationship between Bruce Wayne and Batman. It discusses Wayne's psychology, and possible desires to be slain in his crime fighting activities. The introductions of Selena Kyle and Bane happen earlier than necessary, but they set up the recurring themes of the movie and the looming threat, respectively. In particular, Bane's motives aren't clear for a considerable amount of the time after he is introduced, and I probably missed that this was supposed to make him more mysterious and therefore more threatening.

The second half of the film is where it picks up. Bane's threat becomes center stage, and Batman goes through more interesting character development. This part of the movie is truly intense, and if the entire film had been like this, I might have liked it more. Not to say I don't like it, but I'm not sure I would want to return to it individually. This part has the most intense action. It has the most interesting character motivations, especially on Bane's part. It is the biggest part of why I like this movie, and continues this way until the end.

Now, the following part contains spoilers. If you don't want to have the end of the movie spoiled, skip this paragraph. The ending reveals that Bane isn't the one pulling the strings, and reveals that a supporting character is the center of much of the story. This comes completely out of left field, and, at least for me, brought me out of the movie. That's right, the one behind all of these event was this one supporting character who didn't even have any obvious connections to the Brotherhood of Shadows. They did that. They also find a way to shoehorn Robin into it by having it as the name of a central supporting character.

In conclusion, The Dark Knight Rises is a great film. It's not perfect, but when it is good, it is extremely good. I'm not going to let some boring scenes and the messy ending ruin the film for me.

The Amazing Spider-Man Review

This is going to be a great year for super-hero movies, isn't it?

The Amazing Spider-Man is a wonderful movie. I wasn't really expecting to see anything as good as The Avengers this year, but here we are. Spider-Man is not better than The Avengers, but it's pretty much equal. That said, the films actually have very different themes. The Avengers built upon the characters created by previous films, and delivered by showing them doing their thing and being awesome. The Amazing Spider-Man has more sympathetic characters and a darker setting, and generally works by making us care about the characters.

And boy, does it work. These are really good characters. I think the only characters that aren't at least slightly sympathetic are the random thugs, and those could hardly be called "characters." Now, before Peter became Spider-Man, I was already willing to say that this is one of the best movies of the year. Then the wisecracks began. This movie has a very good sense of humour. The entire movie has you smiling, and when you aren't smiling, you are on the edge of your seat due to the suspense, or holding back tears during one of the film's more emotional scenes.

It's just a really good movie.

I compared it to the Avengers earlier, and yes, it really is that good. This is a movie that you need to watch.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter review

I'd like to start out by pointing out a difference between "dumb" and "fantastical". The concept of Abraham Lincoln fighting vampires isn't inherently stupid, it's just an interesting fantasy concept. If done right, it can be an interesting story about Lincoln's hardships in fighting vampires (hint: it is) or at least an entertaining action movie. If done wrong, it could be a facepalm-worthy load of cliches and explosions.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is a far better movie than most critics give it credit for. The characters are fleshed out and interesting, the conflict is genuinely compelling, and the movie manages to be genuinely clever at a number of points. It's a movie that's worth watching. This is an example of how to take a fantastical concept and do it right, by making a well-written and epic story. In addition, as the movie gets on, the battles get progressively more and more epic. In fact, this movie's best fight scenes are even better than the last fight in The Avengers, and you all know how I feel about that movie.

On the other hand, there are some small problems with it. The most obvious is that a number of shots in the film just look goofy, especially the various slow downs and zoom-ins. Again, these become less frequent as the film goes on. Another problem I had is the somewhat black and white view shown of the south. By depicting them as vampires, the film disregards the actual problems at the heart of the civil war, and the complexities that surrounded it. However, the film chooses other ways to show the bittersweet nature of the war, and the choices surrounding it. Finally, I was disappointed with the way that the female lead was portrayed, but I guess that it can be excused due to the film's setting. It upsets me that her main motivation in the final plotline of the film is related to her child. Maybe I'm not considering the realism of it, but it just bugs me.

In conclusion, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is a film truly worth seeing if you can take the premise seriously. With such fleshed-out characters and such a great story, it would be a shame if you couldn't.

Men in Black 3 review

Men in Black 3 is a fantastic film. It definitely meets, if not exceeds, the quality of the original. I can't help but feel that it isn't getting quite the love it deserves. Its blurb from Rotten Tomatoes is: It isn't exactly a persuasive argument for the continuation of the franchise -- but Men in Black III is better than its predecessor and manages to exceed expectations, largely due to Josh Brolin's impressive performance.

The thing is, Men in Black 3 is much, much more than this. It succeeds from a smart script, several great jokes, and some genuinely touching moments. The movie never fails to impress, and actually works as a standalone film. That's one of the best things I can say about a sequel. The best thing I can say is that it meets the quality of the actual high point of the series, which it does. It really does. It may not be perfect, but I can't really think of anything wrong with it right now. When the film is fun, it seems that the actors are enjoying themselves. When it's serious, the actors are almost indistinguishable from their roles. It seems that they actually feel the way that their characters do. Seriously guys, watch this movie. I don't really want to say all that much more, because I don't want to spoil it.

Oh wait, there's one more thing to talk about. The theme song. I'll get to it, just let me give the movie its score first.

                                                  

Alright, let's get on with this. Pitbull is in charge of the theme song here, which plays during the credits. The song isn't without its problems. Let's run through the things that it tries to be:

The song obviously tries to be the theme to Men in Black 3, which it doesn't quite succeed at. There's references to the movie, but they can seem shoehorned in to some.

It also tries to be a club jam. This works a lot better. The beat isn't exactly the best on a Pitbull song, but it's definitely danceable, partially due to the guitar riff and partially due to Pitbull's bubbly personality.

However, above all else, it's a Pitbull song. If you don't take it seriously and just enjoy it as it is, you can have a lot of fun with this song. I'm not saying that you should ignore it's faults, but take it about as seriously as it takes itself.

It's not a bad song. It's not a smart song, it's not a Men in Black theme song, but it's definitely a fun song. I even find myself liking the dubstep breakdown near the end. You may disagree, and the song has had enough airplay that you probably know what you're talking about. I like it.