Captain Phillips (2013) Good Film, Great Story

Captain Phillips (2013) Scott Rudin

I think most of us remember the tension of the event when we first heard about the real life Captain Phillips story. The situation was dire and the event horrific, but we were all pulling for our soldiers and our country to come out on top. Most of the country was not privy to the details of the event until far after it had passed. Of course the movie was a little dramatized, but the event deserved some recognition and the movie covered it well.

The film itself was somewhat politically charged and the plot was fairly accurate from what I have read from the situation. There were so many things I liked from the movie. First the acting was great and the script was written well. During the majority of the film you are surprised with how well the Captain handles the situation that you forget that it happened in real life. You are astonished by the actions he took and how he was able to save the lives of his crew members. The crew in the beginning was very against him and showed a bit of resentment for his stern behavior. The horn of Africa really is an unsafe place and because of how many journeys they go on they may forget about the dangers.

If you have ever lived in a dangerous area you sometimes forget about the problems that can arise if things go wrong. In my younger years I lived in a ‘ghetto’ area and I remember there were a lot of places to avoid. Most of the drug dealers and gang members would leave me alone because I lived in the area, but sometimes there were problems with the drug deals and weapons would be drawn while I was walking home from school. Most of the time it was pretty safe, but some situations arise that you can’t prepare yourself for. I was never taken hostage, but when the Captain was, I could absolutely relate in certain ways of feeling unsafe in an unsafe situation because having weapons drawn on you can be terrifying.

Tom Hanks did a great job with the role and was able to accurately portray this character in this horrible situation. I feel like as Americans, we aggrandize ourselves in many situations. We like to talk as if we are the greatest nation on the earth because of the people that we have here in America. Some of them are great some of them are not, but when we see an average Joe outsmart terrorists from African nations and sacrifice his life over that of his crewmen you can really feel proud of our country.

As soon as the seals show up I was ready for them to do what they do best. They are merchants of death and every one of those pirates probably deserved death even though it is not my place to judge. I personally am displeased with the progress of many of these underdeveloped counties and it is easy to see why so many people get caught up in piracy or any other similarly awful choice. The film is gripping and you cheer for our boys in uniform for doing their job and keeping Americans safe from future attacks. 

I thought Captain Phillips was a solid film and definitely a movie I would recommend to others. 

Pacific Rim (2013) Your Inner 7 Year Old Will Cheer. In Fact, YAYYYYYY!

Pacific Rim (2013) Legendary Pictures

Go big or go extinct! You may already be thinking that this movie did not appear to be watchable from the trailers, but you are dead wrong. Pacific Rim gets the joke that it is a part of. No matter what anyone tells you about this film, you should know that there is no joke someone can make to take away the integrity of this film. It doesn’t pretend to be anything that it isn’t and lives up to more than you can divine from a single trailer. I loved this film because of these facts and because it was incredibly interactive. Characters were easy to follow and although the script was overt in trying to explain drift compatibility and dimensional gateways, you cared genuinely about Mako and Raleigh. I found that each character had a purpose and all of them were fun to watch during at least one part of the film.

One of the best things about Pacific Rim is that it was properly labeled as its own movie. This isn’t Transformers 5, it wasn’t a Power Rangers remake, and it wasn’t an updated film version of Mecha Godzilla (and thank God they weren’t). It is a movie about new characters facing a threat we have wanted to see on film since we were children. It wasn’t animated, it wasn’t dramatized, it was just a movie about robots punching alien sea monsters in the face and it was great. Who cares about all the science that was mostly unbelievable? I don’t expect all that much science in a film anyway although some plots depend on the science (see my star trek review). Pacific Rim didn’t need to be weighed down into a lengthy physics lessons and one-liners of dialogue that explain some mystical science device in the future. It was what you expect and it did a great job of it. What more can you ask for as a movie viewer?

I review movies every day and can tell you that many of them diverge from their original plot lines in order to develop too many characters, or find too many new sub plots. Pacific Rim never really does this (other than one time that I can think of) and you get what you need from the film. The only think I wanted more from the entire movie was more Kaiju and Jeager fights and wish that there was a larger montage scene that showed every single one. They are impressive at scale and a feat of CGI genius. Luckily I will get my wish because Pacific Rim 2 has already been announced! Whhhatttttt?

Now I feel like some of you are already saying “BUT ADAM THIS MOVIE LOOKS SO DUMB” and I understand that. Granted I am a man that grew up in the 90s and I understand that not all people will enjoy this film, but it’s not like this idea was new or groundbreaking (see any anime TV series ever). When I was a kid I loved power rangers and even the girls loved power rangers. The idea that you got a robot you could use to fight evil in the streets of downtown somewhere was a great fantasy. I remember it was a fight to choose your ranger at recess and the red and green rangers were always the first taken while there were always girls that wanted the pink and yellow rangers. The show was awful, but it has sown the seeds of robots fighting alien creatures long ago. It was still a good idea today and thankfully they made this film and it wasn’t done horribly like the transformers series (I seriously don’t know how it could get worse, but I am sure they will find a way).

Also, I kind of enjoy seeing American films start using terms to explain things in other languages. If you speak another language then you probably already know that English has some major flaws that can’t be ignored. In Latin it is difficult to come up with new phrases if there is not a base to explain the word. Usually people would call the Jaegers ‘giant robots’ or ‘mechs’ and the Kaiju ‘alien sea monsters’ because that is the only base we can derive it from. In the past year, we have seen two phrases from Japanese that already exist for things in movies. The two phrases I can remember are Kaiju and Kuzuri (used in The Wolverine). Kaiju means “strange beast” and Kuzuri just means “wolverine” although in the movie Mariko defines it as “an animal with long claws and sharp teeth that fears nothing.” I enjoy this vernacular because it explains words in a single word that would take a Latin or Greek base a sentence to explain without creating a new word. It’s entertaining and gives us a language lesson about other cultures, which in my opinion is desperately needed.

Many people have told me that because this film didn’t make any money in the U.S. they will not create another like it. The truth is that it did not do very well in the U.S., but it did extremely well in the rest of the world. The movie cost 190 million to make and only made around 100 million in the box offices in the U.S. The great thing is that the movie made 305 million internationally and even broke records in China. I am guessing that the sequel to this movie will do even better in the box office because many people (including myself) didn’t even see the movie in theaters.

I also thought that Charlie Hunnam was a great lead actor in this role. I can only remember seeing him in Greet Street Hooligans in 2005 and to this day it is still one of my favorite movies. Ron Pearlman and Charlie Day both had decent roles as well, but the star of the show was Idris Elba who did a great job at being a leader/father character. He is great at delivering one-liners and even his monologue wasn’t horrible. I can’t wait to see him as Mandela.

To say the least, I thought this was a great film and was absolutely worth watching. I would consider it to be family friendly (there is no nudity and if you don’t mind blue goo for blood then it should be fine). I felt like a little kid at a carnival when I was watching this film and I will probably see it again before the end of the year. 

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) Science!

When you first start thinking about this movie, your thoughts may be reminiscent of the good experience you had at the movie theater or the fun you had when watching it at home, but the longer you think about the film the more you realize about it. I am not trying to say that it wasn't a fun thrill ride that accurately possessed moments of greatness because it did. The problem (beyond several plot discrepancies) is that it is great at first, but then the magic fades.

Many people that have seen the Honest Trailers or How it Should Have Ended videos on YouTube and have already realized that there are several invalid plot points that counteract each other in this film, but to find even more problems all you have to do is go further down the rabbit hole.

For instance, if you are willing to forget about the “super blood” and the personal trans-warp device rendering Star Fleet obsolete then you may already have some other questions pending.

(To preface this part you should know that I am not an astrophysicist)

For instance, when they are shot out of warp they were (according to the dialogue) 237,000 Km away from earth, which is at the Earth-Moon L1 liberation point (which is between the moon and the earth) you may wonder if they would be able to actually fall into earth’s gravitational pull. According to the European Space Agency we know that there is a balance point of gravity between these two masses at 326,000 Km away from earth. At this point you would technically be perfectly balanced between the Earth and Moon. Since they are not far enough away to be at that point, we know they would actually be in the Earth’s gravitational pull where they would be in fact be plummeting toward the earth. Although they would be freefalling toward the earth they would be traveling at a speed which is approximated around tens of Km an hour. .. an hour, so it’s safe to assume they would’ve all been floating there for quite some time. This is math that is technically leaving out the fact that they were thrown out of warp parallel to the earth which means they could have ended up anywhere in the world, but all in all the film has the space mathematics comparable to a Britney Spears music video if even I can disprove them.

Now that you are finished watching the Britney Spears video I think it’s safe to assume we can move on to the actual movie review.

Although you get decent performances from Chris Pine (Kirk) and Zachery Quinto (Spock), both of them are overshadowed by one of the best actors of our time. At this point you should know that I can only be referring to Benedict Cumberbatch (although Karl Urban is probably one of the best supporting actors around). I have been “SHER Locked!” for over 3 years now and have been on this guys’ bandwagon since I first witnessed his performance years ago. He is a star now and he is going to be even better in the years to come. Don’t believe me? Check IMDB, because there is an Oscar with his name on it for at least one of his upcoming films and no one has even seen them yet. That's how confident I am.    

As a film you were moved by the relationship between Kirk and Spock and were happy that it did not come to an end (even though it was by means that are pretty ridiculous). I can't say that I disagree with the critical acclaim it received even though the negative assessments are probably more correct than the positive ones. 

I didn't love all the characters as much as I did from the first film, but that was just because they added people to the bridge without much explanation and I still think that more side characters can be added to the core ones which would enhance the story greatly. It is what made the Star Trek series so great in the first place. 

I used to love Uhura, but she was transformed to an emotion filled mess throughout the film only furthering the stereotype that women can’t keep their emotions in check (or their clothes on: see Carol) even in a professional situation.

Carol: As a man I would be lying if I proclaimed to hate seeing Alice Eve in her underwear, but it was an awkward moment for the film because of how unnecessary it was and could’ve been easily avoidable.

Star Trek: Into Darkness is a fun film with good dialogue. At times, you find yourself enjoying many of the supporting characters like Bones, Sulu, and Scotty even more than the main characters. The ending was a similar to the original Wrath of Khan, but I thought it was moving to see the blooming friendship of Kirk and Spock. All in all, Star Trek was absolutely worth seeing and apart from the science it was able to place you into the atmosphere of the movie quite well.

Also I didn't mind the lens flares because I thought they were used well to create a futuristic environment. 

Rush (2013) A Thrill to Begin the Year

I have never been a huge fan of Ron Howard's films. Now that being said, Rush happens actually is an interesting film based on the true story of James Hunt and Niki Lauda and is certainly worth watching if you don't mind copious amounts of nudity, a badass rivalry that goes just as far as Angier and Borden in the Prestige, and features an ending that perfectly explains the mindset of the two men and how they lived. 

I think we all enjoy rivalries because we can all remember what it is like to have an opponent. Whether it is a school bully that has been mean to you or a teammate from a sports team, as humans, we all have the need to compare ourselves against them. Some people bask in the rivalry to become better and others allow themselves to fill up with jealousy and hatred. 

Lauda and Hunt are portrayed by Hemsworth and Bruhl. Brule has been fantastic if you have seen some of his german films and he was also featured in Inglorious Basterds. I say 'Hemsworth' because any film his unnamed brother has been in has literally brought me to tears of sadness. 

Both actors are able to portray the vastly different lifestyles of each person and of course like all Hollywood films, the story comes full circle to be retrospective. The only part that was somewhat less entertaining was the fact that the dialogue was very short. I guess the writing was easy to attack, but I found myself wanting to hear more from each character. I get the fact that not everything needs to be explained, but I wish there were more in a film that passes the threshold of two hours. 

I was somewhat depressed further to find the Oliva Wilde has been cast again as the same pretty girl where 'things just don't work out' because it is getting rather tiresome to watch.

Natalie Dormer (Game of Thrones) also has a cameo and continues to also play the same typecast she has previously received in other roles. I don't mind seeing her well crafted body, but I can't help but feel like she has more potential as an actress. 

All in all, Rush does a credible job of explaining a story and a better job of explaining a rivalry and a relationship between these two famous men. It is an enjoyable watch that will certainly leave you rooting for the character you are more like.