lunes, 23 de junio de 2014

The Fault In Our Stars (2014) review

  You run into a few surprises every now and again. While The Fault In Our Stars may appear to be another cash-cow chick flick to rob money from un-inlighted teenage girls ala Twilight style, The Fault in Our Stars actually carries a few good surprises that will relieve your theater experience when you're unwillingly dragged to see this movie by your girlfriend.
 
   Hazel Grace is a young charming woman that suffers from a deadly cancerous disease she conceived at a young age. She has lived every day of her life since her diagnosis knowing that this may be her last day on this earth, putting her in a state of depression. Her parents want her to step out of her despair, live life to the fullest while she still can, so they suggest Hazel go to a support group for other 'survivors'. Hazel hesitantly agrees to go, but only because she wants to make her parents happy, it seems to be the only thing she cares about now. To Hazel's surprise, she actually meets someone at the support group, a young charismatic man, Augustus. "Gus" suffers from the same deadly disease that she does, but that doesn't hold his charismatic charm back from befriending Hazel, they instantly click, becoming friends and potential lovers. But there is a problem, there's always a problem when you have a cancerous disease, Hazel is dying. She's a 'Grenade', a 'time bomb' if you will, and she doesn't want to hurt those around her when she eventually explodes. Fortunately, Gus shows her that life is worth living to its fullest, especially when your days are numbered. Gus shows her life as it was meant to be lived. Gus gives her a reason to live, Gus rescued her from despair, her hero, and of course they fall in love. Tackling their lives with optimism that shows they are willing to live the rest of their lives to the fullest.
 
  From its heartwarming moments, heartbreaking moments, to its cringe-worthy and corny moments, The Fault In Our Stars delivers. Not only does it deliver in making the theater experience with your girlfriend much more pleasant, it delivers in taking a dead genre and reviving it with a fresh and new take that actually has heart. Not only does the movie have heart and deliver, it has vivid and realistic characters. Even though some of the lead actors' dialogue may be a little corny at times, the characters feel real. You feel what these characters are feeling; whenever someone is sad, you feel sad with them; whenever someone is happy, you feel happy right with them; whenever someone starts to cry, you, dare I say it, cry right with them. Huge props to the director and screenwriter for that. Behind the charm and vivid charisma of the characters, the movie has a strong message: live everyday of your life like its your last, because you never know when its gonna end. And a movie with a strong and positive message is a win, in my book.
"Life is a like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get, and you never know when you're gonna run out of chocolates, live life to its fullest, even if you know you're going to eventually run out of cocoa."
The Fault In Our Stars 8/10

domingo, 8 de junio de 2014

Edge of Tomorrow spoiler-free review

Release Date: June 6, 2014
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Budget: 178 million
 
Director: Doug Liman
Writer: Christopher McQuarrie, Jez Butterworth, John Henry-Butterworth
Score: Christophe Beck
Cinematography: Dion Beebe
 
Starring:
Tom Cruise
Emily Blunt
Bill Paxton
 
Based on: All You Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka
 
Running Time: 113 minutes
 
  Director Doug Liman is back at the chair once again, this time adopting a popular Japanese novel to the big screen. Honestly, adaptation or not, let's just hope this is a better movie than his 2008 film Jumper.
 
   So Edge of Tomorrow is a mind bending sci-fi about a military officer who is unjustly thrown in a war against alien invasors. After a he suffers a tragic death on the battlefield, due to lack of training and experience, he finds himself waking up the day before on the military camp that he had unjustly been sent to, so every time he dies he sort of "resets" the day and wakes up the day before, knowing exactly what is going to happen while everyone else is oblivious. That's all the plot summary you really need, this movie has some serious twists and turns that some further summarizing will spoil the movie for you.
 
   I must say, this movie really took me by surprise. This movie just really keeps you interested in why he keeps waking up and starting the day all over again. The action sequences are done well, Tom Cruise is good in the movie, Emily Blunt is good as well, The special effects are very good, and the cinematography in this movie blew me away at times. This movie is like Battle Los Angeles meets Groundhog Day. Even though some people have judged this movie as a "rip-off" of Groundhog Day, I feel like that is an unfair judgement. I feel like this movie was inspired by Groundhog Day, kind of like how Inception was inspired by The Matrix. Which is a good thing, this movie takes a well known premise, inspired by another movie, and makes it feel refreshing and new, again, like Inception did with The Matrix.
 
   The movie does have a few negatives though: The second act is a little slow, Some more character development would've been sublime, and the 3D; My God, do NOT watch this movie in 3D, it does not enhance the experience whatsoever.
 
   Despite its negatives, I feel like director Doug Liman has redeemed himself with this mind-bending sci-fi action flick, expertly combining mystery with action and taking a well-known premise and making it feel refreshing and new again.
Edge of Tomorrow 8.5/10