AntMan Review

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Ant-man

3D Movie Review

Written By: Adolph Vega

 

3D

 

The 3D within this movie didn’t impress me until the special effect action scenes started. When the movie begins the 3D only consists of one character talking to another with one being closer or farther than the other. This 3D element between characters is neither interesting nor impressive visually during these scenes. Once the special effects begin, the movie shines in 3D. The movie uses 3D mostly for depth of field and gives the audience a good sense of scale and distance. Considering most of this movie is presented in smaller scale (ant size) the sense of depth gives the viewer nice immersion and context within the various miniature scenes. Sadly the pop 3D element seems limited and toned down and underplayed during this movie. One specific action scene with Ant-man takes place in a miniature model city, which looked nice in 3D, but the 3D element seemed limited because of the lack of pop 3D in the scene. Overall I still enjoyed the 3D presentation but felt that the 3D element didn’t reach it’s full potential.

Final Verdict: Good 3D

 

 

Movie

 

Ant-man is a strange marvel cinematic movie because the character is a founding member of the Avengers, but not introduced into the Marvel cinematic universe until after the second avengers film. This is also a strange movie because it’s an origin story and a passing of the torch story. The movie is a few stories in one as it begins in 1989 with the original Ant-Man Dr. Hank Pym. Dr. Pym does not want his revolutionary super suit to be used in the military and leaves the company he founds to prevent this from happening. Another story in the film is set in present day with the character of Scott Lang who is leaving jail and trying to survive. The third and final storyline is of the protégé of Dr. Pym who is Darren Cross. Cross took over Pym’s company after his resignation and is attempting to recreate the Ant-man suit. Cross has created a prototype shrinking weapon suit named the Yellow Jacket and wants to sell his technology to the highest bidder. All these story elements combine to drive the narrative with a nice sense of humor. Sometimes the tone of the movie seems inconsistent with serious scenes and comedic scenes being intermixed. I was surprised how well this movie balances the tight rope of being self-contained and yet fitting into the larger marvel cinematic universe. Some of the acting within this movie is hit or miss, with some characters working well and others being forgettable. The supporting cast of Ant-man is pretty interesting as many of Scott Lang’s friends are low-level street criminals who have a pivotal role in the movie. The action scenes within this movie are my favorite aspect of this movie because they are entertaining, funny and unlike anything else I have seen. The special effects within this movie are fantastic, especially the ants. The ants have a nice presence on screen and work together to help the Ant-man.  One action scene between the Ant-man and an Avenger was both funny and well choreographed. The main villain of the movie Yellow Jacket sadly is under developed and the weakest element of the movie. The movie has a nice heart and is grounded by touching scenes that really resonate with the audience. This movie isn’t about saving the world, or even saving the city, but is more about redemption. Marvel Studios has done it again with Ant-man. Ant-man is an enjoyable movie that seems awkward at times but overall is well made and worthy of your time.

 

Final Verdict: 8 / 10

Official Antman website
Antman spoiler free podcast review
Antman Spoilercast podcast review

© 2015 MARVEL /  Disney  All rights reserved.

Minions Review

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Minions

3D Movie Review 

Written By: Adolph Vega

 

3D

 

The movie starts with some strong stereoscopic 3D visuals as you see the minions evolve in the ocean.  This opening scene looks great and gives you a nice sense of immersion as if you are looking into a virtual aquarium.  After this point the 3D visuals look nice but are hardly noticeable except for some random particle effects and debris flying out of the screen.  Overall the visuals look sharp and nice in 3D but are mostly forgettable except for a few key scenes.

 

Final Verdict: Good 3D

 

 

Movie

 

Before I begin this review I must confess that I have never seen any of the “Despicable Me” movies.  So I go into this movie franchise as a total outsider.  This movie is essentially the origin story of the Minions and essentially sets up the other two previous movies. The minions are a species of yellow creatures that have been around for millions of years. They are not happy living on their own and must be dominated and controlled by a boss character. The minions don’t speak in English or any language. They speak in a gibberish language that sometimes uses pieces of English and Spanish. The main story revolves around three minions (Kevin, Bob and Stuart) who seek out a new boss for the group. The three main minions eventually find a female villain named Scarlet Overkill; will she be a suitable boss for the minions?  I understand that this movie is made for children, but I feel like they really didn’t do much for adults to enjoy. The movie is mostly a comedy with a few action scenes tossed in for good measure. The comedy is slapstick and silly and fairly basic. Since the minion’s don’t talk, a narrator occasionally comes in to help guide the audience, but most of the time the minions are pantomiming. I found the movie entertaining but very strait forward with no depth or real character development. The movie never attempts to be anything more than just children’s entertainment and is not special in any way. All the voice acting is adequate and the animation is nice, but nothing is remarkable. The one aspect of the movie that was interesting was that it’s set in the 1960’s and most animated movies are not set in that time period. People often ask critics which is harder to review, the bad films or the good ones, and I say it’s neither. The hardest movies to review are the ones that are mediocre. I am literally so-so on this movie and found it totally forgettable but not unbearable to watch. At the very least this movie doesn’t seem cliché and is watchable to the adults who take their children to watch it, but I can’t fully recommend it or fully attack it.

 

Final Verdict: 5 / 10

 

© 2015 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

Official Minions website

You can read our review of the second Minions movie ( Minions Rise of Gru) via the link below:

https://www.3dor2d.com/reviews/Minions-Rise-of-Gru-3D-Movie-Review

Terminator Genisys Review

Terminator Genisys

Movie Review Written By: Adolph Vega

 

3D:

This is the first Terminator film to use stereoscopic 3D and I overall enjoyed the use of it. Many times the barrels of rifles extend outward toward the viewer and occasionally projectiles fly out of the screen and give an impressive pop out visual affect. 3D depth is not really presented in this movie to any significant degree. I was never wowed by the 3D nor did I remember any specific scene that really caught my eye. Every few scenes they would forget about the 3D and suddenly something crazy happens to remind you of the extra dimension. Overall I liked and enjoyed the 3D presentation of this film, but didn’t love it.

 

Final Score: Good 3D

 

Movie:

I have to admit something before the critique this movie. I really enjoy several science fiction tropes including the elements of: time travel, robots, dinosaurs, and space travel, super heroes. This is my film catnip and if a movie uses these science fiction tropes in good ways it makes me very happy. I am partial to the Terminator franchise because it combines two of my favorite tropes in an exciting fashion. I have watched all the previous Terminator films including the 3D experience for Terminator 2 and the entirety of the Sarah Connor chronicles TV show. I might be considered a fanboy toward this franchise, so I want to make that potential bias visible before I get into review. When I watch movies I always try my best to leave any preconceived bias at home and enjoy the movie for what it is. I try my best to not directly compare a movie to its predecessors and my goal is to always be as fair as possible. All that being said I have to say this movie was lots of fun, and a good action movie featuring futuristic robots. This movie essentially is a retailing of the entire Terminator series and reboots the franchise. If you have never watched a Terminator movie (where have you been in the last 30 years) you will be able to follow this storyline without a problem. The basic storyline starts in the future as humans are fighting the evil robots. The robots have a secret weapon to fight the humans, which is a time machine. The robots use the time machine to send a terminator back in time before the war and try to prevent the existence of human resistance leader John Connor. This storyline should be instantly recognizable to anyone who knows anything about the Terminator franchise, but that is only the beginning. I will not spoil the events that follow (I wish the movie trailers had this discretion) but the story has many twists and turns. I created a word in high school but haven’t ever published it before today, but I feel it fits this movie perfectly. Terminator Genisys’s time travel plot is combocomplexicated . Combination, complex, and complicated all join together to make this word combocomplexicated and it essentially means something that is really confusing and hard to understand. The science fiction concept of time travel can make for some seriously combocompleicated stories and this movie is a great example of that. So many times the movie plays with the concepts of time travel in fun and interesting ways and just begs the audience to try to unravel it all. Terminator Genisys goes pretty crazy with all the references to time travel and the paradoxes they create. I can appreciate the filmmakers for playing so much with the concepts of time travel. At times self-parody can be annoying and tedious, but for this movie I rather enjoyed it. One thing I didn’t enjoy about this movie was the acting, which I felt was weak overall for basically the entire cast with the lone exception being Arnold Schwarzenegger who is charming and enjoyable. Another aspect I didn’t enjoy was the main villain being too powerful. I understand the movie needs a strong villain but this villain seemed impossible to defeat and got annoying to watch on screen as he always found a way to survive off screen. The movie has several major plot holes and unexplained moments, but I think they are aware of those issues and left them in the story anyway for potential sequels to iron out. The movie has a corny but enduring sense of humor that helps lighten the mood after some intense action scenes. One of my favorite aspects of this movie is that the terminators seem scary again and the action scenes are intense and entertaining. The movie does have a few moments that give the characters some development and personality, but I wish it had more. Overall I enjoyed my time with this movie but it had several problems that held it back.

Final Score: 7/10

Terminator Genisys website
Click Here to go to Podcast page of this review

 © 2015 PARAMOUNT PICTURES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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