The Walk

The Walk

Movie Review Written By: Adolph Vega

 

 

 3D

Depth based 3D is typically not the major selling point in 3D movies. Most of the time people expect pop out 3D and depth is often over looked. The depth-based 3D shown in this movie makes for an impressive and immersive experience. “The Walk” does use pop out 3D in several scenes but I didn’t find those 3D scenes to be sharp as vivid as they could have been. When the characters talk amongst each other the 3D isn’t an issue but when you begin the high wire act scenes, the 3D depth looks great. If you are fearful of heights this movie will stress you out, because the depth does a fantastic job of giving the viewer a sense of scale and distance. I seriously got nervous as I watched this movie because of the sense of vertigo is real. A few 3D scenes are presented in the dark and ghosting occurs that distracts the viewer and breaks the overall impressive 3D visuals. This ghosting issue makes a double image when 3D with contrasting colors gives a double image; this happens in low light and dark 3D scenes and is unfortunate distraction. Overall I felt 3D depth is used to a fantastic degree and is probably my favorite use of depth based 3D that I have ever seen. I wish some of the 3D pop scenes were better executed and the dark scenes were better corrected to prevent ghosting but overall I very much enjoyed this 3D experience and consider it a must watch in 3D.

Final Verdict: Great 3D

Movie

Walking on high wires has never been an artistic performance that has interested me before this movie. In “The Walk” Joseph Gordon-Levitt portrays Phillippe Petit who is a French artist and a high wire walker. Phillippe wants to do the high wire walk act on the newly built twin towers in New York City. The movie revolves around Phillippe and you get a fantastic understanding of his character. The cast slowly enlarges and gives you enough time to get to know each of the new characters. I really enjoyed the supporting cast members and how they assist Phillippe in this journey to do a high wire walk in between the two towers. The movie becomes almost a heist movie as they plan to make the walk in between the twin towers. The performance of Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Phillip Petit is truly inspired and is an excellent showcase of the acting talent of Mr. Levitt. I honestly believe that he deserves an Oscar nomination for Best Actor for this incredible performance. The French accent sounds strange at first but he is totally transformed into this character on screen and creates a joyful character with excellent range. Phillip is very likable and you truly believe that he is walking on the high wires and that the actor can do everything the showman originally did. This character of Phillippe is omnipresent and narrates and guides you through his story. I found this movie very charming, funny and simply a joy to watch. The story telling is engaging, smooth and the feels tight and well executed. I was never bored by a single second of this movie and found the entire movie fun and fascinating. The visual design is incredible and perfectly compliments the narrative with many perfectly executed camera angles and excellent framing of the scenes. Only one aspect of this movie I felt was strange and that was the usage of the twin towers. Obviously watching this movie in 2015 we know the towers no longer exist because of the horrific terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001. This is the big elephant in the room and can cause a distraction to the audience. The film never touches on this aspect because it's set in the past and it’s not necessary to tell this story but it's something the audiences will know and can take you out of the movie. If you have the ability to watch this movie in IMAX larger screen format I suggest you do so, because the visuals of this movie work best on the biggest screen you can find. After I left the theater my face was grinning from pure joy and satisfaction. The Walk is a delightful movie and I enjoyed every aspect of this movie, the acting, the story, and the characters all work beautifully to make a truly wonderful film. The Walk is my favorite movie released in 2015 and is something I cannot recommend any higher. This is filmmaking at its best and deserves my Editor's Choice Award for Best Film.

Final Verdict: 10/10

© 2015 SONY PICTURES DIGITAL PRODUCTIONS INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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Hotel Transylvania 2

Hotel Transylvania 2

Movie Review Written By: Adolph Vega

 

3D 

Sometimes 3D movies will forget about the extra dimension and only sporadically used the 3D element. Hotel Transylvania 2's use of 3d is an after thought and is a pathetic example of 3d filmmaking. The backgrounds are only slightly more recessed then the foreground and overall the visuals are very subtle and forgettable. The 3D pop out is used only once or twice within the movie for gimmicky reasons. One scene where Count Dracula breaks dance shows his feet will pop out of this screen in 3D. This pop out is only for a few seconds during this scene and is corny and obvious. Most of the time the 3D is totally forgotten within this movie. About halfway through the movie I took off the 3D glasses for a minute or two and I really couldn't tell the difference. The 3D presentation of this movie is totally unnecessary, and simply not worthy of your money.

Final Verdict: Terrible 3D

 

Movie 

The events of Hotel Transylvania 2 take place immediately after the original movie, but watching the predecessor isn't a requirement before watching this movie. The movie begins with the daughter of Dracula getting married to a human. A year after the marriage they are expecting a child. The child is born and does not have vampire or have any monstrous traits. The movie rushes through the marriage, announcement of the pregnancy, delivery of the child and the child becoming a toddler. This entire process takes about 15-20 minutes of screen time and is so rushed that you can't really enjoy any of the scenes because it's in a huge hurry to get to the next scene. The majority of the movie is based on the idea the grandchild of Dracula is a human and a human baby can't stay in Transylvania and must move to California to be safe with other humans. I strongly disagree with this core premise of the plot. Why couldn't they move out of the castle and to a small safer cottage close by? This story is small in scale and honestly not enough to sustain a feature length movie. The movie knows this aspect and abuses the use of quick cut-away scenes and visual gags. It almost feels like a TV show episode of "Family Guy" as it just keeps using this gimmick to show additional scenes outside the context of the main story. The constant use of visual jokes is almost every 30 seconds and becomes annoying and tedious. The movie cannot simply calm down and focus on a simple narrative and its characters. The filmmakers clearly don't have confidence in this story and are dependent on this gimmick for the entirety of the movie. It just feels totally forced and an excuse to pad out the movie. One story aspect I found very strange was that within this movie's world the humans and monsters are totally ok with each other and society has totally accepted monsters as part of life. I understand this plot device is set this up with the events of the first movie but I find this element jarring. I understand why the main characters don't have a problem with monsters but the general public total acceptance of monsters just seems off. I understand the movie wants to be politically correct and not teach children bigotry against monsters but they didn't earn this. At no times does the movie explain how or why the rest of the world knows about monsters and why they quickly accept monsters as a normal part life. This is a massive plot hole within the movie that I cannot ignore.  Speaking of the story it introduces several new characters and they are all one dimensional in nature and not given any screen time to develop. The main cast of characters includes the voice work of Adam Sandler, Kevin James, and David Spade and Selena Gomez and Mel Brooks actually works well as their perspective roles but they are mostly wasted by this bland movie. Some of the jokes do hit and are clever, and the fast nature of the movie does keep it entertaining. This movie is aimed at younger children and are totally cliché and stereotypical and should be completely predictable to the parents who take their children to the theater. A few scenes within this movie are really cute and well shot, but so much of it is rushed and sloppily put together. The movie is trying too hard to impress and never really becomes a worthwhile film. This would be a decent "direct to DVD" movie but as a feature length movie it's hardly worth your time. I would recommend parents just to wait for it to release on Netflix or RedBox.  Ultimately Hotel Transylvania 2 is a mess of a movie with a plot that is rushed, dozens of undeveloped characters and it's abuse of sight gags and cut away clips it never calms down enough for this talented cast to make a decent movie. 

Final Verdict: 4/10

© 2015 Sony Pictures Digital Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Everest

Everest

Movie Review Written By: Adolph Vega

3D

Everest is a required viewing in 3D and looks wonderful with the extra dimension. Everest is the best 3D experience in the theatre released this year. The 3D is not gimmicky but used intelligently to help give the viewer more immersive experience. Several times the 3D is used to give a wonderful sense of place and perspective and adds to the wonderful cinematography. You can see a clear focus on certain areas of the foreground and background and everything in between. The 3D gives you a great sense of vertigo with wonderful depth and use of layers. Snow will often fly near the viewer, in between many layers of 3D and will occasionally pop out of the screen giving the viewer a real sense of being on the mountain with the climbers. Several camera shots are done with 3D in mind and use interesting perspective to look better in 3D. The visuals are sharp and vivid in 3D, are made to be viewed in 3D and add to the enjoyment of this movie. Every once in a while, a movie is released where the 3D is such a great addition; I wouldn't recommend watching this in 2D. Everest is a wonderful example of 3D done right, and truly enhances the movie going experience, while showcasing the ideal of 3D filmmaking. I enjoyed the 3D so much in this movie that I will award it the first ever 3Dor2d.com's Editors Choice Award for 3D.

Final Verdict:

Great 3D, Editors Choice Award for 3D

 

Movie

 

I have never climbed a mountain, and I have no desire to do so. I can’t understand the appeal of risking your life to reach a summit. Even without any mountain climbing experience, I fully enjoyed watching this movie. The movie is focused on a small group of climbers and an organization that helps tourists climb the Mountain Everest. This story is based on true events that happened in the 1990’s with a select group of tourists. The movie slowly introduces you to its large cast of characters and takes a grounded realistic tone. The movie does have one funny scene toward the end that works well and is a treat. This sense of pacing is wonderful, and I was never bored watching this movie. Sadly, tragedy strikes and not all the cast survive the trek up and down Everest. I won’t mention which characters perish, but the deaths that do happen are impactful. The movie isn’t perfect and has some minor issues. The first issue I have with the movie is that it tosses you into the plot with little backstory and only a few lines of text on screen. Everest is a slow burn and more about tension building suspense than intense action scenes. The performance in this movie is great, and you believe that these actors are real people and they are memorable and likeable. I only wish that some of the characters were given more backstory, but they are given enough screen time for you to actually like and care about them. One character in particular is someone you just love to hate and is a charming jerk. At times the movie can have a few cliché moments, but the vast majority of the movie seems fresh and different. The cinematography of this movie is almost an extra character, which really gives you the sense that you are trekking up the mountain. The special effect visuals look fantastic, and the movie looks gorgeous with many interesting camera shots and angles. I watched this movie on a larger IMAX screen, and I highly recommend that you do the same. The larger screen format is perfect for this type of movie and really enhances the experience. Because the scope of Everest is so vast, having a giant screen really compliments this movie perfectly. Overall I really enjoyed my time with this movie. It has an enjoyable cast, great acting, fantastic setting and wonderful cinematography. I highly recommend your taking this trek to the movie theater to watch Everest. 

Final Verdict: 8/10

© 2015 Universal Studios. Walden Media; Cross Creek; Working Title

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