The Martian

The Martian 

Movie Review Written by Adolph Vega 

THE MARTIAN | Official Trailer: During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet.

3D

This is one of the most difficult movies to review the 3d element for. At times throughout the movie the 3d element was dramatically in how it’s presented. At times the movie looks fantastic in 3d and other times the 3d element is a minor factor. One scene with the dust storm was fantastic in 3d and gave you a real sense of being in a dust storm. Some of the scenes in Mars look very nice and give you a nice sense of actually being on the planet with vast landscapes and such. The several scenes in space work really well too as you see objects floating around in three-dimensional space. Most of the movie is dialogue between characters and takes place on earth or Mars and the 3d in these scenes are not remarkable. Maybe 45% of the 3d is forgettable, 40% is great and 15% is good. At the end of the day I enjoyed the 3D element of this movie but a significant portion of this movie the 3D isn’t memorable, so overall the 3D presentation is nice but not necessary.   

Final Verdict: Good 3D 

Movie 

" The Martian " is one of my favorite science fiction released in recent years. Recently I believe the genre of science fiction had a reassurance with quality film making with fantastic storylines and this movie is an example of quality science fiction. In this movie humanity has already visited Mars and a select few humans are researching the planet. The movie begins with a human crew on the planet Mars gathering soil samples; suddenly a massive sandstorm causes the crew to evaluate the area. 

Unfortunately the sandstorm causes an accident and one person is left on Mars. The person left behind is Mark Watney played by Matt Damon and he must find a way to survive on Mars on his own. The movie splits its time almost equally on Mars and Earth. The scenes on earth revolve around planning a rescue mission to help Mark Watney. The segments of the movie on Mars with Mark are stronger scenes and more fascinating as he struggles to survive on this harsh planet with the limited supplies he has available. The segments of the movie on Earth are mostly political drama with NASA officials and are a tad boring. The cast of this movie is huge which is a double-edged sword. The acting of Matt Damon is fantastic and he is very funny and entertaining and makes for a captivating character. The rest of the cast includes the executive staff of NASA (on Earth), the other Martian crew members who are in space traveling back to earth and a group of scientists who are trying to help the Martian left behind and the executive staff at NASA.

Overall I enjoyed this cast and thought the acting was well done but with a cast of a dozen or so people it's hard to follow the story at times and many of the characters are not given proper introduction or development. Honestly I lost track of several of the names of the characters. The movie also has some pacing problems as some scenes seem to drag on and others seem to be way too short. Most of the time Mark Watney is making video diaries of his life on Mars and these scenes are funny and charismatic, but I wanted to see more of him coping with the isolation and loneliness of being on Mars. I know this sounds cruel but Mark’s mental state is underplayed aspect of the movie. I know he is attempting to survive but how does he cope with the vast boredom? The movie is much more of a comedy than I initially expected. The cinematography and special effects are fantastic and make the red planet scenes come alive. The various space scenes are well choreographed and very entertaining and intriguing. The movie sadly ends with a very out of place epilogue that feels out of place. The movie feels too long and many aspects could have been consolidated to make a tighter narrative. I had some problems with the movie but overall I still found many aspects of this movie enjoyable and intriguing.

Many times the science techno babble parts of this movie are given more of a focus then other similar movies which gives it an authentic and realistic tone. I am not a rocket scientist; engineer, botanist or an expert on astrophysics so many of the science elements presented within this movie went over my head. None of the science seemed too far-fetched and made enough sense for a novice like myself to understand and seem believable. I have not read the book this movie is based on so my opinion is not based on any comparison of that original novel. I have issues with the movie but overall it's still a wonderful science fiction movie and shouldn’t be missed.

Final Verdict: 8/10 

© 2015 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved. Property of Fox.

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The Walk

The Walk

Movie Review Written By: Adolph Vega

This is a true story and unlike anything you've seen before. Experience the first step of the impossible dream in IMAX. Release Date: October 2, 2015 Official Links: http://www.thewalkmovie.com/ www.facebook.com/TheWalkMovie Subscribe to Sony Pictures for exclusive content: http://bit.ly/SonyPicsSubscribe Synopsis: The Walk is the true story of a young dreamer, Philippe Petit, and a band of unlikely recruits who together achieve the impossible: an illegal wire walk in the immense void between the World Trade Center towers.

 

 

 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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