X-Men Apocalypse 3D Movie Review

X-Men Apocalypse 3D Movie Review

Written By: Adolph Vega

Following the critically acclaimed global smash hit X-Men: Days of Future Past, director Bryan Singer returns with X-MEN: APOCALYPSE. Since the dawn of civilization, he was worshipped as a god. Apocalypse, the first and most powerful mutant from Marvel's X-Men universe, amassed the powers of many other mutants, becoming immortal and invincible.

3D

X-Men Apocalypse is one of the few movies to be filmed in 3D this year. That being said, just because it’s filmed in 3D doesn’t automatically make for a fantastic 3D visual experience. A few scenes wowed me with compelling 3D, and how it balanced depth and pop out effects. In other scenes, the 3D was muted and not an issue. Specifically, one scene where the camera travels into a tunnel looks fantastic in 3D. Overall I enjoyed the 3D element of the movie, but I was not completely wowed by it.

Final Verdict: Good 3D

Movie

The X-Movies have a long cinematic history with a confusing convoluted narrative. Don’t get me wrong; for the most part, I enjoy the different movies within the series, but it’s incredibly hard to explain the over arching storyline of the X-Men movies .

This movie takes place in the 1980’s, and introduces the first mutant named Apocalypse. This 1980's time period isn’t a major factor in this story, unlike other recent X-men movies. The movie reintroduces major X-men characters to the franchise, including Jean Gray, Scott Summers (Cyclops) and Kurt Wagner (Night Crawler,) just to name a few.

The main characters from the previous two X-men movies return. James McAvoy returns to play Charles Xavier (Professor X). Michael Fassbender returns as Erik Lehnsherr (Magneto), and Jennifer Lawrence returns to play Raven (Mystique). Apocalypse is collecting super powered mutants to take over the world.

The movie has a slow start, but I actually enjoyed how much character development was portrayed within this first half. I especially enjoyed how the character of Magneto was portrayed. The internal conflict of Magneto, and how he struggles to live with humanity is interesting, sympathetic and well handled. Magneto's complex relationship with Professor Xavier is a fantastic dynamic, that I enjoyed watching them interact on screen. The introduction of Cyclops into the school of gifted youngsters is well done, and made him an interesting character. I also enjoyed the portrayal of Night Crawler and his sweet innocence. Mystique’s role was elevated to more of a leader of the youngsters. The character of Quicksilver returns from the previous movie to have another funny and enjoyable super speed scene.

With such a huge cast of characters, unfortunately not all of them were given enough screen time to shine. Sadly, the mutant Psylocke was given no backstory or information to what her powers are. The character of Angel is totally one dimensional and underdeveloped. I wasn’t a fan of the actress who was Jean Gray and her acting ability; it just wasn’t compelling or charismatic, but the movie’s biggest problem was in the main villain, Apocalypse. The powers and abilities of Apocalypse were never defined. I understand this element is also true in the comics, but for a movie having an all powerful villain makes for a boring story, because you never know his limitations.The motivations of Apocalypse were paper-thin and consist of him being the new leader of the world. I also had a problem with how the character looked and sounded on screen. His voice seemed to change pitch and tone at times to be robotic, which was never explained. Apocalypse's costume and appearance seemed too strange to be taken seriously. Apocalypse is the weakest part of the movie, and he was a major aspect of the story. Some of the action scenes seemed very cliché and were predictable in nature with computer graphics that seemed fake and out of place in 2016. Apocalypse is a poorly developed villain and fits more in with the Disney Marvel league of pathetic villains .When you look at Apocalypse and Magneto, it’s hard to imagine them being from the same film universe, because Magneto is clearly a more established and likable villain.

I enjoyed many aspects of this movie, especially the first half but I really disliked the villain. The Apocalypse character basically ruins what could have been a good movie.  

Final Verdict: 6/10

™ and © 2016 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved. Property of Fox. 

Alice Through the Looking Glass

Alice Through the Looking Glass

3D Movie Review

Written By: Adolph Vega

Disney's Alice Through The Looking Glass is in theaters May 27! In Disney's "Alice Through the Looking Glass," an all-new spectacular adventure featuring the unforgettable characters from Lewis Carroll's beloved stories, Alice returns to the whimsical world of Underland and travels back in time to save the Mad Hatter.

 

3D

For such a visually impressive movie you would think that 3D would fit this movie like a glove, however this is not the case. The movie starts with a rainy seafaring action scene that looks initially impressive in 3D. As the movie unfolds, most of the 3D is inconsistent, forgettable and only randomly peppered into a few scenes. I cannot recommend watching this movie in 3D, because it’s clearly an after thought. 

Final Verdict: Terrible 3D

Movie

I love story-lines with the element of time travel. Something about that trope I just find fascinating and compelling. On the other hand, my biggest pet peeve is when stories are contrived and make story elements too convenient. Sadly this movie combines both story elements into one and is disappointing .

“Alice Through The Looking Glass” is a direct follow up to the previous live action Disney movie "Alice In Wonderland" which released in 2010.  Alice is always looking for adventure and is never really content in the real world. The movie is presented mostly in wonderland, with only a few scenes within the ‘real world’ within the movie. The ‘real world’ within this movie is set in late 19th century England and is focused on Alice’s mother. Unfortunately, this real world storyline is paper-thin and under explained. This movie is mostly about the mad hatter and his family in Wonderland. Eventually, the story leads to the element of time travel and the dynamic between the white and red queens. Most of the characters within this movie are from its predecessor. One new interesting character is that of TIME. Sasha Baron Cohen portrays this character of TIME and is probably the best element of the movie. I found this idea of the abstract element of time to be an actual living being intriguing. The movie has many corny jokes focused on the character of time. These jokes are hit or miss and become annoying , just like the movie as a whole. 

What I find to be the most annoying element of this movie is how contrived it is. For example, the time machine is incredibly easy for Alice to use, and makes it easy for her to travel to the correct time period. She literally jumps into the time machine and figures out how to use it within seconds. Secondly the rules of time travel are not clearly established. Most of the rules of Wonderland are not established either, so it’s frustrating that anything can happen at any time for any reason. The element of time travel is used for character development and you see some backstory between characters at different points of the past. This dynamic is interesting and gives some depth to these characters. Sadly, the acting within this movie is way over the top, annoying and diminishes the character development that is presented. The movie gives the audience more questions than answers. It seems like everyone within this movie is a one-dimensional caricature that is never truly fleshed out. I found the ending of this movie to be strange and unsatisfying because it’s a little too cute. The visuals of this movie are captivating and well done, but it can’t mask over the issues with the over acting, paper-thin plot and a story that doesn’t make much sense.

What is the moral of this movie? Just dream the impossible and everything will fall into place? The movie is clearly trying to preach a moral of some kind, but it's totally not clear what that actually is . Is this a movie about the importance of family , 19th Century feminism , dealing with grief , mental illness or understanding the past ? The movie muddles all of those topics .  Everything that happens to Alice is so convenient that it robs the story of any challenge or real conflict. Why can't Alice just stay in Wonderland ? This element is never explained and honestly it makes more sense for the character to never leave Wonderland. I was never bored watching this movie – it’s a fun escapist adventure – but the more you think about it, the more it doesn’t make any sense and just falls apart. 

Final Verdict: 3/10

© Disney, All Rights Reserved

The Angry Birds Movie

The Angry Birds Movie

 

Review Written By:

Adolph Vega

In the 3D animated comedy, The Angry Birds Movie, we'll finally find out why the birds are so angry. The movie takes us to an island populated entirely by happy, flightless birds - or almost entirely.

3D

The 3D presentation of "The Angry Birds Movie " is an enjoyable but not necessary 3D experience. The 3D visuals are mostly used for pop out 3D and are gimmicky in nature. Many times the 3D element is used to purposely fly objects outward toward the audience. The depth-based 3D is used to give the audience a sense of perspective and has decent implementation. I don't remember any specific scene that grabbed my attention because of the use of 3D. The 3D overall looked sharp and vivid and only enhanced the already pretty visuals. I don't think anyone will be wowed by this 3D presentation but I don't think it was dramatically disappointing either. 

Final Score: Good 3D

Movie

I was shocked and stunned after watching “The Angry Birds Movie”. I was stunned by the quality filmmaking, excellent animation & gorgeous visuals. The most shocking element of this movie was how much enjoyment I received from it.  Movies based on popular video games are not supposed be this well made.

The movie is centered on the bird named Red. Red struggles with issues of anger, and is isolated from the other villagers of Bird Island. It's surprising how well developed the character of Red is. The movie intelligently uses flashbacks to make RED an interesting, funny and relatable character. Jason Sudeikis's snarky portrayal of Red is hilarious, and he easily carries the movie. The main story of the "The Angry Birds Movie" is focused the first contact between the birds and the pigs. The pigs arrive from a nearby island and are more technically advanced than the birds. The pigs seem nice and enjoy partying, dancing, but can they really be trusted? The main characters of this movie are essentially the most well known birds from the various Angry Birds video games. The voice cast within this movie work well together and make for many funny and enjoyable scenes. Some of the scenes within the movie can drag on and become tiresome. If you have never played the mobile game (where have you been in the last 10 years?) you won't have any problems watching this movie as the story and characters are self contained and rationalized in a straightforward fashion. Not everything in the movie is fully explained. For example many birds have special abilities such as one bird that can explode, another bird can run at super speed and so forth. Why do some birds have abilities and others don’t? This plot point is not explained at all. The movie has many small plot holes that can become a distraction. I won’t spoil the movie but many things conveniently happen to push the story forward. The movie has many tasteful mature jokes, scenarios and pop culture references that will fly over the heads of the kids watching but make the parents happy. One problem I had with the movie is how hectic it can be at times. Most of the time the movie is very fun and lighthearted. The movie is something that both adults and children will enjoy and is well written,  funny and has a great heart. 

 Honestly before watching this movie I was very cynical and assumed this movie was only made to sell merchandise, video games and toys. I believe most adults probably have this assumption too, but I am here to tell you that "The Angry Birds movie" is a well-made, funny movie and is worthy of your time. "The Angry Birds Movie" is possibly the best video game based movie ever created. Other movies have used video games for inspiration such as "Wreck it Ralph" and  "Tron" but this movie is easily the most successful video game movie that is directly related to a specific game franchise. Don't get me wrong the movie isn't perfect, it has many plot holes, too much dancing for my tastes and can become too frantic at times, but overall I still really enjoyed it. Honestly this movie is significantly more fun than it appears to be on first glance. "The Angry Birds Movie " succeeds because of it's compelling story and quality characters and successfully translates a popular mobile video game franchise to the big screen.

Final Score: 7/10

©2016 Sony Pictures Digital Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

©2016 Rovio Animation Ltd. and Rovio Entertainment Ltd. Angry Birds and all related properties, titles, logos and characters are trademarks of Rovio Entertainment Ltd. and Rovio Animation Ltd. and are used with permission. All Rights Reserved.

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