Movie Review: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)

I went into this film with very low expectations, but ended up enjoying it. I’ve watched all the previous TMNT films and the 1990’s cartoon series. I’ve played the old TMNT video games. That said, I don’t know all that much about the Ninja Turtles. I don’t know which turtle wields which weapon, who wears which colored bandana. That said, most of the changes that the new film made to the source material went mostly over my head. The plot was fairly predictable, and is about as cliqued as they come. Everything in the movie is super-sized. The turtles are six-feet tall, muscular and have super-strength, Shredder has a mechanical battle suit that could take down Iron Man and the action is pretty over-the-top at times. For whatever reasons, it all seems to work. The turtles themselves are entertaining, with the wise-cracking Michelangelo being the most entertaining. With the turtles and Splinter being totally CGI, it tends to be a bit much a times as the screen is basically filled with moving pixels. Megan Fox, as the most important human character, doesn’t really bring all that much to April O’Neil. She does what she does best, and that’s look good and try to keep you interested when the turtles are off-screen.

**1/2 out of *****

Movie Review: Into the Storm

A mediocre film, with only the impressive CGI tornados making it worth watching. As expected, the stars of the movie are the tornados, which generally show up for five minutes or so, destroy a few things in dramatic fashion, and then leave us with the boring characters. They try to inject some life into the cast of stereotypes, but it just isn’t enough to get the audience invested. What really hurts the film is that it can’t decide if it’s a found-footage narrative or not. One minute, it’s implied that everything we see is from the cameras held by various characters, but other times we’re just watching a normally filmed action movie. The plot exist just enough to provide danger and put the characters in harm’s way. Even given moments to shine, the cast is mostly unconvincing; with the only notable exception is Sarah Wayne Callies, who just puts enough meat on her performance to get you somewhat interested. The effects are impressive. While some of the tornados could’ve been rendered better, the destruction they cause it sight to behold.

** out of *****

Movie Review: Guardians of the Galaxy (3D)

Very entertaining, due to an almost perfect mix of humor, action and emotional moments. The plot moves along briskly, introducing a lot of people and places. If fact, the previous Marvel Cinematic Universe films are barely referenced, so almost everything here seems fresh. Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord is extremely likable, and can easily alternate between comedic moments and heroic scenes. Bradley Cooper breathes plenty of life into the CGI Rocket, making the character feisty, hilarious and at time sympathetic. Without much dialog to work with, most of the credit for making Groot an entertaining character comes from the animators. He has a child-like innocence throughout, even when he’s beating up bad guys. Zoe Saldana and Dave Bautista flesh out their roles as Gamora and Drax quite well, but their characters can fall flat at times. The villains are a weak part of this film. They’re motivation is only brushed upon, and they don’t give the audience any reason to feel a connection to them. The finale features an action sequence worthy of the Star Wars films, with every character playing a role. All the action scenes are well done, but the movie’s strongest aspect is its humor. Just enough sentimental moments are interwoven into the story to maximize their impact. You can go from laughing to a tear in your eye pretty quickly. There is a post-credit scene, and it’s only worth sticking around for it if you want one more quick laugh. The 3D added nothing to the film.

**** out of *****