MOVIE REVIEW: Warcraft

I had never played Warcraft before and I know that films that are based on video games are mostly a miss. However when I found out that Duncan Jones aka David Bowie's director son who made two of the outstanding indie sci-fi hits in recent years: Source Code with Jake Gyllenhaal and Moon with Sam Rockwell, my curiosity and expectation with Warcraft became increasingly high to find out if Jones can succeed with his first big budgeted flick.

I did some background research of the game first before watching. The battle never ends on Azeroth with the human and the orcs competing against each other to live. Unfortunately, the movie has too many characters that we are inclined to follow at every step. That can also be said about the X-Men movies but unlike the Marvel franchise, the Warcraft ones are written poorly that in the end we moviegoers don't give a damn about since unlike the game, we aren't the ones playing.

At some point, Warcraft aims for Lord of the Rings grandeur but the CGI simply overpowers everything and instead of replicating the Oscar winning trilogy of Peter Jackson, Warcraft turned out to be more like the other trilogy: The Hobbit.

MOVIE REVIEW: X-Men: Apocalypse

The third part of the X-Men reboot is set ten years later after 2014's Days of Future Past, 1983 to be exact and as the title suggests the world's about to end as one religious group was able to unleash the first mutant Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac) after being betrayed and trapped underneath ancient Egypt. He consumes power from other mutants and is ready for world domination and to destroy humanity as a whole.

James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are both back reprising their roles as Professor Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto respectively. The two hold their own in a movie filled with lots of characters that can get confusing at times but not like in  the previous film with the old and the younger versions of the mutants join together. Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique, perhaps due to her stature as one of the biggest Hollywood actresses is more of a heroine than a villain in the film - it works!! Nicholas Hoult (Beast) and Evan Peters (Quicksilver) are also here in the third installment.

Isaac always had the magnetic presence whether as the titular character in his breakout role in Inside Llewyn Davis and as the hero Poe Dameron in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Unfortunately, he is covered with tons of make up as Apocalypse diminishing his star value and at some point the character looks like a typical villain in a bad sci-fi B movie. 

X-Men: Apocalypse is one of the entertaining action packed films in the series. It does not top the greatness of 2011's X-Men: First Class which for me is the best in the franchise but it sure is worth the money and the time to enjoy

it on the big screen.

MOVIE REVIEW: The Angry Birds Movie

The first animated film based on a game app of the smartphone generation, The Angry Birds Movie is made with those who had played the game in mind. Like most of us, if you are familiar with it, you will easily be entertained and know some references in the film. The creators upped up the prestige factor by casting some of the finest actors around to do the voice work. Jason Sudeikis is Red, the lead character: a red bird with some extreme anger issues that forced him to be isolated on Bird Island. Danny McBride is Bomb, the bird who detonates when mad, Josh Gad more popularly known as the voice of Olaf in Disney's blockbuster Frozen as the fast and speedy Chuck  and just like in real life when he made the headlines because of his temper, two time Academy Award Winner Sean Penn is perfect as Terence, a big red bird with issues. Together the four bond together when Pigs visit the Island with suspicious intentions. Maya Rudolph, Bill Hader, Peter Dinklage and Keegan Michael-Key complete the outstanding voice ensemble which makes The Angry Birds Movie notches above other films based on video games.

The animation is gorgeous with color palettes blended perfectly well and the jokes are for all age demographics from the harmless to one or two that are as green as the pigs color. 

The Angry Birds Movie exceeded my expectations and it is an hour and 40 minutes well spent with the family and friends.

MOVIE REVIEW: Captain America: Civil War

Two iconic superheroes turning against each other due to misunderstanding and because of it forgetting the bigger enemy. Sounds like the other superhero movie released exactly a month ago but that's just the only similarity. Captain America: Civil War the third in the series of the all-American superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the first with an all-star cast that can easily be mistaken as an Avengers movie.

The film starts where the Age of Ultron ends and the new Avengers still headed by Iron Man/Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) question their roles in world affairs when the U.S. Secretary of State (William Hurt channeling Kevin Kline) proposed a treaty that would involve the participation of the United Nations in determining if the superheroes can help fight evil in different countries around the globe. On the other hand, Captain America/Steve Rodgers (Chris Evans) is opposed to it as his best friend turned assasin Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier will be the first target.

Except for Thor and The Hulk, most of the characters from the last Avengers film are back as they pick their side between Iron Man and Captain America. Ant-Man/Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) joins in the fun and making its character debut is Black Panther played by Chadwick Boseman as well as the new Spider-Man played by Tom Holland. Peter Parker/Spidey brightens up each frame he is in and a big thanks should be given to Sony Pictures for allowing the character which is under contract from the Studio to appear in the Marvel/Disney production.

Captain America: Civil War is the darkest and most mature of the Marvel/Disney films but it does not forget to have fun. Looking forward to the Infinity War series that this film was set up for.

MOVIE REVIEW: Bastille Day

Idris Elba ventures into Liam Neeson territory in Bastille Day, an exciting and entertaining action thriller that's reminiscent of the first Taken movie which was also shot in the French capital.

Elba plays Sean Briar, a CIA operative who teams up with Game of Thrones' Richard Madden who plays an American pickpocket with an overstaying tourist visa in Paris, who after stealing a bag from a mule played with Charlotte Le Bon (The Hundred Foot Journey) opened up a vast network that maybe linked to terrorists. 

Director James Watkins (The Woman in Black) made great use of the film's 90 minute running time. A chase scene shot above the rooftops is beautifully shot and executed. It is just unfortunate that some scenes are a bit similar to the recent terror attacks on the city so maybe that's why the film did not get a release date in some other countries, notably the United States. There are a lot of holes in the plot that require you to leave your thinking outside the theater but it's compensated by the good chemistry of the cast.

Elba passes his first lead action hero flick and who knows maybe this is his audition to play the world famous super spy sometime hopefully in the near future.

MOVIE REVIEW: The Jungle Book

Disney's latest retelling of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book is best watched on the big screen and if you have some extra money to spare for 3D or IMAX then by all means go. Not since Avatar has the movies ever come up with a beautifully created world and not since The Life of Pi has there ever been CGI created animals brought to life vibrantly than this film which does not divert too much from the 1967 Disney classic.

Most of us already know the story of Mowgli played by newcomer Neel Sethi, a "human-cub" raised by wolves whose parents are voiced by Giancarlo Esposito and Lupita Nyong'o after the panther Bagheera voiced by Ben Kingsley entrusted him to them for better protection when he found him all alone in the jungle when Mowgli was just a toddler, after his father was killed by the tiger Shere Khan voiced with such evil authority by Idris Elba on an expedition. Guided by Bagheera and the bear Baloo voiced by Bill Murray to bring him to his fellow humans when the tiger came back to seek revenge, the three encounter different situations and meet different animals such as the slithering snake Kaa voiced with seductive perfection by Scarlett Johansson and King Louie the ape voiced by Christopher Walken.

Director Jon Favreau's (Iron Man 1 and 2) take on The Jungle Book is much more engaging than recent Disney live action remakes of their animated classics and it some instances jolting. I sometimes have to close my eyes at some scenes for you know that some predator might surprise Mowgli from the unlikeliest of places in the deep jungle. It's good fun but I know that some little kids might get scared. It's great too

that the film also used some of the songs from the animated version that I'm pretty sure that parents who grew up watching it will sing along much to the amazement of their kids.

MOVIE REVIEW: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Don't be dismayed by the critics reviews, this highly anticipated meetup between two of the most popular iconic comic book characters from the DC Comics universe won't disappoint fans of both Superman and Batman but also get you excited for the long awaited Justice League movie. The Avengers now have a threat to global (box office) domination.

I have to admit that I am not familiar with the comic book set up on how the two would meet up but there's nothing to worry. Director Zack Snyder who also helmed 2013's Man of Steel made both the cities of Metropolis and Gotham bleak yet entertaining with a lot of things going on and that's the major negative aspect of the film: there's indeed a lot of things going on which it can be trimmed down for a few less scenes from it's 2 hours and 38 minutes running time.

Henry Cavill is his old reliable Clark Kent/Superman self and Amy Adams is the thinking damsel in distress Lois Lane. The big revelation though is Ben Affleck. The naysayers who freaked out when Warner Bros announced that he was playing the Dark Knight a couple of years ago can now apologize to him. His Bruce Wayne and Batman is one of the best among those who played the character and he redeemed himself from the disastrous Daredevil more than a decade ago. Jeremy Irons is a welcome addition to the cast as a younger (compared to Michael Caine from The Dark Knight Trilogy) yet cool and sarcastic Butler Alfred. Jesse Eisenberg is channeling The Joker as Lex Luthor - it sometimes work but there are some cases in which he still reminds you of his character from his Academy Award nominated role as Mark Zuckerberg from The Social Network. 

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is also the film that introduces Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) to its fold of characters. There are also tidbits from the other characters of the upcoming Justice League movie and I was rest assured that the actors chosen to play the up and coming superheroes are great ones.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is best seen on the big screen. No need for that 3D upgrade.