In May 2014 I saw 4 movies and since I haven't had time to review them, I'm simply going to give my opinions on the films I saw very briefly. This monthly review won't be a permanent fixture however and I will return to my longer reviews after this. But for now, here are the short reviews...
The Amazing Spiderman 2
The second instalment of Sony's rebooted Spiderman franchise has received a lot of criticism but I honestly enjoyed large segments of the film. Its predecessor the Amazing Spiderman was a film which I pretty much hated after my first viewing. However, once I accepted that Spiderman was getting a reboot, I sat back and enjoyed some portions of the film a lot more than first time around. The sequel however is better, but still has issues. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone put in some solid all-round performances and have really good romantic chemistry. The film has some genuinely heart-breaking moments and some good action sequences coupled with some very colourful, comic book-like special effects. Hans Zimmer's score is also good. However, all 3 villains were completely miss-handled in some way and the films structure was completely off. It literally felt like a string of scenes strung together in an attempt to encompass all 40 major plot elements. The trailer also nearly ruined everything in the film. Overall though I was entertained and interested:Rating - B-
Bad Neighbours
Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne are a married couple bringing up their newly born child in a peaceful and quiet suburban neighbourhood, until a fraternity led by Zac Efron and Dave Franco moves in next door. What follows is a pretty basic premise but an entertaining and funny movie none the less. My main issue with this film was that it probably could have been much funnier. The film constantly and consistently made me laugh but never reached that next sphere of comedy where my sides started to ache. However their are good comedic performances across the cast from Rose Byrne and Zac Efron in particular. The film is of a good length and paces well, the jokes vary from slapstick to pop culture references and the film is enjoyable. I have minor issues involving a police officer (if you've seen the film you know) and the ending didn't satisfy me. This isn't as hilarious as my high expectations thought it should have been, but I enjoyed it and laughed from beginning to end:Rating - B
Godzilla
This one was one of my most anticipated films of the entire year, especially with a great monster movie director Gareth Edwards at the helm and Bryan Cranston starring in it. Godzilla, when on screen, delivered some of the best cinematic moments I've seen in years. The final act of the film is jaw dropping, and made me cheer on 3 occasions. The moments where Godzilla fights are godly. The cinematography is incredible, the visual effects amongst the best ever, the sound design chilling. But Godzilla also offers a performance of great emotional depth from Heisenberg himself. However, he isn't in the film enough, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson's character isn't as relatable or likeable as Cranston's. The man does a fine job though acting wise. The film balances its ultra serious and fun popcorn-film tone brilliantly and the decision to tell the story from one families perspective was an excellent one. My only issue; not enough Godzilla! Too much "meat-dangling" in the second act was too much to bare! However, I enjoyed this film so much:Rating - A-
A Million Ways to Die in the West
Seth Macfarlane's new live-action comedy. It was a disappointing one. Its made all the more disappointing in that at times the Seth Macfarlane "spark" is there, the spark which made Family Guy so god dam hilarious! It's too reliant on dick, poop and fart jokes which wear down after about half an hour in. The way it was filmed made the inevitable slapstick comedy obvious. The story itself which tried to recycle a load of unrelated and repeated plot points was just a clunky mess because I was bored watching it. A lot of it requires us to care about some of the characters but you just don't because there is no depth to them, at least for me there wasn't. I did laugh though, the music was good, so were the costumes and some of the cameos were pretty great. However its completely forgettable, boring and not funny most of the time. Seth Macfarlane is in my eyes a comical genius, but not with stuff like this!Rating - C-
So those are the films I saw in May. Comment on what you thought of these films down below if you've seen any of them. I'll be back shortly, I need to so X-Men!
Thanks for reading,
Matt
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