Good Time & Kong: Skull Island Movie Reviews

Two quickie reviews for two 2017 movies that I finally saw. Then I’m going to focus on reviewing movies with at least one Oscar nomination (Kong: Skull Island has one nomination so I guess I’m kind of starting today). Next week I’ll review The Shape Of Water, Darkest Hour, and hopefully both Lady Bird & I, Tonya if I manage to see them after they’re released tomorrow. Oh, and tomorrow I’ll finally review The Greatest Showman (nominated in the Best Song category).

Good Time (2017)

Directed by Ben Safdie & Josh Safdie

Written by Josh Safdie & Ronald Bronstein

Starring: Robert Pattinson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Ben Safdie, Barkhad Abdi, Buddy Duress, Taliah Webster, Necro

Music by Oneohtrix Point Never

Plot Synopsis: (via IMDb)
After a heist goes awry, a bank robber spends a night trying to free his mentally handicapped brother from being sent to Riker’s Island prison.

My Opinion:

Good Time is one of those films that’s quite good but soooooo extremely “indie” that there’s absolutely no one in real life who I could recommend it to. Only you movie bloggers! 😉

So it appears this was directed by two filmmakers who are brothers & one also does the writing while the other also does the acting (in this case, playing the mentally handicapped brother of Robert Pattinson). This is certainly no Twilight! It’s good to see Pattinson in something so different. He does very well in this as a complete fuck-up who clearly loves & wants to take care of his brother despite not knowing at all what’s actually best for him.

I don’t really know what to say about this. You’ll either like its indie style or you won’t. Stuff happens but it’s the meandering sort of storyline that’s so common in indie films. The way that Pattinson’s character does absolutely everything wrong when it comes to his choices in life was amusing. I liked his brother (played by director Ben Safdie) and you really can’t help but kind of want things to work out for these two bumbling criminals. Oh! But, more than anything, I really liked the electronic score done by Oneohtrix Point Never. I’m a sucker for a good score & I know that really helped me to like this movie a little more than I otherwise might have. It kind of brought It Follows to mind. A good score is very important, filmmakers! Well done Safdie brothers & Oneohtrix Point Never.

My Rating: 7/10

**Forgot to say Jennifer Jason Leigh is barely in this. Damn. I like her.

Kong: Skull Island (2017)

Directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts

Based on King Kong by Merian C. Cooper & Edgar Wallace

Starring: Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman, Brie Larson, Jing Tian, Toby Kebbell, John Ortiz, Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Shea Whigham, Thomas Mann, Terry Notary, John C. Reilly

Plot Synopsis: (via Wikipedia)
Set in 1973, the film follows a team of scientists and a US Army unit recently withdrawn from the Vietnam War who travel to an uncharted island in the Pacific and encounter terrifying creatures and the mighty Kong.

My Opinion:

Speaking of good music in a film, Kong: Skull Island has this as well. This time, though, it was a kick ass soundtrack as opposed to the score (I can’t recall the score). The soundtrack was easily my favorite thing about this movie. What is it with Vietnam-era songs?? I love the angry songs from that time in history. Warning: I’m going to go off on a short non-movie-related rant here. Throughout history, the worst times for the human race have often resulted in fantastic music being made. People pour their hearts into their art during the most desperate times. So… Why does music FUCKING suck nowadays? Hmm?! The world is completely fucked up right now so where’s the great music as a result?????? I’ve wondered this for a while now.

Okay – let’s talk about this movie. It really kind of sucked. I hated it at first. I was mega tired & attempted to watch it & zonked out about 30 minutes in. I remember muttering something like “can’t they make a good monster movie….zzzzzzzz…..snore…….”. Then I tried again and still thought it sucked but kind of enjoyed it in a guilty pleasure sort of way. I think this was mainly thanks to (besides the soundtrack) John C. Reilly. Easily the best character. It took far too long to finally introduce him! No wonder I fell asleep the first time.

Oh. I suppose I should mention the monsters??? MonsterSSSS (plural). Was Kong not enough?! What’s with people these days? Never satisfied! I thought Kong was done quite well. And he was a far more developed character than all those random army guys who were there just to die in entertaining ways. Kong was cool – I think I could be friends with that dude. This movie really did improve in the second half (more Reilly & more Kong). So. I dunno. I enjoyed it yet thought it was a pretty bad film. Fun but bad. Like Road House! No. Wait. Road House is fucking awesome. That’s an 8/10 goodbad movie. Kong isn’t bad enough nor good enough to be goodbad. I’m making no sense. I’m mega tired again.

Awesome Vietnam songs! Black Sabbath & David Bowie! Holy shit! John C. Reilly great. Kong very good. Too many monsters spoil things (ONE other big monster to fight Kong is all we need). Rest of the characters extremely weak, especially all those random army guys. But I still always like having Samuel L. Jackson in a movie so that was a bonus. I enjoyed it more than Godzilla (2014). But I have to say that the best monster movie I’ve seen recently is definitely Colossal.

My Rating: 6/10

From the soundtrack: Time Has Come Today by The Chamber Brothers

Warcraft: The Beginning (2016) Review

Warcraft: The Beginning (2016)

Directed by Duncan Jones

Based on Warcraft by Blizzard Entertainment

Starring: Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster, Dominic Cooper, Toby Kebbell, Ben Schnetzer, Robert Kazinsky, Daniel Wu, Glenn Close?!?!

Plot Synopsis:
The peaceful realm of Azeroth stands on the brink of war as its civilization faces a fearsome race of invaders: orc warriors fleeing their dying home to colonize another. As a portal opens to connect the two worlds, one army faces destruction and the other faces extinction. From opposing sides, two heroes are set on a collision course that will decide the fate of their family, their people, and their home.

My Opinion:

I really didn’t fancy going to see this movie at all but the hubby kind of wanted to see it and, well, I never really pass up the opportunity to go to a movie… So I went! I have absolutely no knowledge whatsoever about Warcraft so I figured it would be best to just go in totally blind & see what I thought. You know what? The movie isn’t bad. I was worried as I mentioned the other day that I’ve never seen such a wide gap between public opinion at IMDB (7.9/10) & the metascore (the opinion of critics – a very low 31/100). I’m usually somewhere between the two scores but I’m closer to public opinion on this one. Critics never really rate fantasy highly anyway so screw them – if you like this sort of thing, give it a go! I enjoyed it just fine.

I’ll admit that the thing that interested me the most was watching another film from David Bowie’s son. I thought Moon was great and Source Code was entertaining but not perfect. I’d say the same of Warcraft – it definitely has its issues but I found it entertaining. I think I may have even enjoyed it a little more than Source Code. The characters were pretty strong (for a fantasy movie based on a game, anyway) and it has me interested enough to watch a sequel if one gets made. It doesn’t have me interested enough to explore the story/game at all but I do actually hope there’s a sequel.

The movie starts off with the orcs & I thought I’d find the look of them really distracting but it didn’t take long to get over that. I think the movie looks pretty good – it’s not like the orcs look any weirder/cheesier than creatures in the Lord Of The Rings movies. We got a good story involving that orc dude in the above photo & I like that – I want to give a shit about characters in movies. I think this movie did a pretty good job in developing several key characters (considering that there are quite a few to get to know) & giving us some good back stories plus loads of potential for more to come in any sequels.

Yeah, I said “that orc dude” up there because the one thing I really struggle with when it comes to fantasy are all the damn names. Here are some examples from this movie: Gul’dan, Durotan (chieftain of the Frostwolf clan!), Draka, Orgrim Doomhammer (lol! that last name kicks ass), Sir Anduin Lothar, Khadgar, Medivh, Garona, Daenerys Stormborn, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains, Mother of Dragons, blah blah blah. Okay, I threw some extra shit in at the end there. I did feel like I do when watching Game Of Thrones – the hubby must get so sick of my “Who the hell is that dude?!” questions. There are orcs, there are humans, there’s a sexy half orc/human, there are these cool wizard dudes (my favorite! I love cool wizard dudes!), there are kings, queens, chieftains, cool scary beasts & birds that the orcs & humans ride, Glenn Close (!), and an adorable uglycute orc baby. And they all go to war. And use cool blue & green magic. And I was never really sure what was going on and I sure as hell still don’t have a clue what any of their names were. Meh – it doesn’t matter anyway. It’s meant to be a bit of fantasy entertainment & I think it does achieve this quite well. The very low critic ratings are unfair.

The wizard dudes were the best. Or whatever they were called as I don’t think they were called wizards…

Besides the wizard dudes, I also really liked the sexy half human/half orc (Paula Patton), the main good guy orc dude & his family (okay okay – I looked his name up! it’s Durotan played by Toby Kebbell), the human king (Dominic Cooper) & his family, plus the main good guy human (Travis Fimmel). I’ve never seen Fimmel in anything before & he’s fine but I was distracted by him being this weird cross between Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison and Richard Tyson as the bad guy in Kindergarten Cop…

Summary:

Ignore the snobby critics – if you like this sort of genre, I don’t see why you wouldn’t like Warcraft. It has all the elements I expect from a fantasy film plus characters I liked & storylines I enjoyed. What more can you ask for? No, it’s obviously no Lord Of The Rings but it’s a decent movie based on a game. Hell, it’s probably one of the very best “game movies” as most of those are complete & utter shit. The one thing I’ll say is that it could’ve used slightly more comic relief – the movie has a small amount of this (mostly with the young wizard, who was probably my favorite character) but a little more would’ve helped me warm to the characters a bit more. I’m not gonna lie – this is a movie I probably won’t remember a thing about in a couple of years. But, hey, it does the job. And I do want a sequel.

My Rating: 7/10

I did like the hero’s eagle thingy. I want one.

Is There Anything After The Credits? Nope! Not at the end or even halfway through. So go have a pee!

Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes (2014) Review

Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes (2014)

Directed by Matt Reeves

Starring:
Andy Serkis
Jason Clarke
Gary Oldman
Keri Russell
Toby Kebbell
Kodi Smit-McPhee

Running time: 131 minutes

Plot Synopsis: (via IMDB)
In the wake of a disaster that changed the world, the growing and genetically evolving apes find themselves at a critical point with the human race.

My Opinion:

I’m sure everyone has reviewed this by now so I’ll just say this: Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes is pretty damn spectacular. It isn’t perfect but any issues I have with it are pretty insignificant compared to the amazing special effects. WOW! Hey you WordPress whippersnappers – remember that I’m old. You’re all used to movies looking like this now & just expect it all the time. You’re spoiled!!! 😉 I mean, I’m actually still impressed by 1968’s Planet Of The Apes so, you know, maybe I’m more easy to please than some of you. But this film is REALLY freaking impressive.

The apes!!! I’d happily watch a movie with just the apes & no human actors on screen. There was so much depth to their characters. The only downside is that they did such an excellent job with the look and the character development of the apes that the humans in the film really do pale by comparison. It was actually easier to feel for the apes and their struggle than it was for the humans and all that they’ve gone through. However, (and this is something I loved about this film), there’s no black & white “humans are evil and the apes are innocent” (or vice versa). We see both sides and I thought the story worked really well & that the way things progressed was very believable. I was completely immersed in this film and that doesn’t happen as often as I’d like considering how many movies I go to.

Summary:

I don’t know what else to say that hasn’t been said by others. I thought Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes was pretty great and I love that Dawn manages to improve on it. Also, I’ll fully admit that I love that this movie turns into a full-on blockbuster at the end. This movie is proof that you CAN have an exciting, heart-pounding blockbuster as well as an intelligent script and well developed characters that you actually care about. I do wish the human characters had had as much time spent on making us care about them as the apes had but it’s really a minor complaint. This movie is very very good.

My Rating: 8.5/10

I STILL haven’t made my mind up on if Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes is my 2nd or 3rd favorite movie of 2014. It’s between this & Her. See my full list HERE if you’re bothered. 🙂