Falling Skies Season 4 Premiere "Ghost in the Machine" Review

WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THIS EPISODE

            Falling Skies is now back on television with the premiere of season four. In this episode, on the group’s return to home, they are attacked by more aliens that have been attacking them throughout the whole series. Some are trapped, and some get away. Skip to four months later and some are in prison while others are in Chinatown, which is not getting attacked, and some are against Chinatown.

            Overall, I enjoyed this episode. Though, it would be hard for it to be boring. It’s a sixty minute T.V. show, and only about 45 of those minutes are the actual episode. And this episode was very fast-paced. Almost all of it had to do with the plot. Though, that is a negative as well as a positive. Because of this, we don’t learn anything new about the characters. That causes aspects of this episode to be bland.

            I didn’t really care about the characters in this episode. When Hal and Pope got in a fight, I didn’t care. And because I didn’t care about the characters, events in the plot start to become dull if they have to do with the characters. I’m not saying that this episode got truly boring. I’m saying not all of this episode was as entertaining as it could have been. I was not bored by this episode. I was simply not invested into the entire episode. There were some parts that I was invested into. I was very interested in the people who were not imprisoned, but not in Chinatown. Some factors of Chinatown were interesting. I liked the conversation between Tom and Cochise. This episode just had room for improvement.

            For a flaw I have with this episode, I have several nit-picks with it. I will present some of them here. At the beginning, when the aliens drop the wall things down on them, why did they send a big machine to fire at them if their goal is to imprison the humans and not kill the humans? Why did they let some adults, like Maggie, get away when they dropped the walls to the prison? They did not want to imprison the children, but they did not imprison all of the adults. When did the aliens decide to drop the buildings for the prison down on the people? Where did Tom get a flamethrower and motorcycle when he did his vigilante thing? At the end, we see that in the ship, they have cameras to look into the jail cells. An alien leader notices the poster thing of “Ghost” on the wall. If the aliens could notice this, how could they not notice the map on Tom’s wall when he took the mirror off or Cochise stand right outside the prison? I have more nit-picks, but there are some of them.

            Overall, this was definitely not a bad episode, but not a solidly good one. It is an alright episode. I did think of it slightly positively, but it definitely had room for improvement and I think the show will get better as it goes throughout the season.

"Obvious Child" Movie Review

            Obvious Child is directed by Gillian Robespierre and stars Jenny Slate. It is about a young woman who, after a turn of events, realizes that she is pregnant and wants to get an abortion, but is afraid to tell other people. There is some other things going on, but I will not risk spoiling them.

            This is a romantic comedy… Is it funny? Some of it is. There are some jokes that are actually conversational humor and not slapstick comedy. There are also many unconventional jokes and some of the comedy is original for the most part. The comedy seems to be real in that it seems like jokes like this could be made in real conversations. Some of the comedy is subtle. It is not all big and obvious.

            Jenny Slate does a great job here. She is in every scene of this movie, and shines in every one of them. She did not seem like she was acting in any one of the scenes. She seemed to be her character the entire time. She delivered lines well, and was very good with the comedy. She helped make the character’s lines funny.

            The overall script was good. The dialogue seemed real for the most part. I thought it did seem like real people talking. The narrative was also handled well. The plot itself was somewhat original, and it was told somewhat unconventionally.

            I enjoyed this movie overall. It is a short film, less than ninety minutes in running time. It gets into the plot quickly and does not drag… for the most part. While I did have a good time watching part of this movie, I did not enjoy watching another part of this movie. I think the main reason for that is the characters. The main character gets one scene of character development, and that is during the opening credits. I never really latched onto the main character. As for the rest, they did not have much development either. There were only about two others that contributed to the plot, and they little to no development.

            And also, while some of the comedy elements worked, there were jokes that missed. It was only about fifty percent of the comedy that I laughed at. Some of the comedy was conversational humor, but not all of it. There is a lot of immature humor in this movie. Sometimes, the first time it would be funny, but there would be more and more comedy centered around jokes very similar to the first, and they would not be funny. Some of the jokes themselves just missed, too.

            While the plot itself was original, the characters were not. The construction of the characters was familiar, and I knew exactly where the plot was going. Some of the events that happen are clichéd. Many things characters do are clichéd. Some of the characters are just big clichés.

            Overall, I have good and bad things to say about Obvious Child. Though, I did enjoy most of this movie, and I think that it is not a bad movie. I do not recommend going to the theater to see this movie, but it is a good rental. It is an alright movie.

"22 Jump Street" Movie Review

        

            22 Jump Street is directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and it stars Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, and Ice Cube. In this film, we have the exact same plot of 21 Jump Street, except that the actual work place for the main characters in 22 Jump Street and 21 Jump Street, and that they are investigating a college and not a high school.

            Though, this film does understand the fact that the plot of it is very similar to the first one. There are jokes regarding action movies, comedies, and movie sequels in general. The comedy is not straightforward; it is very subtle. I never felt that the jokes went too far, and I never felt a scene existed to have a joke. Some of the jokes were very conversational, and some of it even seemed like improvisation, which is always a plus for the movie. Almost all of the comedy hit. It was handled very well.

            Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill are both very good in the film apart and excellent together. They both deliver the comedy well and are very good in the dramatic elements of the film. Though, they have excellent chemistry together. The two actors really seem like they are friends and, without them, the film would not be nearly as good. Ice Cube in this film was also great. He has much more to do in this film than he did in 21 Jump Street, and he uses the material he has perfectly.

            I was never truly bored during this film. There are some times when the jokes are a bit inconsistent and there are less of them, but for a very bit portion of this film, the comedy was used very consistently and the film was very enjoyable. The plot is actually very interesting, and the action scenes are also engrossing. I had a very good time watching this film.

            But I do have flaws with this film. For the most part, the dramatic elements of the film were not effective. They were very clichéd, and were even ripped directly from the first film. I thought the dramatic elements of the first film were surprising and actually well thought-out. Here, though, the dramatic elements do not work because of how familiar they are. This also causes some of the characters in general to be uninteresting. That is why some portions of this movie were not as enjoyable as others. The film was aware the plot was similar to the plot of the first, but it was not aware that the dramatic elements were ripped from the first.

            I felt that some events of the narrative connecting the second act to the third were very sudden and did not have much depth. Some things just randomly happen and we do not really get to learn about them. The events also go by way too fast, and the film skips over some things to get to the third act quicker, so it seems the end of the second act and the beginning of the third are very rushed.

            While some of the action in this movie is well-handled and engrossing, some of the action had a bit of a quick-cut and almost shaky style that was supposed to exhilarate the viewer, but for me, it just lowered the quality of the action. There is also use of slow-motion in several scenes here, and while sometimes effective, for the most part it does not add anything to the movie.

            Overall, I had a very good time watching 22 Jump Street. I laughed at almost all of the jokes and the actors did a great job. The plot was interesting and some of the action was engrossing. But the drama in the film did not work, there were clichés in the film, some of the events were skimmed over when writing the script, and some of the action in the film is mediocre. The film has flaws, but I do think that it is worth checking out and do recommend it.

"Edge of Tomorrow" Movie Review

             Edge of Tomorrow is directed by Doug Liman and stars Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, and Bill Paxton. It is about a futuristic world in which aliens have attacked the Earth, and for a while were winning, but now seem to be weakening, and the humans have invented these machines that they use in battle which work very well against these aliens. Tom Cruise plays a major in the army who does not like to fight in war, but is forced to, and discovers that when he dies, he keeps on going back to the day before battle. Emily Blunt plays an excellent, prestigious warrior who has gone through what Cruise’s character is going through and they work together to help defeat the enemy. Bill Paxton plays the sergeant above Cruise’s character.

            This is a sci-fi/action blockbuster, and it is probably the best it could possibly be in terms of that genre. This is a great, great film. It is very fast-paced, and it is so well edited that it is constantly engaging and never gets dull. From start to finish, this film is a roller coaster ride that never stops. It is fun, edge-of-your-seat, incredible action mixed with very, very smart and original sci-fi.

            This is a greatly directed film. Doug Liman’s style of action for The Bourne  Identity was a very hand-held, shaky, quick-cut style, and although most people said it worked for that movie, I felt it was the same as all of the other action films with a shaky, quick-cut style. After finding out that he was directing this movie, I was scared that he would use that style here. That style would definitely not work here. Thankfully, he does not use that style here. The action is greatly directed. Some shots linger. There are not that many cuts during the action. In the first action scene, there is this fantastic shot that never stops moving. The shot lingers for several seconds. The movements of everyone are also greatly choreographed.

            The visual elements of this film are all great. Doug Liman is a very good visual director. He works very well with the cinematographer to make sure every shot is framed correctly. Every shot in this film is framed greatly. Not one shot seemes off-center. The cinematography for this film is great. Everything looks very good. The lighting is brilliant. The visual effects here are excellent, too. Not once does anything look like it is a visual effect. Not once did I mentally say “Green screen” or “CGI”. There are also times in which there are many, many, many things happening in the background, and it is all done perfectly.

            The performances in this film are another great thing about it. Tom Cruise is easily bought as his character. He is great here. I also bought Emily Blunt as her character. She was great as well. Bill Paxton was great here, too. He was very enjoyable to watch.

            In the mix of all of these great aspects of the film, there is another I will touch on: the script. The script is very smart here. It mixed the sci-fi and action elements perfectly, and the dialogue is great, too. There is some great humor in this film, and that helps be even more enjoyable than it already is. The elements of the narrative are also told brilliantly in this script. The characters are also great. The structure of the characters is very unconventional, and the characters are easy to latch on to. The introduction for all of the characters works very well, and I cared about the characters because of how they were written in the script.

            The editing of this film is fantastic. The film is paced perfectly, and the assemblage of shots used during the action makes it all the more exhilarating. Sometimes shots linger, and sometimes they cut. The editor knows when to keep the shots and when to cut. During scenes with dialogue, the camerawork is handled very well. The editor of this film knows what he or she is doing.

            The ending of this film will be disliked by some people, and hated by some people, but I loved it. I will not say what happens in the end, but I will say that I think it is excellent. I believe it follows the characters perfectly and it continues the sci-fi perfectly.

            I do have some flaws with the film though. For one, there were times when the action became extremely unrealistic and over-the-top. There were times when characters fell and hit something hard, and they came out with no broken bones. There were also a few times when a character was launched a distance and hit the ground bumped around, hit several things, and came out with no broken bones.

            

            My other flaw with the film is that by the end, the direction the characters go in seems a bit familiar. I felt that direction was a bit clichéd and definitely could have been handled better.

            Edge of Tomorrow is an all-around great film: direction, script, cinematography, visual effects, characters, editing, ending, performances, and sci-fi. It is a perfect mix of edge-of-your-seat action and brilliant sci-fi. I do have two flaws with it, but they are very small flaws.

"X-Men: Days of Future Past" Movie Review

 

        X-Men: Days of Future Past is directed by Bryan Singer and stars Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Jennifer Lawrence, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Nicolas Hoult, and Peter Dinklage. This film takes place in the future, when the world is desolate because of these machines invented to kill mutants. There are not many mutants left because of this, and the ones left are being hunted. The X-Men send Wolverine back in time to stop these machines, called Sentinels, from being invented so all of this would never have happened.

            This is a fantastic superhero movie and even a great film. This is mostly due to the fact that it has real characters. The script here is by far the best thing about the film. Yes, the special effects are fantastic. Yes, the movie does have cool action. Yes, the movie was really enjoyable. But what makes this film different from your normal superhero movie are the performances and the writing.

            The character in this film that I believe gets to shine the most is Raven/Mystique. She is torn between joining Erik/Magneeto’s side or Charles/Professor X’s side. She does not know if she wants to be Raven or Mystique. This conflict drives her character throughout the film, and even drives some of the plot, because, in this film, the characters are put before the plot. The characters drive the plot, not vise versa.

            Raven/Mystique does not receive all of the attention, though. A lot of attention is paid to Erik/Magneeto and Charles/Professor X. The conflicting sides of them and the agreeable sides of them are portrayed perfectly. We see how similar and different the two sides of them are. Though, this is not just a comparison of the two sides of them. We see the opposite sides in side of each other, and we get development on each character individually as well. We can sympathize with both, and we can go against both. When they are conflicting, we could take either side.

            The characters are both likeable and interesting. Throughout the entire film, we get character development. We also see character progressions and regressions. I got invested into the characters. The characters drove the entire movie. Even during the action, the characters decided what happened. The characters make the action happen, and the characters make what happens inside of the action happen. The action has a lot to do with the characters. It is not mindless.

            The action is also superbly done. Bryan Singer does a fantastic job with it. Not only are the sequences filmed well, but they are masterfully crafted and beautifully done. The choreography for them is great, and the look of everything during the sequences is excellent. The sequences are exciting and exhilarating. They are very well written and directed. The score for them is also great. It pumps some of the fuel into the action and helps it because more exciting.

            As far as the performances go, they are fantastic. Hugh Jackman is, as always, fantastic as Wolverine. He adds a great realism to the character. Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart both give fantastic performances. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are fantastic as well. I actually they have improved since X-Men: First Class. Their performances in that movie are great, but they are better here. Though, I believe that Jennifer Lawrence really stepped up her game. She was good in X-Men: First Class, but I believe she is nearly perfect here. Nicolas Hoult is very, very good here as well. Peter Dinklage plays a very important character, and he really helps sell this character. He is great.

            I have already made it clear that I loved what the script did with the characters, but I have not yet made it clear that I believe the script for this film is great. The dialogue is great here. It seems like real dialogue, and it plays a huge part in investing the audience into the characters. We learn about them from what they say and do. The dialogue works for its purpose in investing us in the characters and making the film grounded in reality. The dialogue is also very enjoyable to watch. As far as the narrative structure goes, it is crafted flawlessly. Time travel stories usually have nearly infinite plot holes, but this film seems not to include them. The film never gets convoluted. It always stays on-point.

            As far as the visual effects go, they are obviously going to be great because of this film’s high budget. All of these Marvel superhero movies will have great visual effects. Though, this film’s visual effects seemed even better than the effects of other Marvel movies. I never once pointed out in my head that something was CGI, because they looked real. Though, the visual effects are not the point of which this film looked good. Bryan Singer is a great visual director, and did a very good job with most of the scenes here. The cinematography was also fantastic sometimes.

            X-Men: Days of Future Past is a transcendent superhero film. I have no flaws with it and believe it is the best of all of the X-Men franchise. I loved this movie. I think that it is a great film.