musicmatzes blog

movie

“Dracula Untold” is an american dark fantasy action movie. Luke Evans as the main actor, which is defintively always worth a watch.

Plot

The happenings in this movie take place in the 15th-century. Knowing war is coming, Vlad seeks help from a vampire. The vampire tells him there are consequences and offers him some of his blood, which will temporarily give Vlad the powers of a vampire. If he resists the intense urge to drink human blood for three days, he will turn back into a human.

Of course he fails to resist.

Reception

The movie has only an approval rating of 24% based on 134 reviews, with an average rating of 4.46/10 on rottentomatoes. I, though, liked it a lot and actually have it on my rewatch-list.

I would rate it at 7.5/10 I guess, especially because (dark) fantasy action is one of my preffered movie genres.

#movie #fantasy #dark #action

Now, this is rather untypical for me. “Constantine” is a superhero horror film. I am NOT into horror movies AT ALL. Still, I watched Constantine.

Especially because it features Keanu Reeves as the main actor. A must-watch(-actor), in my opinion.

Plot

John Constantine, an occult detective, is called to exorcise a possessed girl. He exorcises demons back to Hell to earn favor with Heaven, which he seeks salvation from because of an suicide attempt in his youth.

He helps someone learn the truth about her sister's death while unraveling a much larger and darker plot.

That's about as much as I can give away without revealing as much as the wikipedia article on the movie does.

Reception

On rottentomatoes, the movie averages at 5.4/10. I would tend towards 7/10 though, even though I am not favourable of horror movies at all.

Still, the tension (and hey, Keanu Reeves!!!) was great and I liked the movie a lot, despite some rather gory scenes.

#movie #horror #fantasy #thriller

“Now you see me” is a series of movies. I'm talking about the first two parts here (a third is planned).

The movies are in the genre of a heist thriller, which I didn't know before, but I liked the format a lot!

Plot

First of all, these movies are about magicians. Sounds dull, you think? Well, nope. But first lets talk about the plot.

An FBI agent tracks a team of magicians who rob banks during their performances and reward their audiences with the money. This is as little as one can give away without revealing just too much.

Reception

In general, the stunts are really nice and entertaining, as well as the rest of the movies. “Thriller” is matching as a genre here, because the arc of suspense is clearly there!

Wikipedia states that

The film stayed in the top 10 of the North American box office for six weeks after release.

And although a citation is missing on that, I don't doubt it. On Rotten Tomatoes the films have an average rating of 5.71/10 and 4.85/10, which is clearly too low in my opinion. I would tend to give them a clean 8/10 and 7/10, to be honest.

#movie #thriller

“Men in Black: International” is the fourth installment of the Men in Black film series, and the first one to not feature Will Smith as the main actor. And that shows.

Will Smith truly gave the Men in Black series its special spin. Men in Black: International does not live up to that (fairly high) standard. Still, it does not fail to entertain, in my opinion.

A word on “political correctness”

Yes, Men in Black: International features a female actor as the main character. I get the impression that more and more film makers aim for what is called “political correctness” by installing female actors in movies.

I do not think this is a bad idea.

But, why does this mean that movies and film series which strongly build on the “Macho/Bad-Boy” stereotype are now “reinvented” with a female main character? There was a debate about a female 007, there is certainly some online discussion about “Star Trek: Discovery” and now there is a female Men in Black main actor. In my opinion, that is a rather uninspired and dull move. Aiming for more female actors for the main character is a very creditable goal – but just re-doing movies and replacing a male main character with a female feels like a half-hearted attempt.

I, for one, would love to see more new female main character movies.

Plot

In the 90s, Molly witnesses her parents being neuralyzed by agents of MIB. She stays un-neuralyzed. From then on, she aims to become one of the MIB.

Besides from that, the plot does not differ greatly from the other MIB movies, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

Critic

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 23% based on 318 reviews, with an average rating of 4.5/10.

(wikipedia)

Strangely, in contrast to the efforts of installing a female character as a strong woman, the movie has lost its coolness. This could have been the one key point where the movie could be able to continue the MIB franchise with a female main character! The previous MIB movies were always some sort of “bad-boy cool-gangster-themed” action movie with comedic elements. Men in Black International does not continue on that road, unfortunately.

Still, the movie is nice for an evening of Monsters and action, and I would agree on the 4.5/10 of rottentomatoes.

#movie #comedy #action #fantasy

“Iceland: On Top of the World” is a documentary about, well, Iceland (amazon, netflix). Normally I don't write about documentaries here, but this one was particularly nice.

I really liked that it features not only facts about the history, but also about the current culture and life in iceland and, but that's no surprise, the absolutely astonishing images of icelandic nature.

Of course there's no plot here I can talk about. Still, I want to say that the 5.8/10 on IMDB is underrated and I'd say this is a solid 9/10!

#movie #documentary #iceland #nature #history

R.I.P.D. or “Rest in Peace Department” is a “2013 American science fiction action comedy film”.

Let me anticipate: The movie was a flop. It had negative reviews and was financially unsuccessfull. I can see why.

Plot

As always, I do not want to give away that much information (even less than the wikipedia article on the movie):

Nick, a police officer, dies. After his death, he gets recruited by the Rest in Peace Department, where he should take care of the undead that walk the earth and refuse to move on to the afterlife. He, with his partner Roy, soon has to save the earth from the apocalypse.

My opinion

I have to say that the plot is not very exciting and the movie has only a weak 3.70/10 on rotten tomatoes and bad reviews on other sites as well.

And I have to agree. The movie is not complete garbage, I laughted at least one time... it keeps you entertained to a certain level, perfect if you just want to hang around on your couch after a hard days work but you don't want to have one of these exciting action movies or complicated sci-fi movies on your screen, but something simple that keeps your mind busy but not overloaded.

For that scenario, the movie serves. For everything else, watch something else! 3/10 from me.

#movie #comedy #action #fiction

Wrath of the Titans is a 2012 action fantasy film and a sequel to the 2010 film Clash of the Titans. The latter was rather nice, as far as I can remember. With Wrath of the Titans, I have to admit that the things in my mastodon timeline were more interesting than the movie, so I did not see all scenes.

Plot

Well, it is another one of these “greek/ancient gods fight to save the world”-movies. I really have to admit that I did not get the entire plot and had to read up on wikipedia.

To give you the one phrase from wikipedia that describes the plot best:

Zeus visits Perseus and asks for his help, saying that humans are not praying to the gods; as a result, [...] they can no longer [..] hold[ing] back the imprisoned Titan Kronos from freedom.

Critique

You may have already noticed that I wasn't paying too much attention to the movie. Yes, it was rather easy to get distracted! It is certainly not bad, given that quite a few good and known actors are starred, e.g. Sam Worthington (one of my favourite actors), Rosamund Pike, Ralph Fiennes and also Loam Neeson (and of course some more known ones).

Rotten Tomatoes [...] reports that 27% of 172 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 4.47/10.

(wikipedia)

And I must agree with that. The fight scenes are okayish, the acting is good but there were no emotions sparked with me. I would rate it with 4.5/10, confirming the rottentomatoes average.

#movie #action #fantasy

This time I want to write not about a Sci-Fi series or movie, but an action movie. The Italian Job is a “heist action thriller”. I like it because it does not have too much violence, only a bit of gunfire and one or two punches, but that's it.

Also, the movie is rather well-staffed, starring Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron and Jason Statham (which is one of the actors I'm rather fond of, to be honest).

Plot

As always, I do not want to spoiler too much, hence only this bit: The movie sets of in Venice, where John Bridger, a professional safecracker, manages to steal $35 Million with his team. After a successful escape, a team member turns on them and manages to escape. Of course, this means revenge.

Rating

The Italian Job “was the highest-grossing film produced by Paramount in 2003” (according to wikipedia). It has a relatively good rating of 6.43/10 on rottentomatoes and I would give it a solid 7/10.

#movie #action #thriller

I am known for not being the biggest fan of horror movies. In fact, I avoid them like crazy. Now, “The Covenant” is not necessarily a real horror movie, but wikipedia titles it “supernatural action horror film” and I agree wholeheartedly.

Is there a #database of #movies that show #spiders? Because I'd LOVE to have a database on this so I can avoid these movies!

(toot)

Either way, the movie is exciting!

The Plot

As always, I do not give away too much of the plot here, even less than the wikipedia article on the movie!

In “The Covenant”, four teenagers, the descendants of colonial witch families, have magical abilities. At the age of 18, they ascend and their powers become massive. At their school, they meet a new student: Chase. Though, she starts to experience strange things, as do the boys.

Things go strange and downhill faster and faster, with a malicious (magical) actor revealing later in the plot.

My opinion

I already wrote that I'm not that fond of spiders in movies, especially if they are part of the plot. Still, the movie was great and I liked it a lot. The music is very well suited for that kind of movie and I loved the Metalish/Hardrockish atmosphere.

The movie is pretty dark overall, which is not that surprising, given its genre. Still, what really bothered me is that it rains constantly in the movie, except for the scenes where the main character drives his car – because they always drive open-top. It's really a goof, in my opinion!

I must say, though, that the movie was not very well recepted in media. It has only an approval rate of disillusioning 4 % on rottentomatoes, and an average score of 2.84/10!

The Covenant plays out like a teen soap opera, full of pretty faces, wooden acting, laughable dialogue, and little suspense.

(rottentomatoes)

I agree, but the characters are still well-played and it clearly did not fail to entertain me.

#movie #horror #action #supernatural

“Fate: The Winx Saga” is a teen drama series released on #Netflix which I would put into the “Fantasy” genre.

I was not yet able to see the second season, as it is not out on german Netflix just yet, I can only say something about the first one. I like it a lot, to be honest. It is sometimes a bit scary, dark and definitively has some tension to it! It does not fail to entertain, despite having only a 5.33/10 on rottentomatoes!

Plot

Because there's not much in the Wikipedia article on the plot, I quote it here for simplicity:

Bloom, a fairy with fire powers, enrolls at a magical boarding school in the Otherworld called Alfea College. There, she shares a suite with Stella (a light fairy), Aisha (a water fairy), Terra (an earth fairy), and Musa (a mind fairy). With the help of her four new friends, Bloom starts to learn more about her past. Meanwhile, ancient creatures called the Burned Ones return to the Otherworld and threaten everyone at Alfea.

Because it has some dark scenes, the show might be not appropriate for young children, although it is about fairies and from its description seems to be targeting children!

#fantasy #teen #series #drama #movie