Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children

Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children  

3D Movie Review

Review Written By: Adolph Vega 

 

3D

 

Some movies are made for 3D, and this is one of those movies. The cinematography used within this movie went hand in hand with the stereoscopic 3D visuals, and it looked fantastic. I really felt emerged within the movie with several scenes and the use of 3D. One scene specifically wowed me; it was a scene with rain drops and the pausing of time. The water droplets not only popped out -- they also went into the background and created a marvellous three dimensional visual spectacle. Toward the latter half of the movie, the 3D became more subdued, but for the first half I loved how it looked.

Some underwater scenes within this movie used 3D in a weaker fashion, but overall I very much enjoyed the 3D aspect of this movie, and it really enchanted me and enhanced my enjoyment of the movie. I highly recommend the 3D element of this movie .

 

 

Final Verdict: Great 3D

 

Movie

 

Occasionally a movie comes along that you fall in love with. You recognize that it has problems, but you find yourself totally engrossed into the world and characters within the film. This movie is based on a top selling book series, and this review is from the perspective of someone who is unfamiliar with the books before watching this movie .

This movie is hard to describe, because of its complex and unique nature. The movie takes place in two different time periods. The setting is both in present day (2016) and in the past (1944). The movie has a massive cast of characters that exist in both time periods, and many of the characters can go back and forth between time periods. The movie is focused on a teenager named Jake who's grandfather (in present day) tells him tall tales of a school for peculiar children in England. These peculiar children have special genetic abilities granted to each of them. They are protected from the general public by living in bubbles of loops in time. Miss Peregrine is the headmistress of the time loop that Jake visits, and she watches over a group of peculiar children. Around the world, different headmistresses and different time loop bubbles exist. Not everything is perfect for Miss Peregrine and her group of peculiar children. Barron is the villain of the movie and is a threat to the peculiar people. 

The performances of the cast were a mixed bag, but were overall well presented. Barron was easily the worst character of the movie; he over-acted and had corny lines of dialogue. Miss Peregrine reminded me of a Mary Poppins with a darker tone and was my favorite character of the movie . The peculiar children within this movie were all interesting, and considering how many characters were present within this movie, the peculiar children's time on screen was decent, but I wished that it were more. One of the characters that I disliked the most was Jake's father. Sadly, this character was just a jerk, and you didn't have any reason to like him. In many ways the story felt similar to the X-Men comic book series, but it also seemed fresh and different because of the elements of time travel and underlying tone of the movie. I really enjoyed how the movie showed off the different time periods and made a fantastical premise work on screen.

I found the setting to be confusing, yet fascinating. The concept of people living in bubbles of time loops was intriguing and something I enjoyed, but I found it hard to imagine that people wouldn't get bored with reliving the same day over and over again. Now considering how children can watch the same movie or TV show or read the same book over and over again and never get bored, it's not far fetched to assume that these characters learn to enjoy and take comfort in the inherent redundancy. 

The visual design and special effects of this movie really gave a distinct aesthetic that I adored. I really enjoyed the cinematography and the quick pacing of this movie kept it moving smoothly , but I did feel that some elements of the story were rushed. That said, the several action scenes were really fun to watch and well executed. I enjoyed watching how the peculiar kids used their powers and abilities. The visual design matched the whimsical story, and I enjoyed the special effects and visual gags.

The movie had problems, but I still found myself captivated and having lots of fun, while being thoroughly entertained. The biggest problem that I had with this movie was the simple fact that I wanted more. I wanted more time learning about the kids. I wanted more time with the villain, and I wanted more time understanding the premise and world that this movie created.

With a year filled with sequels, prequels, remakes and reboots, this movie felt like a breath of fresh air, and I was able to forgive many problems that I had with this movie simply because it was so much fun to watch. This is a gem of a movie that totally hooked me, and I can easily recommend it. Every once in a while you watch a movie, and once it ends you want to watch it again because you enjoyed it so much, and feel like you could catch more of it on repeated viewings.

I hope to see this franchise grow on screen with sequels that expand upon the mythology created within this movie. I am a little worried that I might be biased in favor of this movie, because I love stories with time travel, quirky characters and super powered humans, so this movie was literally made for me. Maybe I am more critical toward those themes because I enjoy them so much. Regardless, this movie simply works and is easily in my top five list of Tim Burton directed movies.

 

Final Verdict: 8/10

 

™ and © 2016 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved. Property of Fox.

/
google.com, pub-5342042735781745, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0

Storks

Storks 3D Movie Review

Written By: Adolph Vega 

 

3D

 

The best way to describe the stereoscopic 3D of this movie is muted. You can barely tell the difference between the different layers of 3D depth. The single moment that played up that 3D is a tiny scene with a character playing with a paddle & ball, and the ball popped out of the screen. One tiny scene is not enough to justify the purchase of a 3D movie ticket. The 3D element of this movie is honestly an afterthought and not at all worthwhile.

 

Final Score: Terrible 3D Watch in 2D

 

Movie

 

This film takes the popular 'storks delivering babies' myth and updates it to fit a modern setting. The  storks are now a package delivery company and are no longer interested in delivering babies. The main focus of this movie revolves around the stork named Junior who wants to be the new head of the company. For Junior to get his promotion, he must get rid of a human girl named Tulip. Tulip is an orphaned human girl who lives with storks and is considered a trouble maker for the company. The movie also has a secondary plot with the human Gardner family. The Gardner family sent a letter requesting a baby to be delivered from the storks company. The two plots are directly interwoven, as Junior and Tulip try to deliver a baby to the Gardner family. During this wacky adventure, Junior, Tulip and the baby meet up with several characters including a pack of wolves and a character named Pigeon Toady.

Pigeon Toady is an obstacle for Junior and Tulip as they attempt to deliver the baby to the Gardeners. Pigeon Toady is easily the worst character of this movie. Toady's personality is totally obnoxious and is completely tedious to watch on screen. The annoying character trope can work in some movies, but this isn't one of those. This character alone ruined any scenes that he was involved in. I dreaded every moment that the character was on screen because he killed the flow of the movie. Pigeon Toady has annoying dialog, terrible line delivery, and awful personality traits. Pigeon Toady is the most annoying, insufferable antagonist that I have seen in an animated movie in years. This character dramatically extinguished the enjoyment that I gained from watching this movie.

In contrast, the wolf pack characters are a fantastic addition to this movie. The wolf pack is chasing Tulip, Junior and the baby for the latter half of the film. The wolf pack is a collection of wolves that fell in love with the baby and want to take it away to adopt as their own. The wolves are portrayed by the comedy legends "Key and Peele" , and they deliver a fantastic comedic performance. The wolf pack has the ability to collaborate and transform into different things. Imagine a cheerleading squad becoming a human pyramid , that is what the wolves can do to a ridiculous and extreme degree. This dynamic is silly, funny and easily the most creative aspect of the movie. This ability to transform makes no sense, but they manage to make it work on screen, which makes for some amazing visuals that are easily the highlight of the movie. The wolf pack characters are totally ridiculous, hilarious and all but steal the show from the main characters of the movie when they are present.

In closing, the movie is a combination of high points (wolf pack) and low points (Pigeon Toady) and overall is a flawed movie .  The plot of the movie is overstuffed and is too convoluted for what it is. It tries to juggle too many characters , locations and  plot points, and ultimately fails to handle them all of them in a convincing way. I also think the movie has too much dialogue and is too chatty with the character interactions and needed some editing. The writing is decent, with good jokes for both the kids and adults to enjoy. The movie has many huge plot holes and story inconsistencies. For instance, the character Tulip also has extensive engineering experience that is never fully explained. The pacing in the middle of the movie slows down dramatically and becomes boring . Most of the scenes with the Gardner family are totally forgettable. The movie ends in a tender way that is very satisfying, but also leaves many unresolved plot points. Make no mistake; Storks has some major issues, but overall I found more positive aspects than negative aspects to this movie.  Sadly, the Storks movie delivers a mixed bag of cute family entertainment, that I can only slightly recommend. 

 

Final Score : 6/10

 

© 2015-2016 Warner Bros. Ent. All Rights Reserved.

/
google.com, pub-5342042735781745, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0

Suicide Squad

Suicide Squad

Review Written By: Adolph Vega

 

 

 

 

3D

The 3D presentation is inconsistent but interesting and well done. Most of the 3D heavy scenes are within the first half of the film. Several times, things will fly out of the screen toward the viewer. The different characters all have quick biographical sequence and the information presented pops off the screen and looks visually stunning, as many different layers of 3D are used. As the movie progressed, the 3D became less evident, but as an added bonus, the end credits scene also looks very pretty in 3D. You can clearly see multiple layers of 3D, and that they did a quality job in this conversation.  This 3D wasn't necessary to enhance the movie, but it looks nice and definitely complements the movie experience.

 

Final Verdict: Good 3D

 

Movie

 

Suicide Squad is a very unique movie and the third movie in the DC Comics cinematic universe. It takes place immediately after the events of the previous movie "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice". The movie has a distinctive punk rocker style, fabulous sound track and a massive cast of characters. The cast is actually mostly DC Comics villains and many have never been seen on big screen before.

 

Let me give you a quick rundown of the main cast of characters. First off is Harley Quinn, played by Margot Robbie. Harley is the Joker's main love interest and used to be his psychologist who has become insane / evil. She is very charismatic and I enjoyed this manic erratic crazy performance. Another character that I really enjoyed was that of Dead Shot, who was played by Will Smith. Dead Shot is a paid assassin for hire and is an expert marksman. Dead Shot’s love for his daughter makes him relatable, and he has a fantastic presence on screen.

 

Amanda Waller is a brutal bureaucrat that earns your respect and fear. Amanda Waller is essentially the originator of this team and has total control over them. Viola Davi’s performance as Amanda Waller is a character that you love to hate and is above all the most stand out
performance of this movie. The Joker is the iconic Batman villain re-imagined by Jared Leto to be psycho gangster. The Joker was only in the movie for a few minutes, but I liked the scenes he was in. I look forward to seeing more of this version of the Joker character in future movies .

 

Rick Flag, played by Aidan Devine, is a military leader of this motley crew. Rick Flag within the movie isn't interesting and is mostly forgettable. Another character is the Diablo, who is a pyro-kinetic meta-human. This character is cautious of using his powers, and I found this character fascinating and endearing because of the down to earth performance of Jay Hernandez.

 

Killer Croc is played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, and is a human with a genetic condition that makes him appear as a crocodile. Sadly, this character is only given one or two lines of dialog, but they are memorable lines.  Overall Killer Croc is an okay character and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje does an adequate job in this role. Katana is portrayed with dignity, and is a force to be reckoned with. Katana is a Japanese martial arts master and has an enchanted sword. Karen Fukuhara portrays Katana in an honorable fashion that fits the character. All her dialogue is spoken in Japanese with subtitles which I can appreciate because it stays true to the character . Katana isn't given more than a few lines of dialogue, but I do like her as a character.

 

Captain Boomerang is a Australian bank robber who uses boomerangs as his main weapon. Jain Courtney plays Captain Boomerang in a humorous fashion but isn’t given much screen time and isn't a particularly likable or interesting.

 

Finally, we have a dual performance of Cara Delevingne as The Enchantress and June Moone. The Enchantress is an ancient witch who can harness abundant magical power. This power includes teleportation, giving other people visions and many other untold mystic abilities. June Moone is a researcher who is possessed by the Enchantress and has a relationship with Rick Flag, and it's sort of like Marvel Comics' The Hulk / Bruce Banner dual roles. The enchantress lives within June and can transform into the Enchantress. I feel that this performance of Enchantress / June Moone is the weakest aspect of the movie. Her line delivery and character movement is way over the top and is cheesy. I understand what they were trying to do with this character, but I didn’t enjoy this performance at all. The motivations and actions of the Enchantress are vague, under explored and her powers are not given any clear limitations. The movie has many more characters, but this is the main cast that is important for this story.

 

The main villain characters are given a quick flashback, establishing scene for the audience. They are also given a quick title card sequence with basic stats and information on the main characters. These title card sequences are something I have never seen before in a
movie and remind me of a living breathing collectible playing card on screen. I love this idea within a comic book movie; it's flashy, fun, informative and fits this style of movie.

 

The movie mostly focuses on Dead Shot and Harley, and gives them the most screen time and back story. This choice is one that I agree with. because they are the most memorable and captivating characters within the movie. I actually really wish that more scenes existed with the
Joker and Harley Quinn characters, so we can better understand how she was charmed and fell in love with the Joker. For the most part I enjoyed this cast of characters and found it fun to watch them interact on screen.

 

The movie begins with Amanda Waller a government agent who is assembling the team of villains and acquiring permission from a committee . Amanda’s plan is to use this team of villains to help accomplish covert missions for the government. If a villain dies or the mission is unsuccessful, they can basically toss the villains under the bus. Amanda can pull strings for the villains to help ease their stay in prison, so they benefit from this arrangement as well.

 

This squad of characters works together to fight a power menace and attempt to take back Midway City. How the movie sets up the characters and scenario is interesting and captivating, but how it executes the actual story is a mess. The movie has some big problems, one of which is with giving it's huge cast enough screen time and back story. Like I mentioned earlier they are given a quick flash back but I wish they were more time to really get to know each other . I really feel that the ultimate villain of the story (which I won’t spoil) is too epic for this group to handle . This super villain is not given a clear rational for what they are doing. I do like the character dynamic, but I feel this cast is a little too big to care about each of them. The movie actually seems self-aware of this, so some characters are disposable. The movie falls apart in the final act, as the story becomes confusing, predictable  and cliché. Even though the movie has many problems, I still found myself enjoying it. The several action scenes within the movie use the cast in effective ways, but are not that visually interesting. I enjoyed watching these villains being unleashed on screen and how they don't abide by the same rules of typical super heroes. The tone of the movie is off, but so are the characters on screen, so they match. The movie is a unique entry in comic book inspired genre, but also falls into some cringe worthy moments.

 

Despite the many issues I have with this movie, I found it fun and entertaining. Suicide Squad is very paradoxical movie for me, because I see both great aspects and some truly awful aspects mixed together to make a sloppily executed amusing ride. Overall, this eccentric cast of misfits make for a unique story, and I can mildly recommend this movie.

 

Final Score: 7/10

 

© 2016 Warner Bros. All Rights Reserved.

/
google.com, pub-5342042735781745, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0