Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

"The one last chance for peace."

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. What a dramatic name for an amazing movie. If any of you have no idea what this movie is about, its name tells you all you need to know. So what's it about? Yes, you guessed it: Apes. In this sequel to Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the very same virus that made Caeser as intelligent as a human has killed most of mankind and led to the downfall of all the countries in the world.

For ten years, the apes have lived peacefully in the Muir Woods in California, while the rest of the world is chaotic and full of confusion. When a band of humans are encountered by a few apes, a fragile peace is reached, but it is only momentary. Within a few days, the two sides reach the brink of war. When Caeser is shot, but not killed, by Koba, everything depends on Malcolm to avert a terrible war that will determine who becomes the supreme species on Earth.

I have one word for Dawn of the Apes: stunning. Everything was stunning about this film. The special effects were fantastic. If you weren't told that real apes were not trained for the movie, you wouldn't be able to make out that the apes were just special effects. There were actually actors who were portraying the apes. Now, to the plot. The story was pretty good; way better than its prequel's. I also liked that the apes could speak proper English. That was a nice touch by the writers. The fight scenes were quite impressive. Overall, one of the best movies this summer.

• Genre- Adventure, action and sci-fi
• Director- Matt Reeves
• Producers- Peter Chernin, Dylan Clark, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver
• Starring- Andy Serkis, Jason Clarke, Toby Kebbell and Gary Oldman

My rating

5/5

Be Patient!!

Hey everyone. Sorry I've not been updating my blog, but I've been busy with school and other things. So just be patient and look forward to my next review, which will be on Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Cheers!

Edge of Tomorrow

"Live, Die, Repeat"

One of the world's favorite movie genres is science-fiction. It's my favorite genre, too. The Edge of Tomorrow is just that. It's got the aliens, futuristic technology, action, a hard-to-believe story line and the fighting. It's got everything. For Edge of Tomorrow, they've thrown in the concept of time as well.

An alien species called the 'Mimics' has hit Earth and invaded most of mainland Europe. When Major William Cage is unceremoniously thrown into combat, he inexplicably finds himself in a time-loop, forcing him to live the same day and fighting the same war again and again and again. But when he meets Rita Vratski, one of the most decorated soldiers fighting the war, they figure out ways to take the fight back to the Mimics and with each 'resurrection', they get closer and closer to defeating the terrible enemy. 

I guess I could say that Edge of Tomorrow was your typical science fiction movie. The storyline was good, but the 'Live, Die, Repeat' slogan was a spoiler. Living, dying and repeating was the only thing going on the movie. The movie's budget was $175 million, which in terms of movie budgets, is quite small. It is like this for one reason only- there was barely any filming. Since Cage was killed and resurrected so many times, I'm pretty sure that they just used the same footage over and over again to save money. The film was way too repetitive, as you may have have gathered. However, I liked the story and Tom Cruise was amazing as usual with all of the action. Overall, the movie was good, but the endless repeating of the day got a little boring.

• Genre- Action and sci-fi
• Starring- Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt
• Director- Doug Liman
• Producer- Erwin Stoff, Tom Lassally, Jeffrey Silver, Gregory Jacobs and Jason Hoffs 
• Screenplay- Christopher McQuarrie, Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth

My rating

4/5

Godzilla (2014)

"The world ends, Godzilla begins"

Godzilla: a remake of the previous one that released all the way back in 1998 with a few changes in the plot. If you've watched any of the previous ones, you'll know the basic plot; a huge monster is created because of an accident in a laboratory, it goes under the ocean and later surfaces at some major city in the US where the monster proceeds to destroy buildings, kill people and basically looking as if it has serious anger management issues. At the same time, soldiers are deployed and plans are made to kill the monster by an air strike or detonating a bomb. At the end, Godzilla is killed and everyone lives happily ever after.

In the latest Godzilla movie, the storyline is different. Instead of focusing mainly on Godzilla himself, the movie revolves around two other monsters called MUTOs as well as Godzilla. The two MUTOs try to reach each other to mate, and what's a better place to mate than at San Francisco? But the MUTOs and Godzilla are natural enemies, and when they meet, it ain't gonna be pretty. The human race has to depend on it's most destructive ally, I should say, to defeat the MUTOs.

So far, there have been about 25-odd movies starring Godzilla. Most of these focus on Godzilla himself, and the actors in these ones were horrendous. However, in this year's remake, there was actually some acting, something that was lacking in the other movies. Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen have a bright future ahead of them in Hollywood. Let's get to the subject of the great Godzilla. From the role of a main character, Godzilla's role has shrunken to that of a supporting character. They focused more on the MUTOs and well, I'd paid to watch Godzilla fight, not the MUTOs. One more thing: Godzilla was fat. I mean, did you see that pot belly hanging down towards the ground? Huge! He must have been gorging himself underwater. On a whole, I quite liked the movie, especially the end when Godzilla becomes the good guy. However, I did feel that Godzilla could have been a bit more violent, though his atomic breath was a nice touch.

• Genre- Action and sci-fi
• Director- Gareth Edwards
• Producers- Thomas Tull, Jon Jashni, Mary Parent and Brian Rogers
• Starring- Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Bryan Cranston and Ken Watanabe 
• Screenplay- Max Borenstein 

My rating

4/5

Transcendence

"Dr. Will Caster is dying to keep a secret"

Want to know what may happen to the world in the next decade or so? Watch Transcendence. Starring Johnny Depp, this film is about what would technology could do if it were given a mind of it's own. Dr Will Caster (Johnny Depp) is one of the top researchers in the field of Artificial Intelligence. He wants to create a computer with a full range of human emotions, which will create, in his words, 'Transcendence'. 

When a group of terrorists shoot Caster with a radioactive bullet in an attempt to destroy him, it only becomes an impetus for Caster to succeed in his endeavor- to be a part of his own transcendence. His wife Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) and best friend Max (Paul Bettany) begin to wonder if what they are doing is right or not. Their worst fears come to light when Will's simple thirst for knowledge turns to an infinite journey for power. 

The plot and story for this film was fantastic. You don't usually see movies with a plot and story as good as Transcendence. The acting was alright too. I would say that only Paul Bettany (Max) did a great job as portraying Will and Evelyn's friend. The visual effects department did their job! The special effects in the movie were amazing. However, I felt that there could have been a little more development of a few things, like the terrorist group, RIFT. There was a lot of potential in this movie, but it's development and delivery was lackluster. Otherwise, it's plot was great, and if you love sci-fi, you'll like this movie. 

• Genre- Sci-fi and fantasy
• Director- Wally Pfister
• Producers- Broderick Johnson, Andrew A. Kosorve, Kate Cohen, Marisa Polvino, Annie Marter, David Valdes and Aaron Ryder
• Starring- Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall, Paul Bettany and Kate Mara 
• Writer- Jack Paglen 

My rating

3/5 

Divergent

"What Makes You Different, Makes You Dangerous"

Based on the book by Veronica Roth, Divergent is set in a post-apocalyptic world in which society is divides into factions based on positive human traits: Abnegation (selflessness), Dauntless (bravery), Erudite (knowledge), Amity (peace) and Candor (truth). Every year at the age of 16, boys and girls undergo a test, which suggest which faction they would fit into. After the test, Tris (Shailene Woodley) learns that she is Divergent, and will never fit in any faction.

After a hard time at her new faction, Tris learns about a sinister plot to overthrow the government and destroy Divergents because of their way of thinking independently. Tris and her trainer-turned-friend Four (Theo James) must find out why Divergents are dangerous and a way to stop the toppling of the government.

To be honest with you guys, I found Divergent quite boring. First of all, I thought that it was like the Hunger Games. I mean, kids being divided into factions and then being put together for training? Come on, Veronica Roth! One more thing, if you haven't read the book, you're going to find the movie a little hard to follow. Some of the scenes didn't really have any relevance, like the zip-line scene in the middle. The next negative point I have is that there was barely any character development throughout the movie. If I had to describe the movie in one word, I would say BORING! I almost went to sleep, and believe me, I'm not one to sleep during a movie.

• Genre- Adventure, action and sci-fi
• Director- Neil Burger 
• Producers- Douglas Wick, Lucy Fisher and Pouya Shabazian
• Starring- Shailene Woodley, Theo James and Jai Courtney 
• Screenplay- Evan Daugherty and Vanessa Taylor 

My rating

2.5/5 

World War Z

"Remember Philly!"

The apocalypse. That's one topic most people today talk about. How will the world end? Will there be a huge tsunami that drowns everyone? Or a nuclear war that renders the world as dangerous and hazardous? In World war Z, as the name may suggest, is about a zombie apocalypse, something that may sound weird, but there a few scientific reasons that say a zombie apocalypse could actually happen.

World War Z is about a former UN investigator Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt). When his home city of Philadelphia is attacked by zombies, he escapes with his family. Everyone who gets bitten by a zombie turns into a zombie as well. Later, it is discovered that there is a vaccine for this epidemic. While Gerry's family is in danger of being thrown out of a safe-house, Gerry reluctantly agrees to embark on a journey to find a cure for the epidemic to save humanity, which will take him from South Korea all the way to Jerusalem. However, even though a vaccine is developed, Gerry admits that the war is not over.

World War Z, in my opinion, is up there with all the top zombie movies. The action never lost momentum throughout the movie and Brad Pitt did an excellent job of portraying a father who embarked on a journey to save his loved ones from the apocalypse. The zombies actually looked like real zombies, not random extras with green paint on their faces. The only negative point I have about the movie is that the plot did not stick to the plot of the book by Max Brooks. Otherwise, the movie is a must-watch. The background music matched with whatever was going on at the time and the music itself was quite nice.  If you haven't watch it, I would encourage you to add it to your must-see lists.

Watch out for zombies!

• Genre- Apocalyptic, horror, action, adventure
• Director- Marc Foster
• Producer(s)- Brad Pitt, Dede Gardener, Jeremy Kleiner and Ian Bryce 
• Starring- Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, James Badge Dale and Matthew Fox 
• Screenplay-Matthew Michael Carnahan, Drew Goddard and Damon Lindelof

My rating

4.5/5