Category: Movies

Oblivion was one of the several Sci-Fi movies that came out in 2013.  It was directed by Joseph Kosinski (Tron: Legacy) and released by Universal Studios.  It is a solid effort that just lacks that little something extra that would have made it a good film, but as it is, it is just beautiful but forgettable.

The story is about a drone maintenance worker Jack Harper (Tom Cruise) that is one of the last humans on Earth since it was all but destroyed in a battle against aliens.  He is constantly under threat from the remaining aliens on earth, and he is questioning the wisdom in leaving the Earth behind for Titan.

The trailer gives away one of the major plot points for this film, but I will refrain myself doing the same.  That being said this movie is mostly about the beautiful vistas of a destroyed Earth, and shattered Moon.  This film feels a lot like Kosinski’s previous film Tron: Legacy in that it is all style and light on the substance, but Tron has a lot more style.

Since this movie is mostly about Tom Cruise’s character, he thankfully turns in a good performance as the small time worker questioning the plans of his leadership.  The other actors in this movie are mostly just in it to provide little plot points for him on his journey.  They are all good, but mostly inconsequential.

This film is beautiful to look at, but there are only a few locations, so once I had seen them, I just wanted them to hurry up with this movie.  It could have easily been thirty minutes shorter and been a much better movie, or if they wanted to keep the length then they would have needed to rework the script.

This movie needed a new editor, or a more lively script to make it in to a good movie.  A trailer that didn’t give away major spoilers would have been nice too.  That being said it is still kind of a cool film, and a decent diversion for a couple of hours.  Since Joseph Kosinski is proving that he has such a good eye for Sci-Fi imagry, I am interested in seeing what he does next.

I had high hopes for the 2013 film Admission when I first saw the trailer.  I mean it has Tina Fey and Paul Rudd in it, and it was directed by Paul Weitz who did About a Boy.  Sadly the only thing this film is really good at is wasting talent.

The story follows an admissions officer for Princeton named Portia Nathan (Tina Fey) as she tries to find the best and brightest for her school.  As part of her job she goes out to high schools to advertise for Princeton, and one of her new schools is an alternative school lead by John Pressman (Paul Rudd).  He is as you guessed it the opposite of Portia.  Will opposites attract? You know they will.

Ugg this plot has been done sooo many times before, so what they try and do is shoehorn in all these random side stories:  Like Portia’s relationship with her mother, or the fact that one of the kids that is applying to Princeton might be her son that she gave up for adoption.  But they don’t develop any of it enough to care, so it is all just a waste of time.

Tina Fey and Paul Rudd do the best they can, but them being charming doesn’t fix this mess of movie.  Luckily they are both talented and in demand enough that they can just shrug off this movie and move on to better things.  Had this movie starred anyone else it would have been a complete disaster, and it might have killed their careers.

What I am telling you is that if you have ever seen a romantic comedy before then you have seen this film.  Plus it was probably better when you saw it before.  The leads are likable, but that is about it.  Save yourself some time and watch just about anything else before seeing this movie.

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is a 2013 film written and directed by Tommy Wirkola.  It is described as an Action Horror movie, but it is not very scary, and more so funny.  Really what it is, is low brow entertainment at its finest.

The story follows Hansel (Jeremy Renner) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton) from their early run in with the witch in the candy house.  To them becoming the titular bounty earning “Witch Hunters”.  They are called in to find missing children, and are soon dealing with some pretty dangerous witches.  The leader of whom is a grand witch name Muriel (Famke Janssen).

The plot is thin, but really it is just an excuse for a bunch of fun action scenes, and for Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton to quip one liners.  I also love that even though this is a period movie, they make no attempt to have the dialog or the weaponry match the times.  The makers of this film just decided to have a good time, so why bother trying to make a fantasy film historically accurate.

The fun the filmmakers are having really shines through.  You can tell that they were enjoying themselves coming up with new ways to kill witches in the most bloody ways possible, and for the most part they were very successful.  They make sure that you are well accustomed to the color red by the end of this film.

The actors also look like they are having fun in this film, especially the leads.  Renner and Arterton seem to relish kicking in skulls and playing with cool toys.  Famke Janssen is excellent at being bad.  She has that perfect evil glint in her eye, and she has a huge smile on her face when she gets to beat the stuffing out of the heroes.

If you come in to this film expecting something intellectual, you will be disappointed.  This is a dumb film that knows what it is, and it enjoys itself immensely.  If you are a fan of films like Army of Darkness, you should have fun watching this flick.  If not, this is probably not for you.