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HaileyAW
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Monsters University (2013)
Enjoyable sequel that doesn't fulfil
Recently Pixar has been choosing to forgo original stories in favour of sequels of past hits. Pixar I think needs to go back to original stories. Not that Monsters University was not great in its own right, but when Pixar makes such great films, sequels only seem to harm (see Cars 2).
As Monsters Inc. is my favourite Pixar movie I had to see to see it as soon as possible.
Monsters University is a prequel that shows us the bumpy road of Mike and Sully while at university where they met. They are both attending MU in the scare program to become scarers. Mike is the studious one without the raw talent, and Sully is the prodigy with raw talent but no work ethic.
MU is full of laughs enjoyable for children but lacked the edge of adult content that usually makes a great Pixar movie entertaining for all age groups. It is definitely one of Pixar's more childish movies and they choose to play it safe. Most of the laughs from me were from nostalgia. As a former leader in university a lot of the aspects about university life made me laugh including the over happy orientation helpers.
There was some heart as can be expected but I found both Mike and Sully unlikable in comparison to MI. The smug over confidence of both characters in different aspects was off putting.
In the end, the laughs were there and it is very enjoyable for kids and fans of Pixar The animation was great but nothing groundbreaking, the 3D was well used thankfully. I would recommend seeing it.
World War Z (2013)
A good not great end of the world story
Brad Pitt's return to guy flicks is well intended but it does not live up to the high expectations associated with a Pitt film, nor does it do justice to the film's source material.
World War Z, based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Max Brooks, follows former U.N. employee Gerry Lane as he scours the globe in search of the cure for a zombie plague.
The story perhaps had good intentions and big ambitions during initial drafts but I suppose due to rewrites and editing, this was lost. There was nothing overly special with it but it was not by any means a bad movie. The effects and acting were good, and the plot was fine. For a movie where the main plot point is to search the globe for patient zero and discover the cure to save humanity, one would think there would be some sense of urgency; however, this was not conveyed. The urgency in each situation was there, but for the overall film it seemed he was merely doing his normal, day-to-day job.
One issue that has resonated with me is Matthew Fox. As a fan of Lost, I was excited to see him in the movie, but his role is very small, useless, and that of a nameless actor. Perhaps originally he had more of a role and ended up being cut. Fox could have been cut to seem like a cameo appearance or cut altogether but he ended up as nameless "Parajumper." Hopefully DVD extras or a sequel will flesh out this awkwardly placed actor.
For a zombie movie the director, Marc Forster, played it far too safe. There was very little in terms of gore, blood and violence, which made for a disappointing horror and zombie movie. The previews also gave the impression that World War Z was an action movie but all action is shown in the preview, which could be disappointing for action movie fans.
Like many similar movies, we are expected to suspend reality that the hero can face so many obstacles and come out the other side while many sidekicks are lost; this is no different. I am okay with this though, I enjoy the ridiculousness of it anyways. The children in this movie though should have gotten him killed right off the bat, further cementing the idea to drop the kids in the event of zombie apocalypse. They were overly annoying and needy, even for children.
Now, in comparison to the book, of which I am a huge fan, it is even more of a let down. The book is an amazing novel that examines both the brutality and compassion of humanity in times of war. It examines different people from all over the world before, during and after the "Zombie War." It is more than just another zombie book. Perhaps due to time constraints, budgets, editing or any other number of reasons, the core of the story is lost. The idea of a U.N. investigator travelling the world and the recounts of Israel are the only aspects of the film that resemble the source material. Hopefully Forster is given the opportunity to make the trilogy he imagined and attempt to redeem himself, but due to the problems with the first movie, this seems unlikely.
Although this review may seem like I disliked the movie, I actually found it to be quite enjoyable. I am simply very disappointed that the filmmakers made another race against the clock movie, even though it had so much potential to be thought-provoking and original. If only Danny Boyle was behind it; we could have had one of the greatest zombie movie ever created.
World War Z was my biggest let down of the year so far. After a great weekend that included Man of Steel and This Is The End, I would suggest passing on it in favor of these more enjoyable movies. I would suggest seeing it at some point as it is a good movie, but it does not need to be on the big screen or in 3D.
From the blog: tilfilmdouspart.blogspot.com
This Is the End (2013)
Non Stop Laughs
Although the film had a very thin script, it is full of laughs and has outrageous gags that works in the end for a very enjoyable film. I would not recommend this movie to people easily offended though, for me, the offensive is hilarious. Reportedly Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (the co- directors) had a running joke on set to see how many people would say "I can't do that", Seth was the only person to not say so. The movie provided an interesting insight into a Hollywood party that isn't real but makes you wonder how some celebrities are in real life. For example, is Michael Cera really a coke head that slaps women's butts and has a huge penis(per Mindy Kaling's opinion), doubtful but fun to imagine.
At the heart of this film is the bromance between Jay and Seth and to a lesser extent Seth and James. I felt that Jay's character got too bad of a rap for the first 2/3 of the movie. He is described by everyone else as self righteous, to me he just appeared to not enjoy himself but due to this labeling he seems to move into the role later on. Their story is somewhat sad though, watching two old friends drift apart.
Some not so great parts. At 107 minutes, the movie felt as long as it was. For Rogen and Goldberg's first foray into directing it wasn't anything special from a direction aspect. The film benefited mostly from the script written by the two and the performances from the group. That it is for parts I did not like about it. It was that enjoyable.
I would highly recommend seeing this movie. The laughs are nonstop, the cameos are epic and the movie is somewhat believable in how the cast would react to the apocalypse. 9/10
-Hailey
Edited by Josh W.