baywatch

Watch the new teaser trailer for Baywatch, starring Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron. Baywatch is coming to theatres May 25, 2017! BAYWATCH follows devoted lifeguard Mitch Buchannon (Johnson) as he butts heads with a brash new recruit (Efron). Together, they uncover a local criminal plot that threatens the future of the Bay.

Let's be honest here, the premise of life guards doing detective work and solving crimes is absolutely ridiculous, and should not be taken seriously at all. If you want to fault the movie for being an illogical mess, then you have some ground to stand on, however I'm pretty sure it doesn't care that it doesn't really make sense. As a re-imagining of the hit TV series of the same name, Baywatch made the right choice of embracing the inherently silly premise, and set forth to just entertain us with it's comedic take of it. Did it succeed? As subjective an answer as I can give, I will say that I was definitely entertained. 

The self-aware comedic bits I thought were very entertaining. References to the original TV show like slow-motion running, to making joke set pieces of familiar plot tropes like our characters needing to go undercover, were pretty enjoyable to see. Some of the jokes were simply hit or miss. Some were laugh out loud funny. Most however were just tongue-in-cheek funny. I think this movie would have been more enjoyable if it really went for broke with it's comedy, but it seemed to want to also be the exact generic action/adventure TV show that it is making fun of, which unfortunately just gave us some comedic lulls that just slowed things down.

What really helped this movie however, are the characters. The contentious chemistry between the characters of Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron was a lot of fun to watch, and is arguably the main reason to see this movie. Jon Bass as Ronnie is also a nice surprising highlight as the primary comedic relief of the group, and his interactions with Kelly Rohrbach as CJ Parker just put a huge smile on my face. It would have been nice if the movie gave Alexandra Daddario and Ilfenesh Hadera more things to do with their characters though.

When watching Baywatch, there's a certain feeling of it being just acceptably serviceable as a comedy, which admittedly isn't that big of a compliment. The enjoyable fun factor is there, but it's not as memorably funny as it probably should have been. Despite some of the shortcomings mentioned, this cast overall is absolutely very charming to watch, and enough of an excuse to check out this movie anyway. 

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the wall

A deadly psychological thriller that follows two soldiers pinned down by an Iraqi sniper, with nothing but a crumbling wall between them. Their fight becomes as much a battle of will and wits as it is of lethally accurate marksmanship.

In terms of something being "cinematic," there's a lot of factors here that would suggest that this shouldn't be a movie that was released in theaters. It's set in one location, it's primarily a one man show, and the action is essentially just a person hiding behind a wall. One could argue that this should have just been a stage play instead. While the premise of the story is compelling, it does feel like it's already pretty stretched out to last a whole 81 minutes. That's not a very long run-time for a movie as it is. 

The strength of the movie relies on it's main character Sergeant Allen Isaac; played really well by Aaron-Taylor Johnson. Just having our lead character, usually talking to himself, showing signs of exhaustion, frustration, and pain, talking to a disembodied voice, is actually a good case to show that Aaron-Taylor Johnson is a pretty solid and underrated actor. The character has a very believably humanistic quality to him, that makes it a bit easier to spend all that time with him next to the wall. 

I really do like the premise of Sergeant Isaac talking to an enemy sniper through radio communication. There's a good simplicity to the conversation they both have with each other that expands greatly to our understanding of the characters. It also adds weight to the story of the movie, that already contains socially-political commentary about wars and the soldiers involved. The direction by Doug Liman makes the best of the limitations that screenwriter Dwain Worrell has given him with this story, and he is able to give us a sense of tension, as well as make us feel like we are right there with Aaron-Taylor Johnson in a real time kind of way, just trying to survive through this life and death situation. 

I'm able to admire the production of the movie for what it is, but in the end it still feels like I wanted more out of it to be a "complete" film. I don't think it's a waste of time to see it, but I guess it depends on your perspective. 

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alien covenant

The path to paradise begins in hell. Ridley Scott returns to the universe he created, with ALIEN: COVENANT, a new chapter in his groundbreaking ALIEN franchise. The crew of the colony ship Covenant, bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is actually a dark, dangerous world.

There are two main questions that some people are likely going to ask first before watching this movie. The first question is on whether it's necessary to watch "Prometheus" prior to seeing this. Yes, this installment does expect you to know the events and characters from that movie, and continues the story that started there. The second question is on whether "Alien: Covenant" is a better movie than "Prometheus." I would say that it's an improvement over it. With that said, a third question would be on how much of an improvement it is.  

Let me just flat out and say that there are stupid things that happen in this movie, which definitely might annoy people. The stupidity is caused by either the characters following their emotions more than logic; which I suppose I could forgive, or there are some ridiculously unfortunate carelessness and bad luck that just had to happen for the plot; which were eye rolling inducing. There was one particular set piece that had back to back to back to back moments of carelessness, that it almost became a black comedy. Pretty sure that isn't the intentions of the movie. 

Like the previous entry, this movie is split into two different themes. Philosophy and Horror. The scenes that involve the philosophizing are rudimentary in how interesting they are, but nonetheless they do add some insight to certain characters. Some people will likely find them meandering or boring. As for the slasher horror side of things, they are mostly scenes you've already seen before, but are generally passable in how they were executed. There are some cool gruesome moments and tense scares, so that's a plus. 

The big ideas aspect of the story is something I do appreciate about this movie, and it did successfully convince me to continue the saga into the next installment. The monster movie parts are generally derivative and uninspired, but I would argue that it's always a plus to see a Xenomorph alien in it's different forms. Besides those incentives, for those who need another reason to watch this movie, I'll wholeheartedly say to go see it specifically for Michael Fassbender. Simply put, he gave me a reason to want to see the whole thing. 

- Rick & Morty - Alien: Covenant 
- Story Prologue short video : The Crossing 
- Story Prologue short video : The Last Supper 

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lowriders

On May 12, we're hitting all the switches. See Eva Longoria and Demian Bechir in Lowriders. Watch the full trailer now. "Lowriders" is set against the vibrant backdrop of East LA's near-spiritual car culture and follows the story of Danny, a talented young street artist caught between the lowrider world inhabited by his old-school father and ex-con brother, and the adrenaline-fueled outlet that defines his self-expression.

It's not often I see a movie about the East Los Angeles sub-culture of Lowriders, and that alone makes this worth a look. As expected, there are scenes and dialogue focusing on what makes lowriders something to celebrate. Whether it's about the cars themselves, or it's roots to the Mexican American cultural heritage in Southern California. For people unfamiliar with the subject matter, this movie should make you appreciate what these lowriders represents, or at least interest you to what it's all about. With that said, the cars alone is only one aspect of this movie. What about the rest of it? 

Led by a good ensemble cast, from Gabriel Chavarria, Demian Bichir, Theo Rossi, Eva Langoria, and even TV's Supergirl Melissa Benoist, this movie is really about the characters more than it is about the cars. More specifically, this is about a Father and his sons, and generally it's really all about Family. Needless to say, their relationship with each other is complicated, but it's also quite a bit predictable. While the movie has a lot of inspiring and introspective things to say about the lives of these different personalities, the story and characters go in the direction that you typically expect it to go. It's unfortunate, but this film could have been more impressive and simply better if it didn't rely on several cliche plot tropes to move the story. 

Despite the shortcomings of the screenplay, I was pleasantly surprised that this movie is essentially a low-key indie family drama. Some movie goers might have expected some other kind of film, and they probably would find this boring. There are still scenes of a criminal nature mind you, but this isn't your typical inner city gangster film. One could argue that the guns and drug dealing gangs tropes are just replaced by the rivalry between car clubs and their competing lowriders instead. Still, this movie is a nice welcome change either way. 

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snatched

#isawthatmovie

After her boyfriend dumps her on the eve of their exotic vacation, impetuous dreamer Emily Middleton (Amy Schumer) persuades her ultra-cautious mother, Linda (Goldie Hawn) to travel with her to paradise. Polar opposites, Emily and Linda realize that working through their differences as mother and daughter - in unpredictable, hilarious fashion - is the only way to escape the wildly outrageous jungle adventure they have fallen into.

Unfortunately, there are several factors going against this from being a completely fun movie to watch. One factor is that Amy Schumer playing an unlikable character doesn't really help, and the other factor is that this movie really relies on it's broad self-deprecating comedy which is already highly subjective in terms of being entertainment for everybody. Speaking of things being subjective, I would be lying if I said that I didn't laugh at some of the jokes in the movie. For that matter, I actually did want to see how the story was going to end as well. 

Admittedly, this isn't exactly the best comedy around to watch, but there really were some scenes that I found funny. It's true that there are still a lot of groan inducing, uninspired, and simply unfunny jokes throughout the movie, but it does seem like it's genuinely looking like it's trying to make people laugh. There is also this one unforgettable scene involving "meat as bait" that is so unbelievably outrageous that I really got to give this movie some credit for even going there just for the comedy. 

Some of the supporting casts like Joan Cusack and Wanda Sykes I thought definitely added some fun moments, while the whole joke revolving Ike Barinholtz is borderline annoying. I did find the relationship between Schumer's character and Goldie Hawn's to at least be entertaining enough in it's dysfunctional nature. Hawn playing the straight man to Schumer being the fool, is simply one of the best ideas this movie had. 

The premise itself of merging the horrific act of kidnapping tourists in a Foreign country, and making it into the subject of a comedy, is either going to be seen as daring or offensive. The theme of appreciating your Mother on the other hand is a welcome aspect to the movie. There's also the other theme of women empowerment that is admirable, although it arguably may have gone too far by making just about all the male characters be seen in a negative light. 

It may be easy to focus primarily on the negatives of this movie. Even though this looks like a throwaway comedy with no redeeming qualities at first glance, this was honestly passable enough to be entertaining in it's own right. It just may not be for everybody.

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their finest

With London emptied of its men now fighting at the Front, Catrin Cole (Gemma Arterton) is hired by the British Ministry of Information as a "slop" scriptwriter charged with bringing "a woman's touch" to morale-boosting propaganda films. Her natural flair quickly gets her noticed by dashing movie producer Buckley (Sam Claflin) whose path would never have crossed hers in peacetime.

This movie, being a movie about making a movie, isn't entirely a unique premise, but it's still an entertainingly clever idea for a movie. Despite this being set in 1940 Britain during the daily threats of the Nazi Blitz bombings of London, this is still essentially a relatively unexciting and reserved look at getting a movie made. For aspiring film makers and screenwriters, there are some nice plot points about studio interference, arrogant actors, writers block, budget and time constraints, plus many more winks towards how movies are made. 

While the movie making magic adds to the appeal of seeing this, the lead actors in Gemma Arterton, Sam Claflin, and Bill Nighy, are what makes this a charming delight of a film to watch. Gemma Arterton is a very likable main protagonist, which this movie wisely uses her character to give us the reoccurring plot thread about feminism and misogyny during that era. Sam Claflin is the character that Arterton gets to banter with a lot during the movie, which can be pretty enjoyable to watch. Bill Nighy plays the arrogant actor whose pompous personality adds some nice comedic moments to the movie. 

It's easy to praise this movie for what it is, when considering the combination of the interesting premise, charming characters, and the appealing plot, but it's not a perfect film by any means. Some could say that the pacing is slow, or that it has it's fair share of plot cliches, or that it's simply not that exciting of a movie. Those are fair criticisms actually, but I think they can be easily be ignored once or if you happen to find yourself invested with the characters. I feel that the characters; lead and supporting cast, are the key factors on how much you would enjoy this movie. Luckily for me, I liked the cast, and in addition I even liked the movie within this movie. 

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king arthur legend of the sword

Charlie Hunnam stars in KING ARTHUR: LEGEND OF THE SWORD, directed by Guy Ritchie - in theaters March 24, 2017 --- Acclaimed filmmaker Guy Ritchie brings his dynamic style to the epic fantasy action adventure "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword."

The mashing together of the legendary story of King Arthur, with supernatural elements such as giant animals the size of castles, to the highly kinetic film making style of modern action movies, plus the high budget visual overload of special effects, is actually not that bad of an idea. In fact, some would argue that it sounds pretty cool. I'm sure co-writer/director Guy Ritchie thought so too. It's unfortunate his vision for this movie is simply all over the place, and just doesn't quite hit the landing of what could have been a great epic film. 

This movie is yet another example of style over substance. Just looking at the trailer, that's filled with quick edits, fast pacing, energetic camera angles, and stylized color filters, you can tell that this oozes with a lot of style. The familiar premise of a story itself acts like it has a lot of substance, by having multiple plot points and a whole ensemble of different characters, to give you a lot of content to chew on. The truth is that the story telling simply fails to make all those detail and information worthy of your full attention. The story just moves from one plot point to another plot point, without giving us much time to properly take it all in. 

Going back to the idea of why this movie exist, the fact that it looks "cool," is pretty much all this has going for it. Some clever exchanges between characters, some crowd pleasing scenes, people that say and do neat things, fast edits of characters doing exposition about a sequence of events, to action set pieces with high production values. All that is suppose to impress you, but since it's so focused on doing "cool" things, it forgot that the most important aspect of good story telling, is in making us really care about what we're watching. By the end of the movie, I just didn't care. 

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the dinner (2017)

A former history teacher and his wife Claire meet at a fancy restaurant with his elder brother, a prominent politician and his wife Babette. The plan is to discuss over dinner how to handle a crime committed by their teenage sons.

Steve Coogan. Laura Linney. Richard Gere. Rebecca Hall. What a fantastic cast, and each one is great in their roles. Out of the four primary actors of this film however, it's Steve Coogan's performance as Paul Lohman, that will really stand out the most. Paul is the curmudgeon, tactless, very opinionated, and highly insufferable man, who would rather not have attended this dinner. He's a very negative and cynical person with issues, and it seems like this movie is also very negative and cynical with a lot of issues as well.  

You would think that for a movie that's simply titled "The Dinner," there will be a display of extravagant cuisine, plus a straightforward dramatic conversation during the meal. There definitely is a display of delicious food; but it doesn't focus too much on that, and there is a dramatic conversation to get involved in; but it's hardly straightforward. The narration of this movie is simply not conventional at all, constantly switching between the present time, to flashbacks, as well as sudden sections of voice over monologuing by Coogan's character. While I understand why this story is told in this manner, it still doesn't stop me from getting frustrated by the direction anyway. It honestly feels a bit indulgently stylish, or just pretentious. Did we really need a huge chunk of the movie dedicated to American History?

There's a lot of big ideas and commentary that's found here, on social issues, family, parenthood, responsibility, racism, politics, class system, education, abuse, and yes history, plus many more, all crammed into this two hours production. It can be a bit overwhelming digesting every bit of information and opinions tossed at your direction, but that's also arguably the strength of this movie. No matter what you may think about the various different subjects this movie is talking about, or of the movie itself, you will at least find yourself having opinions about the topics. That is after all the most interesting aspect about this frustrating movie. 

A toast is made during the movie "to the children," "to health," and "to getting through this dinner in one piece." Apparently that toast is pretty much describing the movie. As an adaptation of the novel by Herman Koch, I'm tempted to just say that it's probably better to just read the book than watch the movie. However, the film does add a nice "American take" to the Dutch novel that might be worth checking out anyway. 

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battle of memories

DIRECTED BY LESTE CHAN 陈正道(The Great Hypnotist, 2014) STARRING HUANG BO 黄渤, XU JINGLEI 徐静蕾, DUAN YIHONG 段奕宏, YANG ZISHAN 杨子姗, TIFFANY ANN HSU 许伟寜 In 2019, a surgery that manipulates memories has been popularized worldwide. Feng (Huang Bo), a prestigious novelist, erases the memories of his failed marriage.

Using a science fiction fantasy conceit about this possible future where people are able to erase their own memories, is a pretty cool idea. Then adding the fact that our protagonist accidentally inserted a killer's memories into his own, and you got the making of a mind-bending movie. Even though there is a sci-fi element to this story, the movie is actually pretty much just another take on the crime mystery procedural thriller genre, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The memory switching is still very much an important element throughout the story, but it's still pretty much a "figure out who the killer is" kinda thing. 

Directed by Leste Chen, I like the way that the pacing and editing of this story is almost purposefully intended to confuse and misdirect the audience. There are also several scenes with cool visual effects that play on the perspective of a memory. Some of them acknowledging the notion that memories do not always appear to be what they seem to be. That unreliable dream-like element helps keep us guessing on what's going on with the plot, and that's where the fun of the movie comes in. 

Bo Huang as Jiang Feng does a great job playing a man who just wants to figure out who the killer is, and to try to keep his sanity in check as this invading memory is slowly changing his personality. That dynamic switching between a meek man and a dangerous killer is where Bo Huang gets to shine as an actor. His interactions with the police officer who is trying to get him to figure out the memories, are also one of the highlights of this movie. The ensemble cast of actors I thought were generally good in their roles. 

While I really liked the premise of this movie and seeing where the story is going, I do take some issue with the fact that it uses a lot of plot conveniences, leaps of logic, and general conceits, just to keep things going in the general direction it needs to go. While some of the unbelievable moments do add some frustrations to the experience, it still managed to make me care about the mystery and the characters anyway. It's not perfect, but it's definitely worth checking out. 

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guardians of the galaxy vol 2

It's showtime. Watch the brand new Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 teaser trailer. Obviously. In theaters May 2017. ► Subscribe to Marvel: http://bit.ly/WeO3YJ Follow Marvel on Twitter: ‪https://twitter.com/marvel‬‬ Like Marvel on FaceBook: ‪http://www.facebook.com/Marvel‬‬ For even more news, stay tuned to: Tumblr: ‪http://marvelentertainment.tumblr.com/‬‬ Instagram: ‪http://instagram.com/marvel‬‬ Google+: ‪https://plus.google.com/+marvel/‬‬ Pinterest: ‪http://pinterest.com/marvelofficial/‬‬

If you like the first Guardians Of The Galaxy movie, you will really like vol 2. If you haven't seen any other Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, except for the first Guardians film, you will still really like vol 2. While the overall movie's universe is tied with the other MCU movies, I'd like to give this film franchise kudos for being able to stand on it's own anyway, as it's proven by this second installment. 

The charm. The action. The characters. The adventure. The comedy. The songs. Those are all brought back here. There are many stand outs in this installment, with Baby Groot being the most adorable one, and Drax as played by Dave Bautista stealing each scene with his brand of tactless humor. Michael Rooker as Yondu, and Karen Gillan as Nebula, are both given some excellent story arcs here as well. New additions like Pom Klementieff as Mantis, and Kurt Russell as Ego, both also add a lot to the already huge ensemble cast. I'm not even mentioning the cameo appearances. 

Since we already know about the Guardians from the first movie, and how the group is pretty much a family unit, Writer-Director James Gunn gets to go deeper with the characters by jumping off from that angle. If I was to pinpoint a specific theme here, it would be "relationships." While the action-adventure aspects aren't necessarily taking a back seat here, there is an emphasis in providing more dialogue heavy scenes, and I'm not just referring to the witty bantering that are just so much fun. With the whole relationships theme however, it did make the characters even more interesting than before, and even brought us some scenes that are pretty moving. 

In terms of the look of the movie, I would say that this is right up there as being one of the best; if not the best, looking MCU movies around. The vibrant color palette and the amazing CGI effects, all are able to easily capture your eyes' attention here. The retro soundtrack is also once again a huge factor in this movie, and is even more prevalent than before. Some might argue that the song choices aren't necessarily as good as before, and some might also argue that the inclusion of some of those songs to the scenes can feel too forced as well. 

I continue to be impressed with what James Gunn is able to accomplish here with the Guardians Of The Galaxy movies, and how adept he is a juggling all these different elements, easter eggs and sight gags, plus all these characters into this single story of pure entertainment. Very fun movie. 

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