Reviews Reactor

Well, I thought Vampire Academy might make fun of twilight movies or something, so my curiosity got the better of me and I gave it a chance. Should have left it alone.  This movie is about two girls, one a vampire pure-blood, and the other, her protector (half-blood). They attend the vampire academy, a prestigious old school, which teaches and hones their skills so that they can defend themselves from feral vamps, and also learn other stuff. I'll keep this short, throughout the entire time, it felt like I was watching a mush, a blob, floating by consisting of characters, cringe-worthy romance and love triangles, lame action, boring plot progression and subplots, and a huge sequel bait. Nothing meshed together properly, nothing hooked me, and the movie was moving so fast that (in a badly edited way) any lore or development was immediately overridden by the next scene, leaving you with nothing, hence the mush feeling.   The things that I can say I ...

The Accountant is an action-drama-thriller directed by Gavin O'Connor, who directed one of my favorite films of 2011 i.e Warrior, and it is about a guy with neurological disorder/autism who lives as an accountant (both normal and the dangerous kind), using his disorder to his benefit. Now, this isn't an action heavy movie with fights around every corner, but instead is a drama with some thrilling action sequences. The movie takes its time to tell you about the main character, as well as secondary ones. It sets up the world well enough that you care and are involved in the plot, which is something I quite enjoyed and it even felt a bit fresh.  Ben Affleck gave an excellent performance as the accountant. He had subtlety, depicting the character's issues with socializing quite well, and at the same time showing dedication and fierceness when needed. Anna Kendrick was sweet and fun as the love-interest, and I enjoyed her rather limited screen time. JK Simmons was...

Deepwater Horizon is a disaster movie based on true events. It is about an offshore drilling rig where things took the turn for the worst, resulting in the largest oil disaster in USA's history. I'm an avid disaster movie fan, and while you do get fictional ones every now and then, getting a well-executed one based on a true story is almost non-existent. Hence, I was very contented when the movie was over. Peter Berg, just like with Lone Survivor, returns to direct with Mark Wahlberg as the lead in another based-on-a-true-story movie. And in a similar fashion, the movie spends a hefty amount of time on the first act, setting up the characters and location etc, leading up to the climactic release. The screen-time was distributed properly, no one character hogged all the time and apart from the setup, no focus to lovey-dovey stuff was given, all of which contributed to a solid first act. The acting was good all around. Mark Wahlberg did a good job (great at t...

The Purge: Election Year is the third movie in the franchise which is set in a world where America holds an annual purge, and everything becomes legal including murder on that day. After watching this movie, I'm still waiting for them to properly utilize this world they have created.  Election Year has, well, politics thrown into the mix where Frank Grillo returns as the lead, and this time he's the head of security for the senator, played by Elizabeth Mitchell, who's fighting in the election and wants to end the purge while the evil government opposition is trying to get rid of her during the purge. Couple that in meh execution along with some forgettable subplots and side characters, bad and way over-the-top acting, stupid/nonsensical scenes, and just an overall forgettable experience, and you have another wasteful purge movie (Anarchy was fine, loads better than the other two). The only characters I had any interest in were the two leads, that'...

Sense8 is a sci-fi drama series from Netflix and is created by the one and only Wachowskis (and J. Micheal Straczynski). It is about eight people from around the world that are mentally linked with each other. This premise gave the series a large main set of characters of different ethnicities, culture etc, and made it quite varied. Now, the Wachowskis have had a really bumpy ride so far, with supreme highs like The Matrix to abysmal lows as Jupiter Ascending, so I wasn't really sure what to expect from this series. But I'm glad to say that this is a proper comeback from them.  The story is interesting, and while there is the main overarching storyline that connects everything, you also get eight different storylines. Not all of them are equally good or interesting, BUT even the worst among them is still intriguing enough. Same is the case with the characters themselves. There are some I definitely liked/loved more than others, but the show does a great job of gi...

Glitch is an Australian mystery-drama TV series and it is about a small town where things turn upside down for a cop and other people as six deceased people suddenly rise back one fateful night.   The story/premise intrigued me from the start. You feel just as confused as the people in the show. How did they come back? Why are they back? Is it something supernatural? Or is it science related? All these questions and more raise through your head in the first episode and becomes the framework of the series experience.  Now, there is a good amount of characters in it, but they don't get an equal amount of development, nor are they all interesting or well acted. But the ones that are interesting certainly keep the intrigue level high enough that you want to know more and want them to solve this mystery and get answers.  The story creates interesting scenarios and makes you wonder what would you do if you were thrown in this situation. And like I ...

"We’re all dying. That’s what defines the condition of living ." The Crown is a series about Queen Elizabeth II and her early years as the Queen. Now personally, I don't really have that much interest in the subject matter and wouldn't go actively look for media showcasing it, but after hearing so many great things about it, I decided to give it a watch. To my surprise, I was hooked from the start. The series is so well made, the execution of everything is so exemplary, and its pacing is remarkably well balanced (for a series like this), that I couldn't help but have a wonderful time with it. I was intrigued by the inner workings of the royal household, and how the crown weighs on the bearer and the people surrounding them.  The casting was damn good. Many of the actors do look similar to the personalities they are portraying in that time, and the acting itself was marvelous. Clair Foy is so lovely and plays as the queen with great beauty. John Lithgow...

"These violent delights have violent ends." Westworld is a sci-fi series from HBO and is about a futuristic western-themed park populated by artificial being or hosts (as they are called in the series) where rich people can come and do whatever they want. The premise alone was enough for me to warrant a watch as the subject matter of the series is something I have a very high interest in. And to my utmost delight, the series deeply explored it and gave me the experience I always wanted.  It is created by Jonathon Nolan (brother of Christopher Nolan) and Lisay Joy, and they both did a marvelous job with it. The world, the characters; the moral, ethical and philosophical dilemmas; all the interesting stuff I look forward to in things tackling this genre were top notch.  The series boasted an impressive cast with some A-List actors thrown in the mix and the resulting acting was good to spectacular across the board, but the two standouts for me were Anthony H...

"A thing is a thing, not what is said of that thing." Birdman is a film about a washed up actor, who was once famous for starring as Birdman (Superhero), and his battle with himself and those around him during the final days of his broadway play premiere. This film boasts an immense ensemble of talent, and you definitely get the result. Micheal Keaton, Emma Stone, Edward Norton, Naomi Watts, Zack Galifianakis and some others all deliver amazing performances. It is truly a feat to see everyone just acting their best.And at the center of it all is Micheal Keaton and his career's best performance. He was awesome. Period. Because of awesome performances, every scene was a joy to behold, the dialogue delivery was great, the dialogue itself was great. Another thing I really enjoyed about this film was that how its story paralleled with Micheal Keaton's and Edward Norton's real life. Micheal Keaton is most known for his role in Tim Burton's classic Batman film a...

"One last ride." So finally watched the 7th installment in the popular Fast and Furious franchise. Its amazing how this franchise has increased its popularity and success, be this long, and not be based on a book or something. Directed by James Wan, who previously was known only for famous horror flicks like The Conjuring and Insidious, did a great job delivering a full on high budget action film and a great send off to Paul Walker, gotta give him kudos for this. The passing of Paul Walker had an overall presence throughout the movie. And it only got more potent as the movie went on. This is the last film of his, and the movie gave him an amazing send-off. The tribute at the end was truly beautiful. In fact, this marks the first time that I was brought to tears in a cinema. I did a full re-watch of all the previous parts prior to watching this, so everything was fresh in my mind and while watching the tribute, I Just couldn't hold it anymore. Knowing that this will b...

*Sigh* So much potential, such a waste. This movie really infuriated me. The universe it is set in was just brimming with potential of a really epic franchise but instead we got a lame ass love story that almost reached Twilight level (Almost). There was no chemistry whatsoever between the two leads, everything was rushed, and even the acting felt emotionless. The movie went on for too long, had bad pacing and the villain sucked. I mean Eddie Redmayne (Stephen Hawking in Theory of Everything) is an awesome actor but boy oh boy was he horrible in this movie. Whatever he was trying to do with that phony cliche villain voice and style just didn't work. That aside, there was some good stuff in the movie. Some characters I did like, like Sean Bean's. The setting was awesome. Action was actually well shot and good, did ran on for too long sometimes though. CGI was great, beautiful effects inhabited the screen and made weird technologies and alien planets come to life. Soundt...

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is the first stand-alone anthology film in the franchise and is set right before the events of Episode 4: A New Hope. The story follows a group of rebels which leads the charge for retrieving the plans that could aid the rebel alliance in destroying the Death Star.  Now I was really hyped for this movie ever since it was announced for various reasons: First Star Wars stand-alone film. Gareth Edwards directing it. (I loved Godzilla 2014)  War movie feel which caters to my Battlefront fan side.  Curiosity and anticipation for how they would end it, which, knowing the story, would be great if they don't veer away from it too much.  And suffice to say that the movie met my expectations and more.  The main rebel team i.e. Rogue One was likable. Each character was fun in their own way. They were led by Felicity Jones, who plays Jyn Erso, daughter of the Death Star architect. She did a good enough job in the t...

Blood Father is a movie about a man who is on parole and is living a straight life, but all that takes the turn for the worst when his missing daughter asks him for help. I'm a fan of Mel Gibson's, so I HAD to watch this movie. And it wasn't bad.  Mel Gibson was great in this. He bulked up for the role, he looked and felt raw, and he had some great flip-out moments, you know, the good old Mel Gibson stuff. It was just awesome seeing him back in form. The daughter, played by Erin Moriarity (Sherlock got his eye on her) also did a really good job. Since this is a father-daughter drama, both of them carried the film.  Their relationship was a bit rocky at first, but as the movie went along, I grew to like it more. Hell, I even got some feels at the end. And this is the main reason I actually liked the movie. The movie had some decent action sequences, but if you watch the trailer, they pitch it as a full-on action movie, which this certainly is not. I would call ...

I love movies, or anything in general, dealing with artificial intelligence and the like. It is such an interesting realm to me. Ex Machina is a film about a young programmer in a big company comparable to Google, who wins a lottery of sorts, which entails him to stay at the Boss's place and be a part in his latest project, A.I. There aren't many characters in this movie and for a movie like this to be interesting, the few characters HAVE to do a great job. The main dude was the only one who I felt like wasn't that good. Oscar Isaac, who plays the Boss/Genius, was awesome. He wasn't your typical rich/boss/genius douche. The one who stole though was Alicia Vikander, who plays the A.I Ava. She did a great job of depicting a high level artificial intelligence. Now the movie really doesn't get into much introduction or world building. It actually felt really rushed in the beginning and just takes our protagonist to the place where rest of the movie will unfold. And...

"Everyone creates the thing they fear. Men of peace create engines of war. Avengers create invaders. Parents create children, that will supplant them." It's the kind of movie that I had great time with, even though I will agree to it having tons of flaws. Lets start with the story, it was mostly a mess. Throughout the movie, it felt like so much stuff have been crammed into a runtime obviously not enough for it. Pacing was a hit and a miss. There were some stuff that was really rushed while other sequences dragged on. Ultron creation and character development in particular was rushed like hell, something that would have benefited greatly from getting more screen time. Also, whole thing between Bruce and Natasha felt forced and out of place. Their scenes really dragged on. It would have been better if they went with Natasha and Steve instead as they had great chemistry in Winter Soldier. It just felt like the whole movie needed more time to be polished out, smooth out...

Harper's Island is a show about an island where a couple decides to get married, but soon after arrival, people start dying one by one. Sooooo, I didn't like it. The show was just filled with so many stupid moments that I couldn't take it anymore. There are a lot of characters but most of them were cliched meh. Acting wasn't that good either from a lot of the cast, so that didn't help. The first couple of episodes really weren't doing anything for me, but since there were only 13 episodes in total, I decided to stick with it and end it (would have dropped it otherwise). But I'll give the show credit where credit is due. It increased my interest in the story after several episodes. There was this stretch of 4 or 5 episodes where it actually got good, and I was on-board. The pacing felt fine, the thrills were coming, the situations were entertaining. The characters I did like got better, and the ones that were meh, got less meh. Also, being on an...

"Better to die saving lives, than to live with taking them."  Star Trek Beyond is the third entry into the star trek rebooted franchise, and follows Captain Kirk and team, who are 3 years in their 5 year exploration mission. After following a distress request, they get stranded on a planet encountering a new villain hell bent on destroying the federation.  I'm a big fan of this reboot franchise. I loved both previous parts directed by J.J Abrams, and while I was a bit worried that he wasn't returning to direct the third one, I was excited nonetheless. Thankfully, this is yet another great entry in the franchise. Simon Pegg and his script, Justin Lin at the helm, and with the same amazing team of cast reprising their roles, created one hell of an entertaining adventure, from start to finish. I was completely hooked.  Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and the rest, gave great performances and made the whole crew dynamic feel natural and fun, once again. I love ...

So I gave it a watch yesterday. Now I actually liked most of the squad in the theatrical release, and one of my biggest issue with the film was that it just didn't give them that many interactions with each other i.e poor development. The extended cut definitely adds or extends some more scenes, which helps develop the squad just a bit more. It's not enough to make a huge difference, but it is better than nothing. Also, there is more development between Joker and Harley here, some added scenes and extended scenes that give you more info about their crazy relationship. Jared Leto's joker on this re-watch still is 50/50 for me. His performance varies so much from scene to scene. In some moments, I actually like what I'm seeing, but then it shifts and cranks up the cringe level and I'm like "NOPE.". So overall, he still doesn't work for me. And those hoping for tons of new joker footage, yeah, that didn't happen. The movie is still choppy, poorly...

Kubo and the Two Strings is a stop motion animated film from the studio Laika, and is about a boy who must go on this journey to acquire a special magical armor in order to defeat the forces of evil. I'm deliberately not putting more in the synopsis since I believe this movie is best watched with as little knowledge as possible, and hence why I'll keep this review short as well.   From start to finish, this was a beautiful, heartfelt, entertaining, often really hilarious, and a magical journey. It's an adventure movie that really reels you in with the aspect of adventure. The world/setting was really interesting, and the mythos, the legends, the stories etc all kept adding to the experience. Just the type of adventure I love.  Kubo was a great character. You feel and root for him throughout. And the supporting characters were just as great if not better. Their relationship with each other, and the way it progresses, was so sweet. Animation quality was outs...

Jason Bourne is a sequel to The Bourne Ultimatum and is set some years after the last film. Bourne is forced once again to come out of hiding and face the CIA, as well as uncover things about his past. Now, I'm a huge fan of this franchise. I love The original Bourne trilogy to death, and I even enjoyed Legacy. So naturally, I was extremely excited to finally watch this film considering Matt Damon is teaming up again with director Paul Greengrass (Supremacy, Ultimatum). Unfortunately, 2016 being a year of disappointments (Big or small), this followed the same suit.  Now, not all of the movie was disappointing. There were some things I liked. I enjoyed Matt Damon reprising his role, he was great again. Some action sequences were exciting and thrilling, like the finale, even if a bit more on the over-the-top side as compared to previous parts. Hearing the score from the previous parts again was so satisfying. The story, while being mostly uninteresting, did have some as...