Pain and Gain

If you like fitness and believe in the American dream, then look no further than to Pain and Gain. This movie has both of those aspects and tons of humor on top of it. Pain and Gain was excellent in my opinion.

Based on a true story and set in Florida we get to follow a bodybuilder and his crew as they follow the American dream on the wrong side of the law. Mark Wahlberg is masterful as always and really buffed up insanely nicely for this part and I can’t do anything but to bow down to him and salute. He’s one heck of a guy I’ll tell you that.

Humor. Realism. True story. Fitness. Strippers. Success, right? Indeed.

Their American dream is bigger than yours.

Fast & Furious 6

Can a series be good after six installments? The answer is yes. Fast & Furious 6 is one of the best films in the series, if not the best.

I had fairly high expectations with such an all-star cast and expected some nice scenes with a few good laughs. Boy, was I surprised. This movie had tons of memorable scenes and hilarious jokes that had me laughing long past the scene. Also, the ending offered candy like none other. My whole body was in shock and I couldn’t be happier. Don’t worry, I won’t spoil a thing.

Fast and Furious 6 continues right where number five left off. And it offers more of the same beloved formula: fast cars, hot women,  action, explosions, racing, jokes and pure excitement. I mean, what more could you ask? That’s what I thought. Not much.

Sure, it has its flaws like all other movies. Some scenes are ridiculously unrealistic and there are a few logical loop holes that could be filled, but other than that, it was fantastic. I am already excited for the sequel and I hope they hit Fast and Furious 10. I wouldn’t mind if each installment is this good. At all.

Go and see it. Now. Maybe even race there?

Rating: 4 out 5

Broken City

Marky Mark and Russel Crowe. Can’t go wrong, right? Wrong.

Marky Mark was great. And so was Crowe. But the movie itself, it just was this same old cop thing we’ve seen and it offered nothing new or exciting. It was easily predictable, a bit dragged out and not once entangled me throughout any time of the movie. There weren’t any really memorable scenes or moment either, and the ending was mostly unsatisfying. A true definition of “B-flick” as they say.

I saw it on Blu-ray, and I honestly wouldn’t recommend this one to anyone. Only if there’s absolutely nothing else to watch.

Rating: 2 out 5

Failed to live up to the hype by all means.

The Great Gatsby 3D

Suits. DiCaprio. Gentlemen. Ladies. Champagne. New York. The 1920:s. How can this be anything but epic?

I am constantly repeating myself in saying that I belong in the olden days. And this movie certainly proves it. I felt like I had taken a time machine and gone back in time to where I belong. It was that magical. It was that fantastic. The Great Gatsby offered countless laughs, excitement, drama and intrigue as expected. It was an excellent film from the beginning to end.

And Tobey Maguire was brilliant together with Leonardo DiCaprio and he certainly grew on me a lot. DiCaprio’s greatness was to be expected and he delivered as usual in the highest level possible. It’s always a privilege to see him act and I couldn’t be more happy with it. But like I said, the hidden star of this show to me was Tobey. He did an excellent job and it was very nice to see. But all in all, all the actors did their job nobly and there was nothing to complain about.

The soundtrack was exquisite and it delivered some catchy tunes and some really nice dancing scenes that are highly memorable. The 3D effects were also very good and focused on little things to add to the experience on the side rather than try to take over the movie entirely, which to me was an excellent idea. Snow, rain and things like that. It was nice and helped to make the movie more entangling for sure.

The Great Gatsby is without a doubt one of the strongest movies of the year and I know I will watch many times over again. Highly recommended.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Cheers, to a marvelous movie.

Olympus Has Fallen

My expectations weren’t especially high for this one. I expected an above average America saves the day action flick with that one typical commando hero.  And that’s exactly what I got.

If we look to the other side when it comes to the rather poor CGI effects, this movie was definitely passable and enjoyable. But only if you are realistic about it. Gerard Butler is a Secret Service agent and it’s his job to save the President when he gets attacked at the White House. It has a lot of funny jokes and moments and some rather cool execution scenes and through and through it delivered as an OK flick to watch.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Iron Man 3 (3D)

Marvel’s latest superhero movie is now out and after a rather mediocre The Avengers movie (in my opinion) my expectations were somewhat mixed for Iron Man 3, which I managed to see at the world premiere in 3D.

I truly loved the first Iron Man. It set a huge benchmark for other superhero movies and brought superheroes back to mainstream and into female lives. It became a tremendous success and it was also a great motion picture. The second one, not so much. It failed to utilize on the franchise and could’ve been so much more. So what about the third one? Well, I am sad to say it was the worst out of the three movies and a very, very “OK” movie at best.

Robert Downey Jr plays his part perfect. It’s not his fault that the movie was OK. Not by any means. The writing was horrible, and the action scenes were few and rare with over exaggerated explosions in lame ways that didn’t impress. There was way too much talking and too little action and Iron Man’s personality has taken the swing for the worse and lost his cache. I wanted the Tony Stark playboy billionaire who was cocky and had that attitude. But no, he has become a total tool and semi-emo depressed teenager. That’s not what I want to see.

With a totally lame Tony Stark, and a lame villain with a concept that I didn’t enjoy one bit, not even for a “superhero” movie, this movie failed to capture my interest throughout. It had some fairly decent explosions. It had some really funny jokes, but there was no red thread that held it all together for me. This is not what I expect from a superhero. I want him to be badass and strong, not weak and boring. I want proper writing with an entangling storyline. I just wanted this movie to end so I could go home, really. There was not a single moment of “wow” for me and completely zero “awesome” factor as well.

And how come everytime the Iron Man suit can save Tony it’s always some alpha model that’s made in China that breaks from simply shrapnel or metal and never is combat ready or at full power? Insanely frustrating and idiotic. This was the case for Iron Man 2 and is the case for Iron Man 3 numerous times. Really, really annoying. And it’s sad to see that Stark Industries manufacture their gear in China so it breaks so easily from simple metals. A lot of people in the theater reacted to this as well and kind of laughed at it because it’s frankly just pathetic writing through and through.

Iron Man 3 is going down a dangerous path that I am not liking at all. People of the franchise who aren’t that into superheroes and whatnot will surely enjoy it for what it is, an OK action flick with some great jokes. Nothing more. It’s nothing special or memorable about this movie at all, unlike the first one. I hope that other superhero movies do not follow this horrible trend and that they can revitalize them instead. This is without a doubt the weakest 3/5 rating I am giving, it’s insanely close to being a 2.5/5 actually.

Rating: 3 out of 5

War Machine or Iron Patriot? Either way, the movie was only “OK” at its best. Disappointment of the year? I think so.

Godlike movie poster

Just saw this and my jaw dropped. Epic greatness through and through.

Most anticipated movie?

I often get asked what my most anticipated movies is, and that’s a tough question.

Right now, I’d say that, overall, my most anticipated movie is Star Wars: Episode VII. There’s no other universe that has fascinated me as much and I cannot wait to see them revive it and hopefully make it much better. But that’s not until like 2014 or maybe even later.

For this year? Even tougher to determine. But it’s probably Star Trek: Into Darkness. Yeah, it’s no secret that sci-fi fascinates me. 😛 But I am also very much looking forward to Man of Steel and Pain & Gain. This year will be phenomenal in terms of movies coming out and that’s always pleasant to know.

How about you my readers? What are your most anticipated motion pictures?

I am even reading the prequel comic book series to build up the movie.

Django Unchained

I have a confession to make. I never caught this movie in the theaters, and for that, I apologize to Mr. DiCaprio and Tarantino, I had every intention of doing so, but due to the delayed release in my country and then everyone already “having seen it” so fast, it just never happened. But at least my first time seeing it was in glorious 1080p.

With Christoph Waltz and Leonardo DiCaprio I knew the acting in this movie would be world class. And it was just that. These two actors are amongst the very best in my books and I can’t name any better ones in my head. I love these guys. And I love Tarantino’s writing as well. And the movie was epic throughout up until the end. That’s where it fell apart completely to me.

It is very difficult to rate to this movie. I mean, it was epic for so long out of its 2 hours and 45 minutes. It had amazing memorable scenes and fantastic characters. It had blood and gore and everything guys like. It was amazing to see a movie like this about slavery from a mastermind like Tarantino. But it also failed so miserably at the end that it has to be reflected in the final score. Because after all, a good ending is perhaps the most important thing in movies, at least to me. It has to end in a manner that I feel satisfied, and it did not at all here.

The way Tarantino chose to end it did not click in my brain or my with my taste in any way. I thought the ending was hands-down the shittiest one he could have ever gone with. It completely ruined the movie for me and made what would be a clear 5/5 masterpiece into a “movie worth seeing” and nothing more. The ending was that bad to me. I can’t as a movie lover raise the grade because of how worthless it was to me. Prior to the end I was entangled in the movie but once I realized what was going on in the end I was just begging the movie to end so I could walk away. Sad to see indeed as Tarantino usually knows his stuff.

Like I said earlier, it had world class acting and it was intriguing. It had that classical Tarantino feel. It covered a very interesting topic and seemed to portray it accurately and in an interesting manner. My hat goes off to DiCaprio and Waltz who once again prove why they are on the top of my acting list.

Rating: 3 out of 5

When this man is in a motion picture, I will always watch it.

Oz the Great and Powerful

I really had no expectations going into this movie as I never read any of the books nor had I seen the original films from decades ago. But I was expecting it to be good and boy was I blown away. Oz the Great and Powerful was nothing short of a masterpiece.

Oz the Great and Powerful stars James Franco as Oz and he delivers as always. A phenomenal actor in an extraordinary role. This movie had everything you’d expect. A beautiful fantasy land with stunning visuals and special effects along with hilarious humor and jokes flowing at a constant pace. I honestly cannot recall the last time I laughed this hard at a movie. It was just that good.

With wizards, witches and fantasy land, you’d expect some magic right? And this movie was just that. It was pure magic. Clocking in at over two hours, it felt like 20 minutes. I didn’t want it to end and once it did end I didn’t know where I was or what I was doing beforehand. This is how I define a masterpiece. I was sucked into the land of Oz like there was nothing else in the universe.

The story was great and touching, with very memorable and strong scenes that I won’t forget for a long, long time. I can’t praise this movie enough it seems. It’s one of those movies I will pick up on Blu-ray 3D and re-watch immediately. It was that fantastic.

I urge all my readers to go and see it in theaters and 3D. The 3D added a lot in my opinion and in one scene I actually titled my head away as I thought I was going to be hit by an object. Fantastic.  The best movie of 2013 without a doubt. Rare movies such as these make me proud to be a movie buff.

Rating: 5 out of 5

A masterpiece through and through. I will enjoy this movie numerous times over and over again.