Ant-Man

Ant-Man started development way back in 2006 when "Promiscuous" by Nelly Furtado was topping the charts and the Marvel Cinematic Universe(MCU) was just starting to grow.  Since then it went through several rewrites directors and cast. The movie in theaters today still has the charm that Edgar Wright brought those 9 years ago.

The film follows a cast of insects: there are 2 Ant-Man(s),Wasp, Yellow-Jacket and literal ants. Also it stars some great talent; Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly and Michael Douglas plus a lot of great character actors. The story is that Scott Lang(Paul Rudd) a former burglar is out  to win back his daughter and must do a heist with help of Hank Pym to stop the secrets of the shrinking technology (Pym Particle) getting out and being weaponized.

I never thought we would see an Ant-Man movie, not after all the drama behind the making of the film and I never thought I would see a movie that includes such a full history of the characters. Paul Rudd nails the sarcasm of Scott Lang and he really is the burglar you can root for. The film isn't packed with over the top action, instead it has some great visual effects for the shrinking fight scenes but also one of the best paced MCU movies.  There are great cameos and nods to other Marvel properties more importantly it's fun.

You can continue to get more ANT-MAN with the new comic:

Ant-Man Vol.1 by Nick Spencer

Ex Machina

Okay...So there has been quite a few instances over the last decade where I have been at the theater or watching a film at home and thought to myself "I thought that SFX were supposed to be a way of pushing the story forward, or helping to tell the story, not a way to assault my senses and make the action on screen incomprehensible!" Well I wish this film had existed decades ago and those films had taken note from this film.

I am of course talking about Ex Machina! If you haven't heard about this film, it's about A.I., and it was written by the gentleman who brought us all 28 Days Later & Sunshine! So that's tight!

This film has been getting so much buzz since it was released, and unlike Mad Max: Fury Road, it is actually deserved (Sorry Logan & Pete). This is one of those films where it has a barebones cast, but it is written and acted so flawlessly that they don't need anyone else to help develop the story or the characters. 

So I realize that I have not told you anything about the story yet. I'm running out of space and time so I will make it quick. A computer programmer is picked to go to a facility to run the turing test. That's the test that "determines" if an A.I. is sentient. He interviews the robot and craziness ensues! It is an absolute MUST WATCH if you are a fan of Sci-Fi or just well told stories. GO WATCH IT NOW!

PS: Sorry I didn't talk about the story. I don't want to give anything away. I want you to enjoy it with as little information as possible.

Buy it on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1LV9THY

Jurassic World

Hey Podcastage, Logan here again with another movie review.

Grrr, Rawr and that clicking sound the raptors make, Im here for Jurassic World

In talking about this movie I will say it now, SPOILERS. Okay, years later in this universe, Jurassic Park is now Jurassic World, and people still love dinosaurs (who doesn't). But the park needs to grow and scientists still feel the need to play GOD.  They end up splicing together a bunch of dinosaurs into some new creation. This new monster dinosaur, known as Imperius Rex, escapes along with a bunch of other dinos and this is not good for the people trapped on the island. It means we have to say goodbye to a lot of the characters in this movie who hadn't been developed, which is a lot.

My first gripe of the film, lack of development in its characters. Vincent D'Onofrio is an over the top bad guy who wants to weaponize the raptors. Chris Pratt is a Kurt Russell-esque character in this movie and can get away with most of his cheesy lines. The rest of the cast suffers from either lack of screen time or weak dialogue. The kids are a prop for danger (even though everyone is in danger) and they don't get to shine as kids in this place. The big bad militant villain is more justified than Hugh Jackman in Chappie, but it still seems a bit ridiculous. I was just let down by the lack of character development.

Alright enough of the bad. Jurassic World is a spectacle. Much like the youngest kid in the film I was stunned at how the dinosaurs looked and how it felt like a real park. I wanted to be there until the whole shit hitting the fan part. Also, the acting is good even with weak dialogue. Everyone does a great job. Jake Johnson and Lauren Lapkus are funny, and Bryce Dallas Howard was stiff at the beginning but still nails it by the end.

I had a fun time watching this movie. It's a great popcorn flick on the surface and a slight jab at the current climate of the movie industry today. Bandrew mentioned it on episode 56 of Podcastage, but Ill summarize it again. The director, Colin Trevorrow, recently spoke about working on this film.  It turns out that Jurassic World was almost Jurassic Park 4. There were many versions and rewrites, and yes, one version included humanoid dinos and Raptors with laser beams. Okay, so Colin Trevorrow decides to work on the film and makes it a reflection of how "we" make movies. We reboot and turn everything up to 11 when it comes to sequels. This is reflected in the film by making a park that is bigger, and making dinosaurs that are bigger, with more teeth (they mention that in the movie). Over all, Jurassic World does a great job at being fun and winking to those who notice.

Chris Pratt + Dinosaurs fighting = really good time!

I give it, 8 Velociraptors on a T-rex Back out of 10.

Ascension

You guessed it. It's Friday, and that means it's time for another installment of Friday Night Action Move Bookclub. This week, I'm telling you about Ascension...a TV show.

SyFy has done it again. Made a show that we absolutely love. Then cancelled it. Good work by the execs there. They clearly don't understand the landscape of media consumption now-a-days. The SyFy fan base has cut the cord and no longer has cable, so they need to focus on creating original content to be distributed digitally!

Anyways, lets get into the show/miniseries. This miniseries follows a crew of civilians that are on an interstellar trip to our nearest star Alpha Centauri. We start following their story 50 years into this journey, during the 2nd/3rd generations life. All I can say without giving anything away is that there are twists, murders, and everything you want to see happen in a confined space...just like Battlestar Galactica...and speaking of BSG. This show has Tricia Helfer! Are you sold yet? Maybe not, but blame that on my sales tactics and not on the show.

Let me try to sell you on it again. The story is good, the few FX that there are, look great, and the acting is good. This is not your typical SyFy show with horrible graphics, horrible acting, and a horrible story. This is the exact opposite. Do you remember how SyFy released BSG as a mini-series and it did so well that they turned it into one of the greatest television series ever created? Well, maybe we can do that with this mini-series. One last piece of advice and I'll let you go. Watch through the first episode all the way. I'm pretty sure you're going to love it. Now go forth and enjoy.

Note: You can watch it on Netflix.

Cube

There are only a few films that are written well enough to take place in a single setting, or a single room. The first one that comes to mind is 12 Angry Men, an instant classic, but that's not the film I'm talking about today. I'm talking about Cube. Another instant classic, but one that has gone unnoticed by many. 

I have to admit, I hadn't given thought to this film in years, until I saw a poll on The Sci-Fi Movie Podcast website that contained this title. I quickly went to iTunes and bought Cube as well as Cube 2: Hypercube.

The story is fairly simple. Six strangers wake up in a strange cube. They have to find out why they were put in, how to get out, and how to survive. As I said, it is simple, but you become invested in it immediately. There are a couple issues that I have with this film.

1. A couple times in the film, they use a camera shake effect that is reminiscent of Star Trek. It's goofy, but it is a small portion of the film, and keep in mind, the budget was only $400K.
2. The acting is nothing amazing that you're going to write home about. However, the fact that I am still able to watch this movie and enjoy it speaks to the great and original premise.

Another thing to keep in mind, this film was made in 1997 and has been ripped off quite a bit, so just remember that this came before Saw. OKAY!? Now, please go watch this film, and if you're feeling crazy, watch Cube 2: Hypercube because there is some really cool physics talk in there!

Buy it on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1StwNb4

MAD MAX: Fury Road

Hey Everyone, Bandrew Here. This week we have a guest Friday Night Action Movie Book Club blogger who joins us from The Paper Robots. Per his request, I have included a copy of the Friday Night Action Movie Book Club Theme Song so you can listen to it, and get in the mood to learn about a film that he thinks is TIGHT! Now I will pass it over to Logan.

This weeks  Friday Night Action Movie Bookclub is a new release by the name of Mad Max: Fury Road. This is a sequel/reboot? of the 1980s classic Mad Max(1979), I think it takes place after Road Warrior, but that isn't relevant. What is relevant is the production behind the film.

George Miller the director of the original trilogy came back with Fury Road and re-envisions the Mad Max world with the power of today's production value and budget. George Miller might be as crazy and awesome as the movie is on screen. I say this because Fury Road uses a lot of practical effects. The vehicles and weapon (yes guitar flamethrower) all function. Secondly he gave the actors a bare bones script and storyboards to base the scenes on. This lead to minimal dialogue but in my opinion it works perfectly for the action movie. The film runs 2 hours and about 70% is high octane car chase action.

Let me back up and say that the world of Mad Max is a near future wasteland where food/water/supplies are all scarce second some people have been infected by radiation and need regular human blood to survive. Thirdly everything is metal and dirty. The world is run by 3 brothers who control the water, guns and supplies. The main villain also has these sister wives that are basical a baby farm to produce a healthy male lineage. Max (Tom Hardy) is more like a dog fighting to survive the wasteland and gets wrapped into Furiosa's (Charlize Theron) plan to save the woman and bring them to a "promise land" of green. 

Now you know the plot and it seems to be full of action movie cliche but it play much more than that, the plot is simple, save the people from the evil guys by running to some better place, right? Well yes but it also has a female lead and Max as her companion Furiosa is a badass with an awesome big rig truck. The plot quickly doesn't matter once you are swept into the action. Note that the film goes to a higher frame rate during these sequences and it adds to the style of the film as a whole.

I can't say much about what I didn't enjoy, there's little talking, and little room for bullshit. You just sit in your seat and watch wasteland warriors fight each to keep control of what little is left in the world. The heroine wants a better world in a place that only wants to survive and that is a compelling enough reason to watch this film.You don't need unique concept but instead a unique take on the concept and Mad Max delivers.

Filmage: The Story of Descendents/All

The title of this weeks Friday Night Action Movie Bookclub may seem familiar to you. If it does, it's because I named my podcast after this band. Descendents is one of my favorite bands, and has been from the first time I heard them in middle school. I somehow came across their album Everything Sucks and my mind was blown. I found myself asking "how can these songs be so catchy yet so technical at the same time?" This is a question I had asked myself only a year earlier about 'Rush'...right before a kid hit me in the stomach and called me an queer for liking Rush. I stopped listening to Rush because my stomach hurt, but in turn I found Descendents. Years later I have rediscovered Rush, and I have avoided getting punched in the gut for my musical taste by anyone except my ex. But I digress...

All I can say about this film is that if you like pop punk and have not listened to the Descendents, or you know nothing about them, you HAVE to watch this film. It takes you through the entire history of this band and how they shaped the genre that allowed bands like Green Day & Blink 182 to get famous. The impact that this band had on the entire punk scene is simply jaw dropping.

What's more amazing that what this band has done is what the individual members of the band have gone through and accomplished. I won't ruin anything because the narrative in this doc is beautiful, but I will give you one teaser. Their singer Milo, quit the band in the 80's to go become a scientist. Then came back and started recording and touring again. Now, Milo Aukerman (not related to Scott Aukerman. I know because I embarassingly brought it up to him and he told me that I was a stupid idiot for thinking they could possibly have any relation, and then he slapped me) is a Doctor of Biology and sings in a punk rock band and works for DuPont. This band were the first group that made it okay, or and dare I say it, cool to be a nerd. 

If you still need me to sell you on this film, I will steal a quote from a gentleman from pennywise..."This is the best rocumentary I have ever seen". And that's the truth! That's all I can say about it! Go watch it now! NOW! Watch it ALL...NO! ALL! (I hope someone got this reference),

Buy it on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1GaMoIb

Chappie (2015)

There are two films that I have seen recently that really captured my imagination and made me want to watch them immediately after the credits finished rolling. The first one is that awesome new film Ex Machina, and the other one is Chappie! Today I will be telling you to watch Chappie as soon as you finish reading this.

I will just start this review by telling you that this film was written by Neil Blomkamp; The gentleman who brought us District 9. I will also just tell you that I adored the film. After reading the reviews of many critics, they state that this film is nothing more than a bunch of ideas thrown together unsuccessfully. I could not disagree more. I think that in order for the film to show the affect that this artificial intelligence has on society, they need to explore as many facets of society as possible. That's what Neil Blomkamp did! Through different characters we get to experience people who either love, fear, or want to exploit this new being.

This film follows Chappie, a police robot that is reprogrammed with A.I. and thrown into a world that doesn't understand him, or want to learn to understand him. Simply put, society fears him, so they want to destroy him. I think that in that sense, this film is incredibly relatable. All in all, I think the writing, directing, and acting was on point and created a believable film.

When it comes down to it, I think people's main issue with this film is that it's not district 9. You won't walk out of Chappie immediately thinking "Wow. That was an apparent social commentary about post-apartheid South Africa", like you did with District 9.  I think that if you want to look to this film for social commentary about race, class, etc, you will find it. You just need to look a bit deeper.

Preorder it on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1J0RabW

What We Do in the Shadows

Imagine that you're watching Shaun of the Dead. Now imagine that it's not a zombie film, it's a vampire film. Now imagine it wasn't made by the folks who brought you the genius TV show Spaced, but was brought to you by the folks who brought you the genius TV show Flight of the Conchords. Okay, now you can understand what it would be like to watch my "Friday Night Action Movie Book Club" selection this week: What We Do in the Shadows.

The film is a mockumentary where a doc film crew follows around 3 vampires who live together in a flat in New Zealand... and... shit. I honestly don't know how to describe the film, and even if I did know how, I wouldn't. This is one of those films that you will just have to take my word on and watch. Then you can thank me later. All I can say is that this film has made it into my top list of Horror Comedy after one viewing. I have purchased it on iTunes and I will be watching it again and again. Just watch the damn trailer and enjoy!!!

Buy it on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1JXV9YK