Escape Plan - Noodles Review

6 out of 10 Noodles

    Rambo & The Terminator together in one movie! How could this go wrong? Well.... in a couple places. Sylvestor Stallone & Arnold Schwarzenneggar (no, I did not have to look his name up to spell it correctly) were THE two biggest action stars in Hollywood, and everyone wanted them to be in a movie together. It would be so awesome and badass! But, that was 20 years ago. However, we get that movie now, when they're both oldies (Expendables doesn't count because that's an ensemble action star movie). In Escape Plan, we have the both of them as the stars of this movie. I've always loved both of these actors (I might be more of an Arnie fan just for his one-liners); they brought us classics like Rocky, Rambo, Predator, Terminator, and many more. However, they've both had their fair share of misfires; and while this isn't exactly one of those, it's also not a modern classic, much less a generic action movie. The story goes that Stallon plays a guy who breaks out of prisons for a living. He literally gets paid to go to prison, then figure out how to break out, so that they can better secure the prisons. However, he gets sent to a really special prison this time, and there's definitely something wrong here... Additionally, I have to talk about this prison a little bit. It's really cartoony and unrealistic. Each prisoner has their own little glass case and the guards all have these black jabbawockeez masks; it's all really unbelievable. It really remind me of the movie Face/Off, which to me is an action classic. But one segment in that movie really threw me off when they were in the top secret, unrealistically secure & high-tech prison. This was like that, except for the whole movie... In this prison, Stallone meets Arnie and they team up to make... an ESCAPE PLAN! 

     I'm not gonna say this movie is bad, because it's definitely not. The acting was fine. You could tell Stallone is getting a bit rusty but he's still a believable actor (still like him better in The Expendables though). Schwarzenneggar, though, was probably the best part of this movie. He had those cheesy one-liners that we've come to expect from him (and I'm almost certain they did that on purpose as an inside joke to Arnie fans & '80s fans). They weren't memorable and they were pretty stupid, but his screen presence was actually gratifying. Also, Jim Caviezel's in this movie as the warden of this intense prison. Jim Caviezel will always be known as the actor who portrayed Jesus, but he's still pretty good in this movie as the asshole warden. He's sort of a comic booky character in that he's a villain who has somewhat weird maneurisms, but that fits, I guess, with this cartoony prison. He may have not died for our sins in this movie, but I still give him credit for standing out as an acceptable bad guy. 

    There's nothing wrong with the directing or technical aspects of the movie. It's all quite mediocre though. The writing could've been better in that the dialogue was rather generic. However, I was fine with all that. The one thing that mainly threw me off, though, was the concept of this super prison that the movie takes place in. It sort of took me out of the movie. In the beginning, the film shows Stallone breaking out of a regular high security prison and that was actually very cool. I was hoping to see more of that, but what can I say? I guess I was disappointed a bit. Nonetheless, Escape Plan is still an entertaining action movie, with its main redeeming quality being the fact that Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenneggar are actually starring in the moviee together. You don't have to rush to the theatre to watch it, but if it ever comes on on TV, it's worth a watch, because Escape Plan is still fresh at 6 out of 10 Noodles. 

Captain Phillips - Noodles Review

9 out of 10 Noodles

   Wow. Oscar season really is starting early this year. That's always a good thing because it gives us more GOOD movies to watch over a longer period of time! And I guess you can already infer from that, that I really enjoyed Captain Phillips. Captain Phillips was one of my most anticipated movies of this year, mostly because it stars Tom Hanks, who happens to be my favourite actor. Recently, he hasn't been as much of a driving force in Hollywood as he used to be. Cloud Atlas was cool and all, but not many people watched it. His previous two films, Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close and Larry Crowne, were of little appeal to me. However, Tom Hanks is back on his feet now and gives one of the best performances of his career (and with his repertoire, that's really saying something). Anyway, Tom Hanks's presence really gives this film a lot of initial credibility, as he's probably the only big name on the poster. But, the movie tells a true story of events that happened not too long ago, which brings more relevance to it. Captain Phillips is about an American cargo ship that gets overrun by Somalian pirates, and then the thrilling situations that ensue. This movie is gripping to the edge; there's not a boring moment present. An hour feels like 20 minutes with this movie, in a positive way though; and that's due to the great pacing and editing of this movie. It's directed really well by Paul Greengrass, who's known for directing The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum, United 93, and Green Zone. Paul Greengrass is the only director out there who has truly mastered shaky cam. A lot (and I mean A LOT) of movies nowadays try to utilize shaky cam effects, but it's always either overdone or poorly executed. Greengrass, however, makes it an art, and he's done it again here. In supplement to that, the cinematography is fantastic; there's tons of sweeping shots of the ocean and the boats, while there's also claustrophobic scenes within the confines of crowded areas. This truly adds to the intensity of the film.
   The intensity of the movie is capitalized by the acting. As I said, Tom Hanks gives one of his best perform
ances, and that means a lot for him since he's given probably a dozen stellar performances in his career, two of which have already won him Oscars. Even being such a recognizable actor, you still look past him being Tom Hanks and you just see the man, Captain Richard Phillips. Hanks gives such a realistic, emotional, and overall terrific performance that's capable of bringing up man tears. Even though he's the best though, the rest of the cast rounds up extremely well. The Somalian pirates, especially, impressed me. The four actors who play them truly look like the casting directors actually picked up some real pirates. Also, after a little bit of research, I came to find that this is the first performance each of them has ever portrayed. Yet, their acting was intense and convincing, that I just have to applaud them; especially the main bad guy, he was played so well and you could really see his point of view even though you weren't rooting for him. This whole movie is so convincing, that you feel like you're actually there as these events unfold. You can really feel the heat and sweat of each thing that happens and that's one of the main things I admire about this film. The acting and directing really shines.
   However, it's not a shiny day for these characters because this movie is intense as hell. Captain Phillips is a straightup thriller for most of the movie. I was either at the edge of my seat not able to catch my breath; or sitting forward always trying to anticipate what would happen next, always not knowing if these guys were gonna be alright. Once the shit hits the fan, this movie just grabs you and doesn't let you go until the end credits. You really begin to care for all these guys and get sucked into this. The style of tension in this movie is unlike anything I've seen this year. Sometimes it gets slow, but it's always suspenseful and heavy. The writing is incredible and you gotta tip your hat off to the whole crew for being able to take this true story and make it into something that we could all watch and get fully engrossed into. And the movie has such relevance because it chronicles such a recent event so well.
   The movie was so well made and so realistic that you really cared for everyone and everything that happened to them, really adding to why it's so thrilling. Captain Phillips is thrilling all the way through, spectacularly acted, smartly written, amazingly directed, and one of the most intense and emotional movies of the past couple years. At 9 out of 10 Noodles, Captain Phillips is one of my favourite movies of 2013.

Breaking Bad Series Finale - Noodles Review

10 out of 10 Noodles

   It's the end of an era, the end of an empire, the end of one of the greatest shows to ever grace our TV screens. Breaking Bad has come to an end. Usually, when shows end, its biggest fans are sad that its ending. But I can honestly say that I'm not depressed at all. I'm utterly satisfied and excited at the closing of this amazing show.

  Throughout the whole show, we've witnessed some of the greatest writing, acting, and character development ever; especially concerning the main character, Walter White. Watching the pilot episode and then watching an episode from the last season, one would believe that its two different characters. That was always one of my favourite things about Breaking Bad; it really evolved this character in every single episode. Sometimes you didn't even notice how much he's changed until you saw a scene from a past episode and realized, "Wow, that's a different guy!" It's so great to see this innocent guy decline into a ruthless, Scarface-type, intellectual badass. You really gotta tip your hat off to Bryan Cranston. I knew he was a good actor all along but he never really stood out. Then he came along and played one of the most interesting and intense characters in entertainment history to sheer brilliance. I can't even count how many times he says just the simplest things like "I am the one who knocks," that blow me away and really make you see how much of a true badass he is. Just as well, Aaron Paul, who plays Walt's partner Jesse Pinkman, has done the character such justice. It's very noticeable that he has very little dialogue in this final season, but he conveys so much emotion so well in this season with just his presence. He really has become such a damaged character and I just always wanted him to get out of everything okay.

   Just like how it's a given that this show has spectacular acting, it has fantastic writing. No, more than fantastic. It's phenomenal. Vince Gilligan has crafted a great and intense, yet condensed, masterpiece. Each episode was so intense and all of them felt necessary. Even the ones that seemed like "filler" episodes contained important character development and such. The writing of the end of this just blew me away though. Finales of big TV shows are hard to grasp. It's not easy to please everyone or do everything the right way. What I love about Breaking Bad, though, is that it ended on such a great note. It gave perfect closure to the show, tying up all the loose ends, giving essentially every character a meaningful conclusion, and stayed true to being intense as always with a healthy dose of emotionally heavy encounters.
    With this show, there's so many predictions of what we wanna see happen and what we think will happen. Everyone has their own thoughts, but it's written so well that a lot of the time what we wanted to happen will happen, but in a completely surprising manner. It pleases the viewers while at the same time being fresh and unpredictable. Breaking Bad is one of my favourite TV shows of all time, and is really a masterpiece. It's one of those things that'll perpetually keep you fascinated with what's going on in these realistically crazy situations. There's too many great things to name about it: the top-notch acting, the excellent writing, the direction (it's like that of a movie), the intensity, the replay value. You really get sucked into this story and get seriously emotionally attached. You'll never see what's coming next and the show always shotguns you in the face with something awesome and fresh. My jaw dropped to the floor countless times because Breaking Bad rightly deserves even more than 10 out of 10 Noodles.

If you haven't watched Breaking Bad, I urge you to do so because it is seriously so great. It might start off a little slow but I can't stress enough how truly amazing it is. I'd have to say Season 5 is my favourite but really every season is spectacular.