Transcendence - Noodles Review

4.5 out of 10 Noodles

    So Transcendence is the directorial debut of Wally Pfister. He's one of my favourite cinematographers and is mostly known for doing the cinematogrophy of Nolan films like The Dark Knight trilogy andd Inception. This is his first movie in the director's chair, helming the whole project, and you can tell he's sort of trying to emulate that Nolan-esque vibe of thought-provoking and visual stuff. He's also got a couple of Nolan staples in Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy, and Rebecca Hall; all being led by Johnny Depp. I'm happy to see Johnny Depp not doing his whole quirky Jack Sparrow thing that he's been doing in like The Long Ranger and Alice in Wonderland\, here he plays a scientist who's researching artificial intelligence with his wife. Then there's this anti-AI terrorist group and they shoot him so ultimately the wife decrees that they should upload his mind into the computer so that he becomes an AI and can stay with us. Now we have our movie, and it's essentially the tale of men becoming computers, his consciousness lives on in a virtual world that sort of manifests itself in reality. And it's actually really.... boring. I was actually looking forward to this movie, I like the cast, I think the premise is actually pretty cool and I was interested to see how Pfister could handle it. You could tell this was directed by a cinematographer because there are some cool shots and some pretty ones too. But you could also tell it's his first time because the pacing is all over the place, and the story-telling becomes too convoluted for its own good. The premise is cool but I'm not exactly certain that the director could handle its high concept.

     The beginning is sort of dull, but it's mainly buildup. There is action and suspense taking place to convey the tragedy that befalls Johnny Depp's character Will, and then it really looks like the high concepts are gonna pick up because they have to figure out the consequences of turning Will into this AI and whether or not that would affect his humanity. That was one of the main things I looked forward to in this movie: that element of him losing his humanity and becoming only the computer like HAL9000, whether or not he's actually Will. It takes its toll on his wife, who's played by Rebecca Hall and she was fantastic in the role, it's practially her movie. The emotion of the film is carried by her; she wants to keep holding on to Will and still does as he asks while he's a computer because she believes her husband's still in there. There's some cool things that they do together, like uploading him into the Internet, and getting money off of stocks, but eventually they go to this desolate little town in the middle of nowhere, and that's ironically when the movie falls apart even more. Just when the movie seems like it's gonna pick up after all that's happened, and I'm thinking okay now the real movie I came to see is here; it completely just gets boring and hard to get invested in. And not for the reason that they're in a boring little town. It sort of becomes a different movie, whereas we were first watching a contemperary sci-fi drama about holding on to someone even after they're gone; the second half doesn't know what it is, trying to mix together to many movie elements in a sloppy manner. I'm not unhappy that it tried to go for all these big concept things, I just thought it was dull storytelling and a lack of blending aspects together. The movie is really boring at points, and then it'll pick up and get interesting but then become way too preposterous. And once it gets too outrageous, you just can't stay invested anymore.

    The acting all around was pretty good, Paul Bettany was probably my own favourite out of the characters. We all know Morgan Freeman is gonna be great no matter what, and Cillian Murphy is great actor too; but the two of them have virtually nothing to do in this movie. The only character I didn't really like was Kate Mara's character who was part of the terrorist organization, but that was also because I thought the whole anti-AI terrorist coup thing was just silly. You gotta blame the writing there, because it's a cool premise that could've been awesome but they get too crazy with it and it just gets dumb. The directing was visually nice, but a movie like this probably needed someone who could better handle the themes and sophistication AI and humanity. The movie did tackle some pretty big concepts but fell short. Once the movie was setup and the climax was ready to be put in motion, nothing really happened and you didn't really care either. There was a shocking lack of emotion in this film, and there was really no one character for viewers to identify with on this ride. I wanted to like this movie a lot, but honestly I was so bored and can only give credit to the acting and potential of this movie, but that doesn't complete a movie so it gets an incomplete score of 4.5 out of 10 Noodles. 

Top 5 Cinematography in Films

I didn't exactly know how to title this list, but I really wanted to talk about some of my favourite cinematography in movies. And now I finally have an excuse to do so, because cinematographer Wally Pfister made his directorial debut in this week's movie Transcendence. Cinematography is always something I wanna see done right in movies; If you read my review of Catching Fire you might see that one of the reasons I like it better than the first movie is because of it's grand improvement in cinematography. The camerawork in movies does have a huge effect on the feel of it; sometimes it's grand, sometimes it's sweeping, sometimes it's tonally condensed. Regardless, the art of motion picture photography is something that should definitely be appreciated when done right. These are movies that blew me away visually with the awesome cameraplay and how much it excelled a film (not judging the overall quality of these films, but a lot on this list are movies I really like!).

Honourable Mentions: 
There's a lot of honourable mentions because there's so much I wanted to mention, so I included my favourite shot that displays the great cinematography in each of these films:

American Beauty - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB0th8vNLxo

Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0mVNFCcMXQ
Schindler's List - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcyLRTB9fRY

Life of Pi - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9NBPPIEb0M
Skyfall - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSgQemXBBMw
The Sound of Music - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIjobdArtiA

Saving Private Ryan - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Le9uGkbtxHk

Apocalypse Now - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k26hmRbDQFw

The Painted Veil - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs68bWZKfdU

Inception - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tofY_2kwoGI

There Will Be Blood - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzyDm-J065g

5. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)

Roger Deakins is the modern master of cinematography, he's been nomainated for I think 11 Oscars in that right, and Assassination of Jesse James is what I believe to be his best. It's a Western about legendary Western outlaw Jesse James and his friendship with the measly Robert Ford who idolizes him. Deakins employed a new technique of cinematography for this movie and it plays off in such a stunning manner. The lighting with the fire is so great, and the loneliness of the American West is really displayed so well by the beautiful shots in this film; you don't just view it, you sort of feel it. There's great shots of nature, there's long takes, and there's specifically an opening scene where Jesse James is standing in the sunset and the field is on fire. The shots really look like paintings and Deakins's work in this film is essentially the best part of it.

Best Shot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E4J7EoUPS0

4. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

It's a known fact that I love practically everything about The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the cinematography is no exception. I've singled out the first movie because it's the one that really gives you a taste of how huge and epic the world of Middle-Earth really is, and how epic the rest of the trilogy will play out. Specifically when the Fellowship departs from Rivendell and begins the actual quest, there are some of the most epic sweeping shots I've ever seen in movies, when the group is trekking across the huge beautiful landscapes.
Best Shot: the sweeping shots of the fellowship as they begin their quest

3. Road to Perdition (2002)

The most beautifully shot gangster movie is done by the late great Conrad Hall, who was awarded posthumous Oscar for his spectacular work in this film. He previously won an Oscar for his work in American Beauty which clearly shows his versatility in cinematography as that film showcases confining shots of suburban living, whereas this film has wide shots of landscapes and cities. Almost every shot in this movie can be framed and put on a wall because it's all so picturesque and daunting. It also makes great use of tone, as the cinematography in the beginning conveys a cold atmosphere, and later evolves into a hopeful one. Yet it's always intense and is one of the main reasons I like this movie.

Best Shot: Paul Newman's death https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_4Sx5NtOPM

2. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

A film that you'll later see on a list when I make a Top 5 Epics list is Lawrence of Arabia, and one of the main aspects that makes it truly epic is that sweeping and widescale cinematography. This true story is about T.E. Lawrence, a British officer who aided the Arabians in gaining their indepedence from the Ottoman Empire and essentially is one of the most epic movies of all time. There's grand beautiful shots of the desert and expert camerawork in the battle scenes, and it always blends so perfectly with the epic musical score. The extremely wide cinemtography shots really conveys the hugeness and emptiness of the grand deserts, which really is a huge factor in the film. 

Best Shot: when Lawrence rescues a man in the Nefud Desert https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tuNR-uD_mE (start it around 1:20)

1. Children of Men (2006)

Children of Men is one of my favourite movies of all time, and I can never find an excuse to talk about it... until now! It's directed by Alfonso Cuaron and shot by Emmanuel Lebezki, both of which won Oscars for their work in Gravity this year. But I think this is truly their gem. On this list I've mostly been talking about beautiful wide shot cinematography, but this actually diverts from that. I love the cinematography in this movie that really helps in showing the grittiness of the world. Essentially the movie is about a not-too-distant future wherein the human race is now infertile and no one has been born in almost 20 years, but one girl actually gets pregnant so Clive Owen's character has to escort her to safety. The visual style of this movie is so gritty and actually feels like a very realistic post-apolocalyptic future. The film is famous for it's extensive use of long one-shot takes, which I absolutely love in movies. There are some single long takes that are around 10 minutes long, it's incredible especially because a lot of the time it's action happening in these long takes, not just dialogue. There's long takes through warzones and car chases, it's so crazy how it they can execute it so well. Especially when you think about it, because in most films they shoot the same scene from different angles over and over again and cut it every couple minutes if not seconds. But this movie's plethora of long takes require so much preparation, and they have to get the lighting and the perpesctives right at the right times, it's incredible how effecitvely and creatively that Lubezki executed this, playing a big role in why it's one of my favourite films.

Best Shot: either the beginning Coffee Shop scene (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJivXSErhB8), or the ending 10-minute one-take battle sequence (not on YouTube)

Captain America: The Winter Soldier - Noodles Review

9 out of 10 Noodles

    Marvel Phase Two added another movie to its repertoire, and no doubt the best so far, by far. Iron Man 3 wasn't exactly a homerun with me, and Thor: The Dark World was good. Luckily, the next story in Captain America's life is awesome. Captain America: The First Avenger was a solid movie and a good introduction to the character, but I thought it was the weakest link of Marvel Phase One (besides Iron Man 2, but we don't talk about that movie). I loved The Avengers, as evident in my Top 5 Superhero Movies list I posted the other day; and it really grounded Cap as a great character. Though Iron Man had the spotlight of that movie and Hulk stole many scenes, they did a good job of making Captain America not only relevant, but integral. And in this sequel, we get to see how he's coping with the present world and what he does. The guy was frozen in ice for almost 70 years, so I was really interested to see how he deals with modern times, especially in his own movie. He's doing his thing, working with SHIELD and still being a badass super soldier, but he's also a boy scout and an overall good person. You can tell he's the guy that SHIELD sends on their big missions, and the movie sort of opens up with one of these. It was awesome; you see Cap running through, strategically and quickly plowing through guys with his shield. The action was straight out of a Bourne movie and it actually fit really well. And that helped to make Captain America look even more awesome.

    Chris Evans has the role of Captain America, and he owns that role just like he did in the previous two movies. He really sold Cap's personality and ideologies, which was a crucial point to this movie. You see that although he works with SHIELD, he doesn't always agree with what's going on. Scarlett Johanssen is awesome/sexy as ever as Black Widow, and her character felt a lot more relevant here. Samuel L. Jackson, as well, was able to showcase his role as Nick Fury; I thought they gave him a lot to work with here as well as feeling more important. Towards the beginning of the movie you see he and Cap don't always agree on decisions of SHIELD, and it's great to see that kind of conflict; it gives the movie layers. There was a huge political layer to this film, almost to a point where you can classify it as partly a political thriller. But it was also a spy thriller type action movie, like The Bourne Ultimatum and Mission Impossible:Ghost Protocol. And it was so cool to see that incorporated into a superhero movie, especially since it really fit in the situations. And the situations in this movie remain favourably ambiguous for a good chunk. Going into the movie, I knew sort of that Captain America was in the modern world, and there's the Winter Soldier, but that's about it. The story has a bit of a political-mystery type theme to it, which actually works well. And it keeps our interest with that ambiguity, but also through some monumental action sequences. You see car's flipping over, Cap's shield flyin' around, etc. And there was a lot of great sound editing in this movie, to the point where it actually hits you; like if a car flips over, you can feel the impact it makes, so props to that.

    There's also the Winter Soldier, who surprisingly isn't as central as I expected. He was awesome and badass in virtually ever scene he's in (especially one scene in the trailer where he shoots a cable at Falcon and pulls him down), but he sort of was mostly a roadblock for most of the time; minus what mostly comics fans would know about him until it's revealed in the film. But he's not behind the stuff that's going on; Captain America and the gang are going about their adventure to save the world, and every now and then The Winter Soldier pops up to cause problems for them. Calling this movie Captain America: The Winter Soldier is almost like if Star Wars Episode I were titled "Star Wars: Darth Maul." He's an awesome character and has some great action scenes, I like how he tied in with the story; but at the end of the day he is ultimately just a bad guy in the way wherein the bigger picture of the conflict would still be there if he weren't. The way his character is introduced may be one of the best things of this movie, because he's so ominous and it's very well done; despite him not being part of the bigger picture plot.
    The bigger picture is still very interesting. This movie is actually very realistic and grounded for a superhero film. It very much feels like a real world and you can sort of believe that this is going on, but it still retains the fun and greatness that every superhero movie should. And it has that feel to the characters that The Avengers had, wherein they're all so well realized and they have so many inside jokes between them. That's testament to the writing, which is actually so good. I do absolutely love the action in this movie, but I was also very happy to see that it didn't have to rely on that to grab our attention. The dialogue was so natural and had such a well-realized feel to it, and it began to connect us to the characters and the situations they faced. To see that in this kind of movie is so awesome, and you see this characters taken seriously. And because the characters and relationships are so well-established, the political aspect of the film, as well the morals, seem so much more important and have heightened sense of tension. That consequently makes all the action sequences seem even more suspenseful, so it's great to see how that all connects and works out for this movie. And it stays mostly consistent with that. Albeit, there is one scene that revolves around a computer intelligence and stuff like that. It's important for the exposition of the plot, but I felt it didn't connect with the feel of the rest of the movie so it was a bit off for me. However, it was a pretty short scene so not much harm done. For the rest of the movie, it's in high gear, and the tone remains consistent with tension and awesomeness.
    Do you have to see Captain America: The First Avenger to understand this movie? Well, yes and no. It does make attempts to show you what you need to know for this movie, tying characters together and whatnot. But it's a sequel, which means that I'd recommend seeing the first movie to fully understand it all. However, Captain America: The Winter Soldier does what every sequel sort of should do: it steps up the game, it capitalizes on what was good with the first movie while making the characters even more realized and relatable. There's a great deal of action, all of which is done extremely well; but also a great deal of political and moral tension. It felt like a very grounded movie, which really aided in the substantial suspense it conveyed. Of the standalone Marvel films, I think Captain America: The Winter Soldier might be my favourite, as it earns 9 out of 10 Noodles.

The Grand Budapest Hotel - Noodles Review

9 out of 10 Noodles

    The Grand Budapest Hotel wasn't really on my radar up until very recently. I hadn't even heard of this film or seen any trailers until about a week before I saw it. Even watching the trailer, though, you really have no idea what this movie's gonna really be about, or what it's gonna be like. At first glance, I thought this was a drama, especially see that ensemble cast since most of them are hardcore dramatic actors. The movie, while still being very dramatic, is also extremely comedic. And that's what we get from writer/director Wes Anderson. The guy is such a unique filmmaker, and he's stayed true to that because I honestly have no idea how to describe The Grand Budapest Hotel. Is it funny? Yeah. Is it dramatic? Yeah. Is it quirky? Yeah. Is it an Oscar-worthy tour-de-force? Yeah. Is it unique? Oh hell yeah! And I keep saying the word "unique" because there's honestly no other way to describe the movie. It's a Wes Anderson feature with sharp dynamic writing and constantly changing yet consistent tones; but it's also even got some surprisingly gratuitous violence, outbursts of profanity, and even heartfelt romance; plus some really great suspense. It sounds like I just named the aspects of 10 different movies/genres, but yet this film has all of those seamlessly blended together, with the help of smart filmmaking and a star-studded cast.

    If I tried listing the whole starring cast of well-known talented actors in this movie, I'd probably fill up this whole post because it's literally filled with great talent in almost every role. However, it's obvious that the main star of the movie is Ralph Fiennes (aka Voldemort) as the concierge of the hotel, in what's probably the best performance I've seen so far this year. The movie start out with Jude Law's character talking to the character of F. Murrary Abraham. First off, let me say that it's so great to see F. Murray Abraham because I haven't seen him since 1984's Amadeus, in which I think he gave one of the best performances in movie history. He's still great here, 30 years later. But anyway, he tells Jude Law that he's the owner of the Grand Budapest Hotel, and then begins to recount his life as a young lobby boy that worked in the hotel, under the wing of Fiennes's character. He's played by a young first-time actor whose name I don't know, but he did a really good job, especially considering how much he had on his plate to handle, plus the intense amount of talent he had to share the screen with. The rest of the supporting cast, as I said, is huge, and they're all good; but one stuck out in my head: Jeff Goldblum. He has that familiar charisma that he had back in Jurassic Park and it's great. I have to say though, some of the characters did seem a little underused. It's hard to believe that this movie's only roughly 100 minutes, because it's got so much in it. With that, it can seem a bit crowded at points or clustered, and I think that if the movie were about 20 minutes longer (making it 2 hours), it would've been able to convey all of its genius at a more consistent manner. But regardless, virtually everyone was great in the film.

   While the enormous cast and incredible acting is a great component in this movie, it's got so much more to it. Like I said before, there's mature violence, gut-busting comedy, good romance, etc; what really surprised me was how well this movie portrayed suspense. Tension was so well done in this movie, and there was so much suspenseful intrigue. I wouldn't be so surprised if there was great suspense in a badass action movie like Taken, but I didn't really expect it in a drama-comedy that takes place in a European hotel. And that's the thing about this movie: you have no idea what to expect when you see it, and that's maybe the best thing about it. The movie's so damn original and unpredictable! It even almost feels like a fantasy at times, like this place isn't real; but the well-realized characters just bring it to us. The movie's really funny and incredibly intellectual. It's a complex story that goes at a fast pace so you really have to be alert throughout or else you'll miss something. There's a lot condensed into it, and that may be a minor downfall, as the film is thusly not accessible to all in the sense that it can be viewed and appreciated. But watching this film, I was entertained and mind-boggled at the same time throughout. And despite a crowded feeling and some other little gripes, The Grand Budapest Hotel is still an inredibly unique and smartly enjoyable movie, earning 9 out of 10 Noodles. 

Top 5 Superhero Movies

   Captain American: The Winter Soldier is coming up real soon, as will my review, so it only makes sense that this cycle's Top 5 should be based around one of my most anticipated films of the year. In supplement to being a movie guy, I've also always been a bit of a comic book nerd, so superhero movies are important to me, and have to impress me. Hopefully Captain America: The Winter Soldier will be able to do just that and break this list. I think it may be obvious what my number 1 is, but let's go down the list anyway!

Honourable Mentions:

Batman (1989)
The Incredibles (2004)

X-Men: First Class (2011)

Iron Man (2008)

5. The Avengers (2012)

This may be a generic pick because everybody might choose this; but isn't that what's so great about it? The Avengers was so appealing to almost everyone. Sure, it's not the perfect film, especially in terms of a thought-provoking plot. It was simple, but it still did it's job. So much had been leading up to it, and it was actually still great; we still got a taste of all our favourite characters; we got the team together; we got one of the most downright entertaining action movies out there, and it's fun for the whole family. These are what made The Avengers so awesome to me. It's obviously not a tour-de-force in cinema, but it's still a landmark film with awesome superhero action. It fully established the universe that Marvel had been setting up since Iron Man, and now it's opened the door for an awesome franchise.

4. Spider-Man 2 (2004)

While I have high hope for the Andrew Garfield Amazing Spider-Man 2, Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man 2 is right now the definitive Spider-Man movie for me. The first Spider-Man movie did a great job of introducing us to Peter Parker, as well as his nemesis, the Green Goblin; but Spider-Man 2 was able to do that on an amplifed scale, as well as convey Spider-Man's conflict with his greatest foe. You may think I'm talking about Doc Ock, and while he's awesome, I think that Spider-Man's greatest foe is ultimately himself. This film tackled that, and it even further humanized Spidey for us. It was great to see such well-done character development and dramatic complexity, that hadn't really been seen in superhero movies before. Plus, this movie capitalized on the awesome web-slinging action, making it even better than before; as well as giving us the perfect dose of our friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man. 

3. X2: X-Men United (2003)

Much like Spider-Man 2, X2 is a case where the predecessor was a great superhero movie but the sequel capitalized on its best components and surpassed it by a mile. X-Men was a revolutionary comic book superhero movie in that it introduced us to a slew of non-popular characters. Before that, most audiences only knew of the mainstream heroes like Batman, Superman, and Spider-Man. But X-Men opened the doors for comics that aren't well known to hit the screen and become mainstream. It did it awesomely, but X2 was even more awesome. The story and tone darkened, and we were able to better witness Wolverine as a damaged yet relatable character. The plot is excellent because while it deals with awesome action we come to expect in superhero movies, it brings the complex themes of politics and racism (eventually genocide). This brings together the good guy mutants and the bad guy mutants to stop the bad guy humans. And you gotta give to Magneto for being one of the greatest villains ever, most certainly among comics. His prison break scene is probably one of my favourite scenes out of any movie on this list, maybe even in movies in general. Besides Ian Mckellon's Magneto, the entire cast is big, giving us so many cool superheroes to identify with. And to know that X-Men: Days of Future Past will bring this cast back is so gratifying and makes me so hyped. 

2. Watchmen (2009)

Maybe the most underrated movie on this list is 2009's Watchmen. The original comic Watchmen comic book is personally my favourite comic of all time and often hailed to be one of the best (it was actually the only comic/graphic novel included in Time's Top 100 Books). Watchmen is a different kind of superhero movie. It's not bright and filled with action and hope. Actually, it's just oppositie because it's dark and full of despair. The Watchmen story holds a very mature plot about superheroes in a realistic world, on the backdrop of the Cold War, wherein various political and societal themes come into play. The superheroes don't have powers, besides Dr. Manhatten who's basically a dimensional god. It's not for everyone, due to it's highly mature themes and content, which contrasts it from most other superhero movies; but it's actually an incredibly interesting story with some of the most well-realized characters I've ever seen in superhero movies. The violence is gruesome, there's profanity and complex mature plot points. But best of all, the original comic book was said to be one of those that was "unfilmable" but yet this movie was able to capture most of the scenes right off the pages, convey its most crucial elements, add new ideas to make it more watchable as a movie, and adapt one of my favourite stories tto the big screen. And in the comic, there's little tidbits of backstory here and there of the backstory and history of the Watchmen, that you have to put together yourself. The film instead conveys the backstory together with tableu-type shots in the opening credits to the tune of Bob Dylan's "The Times They are A-Changin'" to make it more accessible and understandable for viewers; as well as one of my favourite film openings ever. I could watch that opening alone over and over again; as I could with this whole movie.

1. The Dark Knight Trilogy (2005-2012)

You saw it coming. The Dark Knight Trilogy is collectively my favourite superhero movies of all time. And I put them all together at the number 1 spot because firstly, I wouldn't have been able to mention as many awesome movies on this list if I split this up into the first three slots, and secondly, I sort of see this trilogy as the Batman epic, because it sort of ends at its roots. Batman is my favourite superhero, Christopher Nolan is my favourite filmmaker; hell, The Dark Knight is my third favourite movie of all time, while Batman Begins and The Dark Knight Rises are also in my top 50. This trilogy is legitimately a masterpiece that really began making superhero movies cool. It had the dark tone that Batman stories should have, great character complexities, amazingly realistic plots, gritty action, and some of the best villains ever put to film. You can't talk about these movies without talking about Heath Ledger. I mean, come on, he may've been a little crazy at the end of it all, but his interpretation and performance of the Joker was so perfect and so chilling, that he's probably even above Hannibal Lecter as my favourite movie villain of all time. It's sad that he died so soon, but we know that this is the definitive role that he'll be remembered by. Christian Bale kills it as Batman, and played a very convincing Bruce Wayne as well. Michael Caine was the perfect Alfred. Tom Hardy as Bane completely blew me away. Liam Neeson, Cillian Murphy, Morgan Freeman, Joseph Gordon Levitt, GARY FREAKING OLDMAN; there's so many to name and it's all perfection. As is the writing, the directing, the special effects, the cinematography, and the awesome score by Hans Zimmer. Christopher Nolan really killed it with these films; which is great because these movies are awesome, but also bad because it makes every other superhero film seem disappointing because they can never be this good. The Dark Knight Trilogy are the greatest superhero movies of all time, along with being some of the greatest films of all time.

Divergent - Noodles Review

5 out of 10 Noodles

   Teen angst movies can almost be their own genre nowadays. Whether we'd like to admit it or not, this film was greenlit for one reason only: the success of films based on teen books like Hunger Games, Twilight, and even Harry Potter. And in that respect, it doesn't bring much new to the table. Divergent is based on a popular book series of the same name by Veronica Roth that takes place in post-apocalyptic America, wherein people belong to separately specialized "factions," all under one oppressive government. Ring any bells (*cough cough* Hunger Games)? That's not it though; individuals in this world have to eventually undergo a test by an electronic Sorting Hat type thing, that tells whichever faction fits them best based on their personality (almost like the Sorting Hat in Harry Potter that places you in a house based on what you're like). The main girl, Tris, is found out to be what is called a Divergent; meaning she doesn't really fit into any of these specific faction. Apparently, the government is afraid of these rare Divergents because there's a possibilty that due to their free thinking mindset, they have the ability to revolt and overthrow the power. So Tris instead hides her Divergent-ness (I'll just make that a word) by joining the warrior-type faction. From then on she trains and trains and trains. 

    Now like I said earlier, Hollywood always has knack now for investing in movies based on popular young adults books series. And that's not always the best idea. They get lucky sometimes, as with The Hunger Games series, and then everything tries to play off of it. Unlike the Hunger Games, I have not read any of the Divergent books so I can't really say anything for how well of an adaptation it is. But I will say, that the story and writing in this film were very weak, and I wanna blame the source material there. I mean, most of this movie was just training and preparing for Tris's life. Tris is the shining point of this film, I think Shailene Woodley did a terrific job playing her, and she's really bringing herself into a great career. A lot of her emotional scenes can be likened to Jennifer Lawrence's role as Katniss, but one thing about Woodley is that she's so damn likable, like you wanna see her succeed and get behind her. She's got a trainer who also acts as a love interest, because of course it's a teen book movie, we must have a love interest! I felt he was only okay in the role, a bit wooden at times. The romance between them though was completely wooden and lacked chemistry. There was another badass trainer guy though too, he was awesome. Kate Winslet is also in the movie, and ya almost feel like she's just there to bring it some form of credibility. Of course, her character is important, but I feel like putting Winslet in the role was a bit of a shoehorn. She's good in the role, and you get the vibe that she's a mean government lady, but we didn't really even get much from her. There wasn't much material for her there, and I blame that again on the writing and the source material.  

    A lot of the things that happened in the story didn't really make sense or had holes, and yeah I blame the source material there again because I imagine that's how it probably happend in the book too. For example, there's one guy that's a Divergent, in which the government is literally hunting down the Divergent people, he has a huge ass tattoo that ultimately would just scream "Hey I'm a Divergent!" However, I will honestly say that once the training was over with and the climax kicked in, I did enjoy it. I think some of the emotional scenes towards the climax of this film were done well and convincingly. The action here was executred well, as were much of the stunts. We're undoubtedly gonna compare this to the other movie series based on books. However, it pleasantly surprised me because I thought I wasn't gonna like it at all. It's somewhere between The Mortal Instruments and the first Hunger Games for me, because the former was just an okay film but really missed the mark in appealing to fans or pulling in audiences, and the latter was effective in bringing in audiences and building the world/characters but wasn't exactly great. I don't think Divergent was great, but I'm happy to say it wasn't bad either, with a 5 out of 10 Noodles. The writing and romance are bland probably due to source material, but this movie still has enough to catch interest in viewers, thanks to a great lead actress in Shailene Woodley and a very promising final 20-30 minutes in the film. It was a little longer than it needed to be but kicked into high gear before the length could become too detrimental. The end doesn't leave much for you to think about, and I'm wondering where the sequels will even go. Still gonna see em though.

Top 5 Russell Crowe Films

Something new I'm gonna try to do is make a Top Five list relevant to a specific movie or theme during the week of a movie I review. So this time around, it was Noah, which got me thinking of Russell Crowe's best movies. He's a phenomenal actor, and has produced a couple of my favourite movies, as well a wholly consistent repertoire of roles.

5. American Gangster (2007)
I'm a huge fan of mobster/gangster films, so what better way to start off this list than with American Gangster. This is the most recent movie on this list, and barely edged out Man of Steel, which I thought Crowe was amazing in but didn't choose it due to how small his role was. Here, he plays a detective who's out to bring down the drug empire of Denzel Washington's character, Frank Lucas. It's a big and intense American crime movie which sort of the closest in style to that of The Godfather and Goodfellas because it just had that feel to it. The writing was brilliant and the characters were so complex that it grips your attention for its long runtime. As well as being legitimately dramatic with an intense climax, American Gangster shows that Russell Crowe's still got it.

4. Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)

In relation to his just released film, Noah, this movie also chronicles Russell Crowe on an epic adventure in the seas. Master & Commander is an intense period piece about a British captain that pushes his crew to the limits. The direction and technical aspects of this movie are spectacular: amazing sound editing and realistic ship; as well as the Oscar-winning cinematography. The director and cast did their jobs excellently. But Russell Crowe's performance as the weathered captain who's got so much on his plate but keeps on going; that was awesome. It's great to see when an epic adventure with great sound and scale can be capitalized on by a great performance.

3. L.A. Confidential (1997)
It could be argued that this is the movie that put Crowe on the movie star map. L.A. Confidential is one of the best written films of all time, conveying an intricate story that weaves together three different cops: Guy Pearce as the boy scout-type cop, Kevin Spacey as the corrupt Vice cop, and Russell Crowe as the gruffy roughed up badass cop; as they investigate a series of murders. The back-and-forth and the realistic dialogue could be argued to be the stellar aspect of this movie. But Russell Crowe really sells it in this movie, and you can tell that it seriously jumpstarted his career, showing the complexity and seriousness he could put into a character.

2. Gladiator (2000)

"Father to a murdered son. Husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance in this life or the next." I can't talk about this movie without mentioning that quote. Gladiator is one of the most epic films of all time, as well as probably the best display of downright vengeance I've ever seen in a movie. Everything about this movie just screams epicness: the production value, the huge scope, the realistic set design, the absolutely intense action sequences, and even the conversations that are had between characters. This is the movie that won Crowe his Oscar for Best Actor, and it was so well deserved because he was so amazing in this role as Maximus Decimus Meridius. You really saw the devotion in him and we were all behind him throughout the entire film. I can't speak enough about how much I love Gladiator, because it's one of the greatest movies of all time to me. But there is one more that places higher:

1. A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Right after he wins Best Actor and his movie wins Best Picture, he gives another stellar performance in another Best Picture winning movie the subsequent year. A Beautiful Mind is my favourite Russell Crowe movie and also, in my opinion, his best performance. He plays the real-life mathematician John Nash, an absolutely brilliant man who thought he was working in secret service cryptography but instead sees his life spiral downward into basically a nightmare. Keep in mind, that this film was a true story, and never before have I seen a real person so convincingly portrayed. A Beautiful Mind was the first time I ever saw a character in a movie and think, "Wow he's actually genuinely a genius;" not like Doc Brown from Back to the Future who's a wacky genius, but actually a realistic prodigy. And the way Crowe did every single mannerism, the way he spoke every single word, and the way he showed his emotions were so compelling, that this is not only the best Russell Crowe movie, but also one of my favourite films of all time.

Noah - Noodles Review

7 out of 10 Noodles

    Before anything is said about this movie, it should be taken into account that it's adapted from the biblical story of Noah's Ark. I say adapted, because it's not exactly how it plays out it in the Bible, or in any other religious text I know of that mentions him. This movie is an adaptation, so it takes creative liberties to make it a drama/tension-filled epic. While I have nothing against the Bible or the way things take place in it, I think that trying to watch this movie as a purist (judging it on its differences from the Biblical tale) would definitely diverge one's enjoyment of it. So, in my opinion, you should only watch this movie if you're going in just as a viewer who wants to see an epic adventure. That being said, let's talk about one of my most anticipated movies of 2013: Noah. As you might have guessed, it's about the biblical figure, Noah, and the events that occurred in his life that led him to build his famous Ark, so as to survive the great flood. Now, it's kind of one of those movies where you have a vague idea of what's gonna go down. Like in Titanic, we know that there's going to be a prestigious ship, and that it's eventually going to meet its demise via impact with an iceberg; yet we don't really know how the director will interpret such events or what the characters will be like. While this is certainly not on the same boat as the 1997 masterpiece, Noah has sort of the same notion wherein we know that he's gonna build an ark, we know there's gonna be rain and an epic flood that wipes out mankind; but the interpretation of such events and creative directions taken are completely new. Darren Aronofsky is a great character director, as well as great at creating tension; these were evident in his previous films, Black Swan, The Fountain, and the classic Requiem for a Dream. Those were, however, incredibly thought-provoking movies made on relatively low budgets, whereas Noah is a big-budget adventure. Luckily, this film still takes effect in creating great three-dimensional characters.

    Noah is played by Russell Crowe which, along with Aronofsky's direction, is mainly what piqued my interest to see this movie. And I must say that he owns this role; he perfectly captured that sense of intense devotion, almost to the point where you don't even know if you wanna root for him at some points, and others where you wanna keep cheering him on. It's great to see him interpret Noah as such a dynamic character, and the level of intensity he portrayed in almost every shot was greatly convincing. Jennifer Connelly plays his wife, and it's funny that the last time she played the wife of Russell Crowe, he was still a somewhat troubled but devoted character whose actions take an emotional toll on her. I thought she was good in this movie as well, especially in a scene where she argues with Noah. The rest of the family is also played well, Emma Watson in particular and Anthony Hopkins who we know annihilates every role. There's also a villain, played by Ray Winstone; I thought he was incredibly menacing and awesome in the role, but I didn't really always think his character fit into the film.

   With all the praise I'm giving to the acting, there has to be some takeaways. The writing of the film is good but not great; there are some great moments and quotes, but not all the story elements always feel necessary or fitting. And I'll be honest, about 10-15 minutes into this movie I was afraid I was gonna be gravely disappointed. In the beginning the movie really doesn't look like it knows where it's going, and it can even come off as boring. But once Noah gets started on that Ark, then the film picks up, it gains focus, and redeems itself. From then on, it consistently played out as a suspenseful and epic movie; but I can't deny that it really started off quite rocky. And that brings me to the big rock dudes known as the "Watchers." I didn't really think they needed to be there, other then to give us more valid reasons as to why Noah was able to build the Ark and fend off the bad guys in time. But they were pretty cool. The special effects were awesome; these were some of the best water destruction effects I've ever seen in a movie. When that flood kicks in, it was some of the coolest shit I'd seen in awhile, and at the end of the day, that's the thing that stuck out in my head: how awesome the actual flood was.
    This movie does also sort of serve as a social commentary on what mankind does to the Earth, and in that aspect it gets its point across; which is a great hinging point in Noah's character. It's not an overtly polarizing religious film like Passion of the Christ or Ten Commandments; I think Noah is one of those movies that can be watched as just an epic story, without really thinking about the its biblical roots. Though it does get off on a rocky start and has some pacing issues throughout; at the end of the day, it's got some great acting and some awesome epic moments to earn it a solid 7 out of 10 Noodles. It's not your typical Aronofsky film, but it does still have his trademark character complexity at its simplest form. I think if you were to plan on starting to watch Aronofsky's movies, this would definitely be the movie to start you off, because it's simple yet it introduces you to his style, and prepares you for the mind-numbing of his other films.