The Avengers Review

                THE AVENGERS…….since Iron Man dropped in 2008 the world has been waiting for the EPIC FAIL of the movie event that would could to be known as The Avengers. I mean, how it could be possible to make a movie that fans have been waiting for for more than 40 years could live up their every fantasy and expectation. Well, here’s the solution…get Joss Whedon for the job.  The writing’s witty, the action is quick and the humor hits the mark. It’s a wild ride that makes you want to come back for more.

                It’s hard to keep track of multiple characters, their motivations and their payoffs in films like this. So it’s understandable that there were some very worried people out there about whether it would become the Robert Downey Jr. show or the Captain America and The Avengers type flick.  The movie was at a good length that gave all of the characters time to develop and have their moment to shine.

                Now let’s talk a little bit about Joss Whedon. The man knows what he’s doing. I never took the time to check out his TV shows, Buffy or Angel and didn’t have a television when Dollhouse was on the air so I missed a lot. But I did fall in love with Firefly after watching the brilliant film Serenity and Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog (which inspired me into producing my own web series). When you’re watching these Whedonverse productions, it never crosses your mind that he would actually get handed the golden key to all geekdom. I mean, throughout conversations you would throw it out there with something like “oh it would be cool if he did this or it would be cool if he did that.” But you never seriously thought he would. Now it looks like hell has come into existence and thus forth frozen over and Marvel handed Joss Whedon the weight of one and a half billion drooling at the mouth fan boy fervor on his shoulders and said “work with it”. As a filmmaker, can you imagine that? “Here’s a movie that everyone wants to see and if you fudge it up they will all hunt you down and mutilate you” (pats you on the rear) “okay, now go out there and be somebody!” Talk about pressure, man. So not only is Joss directing this behemoth but he also wrote the thing too! Well, Joss has left my mouth on the floor with drool dripping from my tongue. I don’t know how, what, where, why he did it but he did. It’s time to tip our hats to the Whedon.

                The cast is top notch as usual. I loved the characters and the way to played off of each other. I could relate to the way they jumped down each other’s throats and had their quarrels. That’s what happens with there’s tons of testosterone in the room….or a lot of women. My favorite actors this time around was Robert Downey Jr. (of course), Mark Ruffalo was great as Bruce Banner and Tom Hiddleston as Loki. I have a soft spot for awesome villains.

                Well, you’ll be on the edge of your seat, your emotions will grow on end until the final climax and you will hoot and holler at the screen. Also, the girls I went to see the film with, enjoyed the man meat romping up and down the screen, as a matter of fact they're going to seeing again as we speak. See everyone will be pleased. The only hang up I had was that a few of the 3000+ visual effects shots looked a little unconvincing but other than that no real gripe from me. Get out there and see it! It’s a doozy this one, worth the wait and the money to see it in 3D on the big screen.

                I gave it a 9.5/10.

                                                                                                                                 Until next time, KJF

                                                                                                                                                                

The Hunger Games Review

My Hunger Games Review

                I know that this review is more than a month late but the film just opened here in the Dominican Republic this week. Anyway, here is my first movie review and analysis of the film The Hunger Games directed by Gary Ross based on the novel by Suzanne Collins.

                First off, I’ve never read one word of the literary trilogy, so I went into the theater emotionally neutral to the source material. I had seen the book sitting on store shelves for a few years but was never felt an impulse to pick it up and read the inner cover leaflet summary. I learned what it was about in the months leading up to the release of the film through all the hype and internet buzz and immediately thought that it was just a PG-13 version of the over the top, flamboyant and brilliantly gory Japanese novel/film Battle Royale. After the film was released and positive word of mouth spread gangrenous, it began to peak my interest.

                Look, I really don’t understand its comparison to the Twilight series other than the fact that it’s being targeting to 13 year old girls. The trailers for HG actually made me WANT to see the movie see the movie instead of groan, cringe and vomit.

                Well, I’ve seen the film and I want entirely write it off. The story and acting were pretty solid. It was a good premise and set up to this cinematic universe. The actors brought their A-game with them this time around. It was easy to become emotionally invested in the CHARACTERS. Within the first reel of the picture, I felt the tension and anxiety felt by Katniss, her party Peeta and their family, leading up to the inevitable battle to the death that is showcased on the second act. I also loved the transition from the period piece feel of the backwoods coal town to sprawling modern metropolis and the awe inspiring reaction of our characters. Since being raised in Alabama and small town Central Pennsylvania to going to New York City and moving to the Dominican Republic afterwards, I could relate to this drastic change by the characters and their need to fit in to survive.

                What I could have done without is the ADHD shaky cam that permeated and ruined the first act. It added nothing to the story and made me feel nauseous. Also, the few visual effects sequences that they had in the film, to me, were not convincing. Maybe it’s because I have a little bit of knowledge in what’s involved in pulling off a convincing VFX composite, but I usually work on projects with no money versus a film that’s being produced for more than $50 million. When I saw the visual effects it took me out of the engrossing experience of the film and forced me to start criticizing the mistake. I also noted that the pacing of the film in general was slow for my taste. There wasn’t any room made for dry wit, quick humor or stylized action sequences, which given the material were probably not appropriate for this kind of thing anyway. It taxed my patience a bit to finally get to the games and once we were there to get to the next lackluster action sequence.

                Recently, there’s been a lot of talk about the replacement of director Gary Ross. Well, I can he’s not going to be missed. This is a kind of movie where you don’t pay attention to WHO brought it to the screen, you just care about it being ON THE SCREEN. It’s a total franchise picture like the Harry Potters, Twilights and original Star Wars films. When Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend, Constantine) takes over the reins for the sequel Catching Fire, it’s going to be the same thing. All we want is a good time at the cinema. Oh and another thing, though I enjoyed James Newton Howard’s score while I was watching the film, now I don’t remember why…hmmm, imagine that.

                Well, overall, great acting and premise made The Hunger Games worth checking out on the big screen. Maybe not the best executed adaptation to date but it’s easily forgiving because I actually CARED about the characters and not wanted them killed off in the first 10 minutes. I give the picture a solid 7/10.

                Next week, I will be writing a review for the highly anticipated Marvel mash up, The Avengers.

Until next time

KJF

SUPEZ: BOY FULL TRAILER ONLINE

Hey check out the new SUPEZ: BOOM OF YOUTH FULL TRAILER online on Vimeo or Youtube!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhqTNLD7R0M or http://vimeo.com/39574733

SUPEZ teaser of the trailer

I've noticed now that movie studios are using the custom of making teasers of their trailers before the trailers are released. I was thinking today, we should follow suit, whet people's appetites for the SUPEZ: BOOM OF YOUTH web series and see what response we get.

Here is the link to the "teaser" to the trailer. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PGvn-_A5jA&list=UURYBzZNm1rVgin2XB1t1gXQ&index=1&feature=plcp

These are some of our new superheroes from the upcoming web series SUPEZ: BOOM OF YOUTH.

A nice bunch of kids...

SUPEZ - A WEB SERIES

It's been about 2 months since we've wrapped filming on SUPEZ: BOOM OF YOUTH. A web series that I'm actually proud of and can't wait to showcase to the world. It's still a long haul until we can premiere the first episode because there is so much visual effects, editing and sound editing we have to do first.

I'll be writing about the experience to keep me sane!