Reviews

The apocalypse leading to the extinction of humanity is almost imminent as the invasive species known as "The Others" release five deadly waves onto the surviving humans of Earth. The 5th Wave is yet another young-adult film featuring a teenage survivalist as the protagonist and a world where manipulation and trust are issues set by the main antagonist.

Joining a group of many beloved heroines, similar to the likes of Divergent Series and the Hunger Games, the 5th Wave features female protagonist, Cassie Sullivan (Chloë Grace Moretz), as a high-schooler who rapidly changes into a skilled combatant who struggles to stay alive and is lost between the sentiment within her and the events that unfold after the conclusion of the fourth wave.

The film is much like countless of other young-adult films, clichéd and cringe-worthy, but has certain redeeming qualities that manage to make it at the very least enjoyable for entertainment purposes. The 5th Wave attempts to show the audience an alternative present-day reality, in a mediocre technique that renders the film slightly slow-paced and predictably dull. An addition made to the film was a pointless romance between Cassie and Evan Walker (Alex Roe), a man Cassie creates a brief alliance with so that her bullet wound could be cured. This devotion Evan develops towards Cassie is much too sudden, and leaves the audience in confusion as a result of its meaningless effect to the story as a whole.

As the fifth wave begins and the US army begins to gets ready to "take back the advantage", Colonel Vosch (Liev Schreiber), an Other in the guise of the US army's leader of an attempt to get rid of the latter, manipulates the kids who have survived the as aforementioned waves to attack and kill off the rest of the human race. Amongst these kids include Cassie's brother, Sammy Sullivan (Zackary Arthur), who she is desperately trying to save from the clutches of the Others. During this attempt, Cassie leaves Evan and runs into her old crush, Ben Parish (Nick Robinson), and works together with him to retrieve her brother and evacuate the base before Evan detonates it and destroys it completely. After a thrilling, yet clichéd mission that involves the main protagonists, Vosch, and Sammy, Cassie eventually manages to escape the army base with Ben, and goes AWOL with the entirety of Squad 53.

Despite being captivating in its own way, the 5th Wave fails to maintain originality and delivers many scenes that are very similar to those in the young-adult genre in general. Creating a reality where the audience eventually rules out that the protagonists would survive the chase anyway, the 5th Wave fails to make us sympathize with some of the characters and lacks creativity that could have made the film stand out more in the line of many countless others of the same plot and ideas as this one.

The film does have its own merits that manages to help it redeem itself from disaster. One of these includes the enthralling acting by the actresses and the actors. Both Chloë Grace Moretz and Maika Monroe delivered an amazing performance and played their respective characters brilliantly, allowing the scenes to seem more believable and realistic. The male leads, Alex Roe and Nick Robinson also played their characters with such perfection that allowed the film to maintain a certain spell over the audience.

Throughout the film, the pace was rather slow. However, it had a variety of scenes that managed to pick up the pace, creating tension and adding thrill to your viewing experience. To ease the tension, the film includes both humor and exhilaration and applies them to the right times and places in the scenes.

All in all? The film is ultimately satisfying for the casual movie watcher and might spark interest into some of its viewers. The film is thrilling and manages to hold a certain charm from within- never losing the audience's attention from the beginning to the end. While it does has its own flaws and deficiencies, the film does redeems itself with remarkable acting and captivating scenes. The 5th Wave stands strong in its own way and is yet another sophisticated film on its way to join many in the YA film genre.

Personally, I actually enjoy the Hunger Games series. The first three films were amazing, or at least satisfying, and with that in mind, I had huge expectations for the finale. Due to the split of the Mockingjay into two films, I believed that this one would be packed with pure ingenuity, and a lot of action, and that all the talking and introductions would have already gone to the previous film.

Unfortunately, this was not the case. As much as I hate to say it, I was disappointed with Part 2 of the Mockingjay, for a couple of reasons.

The first of those reasons is just, plain, excess talking. Continuous talking to drag the film along. There is no depth to what the characters are talking about, and it's just plain tedious and boring. As far as the film goes, it's just action, then talking, then action, then talking. Rinse, and repeat. Although some parts might have been fairly memorable, or even slightly necessary, most of the talk is inessential.

Another issue with the film is the slow pacing it had. The talking contributed with the pacing, and it took roughly 45 minutes in the movie to actually be able to see any action scenes at all. To drag on the film, an unnecessary story about the use of propaganda was made, leaving viewers highly uninterested and wondering about when the Part 2 would pick itself up, and enter into the story of war. As though that wasn't enough, drama enters the film drastically, allowing many of the scenes to be filled with emotional outbreaks, making the film more depressing than it should be. These emotional outbreaks, and the overall pacing of the action scenes did more harm than it did good, as it ends up losing the audience's attention through the unintentional scattering of the scenes between drama and action.

The final thing that griped me was how the ending was stretched further than it should be. For fans of the franchise that have read the books, the ending was definitely performed well, and brought the text up to the screen. However, it was made to be highly predictable, and as a result of that, it lost its effectiveness and impact to the story. The epilogue, which was approximately another 23 minutes added to the film, was extremely dull, and stretched the film more than what it could have been. Although I understand the need of showing the viewers the relationship between Peeta and Katniss after the events on Panem, it could have been made shorter, and slightly more entertaining.

Overall, the film, although not the best in the franchise, was exhilarating and fun to watch. The actors/actresses truly gave it their all, and that itself gave an extra bonus to the film. This film is definitely a mandatory viewing for all citizens of Panem, and for the fans of the Hunger Games.

"Nothing can prepare you for the end."

I'm not gonna lie, this film is basically high school story meets spy thriller for teens. Agent 83 (Hailee Steinfeld) works for a government group named Prescott, which teaches orphans at a young age to kill targets by following mission profiles. Victoria Knox (Jessica Alba), a weapons dealer, is one of the targets of Hardman (Samuel L. Jackson), the leader of the Prescotts, is looking for. In an encounter with Knox, Agent 83 is reported inactive, and Agent 84, another Prescott, takes over.

Wanting to have a normal life like normal people, Agent 83 goes undercover with the name, Megan, as an exchange student from Canada. At first, Megan faces a lot of pressure from high school, but eventually learns to face it upfront and to stick with her new family. At the same time, Victoria Knox escapes prison, and plans to kill Megan once and for all.

Acting was pretty good to brilliant in this film. Hailee Steinfeld was believable, and she really did well to act her role as a government spy and a high schooler. Both Jessica Alba and Samuel L. Jackson were brilliant, and it seemed as though they were enjoying their roles. The rest of the cast were good or brilliant as well, some were even impressive.

The plot points were laced out well and were easy to follow through. However, there are some scenes in the film that weren't necessary, for instance, Gooch's party. They could have used another way to lay out the scenes for boyfriend-girlfriend relationships, but nonetheless, the film was entertaining and at the very least, watchable.

Despite the good acting and plot, the action scenes were very mediocre, predictable, and at some points, boring. For example, there was a scene were Agent 84 reveals herself as a double agent, and attacks Megan. The scene was filled with boring, monotone, speeches and dissing, and then ended with a predictable stab by Liz (Dove Cameron), one of the people in Megan's new family.

The ending scene was predictable and clichéd with Victoria Knox taking over Megan's new family and having a one on one duel with Megan. Knox pulls out the clichéd "He (in reference to Hardman) won't be back" quote, and finds out that he came back for Megan. Although the scene was at least slightly entertaining, it was too easy to guess what was going to happen next.

I suppose, for a teen film, it was overall, entertaining and watchable. Although the film had some mediocre and boring moments, this is a film you can definitely decide to watch in your free time.

Rating: 7/10

I was quite impressed by Godzilla (2014), as it surpassed my expectations and was an exciting ride from the beginning to the end.

Godzilla (2014) is mostly placed in the modern day, where a creature, known as Godzilla, is hidden from the public eye by the government since 1954. However, fifteen years after the discovery of the Godzilla, two more creatures, known as MUTO's, wreck havoc in the city, along with Godzilla. Ford Brody (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), is a Navy officer who works alongside the Navy to stop these monsters. However, when the monsters head to San Francisco, he must face the responsibility of defeating these monsters and protecting his wife, Elle Brody (Elizabeth Olsen), his son, Sam Brody (Carson Bolde), and the whole world from the danger these creatures can bring.

To start off, Godzilla himself was not seen in the first half of the film, besides in short glimpses at his basic design. However, it adds suspense to the film, and makes you wonder how he looks like. The design on Godzilla was well done, and believable for the most part. The old lizard look is still there, but there is a modern feel to the character as well. I believe the way the made Godzilla on the screen was spectacular, and it couldn't be done any better.

The acting in this film was pretty good, and the actors/actresses seemed to fit in their roles. The actors managed to let their acting go with the flow, making the film more enjoyable and easier to watch. The CGI in this film was also impressive, especially in the design for Godzilla (stated above). The other two monsters looked realistic as well. This film perhaps has one of the best CGI I've seen so far, in 2014 and 2015 films combined.

There was excellent character development in the film, and you really got to connect to them. Characters such as Ford had a long backstory since the beginning of the film, and that helped make you understand his character more than you would without. The only problem about this film was that action was okay to good. It was pretty ordinary, and nothing was surprising or very impressive. Godzilla didn't really have an action scene until near the middle of the movie, which was a disappointing factor for me. When he finally does appear in the film, however, he is given mediocre actions scenes against both the humans and the MUTO's. Although there is room for improvement, the action scenes were at the very least, satisfying, and added an interesting touch to the film.

Overall, this film easily surpassed the standards for a Godzilla movie. It was fun, thrilling, and was an exciting ride from start to finish. Although the action scenes were mediocre, the acting, character development, and storyline makes up for it. If you want to watch an interesting and well made monster film, do yourself a favor and watch this. This is the Godzilla film all the Godzilla fans have been looking for.

Honestly, this is one of the worst superhero movies I've seen.

After Tim Story's Fantastic Four films, I was pretty glad that Fox had decided to reboot the Fantastic Four and start anew. I thought that maybe, Fox might get things right and finally make the Fantastic Four movie we've all been waiting for.

Instead, Fox has given us a film with no meaning and no character development. The film starts off with Reed Richards as a kid, who is trying to invent a teleporter. Ben Grimm eventually helps him, and the two become best friends. A few years later, Reed and Ben try the experiment again at the science fair, which attracts the attention of Dr. Franklin Storm from the Baxter Building. Dr. Storm offers Reed a full scholarship to work at the Baxter Building, where Reed meets Victor Von Doom, Johnny Storm, and Susan Storm. Together, they build a larger version of a teleporter, and enter a new dimension. There, they all get their powers.

To start off, the film has a solid cast (Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, and Jamie Bell). Acting was OK to good. The only bad thing was that they didn't seem to fit in their roles.

However, despite the cast, the film had little to no backstory for any of the characters. Besides Reed and Ben, we have no idea who the characters were like in the past, their childhood, etc.

After Susan, Johnny, Reed, and Ben get their powers, the film starts becoming boring. In fact, once the government becomes interested in the Four, the film goes on a dark and dull path. There is absolutely no meaning to the plot. The government takes interest in the dimension (now known as Planet Zero) that the Four have visited, and forces Dr. Storm and Reed to build a new, advanced teleporter to help their military get there.

Once the military reaches the dimension, they find Victor Von Doom, who was thought to be dead. With no reason whatsoever, Doom takes on a dark path and wants to destroy Earth and create his own world in Planet Zero.

Just when things could get interesting, the film continues being dull. The fight between Doom and the Four was incredibly boring and predictable. Doom, who is one of the most powerful beings in the comics, is made to look like a weird machine with weak powers. The Four was also made to look weak against Doom, when their powers can do much more in the comics. The only good thing about the final fight in the film was the CGI, which was not impressive, but okay.

Overall, this film was fantastically boring. The end was cheesy, and the film is highly predictable and dark. Out of the many superhero titles, this is perhaps one of the worst films out there. Even if you are curious or want to see how bad it is, you are better off skipping this film and saving your money.

Judging from many of the other X-Men movies and Marvel movies in general, I thought this would be as good as those before it. Once I heard that Deadpool, Wolverine, and Gambit were all going to be in one film, I was sold. I decided that this was a must-watch.

I was wrong.

There was too many characters, so each of the characters were not developed well. Many of the mutants we know of, including Wolverine and his brother, are cast in the government's squad, Team X. Since there were too many characters, the film failed in the character development. Characters such as Gambit and Blob barely add to the film, and were just there for the sake of adding more characters to the film.

The acting in this film was not that good either. Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool was OK, and I have to say that Hugh Jackman as Wolverine was a good choice. Besides that, acting was spotty and at some areas, awkward. Something felt missing, and it felt like the actors weren't that interested in their roles in this film.

The only good part of this film was the action. There were many fight scenes that were epic, but at the same time, awkward. The scenes weren't nearly that intense.

"X-Men Origins: Wolverine" wasn't as good as it possibly could have been. With bad character development and awkward acting, this film is one that can be skipped.

For a 2011 film, I believe this was simply amazing. It was because of this particular film that I grew interested in the X-Men- before that, I never really thought they were interesting, with the exception of Wolverine and Deadpool and others.

This film had a fantastic storyline, starting with Charles Xavier and Raven's backstory and Erik Lensherr's backstory. From there, they became full-grown adults, or mutants, and will soon meet each other and create a team to help the government.

The acting in this film was simply spectacular, primarily Micheal Fassbender as Magneto. I loved his acting, and it gave a nice, menacing feel that a villain should have.

The effects in this film was over-the-top, and there was a adequate amount of action. The scenes were just right for its age group, it was not too violent. At the same time, the scenes were awesome, especially those with Micheal Fassbender and James McAvoy.

Over all, this film is one of the best X-Men movies to date. The actors truly gave it their all. If you're a X-Men fan and like a good action and sci-fi film, do yourself a favor and watch this.

This review may contain spoilers.

Frankly speaking, I'm disappointed with Tomorrowland.

I watched this movie due to the fact that I recently went to Disneyland's Tomorrowland, and the cast itself. The trailer portrayed a world where nothing was impossible, and the beauty of the place was stunning. There was also over-the-top action, with brilliant effects.

Thinking that the movie will be the same, I walked into the theater with high expectations, believing that it would be an amazing movie, which might be on par with Avengers: Age of Ultron.

It was not.

It had its good moments, but it had a lot of cons.

Let's start with the pros- First off, the movie's effects were brilliant. You could really see the beauty of Tomorrowland, and how it was a place where the world's smartest minds could meet up and do everything they can think of. It was a brilliant idea.

Another idea that was simply amazing was the fact that there was a rocket that could come out from the Eiffel Tower, which I thought was amazing. The effects were good, and I was really captivated by the scene.

Lastly, the acting was OK, some of the actors made the scenes believable, primarily Raffey Cassidy as Athena.

Now to the cons- The movie felt very...hollow. It had holes in its plot, and the whole idea of the film was not exactly developed well. The film's villain, Nix, didn't appeal to me as a very menacing and dangerous villain, instead, he felt like he was just there to create a monitor and tell the world that it will die.

Next, the action in this movie wasn't what I imagined it'd be. Judging from the trailer, I was expecting a futuristic action film by Disney, but that wasn't the case. All the film used was guns that were OP, and self-destructing "robots".

The story wasn't the best either. Like the name suggests, Tomorrowland appears in the film for a short scene with young Frank Walker and Athena. Then, for about 80% of the rest of the film, Tomorrowland was no where to be seen, only in small glimpses when Casey touches the pin. After Athena, Casey, and Frank actually go to Tomorrowland, we no longer get to see the beauty of it, and instead see a world that is practically destroyed and abandoned.

The ending was primarily interesting either, with Athena's "death" or "self-destruction", which lead to Frank and Casey destroying Nix's monitor and saving the world. There wasn't any action there, besides the explosion Athena makes, and the bomb used to close the door, leaving Nix and Frank out on Earth. Nix was practically useless, after a pillar dropped on him. All he did was create a monitor and shoot Athena, which would lead to her self-destructing and saving the world.

When the movie ended, I sat there for a while through the credits feeling quite disappointed, mostly because of the high expectations I had for it. I actually felt as though there was something missing. Tomorrowland had a lot of potential, but it failed to execute it. The effects were good, and the acting was OK. The villain, as I said before, wasn't exactly menacing, but I suppose it works for a PG movie.

In the end? This movie is great for families with kids that are 7+. However, despite that and the stunning visual effects, it is a movie you can definitely pass on.

For your information, this review includes spoilers, and may reveal plot points and other scenes.

Now let's get to the point. This movie was pretty good, with amazing action, effects, and acting. There were a few minor flaws(which movie doesn't?), but overall, the movie was great.

Let's start with the minor flaws. First off, Quicksilver and his twin sister, Scarlet Witch, appear on "Team Ultron". However, his character wasn't developed well, at least not yet.Therefore, when he died, there wasn't that much emotion, besides a"quick" sadness and sympathy for him and especially for his sister.

Next, out of the blue, Hawkeye shows up with a wife and kids. There is no explanation whatsoever, and apparently no one knew this. In the previous movie, people (including me) thought Hawkeye and Widow might have something to do with each other, but according to this movie, that was never the case.

Captain America: "Sorry for barging in on you (Hawkeye's family)." Iron Man: "Yeah, we would have called ahead, but we were busy having no idea you existed."

On a similar note, Black Widow suddenly has a "thing" with Bruce. She even considers running away with him, away from the fight, away from Ultron. This is completely out of character. In the first Avengers movie, she even stated this: "Love is for children". So why, all of sudden, she is willing to run away for love?

Now to the good things about this movie:

Action- Brilliant. There was amazing fight scenes,from the beginning to the end. The effects were epic, and made the scenes look realistic. From Scarlet Witch's power to the Hulkbuster armor and the fight against the Hulk, the action was amazing.

Character Development- As I said before, the twins and Hawkeye's character wasn't developed that well. Besides that, the characters in this film were pretty well developed, and had new and epic suits. I liked Cap's new suit the most, as it was a nice mix of color.

Voice Acting- All the characters did pretty well. Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson did brilliant accents, and James Spader was amazing on his voice acting for Ultron. It was dark, yet humorous.

Acting- All the actors/actresses did pretty well in each of their roles. I especially liked it when Thor/Chris Hemsworth's expression changed when Captain America/Chris Evans managed to make his hammer budge.

Mid-Credits Scene- This was probably one of the best scenes of them all. You get a glimpse at Thanos, inferring that he would appear in the next Avengers movie.

The final scene before the credits was also very intriguing. Cap and Widow apparently have to work with a new Avengers team, which consists of Vision, Falcon, War-Machine, and Scarlet Witch. This could be interesting, and I look forward to seeing them work as a team.

All in all, this movie was amazing. Although it had its own flaws, the movie was definitely worth the money. If you are wondering whether to watch this movie or not, the answer is easy. If you want to see an action-packed movie with the Avengers facing Ultron, go ahead and watch the movie. You wouldn't be disappointed, especially if you are a fan of action movies and MARVEL.

Before the movie came out, I decided to try one of the free comics from Marvel Unlimited. I found not one, but two, comics about the Guardians of the Galaxy. Not knowing who these characters were, I wanted to learn who they are. There, I learned about the characters Star-Lord and the rest of the gang.

Therefore, when the movie came out, I was pretty interested in it. For a while, however, I decided not to watch it, because I thought it wouldn't be as great as another Marvel movie, Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

After debating on it, I decided to go ahead and try the movie. It was brilliant.

The humor made the movie funny. At the same time, however, we get amazing action with great CG for the characters, Rocket Raccoon and Groot.

The movie also did fairly well introducing the characters, such as Star-Lord (primarily), Rocket, Groot, Drax, and Gamora.

The Guardians come together unexpectedly, and eventually become a team to save the galaxy from the evil clutches of Ronan the Accuser. With the help of the Nova Corps, the Guardians managed to do so.

With amazing acting and CG, the movie was unexpectedly good. This was another great movie in Marvel's Phase Two.

Contains spoilers, pass this review if you don't want to see any spoilers, such as end scenes and more.

I actually wasn't planning to watch this particular movie, until my friends told me it was a good movie and that I should watch it.

I decided to try it and see how it goes. I instantly fell in love with Baymax. He's huggable and simply adorable. Along with that, he's a HEALTHCARE companion! It was certainly a HILARIOUS movie, and I enjoyed every last bit of it.

I love how that Hiro, originally a boy who was interested only in bot fights, decides to do something big- starting with joining the nerd lab. There. he meets people like Wasabi, Fred, Go-Go, and more.

This movie also played with your emotions. And no, not just a little bit, but a lot. Disney seriously did a good job doing that. This movie was one of those that actually almost made me cry. Near the end, Baymax had supposedly "died" and that made me very emotional. I was so happy that at the end, Hiro managed to make another Baymax using the chip the original Baymax had left behind.

All I have to say is that this movie is definitely one worth watching, especially if you like humorous animated films.

This contains spoilers.

I did watch this film late in 2014, but once I did, I instantly fell in love with it. I re-watched this film many times.

First off, Captain America returns, working under S.H.I.E.L.D. After the unexpected "death" of Nick Fury, Rogers finds himself a fugitive of S.H.I.E.L.D. He and Black Widow soon realize that S.H.I.E.L.D was actually taken over by Hydra, and are determined to stop them from controlling the world.

This film exceeded expectations and easily was better than Captain America: The First Avenger. With the return of his best friend, Bucky Barnes, as the Winter Soldier, this film was certainly amazing.

The soundtracks matched perfectly in the film, especially when Cap was taking down the Quinjet.

The introduction of Falcon, in this film, was also pretty interesting. Falcon has a suit which allows him to fly (no, not an Iron Man type of suit, instead a suit with wings). This helped Cap a lot, since Cap can't exactly fly.

This film might be one of the best movies in the Marvel MCU yet. At least, it is to me. 10/10