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carrotbastard
Reviews
The Maze Runner (2014)
It's like a consolidation of The Hunger Games and The Truman Show, definitely warranting of a view.
I wasn't entirely sure what to expect of this film when I'd agreed to accompany my younger sibling in viewing it, though, I was pleasantly surprised by its engrossing story and visceral ways of elucidating it through plot events as the film went along. The acting was mostly exceptional and the CGI was incorporated resourcefully enough to avoid encroaching upon the vicarious experience the film tries to convey.
My only veritable beef with the film resides with the gaping plot holes and scenes that struck me as though they were hastily thrown in by the writers out of obligation (most notably a scene preceding the ending, which was an absolutely flagrant attempt at implementing a regurgitated Hollywood cliché rivaling the intrusiveness of the Wilhelm Scream), everything else sufficed by my standards. If you're interested in viewing a dystopian thriller, I'd opine The Mazer Runner to be a fantastic candidate.
Godzilla (2014)
Strangely refreshing implementation
I'm not usually one to leave reviews under the circumstances I enjoy a film, as I would opine it makes more sense to leave them as a means of informing others of films that aren't worth their time, but, I feel compelled to make an exception for this film due to how overly stigmatized it is without sufficient criteria. I'll admit that I had prevised this to be another gimmicky, Michael Bay-esque train wreck upon viewing the trailers, yet, it seemed to maintain a reasonably engaging story along with convincing pseudo-science to explain the presence of the monsters in the first place.
I would, however, opine that the character development was very lack-luster and the settings throughout the events of the film were void of any novelty whatsoever (I'm not quibbling about the fact that it takes place in Tokyo, I'm referring to the actual infrastructure and microcosmic settings throughout the film).
So, in short, while it's nothing Kubrick and Spielberg would be groveling over, I would say that it's worth a view.
Divergent (2014)
It's like watching "The Hunger Games" while being water-boarded
Goodness gravy gracious, I don't even know where to begin berating this train wreck of a film. I suppose I'll begin by criticizing the fact that the characters had little to no development whatsoever. I mean, good lord, characters that were hastily introduced during the first few minutes of the film and scarcely mentioned amid the film were hurriedly brought back with the intention of implementing those typical Hollywood cliché "PLEASE DON'T DIE ON ME, PLEASE!" scenes. I'm not insinuating that there is anything awry about designing characters to simply exist and complete the fictitious paradigm, but rather that the writers should be privy of the fact that the audience could care less if they die later on. The acting was also astoundingly mediocre. Even during the resolution of the film's primary conflict, you can discern an incredibly cringe inducing, spurious inflection in the antagonist's voice as she frustratedly reacts to her defeat with irritable overused phrases such as "NO, WHY YOU." This film also resorts to "shocking" or "plot twist" scenes roughly every five minutes. I've no antipathy for those personally, though, after the first 20 minutes of consistent "OH NO" moments, the audience becomes far too exhausted to care anymore.
I direly wish these were all the caveats I had noticed while viewing this film, but, unfortunately, I could continue raving for an additional 5 unnecessarily long paragraphs if I direly wanted to. Alternatively, I'll conclude this review by sufficing to say that I would recommend this film to no one under any circumstances ever. It's nothing more than a try hard, egregious attempt at creating an edge-of-your-seat experience for the audience and is far more probable to leave them anticipating those enrapturing strings of text we call the credits.
The Nut Job (2014)
Terrible, forced, cringe inducing pile of garbage
Before I begin berating this film, I would just like to preface that I would have considered it warranting of a 1 had it not been for the sufficing animation quality. This film is everything amiss about the cinema consolidated into one grotesque, insufferable mess. The pacing shows a stark lack of energy essential to this kind of film, which leaves the audience constantly expecting some kind of climax that the film never really manages to deliver, it's encumbered with purposeless characters and unexplained plot events (most notably a certain elderly character's antipathy for a dog whistle). In addition (as if everything previously mentioned weren't enough) the film has a completely incongruous scene in which the characters begin euphorically dancing to Gangnam Style, as well as a gimmicky, overdone dancing credits sequence involving the presence of a computer animated Psy for no explicable reason. Usually films tend to show a vestige of concern for subtlety when resorting to demographic pandering, though, this film just suffocates you with it.
So, in short, unless you're searching for some ludovico technique material, avoid this film like the plague.