Legion

Jessie's thoughts:
3½ pops

Now, when I first saw the trailer for Legion I thought that it was going to be a bad combination of Constantine and Terminator. However, the more I watched the trailer the better it looked and the more excited I got for this movie. After watching it this weekend, I gotta say that this movie is exactly what I thought it was going to be. They totally combined the story lines of Constantine and Terminator and ended up with Legion. Unlike my original opinion, though, I don’t think that it was necessarily a bad combination. In fact, I kind of loved this movie. Now, in order to understand why I liked this movie as much as I did, you should probably know that I love action/horror movies and Legion was right up that alley. Also, Constantine and Terminator are two of my all time favorite movies so of course I’d love a movie that combined the two!

The action scenes were incredible and there were plenty of them so I was definitely entertained throughout the movie. There were a couple of parts that the dialogue seemed to be getting a little long-winded, but then someone would kill something and I’d be all interested again. I loved the way that Paul Bettany portrayed his character, Michael. He did a fantastic job of bridging the line between soldier of God and just being downright crazy and actually made Michael seem very realistic which I don’t consider to be a very easy task. I also thought that Dennis Quaid and Tyrese Gibson were amazing but come on, it’s Dennis Quaid and Tyrese Gibson. I’ve never seen a movie that they weren’t incredible in. However, I was very disappointed in the actors that played Jeep and Charlie. Jeep was played by Lucas Black who I’ve seen be so great in other things. In this, though, they totally could have changed actors and I would not have even noticed let alone cared. I don’t understand what went wrong there! Charlie, Adrianne Palicki, should have been the main focus of this movie and she should have been someone that you felt for and wanted to root for. But… I really couldn’t force myself to care too much about her. Instead, I was blown away by Paul Bettany and found myself really empathizing with his character and wanting him to survive more than Charlie. I also thought the chemistry between Charlie and Jeep was so incredibly forced and almost painful to watch. It seemed to me like they just threw in this almost love story between the two characters just because they could. This should have been an action movie through and through and in order to do that, they should have just left out most of the scenes between Charlie and Jeep.

However, the action scenes were definitely great and I did really like the almost zombie apocalypse but for a reason thing they had going on in the movie. I also think that a lot of the reason that I liked this movie so much was because I agree with the way they portrayed the angels as being soldiers and not cute little cherubic babies that are just so darn sweet. However, if you are not a big fan of seeing angels in a fierce and almost horrific light then this movie is probably not one you would want to see. It’s also a very stereo-typical action movie. It’s kind of corny and the entire movie really rests on the action sequences and a few of the actors’ shoulders. If you like typical, blow-everything-up-and-kill-everyone action movies like I do, then you definitely will like this movie and should for sure see it in the theater. If not, this is probably one that you should wait to rent or just skip all together.

Adam's thoughts:
3 pops

This movie was exactly what I wanted. Don’t get me wrong, you’d think I’d give a movie that I "wanted" to see 5 pops or I’d expect that kind of performance. Not here. I really believed that this movie was going to be about a 3 and I wasn’t disappointed. I’m a huge fan of Dennis Quaid and although he has been "in" disappointing movies, he himself rarely disappoints. Now I wouldn’t say this movie was a disappointment at all. Come on, angels coming from heaven and killing people and Michael cutting off his own wings and letting loose with multiple automatic weaponry... it’s what you expect from an action film with angels in it.

I agree with Jessie that this movie definitely has a ring to Constantine and Terminator. That is SO not a bad thing. Those movies were awesome. This one was good too but it just couldn’t carry the torch. I agree that the acting was a little rough between the characters of Jeep and Charlie (not to mention who names their kid Jeep?) but the actors who played them could have been anyone. Neither of the actors flared on the screen. Luckily, there are two things in this world with the initials DQ that you can always count on... Dairy Queen and Dennis Quaid. And Dennis Quaid was about the only reason to go to see this movie if you ask me. Well him and the explosions and Angels in full wing fighting with there Wing Fu. (Yes I said Wing Fu)

Overall if you’re into seeing some alright special effects and you like seeing them on the big screen then this is definitely one you’ll want to hit the theaters for. If you don’t mind watching such things on your home entertainment system then definitely at least rent this movie. It is a ‘should’ see not a ‘must’ see. Now… on to my Wing Fu lesson.

The Book of Eli

Jessie's thoughts:

I gotta say, I really liked this movie and enjoyed it a lot. I think that sometimes, the whole post-apocalypse movie thing can be very cliché if you’re not careful, and even though this movie had a little cliché-ness going on, it still managed to be unique. It actually was a lot different then I expected it to be and I liked it even more then I thought I would.
The first thing that I loved was that they didn’t dwell on how the world “used to be.” They kind of quickly explained what happened just to throw that in there, but the movie was a post-apocalypse setting and I really liked that they remembered that and didn’t try to do the whole memory flashback to how it all used to be.
I also thought the cinematography was incredible. The way they shot these scenes were just beautiful. You’re looking at this very desolate, deserted place but they still managed to portray it in a kind of heart-breakingly beautiful way. It was a very different portrayal then the normal depressing, everything’s-horrible-even-the landscape type of way that most post-apocalypse, well, anything is usually portrayed in.
The acting was incredible. Denzel Washington and Mila Kunis were amazing and I don’t think that they could have chosen two better actors for these roles. The story line was interesting, unique and very straight-forward which you don’t normally see in these types of movies.
Now on to the not-so-enjoyable parts, which there were very few of. The first thing that I didn’t really like was that the movie was a little slow. I expected this movie to be a lot of action and a little plot, and it turned out to be a lot of plot and average action. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but there were a few parts that were kind of slow-moving and almost boring. On a personal level, I also had a little bit of an issue with the story but I’m trying to keep this as unbiased as possible so I’m not going to delve too far into that. Let’s just say that if you are not too into the Christian religion thing, you may have a little bit of an issue with the message that this movie gives off. But, all in all I think that this is a definite must see. If you aren’t in to the whole post-apocalypse/sci-fi thing, though, you may want to wait till this one is available to rent. It wasn’t too science fiction-y but it was definitely enough that if you really don’t like that genre, you may not want to waste the time or money to go see this one in the theater. Overall, I give this movie 4 pops.


Adam's thoughts:

So, yeah, it’s a post apocalypse world, but its not what you expect. For instance, the world is beautifully portrayed. The shots were almost artistic in capturing that beauty that you would not expect from a world destroyed by atomic destruction. Washington kicked capital A, one of his best roles in my opinion.. He played the heroic selfless action star that only he could. You felt for this guy when he was in his darkest hour and you cheered when he messed some bad dudes up.

I felt the plot line was simple, The main character Eli had this book that he didn’t want in the bad guys hands. As easy to follow as that story is they managed to make it complex enough that it kept you intrigued all the way to the end. The bad guy was evil but they didn’t spend a nasty time developing why. He was evil the moment he was on screen and you didn’t need to know why. He was the kind of bad guy you enjoy watching on screen and Gary Oldman played him very well.

There is a plot twist in the end of the movie and I am not going to give it away here, but it did catch me off guard. I’m one who usually is able to predict the plot twists but I didn’t see it coming. It was the kind of plot twist that you didn’t see at all and when you look back at the movie you only realize then that they gave you tons of hints. Very well done, now I want to go back and watch it again just to see all the hints that I missed!

The bad with it and the thing keeping it from 5 pops is what Jessie said. It’s a little long winded when it comes to some of the shots. What I did see that I didn’t feel was negative as Jessie did was that it did have some religious overtones. Now I’m not as opinionated as some people might be about religion but I do feel that this message that the movie overall attempted to state wasn’t religious in its own right. The message was one we all can relate to no matter our religious beliefs or upbringing. I did feel that the movie was slow at points and made me wonder when the next moment was. With breath taking action in this movie I’d like to have seen a bit more of an upbeat to the over all plot delivery.

Over all this movie is rich in plotline, character and cinematic beauty. It’s a must see and kicks off the start of this year rather well. I think it is a must go to the theater and I wouldn’t miss it. Have fun kids… but uh don’t bring your kids. (kind of gory.)