Movie Review: "Independence Day: Resurgence"

It has been 20 years since the first Independence Day hit theaters, and now we have a sequel, Independence Day: Resurgence.  Pretty much every major character is back (sans Will Smith), with Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman reprising their iconic roles from the first movie.  In story time, it too has been 20 years, with humanity having united to repurpose the alien technology left behind to improve our own weapons in preparation.  In preparation for what, you might ask?  The aliens inevitable return, of course.

All in all, Independence Day: Resurgence is a fun movie, but it pales in comparison to its predecessor, which has taken on a massive level of iconography for children of the Nineties.  While there are tons of explosions and one-liners, there seems to be something missing.  That something is the indescribable x-factor that movies like this often have that transforms them into cultural touchstones.  Now none of this is to say that Resurgence is a bad movie or a poor sequel, the filmmakers simply failed to catch lightning in a bottle again.  That is a very hard thing to do, and it only makes you more appreciate the movie franchises that have been able to do it multiple times.  Now with all that out of the way, here is where Resurgence really shines, with the new cast of young characters.

Liam Hemsworth leads a talented cast of 20-somethings -- including Maika Monroe and Jesse Usher, as Bill Pullman's daughter and Will Smith's stepson --  that steal the show.  These new characters are a mixture of orphans and children of the heroes from the first Independence Day who have the kind of resolve reminiscent of young men and women from the Greatest Generation.  It is in the scenes with these new characters that I actually found myself most engaged with the movie, which I did not think would happen going in.  However, this does not mean that the returning cast of Goldblum, Pullman, and the rest don't have good standout moments (with welcome returns from Judd Hirsch and Brent Spiner as well), but the filmmakers do a nice job of creating new heroes for a potential sequel.  Another area in which the movie succeeds is in the area of visual effects.

The first Independence Day had amazing visual effects, but the two decades since have really unshackled the filmmakers to let their imaginations run wild.  Things that would have been too expensive to do 20 years ago, can now be done.  While that could have easily been a negative, it actually works as a positive because director Roland Emmerich shows enough restraint to never make the visual effects look like visual effects.  As well, the better visual effects allow the filmmakers to show us more of the aliens this time about.  In the original movie, the aliens were only ever seen in fleeting glimpses or from the waist up.  In this one, there are multiple full body shots of the aliens, which helps to sell the reality of them better.

At the end of the day, if you were a fan of Independence Day, you will probably enjoy this more cartoonish sequel, but I use the word cartoonish in the best possible way.  The first movie had a more realistic tone, whereas this movie reminds me a lot of Japanese animated TV shows I watched growing up in the Nineties and early Aughts.  There seems to be an understanding this go around that it's all fake and meant to just be fun, and while that drains the movie of some of its intensity, it does cause you to childishly grin for most of the runtime.

I give Independence Day: Resurgence a 7 out of 10!

Movie Review: "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows"

As a fan of the heroes in a half-shell, I guess I'm just gonna have to accept that this is about as good as this iteration of the Ninja Turtles will get.  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows is better than its 2014 reboot, but only by a teeny bit.

Out of the Shadows finds the turtles trying to stop the evil Shredder from bringing an alien from another dimension to Earth in order to take over.  Along the way, the turtles make a new ally in Casey Jones (played likably by Stephen Amell), go toe-to-toe with two new mutant minions of Shredder (the fan favorite characters Bebop and Rocksteady), and may have run across a mutagen that could potentially turn them into humans.

There is a lot going on here and it's actually a miracle that the movie makes sense for most of its runtime.  While there are a few plot holes here and there, there are none quite as gaping as the multiple ones that the first movie had.  On top of that, there are some genuinely thrilling action sequences in the movie, with the standout one involving the turtles in their tricked out garbage truck trying to stop Shredder from escaping the 18-wheeler that is transporting him to a different prison.

When it's all said and done, once the original Ninja Turtles theme song plays over the end credits, you realize you actually had fun with Out of the Shadows.  While neither of the two movies in this particular iteration match up to the first two Ninja Turtles movies from the Nineties, Out of the Shadows will entertain.

I give Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows a 7 out of 10!

Movie Review: "X-Men: Apocalypse"

The X-Men are back in the sixth movie in the X-Men franchise and the fourth to be directed by Bryan Singer.  While this is the end of the second X-Men trilogy, it also feels like a new beginning.  The main thing to understand with X-Men: Apocalypse is that you shouldn't listen to most of the critics lambasting it for its vast number of characters and storylines.  Even though there is a lot that goes on in X-Men: Apocalypse, it's all emotionally engaging and most importantly, fun.

X-Men: Apocalypse takes place ten years after the events of Days of Future Past in 1983.  The world's very first mutant from Ancient Egypt, a being named Apocalypse who thinks himself a god, awakens from suspended animation and sees how the world has become without his leadership.  Apocalypse sets out to destroy almost the entire Earth to start humanity over anew, with only those pesky X-Men standing in his way.  In a nutshell, that's the entire movie, but what gives X-Men: Apocalypse its emotional resonance is the fact that it is the sixth X-Men movie.

This is a direct sequel in the way that The Empire Strikes Back was to Star Wars.  The moviemakers don't waste time reminding us who these characters are or what they're doing, they simply assume we've watched every other X-Men movie.  While there might be a few passive fans of the franchise who do not like this approach, as a fan who has seen all of the X-Men movies multiple times, I was on cloud nine practically the entire runtime.  On top of that, this one and Days of Future Past feel like the moviemakers are finally embracing the more comic bookish nature of the X-Men.  There are a lot more fantastical images in this one that look and feel as if they were taken straight from the pages of the comic books, and as a comic book fan, that's just icing on an already delicious cake.

Overall, I absolutely loved X-Men: Apocalypse and it's my personal favorite superhero movie of 2016 so far.  I know those are fighting words, but all of my favorite X-Men are represented in this movie and shine brighter than these movies have ever let them shine.  From the teenage reintroductions to Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Nightcrawler, it's like Bryan Singer was reading my mind Professor X style to deliver the X-Men movie I've wanted for years.

I give X-Men: Apocalypse a 9 out of 10!

Movie Review: "Captain America: Civil War"

Captain America: Civil War would not have been possible if it weren't for the shared Marvel Cinematic Universe.  If this was attempted without all the other Avengers movies and Iron Man movies, this movie would not be as good, and it is proof that the Marvel model of making movies works when done with enough forethought.

In Civil War, Iron Man and Captain America find themselves at odds over a new bit of legislation that would have the Avengers answering to the United Nations.  Cap thinks the Avengers should remain free to make their own choices, while Iron Man believes they need oversight, thus the battle commences.  While there are a great many twists and turns that happen, I don't want to spoil that for anyone, because all anyone wants to really know is if this movie is worth their money, and that is a resounding yes.

Look, by this point if you haven't jumped on the Marvel Studios train, this movie wont be the thing that gets you onboard, but if you have been a fan of every Marvel movie thus far, then this is going to be an emotional roller coaster ride from start to finish.  This is top notch blockbuster moviemaking and it needs to be experienced on the big screen.  Directors Anthony and Joe Russo really get these characters, which is why it's great that they're also directing the next two Avengers movies.  Of course the greatest aspect of Civil War is that while it features a lot of Avengers and can at times feel like another Avengers movie, it still never forgets that Captain America is the main character of this movie.  While I still personally would have loved to have seen another Cap solo movie instead, like The Winter Soldier, Civil War is a great substitute.

I give Captain America: Civil War a 9 out of 10!

Movie Review: "The Jungle Book"

Disney has been on a hot-streak adapting their old animated movies into live action, and like last year's Cinderella, The Jungle Book is yet another home run.  While The Jungle Book is not a full live action remake of the 1967 animation, it does borrow many of that movies' better elements (such as "The Bare Necessities") while being it's own thing as well.  The Jungle Book is a rip-roaring adventure, suitable for the whole family, that also has a lot of heart while commenting on man's relationship to nature and what it means to come of age.

Newcomer Neel Sethi is the real backbone of the movie as Mowgli, having the tall order of selling all of the special effects to the audience so that we believe this is all actually happening in the jungles of India.  For ninety-nine percent of the movie, Sethi was the only real thing onset, with the entire movie having been filmed on Los Angeles sound stages!  This is what is most impressive about this movie, is that this movie never used any real animals, nor did it ever film a single frame in India itself.  The sound stages that the movie filmed on were filled with green screens and puppets for Sethi to interact with, which both were later replaced by computer generated jungles and animals.  When watching this movie, you realize you are literally watching the future of movies, where anything the imagination can dream up can be done through this kind of photorealistic special effects work.  However, none of these computer generated animals would have worked had it not been for the litany of Hollywood stars that lent their voices to these iconic characters.

Bill Murray steals the show as Baloo, while Ben Kingsley is just perfect as Bagheera, then there's Scarlett Johansson creeping things up as Kaa, Christopher Walken adding some new dimension to King Louie, and Lupita Nyong'o being absolutely lovable and heartbreaking as Mowgli's wolf mother, Raksha.  Of course, my personal favorite performance was Idris Elba's frightening work as Shere Khan.  All in all though, this is just one of those movies where everything comes together to make a very satisfying whole, all thanks to director Jon Favreau.  Favreau has long been one of the more underrated directors in Hollywood, having done movies like Elf and Iron Man, and while the success of some of his movies could be attributed to the actors leading them, The Jungle Book is Favreau's movie through and through.  Honestly, I don't know if there are many directors who could pull off a movie like this that required so much imagination, and personally, I think that's a feat worthy of Oscar recognition.

I give The Jungle Book a 10 out of 10!