Movie Review: Safety Not Guaranteed

Recently I watched Safety Not Guaranteed (2012), directed by Colin Trevorrow, written by Derek
Connolly and starring Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass and Jake Johnson. Here's the descriptor from imbd:

"Three magazine employees head out on an assignment to interview a guy who placed a classified ad seeking a companion for time travel."

One of the main things that drew me to pick this film off of Netflix was Aubrey Plaza, since I enjoy her as April on Parks and Recreation. However, I think she has been a bit type-cast, as her character in Safety Not Guaranteed is pretty similar.

The other thing that drew me in was the idea of time travel. I love the idea of time travel and seeing history first-hand. Unfortunately, while trying not to give too much away, we never see my favourite eras, as the time machine is only set for 2001.

In fact, this story is way more about the characters than time travel anyway. We have Darius (Aubrey Plaza), surly and antisocial after the death of her mother and working as a magazine intern. Then there's Darius's fellow intern Arnau (Karan Soni), an awkward nerd who falls into a bit of a stereotype. Next is Jeff (Jake Johnson), Darius's boss and general jerk who only took the assignment for the chance to hook up with his high-school summer girlfriend Liz. And finally we have Kenneth (Mark Duplass), the placer of the time travel ad. He is very awkward and odd and I spent the entire film trying to decide if he was crazy.

The basic storyline is nothing too groundbreaking: Darius is sent in to answer the ad for their article, but she and Kenneth develop a real connection. As I mentioned, I spent the movie trying to decide if Kenneth was for real or was crazy, and Darius was in the same situation.

There's a secondary storyline about Jeff looking up his old girlfriend which ends with one character being painfully realistic. This starts another subplot of Jeff trying to get Arnau to live life to the fullest while he has his youth. While that is a nice sentiment, he goes about it in a completely creepy way involving  drunk high school kids.

While the movie was a bit predictable, it was also a bit heart-warming and thought-provoking at the same time and I did enjoy it, despite the lack of Victorian dresses and dinosaurs.

Movie Review: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

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Title: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Director: Matt Reeves
Release Date: July 11, 2014
Starring: Gary Oldman, Keri Russell, Andy Serkis

I'm not really sure how to feel about this movie.On one hand, I think, for what it was, it was well done. On the other hand, I found it very depressing. Not quite "The Grey" depressing, but not a happy film by any means.

This was actually my first Planet of the Apes film (I live under a rock, ok?). I asked my bf for a preamble to prepare me and this is what I got: "Apes get really smart and pissed off." After watching this movie, that seems like a pretty good nutshell description.

Like I said, I think for what it was, it was well done. The graphics were excellent, to the creepy-realistic level on the non-human characters (I don't like to just call them Apes, since humans are also apes). There was a ton of fighting. That's what I found so depressing. This was basically a war movie, just with one side composed of non-human apes. I'm not a fan of war films, so I think that's why I didn't end up loving this one. I guess I had higher expectations for the non-humans.

I also got totally distracted by certain things in the movie. Cesar really reminded me of Sean Bean, with his world-weary eyes and all that. Also, I'm pretty sure chimps would have a difficult time riding horses. They have a really high center of gravity, which is not helpful to riding a horse. But I suppose it's not fair to get hung up on that point when I've suspending my disbelief for chimpanzee's who speak English and group-social orangutans. But it was so distracting.

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I also wish there had been some badass female apes. There is only one female ape character and she needs saving. There is a decent female human character, with her doctor skillz, but that's it. This one definitely failed the Bechdel Test.

If this is your kind of movie, I think you will really enjoy it. I enjoyed it, but won't be rushing out for the DVD.

Moral: There's always a couple of A-holes who ruin everything.

Movie Review: Guardians of the Galaxy

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Last night I convinced the BF to go to the movies with me. I've been dying to see Guardians of the Galaxy since it came out and we were supposed to go on Friday, but ended up not going, so last night was it (plus Tuesday nights are cheaper). We arrived right at the showtime (we were delayed because we had to eat ice cream first) and unfortunately, it was sold out. However, I convinced BF to wait 40 minutes until the next show and we are both so glad  we did. This movie was awesome!

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I really enjoyed this movie. First, I'm a big fan of Chris Pratt. He is adorable in Parks and Recreation and he was really great in Guardians. Starlord is a funny character and I think Chris Pratt did a great job. I loved all the main characters. Gomora (Zoe Saldana) had all kinds of things to prove and was pretty tough, but also kind, as we saw with her interactions with her crazy-ass sister Nebula (Karen Gillian!). Drax (Dave Bautista was cute for a hell-bent-on-revenge kind of guy. Rocket (voice by Bradley Cooper) was so funny, he came close to stealing the show I think. But my favourite was Groot (voice by Vin Diesel). Groot was adorable and I just loved him so much! Best Vin Diesel character ever!

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Also, great villain in Ronan the Accuser. He was great and scary with his creepy face paint and I really wanted our heroes to succeed against him. I also enjoyed Karen Gillian's portrayal of Nebula. It's the first role I've seen her in since her days as Amy Pond and it was a nice chance to see her play something completely different.

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The one thing I didn't expect were the feels! I was crying within two minutes! What kind of movie is this!? I didn't go into this movie expecting to cry (twice), but there you have it.

Seriously, one of my favourite Marvel films so far!