MOVIE REVIEW - Brick Mansions

I didn't even know that Brick Mansions existed until a few weeks after I heard that Paul Walker had passed, so I was very glad to see that there was at least one more movie aside from Fast 7 that we'd get to see him in.  I was lucky enough to score a free screening of it last night, and had a hard time keeping my expectations in check... the last action movie I saw was The Raid 2: Berandal and that thing was amazing!  I seriously had to try very hard to wipe that movie from my recent memory so I could enjoy Brick Mansions.  

This film is the American remake of a French film (District 13) famous for it's use of parkour (a.k.a. free-running or street-ninja... -ing).  I've had D13 in my Netflix Queue for over a year now and I just have never gotten around to watching it.  As if the Paul Walker factor wasn't enough to get me to go see the remake, they got the actor from the French original to play the same part in the remake as the Paul Walker's reluctant "convict" partner.  That is major cool points in my book if you are doing an American remake of a foreign film.

MOVIE REVIEW - Captain America: The Winter Soldier

After the disappointing Iron Man 3 and the only halfway satisfying Thor: The Dark World, to say that I was skeptical about Captain America: The Winter Soldier being a good movie would be an understatement.  The Avengers knocked it out of the park and each Marvel movie that has come out since has had the impossible task of living up to it.  The hype surrounding this movie was off the charts.  Some called it Avengers 1.5, others said that it could stand among the ranks of great political thrillers like The Manchurian Candidate and even others have called it the best Marvel movie ever made.  I wouldn't quite go as far as to agree with the last one, but Captain America: The Winter Soldier is the first Marvel movie since The Avengers that has finally lived up to its hype.

MOVIE REVIEW - Noah

The first time I heard that a Noah movie was being made, I could have honestly cared less.  I grew up Catholic and the story of Noah, while impactful, really didn't seem all that exciting to me as a movie.  Regardless, building a boat for an hour and a half, shoving two of every animal on it and then surviving the biggest rainstorm in history should be pretty cut and dry for a movie studio, right?

Enter director Darren Aronofsky, director of such trip fest movies as Pi, The Fountain, Black Swan and Requiem for a Dream.  He took the Biblical story of Noah and turned it into something actually kinda fun to watch.  I saw it with a friend and found myself turning to him multiple times and saying, "What the hell?" ... but in a good way.  The basic Biblical story of Noah is there; a man who is charged by God to build a boat big enough for his family and two of every animal to survive the great flood meant to wipe the current evil off the face of the Earth.  That is pretty much all about Aronofsky's Noah that is Biblical.  Everything else in the movie is from the mind of a very creative, yet extremely weird director.

MOVIE REVIEW - Divergent

None of my friends wanted to go see this movie... and I couldn't blame them. The trailers for Divergent definitely gave off a kind of Twilight-y vibe.  My battle with Twilight, itself, is the subject of a post all on its own, but the nice thing about Divergent is that it really shared little in common with it.

I saw this movie with a date, and she hated it... no, I don't think you understand, she HATED it!  I, on the other hand, thought that there was just something about the movie that kept me interested and wanting to know how it turned out.  I don't know if it was the company I was with, the fact that they had a metric ton of recognizable actors in it or what, but I didn't mind the movie.  Despite its flaws and predictable plot points, it kept my attention for the most part.
 

**MINOR SPOILERS** 

OmegaManwicH's favorite movies

Greetings Programs!

People ask me all the time what my favorite movie is and I always feel like a parent who was just asked to pick their favorite child!  Movies are the biggest hobby that I have, along with board/card/geeky games.  I mean, I own like 500+ DVDs and 200+ Blu Rays, so asking me for my favorite movie is a bit like opening Pandora's box...

Only part of the collection

I used to list out my top five, but it had so many ties in it that it had 15+ movies. Now I just list my favorites by genre like below. This list is not definitive, nor is it all of the genres that are out there, and will most likely change by the end of the month... it is always in flux, and as you will see, I still can't avoid ties...  

You can click on each picture to see the corresponding theatrical trailer.  Enjoy!

MOVIE REVIEW - 300: Rise of an Empire

I was sent an email yesterday from Warner Brothers because I attended the advanced screening of Man of Steel back in June of 2013.  There was a link in there for a free advanced screening of the upcoming movie 300: Rise of an Empire, so I, being the movie buff that I am, jumped at the chance to see it.  I absolutely loved its predecessor, 300, which remains one of my favorite action movies of all time.  I'm sure that you can imagine that seeing the Spartans avenge King Leonidas and the 300 warriors who fell at the Battle of Thermopylae was something that I was very willing to watch.  Unfortunately that's not what I got to see.  I did like the movie overall and a repeat viewing will probably help my opinion it, but 300 set a ridiculously high bar that 300: Rise of an Empire didn't have a chance in Tartarus of being able to live up to.

MOVIE REVIEW - Need for Speed

Last week, I was lucky enough to score a free screening to the upcoming Need for Speed movie.  Getting to see it a month before it came out was awesome in and of itself, but the nice thing about this advanced screening was that you were actually allowed to take your phone in with you, unlike many of the other ones I've attended.  All the other studios need to take note, because Dreamworks and the #NFSmovie crew know how to effectively do a screening.  If you want your advanced audiences to tweet about the movie, let them take their phones into the theater!  Just enforce the no cell phone policy during the actual movie.  When studios like Sony make you check your phone in at the door, they completely alienate a marketing avenue. 

MOVIE REVIEW - Disney's Frozen

Disney's Fozen was the first Film I saw in the theater in 2014, and I was absolutely surprised by how good it was.

I never know what to expect when going into a Disney movie.  They had a string of movies in the 90's where they could do absolutely no wrong... The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King... but then it all started going downhill with movies like Pocahontas and Hercules... although I did enjoy those, just not as much as the other three.  Then came the Pixar era, but honestly, I like songs in my Disney movies so I judge the Pixar movies on a completely different scale.

OmegaManwicH's "Are You Not Entertained?!" Movie Grading Scale

Greetings Starfighter!

     I figured since I'm about to post my first movie review that I'd post the 10 point grading scale that I'm going to use to rate them, explain what each one means, and then give an example or two of each rating.  Remember, this still goes along with my "Are You Not Entertained?!" way of looking at movies.

Anyway, to the scale!

2013 Year in Review Part II: The Worst and the Best **MINOR SPOILERS**

The following are my picks for worst and best of 2013.  I hope you enjoy it.

**MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD**

THE BIGGEST DISSAPPOINTMENT OF 2013 -

Iron Man 3:  I really wanted this movie to knock it out of the park.  Shane Black, one of my favorite Hollywood writers, wrote and directed this movie.  He wrote The Long Kiss Goodnight, my second favorite Christmas movie of all time.  Some of his trademark smart-assiness and wit was present in the dealings of Tony with the kid, but there was too much Tony, not enough Iron Man or War Machine, and the climactic final battle was a big letdown.  Even the post-credits scene was lacking, going for a joke instead of something significant to the next movies.  Not good for the first Marvel movie after The Avengers.  The bright side is that, yes, I can re-watch this movie and do get some entertainment value from it, especially as the initial shock of the first viewing fades away.

2013 Year in Review Part I: Mini-Reviews

I can't believe you made this movie, either, guys.

I saw 74 of the movies that came out in 2013.  About a fourth of them were great.  Some were decent, some were good but forgettable, several were disappointing and some were downright bad.  Below are my quick assessments of them complete with mini-review.   If you would like see my personal picks for the worst movie, the biggest disappointment and the Top 10 of 2013, that is the subject of part two.

Those of you that may have read this when I originally posted it on Facebook will notice that two more movies have been added to the lists:  Frozen and Man of Tai Chi.

ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!? The way I look at and review movies.

Maximus Decimus Meridius

Hello there!  Welcome to my new blog, BAMFofSteel.blogspot.com, a new Movie Review and Awesome Stuff site created by me, OmegaManwich.  From time to time I will have guest reviews on the site as well, but for now... it's all me, baby!

Why do I have the audacity to think that people should read my opinions on movies?  Well, I watch a lot of movies... A LOT of movies.  I'm what you would call a Film (and TV) Junkie… a Movie-Geek… a Cinephiliac… anyway, movies are the biggest hobby that I have.  I see a lot of movies in the theater in a year, (74 of the ones that came out in 2013, alone,) and I go to a lot of free screenings, but I don't judge a movie I see the same way that a normal critic looks at it.  It all comes down to what makes a great movie.

So yeah, now you're asking, "OmegaManwicH, what makes a movie great?"