Max Steel (2016)

Max Steel (2016)

2/10

Starring

Ben Winchell

Josh Brener (Voice of Steel)

Andy Garcia

Maria Bello

Directed by Stewart Hendler

Wow!!! What a waste of time, money, and effort.

I did get to see the different cartoon versions of Max Steel, and you’d think with all the stories available and the possible twists they could have included in this movie, the producers and writers would have a field day turning out a great action blockbuster. What they ended up doing was delivering a movie so boring and uneventful, it takes courage not to demand your money back after seeing it.

The level of complexity weaved into the plot is so daft, you’ll have to concentrate to separate the current happenings, Max’s memories, and Steel’s memories. The movie then gets to a point where you think things will start to make sense, but it stays there until the undramatic, stupidly hilarious ending. It makes you wonder: how did this leave the storyboard?

This is supposed to be a sci-fi action movie, but then there’s a girl added for a romantic twist. Now, the girl was either lacking friends or was too dumb to avoid stupid people, because regardless of Max’s erratic behavior, she still stuck with him. You might be thinking maybe they’ve been friends for a long time or something, but nope. According to the movie, Max just moved into town, and she found his necessity for distancing himself attractive. She wasn’t turned off by his erratic behavior, which would naturally make people keep their distance.

Then there’s the voice of Steel, which was not fun to hear but rather an annoying voice that seems to not know when to shut up. When Steel teaches Max how to use his powers, what we get to see is a laughable episode, like Max just took drugs.

Not everything about the movie was bad—the CGI was cool—but when the fight scenes come up, get ready to be disappointed. There were too many cutaways from what’s happening to the faces of the men in suits as they strain and grunt like they have constipation.

The movie plot starts with Max (Ben Winchell) and his mother (Maria Bello) moving into a new town. Max soon discovers that his body generates a sort of power in the form of electricity, which he finds can cause machines to blow up. Coincidentally, when Max discovers his powers, an alien named Steel—who has been dormant in a facility—comes to life and tracks down Max.

They form an unusual bond, with Steel eating up Max’s powers to keep him from exploding. Their union creates a superhero named Max Steel. Their bonding is interrupted by a hunt for both of them and an evil force that wishes to harness Max’s power for itself.

This movie was both a critical and commercial failure. I need not say more—avoid this one.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

9/10

Starring

Felicity Jones

Diego Luna

Ben Mendelsohn

Donnie Yen

Mads Mikkelsen

Alan Tudyk

Directed by Gareth Edwards

If you’re still waiting for incentives to see this movie, let me add some for you, since the idea of a Star Wars movie isn’t enough to move you to the cinemas. The movie has Donnie Yen in it. Forty minutes in, I saw Donnie Yen do some skills that made me want to yell, “Everyone, please let’s beg the controller to rewind that!”

This movie is a dark addition to the Star Wars universe, and it’s a great introduction to the upcoming Star Wars standalone films. It’s set between what happened after Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005) and the beginning of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977).

The movie leaves behind the myths and storyline gridlocks of the other Star Wars movies and focuses on charting a new path with different tales and the addition of new characters whose stories start and end here. It was great seeing something that had a new breed of heroes, instead of the focus the Star Wars franchise seems to have on the Skywalker family.

This is such a great thing because it means they can make more tie-ins based in the world of Star Wars.

The movie, however, introduces too many new characters for us to keep track of (my only snag). The movie’s pace was also very fast, which means there’s not a dull moment. First, we’re on a planet, then we’re involved in aerial battles, armored combat vehicles, grenades, laser battles, blind martial arts monks, and much more. When nothing is happening, we get to meet new characters.

Other than the Donnie Yen intro fight, my second favorite part in this movie is when Darth Vader steps in to show us that the Force is still in this movie.

This is one of (if not the best) movies in the franchise.

The movie plot is simple and straightforward. A research scientist named Galen is hiding from the Empire when an Imperial weapons developer comes to capture him to help complete the unfinished Death Star.

If you’ve been watching Star Wars, you’ll know the Death Star is a space station-based weapon capable of destroying an entire planet.

Galen is captured, and his wife is killed, but his daughter Jyn escapes and is raised by a Rebel extremist named Gerrera, who lives on the desert moon Jedha.

Gerrera abandons Jyn, and she grows up as a lone fighter until she’s called in by the Rebels to help get information believed to have been sent by her father about the Death Star’s weakness.

Now, Jyn, with a new team in a ship they named Rogue One, must find the Death Star plans and get them to the Rebels.

Awesome movie, and there’s no reason not to see it. I hope further standalone projects are this good.

Moana (2016)

Moana (2016)

7/10

Starring the voice of

Auli'i Cravalho

Dwayne Johnson

Directed by Ron Clements and John Musker

Disney has refused to stick to the old ways of animated musicals. They’ve been working their way back up for years now, and although 2016 will be a year many will want to forget due to numerous tragic and gloomy events, Disney, on the other hand, will not want to forget 2016.

Moana is a good adventure film for the family, and it did very well in tapping into the oldies that we loved when we were younger to produce this movie. The movie isn’t a masterpiece in the way Zootopia (2016) was, but Disney did their best and produced a movie that’s worth seeing and enjoying with the family.

When it came to the animation, characterization, and story, Disney delivered. The animation was fluid, the two main characters and their supporting cast were memorable, and although the story didn’t feel new, it had a brief intro and dove straight into the adventure, leaving no room for you, the viewer, to doze off.

The music and score were cool, and even though you could argue the movie didn’t need to be a musical, this time I didn’t feel like the songs were isolated from the events. Disney found a way to merge the musical numbers into the happenings on screen, meaning the songs were a continuation of what was going on—just with a beat.

A millennium ago, a demigod named Maui stole the heart of the god of nature and lost it. The repercussions of that, a millennium later, were a terrible curse that reached an impetuous chieftain’s daughter’s island.

The daughter, Moana, is called by the ocean to restore order. To do so, she must restore the heart with the help of the demigod Maui, whom she must first seek out.

Like I said, the story didn’t feel original. You can always guess where Disney tapped the ideas for the movie from. For example, it starts with the mystery of what’s beyond the reef and a father forbidding his child to go find out (Finding Nemo (2003)). Soon, we must deal with a little girl finding it hard to obey rules and fit into the status quo because something beyond is calling her, telling her there’s more (Beauty and the Beast (1991)).

We also have the stubborn dad who doesn’t want his daughter to seek adventure. Add to that the under-the-sea bad guy—what does that remind you of? The Little Mermaid (1989). Why would you expect anything different from the directors?

The directors, John Musker and Ron Clements, were at the helm of Disney classics like The Little Mermaid (1989), Aladdin (1992), and Hercules (1997). They were the best for the job since Disney was borrowing ideas mainly from these three films. A magical sidekick to our hero (Aladdin (1992)), the visuals, and the comedy remind me a lot of Hercules (1997).

The movie doesn’t have any love interest, though—a welcome addition to Disney’s new style of making movies, where it doesn’t always have to end with two people falling in love.

Nice movie to go see with the family.