The Nice Guys (2016)

The Nice Guys (2016)

7/10

Starring

Russel Crowe

Ryan Gosling

Directed by Shane Black

A lot of movies have been making the air waves lately, but enough of them have been a waste of time. The Nice Guys for me is one of those movies which get itself mixed up in the uproar of not so great movies that it will slip pass and not many people will get to see and appreciate the work done by the two leads and the rich dialogue content, the movie has to offer.

Buddy movies have long been flogged, with many coming out looking lame, but this one has a different style. Two guys you will naturally not like and even as the movie progresses your liking the characters does not change, but the match up they offer is what keeps you glued.

From the beginning we see two different guys running their business independently, one as Private Investigator and the other as a hired hand (if you need anyone roughed up). Their paths crossed when the PI (Ryan Gosling) is looking for a girl named Amelia and Amelia hires the other, Jackson (Russel Crowe) to get the PI off her back.

After that has happened (with Jackson breaking the PI’s hand) Jackson gets a visit from two hired guns sent to get the whereabouts of Amelia from him. Jackson being unaware of where Amelia is told them nothing, and while the men attempted to rough him up, he gets away.

Jackson then approaches the PI, this time to hire him track down Amelia, and pays him upfront. In for this fun ride is the best supporting cast the movie had to offer, Holly the PI’s daughter. Her many captivating interactions and her innocence made her presence in the mix of these two misfits interesting. The writers had her involved in everything from start to finish, with both guys trying hard to not get her involved, but her stubbornness and inquisitive nature made it impossible for the guys to wrap up the whole case without her help.

This movie starts with the death of a porn star and grows into a political cover up of some shady dealings by some top officials, one being Amelia’s mom.

Although the movie is not doing well in the box office it is still a good movie, one I saw late before its run ended in the cinema.

If the opportunity comes for you to see this movies, please do, it is awesome.

Ghostbusters (2016)

Ghostbusters (2016)

5/10

Starring

Melissa McCarthy

Kristen Wiig

Kate McKinnon

Leslie Jones

Directed by Paul Feig

Reboots can be cool, and I long awaited to see this reboot. I loved both Ghostbuster movies and when seeing this one I was totally psyched to see the guys (Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson) do cameos. This third addition to the movie franchise was done in honour of Harold Ramis, the fourth member of the original Ghostbusting crew. Remember Slimer? Well he too had a cameo here too along with Sigourney Weaver.

Putting aside all the sentiments and the fun recollection of Ghostbusting, this movie was an average and not the best form of a reboot that I have seen when you compare this movie to its original counterparts.

But the girls held their own and It was great seeing this new crew get into place to be new passengers of Ecto 1. The movie had its drags and the whole excitement you will expect to get from the time when the Ghosts went rogue was muffled by the attempts to make us laugh. The movie set loose enough one liners, and they were not as funny as you would expect.

Notwithstanding the down side to this movie, it was a fun ride and the girls fit into their roles like a glove, and the one lady to watch out for is Kate McKinnon, she plays Dr. Jillian Holtzmann who happens to be the Egon to this crew and she did it so well. She was a geek, weird and I found myself eager to hear what she has to say.

The movie soundtrack or musical score was no good for me, I was always taken back when the songs came on, wondering why they decided to wreck a good theme song.

Well, the movie starts with a haunting and the introduction of the girls. Dr. Erin (Kristen Wiig) was busy with her lecturing job when she got a visit from a man who owned the haunted house in the beginning asking her for help with the Ghost haunting.

She visits an old friend to accuse her for exposing her past obsession of ghosts and we meet two other members, Dr Abby (Melissa McCarthy) and Dr. Holtzmann. Leslie Jones who plays Patty, joined the group when she witnessed a ghost sighting and thanks to her extensive knowledge of New York, the crew needed her.

Now these four are trying to study and capture these ghosts before the mayor of New York shut them down.

Here is a movie you will enjoy, but not as much if you loved the original.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (2010)

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (2010)

5/10

Starring

Nicolas Cage

Jay Baruchel

Alfred Molina

Teresa Palmer

Monica Bellucci

Directed by Jon Turteltaub

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice was one Disney movie that missed its mark totally. The intention of making a movie off Mickey Mouse adventure on Fantasia was a great idea, but the execution was the problem. The whole story revolved round three main characters, whose whole existence was based on trying to get the audience to feel some form of sympathy or empathy for what these men were going through. In the end, it was a cliché fest whose only fun part was seeing the Mickey Mouse adventure re-enacted on screen.

The main blow in the movie was the characterization, the characters had back stories that were too weak and sometime baseless to build a character on. Add that to the comedy attempts the writers tried to infuse into this movie, and you will see why this movie was a box office bomb and had negative reviews.

Putting all that aside the movie did have some very interesting visual effects and CGI, these effects were wonderful and fluid especially the transformation scenes. Now the cast in this movie were never a selling point, if the casting director thought they were, I bet he is shock to his teeth now. Nicolas Cage has for long reached expiry point and he is only doing movies to pay off his debts.

This comedy adventure film stars not just Cage, it has Jay Baruchel, Alfred Molina and Monica Bellucci and the movie plot starts with the introduction of two of our leads, Balthazar Blake (Cage) and Horvath (Molina), both were two of three apprentices to Merlin the magician and the third was Veronica (Bellucci), who was a love interest to both Blake and Horvath.

Horvath turned on Merlin siding with Morgana le Fay to bring the world to an end, by wanting to aid her resurrect her dead soldiers. But first they most get rid of the only clog in their flow, Merlin.

Their planed failed as Veronica sacrificed herself, but Horvath betrayal led to the death of Merlin. Before Merlin died he gave his magic ring to Blake asking him to seek out the Prime Merlinian who will be the only person who can kill Morgana.

Well the search went on for over a thousand years, but Blake found the Merlinian in a young man named David, now Blake most mentor David to be a powerful Sorcerer.

Although the idea was good, I feel Disney could have done better.