X-Men Origins: Wolverine Review

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Release Date: 8th April 2009 - Australia
(premiere)

Production Companies

20th Century Fox (presents)

Marvel Enterprises (in association with)

Dune Entertainment (in association with)

Donners' Company
Seed Productions

Ingenious Film Partners (produced in association with)

Big Screen Productions (produced in association with)

Distribution

20th Century Fox Australia

Genre: Action

Rating: M

Runtime: 107 minutes


Budget: $150,000,000

Box Office Gross: $373,062,864 (Worldwide)


Plot Summary

Logan and Victor are two mutant half-brothers, born 200 years ago, suffered a great deal of childhood trauma and have always depended on each other. They're fighters and killers, as they've been through a few wars in American history due to their regenerative and self-healing abilities. In

modern times, a U.S. colonel

named William Stryker

recruits them and the other

mutants as part of a team

of commandos.

Logan then quits and becomes a logger. He falls in love with a local teacher. When Stryker offers Logan to rejoin his crew, he turns it down. However, the murderous Victor murders the love of his life, which causes Logan to seek revenge.

Cast

Hugh Jackman - Logan/
Wolverine

Liev Schreiber - Victor Creed

Danny Huston - William Stryker
Lynn Collins - Kayla

Ryan Reynolds - Wade Wilson
Scott Adkins - Weapon XI

Taylor Kitsch - Remy

LeBeau/Gambit
Will.i.am - John Wraith
Kevin Durand - Fred J. Dukes/Blob

Dominic Monaghan - Chris
Bradley/Bolt
Daniel Henney - Agent Zero
Tim Pocock - Scott Summers

Julia Blake - Heather Hudson

Max Cullen - Trevor Hudson

Troye Sivan - James

Michael-James Olsen - Young Victor

Peter O'Brien - John Howlett

Aaron Jeffery - Thomas Logan

Alice Parkinson - Elizabeth Howlett

Myles Pollard - Phelan

Stephen Anderton - Marcuse

Chris Sadrinna - Van Mier

David Ritchie - Dr. Cornelius

Asher Keddie - Dr. Carol Frost

Stephen Leeder - General Munson

Henry Brown - Curtis

Tahyna MacManus - Kayla's Sister/Emma

Jade & Joelle Tang - Mutant Twins

Phillip A. Patterson - Firing Squad Leader

(Cameo)

James D. Dever - Platoon Leader (Cameo)

Daniel Negreanu - Poker Player (Cameo)
Patrick Stewart - Charles Xavier/

Professor X (Cameo) (Uncredited)

Crew

Director - Gavin Hood
Screenplay - David Benoff and

Skip Woods

Executive Producers - Richard Donner,

Stan Lee and Avi Arad (Uncredited)

Producers - Lauren Shuler Donner,

Ralph Winter, Hugh Jackman

and John Palermo
Co-Producer/Unit Production Manager -

Louis G. Friedman

Co-Producer/Second Unit Director: Australia/

New Zealand - Peter MacDonald

Co-Producer - Marsha L. Swinton

Military Tech Advisor - James D. Dever

U.S. Casting - Debra Zane

Australian Casting - Christine King

Production Designer - Barry Robson

Supervising Art Director - Ian Gracie

Art Directors - Karen Murphy and Brian Edmonds

Art Directors: North American Main Unit -

Helen Jarvis and Michael Diner

Art Director: New Zealand Unit - Mark Robins

Assistant Art Directors - Simon Elsley,

Jacinta Leong and Michael Turner

Assistant Art Director: New Zealand Unit -

John Allan

Assistant Art Director: North American Main

Unit - Kirsten Franson

Set Decorator - Rebecca Cohen

Property Master - Richie Dehne

Costume Designer - Louise Mingenbach

Assistant Costume Designers -

Christine Bieselin Clark and Eliza Godman

Special Makeup Effects Designers and

Creators - Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff, Jr.

Key Makeup Artist & Hair Stylist -

Nikki Gooley

Special Makeup Effects: Amalgamated

Dynamics - Yuri Everson, Garth Winkless,

Steve Frakes, David Penikas, Tim Leach,

Karen Keener Manzel, Tamara Woodard,

Jan Pearce, Mike Larrabee, Justin G. Ditter,

Michael Heintzelman, Suma Adams,

Jason Barnett, Michael Broom, Peter Clarke,

Brian Clawson, Connie G. Criswell,

Dawn Dininger, John Donahue, Davis Fandino,

David Fedele, Hiroshi Katagiri, Matt Killen,

Steve Koch, Tim Martin, Matt Mastrella,

James McLoughlin, Kevin McTurk,

Ratna Pappert and Chris Walker

Director of Photography - Donald M. McAlpine

Helicopter Aerial Director of Photography:

New Zealand Unit - Hans Bjerno

Director of Photography: Second Unit - Brad Shield

Director of Photography: North American

2nd Unit - Larry Blanford

Cable Camera Operator: Second Unit -

Keir Beck

First Assistant Camera - Tov Belling

First Assistant Camera: North American

2nd Unit - Taylor Matheson

Location Manager - Gareth Price

Location Manager: North American Unit -

Ann Goobie

Unit Production Manager: North American

Unit - Ross Fanger

First Assistant Directors - Phillip A. Patterson

and Chris Soldo

First Assistant Director: North American

2nd Unit - James Bitoni

First Assistant Director: Second Unit -

Edward Brett

Second Assistant Director - Paul Barry

Second Second Assistant Director - Scott Lovelock

Second Assistant Director: Second Unit -

Drew Bailey

Second Assistant Director: North American

Unit - Misha Bukowski

Second Unit Director: North American

2nd Unit/Stunts - Brian Smrz

Stunt Coordinators - Glenn Boswell,

Dean Choe and Mike Mitchell

Fight/Action Design - David Leitch and

Chad Stahelski

Additional Fight Choreographer - J.J. Perry

Helicopter Pilots - Rick Shuster

and Frédéric North
Special Effects Supervisor - Dan Oliver

Special Effects Coordinator - Monika Stankowski

Special Effects Coordinator: North

American Unit - Cameron Waldbauer

Visual Effects Supervisor - Pat McClung

Visual Effects Supervisor: Hydralux - Erik Liles

Visual Effects Supervisor: Soho VFX - Allan Magled

Additional Visual Effects Plate Supervisors -

Christopher Townsend and Robin Hackl

Visual Effects Designers: Hydralux -

Colin & Greg Strause

Additional Visual Effects Supervisor - Craig Lyn

Visual Effects Producer - Greg Baxter

Visual Effects Producer: Soho VFX - Ryan Stafford

Visual Effects: Luma Pictures - Patam Shohadai,

Vincent Cirelli, Steven Swanson, Steve Griffith,

Justin Johnson, Pavel Pranevsky, Oliver Arnold,

H. Harden Hammond, Glenn Morris,

Raphael A. Pimentel, Alexandre Cancado,

Jared Smith, John Cassella, Loic Zimmerman,

Thanapoom Siripopungal, Joey Sila,

James Waterson, Michael Cashore,

Jason Locke, Ryan Sivley, Jennifer Gutierrez,

Christopher Sage, Anthony Grant,

Safari Sosebee, Mathieu Aerni, Julie Garcia,

John Riggs, Elaine Wu, Marcos Romero,

Andy Burmeister, Jessica Bakke, Erik LaPlant,

Katie Godwin, Chad Dombroya, John Hazzard,

Richard Sutherland, Satoshi Harada,

Sonia Yu, Dawrath Phoue, Jacob Harris

and Madiek Sokalski

Visual Effects: Rising Sun Pictures -

Thomas Proctor, Mara Hamilton, Dan Bethell,

Gemma James, Keith Herft, Nick Pitt-Owen,

Eric So, Laura Ingram, Norma Mulroney,

Timothy Jones, Campbell McGrouther,

Sam Hancock, Nick Murphy, Les Turner,

Premamurti Paersch, Martin Wiseman,

Rob Dorris, Justin Long, Damien Thaller

and Ian Cope

Editors - Nicolas De Toth and
Megan Gill

Supervising Sound Editor - John A. Larsen

Supervising Sound Editor & Sound Designer -

Derek Vanderhorst

Sound Designer - Ted Caplan

Sound Mixing - Paul Massey and David Giammarco

Additional Sound Mixing - James Bolt
Music - Harry Gregson-Williams

Review

As a true fan, X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE was a mild disappointment. Despite this movie being below average, it inspired me to do the X-Men movie marathon, excluding the two I've already done. Most of you have expected Days of Future Past to arrive in cinemas for viewing, but let's move on to X-MEN ORIGINS. The film suffered from numerous production issues, such as rewrites to the story, executive decisions, clashes between Fox executive Tom Rothman and director Gavin Hood over its direction, etc. It would explain why Hugh Jackman is disappointed with the movie when he admitted that it fell short of his expectations. It has an unoriginal and confusing plot with poor execution and lacklustre CGI (such as Logan's metal claws and the part of the ending with the digitally de-aged Patrick Stewart, which looks too weird). Even the addition of Cyclops is redundant to the spin-off. Despite the forgetfulness and problems of the film and its continuity, there are a few strengths, like the action, which was good and the acting. But sadly, those aspects weren't enough to redeem the movie of its lesser quality.

For a few big surprises in the cast, we have Ryan Reynolds, and people think he's a good actor who wasted his potential in mediocre films. Reynolds is perfect as one of the mutants, the motormouth mercenary Deadpool. I complained that Reynolds' character (when he's not often portraying it in all of his scenes) is butchered from the comics and has completely undergone an unnecessary transformation in the climax that left him mute. In all fairness, it wasn't his fault. Liev Schreiber demonstrates his top-notch acting by playing Wolverine's half-brother/rival Sabertooth, his nemesis in the comics. Most movie audiences may have seen Taylor Kitsch in films like the overlooked sci-fi bomb John Carter. He debuted as fan favourite Gambit before becoming a major underrated star.

It's a shame that the first Wolverine movie did not meet the expectations of many fanatics eager to see the character's tragic backstory. X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE is not the film that the Marvel and X-Men aficionados had promised. I re-rank the second Wolverine feature, which would surpass the first with a better storyline. Still, it would be best to see this movie just once.

Star rating: (4/10) Below Average

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Captain America: The Winter Soldier Review

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Release Date: 3rd April 2014 - Australia

Production Companies

Marvel Studios

Distribution

Walt Disney Studios Motion

Pictures Australia

Genre: Action

Rating: M

Runtime: 136 minutes


Budget: $170,000,000

Box Office Gross: $714,421,503 (Worldwide)


Plot Summary

After saving New York from an invasion with the Avengers, Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, is in Washington, D.C. and is striving to adapt to the modern world after 50 years of being frozen. Now Nick Fury from S.H.I.E.L.D has come under attack, and Steve gets swept up in a web of conspiracy that threatens to endanger the world.

Captain America joins forces with Black Widow as they fight to uncover this dangerous plot while fending off assassins sent to kill him at every turn. When this evil scheme comes to light, they enlist a new ally, the Falcon. They find themselves facing a dangerous foe known as the Winter Soldier.

Cast
Chris Evans - Steve Rogers/
Captain America

Scarlett Johansson - Natasha
Romanoff/Black Widow

Samuel L. Jackson - Nick Fury
Sebastian Stan - Bucky
Barnes/Winter Solider
Anthony Mackie - Sam

Wilson/Falcon
Cobie Smulders - Maria Hill
Frank Grillo - Brock Rumlow
Emily VanCamp - Kate/Agent 13
Robert Redford - Alexander Pierce
Hayley Atwell - Peggy Carter
Maximiliano Hernandez - Agent Sitwell
Callan Mulvey - Jack Rollins
Toby Jones - Armin Zola
Garry Shandling - Senator Stern
Ng Chin Han - Councilman Yen

Jenny Agutter - Councilwoman Hawley

Alan Dale - Councilman Rockwell

Bernard White - Councilman Singh

Georges St. Pierre - Georges Batroc

Joe Russo - Dr. Fine (Cameo)

Christopher Markus - SHIELD Interrogator #1 (Cameo)

Stephen McFeely - SHIELD Interrogator #2 (Cameo)

Ann Russo - Strike Agent (Cameo)

Robert Clotworthy - Fury Car (Voice)

June Christopher - SHIELD Computer (Voice)

Gary Sinise - The Smithsonian Narrator (Voice)

Thomas Kretschmann - Baron Wolfgang von

Strucker (Cameo) (Uncredited)

Aaron Taylor-Johnson - Peter Maximoff/

Quicksilver (Cameo) (Uncredited)

Elizabeth Olsen - Wanda Maximoff/
Scarlet Witch (Cameo) (Uncredited)

Stan Lee - Smithsonian Guard (Cameo)

Crew
Directors - Anthony & Joe Russo
Concept and Story - Ed Brubaker
Based on the Marvel Comics - Joe Simon

and Jack Kirby

Based on "The Winter Soldier" - Steve Epting,

Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark (Uncredited)
Screenplay - Christopher Markus and
Stephen McFeely

Associate Producer/First Assistant Director -

Lars P. Winther

Executive Producers - Victoria Alonso,
Alan Fine, Michael Grillo and Stan Lee

Executive Producer/Unit Production Manager -

Louis D'Esposito
Producer - Kevin Feige
Co-Producer - Nate Moore
Casting Director - Sarah Finn
Production Designer - Peter Wenham

Head of Visual Development: Marvel -

Ryan Meindering

Co-Head of Visual Development: Marvel -

Charlie Wen

Concept Illustrators - Rodney Fuentebella,

Andrew Kim, Josh Nizzi and Andy Park
Supervising Art Director - Thomas Valentine
Art Directors - Beat Frutiger, Kevin Ishioka
and Steve Christensen (Uncredited)
Set Decorator - Leslie Pope

Property Master - Russell Bobbitt
Costume Designer - Judianna Makovsky

Makeup Department Head - Allan A. Apone

Hair Department Head - Camille Friend
Director of Photography - Trent Opaloch

Director of Photography: Second Unit - Igor Meglic

"A" Camera Operator - Andrew Rowlands

Aerial Cinematographer - David B. Nowell

"C" Camera Operator: Second Unit -

Jacques Hatkin

"A" Camera First Assistant - Taylor Matheson

Unit Production Manager - JoAnn Perritano

Supervising Location Manager - James Lin

First Assistant Directors: Second Unit -

Douglas Plasse and Nick Satriano

Second Assistant Directors - Gregory Hale

and Brian Relyea

Second Unit Director/Stunt Coordinator -
Spiro Razatos

Underwater Director of Photography - Pete Romano
Stunt Coordinator - Thomas Robinson Harper
Stunt Co-Coordinator - Casey O'Neill

Stunt Coordinator: Second Unit - Andy Gill

Fight Choreographer - Chris Carnel
Fight Choreographer/Stunt Double: Bucky

Barnes/Winter Solider - James Young

Aerial Coordinator/Pilot - Kevin LaRosa

Helicopter Ground Coordinator - Kevin LaRosa II
Special Effects Supervisor - Daniel Sudick

Suit Construction Supervisors: Legacy Effects -

Lindsay MacGowan and Shane Mahan

On-Set Coordinator: Legacy Effects -

Christopher Swift
Visual Effects Supervisor - Dan Deleeuw

Visual Effects Supervisor: Second Unit -

Geoffrey Baumann

Visual Effects Supervisor: ILM - Russell Earl

Visual Effects Supervisor: Scanline VFX -

Bryan Grill

Visual Effects Supervisor: Sony Pictures

Imageworks - Peter G. Travers

Visual Effects Supervisor: RISE Visual Effects

Studios - Florian Gellinger

Visual Effects Supervisor: Whiskytree - Votch Levi

Visual Effects Supervisor: Lola VFX - Edson Williams

VFX Supervisor: Cantina Creative - Stephen Lawes

Additional Visual Effects Supervisors: Scanline

VFX - Danielle Plantec and Stephan Trojansky

Visual Effects Producer - Jen Underdahl

Visual Effects Producer: Whiskytree - Jonathan Harb

Visual Effects Producer: RISE Visual Effects -

Robert Pinnow
Animation Supervisor: ILM - Steve Rawlins

Animation Supervisor: Scanline VFX - Bernd Angerer

Animation Supervisor: Luma Pictures -

Raphael A. Pimentel

Lead CG Supervisor: ILM - Daniel Pearson

CGI Supervisors: ILM - Tim Belsher, Jose Burgos,

Greg Kegel, Jean LaPointe and Scott Younkin

Creature Supervisor: ILM - Kaori Ogino

Digital Model Supervisor: ILM - Bruce Holcomb

Viewpaint Supervisor: ILM - Ron Woodall

Compositing Supervisor: ILM - Francois Lambert

Compositing Supervisors: Scanline VFX -

Stefano Trivelli and Brian Connor

Supervising Sound Editors - Shannon Mills

and Daniel Laurie
Sound Designers - David C. Hughes

and Al Nelson

Re-Recording Sound Mixers - Tom Johnson

and Juan Peralta

Additional Re-Recording Mixer - Christopher Scarabosio

Foley Artists: Skywalker Sound - Ronni Brown

and Sean England

Film Editors - Jeffrey Ford and
Matthew Schmidt
Music - Henry Jackman

Music Supervisor - Dave Jordan

Review

If memory serves, back in 2011, I posted my review of the first Captain America movie when it came out in theatres. A few years have passed, and in return, the star-spangled American hero is back for his exciting sequel. The mighty Marvel brand has shown no sign of ceasing its mega-hit movies soon. Disney owns Marvel and is known for greenlighting Marvel's projects. First things come first in CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER, which you could describe as a patriotic/espionage action blockbuster. It's an improvement on Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World, even though I'm not a fan of the Marvel heroes.

In terms of acting, the originals, like Chris Evans, who was getting used to the costume of being the original American superhero. We have Robert Redford as one of the supporting cast, as he plays a senior authority figure in S.H.I.E.L.D. Though he is a veteran actor, I haven't seen much of his talented work. Sebastian Stan comes back in the sequel and is perfect as the arch-foe.

It worked hard to write that I'm no fan of Captain America since he represents a foreign country, and I am a pure-born-Aussie. I had only read one comic issue of Captain America roughly 30 times and set to the decade where he is unfrozen. THE WINTER SOLDIER is an all-time great feature, just going to be a near-perfect addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Star rating: (8/10) Very Good Movie

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Mulan (1998) Review

Mulan

Release Date: 3rd September 1998 - Australia

Production Companies

Walt Disney Pictures (presents)

Walt Disney Feature Animation

Distribution

Walt Disney Studios Motion

Pictures Australia

Genre: Animation/Family/

Action/Adventure

Rating: G

Runtime: 88 minutes


Budget: $90,000,000

Box Office Gross: $304,320,254 (Worldwide)

Plot Summary

In a society bound by tradition, a young Chinese girl named Mulan learns that her father is to get called to arms to fight the invading Huns led by the dreaded Shan Yu. Knowing that her father would not survive the battle in his weakened state, she disguised herself as a male soldier and took his place in the Imperial Army. Little does Mulan know that her spiritual ancestors have sent a guardian to protect her, only that her protector is a disgraced small dragon named Mushu. Mulan

tries to earn the respect

of her fellow soldiers and

her commanding officer,

Captain Shang, during her

time in the Imperial Army.

Now, Mulan has to keep her identity safe from the army and sets out to prove her worth for her family's honour by marching into a battle where the fate of China and the Emperor's life are at stake.

Voice Cast
Ming-Na - Mulan
Lea Salonga - Mulan (singing
voice)
Eddie Murphy - Mushu
BD Wong - Shang
Miguel Ferrer - Shan Yu
Donny Osmond - Shang
(singing voice)
Harvey Fierstein - Yao
Soon Tek-Oh - Fa Zhou
June Foray - Grandmother Fa
Marni Nixon - Grandmother Fa
(singing voice)
George Takei - First Ancestor
James Hong - Chi Fu
Pat Morita - The Emperor
Miriam Margoyles - The
Matchmaker
Frank Welker - Khan/Cri-Kee
James Shigeta - General Li
Jerry Tondo - Chien-Po
Gedde Watanabe - Ling
Matthew Wilder - Ling (singing voice)

Crew
Directors - Barry Cook and
Tony Bancroft

Poem - Guo Maoqin (Uncredited)
Based on a Story - Robert D. San Souci
Story Co-Head - Dean DeBlois
Story - Robert D. San Souci,
John Sanford, Tim Hodge,
Burny Mattinson, Barry
Johnson, Ed Gombert,
Chris Williams, Julius
Aguimatang, Lorna Cook,
Thom Enriquez, Joe Grant
and Floyd Norman
Additional Story Material - Linda Woolverton,
Jodi Ann Johnston, Alan Ormsby, David Reynolds,
Don Doughtery, Jorgen Klubien, Denis Rich,
Joe Ekers, Theodore Newton, Larry Scholl,
Daan Jippes, Frank Nissen and Jeff Snow
Screenplay/Artistic Supervisor: Story -

Chris Sanders
Screenplay - Rita Hsiao, Philip LaZebnik and
Raymond & Eugenia Bostwick-Singer

Associate Producers - Kendra Haaland and

Robert A. Garber

Producer - Pam Coats

Casting Director - Ruth Lambert

Martial Arts Fight Advisor - B.H. Barry
Production Designer - Hans Bacher
Art Director - Ric Sluiter
Artistic Coordinator - Jeff Dutton
Artistic Supervisor: Character Design - Chen-Yi Chang
Character Designers/Visual Development -
Richie Chavez, Peter DeSeve, Paul A. Felix,
Jean Gillmore, Caroline Hu, Sai Ping Lok,
Rick Maki, Sue C. Nichols, Alex Nino,
John Puglisi, Robh Ruppel and

Marcelo Vignali
Visual Development/Lead Animator:

"Little Brother" - Shawn Keller

Artistic Supervisor: Layout - Robert Walker

Artistic Supervisor: Background - Robert E. Stanton

Supervising Animator: "Mulan" and

"Fa Zhou" - Mark Henn
Supervising Animator: "Shang" and "Fa Li" -
Ruben A. Aquino
Supervising Animator: "Mushu" - Tom Bancroft
Supervising Animator: "Cri-Kee" - Barry Temple
Supervising Animator: "Shan-Yu", "Falcon"

and "Elite Huns" - Pres Romanillos
Supervising Animator: "Yao" and "The

Ancestors" - Aaron Blaise
Supervising Animator: "Chien-Po" and

"Ling" - Broose Johnson
Supervising Animator: "The Emperor" -
T. Daniel Hofstedt
Supervising Animator: "Chi-Fu" and

"Grandmother Fa" - Jeffrey James Varab
Supervising Animator: "Khan" and

"General Li" - Alex Kupershmidt

Artistic Supervisor: Clean-Up, Los Angeles Unit -

Vera Pacheco

Artistic Supervisor: Computer Animation -

Eric Guaglione

Supervising Animator: Computer Animation -

Rob Bekuhrs
Editor - Michael Kelly

Associate Editors - William J. Caparella

and Albert Coleman (Uncredited)

Sound Designer/Supervisor - Lon Bender

ADR/Dialogue Supervisor - Curt Schulkey

Re-Recording Mixers - Mel Metcalfe,

Terry Porter and Dean A. Zupancic

Foley Artists - Catherine Harper

and James Moriana

Songs - Matthew Wilder
Lyrics - David Zippel
Music - Jerry Goldsmith

Executive Music Producer - Chris Montan

Music Coordinator - Tom MacDougall

Score Recordist and Mixer - Bruce Botnick

Awards

1999 Academy Awards
Best Music, Original Musical or Comedy Score -
Matthew Wilder, David Zippel and Jerry Goldsmith (Nominated)

Review

This film produces a massive scope and a fascinating Chinese backdrop that would have impressed the late director David Lean if he were alive. MULAN was based on a legendary Chinese poem and had an empowering message. It's no wonder Disney has to put any creative liberties into turning this ballad into an animated musical. It is fair that Disney never gives up trying to replicate movies with the same formula repeated many times. Even the frequent use of comical characters has toned down the movie's darker themes. Unfortunately, MULAN runs at a bare minimum of 88 minutes and, to some degree, does not deliver enough action scenes to warrant a PG rating. On a positive note, the animation was delicate. The feature had some great moments, including the title character donning her disguise as a male soldier and the avalanche scene.

I could not help but gain an appreciation for Jerry Goldsmith's well-conducted and bombastic score. I was impressed by his musical genius. Also, I praise Eddie Murphy for putting his energetic voice for the hilarious dragon Mushu and two of the feature's songs, "Reflection" and "I'll Make a Man Out of You".

MULAN is good, but adding more action could have enhanced the plot. It would have been on a larger scale to be Disney's hugest achievement. Buy or rent it and enjoy it with the young ones or for the sake of honour.

Star rating: (7/10) Good Movie

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The LEGO Movie Review

The LEGO Movie

Release Date: 3rd April 2014 - Australia

Production Companies

Warner Bros. Pictures (presents)

Village Roadshow Pictures 

(in association with)

LEGO System A/S (in association with)

Vertigo Entertainment (production)
Lin Pictures (production)

Warner Animation Group

RatPac-Dune Entertainment (in association with)

 

Distribution

Roadshow Films

Genre: Animation/Family/

Comedy

 

Rating: PG

 

Runtime: 100 minutes

Budget: $65,000,000

Box Office Gross: $470,759,687 (Worldwide)

Plot Summary

When a typical, perfectly average, rules-following LEGO mini-figure named Emmet gets mistakenly identified as the most incredible person and the key to saving the world. He gets recruited into a fellowship of strangers on an epic to defeat an evil tyrant, a journey for which Emmet is hopelessly and hilariously unprepared.

Voice Cast

Chris Pratt - Emmet

Will Ferrell - Lord Business

Elizabeth Banks - Wyldstyle

Will Arnett - Batman

Morgan Freeman - Vitruvius

Liam Neeson - Good Cop/

Bad Cop/Pa Cop

Nick Offerman - Metal Beard

Alison Brie - Princess Unikitty

Charlie Day - Benny

Channing Tatum - Superman

Jonah Hill - Green Lantern

Cobie Smulders - Wonder Woman

Graham Miller - The Duplo Aliens
Billy Dee Williams - Lando
Calrissian (Cameo)
Anthony Daniels - C-3PO (Cameo)

Keith Ferguson - Han Solo
Shaquille O'Neal - Himself (Cameo)

Will Forte - Abraham Lincoln (Cameo)

Dave Franco - Wally

Jake Johnson - Barry
Keegan-Michael Key - Frank

the Foreman
Chris McKay - Larry the

Barista (Cameo)/Additional

Voices

Jorma Taccone - William

Shakespeare
Christopher Miller - TV Presenter

David Burrows - Octan Robot/Additional Voices

Live Action Cast

Jacob Sand - Finn

Will Ferrell - Man in Upstairs
Amanda Farinos - Mom (Voice)

Crew

Story/Screenplay/Directors - Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

Based on LEGO Construction Toys - Ole & Gotfred Kirk Christiansen and Jens Nygaard Knudsen

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Creators - Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman

Story - Dan & Kevin Hageman

Associate Producers - Will Allegra

and Amber Naismith
Executive Producers - Alison Abbate,

Matthew Ashton, Bruce Berman, Jon Burton,

Kathleen Fleming, Benjamin Melniker,

Steven Mnuchin, Zareh Nalbandian,

James Packer, Matt Skiena, Michael E. Uslan,

Jill Wilfert and Seanne Winslow
Producers - Roy Lee and Dan Lin
Co-Producer - John Powers Middleton

Advisor/Art Director: LEGO Team - Michael Fuller
Production Designer - Grant Freckelton

Visual Consultant: Live-Action

Photography - Bill Bzreski
Art Directors: Live-Action Photography -

Jay Pelissier and Sue Chan
Concept Artists and Designers - Mark Ackland,

Nadia Attlee, Kristen Anderson, Andy Bialk,

Felicity Coonan, Pavel Elagin, Chris Georgiou,

Toby Grime, Matt Hatton, Shane Prigmore,

Tim Pyman, Chris Reccardi, Phil Rynda,

Charles Santoso, Nori Tominaga,

Vivienne To, Donald Walker, Phil &

Simon Whiteley, John Yost and

Mike Zarb

Story Department Co-Producer - Igor Khait

Set Designer/Decorator: Live-Action

Photography - Danielle Berman

Cinematography - Pablo Plaisted

Director of Photography: Live-Action

Photography - Barry Peterson

Head of Animation: Animal Logic - Rob Coleman
Animation Co-Director/Supervisor/

Editor - Chris McKay

CG Supervisor - Aidan Sarsfield

CG Supervisor: Animal Logic - Damien Gray

Lighting Department Supervisor - Craig Walsh

Compositing Supervisor - Julien Leveugle

Special Effects Supervisor: Live-Action

Photography - James Lorimer

Visual Effects Supervisor: Live-Action

Photography - Kirsty Millar
Editor - David Burrows

Additional Editors - Robert Fisher Jr.,

Tom Hansen and Doug Nichols

Re-Recording Mixer/Sound Designer/Supervising
Sound Editor - Wayne Pashley

Supervising Sound Effects Editor -

Fabian Janjurjo

Re-Recording Mixers - Greg P. Fitzgerald

and Phil Heywood

Additional Sound Re-Recording Mixers -

Peter Purcell, Gregg Rudloff and

Michael Semanick

Foley Artist - John Simpson

Music - Mark Mothersbaugh

Review

For many of you who once had a childhood obsession with all things LEGO, the idea of a movie about your favourite toy might have you racing to the cinemas. However, some of you may not be too keen on this movie after seeing it as undistinguished and underwhelming due to its hype. Frankly, THE LEGO MOVIE is humorous and refreshing. It tells a child's dream of a world made out of LEGO as this wish finally comes true. This film isn't supposed to be a cash-grab in the movie theatres.

Some audiences do not appreciate the message of THE LEGO MOVIE, and it's supposed to be a family comedy with non-stop laughing proportions. While I didn't care about THE LEGO MOVIE for its meaningful and simplistic story, I appreciate the style of the movie in subverting plot clichés like good vs evil, self-awareness and so forth. People will find this movie wittier and different from Toy Story. It was extraordinary in CGI to suggest that the film consisted of several thousand LEGO mini-figures, bricks, and millions of tiny changes.

The selective range of the voice cast takes a poll position without becoming too predictable or dull. The best voiceover stealing the show was from Liam Neeson, who makes the hammy routine out of the "Good Cop, Bad Cop". Do not get me wrong about this old saying. Neeson's take is very entertaining. Will Arnett put the fun in the LEGO version of Batman by having his character egotistical? If George Clooney or Adam West were out there, they would be pleased with this interpretation of the dark knight compared to their own.

Forget playtime. You'll see an age-appropriate film that appeals to all LEGO collectors in your adulthood. Many of you will watch this feature and reminisce about the good old days as a child playing with the toy brand.

Star rating: (9/10) Excellent Movie

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The Fearless Four Review

The Fearless Four

Release Date: 5th December 1997 - USA

Production Companies

Warner Bros. Pictures (presents)

Bioskop Film

Munich Animation Film

Genre: Animation/Family

Rating: G

Runtime: 89 minutes
                 78 minutes

                 (edited)

Budget: $15,000,000

Plot Summary

While not sharing their appearances, the four fearless animals have one thing in common. Their goal is to play and perform music. The animals consist of a dog

named Buster, a donkey,

Fred, a cat, Gwendolyn, and a

rooster, Tortellini. Together,

these four animals left their

old lives as they journeyed

to the city of Bremen to

seek fame and recognition.

Little did the animals know that Bremen is not what it seems, as there are dark secrets and corruption. Will The Fearless Four be able to use their musical talents to prevent this evil plot?

Voice Cast (English)

James Ingram - Buster

B.B. King - Fred

Oleta Adams - Gwendolyn

Zucchero - Tortellini

Christopher Gaze - Narrator

Ian James Corlett - Dr. Greed/1st Assistant/Hunter #2

Scott McNeill - The Manager/

2nd Assistant/Hunter #1/The

Recording Director/Guard #1

Garry Chalk - Platini/

The Baron/The Miller/Guard #2

Kathleen Barr - Mozart/

Wasp #2/Big Mother Berta/

Samantha

Richard Newman - Ackerman
Robert O. Smith - Dr. Sevenbrains/Taxidermy Representative
Michael Donovan - The Heir/
The Host/Guard #3
Stevie Vallance - The Heiress/Wasp #1

Crew

Producer/Director - Eberhard Junkersdof

Director/CGI Director - Michael Coldewey

Director/Animation Director - Jürgen Ritcher

Based on the Fairy Tale "The Bremen Town Musicians" - Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm

Screenplay - Bert Henry, Dagmar Kekulé and Georg Richel

Voice Director: English

Version - Michael Donovan

Character Designers - Carles Burges, Sandra Cama and Carlos & Jordi Grangel

Painted Background Designer - Walter Kössler

Animation Supervisors: Stardust Pictures, London - Robert Stevenhagen and Darren Vandenburg

CGI Supervisor - Nico Tuma

Editor - Uli Schön

Sound Designers - Donald J. Malouf

and Nikki Moss

Supervising Sound Editor - Alexander Saal

Re-Recording Mixers - Andy D'Addario,

Ray Gillon and Dean A. Zupancic

Re-Recording Mixer/Sound Re-Recording

Engineer - Hubertus Rath

Score & Original Songs - Peter Wolf

Lyrics - Ina Wolf

Review

It's charming, joyful and melodic how 2D comes and goes to please children of all ages. In the 90s, Disney was the prominent player in animation after The Lion King. Other non-Disney films, unfortunately, fail to imitate its wizardry. There lived an obscure movie from Germany in 1997 based on a tale for children entitled THE FEARLESS FOUR. I haven't watched it for a long time. I'm excited to review this movie, which I fondly remember as a child and have grown up with this movie. How uncaring for Warner Bros not to release the English translation in cinemas or a DVD/Blu-ray package. It let me down and forced me to find it on YouTube. The film's character animation didn't share the qualities of Disney or Don Bluth. It is distinctively impressive on its own. More appealing is that it is the earliest movie to combine its hand-drawn animation with outdated computer graphics.

While the makers of FEARLESS FOUR pushed its story to a modern touch and for the English dub, it's not all faithful to its original release in Germany. Some scenes are bowdlerised by the studio when considered taboo and left in the cutting room. The characters are decent. The villain, Dr. Greed, has bared a resemblance to one of the Simpsons characters. The four musicians included James Ingram, Oleta Adams, Zucchero and bluesman B.B. King. These lads are responsible for each of the singing and voices of the animals.

THE FEARLESS FOUR has a profound message that teaches us that we shouldn't treat our pets the rough way around. This rare kids' musical requires devotion from anyone who hasn't seen it.

Star rating: (7/10) Good Movie

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Pacific Rim Review

Pacific Rim

Release Date: 11th July 2013 - Australia

Production Companies

Warner Bros. Pictures (presents)

Legendary Pictures (presents)
Double Dare You (DDY)

Distribution

Roadshow Films

Genre: Sci-Fi

Rating: M

Runtime: 131 minutes


Budget: $200,000,000

Box Office Gross: $411,002,906 (Worldwide)

Plot Summary

The war began with deadly monstrous creatures called Kaiju that emerged from the ocean through an inter-dimensional gateway, and they began to attack humanity. To battle against these giant monsters, humans have created massive robots called Jaegers as weapons against the Kaiju. As the war rages on, the Jaegers are becoming nearly defenceless. Now, a

Kaiju apocalypse is

growing, and humanity's

last hope is a former

Jaeger pilot and an

untested trainee when

they're teamed to pilot a

legendary but seemingly

obsolete Jaeger.

Cast

Charlie Hunnam - Raleigh Becket

Idris Elba - Stacker Pentecost

Rinko Kikuchi - Mako Mori

Charlie Day - Dr. Newton Geiszler

Max Martini - Herc Hansen

Robert Kazinzky - Chuck Hansen

Ron Perlman - Hannibal Chau

Burn Gorman - Dr. Hermann
Gottlieb

Clifton Collins, Jr - Ops Tendo Choi

Diego Klattenhoff - Yancy

Becket
Mana Ashida - Young Mako
Robert Maillet - Lt. S.
Kaidanovsky
Heather Doerksen - Lt. A.
Kaidanovsky
Charles, Lance & Mark Luu - Wing Triplets
Ellen McLain - Gipsy Danger AI (Voice)
Joe Pingue - Captain Merrit

Milton Barnes - McTighe
Paul Michael Wyers - Young Raleigh
Tyler Stevenson - Young Yancy
Jane Watson - Raleigh and Yancy's Mum
Robert Morse - Raleigh and Yancy's Dad
Peter Kosaka - Young Mako's Father
Yiren Stark - Young Mako's Mother
Trek Buccino - Young Newt
Drew Adkins - Young Gottlieb

Santiago Segura - Wizened Man

David Fox - Old Man on Beach

Jake Goodman - Child

Robin Thomas - American UN Representative

Julian Barnes - British UN Representative

David Richmond-Peck - Canadian UN Representative

Brad William Henke - Construction Foreman

Larry Joe Campbell - Construction Worker

Joshua Peace - Officer

Sebastian Pigott - Engineer

Crew

Screenplay/Producer/Director - Guillermo del Toro

Story/Screenplay - Travis Beacham
Executive Producer/Unit Production Manager -

Callum Greene
Producers - Jon Jashni, Mary Parent

and Thomas Tull

Co-Producer - Jillian Share

Casting Director - Margery Simkin
Production Designers - Andrew Neskoromy
and Carol Spier

Conceptual Artists - Wayne Barlowe,

Oscar Chichoni, TyRuben Ellingson,

Hugo Martin, David Meng, Carlos Salgado,

Stephen Schirle, Keith Thompson,

Simon Webber, Simon Lee and Allen &

Doug Williams

Supervising Art Directors - Elinor Rose Galbraith

and Richard L. Johnson

Set Decorator - Peter P. Nicolakakos

Property Master - Christopher Geggie
Costume Designer - Kate Hawley

Head of Makeup Department - Jordan Samuel
Director of Photography - Guillermo Navarro

Director of Photography: B Camera - Checco Varese

Unit Production Manager - D.J. Carson

First Assistant Director - Alexander Gayner

Second Assistant Director - Jack Boem

Third Assistant Directors - Kathryn Hughes,

Travis McConnell and Gerrod Shully

Trainee Assistant Director - Andrew Pritchard

Choreographer - Troy P. Liddell

Stunt Coordinators - Branko & Robert Racki

Fight Designer and Choreographer - Bradley James Allan

Creature Effects Designer: Spectral Motion/

Visual Effects - Mike Elizalde (Uncredited)

Creature Effects Supervisors: Spectral Motion -

Jason Detheridge, Steve Newburn and

Sean Sansom

Creature Effects Coordinator: Spectral Motion -

François Dagenais
Special Effects Supervisors - Rocco Larizza

and Clay Pinney

Special Effects Coordinator - Laird McMurray

Visual Effects Supervisors - John Knoll
and James E. Price
Visual Effects Co-Supervisors: ILM -

Lindy DeQuattro and Eddie Pasquarello

Visual Effects Supervisor: ILM Singapore -

Nigel Sumner

Visual Effects Art Director: ILM - Alex Jaeger
Animation Supervisor - Hal T. Hickel

Digital Production Supervisor: ILM - Michael Di Como

CG Supervisors: ILM - Tim Belsher,

Pat Conran, John H. Han, Ryan Hopkins,

David Meny and Victor Schutz

Digital Model & Viewpaint Supervisor: ILM -

Dave Fogler

Digital Creature Model Supervisor: ILM -

Paul Giacoppo

Creature Supervisors: ILM - Michael Balog

and James Tooley

Roto and Paint Supervisor: ILM - Beth D'Amato

Compositing Supervisors: ILM - Jeff Sutherland

and Jon Bowen

Pipeline Supervisor: ILM - Brian Cantwell

Editors - Peter Amundson and John Gilroy

Sound Designer/Supervising Sound Editor -

Scott Martin Gershin

Sound Mixer - Glen Gauthier

Dialogue/ADR Supervisor - Becky Sullivan

Re-Recording Mixers - Tim LeBlanc,

John T. Reitz, Gregg Rudloff,

Joseph E. Colmenero (Uncredited)

and Michael Jesmer (Uncredited)

Foley Artists - Gary A. Hecker,

Jeffrey Wilhoit, Gary Marullo,

Christopher & James Moriana and

Catherine Harper

Music - Ramin Djawadi

Ambient Music Designer - Mel Wesson

Music Scoring Mixer - Alan Meyerson

Review

Many people had sought a real movie about "mechas" fighting giant monsters. These audiences instead had to watch Michael Bay's series of Transformers when there were just giant robots fighting each other. Contrary to popular belief, PACIFIC RIM is not another movie from the same director who brought the franchise. It's a colossal motion picture that never ceases to amaze me. The idea for the film came from screenwriter Travis Beacham and is intriguing for Guillermo del Toro of Hellboy fame. It's been a long time coming for a director like del Toro, who is creative and daring enough to bring us a visual epic about machines battling giant monsters. This film is a homage to the mecha anime shows and old Kaiju movies. PACIFIC RIM creates a world filled with these two retro sci-fi fantasies and is a childhood dream brought to life. What seemed impossible for Hollywood that something wouldn't work has proved ingeniously fantastic.

Looking at PACIFIC RIM, the concept and some of the characterisations have turned out brilliant. However, the film's acting is exceptional, with new actors proving their worth as credible Hollywood celebrities. Idris Elba was perfect for the role of the Marshal. Perhaps the director cast Elba after seeing him in Thor as the bridge keeper and recognised him for his strength in portraying a character that is a leader and an authority figure. More recognisable actors like Ron Perlman and Charlie Day are there as the supporting leads. Perlman gracefully takes on the role of an arms dealer with an over-the-top performance. He had been the director's lucky charm because Perlman had starred in almost all of Del Toro's successes.

The most notable aspects of PACIFIC RIM are the explosive action sequences and the awe-inspiring visuals, in which the latter created the biggest of the creatures and the machines. Without CGI, the film could have ended on a cheap, low-budgeted scale.

PACIFIC RIM achieves the impossible, cementing itself as one of the few films in this category. This movie has proven better than Michael Bay's Transformers, which lacked a few crucial ingredients, including a sense of nostalgia. I rank it on the scale of excellent movies. I highly recommend it.

Star rating: (9/10) Excellent Movie

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